Free Republic

Seven hundred and forty-four people have been executed in the United States over the last 15 years. Just nine of them, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, were killed by electrocution. But that number may soon rise. Amid controversies over lethal injection drugs, several states are in the midst of reintroducing the electric chair as a method of state-sanctioned capital punishment. The Virginia House of Delegates recently passed legislation that would require the use of the electric chair for condemned prisoners if lethal injection drugs cannot be found. Similar legislation passed Alabama's state house last year and became...

It is widely known that in the past 6 months there has been a loud debate about helicopter money, i.e., giving out ordinary people (bypassing the banks) money directly printed by the Fed. What is less known is that when it comes to the most despicable underbelly of American society, cash to the tune of $1000 per month is already being "helicoptered" to some of the most brazen criminals living in the US today with one simple condition: "don't kill people." * * * Take the case of Lonnie Holmes, 21, who lives in Richmond, a working-class suburb north of...

Just a few miles from his family home, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) felt the wrath of the tea party Saturday, when activists in his congressional district booed and heckled the second-most powerful House Republican. (SNIP) “When I sit here and I listen to Mr. Brat speak I hear the inaccuracies — my family’s here.” Cantor said. As he was interrupted by the raucous crowd, Cantor’s anger was evident: “That’s enough — we are a country of free speech, so decency’s also part of this.” (SNIP) “It is easy to sit in the rarified environs of academia, in the...

Hundreds turned out at the grand opening of a gun shop just a few miles from the Washington, D.C. city limits on Saturday. The Arlington storefront was packed with people handling a wide variety of firearms, eating breakfast pastries, and talking to the staff of NOVA Armory. The small boutique, which specializes in high-end firearms, opened despite fierce resistance from local anti-gun activists and politicians. The resistance included a protest targeting the gun shop’s opening. The protest was held several blocks away from the store in a local park, and most protestors did not come over to the actual location...

Gunshots reported in US Capitol visitors' center: Reuters, citing sources This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.

Sometimes I feel badly for Ben Carson. He worked hard in his run for president – and you know I can relate – and when his campaign ended unsuccessfully he decided to endorse Donald Trump. Now sure, when you endorse someone, it’s fair that people ask you to defend that person’s positions, records, public statements, etc. And Donald Trump provides plenty of material for people to ask about. But when Dr. Carson went on The View last week, he didn’t get asked about anything Trump has actually done or said. Instead, Whoopi Goldberg put him on the spot by trying...

Yes, you read that correctly. Democrat candidate for President Jim Webb has endorsed Donald Trump for President, not Hillary. [snip]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Consultant Liz Mair’s controversial anti-Donald Trump super PAC shares a mailing address with Carly Fiorina’s presidential campaign, which just re-launched as a nonprofit. Fiorina is a Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% supporter. Mair’s PAC Make America Awesome is under fire after it ran a sexist advertisement in Utah featuring Trump’s wife Melania, a model, posing nude. The ad encouraged people to vote for Ted Cruz. Mair is open about the fact that she is helping to boost Cruz, though Cruz has denied involvement with the ad. But how does Make America Awesome make money? According to the PAC’s...

John Saul Miller was dying of cancer when the convicted felon managed to commit two armed robberies last year after being pardoned by Virginia's governor. When he was arrested after the second holdup -- the gunpoint robbery of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Chesterfield County -- he was still wearing a GPS tracking device that he was required to wear as a condition of his pardon by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Miller, 29, who has since died, had asked for absolution of earlier crimes based on his medical diagnosis and declining health, and McAuliffe granted his request on June. 3. But...

Earl Hamner Jr. who created the long-running CBS series The Waltons died on Thursday aged 92 in Los Angeles. The Virginia native died in his sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a battle with cancer, according to a posting by his family on Facebook. Hamner married wife Jane in October 1954 in New York City and they had a son Scott and daughter Caroline together. He died surrounded by family playing his favourite John Denver music, according to the Facebook posting. 'He was diagnosed with cancer in June of 2014, and had surgery performed in July on his 91st birthday,'...

NO man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope that it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if entertaining, as I do, opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it...

