Free Republic

Ten months after striking down the District’s long-standing ban on carrying firearms in public as unconstitutional, a federal judge Monday ordered the city to halt enforcing a key provision of the new gun-permitting system it adapted in response. As passed by the D.C. Council, the District’s new carry legislation remains among the strictest in the nation, requiring applicants to state good reason to carry a weapon in order to obtain a permit from police, matching laws in Maryland, New Jersey and New York. However, in a 23-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. ruled that condition — known...

George Zimmerman was injured today in a shooting in Lake Mary Florida. Zimmerman suffered a minor gunshot wound. WESH reported: The shooting involving Zimmerman and another man happened on Lake Mary Boulevard about 12:45 p.m., police said. According to Bracknell, officers at the scene reported Zimmerman suffered a minor gunshot wound. “He walked normally into the ambulance, so he wasn’t being helped or nothing,” said witness Ricardo Berrare. “They actually backed up the ambulance next to his driver side so he could walk into the door.” Chopper 2 video showed a bullet hole in the passenger window of the vehicle...

Two gunmen were killed and a security guard wounded in an attack outside a controversial Dallas-area event Sunday evening where organizers were holding a contest for cartoons featuring the Muslim prophet Muhammad, police said. The shooting in Garland, a Texas suburb about 20 miles from Dallas, was preceded by messages from two social media accounts that supported extremist Islamic viewpoints. One tweet, sent at 6:35 p.m., used the hashtag "#texasattack." The user wrote, “May Allah accept us as mujahideen.” Attendees inside the conference didn’t get word about the shooting until 6:50 p.m. -snip- Two social media accounts tweeted messages about...

Two suspects were gunned down after shooting the guard in the leg outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland. Building and surrounding area was placed on lockdown by a SWAT team with around 100 attendees still inside Reports suggest the pair were carrying explosives at the time, and another two bombs were discovered nearby The American Freedom Defense Initiative event offered a $10,000 prize for the best caricature of the prophet Involved a keynote speech from far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has linked the Koran to terrorism Two armed suspects believed to be carrying explosives have been shot dead...

Garland - shock moment in Texas! In a controversial competition with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed shots were fired near Dallas. An official in special operations outfit said the visitors towards the end of the event on Sunday evening (local time) at the Curtis Culwell Center in the city of Garland, the shots were fired in front of the building. The venue was cordoned off immediately. As US media reports, two suspects were shot. They had tried the event had to approach with a bomb. In the shootout, therefore also a security guard was injured. Planten the perpetrators may have...

Rumors have circulated through social media and on some websites that Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died April 19 after he was injured while in police custody, had a previous spinal injury that caused his death. The rumors also claim that Gray had spinal fusion surgery not long before his arrest to repair an injury caused by a car accident, which he received an insurance settlement for.

The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen for almost a month announced on Tuesday the end to its military operation, but a Saudi spokesman said forces would continue to target the Iran-allied Houthi movement as necessary.

Capitol building, Visitor's Center placed on lockdownU.S. Capitol Police have detained a man who flew over and landed a gyrocopter on Capitol grounds, causing the building and visitor center to be locked down Wednesday afternoon. The pilot landed around 1:30 p.m. was taken into custody after he landed on the West Front grounds. Police have described the aircraft as a gyrocopter, which is similar to a helicopter in appearance, but uses a different type of propulsion and lift. The USCP Hazardous Devices Section (bomb squad) is continuing to investigate the gyrocopter. The following temporary street closures are in effect, affecting...

Rahm Emanuel Re-Elected as Chicago Mayor in Runoff Incumbent defeats challenger Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia after failing to win a second term outright in February By MARK PETERS and BEN KESLING April 7, 2015 CHICAGO—Mayor Rahm Emanuel was re-elected Tuesday following a spirited runoff here that tested the policies and personality of the nationally known politician.

