Free Republic

A Letter from Mayor Frank G. Jackson In the wake of the tragic events that unfolded in Baltimore, and bearing in mind the series of police-related matters and legal proceedings currently in process here in Cleveland, I am writing to let you know that the City of Cleveland has been planning and is prepared to address upcoming developments. As I am sure you are aware, it is likely that the trial of Officer Michael Brelo will conclude within the next few days. Other high-profile cases are still pending, as well as continued negotiations with the Department of Justice. Clearly, these...

The Supreme Court on Monday gave new life to a lawsuit challenging ObamaCare’s contraception mandate, striking down a previous ruling in favor of the federal government. An appeals court in Cincinnati will now reconsider the legal challenge from the Catholic groups in Michigan and Tennessee that had sought exemptions from an ObamaCare provision that requires employers to cover birth control for all workers. The justices asked the lower court to reconsider the case in light of last year's landmark ruling on the contraception mandate. That ruling, which was issued last June, decided that the arts-and-crafts retailer, Hobby Lobby, could...

Living historian Curt Fields describes the life and accomplishments of Ulysses S. Grant. This video is part of the Civil War Trust's In4 video series, which presents short videos on basic Civil War topics. The Civil War in Four Minutes: Ulysses S. Grant

Born April 27, 1822, into a Methodist family in Ohio, he was nominated at age 17 for a position at West Point by Congressman Thomas Hamer, who mistakenly added the middle initial “S” to his name.

It certainly seems so. This week has been very revealing in terms of what conservatives actually think and what progressives imagine we think. The “big” question that kicked it all off was “would you attend a gay wedding?” This was, apparently, supposed to separate the knuckle-dragging haters on the right from the sophisticated and pious leftists. John Nolte writes: "Another Republican presidential hopeful, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, made all kinds of headlines when he said something that would not surprise anyone who has spent any amount of time with a conservative Christian — that he would attend a same sex...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told President Obama on Saturday he was making “untrue” claims about his opponents — including herself. The feud between Obama and the left continued Saturday, when Warren and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called on the president to immediately declassify the negotiating terms of a pending trade deal with a host of nations known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In an effort to push through trade legislation that would help finalize the deal, Obama has blasted critics on the left, saying they are “wrong” and “don’t know what they’re talking about.” Liberal critics of the trade deal have...

Posters promoting a "straight pride" week at a northeast Ohio university were removed this week after student leaders determined that the message went beyond free speech. Youngstown State University student government leaders told WKBN-TV they decided to remove the posters after consulting with university officials. The posters were hung around campus earlier this week. They included profanity and promoted the event as a time to not highlight sexual orientation or differences among students. They encouraged students to "go about your day without telling everyone about how 'different' you are."

NEW YORK (AP) — When Amanda Berry's toddler daughter had night terrors and started screaming and running around the room, Berry couldn't always get to her — because she was chained and couldn't move that far. Big, heavy chains were a regular part of Berry's life for years as she, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were held captive in a Cleveland home by Ariel Castro before finally escaping in 2013. So were repeated rapes and other abuse.

Hillary Clinton should have to turn her computer hardware over to the federal government, House Speaker John Boehner now says, though he hasn't decided yet if he'll take legal action to force her hand. 'She violated the law, and the idea that she was going to use her own server and do official business on it goes against every transparency issue that the President likes to tout,' Boehner told Bloomberg News. The Republican leader said the executive branch 'just can't ignore the fact that there are a lot of public documents on this server that the American people have a...

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday that the full House may have to vote to subpoena former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email server, as the chairman of the Benghazi investigative committee officially called on her to testify twice to his panel. The invitation by Rep. Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican and chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, sets up a test for Mrs. Clinton, the former first lady and newly announced Democratic presidential candidate, whose attorney has said she wants to appear before the committee only once, in public. Mr. Gowdy asked Mrs. Clinton to...

