Free Republic

It's the nagging fear many have about our government: what would happen if martial law was declared? New York City just found out, at least temporarily. Eleven states as well as Washington D.C. declared states of emergency in the wake of the massive record-breaking snowstorm which blanketed the East. But New York City went a step further. Governor Andrew Cuomo declared martial law in New York City by ordering all people to stay inside under police enforcement. He issued an absolute travel ban for anything that is not an emergency vehicle. The New York Police Department put out a blunt...

Gov. Cuomo issued a travel ban Saturday, shutting down roads and some train service as a killer blizzard bears down on New York City. New York City and state roads will close to all traffic except emergency responders at 2:30 p.m. Metro-North and Long Island Railroad service will stop at 4:00 p.m., the governor said. MTA will also shutter service for exterior subway routes at 4 p.m., Cuomo said. The massive blizzard will go down as one of the five worst in city history, Mayor de Blasio said Saturday. The storm - which killed at least nine people as it...

The Democratic Party is waging a "full-on rebellion" against Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, former Obama advisor and CNN contributor Van Jones insisted Wednesday, and he thinks Bernie Sanders will take both Iowa and New Hampshire. "There is a full-on rebellion at the grassroots level of the Democratic Party," Jones told CNN "New Day" co-host Alisyn Camerota, reports Mediaite. "MoveOn.org, o[u]r biggest progressive organization, endorsed Bernie Sanders last night. Overwhelmingly, 67 percent." But Jones is urging caution, pointing out that Bill Clinton also lost both New Hampshire and Iowa while running for president in 1992, but went on to win the...

In the segment, host Jake Tapper played an audio clip from a robocall making the rounds in Iowa from a white nationalist group that supports Trump but has no official connection to him. Tapper asked for comments, and Jones responded: “It will be denounced. It should be denounced. But this is troubling. If I were Trump, is it time to look in the mirror? Who am I inspiring? Who am I attracting? Why will horrible racist groups say the I’m the only candidate that speaks for them? My deep concern is that Donald Trump is beginning to legitimate some of...

LOS ANGELES Another El Nino-fueled storm soaked Southern California on Wednesday and brought with it flooding, mudflows and even a small tornado that struck Orange County in the early afternoon. Pea-sized hail and 45-mph winds made their way south from San Luis Obispo, forcing the region to recognize that the season of storms has commenced. As much as 5 inches of rain was expected to drop across the Southland. Still, Wednesday's rain was fickle, with clouds parting at times to allow the sun to shine. A flash-flood warning was issued for the Ventura County coast around Solimar Beach, and landslides...

A video appearing to show a strange light above Canberra during a storm was probably capturing "ball lightning", an astronomer has said. The video uploaded to YouTube last night, claims to show a circle or donut-shaped light appearing in the Canberra sky during a storm. Australian National University astronomer Brad Tucker said the red and green light which glowed faintly in the background was "characteristic of an aurora" however believed this time it was ball lightning. "An aurora is when energy from the sun hits the earth's atmosphere, the energy rubs the earth's atmosphere with friction and charges the gas,"...

No aircraft were allowed to take off from airports in southern and central Sweden due to a massive geomagnetic solar flare storm causing problems for radar systems. Ulf Wallin, press spokesperson at Swedavia, the organization managing Sweden's airports, told TT that airports at Landvetter in Gothenburg and Arlanda and Bromma in Stockholm were affected. "Those airplanes that are in the air are allowed to land at the airports they're going to, but no planes are taking off," he said. The problems began at around 3.30pm on Wednesday. An hour later, traffic had begun to return to normal, but it was...

Flash flooding north of Los Angeles sent water and mud flowing into canyons and across roadways Thursday, trapping drivers and closing a stretch of one of the state's main north-south freeways. The California Highway Patrol reported a 30-mile section of Interstate 5 was blocked by flooding near Fort Tejon, about 75 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Drivers stuck in the mud waited for roads to be cleared while thousands more were diverted to alternate routes expected to take four or more hours to traverse through the mountain region in Southern California.

Two people were killed by falling branches, and more than 463,000 were left without power as high winds swept through the Puget Sound region. A girl in Federal Way and a man in Gig Harbor were killed in a windstorm Saturday that took down trees and power lines, whipped debris into the streets, and left almost a half-million customers without power

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hurricane Ignacio has maintained its speed in the Central Pacific as its track takes the storm near the Hawaiian islands. The National Hurricane Center said at 5 a.m. Friday, Ignacio was located approximately 840 miles east-southeast of Hilo. . . . Ignacio could become a Category 3 hurricane by Friday. . . . If the storm remains organized it could come close to the Big Island Monday evening. . . .

