Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US lawmakers on Friday "strongly condemned" what they called Beijing's harsh pre-Olympic crackdown in China's Muslim-populated far northwest Xinjiang region. The bipartisan leadership of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in a statement cited "credible" reports about a July 9 conviction in a closed trial of 15 minority Muslim Uighurs on terrorism charges that led to "the immediate execution of two" of them. Three others were given suspended death sentences and the remaining 10 received life imprisonment, it said. These are "abuses of due process and rule of law," said caucus co-chairmen Democrat Jim McGovern and Republican Frank...

Environmentally-driven encroachment: Regulating farming, compliance with environmentalist demands, control and tracking of the food supply, water supply, land use The Agricultural Resource Management Plan in Virginia, Environmentally-driven encroachment: Regulating farming, compliance with environmentalist demands, control and tracking of the food supply, water supply, land use My late father-in-law was a successful farmer and cooperative extension agent with 40 year’s experience who advised farmers in his county on crop management, land and water use, fertilizers, soil analysis, pests, and plant and animal disease. He valued the land he owned and knew that it was very important to properly care for the...

Virginia County officials have discovered multiple instances of voter fraud from the 2012 presidential election. Seventeen to be exact. The Virginia Voters Alliance and Election Integrity Maryland launched the investigation in Fairfax County, Va. and Maryland. Here's how they revealed the fraud and pursued a follow up inquiry: Officials from Fairfax and Montgomery County, Md., identified dual voters by matching first and last names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. Brian Schoenemann, secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board, said he sent letters and evidence to county Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrogh, state Attorney General Mark Herring, U.S. Attorney Dana...

A female soldier who sparked an "active shooter" alert on a Virginia military base on Monday died after shooting herself in the head, military sources said. ... The soldier, who has not yet been publicly identified, reportedly did not harm anybody else during her morning rampage in an office in a four-story building on the base, which is located about 45 km (28 miles) south or Richmond, Virginia. ... Maj. Gen. Stephen R. Lyons, the commanding general of the support command, said that the soldier was a sergeant 1st class who had been in the Army for 14 years and...

<p>An “active shooter incident” has been reported at the Army base in Fort Lee, Virginia, according to multiple reports.</p>

A professor actually lost out on an academic job due to his anti-Israeli musings. Beware, the following tweet is NSFW (or “not safe for work”) due to profanity. steve salaita twitter “This month, my campus, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was widely expected to welcome Steven Salaita as a new faculty member,” Cary Nelson wrote in an essay which appeared on Inside Higher Ed.com on August 8, 2014. “He was to be a tenured professor in the American Indian studies program. But a decision not to present the appointment to the Board of Trustees was made by the chancellor....

Supreme Court Puts Hold on Same-Sex Marriages in Virginia WASHINGTON — Aug 20, 2014, 3:09 PM ET http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ap-newsalert-25043930

<p>According to USA Today, on Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court blocked gay marriages from happening in the commonwealth, putting on hold the recent decision by the federal appeal’s court last month. That ruling ruled that the state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.</p>

Virginia GOP retains/gains majority until Terry McAuliffe is no longer relevant

WASHINGTON—A handful of lawmakers are saying President Barack Obama must get congressional authorization for military action in Iraq, a vote that could exacerbate tensions between the branches and present members with a difficult vote just before the midterm elections. Mr. Obama's announcement of limited airstrikes last week aimed at slowing the advance of militants from the Islamic State toward the Kurdish city of Erbil initially triggered few complaints that he had usurped the power to declare war that Congress claims as its own. But with the president warning over the weekend that "I don't think we're going to solve this...

