Free Republic

Anarchists Plan Mass Disruptions at Trump Inaugueration Thousands of anti-Trump protesters are preparing to descend on the nation's capital for Inauguration Day, setting up a combustible situation opposite the large gatherings of the president-elect's fans... The "Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparation" also will hold a rally and march on Saturday at Freedom Plaza, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service that has allotted space for 600 people... The Westboro Baptist Church has a permit to demonstrate at John Marshall Park located along the parade route on Inauguration Day, the same site where...

On Friday the Washington Post reported that Maj, Gen. Errol Schwartz will be removed from his post as head of the DC National Guard DURING the Trump Inauguration. Schwartz told the Post he would “never plan to leave a mission in the middle of a battle.”

As part of its broader package of rules for the 115th Congress, the House of Representatives revived the Holman Rule, a provision that allows House members to propose amendments to spending bills that closely manage federal agencies. These "retrenchment" amendments can affect details down to individual federal salaries and the number of staff in an office. ... The restoration of the Holman Rule means merely that when it comes to firing a federal employee, the president's signature on an act of Congress can do it. It doesn't seem extraordinary that the heads of the federal government should be able to...

An attorney for a man convicted of taking part in sniper shootings that left 10 people dead in the Washington area is asking a judge to toss his life sentence because he was convicted as a juvenile. In a motion filed Friday in a Maryland county court, public defender James Johnston argues that Lee Boyd Malvo’s mandatory life sentence is illegal because the U.S. Supreme Court determined such sentences are unconstitutional for juveniles. …

The 300,000 pennies the Cedar Bluff, Virginia man took to the DMV Wednesday morning to pay sales tax on two new cars weighed in at 1,600 pounds. A mature Holstein cow weighs about 1,500 pounds. See, Stafford had a bone to pick with the DMV. It wasn’t about agonizingly long lines or a bad picture on his driver’s license: It came down to 10 phone numbers. And Stafford ended up filing three lawsuits and spending at least $1,005 to give the DMV his 2 cents. One might feel bad for the Lebanon DMV employees, who chose to count the coins...

A judge has ordered federal regulators to quickly evaluate how many power plant and coal mining jobs are lost because of air pollution regulations. U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in Wheeling made the ruling after reviewing a response from outgoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy. McCarthy had responded to the judge’s previous order in a lawsuit brought against her by Murray Energy Corp. that the EPA must start doing an analysis that it hadn’t done in decades. […] The judge said the EPA is required by law to analyze the economic impact on a continuing basis when...

Back in October I wrote about the announcement that the Supreme Court would be hearing the case of G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board. This is the long awaited “transgender bathroom law” challenge to the Obama administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX law which sought to morph the definition of “sex” to include the SJW concept of gender identity. At the time I expressed concern over both how a split court might rule on the science behind the question as well as the possibility that they would dodge the fundamental questions entirely and choose to narrowly rule on the legal...

<p>VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP/WAVY) — A Republican sheriff’s office captain has defeated a Democratic school teacher in the race for a Virginia Beach-area House of Delegates seat.</p> <p>Unofficial results from the state Department of Elections show N.D. “Rocky” Holcomb III beat Cheryl Turpin by about six percentage points Tuesday in the 85th District.</p>

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A man was taken into custody Monday morning after police say he assaulted a sergeant with a caustic substance. According to investigators, the sergeant was standing outside the Dunkin Donuts on North Military Highway when a man walked up and threw something into his face. Police say the sergeant was not on a call at the time. A preliminary investigation found that the incident was unprovoked. They do not know yet what was thrown at the officer, only that it was a caustic substance, something that caused immediate burning to the sergeant’s eyes, face and neck....

After 573 weeks, starting our 12 year on the New Year Weekend, the DC Chapter is declaring VICTORY over the moonbats that formally stood opposite us. There has been a single moonbats for several years, occasionally having support from her daughter. Since mid-October, she has been a no show. Weather has been good most weeks, but she has stood in inclement weather in the past. We can only conclude she has given up. The DC Chapter is going to have a special FReep, Saturday, January 21,2017, the day after Trump’s inauguration. All FReepers in good standing are invited to join...

