Free Republic

My tax return is being held so the IRS can review it. The letter says they want to verify several things including “Itemized Deductions”! I use the standard deduction. I’m guessing it has to do with my voter registration as a republican. Anyone else experiencing this? Cheers!

Merry Christmas! I need help picking out some recording equipment. I am planning to record myself singing in small church. I have an air pad. I’m not looking to spend a lot of money but looking for a basic system that records at least 2 channels/mics. I am very new to this. I would need a primer on the setup. Like mics, phantom power, etc. Thanks in advance.

A complaint from a state disability advocacy organization has shuttered bathrooms aboard the Hartford Line’s CTrail trains just before the new commuter line’s launch this weekend. Restrooms on half of the Hartford Line trains — those operated by the state as opposed to Amtrak — will remain closed until they are made accessible to individuals with disabilities in early 2019, the state Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. The closure comes in response to a reversed decision from the Federal Railroad Administration, which had previously granted the state a temporary exemption from the Americans for Disabilities Act, according to the DOT....

Extra troopers patrolled the RHAM middle and high school campuses in Hebron Wednesday and will remain there for the rest of this week after a student threatened violence, state police said. A student reported to police Tuesday night that another student had made the threat at lunchtime Monday, police said. Troopers investigated, interviewed the accused student and issued a misdemeanor summons for second-degree threatening and breach of peace. The student was given a date for juvenile court in Willimantic and was released to the custody of his guardian. Police alerted school administrators, who told the student not to report to...

A Ledyard student was arrested after he allegedly said he could buy a semi-automatic weapon, the principal told parents on Thursday. Ledyard High School Principal Amanda Fagan said the specific purpose to reach out to parents was "to counter some false information that was posted today on a community forum on Facebook. That social media post indicated that a student at the high school had been arrested today for posting on the internet that he was going to shoot up the high school. That information, as presented is false." On Thursday, a 17-year-old student allegedly said "I could buy an...

The petition to grant three Goshen elephants legal rights as “persons” was denied by a judge at Superior Court in Torrington on Tuesday, court records show. In a memorandum of decision, Judge James Bentivegna called the petition “wholly frivolous on its face in legal terms.” The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) had filed the lawsuit on Nov. 13, arguing that Beulah, Karen and Minnie — three elephants captured in the wild and now living at the Commerford Zoo in Goshen — are legal “persons” with fundamental rights and they must be released into a sanctuary. “‘Person’ is not a synonym for...

Voters had their first opportunity Saturday to hear where four of the Democrats running or considering a run for governor in 2018 fall on some of the most pressing issues facing the state. For two hours, they spoke to a fullauditorium at Fair Haven School on economic inequality, the state’s over-reliance on the financial industry, police and criminal justice reform and sanctuary cities. The event, dubbed “the People’s Symposium,’’ featured Dan Drew, the Middletown mayor who is running to replace outgoing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, and three potential candidates who have formed exploratory committees: Dita Bhargava, a former official with...

A Florida police officer was taking his 14-year-old child to school in March 2016 when he spotted a reckless driver. Though he wasn’t on duty, the undercover Jacksonville, Fla. officer tried to pull over Kevin Rojas, who was then 19, the Associated Press reports. That’s when Rojas got out of his white Cadillac and started shooting at the officer, police said. The officer was sporting a ballistic vest that said “police” on it at the time, WLTV reports. Rojas’ shots missed the officer’s son, AP reports, but ended up hitting the officer three times, according to police. The officer shot...

Dravosburg, Pa. is a small — population 1,746 — working-class suburb that lies along the Monongahela River 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. If we want to understand what actually propelled Donald Trump to victory last November, presidential voting patterns there provide a vital clue. In 2012, Dravosburg backed Barack Obama over Mitt Romney 441 to 312, or 53.4 percent to 44.8 percent. Four years later, the men and women of Dravosburg abandoned their Democratic loyalties and backed Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, 56.3 to 41.1. What is so interesting about this working-class community, with its strong ties to organized labor?...

A state police internal affairs investigator concluded there was “no evidence” to support an activist’s claim that three troopers conspired to concoct charges against him during a contentious interaction at a DUI checkpoint in 2015. Michael Picard, who supports the open carrying of firearms and opposes random DUI checkpoints, was charged with two infractions while protesting at an I-84 ramp in West Hartford. Police seized Picard’s camcorder during the confrontation, which, unbeknownst to the troopers involved, captured them discussing whether to file charges. In the audio, one trooper is heard stating that the officers “gotta cover our ass,” while another...

