Free Republic

A New York appeals court rejected on Thursday former President Donald Trump’s effort to lift the remainder of his gag order. Trump sought to have the order lifted after he was convicted in May on 34 counts for falsifying business records. Judge Juan Merchan partially lifted the order in June but left in place key restrictions, including one that prevents Trump from criticizing prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. The court agreed that the end of the trial did not constitute “a change in circumstances” that warranted terminating the order, noting that the “fair administration of justice necessarily...

New York isn’t the only state with an inexplicable own-recognizance story today. Fox News reports that two fentanyl traffickers captured by California failed to show up for their court date yesterday. Police found 150,000 tablets of the dangerous narcotic in their possession during the arrest, and it looked like law enforcement had hobbled an important distribution node for the lethal drug on June 24.Despite holding $750,000 in street value of fentanyl, the California court considered the pair “low risk” and withdrew the requirement for a bond on bail. And no one should be surprised by what happened next:Two accused drug...

Last month the California Highway Patrol pulled over two men in Tulare County, which is part of California’s Central Valley about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Both men were from Washington state and when police performed a search of their vehicle they found 150,000 fentanyl pills: -snip In addition to the fentanyl, they also had two kilograms of cocaine in the vehicle. Based on the amount of drugs involved, they were booked into jail with a bail amount of $1 million each. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the story. "…when Tulare County Probation Department submitted a pre-trial...

Effectively, the judges have ruled that Alex Jones is guilty before proven guilty and will instruct the jury to determine just how guilty he is. In an unprecedented assault on due process and the rule of law, both a Texas and Connecticut judge have ruled that Alex Jones may not discuss the First Amendment, defend his innocence, or point out the rigged elements of the upcoming Sandy Hook defamation case against him. Here is a limited breakdown of some of the most egregious constitutional violations of due process and the First Amendment as explained by a third-party legal adviser: You...

A transgender Rikers Island inmate with previous arrests for assault raped a female prisoner after she finished showering in the women's section of the violence-plagued New York City facility. Ramel Blount, 33, who goes by the name Diamond Blount, pleaded guilty to the sexual attack in a deal on April 7, the Bronx District Attorney's Office announced Monday. The 33-year-old victim, whose name was not released, had just finished showering when Blount approached her from behind, held her down by the back of her neck and raped her at the Rose M. Singer center on February 8, 2021. The victim...

The US Department of Justice has reviewed details that "raise concerns" about the integrity of the Republican-led audit in Maricopa County, telling the president of Arizona's state senate that the effort may violate federal law. The audit, taking place at a sports arena in Phoenix, is being conducted by a private firm, Cyber Ninjas, that has no experience in elections and is led by a man who promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. The firm was chosen to lead the effort by state Sen. Karen Fann, over the objections of Maricopa County's local Republican officials — and after two...