A FOX 5 staff member driving on Interstate 495 found a sign showing the toll for the Express Lanes starting from nearby the Tysons Corner area to the I-395/95 exit would cost a whopping $30! Using the lanes to I-66 would be just shy of $10. -snip A spokesperson for Transurban, the company that manages the Express Lanes, said from around 4:30 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. Thursday, two salt and plow trucks were working on the southbound Express Lanes on I-495 and I-95, causing traffic to slow and increasing the toll on those lanes. The company said there is no...

<p>The inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump features a long list of official and semi-official events and celebrations.</p> <p>There will be plenty of protests and counter-rallies as well, with a list of some available here.</p> <p>Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will lay a wreath at the cemetery in honor of the nation's veterans. Details have not been publicly announced.</p>

Baltimore City’s Police Union is sounding the alarm because they say the department is in crisis due to the fact that it has too few officers. According to a new report, there are more than 100 fewer Baltimore City PD officers than last year, with the union saying this poses a safety concern as officers are being overworked. The police union president calls the situation “dire.” ... You don’t have enough police officers to patrol the streets safely protecting themselves, much less protecting the citizens of Baltimore,” said Lt. Ryan. Baltimore ended last year with the second highest number of...

(Washington Examiner) At any given time the United States has an aircraft carrier deployed somewhere around the world, usually in a hot spot such as the Persian Gulf or the Western Pacific. But for the first week of this year, for the first time since World War II, no U.S. aircraft carriers were deployed, anywhere, a Navy spokesman confirmed. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been in the Persian Gulf, contributing airpower to the counter-Islamic State campaign in Iraq and Syria. But it returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 30, after a seven-month deployment. And none of...

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Hillary Clinton's running mate in her failed bid against Trump, suggested that mental issues are behind Trump's "clown" comment. . . . "At the end of the day, the office of the president gets respect based on the performance of the person in the office – and I'm talking about from the public — I don't think this is going to play with the public," Kaine said.

Virginia's top transportation oversight body voted earlier this month to move ahead with a major tunnel expansion. If everything goes as planned, the multibillion-dollar project could be good news for the traffic-snarled Hampton Roads region when it opens in 2024. But the commonwealth may also be setting itself up for a major financial body blow - and demonstrating the long-term consequences of mismanaging public-private partnerships.

Dear Editor, As states and municipalities around the nation struggle to find ways to afford much-needed improvements to aging and congested roadways, the Commonwealth of Virginia has established itself as an innovative leader when it comes to carefully prioritizing the state’s transportation investments and wisely leveraging private sector resources to ensure the best deal for state taxpayers. The I-66 Outside the Beltway project exemplifies this leadership, and Cintra, together with its partner Meridiam, is proud to be part of the team selected by the Commonwealth to finance, design, build, operate and maintain this more than $3 billion transformative project at...

PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has proposed a $1 trillion plan to fix America’s infrastructure. It relies on public-private partnerships as its primary source of financing. Our country’s complex transportation network needs an overhaul, but private investment is not the answer, mainly because of the returns that investors expect. Public-private partnerships can be an excellent procurement tool, but selecting the right project is key. Virginia has been a national leader in such deals since the General Assembly passed the Public Private Partnership Act in 1995. The law was designed for the partnerships to be used as an option for certain projects if...

Blinded by their desire to defeat George W. Bush’s re-election bid in 2004, Democrats allowed leftist billionaire George Soros to buy out their party, an analyst said. Defeating Bush “is the central focus of my life,” Soros declared at the time. It was “a matter of life and death.” Soros pumped $15 million into Democratic coffers in 2004. In 2016, he contributed $25 million to ensure a Hillary Clinton victory. Soros lost both elections, and killed the Democratic Party in the process, Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, wrote for FrontPage Mag on Dec. 28. Soros...

Happy New Year 2017,GOOD AFTERNOON/EVENING!