Free Republic

"An attack on law enforcement is an attack on all Americans." -Donald Trump just now. Can I get an AMEN? Trump's forceful defense of our men & women in blue tonight at the GOP Convention is one of the top reasons I will unapologetically support him over lawless Hillary in November. How about you? If you are in the D.C. area tomorrow night, please meet me for #bluelightfriday at the White House at sundown! I'll be holding vigil for the fallen with my friend, former NYPD officer John Cardillo, and many other retired/active-duty LEOs and friends/families/supporters of LEOs. We're lighting...

D.C. police on Wednesday charged three men who they say were in a car whose driver led officers on a high-speed chase as a passenger opened fire with a Mac-11 gun in downtown Washington. No one was struck by the gunfire, which police said occurred as the pursuit entered the Third Street Tunnel near the U.S. Capitol complex, which was forced into lockdown for about an hour Tuesday afternoon. Authorities identified the arrested men as Keyante Edwards, 19, of Southwest Washington, who was charged with assault on a police officer, carrying a gun without a license and discharging a firearm;...

A top staffer at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was fatally shot in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. Seth Conrad Rich was shot several times a block from his home in D.C.’s neighborhood of Bloomingdale. It happened at 4:20 a.m. on a residential street near a convenience store. He died a few hours later at the local hospital. He was 27 years old: “He wanted to make a difference,” said the victim’s father, Joel I. Rich, 68, in a phone interview from his home in Omaha, Neb. “Politics was in his blood.” The younger Rich had worked on computer database to...

Police in Washington have arrested five people they say opened fire on police.

The U.S. Capitol building is on lockdown Friday morning out of an abundance of caution due to police activity. Everyone is being asked to shelter in place as police search for a woman inside the Capitol. No one is permitted to enter or exit until directed by U.S. Capitol Police. The U.S. Capitol building is on lockdown Friday morning out of an abundance of caution due to police activity. Everyone is being asked to shelter in place as police search for a woman inside the Capitol. No one is permitted to enter or exit until directed by U.S. Capitol Police.

Young people with Down syndrome are constantly surprising their communities by showing how much they can achieve. They are learning to read and write, graduating from high school and college, and becoming fashion models and business owners. Now, a Washington, D.C. teen made history last week when she became the first student with Down syndrome to graduate with a full high school diploma from the D.C. Public Schools, The Federalist reports. Madison Essig graduated with 3.7 GPA and National Honor Society honors, but her mother had to fight to ensure her daughter had that opportunity, Fox 5 News reports. Madison’s...

If there were a natural disaster or a terrorist attack in DC, how would you get out of the city? It’s a good question, and if you don’t already have an evacuation plan in place, DC Homeland Security officials say you should make one. Just as Metro embarks on its year-long SafeTrack program and repairs that will impact service system-wide, emergency officials say an evacuation crisis could erupt if the city doesn’t adjust its current plans to move people safely out of harm’s way in the event of an emergency. The city feels that the plan they have in place...

Donald Trump is planning a Memorial Day weekend visit with one of his favorite constituencies: bikers. As motorcyclists stream into the nation’s capital for Rolling Thunder, their largest annual gathering, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is planning an appearance on Sunday, campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said. “I am doing it in honor of the great bikers who have been totally supportive of my campaign and now I want to be supportive of them,” Trump said in a statement to Bloomberg Politics. “I look forward to it!” The bike rally, called the “First Amendment Demonstration Run,” begins at noon Eastern time...

Despite a recent court order, Washington, D.C., is still refusing to issue concealed-carry permits to its residents, according to Devin Watkins, who attempted to obtain a permit last week. Watkins, a columnist at the federalist.com, wrote that when he went to apply for the permit, police officers at the station told him they had been ordered by D.C.'s attorney general to ignore the court order and continue to deny applications.

WASHINGTON — President Obama and his family plan to move to a mansion in the upscale Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, a mere two miles from the White House, when he leaves office in January, according to people familiar with his plans. Mr. Obama, who has said his family will remain in the capital until his daughter Sasha completes high school in 2018, will rent the 8,200-square-foot, nine-bedroom home, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal his plans. The house — valued around $6 million, according to several real estate websites, with...

