Free Republic

A lawyer who led the fight against Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, eventually winning the Hobby Lobby case before the Supreme Court, won confirmation by the Senate Tuesday to a federal appeals court. Senators voted 50-47 to confirm Stuart Kyle Duncan to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Only one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, broke with his party to support Mr. Duncan. Other Democrats voiced opposition to Mr. Duncan as an “unfit ideologue” who fought women’s access to reproductive healthcare. They also said his defense of state laws requiring photo-ID to vote,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The No. 3 House Republican leader has been released from a hospital after follow-up surgery related to the wounds he received from a shooting at a GOP baseball practice 10 months ago.</p> <p>Rep. Steve Scalise (skuh-LEES’) of Louisiana is out of MedStar Washington Hospital Center after successful surgery Monday and is expected to recover at home for several days.</p>

A New Orleans resident has received several speeding tickets over the past few years for racing through town at the blistering speed of ... 0 mph. Donald Schulz says he’s been issued at least 10 citations since 2011 for having his pickup truck legally parked along Canal Boulevard. The street has a 35 mph speed limit and a stationary traffic camera on the median. “It’s a nuisance; I've had to take time out of my day several times and go down there and correct the situation,” Schulz told Fox News. “It got so bad that years ago I even had...

A U.S. senator on Thursday criticized Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp’s restrictions on lending to firearm makers and sellers, saying the new policies were wrongly politicizing banking services. Speaking during a hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Republican Senator John Kennedy said he planned to personally file complaints with the U.S. consumer watchdog regarding the firearm policies. “Our friends at Citigroup and Bank of America apparently aren’t busy enough with their banking business; they have decided that they are going to set policy for the second amendment,” the Louisiana lawmaker said, referring to the component of...

Trump judicial nominee Wendy Vitter’s personal pro-life views were under intense scrutiny from several Democratic senators at her confirmation hearing Wednesday. Vitter was repeatedly asked about her pro-life beliefs and whether they would interfere with her role as a judge. She was also grilled about statements made in past, pro-life speaking engagements. The main questions from Democratic senators centered around two appearances she made, that were recently cited by the abortion giant Planned Parenthood in an op-ed targeting Vitter prior to the hearing. One appearance was as the moderator of a 2013 Louisiana Right to Life panel where views...

Earlier this month, we noted that California faced a lawsuit from the Department of Justice over its new status as a “Sanctuary State“. Several red and purple states have now boarded this particular “Trump Train”. Texas and more than a dozen other states led by Republican governors got behind the Trump administration on Monday in its lawsuit over California’s so-called sanctuary laws that protect people in the U.S. illegally. California’s laws are designed to interfere with or block federal immigration enforcement but the state does not have that authority, the other states said in a court filing in the U.S....

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday prosecutors will not bring criminal charges against the two Baton Rouge police officers who fatally shot Alton Sterling. Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot by two white police officers in July 2016 outside a convenience store. "This decision was not taken lightly," Landry said in a news conference following a meeting with Sterling’s five children. “We came to this conclusion after countless hours of reviewing the evidence.” The officers' actions were "well-founded and reasonable," he added. The officers — Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II — were responding to a call that...

With thousands of square miles of land already lost along the coast, Avery Island, home of the famed hot sauce, faces being marooned. The home of Tabasco, the now ubiquitous but uniquely branded condiment controlled by the same family since Edmund McIlhenny first stumbled across a pepper plant growing by a chicken coop on Avery Island, is under threat. An unimaginable plight just a few years ago, the advancing tides are menacing its perimeter. “It does worry us, and we are working hard to minimise the land loss,” said Tony Simmons, the seventh consecutive McIlhenny family member to lead the...

A backbench Republican sparked the latest round of speculation Monday about Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s future by suggesting other GOP lawmakers were bracing for the Wisconsin Republican to resign from office this spring. The suggestion, offered as “rumor mill” by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), drew an immediate dismissal from Ryan’s office. “The speaker is not resigning,” AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) told a local news station that there is a “rumor” that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will resign soon, stepping up speculation about the Speaker’s political future. “The rumor mill is that Paul Ryan is getting ready to resign in the next 30 to 60 days and that Steve Scalise will be the new Speaker,”

“The rumor mill is that Paul Ryan is getting ready to resign in the next 30 to 60 days and that Steve Scalise will be the new Speaker,” Amodei told Nevada Newsmakers, referring to the Majority Whip.

