Free Republic

The federal judge who dismissed lawsuits by Tea Party groups against the Internal Revenue Service was nominated by President George W. Bush. The media is making sure everyone knows that. Judge Reggie Walton was “a Republican-appointed federal judge,” Politico tells us. “Walton [was] a President George W. Bush-appointee.” “Walton was nominated as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, by President George W. Bush in 2001,” USA Today chimed in. That background was also noted in stories appearing in “conservative” sites, creating the impression that, even if the decision may be unpopular in some...

Makeshift Barricade inside Canadian Parliament In the recent terror attack on the Canadian Parliament,  Members of Parliament (MP)s fashioned crude spears out of flagpoles.   If such an event happened at the American Capitol, it is likely that members of Congress would have more effective weapons. Members of Congress are restricted from bringing loaded guns into the Capitol, but they can have guns and ammunition in their offices.   In a strange way, the bizarre gun laws of the District of Columbia make it difficult for members to transport the firearms into and out of the building.  From rollcall.com:...

Alliance Defending Freedom and six other pro-life organizations sent the Council of the District of Columbia a letter Thursday arguing that a proposed bill violates federal law by forcing the groups to provide elective abortion coverage through their insurance plans and employ those who live and act contrary to the organizations’ pro-life mission. The letter explains that the bill clearly violates federal law in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores. pichealth50The Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act prohibits employers from “discriminating” against employees for any “reproductive health”...

In July of 2014, the ban on carrying guns outside the home in the District of Columbia was struck down as violating the second amendment of the Constitution.   The judge granted a stay to the District government.  In September, the District government passed emergency legislation that it claimed would meet Judge Scullin's requirements for a constitutional law.   The law contained numerous absurd restrictions.   On 2 October, Alan Gura filed a motion asking that the court block the implementation of the emergency law.  From wamu.org: In a blistering court filing, attorney Alan Gura argues that the Council's bill — which limits...

Medics responded to the Pentagon this morning for a report of a woman on a tour bus who was sick and vomiting. When they learned that she had recently arrived from Africa, the hazmat team was called out of “a complete abundance of caution,” Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman told ARLnow.com. A large portion of the Pentagon south parking lot has been cordoned off with crime tape, and police are telling those who don’t work at the Pentagon to avoid the immediate surrounding area. The woman has been transported via ambulance to Virginia Hospital Center. The county’s medical...

A Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for a Liberian national with the virus will be transferred to a Maryland facility Thursday. Officials confirm Nina Pham, who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan before his death on October 8, will be treated at the National Institutes of Health’s biocontainment facility in Bethesda, Maryland. At Wednesday's House subcommittee hearing on the Ebola response in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases said that Pham is being moved because the NIH facility is state-of-the-art and that Pham's condition is stable and had not deteriorated....

Alan Gura The District of Columbia recently passed an emergency measure to allow for the issuance of concealed carry permits within the District.   The measure is one of the most restrictive in the nation, combining the most restrictive features of existing state law along with a couple of new wrinkles.   The Washington Post has graciously posted a copy of the law online.   The law is only valid for 90 days, to meet Judge Scullin's order.   The council has already stated that it intends to revisit the law after that time, apparently to make it more onerous.  From the Washington...

Amongst the news that Washington told Israel if they move forward with building in Eastern Jerusalem, it would distance Israel from, “even its closest allies.” This is simply offensive rhetoric.

A patient with Ebola-like symptoms is being treated at Howard University Hospital, a hospital spokesperson confirms. The patient had traveled to Nigeria recently.

On "Fox News Sunday," Dr. Ben Carson said there is "certainly the potential" for widespread anarchy in the United States within the next couple of years.

<p>Multiple college students signed a petition to support the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) last week.</p> <p>Media Research Center TV reporter Dan Joseph went to the campus of George Washington University on Thursday, Sept. 11, and collected a dozen signatures from students on a petition to President Barack Obama to not only stop bombing ISIS, but also actively support the terrorist group. ISIS has beheaded two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff.</p>

In Washington, D.C., where issuing traffic citations is a $179 million-a-year business, drivers get speeding tickets for violations they donÂ’t commit and for vehicles theyÂ’ve never owned. Those are among the findings in a 115-page audit of the three city agencies that issued nearly 2.5 million parking and traffic tickets in fiscal 2013, according to a withering report issued Monday by the D.C. inspector general. The report portrays the District as the Wild West of traffic enforcement when compared with neighboring jurisdictions and the states, with a shortage of regulations, a legion of ticket writers often confused about the rules,...

A D.C. sixth-grade teacher will apologize for an assignment that asked students to draw comparisons between former President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler. The McKinley Middle School teacher sent students home with a Venn diagram and asked them to compare and contrast Bush and Hitler. At least one parent found it troubling on a number of levels. He told News4 he sees a certain lack of respect for the office of the president. And the instructions read "both men who abused their powers," which the parent said presents opinion as fact. D.C. Public Schools released a statement late Wednesday...

Post your conditions or noticable behavior of your city officials here. Little Rock-

A day after the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade announced a step toward LGBT inclusion, a pastor at the Archdiocese of Washington said that it is time to end such events altogether as they have been “hijacked.” Instead of wearing green and attending St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Monsignor Charles Pope, said Catholics should “enter their churches and get down on their knees on St. Patrick’s Day to pray in reparation for the foolishness, and to pray for this confused world to return to its senses.” The statements were published on Pope’s designated blog on the Archdiocese of Washington’s...

COLORADO – Two F-16 fighter jets under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command assisted the FAA today with an unresponsive general aviation aircraft. The aircraft took off from Waukesha Airport in Wisconsin and was on its way to Manassas Airport in Virginia when it crashed into the Atlantic ocean, approximately 140 NM SW of Washington, DC. (snip)

A WUSA-TV news van was burglarized in Washington, D.C., Friday while the news crew was interviewing locals nearby, the station reported. The robbery happened as they were reporting about a “sketchy neighborhood” app. The crew said they had locked their van in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood, but someone popped the lock and absconded with “the gear of photojournalist James Hash, the backpack of reporter Mola Lenghi, and the purse of intern Taylor Bisciotti.”[snip]

Sometimes - but not always - news reporters get exactly what they are looking for when covering a story. For one news crew from CBS News affiliate WUSA in Washington, D.C., they got a little more. The news crew's vehicle was burglarized while they were working on a story about a controversial app that alerts people to "sketchy" neighborhoods, WUSA reports. The crew had locked their news van on a street in Petworth in Northwest, D.C. while they were out in the neighborhood conducting interviews. When they returned they found the lock had been popped out of the door of...

A quarter of a century ago, Washington DC had a fearsome reputation for crack abuse and rampant gun violence - it was the "murder capital" of the US. But now, once-blighted neighbourhoods close to the centre of the capital are thriving. When Ruben Castaneda moved to the US capital in 1989 to take up a job with the Washington Post, he was struck by how easy it was to score crack. Days after arriving in the city, he was taken to S Street Northwest by a "strawberry" - a streetwalker who offered sex in return for drugs. "The moment she...

Former D.C. Mayor and now Councilman Marion Barry was being treated at Howard University Hospital after being involved in a head-on car crash on Saturday night. ... he was driving the wrong direction along a one-way stretch when he hit another car.