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have leased a spectacular 8,200 square-foot home in one of DC's most elegant neighborhoods as their first post-White House dwelling. The $4.3 million home features plenty of room for the Obamas to stretch out – with separate dressing rooms and his and her bathrooms, entertaining space, and a tranquil garden. The home was built in 1928 and features nine bedrooms and eight and a half baths, according to Politico, which first reported the address. The Obama's area leasing the house from Joe Lockhart, who served as press secretary to Bill Clinton.

Washington (CNN)A suspect who allegedly opened fire on the White House complex Friday afternoon is down and in custody, according to a law enforcement source. The U.S. Park Police said Friday a shooting had occurred in close vicinity to the White House. "Shooting on W. Executive Dr. PIO en route to 17th and Pennsylvania," the law enforcement agency tweeted. Shooting on W. Executive Dr. PIO en route to 17th and Pennsylvania — USPPNEWS (@usparkpolicepio) May 20, 2016 President Barack Obama was not at the White House. Earlier in the afternoon, Secret Service officers cleared the White House North Lawn, Pennsylvania...

The White House has been put on lockdown after a person was shot outside. Visitors wrote on Twitter that they saw 'lots of people with guns' after shots were heard. The shooting took place on 17th and E Streets NW at around 2pm, the United States Park Police said. It is not clear who has been shot or whether they have been killed.

Uh oh. So NOBODY cares. Bad news, outrage peddlers. We’ve known for some time that nobody really cares about your efforts to make America clamor for the end of the racist monstrosity known as the “Washington Redskins.” It’s been a non-issue for most people since day one. However, if you hate that ugly football team, things just took a turn for the worse. Not only is the majority ambivalent, but a new Washington Post poll has been released and, according to the data, Social Justice Warriors have failed to convince Native Americans that they should care either.

A federal judge has ruled that a key provision of the District’s new gun law is likely unconstitutional, ordering D.C. police to stop requiring individuals to show “good reason” to obtain a permit to carry a firearm on the streets of the nation’s capital. In imposing a preliminary injunction pending further litigation, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon reignited a running battle over the Second Amendment in the District and its courts where three different judges have now weighed in with varying conclusions. “The enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table,” Leon wrote in a...

A man attacked a Metrobus driver with a weapon and hijacked his bus Tuesday morning, D.C. police said. The bus then struck a pedestrian, who later died. It's not clear where the bus was taken from, but police say the bus in now stopped at a gas station in the 4300 block of Minnesota Avenue in Northeast Washington. Police say the suspect got on the bus and attacked the bus driver with a weapon. The driver managed to get off the bus, but suffered a back injury in the process. He is expected to be OK. The suspect then drove...

The Department of Transportation is appointing three new members to the board that oversees Washington’s Metrorail system to improve safety at the beleaguered transit agency. The announcement on Thursday comes amid heavy frustration with Metro’s continued safety problems and rail disruptions, including an unprecedented shutdown of the entire system for emergency inspections last month. “Building a safety culture is not easy and requires relentless focus at every level,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement. “These three new Federal members will build on our promise to bring a laser-like focus on making the transit system of our nation’s capital...

WASHINGTON (KTRK) -- A decorated Marine veteran was attacked in the last place he expected, a McDonald's in Washington D.C. Chris Marquez says a group of rowdy teenagers started taunting him while he was eating. "They asked me if I believe that black lives matter," Marquez says. "I felt threatened and thought they were trying to intimidate me, so I figured I'm just going to keep to my food, eat my food, and hopefully they'll leave me alone." "And because I wasn't respond back to them, they were calling me a racist." Marquez says he doesn't really remember what happened...

He's disparaged his own Republican leader as a liar and dismissed fellow senators as part of the "Washington cartel." But now, with his presidential prospects hanging in the balance, Ted Cruz is moving closer than ever to the D.C. establishment. Directly and through surrogates, the Texas senator is aggressively reaching out to his Senate colleagues as he prepares for the possibility of a convention floor fight against Donald Trump. And Cruz’s emissaries on Capitol Hill are now signaling to senior Republicans that Cruz would be willing to work with them as the GOP nominee in a way Trump would not.

Entire rail lines in Washington's Metrorail subway system could be shut down for months at a time to conduct repairs, the transit system's leaders acknowledged Wednesday. Board of directors Chairman Jack Evans raised the possibility during a Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments conference, saying there is not enough time to complete work during nights and weekends, according to The Washington Post.