Autoplay: On | Off Rep. Mark Amodei Mark Eugene Amodei Student suspended for telling lawmakers to 'get off their f---ing asses' and pass gun laws Depending on China and Russia for key minerals could lead to a national security crisis Interior agency delayed tribal casino approval after competitor’s lobbying: report MORE (R-Nev.) told a local news station that there is a “rumor” that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will resign soon, stepping up speculation about the Speaker’s political future. “The rumor mill is that Paul Ryan is getting ready to resign in the next 30 to 60 days and that Steve...

A Metairie man walked with a machete into a Kenner Walmart and used the weapon to try to kidnap a 2-year-old boy and then an infant, swinging the blade at store employees before he was tackled and arrested Friday (March 23), police said. At one point, police said, Billy Yoe Budier-Herrera, 33, forced a mother to struggle for her child and to take refuge behind the store's deli counter, moments before store employees and an off-duty Kenner police officer working a detail subdued Budier-Herrera inside the Walmart Supercenter, at 8912 Veterans Blvd. Budier-Herrera was booked with two counts of second-degree...

SULPHUR — After the Sulphur City Council adjourned their meeting Monday night, councilman Stuart Moss spoke at length about what he considers to be a “public health and safety issue.” “The traffic issues on Maplewood Drive have become outrageous,” said Moss. “Not one person can do this (fix the issue) and it’s not going to be resolved overnight.” Moss was referring specifically to the intersection at Prater Road and Maplewood Drive. Moss lives on Eveland — off of Maplewood — and said during peak time (from 3:30 p.m. until as late as 9 p.m.), it can take an hour and...

Soft-on-crime Judge Trudy White is right in the middle of the tragic death of 41-year old Zachary police officer Christopher Lawton Monday night. Lawton’s alleged killer, 33-year-old Albert Franklin, has been the beneficiary of White’s well-established history of being lax with criminals. Franklin now sits in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, charged with first-degree murder of Lawton. Late Monday, East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said Lawton was killed while working undercover with another Zachary police officer searching for Franklin, who was wanted on active warrants for aggravated second-degree battery, felon in possession of a firearm and aggravated assault with...

A restaurant in New Orleans is hoping to raise awareness of racial wealth differences in the country by charging white customers more. SAARTJ is a pop-up restaurant in the Louisiana city run by local Nigerian chef Tunde Wey who will be charging white customers $18 (£13) extra for their meal. Much like the cafe in Melbourne, Australia which charged a 'man-tax' due to the gender pay gap, SAARTJ is charging an increase to highlight the racial pay gap in New Orleans. In 2013, a study found that the average household income of an African-American in the city was 54 per...

SAARTJ is a pop-up restaurant in the Louisiana city run by local Nigerian chef Tunde Wey who will be charging white customers $18 (£13) extra for their meal. Much like the cafe in Melbourne, Australia which charged a 'man-tax' due to the gender pay gap, SAARTJ is charging an increase to highlight the racial pay gap in New Orleans. In 2013, a study found that the average household income of an African-American in the city was 54 per cent lower than that of a white person.

President Donald Trump embraced Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) gun control bill but rejected Rep. Steve Scalise’s (R-LA) push for national reciprocity during a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers Wednesday afternoon. After listening to Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT), Trump looked at toward the end of the table and asked Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) to detail their gun control bill. The Manchin/Toomey gun control bill is the same universal background check legislation supported by Barack Obama in the wake of the heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School. It the very bill that was defeated in the Democrat-controlled...

Would you hesitate to spend $12 for a work-day lunch? How about $30? One big factor affecting your answer to that question is how financially secure you are. In Central City, a social experiment is under way through Sunday (March 4). Walk up to a window manned by chef Tunde Wey at Roux Carré, 2000 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., order his Nigerian food and the experiment begins. If you are white, you will be asked to pay $30. If you are black, Latino or Asian, the bill will be $12. Any diner can elect to pay $12 and be served....

Court case: Chesteen v. U.S. (Bankr. E.D. La., No. 17-11472 Section “B” Chapter 13, 2/9/18)A U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled that a taxpayer’s $695 shared responsibility payment under the ACA individual mandate is more properly characterized as a penalty, not a tax, and as such is not entitled to priority treatment under the Bankruptcy Code. Background. John D. Chesteen, Jr. filed for relief under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code on June 8, 2017. His amended priority claim was $5,100.10, based on amounts he owed the IRS for 2015 and 2016. After several amendments to...