Free Republic

The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands has ordered the territory's national guard to begin seizing guns and ammunition from citizens in preparation for Hurricane Irma's landfall. In an executive order signed Monday, Gov. Kenneth Mapp instructed Adjutant General Deborah Howell "to take whatever actions she considers necessary to carry out the assigned mission" of maintaining and restoring public order. "The Adjutant General is authorized and directed to seize arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material and any other property that may be required by the military forces for the performance of this emergency mission," the governor said in the order. The...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – WDRB News is fighting what its attorney calls a “clearly illegal“ search warrant obtained by Louisville Metro Police that would allow officers to comb through the station’s newsroom and access computers, notes and unpublished material gathered for a recent news story about a suspect in a police shooting. Jon Fleischaker, an attorney representing WDRB, said it is the first time he has seen such an order in at least the last 40 years, when federal law prohibited law enforcement agencies from serving search warrants on news organizations except in extremely rare cases. “There are very serious...

As canna-business strategist Elise McRoberts walked across an animal skin rug and into the living room of a Pacific Heights home for the recent San Francisco launch of Beboe, an upscale cannabis brand from Los Angeles, she assumed she would see the usual faces on the marijuana circuit — growers, dispensary owners and cannabis chefs. Instead, the party was a cross-pollination of the worlds of high society, Silicon Valley, politics, fashion and design: industrial designer Yves Béhar, former Mayor Willie Brown, who carried decriminalization bills in the state assembly in the 1970s, philanthropists Katie and Todd Traina, boutique owner Emily...

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Uses New Device To Seize Money Used During The Commission Of - News9.com http://m.news9.com/story.aspx?story=32168555&catId=112032 Posted: Jun 07, 2016 5:57PM CDT Aaron Brilbeck, News 9 You may have heard of civil asset forfeiture. That's where police can seize your property and cash without first proving you committed a crime; without a warrant and without arresting you, as long as they suspect that your property is somehow tied to a crime. Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards. It's called an ERAD, or...

When a coverup is called for, to shield a democrat politician, there are no limits as to what lengths the minions will be called upon to do. Even deny that a U.S. airliner was blown out of the sky because it would make the leadership in power look weak. Try to find out the truth and you will be silenced in any manner they deem necessary. Jack Cashill, James and Elizabeth Sanders, James O'Keefe, just to name a few...

CNN has updates on the story of the Georgia SWAT team that threw a flash bang while executing a no-knock warrant that severely burned a nineteen-month-old baby. Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell says the deputies involved are "devastated" and that they've been called "baby killers" and received threats. "All I can say is pray for the baby, his family and for us," the sheriff told CNN. Terrell has insisted his officers and those of the local police department did nothing wrong and blamed the target of the warrant (not found at the house that was invaded) on the attack on...

KXNT photo illustration (shooting scene image courtesy Las Vegas Review-Journal) (LAS VEGAS, KXNT, ASSOCIATED PRESS)–A funeral service was held in NOrth Las Vegas for the man who died at the hands of BLM agents during a skirmish in Red Rock Canyon in February. The service for D’Andre Berghardt Jr. took place at Nehemiah Ministries Christian Church. Berghardt was moving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to begin working with his brother when he was shot and killed Feb. 14. Jacob Hafter, a lawyer representing the family says that various delays, including the forensic examination of Berghardt’s body, contributed to...

Does the Environmental Protection Agency really need armed agents? Outside of law enforcement, federal agencies now employ over 25,000 people as armed agents. They are more than guards. They’ve become like private armies that can push around private citizens. Over 70 non-military federal agencies now have their own armed agents. You expect armed agents with the FBI, the U.S. Marshal Service and the Border Patrol. But the EPA? The Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, even the Social Security Administration and the National Institutes of Health? Even the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban...

On January 2, David W. Eckert was stopped by police in Deming, NM for running a stop sign. What happened next is extremely difficult to comprehend. Deming Police Officer Robert Chavez had Eckert exit his vehicle, and patted him down. A lawsuit filed by Eckert says this was “without reasonable suspicion.” According to court documents, the officers who stopped Eckert thought he was “clenching his buttocks.” They brought in a dog to sniff for drugs, and the dog “alerted” to the driver’s seat. Two deputies from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department told Chavez that Eckert was known to insert drugs...

The National Park Service has ordered the closure of a Virginia park that sits on federal land, even though the government provides no resources for its maintenance or operation. The Claude Moore Colonial Farm announced on Wednesday that NPS has ordered it to suspend operations until Congress agrees to a deal to fund the federal government. According to Anna Eberly, managing director of the farm, NPS sent law enforcement agents to the park on Tuesday evening to remove staff and volunteers from the property. “You do have to wonder about the wisdom of an organization that would use staff they...

