Free Republic

MARYLANDERS STUNNED by rush-hour traffic on the Capital Beltway, brace yourselves: Your commute is on track to get much, much worse. Roughly 30,000 more vehicles will be using Maryland’s portion of the highway each day by 2040, on top of the current 253,000, meaning cars and trucks will creep along at an average speed of 14 mph between Bethesda and College Park — a 10-mile segment that will take 43 minutes. That’s part of the impetus for a bold plan Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has advanced that would add up to four toll lanes to the Beltway and Interstate 270....

It’s a fundamental power, laid out in the Fifth Amendment. The government can take your land to build public works... The federal government rarely loses its bid to take land. Under a special procedure, federal officials can file a Declaration of Taking that results in a court granting immediate title to the land. Bulldozers can roll the next day. The only fight, essentially, is over how much money the property owner will receive.

Stone discussed his decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment and refusal to submit documents requested by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler. “Trump is guilty, he says, and now we just need to find the evidence. I call this a fishing expedition,” he said. “I don’t think Nadler has any evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy or treason.” He said he believes Nadler is trying to lay the groundwork for introducing articles of impeachment against Trump “in a rapidly left-wing Democratic House.” “I have elected not to participate. I’m executing my Fifth Amendment right given the fact that I’m facing...

For years the push to replace physical drivers licenses with digital drivers licenses has relied one one thing; privacy. But all of the "fake news" the public has been fed about their privacy is about to come "crashing" down, literally. A Nevada bill if passed would allow police to search everyone's smartphones. Nevada bill AB200 allows police to search the phones of everyone involved in a car crash. "An act relating to motor vehicles; authorizing a peace officer at the scene of a traffic crash to use technology to determine if a driver was using a handheld wireless communications device at...

Two police officers ordered to remove firearms from a house on a “red flag” protective order fatally shot an armed man Monday morning in Ferndale, Maryland, police said.

See what happens when you violate the rights of the people? This is only the beginning and I hope the family of this man sues the pants off the police and the state for their lawless behavior. A Ferndale, Maryland man was shot and killed at home when two Anne Arundel County police officers who were violating their oath and this man’s Fifth Amendment rights by attempting to steal his property (guns) under Maryland’s unconstitutional “red flag” “laws.” The Baltimore Sun reports: The man, whose name was not released, answered his door in the 100 block of Linwood Ave. at...

The Utah Transportation Commission on Friday approved spending an extra $38 million to cover rising costs for two major upcoming highway projects — on Interstate 15 and Bangerter Highway in Salt Lake County. The increased expenses are caused in part by rising prices to buy and demolish homes and businesses to clear new rights of way. That includes an extra $23 million for a project to convert three more intersections on Bangerter Highway into freeway-like interchanges at 6200 South, 10400 South and 12600 South. Construction on those projects is scheduled to begin in 2020, but purchasing the needed rights of...

Commuters who live in western Prince William and Fauquier counties can leave the driving to someone else come Dec. 17 when a new bus begins round-trip service from Haymarket to Arlington. The “OmniRide Haymarket Express” will make four trips in the morning and four return trips in the afternoon and early evening. It will run along I-66 between Haymarket and the Rosslyn Metro station. The trips will originate from the new park-and-ride lot on the northeast corner of U.S. 15 and Interstate 66. The Monday-through Friday service is meant to give workers an alternative to traveling by car. It’s the...

Split 3rd Circuit Upholds NJ's Ban on Large-Capacity Gun Magazines The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has rejected a challenge to New Jersey’s ban on firearm magazines holding more than 10 rounds. The appeals court, by a 2-1 margin, said the law limiting high-capacity magazines does not violate the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause or the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The court affirmed an order from the U.S. District Court that denied challengers’ motion to preliminarily enjoin enforcement of the law. Judges Joseph Greenaway Jr. and Patty Shwartz ruled to affirm the lower court....

Police in the Democrat haven of Maryland shot and killed a man in his home on Monday while serving a “protective order” under a new law which allows them to seize people’s guns without due process. Since the new gun confiscation law went into effect on October 1st, police have carried out 114 such confiscation orders, which comes out to over 3 such seizures every day.