000 WTNT85 KNHC 271733 TCVAT5 ERIKA WATCH/WARNING BREAKPOINTS/INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 11A NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL052015 200 PM AST THU AUG 27 2015 .TROPICAL STORM ERIKA PRZ001-002-003-004-005-006-007-008-009-010-011-012-013-VIZ001-002- 272100- /O.CON.KNHC.TR.W.1005.000000T0000Z-000000T0000Z/ 200 PM AST THU AUG 27 2015 PUERTO-RICO 18.22N 66.44W VIEQUES 18.12N 65.43W CULEBRA 18.32N 65.28W ST-THOMAS-AND-ST-JOHN 18.33N 64.85W ST-CROIX 17.74N 64.73W $$ ATTN...WFO...SJU...

Serbia is this Wednesday marking a day of remembrance for the Serbs who were killed or exiled in the wars during the 1990s.A convoy of ethnic Serb refugees expelled from Croatia 20 yearsa ago (Tanjug, file) The government also declared today a day of mourning for the victims of Croatia's Operation Storm that took place 20 years ago and resulted in the expulsion of over 200,000 Serbs, while more than 2,000 were listed as killed or missing. A memorial service for the victims in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina will be held in St. Marko's Church in Belgrade. At noon, bells will...

Croatia's Operation Storm was a joint criminal enterprise whose goal was to expel the Serb people in Croatia from the areas they lived in for centuries.This has been stated by the head of the Coalition of Refugee Associations Miodrag Linta. He spoke for Serbia's state broadcaster RTS on the occasion of the upcoming 20th anniversary of Croatia's military and police campaign. Linta said that over 220,000 Serbs were expelled from Croatia during Operation Storm, while around 2,000 were killed - 1,200 of them civilians. At the same time more than 40,000 residential and business premises owned by Serbs were set...

FBI director James Brien Comey, Jr. say's Dylann Storm Roof background check failed.

A budding tropical system may pass close enough to Hawaii to bring an uptick in gusty showers and thunderstorms as well as building seas late in the week. How significant these impacts become will depend on the track, strength and size of the system. Video - Tropical System Moving Toward Hawaii While there are several areas in the Eastern and Central Pacific that bear watching this week, one system in particular southeast of Hawaii is of the greatest concern. As of Tuesday morning, the most organized system is located about 1,300 miles east-southeast of the Big Island of Hawaii and...

Tropical Storm Bill hurtled toward the Texas coast from the Gulf of Mexico early on Tuesday with heavy rains and strong winds, the National Weather Service said, weeks after floods killed about 30 people in the state. Flash flood watches were in effect for central Texas and the Houston area, regions where floods last month swallowed thousands of vehicles and damaged homes. The storm was projected to hit the coast at Matagorda Bay and churn through central Texas toward Austin. Heavy rain had already drenched parts of Texas over the weekend, pushing already high rivers closer to overflowing their banks....

DENISON, Texas, - Rangers at a Texas park said earthworms gathering in clumped "herds" in the middle of a road looked like someone had dumped spaghetti from their car. Eisenhower State Park Superintendent Ben Herman said rangers checking back roads at the Denison park May 29 found earthworms fleeing storms had formed into balls in a straight line down the middle of the road. Texas Parks and Wildlife shared video of the worm balls on YouTube. Rangers said they thought the clumps were spaghetti until they got close enough to poke at them. "We're still puzzled why they decided to...

12:40 p.m.: Remarkable, on-the-spot video from WGNO-TV of the train falling off the track at Huey P. Long Bridge embedded below; see our report here.

Major hailstorm in Bogota, the capital city of Colombia covered the area with a 24-inch layer of icy snow affecting lives of around 900 people. More than 900 people have been affected by recent hailstorm in Fraguita, Antonio Nariño and Restrepo in the southern part of the city, El Espectador quoted Fire Department as saying. According to The Colombia Reporters, the excessive hail caused a number of emergencies across the city. Bogota Disaster Rick and Prevention unit confirmed that no victims were identified. However, several people were rescued from the collapsed roofs. Relief agencies have provided assistance such as hygiene...

Nir Barkat hopes to preempt last year’s chaos when drivers were stranded, calls for residents to take responsibility for their own homes As sunny skies threatened to turn into a massive snow squall, Jerusalem’s mayor ordered Monday that roads be closed hours before an expected heavy snow storm wallops the city Wednesday Speaking at a press conference from the municipality’s snow preparedness center, Nir Barkat said roads leading in and out of the capital would be blocked to traffic to prevent a repeat of 2013’s massive snowstorm, when hundreds of cars were trapped in drifts along main highways. The police,...