Free Republic

SEOUL, South Korea — Travis King, the U.S. Army private who intentionally ran across the border into North Korea this summer, is back in U.S. custody, an American official said Wednesday, shortly after the isolated East Asian country said it would expel the soldier. “U.S. officials have secured the return of Private Travis King from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement. He went on to thank the U.S. military personnel who worked to "bring Private King home," as well as the governments of Sweden and China. King, 23, bolted across...

After botching a series of executions by lethal injection, the State of Alabama is planning to use nitrogen gas to put condemned prisoners to death. The first execution will amount to a human experiment, because neither Alabama nor any other state has ever tried to kill people this way. Late last month, prison guards distributed the state’s new execution protocol to prisoners in solitary confinement on Alabama’s death row. One hundred and sixty men and five women await execution in Alabama. They would be secured to a gurney, their nose and mouth would be covered by a mask, and nitrogen...

A Florida double-murderer appeared with the word “killer” written on his own teeth in court Monday, where he proceeded to assault his own lawyer. Joseph Zieler, 61, beckoned his lawyer, Kevin Shirley, over to speak to him after entering court in handcuffs for a pre-sentencing hearing over the murders of an 11-year-old girl and her babysitter. After leaning in to speak to him, Zieler — who was eventually given the death penalty — suddenly caught Shirley in the face with a violent elbow shot, sending him spinning, courtroom video shows. As onlookers gasped, three bailiffs immediately subdued tattooed Zieler, who...

South Carolina’s highest court will hear arguments Thursday on whether a newly organized firing squad or the old electric chair are legal ways to execute inmates in the state, which has been unable to obtain drugs for lethal injections. A lower court judge ruled in September that South Carolina lawmakers “ignored advances in scientific research and evolving standards of humanity and decency” when they passed a law effectively forcing condemned prisoners to choose between electrocution or the firing squad. The state appealed and the South Carolina Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday over whether the 2,000-volt electric chair or the...

Throughout his 20-plus year rule, Vladimir Putin has consolidated power through graft, intimidation, manipulation of the Russian legal system, and forcefully silencing critics. Putin’s ability to sustain subservience and loyalty to his authority is no small feat, especially in a political culture of ruthless power politics. His reputation as a master tactician abroad has also been carefully cultivated, if not exaggerated.

John Kerry is being called out for his display of “cowardice” for ducking questions about his blatant lack of transparency — while U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland had “no comment” on the matter.The climate czar and featured guest at an MIT symposium on global warming rushed into an elevator surrounded by bodyguards to avoid the Herald’s questions Thursday. He didn’t address why he still refuses to list details of his office staff.On Earth Day Friday, one energy advocacy group snapped back.“Alaska’s families are hurting under Joe Biden’s and John Kerry’s energy failures so … Kerry may be able to duck...

A South Carolina inmate who has spent 21 years on death row has chosen a firing squad for his April 29 execution. If the execution happens it will be South Carolina's first since 2011. Richard Moore, 57, chose a firing squad over the electric chair. "I believe this election is forcing me to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution, and I do not intend to waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making an election," Moore said. Moore's lawyers continue to challenge the constitutionality of both types of execution. They are challenging the execution in both state...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — ​​South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs... ...Lawmakers set about tweaking state law to get around the lethal injection drug situation. Legislation that went into effect in May made the electric chair the state’s primary means of execution while giving inmates the option of choosing death by firing squad or lethal injection, if those methods are available....

South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state´s inability to procure lethal injection drugs. The state Corrections Department said Friday that renovations have been completed on the death chamber in Columbia and that the agency had notified Attorney General Alan Wilson that it was able to carry out a firing-squad execution. The state had blocked executions last May after its new capital punishment law allowed death row inmates to choose death by electrocutions, lethal injection or firing squad,...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — ​​South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law l ast year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs. The state Corrections Department said Friday that renovations have been completed on the death chamber in Columbia and that the agency had notified Attorney General Alan Wilson that it was able to carry out a firing-squad execution. Lawmakers set about tweaking state law to get around the lethal injection drug situation. Legislation that went into effect in May made...