Nearly 8 years after a terrible wreck left a man unable to communicate, his power of speech has returned. George Bush was 62 when the mainstream media derailed his presidency, which resulted in him and his entire administration going off a cliff and tumbling to the ground. "For eight long years he didn't speak a word," said George's brother, Jeb Bush. Though his family continued to talk to him, they had no idea whether he understood them. That eased a few days ago, when he began responding to questions with grunts and by blinking his eyes. On a doctor's advice,...

I am very pro illegal immigrant. I support a broad amnesty, beyond even the focus on those brought here as children or young adults. I think illegal immigrants contribute significantly to this economy, to our country and culture, and I do not judge their decision to come here or stay here without legal authorization to be morally bad. In fact, I think the fact that someone deciding they want to take the risk to come here and live and work in America despite breaking the rules is praiseworthy if anything. We do not have a sensible guest worker program, and...

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jaime Carrillo emerges from his faded pink house wearing blue jeans, boots, and a black cowboy hat. After a long day at work laying cement for city streets, he is ready for a second shift — this time as a volunteer for the Fort Worth Police Department. He straps a walkie-talkie to his collar, slaps a “Citizens on Patrol” sticker on the side of his blue Nissan Sentra, and settles in the driver’s seat, hands gripping the steering wheel decorated with his daughter’s Hello Kitty decals. “Tigre, Tigre,” Carrillo calls into the radio, addressing his partner....

Donald Trump signed away Obama-era flood standards just weeks before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in a bid to get infrastructure projects approved more quickly. The rule signed by former president Barack Obama in 2015 had not yet come into effect but aimed to make infrastructure more resilient to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and flooding. Those who backed Obama’s rules believed they would make people safer by putting roads, bridges and other infrastructure on safer ground, NPR reported, but Trump rescinded the rule several weeks ago in an attempt to speed up the time it...

NEW HAVEN >> Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota tried to be serious when he spoke Sunday at the Shubert Theatre about topics such as health care, but as a former comedian, he couldn’t stop himself from cracking jokes and drawing belly laughs from the partisan crowd. Franken, who is touring to support his book, the satirically titled “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate,” attracted several thousand left-leaning people on a summer afternoon. The event was sponsored by R.J. Julia Booksellers of Madison. During the hour-long, on-stage conversation with Colin McEnroe, who hosts a talk show on WNPR Connecticut Public Radio,...

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told voters who support deporting children covered under the DREAM Act that he didn't want their vote. "I'm excited about giving you a chance to live the rest of your life" in America, Graham said of DREAMers. "I embrace you, and I want you to succeed," he said, speaking at a press conference with Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).

I woke up this morning without wifi. I noticed that this update was installed. I couldn't find my adapter in the Devices list. The wifi adapter is: Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11 bgn Wi-Fi Adapter. It replaced it with a bunch of other WAN adapters which won't work. I removed the update and now I have wifi again. However, this update is downloading again and I'm not interested in going through this every time the update runs. How can I block this update until this issue is resolved? I have an HP Pavilion laptop.

England: Full Headline: "Father and daughter found guilty of killing neighbour after she burst a football that landed in her garden"A father and daughter have been found guilty of killing their neighbour after she burst a football they kicked over her fence. Kelly Machin, 34, (pictured – above left) suffered broken ribs when she was pushed back onto a coffee table after being punched in the face by 48-year-old William Jelly in August last year. A row broke out after Miss Machin burst a football that had been kicked into her garden by the children of Jelly’s 28-year-old daughter Natalie...

HARTFORD >> Connecticut’s income tax collections plummeted at the end of April leaving Connecticut with a gaping $5.2 billion hole in its budget for this year and the next two fiscal years. Revenues are down about $413 million this fiscal year, and another $597 million and $865 million in fiscal year 2018 and 2019, respectively, according to the latest estimates. That means the budget hole lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will have to fill after depleting the $235 million rainy day fund is about $5.2 billion. “The precipitous drop in revenue we experienced in late April creates major...

Several suspected gang members were arrested in New York this morning on federal charges, including the brutal murders of three teenagers in Long Island last year, authorities said. "The murders, particularly of these two girls, young ladies, were particularly heinous," Robert Capers, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said at a news conference today. "They were beaten to death in the street with machetes and bats over seemingly nothing and left in the streets or in the backyard of a house to die. These were terribly heinous crimes." While the prosecutor declined to discuss specifics...