House Speaker John Boehner called for the Obama administration to provide "all the facts" in the U.S. drone strike that accidentally killed an American and Italian hostage held at an al Qaeda compound. Boehner, R-Ohio, said he also expects House committees to look into the incident. "As President Obama indicated, this is not a time for excuses," Boehner said after offering condolences to the families of American Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian citizen. "The president announced an independent review is under way and that is entirely proper," Boehner said. "We need all the facts for the families,...

Retired neurosurgeon and likely presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson this weekend endorsed Ohio Sen. Rob Portman's re-election campaign against likely Democratic challenger Ted Strickland. "I want to see Rob Portman re-elected to the U.S. Senate and encourage Ohio voters to join his campaign and keep the Senate in Republican control," said Carson, a spokesman at the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County's annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday night in Cleveland, according to a party press release.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday approved sweeping changes in the way Medicare pays doctors, clearing the bill for President Obama and resolving an issue that has bedeviled Congress and the Medicare program for more than a decade. The 92-to-8 vote in the Senate, following passage in the House last month by an overwhelming vote of 392 to 37, was a major success for Republicans, who devised a solution to a complex policy problem that had frustrated lawmakers of both parties. Mr. Obama has endorsed the bill, saying it “could help slow health care cost growth.” The bill, drafted in...

A rookie Ohio cop is being praised for "great restraint and maturity" after he held off using deadly force against a double murder suspect who charged at him, his police chief said. In a confrontation Thursday with a man accused of killing his fiancee and his best friend, New Richmond Police Officer Jesse Kidder is heard on his body-camera video yelling, "No man, I'm not going to do it!" and ordering the suspect to get down on the ground. The suspect rushes toward him shouting, "Shoot me, shoot me!" "Back up!" screams Kidder, holding his gun out. The man finally...

This Cincinnati Enquirer report about this controversy is not as bad as it could have been, given the mainstream media’s policy of obfuscating the reality of the global jihad. It is full of the usual nonsense: those who oppose the promotion of Islam in a public school are guilty of “racism” and “bigotry” — charges that would never be leveled at anyone who opposed the promotion of Christianity or Judaism in a public school. Muslims quoted in the story eagerly play the victim as usual, pretending to be the victims of discrimination, with no hint that anyone has any reason...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A seventh police officer invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Thursday in the voluntary manslaughter trial of fellow Cleveland officer Michael Brelo. Officer Erin O'Donnell, who participated in the Nov. 29, 2012 police chase and shootings that resulted in charges against Brelo, entered the courtroom with her attorney, Mark Stanton. Prosecutors asked her if she had told investigators the "whole story" of what happened on the night of Nov. 29, 2012, at which point O'Donnell invoked her Fifth Amendment right. After brief discussion, Judge John P. O'Donnell agreed that since the officer was present and fired...

Mason High School is in Mason, Ohio. Several parents have passed on to me the notice below, which they received from the school. Note that the Muslim Student Association is involved — a group with tie to the Muslim Brotherhood. When is A Cross-Wearer’s Challenge day at Mason High? When is A Yarmulke Wearer’s Challenge day at Mason High? Or is it only Islam that gets this treatment?

The first major step in what will likely be a long, drawn-out legal process will begin today, April 16. Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments from 16 states and a handful of energy companies. The two consolidated cases led by the state of West Virginia and the Ohio-based Murray Energy Corporation seek to prevent EPA from finalizing the already proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP). The two lawsuits contend that EPA cannot legally regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act since –...

A Columbus, Ohio man whom the Department of Justice says trained with ISIS in Syria and was planning a terror attack here has been arrested in the U.S., according to reports.

In our federal system, states should be able to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Friday joined an amicus brief on behalf of 57 members of Congress in support of the right of states to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The brief was filed in four cases that the Supreme Court will jointly hear on April 28, 2015, in which same-sex couples challenge the marriage laws of Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kentucky, all of which were upheld by the U.S....