(Credit: Heather Donald, YouTube) A military veteran in Crawford County, Michigan has been arrested and charged with a felony assault with a deadly weapon even after HE was the one who called the cops in the first place when he found a man trespassing on his property.When the man’s wife tried to video tape what was happening the cops told her to turn off the camera and tried to take it.  (You can see the video below… only because the wife figured out how to restore the “deleted” file)The Blaze has reported that Thomas Donald was out hunting with his...

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta admitted earlier this month that he had been wrong in his opposition to medical marijuana during the rollout for his documentary "Weed." Gupta reported on research that demonstrated the proven benefits of marijuana in treating neuropathic pain. Medical marijuana was the only drug that helped a 5-year-old girl with Dravet syndrome live without constant seizures. It calmed the constant hiccuping of a 19-year-old. Israelis use it to treat Parkinson's disease and other ailments. Gupta took on the federal government's classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which has no accepted medical use but has a...

The American approach to law enforcement was forged by the experience of revolution. Emerging as they did from the shadow of British rule, the country's founders would likely have viewed police, as they exist today, as a standing army, and therefore a threat to liberty. Even so, excessive force and disregard for the Bill of Rights have become epidemic in today’s world. According to civil liberties reporter Radley Balko, these are all symptoms of a generation-long shift to increasingly aggressive, militaristic, and arguably unconstitutional policing—one that would have shocked the conscience of America’s founders. Rise of the Warrior Cop traces...

A former TSA worker has pleaded guilty to stealing over $500 in cash from a man who complained about the TSA’s invasive pat down procedure, with the TSA agent admitting the theft was a punishment for the man’s lack of obedience. 60-year-old John W. Irwin pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny following an incident in November 2011, during which a man asked that he be given a pat down rather than face a body scanner due to a medical condition. When TSA agents ordered the man undergo the pat down in a private room, he complained but agreed...

A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen. Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer in his wheelchair and was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. At the time, the officer did not know what the metal object was that the man was waving, Silva said. She said the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer...

The chairman of insurance giant Progressive Corp. this year provided another $465,000 for a ballot question to legalize medical marijuana in Massachusetts. Peter B. Lewis, who supports medical marijuana, has now contributed $990,000, including $525,000 last year, to the Committee for Compassionate Medicine, the organization leading the effort to legalize medical marijuana in Massachusetts. Lewis is nonexecutive chairman of Progressive, which is based in Mayfield Village, Ohio. ccording to reports filed with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance last last week, the Committee for Compassionate Medicine has raised $512,850 this year and spent $405,825. Including last year, the...

(CNN) -- A graphic video played at a hearing Monday to determine whether two California police officers should stand trial in the beating death of a homeless man showed them kicking and punching the mentally ill man as he lay on the ground -- screaming in pain and begging for help. The victim, Kelly Thomas, died five days after the beating on July 5. Manuel Ramos, a 10-year veteran of the Fullerton, California, police department, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, while Cpl. Jay Patrick Cicinelli faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony use of excessive force in...

Full title: Weeping four-year-old girl accused of carrying a GUN by TSA officers after she hugged her grandmother while passing through security A four-year-old girl was apparently subjected to a humiliating ordeal after she hugged her grandmother while she was waiting in line. The girl was accused of having a gun and declared a 'high security threat', while agents threatened to shut down the whole airport if she could not be calmed down. Terror threat? Four-year-old Isabella was subjected to a full body pat-down and accused of carrying a gun in an airport In her terror, Isabella tried to run...

The Department Of Homeland Security Is Buying 450 Million New Bullets Eloise Lee|March 28, 2012| The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office is getting an "indefinite delivery" of an "indefinite quantity" of .40 caliber ammunition from defense contractor ATK. U.S. agents will receive a maximum of 450 million rounds over five years, according to a press release on the deal. The high performance HST bullets are designed for law enforcement and ATK says they offer "optimum penetration for terminal performance." This refers to the the bullet's hollow-point tip that passes through barriers and...

The DEA Web pages on "Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization" are linked with some regularity on FR. They're full of errors in fact and logic; since I couldn't find a comprehensive rebuttal online, I've started creating one. Here's my rebuttal to their "Fact 1;" more to come as time permits. Claim 1: "We have made significant progress in fighting drug use and drug trafficking in America. Now is not the time to abandon our efforts." Claim: On the demand side, the U.S. has reduced casual use, chronic use and addiction, and prevented others from even starting using drugs. Overall drug...