A pair of House committees is forming a bipartisan working group of eight lawmakers to prepare for possible legislation addressing how the widespread use of encryption affects law enforcement investigations. "The bipartisan encryption working group will examine the issues surrounding this ongoing national debate," House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and House Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton. R-Mich., said Monday. As chairman of the two committees that have jurisdiction over encryption issues, Goodlatte and Upton are ex officio chairs of the working group. They released that statement jointly along with Michigan Rep. John Conyers and New Jersey Rep. Steve...

When candidate Donald Trump announced his candidacy to run for President last year we knew immediately there would be a seismic shift in the political landscape. Those who have followed politics in the last 8+ years suspected the 2016 race would inevitably boil down to Globalists -vs- U.S. Nationalists.

Her family disputed the police account of her death, saying Beaty would know better than threaten police. “She’s very smart, very intelligent. I don’t believe she was brandishing a weapon,” her sister, Kendra Beaty, told the Virginian-Pilot. “Her automatic reaction would have been to drop and say, ‘It’s not real.’ She would not have gone to jail over a toy gun.” Beaty’s family said she was an aspiring rapper who went by “Lbeezygotti.”

Judy Beaty, a 70-year-old Trump supporter from Virginia, told reporters that she hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since last Tuesday. That’s because she awoke Wednesday morning to find that her home had been vandalized and her Donald Trump yard signs had been stolen. A crowbar had been stuck in her flower bed, and the graffiti on her house read “Revolution” and “Can you see the new world through tear gas?” But that isn’t all that has happened. Beaty explained: “I get all these nut cases riding by here going, ‘Feel the Bern,’ ‘[Expletive] the Trump signs.’ I had one...

Hampton, Va. – An 18-year-old man was shot and killed Sunday in the 2100 block of Kecoughtan Road by a man he was reportedly going to rob. Hampton Police say 18-year-old Jafari Mitchell and a 15-year-old male had approached a 71-year-old man, displayed a gun and demanded money. The 71-year-old man, fearing for safety, pulled out his own gun and shot Mitchell. The 15-year-old fled from the area. The 71-year-old man remained on scene and called 911. Police say he cooperated with the investigation. No charges are being sought against him in reference to the shooting at this time. The...

Washington DC is shutting down the entire subway system on Wednesday with no notice for urgent safety checks The entire Washington, DC, subway system will shut down for at least 29 hours to inspect electrical components on the tracks following a fire near one of the system's tunnels, officials said on Tuesday. The shutdown comes after a fire broke out on Monday about 4.30am in the tunnel outside the McPherson Square station in downtown Washington. The fire led to delays on the orange, blue and silver lines, which go through the station. The Metro subway system will shut down at...

HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — A 71-year-old Hampton man shot and killed a teenage robbery suspect Sunday afternoon, according to police. Officers responded to the 2100 block of Kecoughtan Road around 2:45 p.m. Sunday for the report of an attempted robbery and shooting in the area. They arrived on scene to find 18-year-old Jafari Mitchell suffering from a gunshot wound. EMS transported Mitchell to the hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. According to police, Mitchell and a 15-year-old approached the 71-year-old man; one of them pulled out a gun and demanded money. The victim also had a gun and...

Beset by scandals on both the national and statewide level, Democrats find themselves in danger of historic losses in the 2014 midterms, as in addition to the "angry white males" they find themselves facing a new threat, that of the "angry young black male." A growing trend of young black makes defecting to the GOP has caused fears among Democratic Party officials who have largely ignored the concerns of a constituency that has been loyal for decades. It is ironic that with the election of the first African-American President, the party that garners roughly 90% of the black vote finds...

The first time a Trump campaign sign disappeared from her yard, Judy Beaty figured it must have blown away in the wind. But then two more signs went missing overnight. And when Beaty went outside to investigate the next morning, she saw that someone had vandalized her Northern Virginia home. Messages were scrawled in black spray paint on two sides of her Gainesville house: “Can you see the new world through the tear gas,” said one. “Revolution,” said the other. Beaty, 69, discovered the graffiti on Wednesday morning and reported it to Prince William County police. Since then, she has...