Free Republic

Representatives from 13 states including 12 state attorneys general and one governor filed a motion in support of President Trump’s temporary travel ban. From the Dallas Morning News: Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday led a coalition of 13 states in filing a brief with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defending President Donald Trump’s revised immigration order.In the brief, Paxton and representatives from 12 other states argue that the Trump administration’s new order is legal and falls under the president’s power over foreign affairs and national security. Those joining the brief included Paxton plus AG’s in the...

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A huge fire at an apartment building under construction in suburban Kansas City has sparked fires at several homes blocks away. The eight-alarm fire broke out about 3:30 p.m. Monday at the multimillion-dollar CityPlace development in Overland Park, Kansas, sending plumes of smoke and embers toward homes in the suburban neighborhood nearby, The Kansas City Star reported (http://bit.ly/2nLM3Hg ). Once one roof caught fire, embers jumped from roof to roof, spreading the blaze, said Overland Park Fire Department spokesman Jason Rhodes. "It's a bit of a war zone down there frankly," Rhodes said. No serious...

Jeffrey Allen Burgess has been accused of harming Ankur Mehta because of his "perceived race, colour and national origin". (Photo courtesy: wtae.com) Less WASHINGTON: An American man has been charged with hate crime for assaulting an Indian-origin man and hurling racial slurs, mistaking him for a Muslim. Jeffrey Allen Burgess, 54, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, has been accused of intentionally harming a man named Ankur Mehta on November 22 because of his "perceived race, colour and national origin". A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Burgess of a hate crime charge in connection with the alleged assault at a Red...

In a city with enlightened leaders, people might commend Rocky and Lisa Cole for finding a way to get by without city water or a top heating system. Unfortunately for the Coles, they live in Fort Hutchinson where government bureaucrats try to force rigid adherence to the city's military like regulations. Hutchinson's hypocritical officials want everyone to obey their regulations, but don't think they need to obey the constitutional provisions defining the judicial power. Hutchinson's municipal court violates both the state and federal constitutions. It doesn't have the constitutional authority to legally fine people, take property or place people in...

HIGHLIGHTS o Trump said he condemns hate in all its forms as well as the shooting in Kansas last week. o He was referring to a what s being called a 'hate crime' last week when two Indians were shot and one was killed by a US army veteran. o At the same time, he said tightening immigration rules will 'keep America safe.' NEW DELHI: Even as he condemned last week's shooting of an Indian in Kansas, US President Donald Trump said today that enforcing immigration rules is the only way to keep the country safe. "We condemn hate in...

POLITICISING HATE CRIME Wrong to blame Trump for racial killing It is tragic that an Indian engineer was shot dead in the US in what appears to be a racial hate crime. The killer (a Navy veteran) shouted, "Get out of my country", before he shot the victim and injured another Indian. American laws are strong enough to deal with such incidents and one must hope that the murderer will be punished sooner than later. It would be wrong, however, to generalise that hate crimes against Indians, or non-whites, are becoming part of the American DNA. Let us not forget...

CNN)The widow of an Indian man killed in a Kansas bar said Friday she was constantly worried about violence against foreigners, but her husband had assured her everything would be OK. "I told him many a times, 'Should we think about going back? Should we think about going to a different country?' He said, No," Sunayana Dumala said, according to video recorded by CNN affiliate KCTV. Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, died Wednesday from wounds after being shot at a bar and restaurant in Olathe where he was having an after-work beer with a good friend. Hours later police arrested Adam W....

Rocky Cole is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The city of Hutchinson has told him he and his wife, Lisa, can’t continue living in their home because of code violations, but he is struggling to afford to make the needed changes because he is on a fixed income. He has lived in the home at 211 N. Chemical St., owned by his mother, Myrna Cole, for about 11 years, he estimated. Unable to work full-time because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Rocky Cole relies on Social Security disability income. Because of that limited income – and because...

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would undo his signature income tax cut and his allies prevented the Legislature from overriding him, setting up future confrontations over balancing the state budget. Less than two hours after Brownback vetoed the bill, the state House voted 85-40 to override him, giving supporters one vote more than the two-thirds majority they needed. But the vote in the Senate hours later was 24-16, which was three shy of a two-thirds majority. By not overriding the veto, lawmakers will have to draft another plan aimed at closing projected budget shortfalls totaling...

Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is hoping the federal government can rescue several critical infrastructure projects that the state can no longer afford.The Brownback administration recently sent what amounts to a wish list to President Donald Trump for inclusion in his planned infrastructure initiative. It includes the following $240 million in highway and bridge projects delayed or abandoned because of the state’s ongoing budget problems: $50 million to replace a section of the Lewis and Clark Viaduct that carries Interstate 70 across the Kansas River between Kansas and Missouri.$91 million to build an I-235 interchange in Wichita.$45 million to reconstruct...

Kansas Democrats hoping to turn voter discontent into an upset picked civil rights attorney Jim Thompson to run for the U.S. House seat that Mike Pompeo vacated to become CIA director under President Donald Trump. Thompson, a 46-year-old political newcomer and Army veteran, will run against Republican state Treasurer Ron Estes in the April 11 special election. It will be the nation’s first special congressional election since Trump’s win, and Democrats view it as their best chance to flip the seat representing the heavily Republican 4th District in southern Kansas. After winning the Democratic nomination, Thompson, told delegates that the...

Larry Hauth has a farm in Coffey County and a daughter in Wichita. Good roads are kind of important to him. So he’s disturbed by the ongoing and accelerating trend of the state taking money out of the highway fund to balance the rest of its budget. “One of the things Kansas has going for it, compared to our surrounding states, is our road system,” Hauth said. “When they built them in years past, they were thinking ahead. I don’t think we’re thinking ahead right now. We’re trying to tread water, at best.” Gov. Sam Brownback wants to take nearly...

Secretary of State Kris Kobach did not consult with the Kansas Highway Patrol before crafting a bill that would require the agency to partner with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on immigration enforcement, an agency spokesman said Thursday. Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita, introduced a pair of conceptual bills on Kobach’s behalf at Thursday’s meeting of the House Federal and State Affairs Committee. One of the bills would instruct the Highway Patrol to negotiate and sign an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security “concerning the enforcement of federal immigration laws, detentions and removals, and related investigations,” according to a...

Lou Dobbs just broke in with the report that Mike Pompeo now has 56 votes for confirmation, and has been confirmed by the Senate.

Kansas election officials threw out thousands of ballots cast in November, mostly because the state had no record those residents were registered voters.<> Some local officials are now voicing concerns about numerous documented instances of lost voter registrations from people who had filled out applications on the state’s online site and at motor vehicle offices. Those names never showed up on any poll books despite the fact these voters had date-stamped, computer screenshot confirmations. The secretary of state’s office says there was a technical problem with the motor vehicle department computer system that handles online registrations that was corrected days...

Joe Biden is known for getting along with politicians on both sides of the aisle, but one former Republican congressman wasn’t happy about the vice president being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on Thursday. Former Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas took to Twitter on Thursday night to voice his disapproval, tweeting: “For once, @JoeBiden and I agree: he doesn’t deserve this honor.”

The pins read “My pronouns are” followed by either “he, him, his,” “she, her, hers” or “they, them, theirs.” A sign at the library declares that mis-gendering a person can have dangerous consequences and can “invalidate someone’s identity.” “Because gender is, itself, fluid and up to the individual,” the sign reads. “Each person has the right to identify their own pronouns, and we encourage you to ask before assuming someone’s gender. Pronouns matter!”

We had some good times following the exploits of Kansas carpetbagger Jason Kander as he attempted to win the Senate seat held by Roy Blunt. That effort came up short on November 8th however, and now Jason is going to be looking for a new job. Unless he has some hidden skills in heating and air conditioning which he could put to use at Carrier, that means it will most likely be something in politics. That means either a lobbyist position (which shouldn’t be too tough to find because his wife has a lot of experience in that area) or...

Hello. This is a photo of a skunk in Gardner, Kansas, captured on a remote camera set up to investigate reports of a mountain lion in the area. But after deploying two trail cameras, Gardner police said they found no mountain lion, just the typical forest dwellers. Like this coyote. And this person using a walker while carrying some sort of sharp object.And this guy in a gas mask holding a plastic bag. Wait. No. NO. WTF. Tsdfi;’uysdl,[kdjbg;aie@rutjmo[eitsg^ For their part, Gardner police said in a Facebook post that they thought it was pretty damn funny. We would like to...

The recent actions of a McDonald's employee in Kansas are leaving a bad taste in the mouths of police officers and their supporters. A Topeka employee at the fast food chain has been fired and is currently facing criminal charges after local law enforcement say the worker put mustard in an officer’s beverage. . . . Tom Dobski, the franchisee owner of the north Topeka McDonald's where the officer found mustard in his Dr. Pepper, says the company is "shocked by the isolated actions of a single employee."