A man with a machete was shot after he attacked a security officer at Louis Armstrong International Airport Friday evening, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said. The man walked down a TSA Pre-Check security line into Concourse B at about 7:30 p.m. and was challenged by an officer who was checking for his boarding pass, Normand said. The man then pulled out a can of wasp spray and sprayed the officer, he said. He ran past two other officers and pulled out a machete, cutting a female TSA officer in the arm, Normand said. A sheriff's officer opened fire, striking...

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday revived the University of Notre Dame's religious objections to the requirement for contraception coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, throwing out a lower court decision in favor of the federal government. The justices asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision against the South Bend, Indiana-based Roman Catholic university in light of the June 2014 Supreme Court ruling that allowed certain privately owned corporations to seek exemptions from the provision. The case is part of national litigation concerning religious objections to the contraception provision of the 2010...

WASHINGTON — Congress is sending President Obama a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the budget year, without overturning the president’s immigration policies. The House on Tuesday voted 257-167 for the measure that Obama is expected to sign. Without action, funding for the department would have expired Friday at midnight.

The House on Tuesday admitted defeat after a month-long effort to defund President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration, and passed a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that leaves Obama’s plan intact. The vote came after dozens of House Republicans fought to the bitter end to reject the “clean” DHS bill, in an effort to oppose what they see as an unconstitutional action from Obama. The House passed the bill 257-167, and sending it to the White House for Obama’s signature into law. In the end, 167 Republicans voted against the Senate’s version of the bill. But because the...

<p>The Justice Department announced Tuesday it will not file federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman, the Florida man who was acquitted last year of second-degree murder for shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager.</p> <p>“Though a comprehensive investigation found that the high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution cannot be met under the circumstances here, this young man’s premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in written statement. “We, as a nation, must take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.”</p>

The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it would not pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that the Department of Justice’s investigation found that the evidence available could not meet the “high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution,” though he called the death a “devastating tragedy” that “shook an entire community, drew the attention of millions across the nation, and sparked a painful but necessary dialogue.” Story Continued Below Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman on...

The White House Office of Legal Counsel knew and advised Obama from the outset an executive order was impossible. Subsequently the White House and DHS attempted to thread the needle with a claim of Presidential authority to “set priorities regarding enforcement“. However, as we previously outlined the “enforcement priority” did more than “prioritize enforcement”, it actually created an entire new category of immigration personage. A large problem relates to an intent on classifying a new category of illegal alien with eligible work status. Riddled throughout President Obama’s Executive Order speech in November was something more than prosecutorial discretion and/or non-deportation....

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas has temporarily blocked President Obama's executive action on illegal immigration by granting a request from 26 states to allow the courts to look at its constitutionality before it is implemented. The lawsuit is being headed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. @GregAbbott_TX BREAKING: Federal Judge just granted my request to halt Obama's Executive Amnesty Order Nationwide. More later. #txlege #tcot @TexasGOP "This case examines complex issues relating to immigration which necessarily involve questions of federalism, separation of powers, and the ability and advisability, if any, of the Judiciary to hear and resolve such a...

The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between laborers in Mexico and employers in the United States. The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border. “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills. “Where the double-layer fence has been put in,...

Yemen’s powerful Shiite Houthi rebels shelled the residence of the country’s embattled president Tuesday and simultaneously swept into the presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa, as a top military commander warned that a full-fledged “coup” was underway. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was inside the residence as it came under “heavy shelling” for half an hour but he was unharmed and protected by guards, officials said. In New York, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting over the chaos in Sanaa. The shelling was a dramatic development that put the U.S.-backed Hadi into a precarious position and represented the...

Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian state energy giant Gazprom to cut supplies to and through Ukraine amid accusations, according to The Daily Mail, that its neighbor has been siphoning off and stealing Russian gas. Due to these “transit risks for European consumers in the territory of Ukraine,” Gazprom cut gas exports to Europe by 60%, plunging the continent into an energy crisis “within hours.” Perhaps explaining the explosion higher in NatGas prices (and oil) today, gas companies in Ukraine confirmed that Russia had cut off supply; and six countries reported a complete shut-off of Russian gas. The EU raged that...