Public school systems around the country preparing to begin a new school year will be facing the added burden of enrolling more than 37,000 unaccompanied minors who have entered the U.S. illegally. According to the Administration for Children & Families’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, 37,477 alien children have been placed with relatives or other sponsors around the country so far this year while their immigration cases are being processed in court. In the meantime, they are entitled to attend U.S. public schools, which have dropped out of the top 20 in global rankings for math, reading and science. …

<p>WINCHESTER, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia deputy sheriff shot his 16-year-old daughter after mistaking her for an intruder, then crashed his car as he rushed her to the hospital, authorities said.</p> <p>The teenager was in stable condition at a Winchester hospital, according to media reports.</p>

SNIP “In light of the heightened media coverage of the issue of undocumented immigrant children, VDOE provides the following updated information for your use in responding to community questions or issues,” says the memo distributed to the commonwealth’s 132 school divisions and obtained by Breitbart News. SNIP “While a case-by-case review of each child’s circumstances upon enrolling in a Virginia public school is necessary, many of these unaccompanied children will be deemed homeless under applicable state and federal law,” the memo reads. It goes on: Pursuant to Va. Code § 22.1-3, a homeless child is one who lacks a fixed,...

The northeastern part of the United States may be endowed with faster Internet than most other quadrants of the country. However, it doesn't have the undisputed champ in terms of Internet speed. The fastest connection speed in the country belongs to the state of Virginia. The southern state, which is known for raising presidents and housing the CIA, has almost twice the Internet speed of Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky and Montana. A map from Internet services provider Broadview Networks shows the disparity in connection speeds in different parts of the country. In general, people in northern states seem to have faster...

In October 1989 people in the community of Reston, Virginia went about their daily lives not realizing that a serious crisis was developing right in their back yards that would not be entirely resolved until March 1990. It was a serious calamity that could have wiped out the entire population. This dire emergency was described twenty years ago by Richard Preston in his non-fiction book, “The Hot Zone.” The “hot zone” refers to an “area that contains lethal, infectious organisms” also dubbed “hot agent,” an “extremely lethal virus, potentially airborne.” (Richard Preston, The Hot Zone, Random House, New York, 1994,...

In October 1989 people in the community of Reston, Virginia went about their daily lives not realizing that a serious crisis was developing right in their back yards that would not be entirely resolved until March 1990. It was a serious calamity that could have wiped out the entire population. This dire emergency was described twenty years ago by Richard Preston in his non-fiction book, “The Hot Zone.” The “hot zone” refers to an “area that contains lethal, infectious organisms” also dubbed “hot agent,” an “extremely lethal virus, potentially airborne.” (Richard Preston, The Hot Zone, Random House, New York, 1994,...

Over the weekend, both the Senate and the House approved $225M in funding for the Iron Dome. The bill passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and by a 395 to 8 vote. Opposition to the funding of the Iron Dome demonstarted an unfortunate bi-partisan measure – four Democrats and four Republicans voted against it. The four Democrats were Keith Ellison (MN-05), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Jim Moran (VA-08), and Beto O’Rourke (TX-16); The four Republicans were Justin Amash (MI-03), Walter Jones (NC-03), Tom Massie (KY-04), and Mark Sanford (SC-01). Rep. Ellison explains vote on “Meet the Press”: “Because a ceasefire...

You may recall that on Friday, in what would have been a Christmas Miracle were it not several months early, Congress actually got something done. It was the passage of a bill approving $225M in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defensive missile system. It was quite the bipartisan effort in retrospect, garnering an overwhelming 395 votes in the House with only eight in opposition. One of those eight was Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, and as The Corner reports, he went out on the weekend gab circuit to explain why he didn’t support the measure. “Because a cease-fire is what we...

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – A pregnant mother of four died suddenly Monday after she was stung by wasps working in her backyard. Sarah Harkins, 32, leaves behind a husband and four children. (PHOTO: Ashley Schulzetenberg) Sarah Harkins, 32, leaves behind a husband and four children. (PHOTO: Ashley Schulzetenberg) Sarah Marie Schulzetenberg Harkins, 32, died at the hospital when an aneurysm in her brain burst, Harkins’ husband told Fredericksburg.com. Her unborn baby, who was to be named Cecilia Rachel, also passed away. The aneurysm burst due to the stress the stings and an allergic reaction brought on, the article stated. Harkins...

Elizabeth Daly, now 21, and her friend had their car swarmed by state agents after their case of water was mistaken for beer Daly had initially sought $40million in damages for a tremor in her right hand, intense anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems The young women had been shopping at a local Virginia grocery store one night in April 2013 for a charity fundraiser the next day A college student in Virginia reached a $212,500 settlement on Wednesday following her arrest last year when state agents had mistaken a case of water for beer. Attorney General Mark R....