When peelosi and her scum issue subpoenas to all the supporters of President Trump in the House and the Senate, how should they react?

By Bruce DePuyt — When Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) announced a major plan to widen three Maryland roadways last year, even transportation insiders were caught off-guard. “I was surprised by it, but I rejoiced at it,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA mid-Atlantic’s manager of public and government affairs. “As much as people are loath to admit it, the congestion in Maryland has limited economic development in the state. And [it has] impacted the quality of life because of the amount of hours — more than 80 hours a year [on average] — we spend being stuck in...

A freelance automotive journalist worries a testing site operated by the Illinois Tollway Authority could be for more than just testing automated tollway technology. Paul Brian said he’s noticed a site with various sensors on northbound I-294 for years with a sign that reads “for testing purposes only.” Illinois Tollway Authority officials said the site is used for testing various sensors, but only for tollway purposes. The site, established in 2015, had an initial price tag of $2.7 million. “The Illinois Tollway has used the test site to study a range of systems – some of which were adopted and...

WINDSOR, Ontario — The Canadian government is forging ahead with construction of a new Detroit River bridge designed to enhance trade as economic relations between the longtime trading partners grow strained — and the crossing could become a bargaining chip. Major construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge is expected to begin this fall once a contract is signed with Bridging North America, the consortium of infrastructure companies chosen last week by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority to build the bridge. The long-awaited move toward an official groundbreaking later this month comes as President Donald Trump threatens a tariff on Canadian-assembled...

A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing designed to learn more about a federal report on the flawed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails was stymied when one key witness refused to talk and two others did not even attend.Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who had sought immunity before he would discuss his role in the investigation, refused to testify after it was not granted. Instead, Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley said Monday that McCabe invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, The Washington Times reported.Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former FBI Director James Comey were also invited to testify but did not attend....

Washington is one of six states with high risk or red flag laws. But in the wake of the Parkland school shooting, the Brady Campaign says at least 30 states are considering them...Even gun rights advocates, who are afraid of government abuse, say it appears to be working...“We’ve seen the downside of people who are distraught or crazy taking out their problems on the general public,” said Dave Workman of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation. “We don’t want that to happen here.”

The final leg of Interstate 69 from Martinsville to Indianapolis will cost nearly $1.6 billion.ThatÂ’s according to the Final Environmental Impact Statement for I-69 Section 6 the state released Thursday. The analysis says construction could start in 2020 and wrap up within six years.Section 6 will run along the existing route of State Road 37. That means some of the many businesses that line the highway in Morgan, Johnson and Marion counties will have to move.The FEIS says more than 80 businesses, including a non-profit and fire station, will need to relocate. ThatÂ’s in addition to nearly 200 residences that...

A former State Department official and associate of Sen. John McCain has invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in connection with questions from the House Intelligence Committee about the anti-Trump dossier’s Russian sources, according to a law enforcement source. David J. Kramer, who is a central player in how the unverified Trump dossier made its way to the FBI in late 2016, testified before the committee in December in a closed-door session, indicating he had information about the dossier's sources. A subpoena was issued for mid-January, as first reported by The Washington Examiner. The law enforcement source confirmed,...

To understand the American gun-control debate, you have to understand the fundamentally different starting positions of the two sides. Among conservatives, there is the broad belief that the right to own a weapon for self-defense is every bit as inherent and unalienable as the right to speak freely or practice your religion. It’s a co-equal liberty in the Bill of Rights, grounded not just in the minds of the Founders but in natural law. Against this backdrop, most forms of gun control proposed after each mass killing represent a collective punishment. The rights of the law-abiding are restricted with no...

New York to Chicago by train in under five hours. It’s not science fiction, but old-school tunneling—a critical, yet oddly ignored, part of President Donald Trump’s forthcoming infrastructure plan that supporters say will cost the federal government virtually nothing, but experts say the proposal's deregulation approach amounts to a handout to Big Business. The plan calls for creating new high-speed rail lines deep underground—the basic idea behind the English Channel tunnel, or Chunnel, that whisks travelers at 186 miles per hour from London to Paris in just two hours and 20 minutes. That’s less time than the Amtrak from New...