Free Republic

An accomplished Republican professional who served as chief operating officer of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) during the Donald Trump administration was among those shot in a vicious carjacking spree in Washington, D.C., on Monday night, one that ended in police killing the perpetrator in Maryland early Tuesday morning. Mike Gill is in a hospital in critical condition after being shot while picking up his wife, an education lawyer, blocks from the White House on K Street in downtown D.C. at 5:45pm. “We can confirm that Mike Gill was the victim of the shooting at the 900 block of...

On Wednesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that Washington, D.C.’s home rule should be taken away if the city can’t keep calm and peace in the streets. Host Hugh Hewitt asked, “Should home rule be taken away from D.C. and returned to federal control if they can’t provide protection on the streets of the capital, senator?” Paul responded, “Yes. D.C. is a unique thing set up by the Constitution, taken from the states. It’s not a state. It doesn’t have states’ rights. And a lot of the decisions are made by Congress. But I think really, if...

The real property of the landlord class is being liquidated, slowly but steadily, in one odd corner of America, with the nation as a whole blissfully unaware of the slow-motion seizure underway. In Washington, D.C., before the very eyes of the world's media, the rental property of landlords is being handed over to their tenants, step by careful step. After Congress granted the District home rule in 1973, its elected officials found thumbing their nose at the city's former overseers more rewarding than trying to run a competent and honest government. Since then, several city agencies and programs have been...

WASHINGTON — Washington D.C.'s City Council has voted to legalize gay marriage in the nation's capital. Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill, which was co-sponsored by 10 of the council's 13 members. The final vote Tuesday was 11-2. The bill now goes to Congress, which has final say over the district's laws. Opponents say they'll try to get Congress or voters to overturn it. Passage of the bill is a victory for gay marriage supporters, who have been dealt a recent string of defeats... Gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. New Hampshire will...

Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio - As gun-rights groups lauded a new law passed last week lifting most local restrictions on carrying firearms, Ohio's big cities were contemplating joining forces to stop it. In a rare confrontation with lawmakers, Gov. Bob Taft vetoed a bill that wiped out half a dozen assault-weapons bans across the state and dozens of other local gun laws - but the Legislature overrode the veto soundly, the first time it had done so since 1977. Jeff Garvas, who represents Ohioans for Concealed Carry, said gun rights advocates had been boggled by how to comply with an...

Pennsylvania has been growing slowly for decades. The Brookings Institution's report, Back to Prosperity, says urban sprawl and too many local government units are the problem. They could not be more wrong. Slow growth has afflicted the Frost Belt of the Northeast and Midwest since World War II. Warmer weather and lower business costs have attracted most growth to the Sun Belt of the South and West. The problem is not unique to Pennsylvania; it is regional. Metropolitan Philadelphia's job growth has been better than average in the Frost Belt -better than larger New York and Chicago. Of course, things...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- The United States has demanded that the IRA disband after the guerrilla group's astonishing offer to shoot the killers of a murdered Northern Ireland Catholic man. "It's time for the IRA to go out of business," U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said Wednesday. For the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's biggest Irish nationalist party, the U.S. demand was yet another blow to its democratic credentials. Reiss told BBC radio: "It's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated. "You can't sign...

A judge has ruled that state legislation can't supersede Denver's gun laws because the state constitution gives home rule cities supremacy in issues of local concern. A new court ruling upholding most of Denver's gun ordinances is invaluable on two counts: It underscores the importance of home rule and it highlights the obvious - Denver is not the same as a small town, and when it comes to guns it shouldn't be treated like one. Deputy City Attorney David Broadwell said it this way in his opening brief: "Simply put, a bullet fired in Denver - whether maliciously by a...

A number of cities and townships in Pennsylvania have something called "home rule." Once I spoke to someone familiar with the concept, who tried to explain it to me. But I still am unclear. I DO remember that he said the relationship between the Commonwealth of PA and the municipalities is DIFFERENT from that between the Federal government and the states. Under the ?10th? Amendment responsibilities not explicitly given the federal govenment are reserved for the states (?right?). But under Commonwealth law, the state has to explicitly grant privileges to the municipality. Everything not granted to the municipality is the...

Our local town is having an election soon on whether to adopt "home rule" status. Concerns have arisen that if adopted too much power will be in the hands of city-hall insiders and developers to create agressive land use policies that could be detrimental to property owners in the areas of annexation, condemnation and sustainable development. We would appreciate feedback from any Freepers living in communities that have adopted home rule to determine if this is a proper course of action.