Free Republic

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputy who was shot Wednesday (June 22) during a pedestrian stop in Harvey has died, confirms NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison. Harrison said the officer was pronounced dead at University Medical Center. JPSO spokesman Col. John Fortunato also confirmed the news. The officer was shot after noon near the intersection of Manhattan Boulevard and Ascot Road, Fortunato said. He said the shooting happened during a pedestrian stop.

Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS), according to an audio statement. The message, which could not immediately be verified, was posted on Boko Haram's Twitter account and appeared to be by the group's leader. Boko Haram began a military campaign to impose Islamic rule in northern Nigeria in 2009. The conflict has since spread to neighbouring states.

In a three way contest, incumbent Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu gets 44 percent, while Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy gets 36 percent and Tea Party ally Rob Maness gets 15 percent. In head-to-head matchups pitting Landrieu against either GOP candidate, both Cassidy and Maness receive 50 percent support, while Landrieu performs almost identically against either Republican – at 45 and 46 percent, respectively. Partly because he’s less well known in the state, Cassidy enjoys a better favorable rating (45 percent favorable/ 41 percent unfavorable) than Landrieu (44 percent favorable / 50 percent unfavorable). Landrieu was first elected in 1996 and has...

New Orleanians have been voting early in droves, according to the Orleans Parish registrar of voters. About 17,430 city residents have cast ballots during early voting, which ends today, said Sandra Wilson, registrar of voters. That's nearly twice as many early voters as the last midterm election in November 2010, when 9,031 voted early in person, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State's figures.

Although we have become accustomed to the agenda-driven narrative from Aslan, we were blown away by how his undeniably appealing but patently misleading arguments were cheered on by many, with the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple going so far as to advise show producers not to put a show-host against Aslan “unless your people are schooled in religion, politics and geopolitics of the Muslim world.” ... Nearly everything Aslan stated during his segment was either wrong, or technically-correct-but-actually-wrong. We will explain by going through each of his statements in the hopes that Aslan was just misinformed (although it’s hard for us...

After my previous post on the Justice Stevens’s new book, I requested a review copy from the publisher, which I have now received. Here are his six proposed Amendments. I’ll avoid commenting until I read the entire book (a fairly breezy 133 pages, followed by the Constitution as it stands now, and a list of all JPS clerks). The “Anti-Commandeering Rule” (Amend the Supremacy Clause of Article VI) This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States,...

<p>Nagin skates on count 7 but nailed on 20 counts.</p>

Honduras' electoral commission has officially declared the conservative governing party candidate winner of Sunday's presidential poll. "Today's figures indicate clearly that the winner of the election is Juan Orlando Hernandez," said the commission's president David Matamoros. Mr Hernandez has won 35.88% of the vote, according to AFP news agency. His main rival, the left-wing candidate Xiomara Castro, has won 29% with 81.5% of polling stations tallied. Mr Matamoros earlier said the final result would be known in the next few days, but he called on all candidates to support the new government. Second-placed Ms Castro said she was robbed of...

Louisiana voters gave strong support to seven out of nine new constitutional amendments Tuesday that include a provision increasing protections for gun rights, allowing for public servants convicted of felonies to be stripped of some retirement benefits and ensuring that a state Medicaid trust fund for the elderly is not used for other purposes.

I came across this while checking out the latest on XM's suspension of Opie and Anthony. It is a youtube made video with commentary of an O'Reilly show supposedly from last night. My question, did this really happen? If it did it seems rather hypocritical to attack Opie and Anthony when someone on his show made a joke about a real rape not lasting long enough.

A New Orleans city Councilwoman was busted going over 100mph down I-10 in New Orleans. Her response was the classic, "Do you know who I am?" God, I hate self-important politicians. Link to relevent reports- http://blog.nola.com/graphics/2007/04/pdfs_morrell_driving_reports.html

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=osstats Stanford's Folding@Home is set to break into the PFLOP territory. At the current growth (bolstered by the PS3) it should officially break into petFLOPs sometime late Sunday to mid-Monday.

St. Tammany Parish Councilman Joe Impastato was arrested Tuesday for allegedly extorting a $100,000 kickback in connection with a Hurricane Katrina debris removal contract, a case that authorities called the opening salvo in a corruption crackdown by a task force weeding out fraud in storm-related contracts worth tens of billions of dollars. Impastato was arrested during an FBI sting as he accepted two cashier's checks totaling $85,000 from a subcontractor cooperating with authorities, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said at a news conference Wednesday. Impastato, 33, who represents the Lacombe area, is accused of extorting 50 cents on the dollar from...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Improvements to Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu's office in the Capitol Annex and creation of his apartment and office at the Pentagon Barracks have cost taxpayers $955,000 since he was elected in 2003. His staff said the spending is a critical part of efforts to improve the state's image. Others point out that the state already had a $263 million backlog on its list of critical repairs to other buildings and property. Public records show the Pentagon Barracks work added up to $419,000, and the improvements at his main office to $536,000. Most of it went for...

My employer is about to make an offer for a job position in or around Forest City, NC. I'm not familiar in the least with North Carolina and I am wondering how the area is. I have about a month to accept it and report in some time after that. Since it would be an even change in job title there's no financial incentive in the least for me to change but my fiance and I do want to move out east, hopefully to a small town or somewhere not congested. Also, how's the political and tax structure? In Louisiana...

U. S. Senator 3,953 of 4,124 precincts reporting Click here for Results by Parish 14,125 1% Richard M. Fontanesi, O - 11,382 1% R. A. "Skip" Galan, O - 500,031 29% "Chris" John, D - 248,525 15% John Kennedy, D - 11,392 1% Sam Houston Melton, Jr., D - 40,564 2% Arthur A. Morrell, D - 884,509 52% David Vitter, R -

U. S. Senator 208 of 4,124 precincts reporting Results by Parish will be available later this evening 1,728 2% Richard M. Fontanesi, O - 642 1% R. A. "Skip" Galan, O - 31,624 32% "Chris" John, D - 15,197 15% John Kennedy, D - 650 1% Sam Houston Melton, Jr., D - 1,291 1% Arthur A. Morrell, D - 47,803 48% David Vitter, R - U. S. Representative, 1st Congressional District 1 of 499 precincts reporting Results by Parish will be available later this evening 0 0% Roy Armstrong, D - 0 0% "Bobby" Jindal, R - 0 0% M....

Just heard on the radio some polling places are missing machinese and some just aren't working. One precinct in St. Tammany is stuck using provisional ballots because of some undisclosed error. Louisiana lives down to it's expectations again.

VOTING PROBLEMS NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Many voters in New Orleans were unable to cast ballots this morning because voting machines were not delivered to polling places. The problem was solved by noon. But Scott Madere, a spokesman for Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, says at least 35 precincts around the city did not have voting machines for several hours after polls opened at 6 this morning. It's unclear how many voters were affected, but many were angry. Julius Green, a former track coach at Xavier University, says the problem sends the wrong message to voters -- that their votes...

Looks like with a quarter of the vote in the amendment is ahead by a degree that'll dwarf Missourri's tally CA No. 1 (Act 926-2004), Marriage in LA - union of 1 man and 1 woman 1,643 of 4,124 precincts reporting Results by Parish will be available later this evening 233,796 82% FOR - 52,188 18% AGAINST -