An event horribly underscoring the heartlessness of the brass against frail flesh in their ghastly war of machines, this shooting succeeded a surprise German attack on November 27 whose short-lived push into the French line momentarily drove part of the 298th Regiment to fall back out of their forward trench, before the French rallied and retook their own position to restore the status quo ante. The whole back-and-forth spanned mere minutes — just another snapshot of the trench war stalemate that would become so grindingly familiar to all belligerents in the years ahead. French commanders in the earliest months of...

One of the U.S. Air Force's Boeing B-52 bombers has been damaged after its wing clipped a fence while it was being moved around on an airbase in Louisiana. The bomber, also known as the Stratofortress, was being positioned in order to be put on display when the driver of a tow misjudged the distance between the plane's right wing and a metal perimeter fence. The fence appeared to have penetrated through the skin of the aircraft and punctured the right wing leaving a significant amount of structural damage and its starboard fuel tank ... [photos at link]

This is the sixth in a series of articles analyzing the federal grand jury indictment charging lawyer Michael Sussmann with making a materially false statement to the FBI’s General Counsel. The indictment spelled out Sussmann’s involvement in a thus-far uncharged conspiracy to create a false narrative that was calculated to demonstrate a secret channel of internet communications between the Trump Organization and the Russian Alfa-Bank. Recently Sussmann’s lawyers moved for a bill of particulars alleging that the indictment lacks sufficient detail and clarity for their client to prepare his defense. Special Counsel John Durham’s brief in opposition pointed out that...

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the planned executions of two inmates by electrocution, saying they cannot be put to death until they truly have the choice of a firing squad option set out in the state's newly revised capital punishment law. The high court halted this month's scheduled executions of Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens, writing that corrections officials need to put together a firing squad so that inmates can really choose between that or the electric chair. The state's plans, the court wrote in an unanimous order, are on hold “due to the statutory right of...

"One of my bigger concerns is that there has long been a strong Trump following in the military. People in the military have every right to be conservative or extremely conservative. But Trump’s supporters in the military who think that what happened [on Jan. 6] was a good thing need to be managed out of the military as soon as possible. That probably won’t happen until the Trump loyalists are out, but that needs to be done. We’re not talking about half a dozen people. We’re probably talking about thousands across the Department of Defense. Many of them will have...

Death by firing squad is poised to become an execution method in South Carolina as the state faces a lack of lethal-injection drugs. The state House passed a bill Wednesday, 66-43, approving the use of firing squads, two months after the state Senate approved the measure, 32-11. Condemned inmates will be able to choose between electrocution or firing squad if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. South Carolina can’t put anyone to death now because its supply of lethal-injection drugs expired and it has not been able to buy any more. Currently, inmates can choose between the electric chair and lethal...

ATLANTA — He has been one of the most vocal, visible and controversial critics of the integrity of Georgia’s election. Attorney Lin Wood filed lawsuits and held rallies, claiming people voted illegally in the 2020 presidential election. Now Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray has learned that the state has launched an investigation into whether Wood himself was a legal Georgia voter. Gray confirmed Tuesday that the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office has launched an investigation into whether Wood was eligible to vote in Georgia, whether he broke the law by casting his ballot and whether he was actually a...

The Trump administration is rushing to make a number of federal regulatory changes before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20, ProPublica reported on Wednesday. One of those changes, proposed by the Department of Justice, would allow some federal death-row inmates to be executed by means other than lethal injection. Many states allow for electrocution or a firing squad if lethal injection is not available or if another method is preferred by the prisoner.

Most members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation reacted with ire to President Donald Trump’s drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a powerful commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, early Friday at Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani’s death was first reported by official Iranian media and confirmed by a news release from the Department of Defense that said Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN that Soleimani had orchestrated an “imminent” attack but would not elaborate where or when the attack was to take place. Sen....

Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl contends President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. John McCain made comments that interfered with his right to a fair trial at Fort Bragg. A military court has agreed to hear the appeal of Bowe Bergdahl, the Army soldier who left his post during a deployment in Afghanistan in 2009 to walk to another American base but got captured by the Taliban and held prisoner for five years. At a court-martial at Fort Bragg in 2017, Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion to shirk hazardous duty and to misbehavior before the enemy. He was sentenced to a $10,000...