Free Republic

Hundreds of registered Republicans have switched parties or became independents in Central Florida in the week since the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a pro-President Trump mob, elections supervisors say. The number is small compared with the tens of thousands of registered voters for each party. But even that amount of movement is unusual outside of any election or registration deadline, one elections expert said. “It’s probably very rare [to switch],” said Daniel A. Smith, the chair of political science at the University of Florida. “Generally, where we see the changes are from [having] no party affiliation to...

TALLAHASSEE - Florida state workers returned to work at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee Thursday morning after law enforcement authorities shut down the building "out of an abundance of caution" when a bomb threat was received overnight. In a tweet Thursday morning, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the Capitol will be closed to employees at least until 9 a.m. as an investigation continued. The agency said the Capitol complex was swept by law enforcement officers and explosive-detecting K-9s. The agency’s tweet said nothing suspicious was found. The Tallahassee Police Department said that they arrested 61-year-old Mark Wayne Clark...

A Florida sheriff's deputy was arrested after authorities said he threatened to kill federal agents who were under attack by rioters at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. Polk County Deputy Peter Heneen, 29, was booked on suspicion of making threats to kill or do bodily injury, a second-degree felony, officials said. Heneen has been suspended and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he's started the administrative process of firing the deputy, who has been on the job for 6 1/2 years. Heneen's alleged threats, made in text messages to a fellow deputy, had to be taken seriously, Judd told...

Supporters of former President Donald Trump lined the streets of Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Wednesday to welcome the president to where he will be spending his time post-presidency. The now-former president left the nation’s capital Wednesday morning before the inauguration ceremony for President Joe Biden. ... Along with former first lady Melania Trump, Donald Trump left the White House shortly after 8:00 a.m. “Goodbye. I love you. We’ll be back in some form,” the former president told supporters before boarding Air Force One for the last time to head to his estate in Florida. A line of supporters waited for him in...

<p>THOUSANDS Lined the streets of Palm Beach, Florida today to welcome President Trump home from the DC Swamp.</p><p>After four long years of constant and unprecedented attacks by Democrats, their fake news media it must feel good to be back in Florida.</p>

President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Broward County rapper Kodak Black, who has served half of a three-year federal sentence for falsifying information on a document used to buy guns from a Miami gun shop. The commutation was was one of 73 last-minute clemency grants issued at by Trump at midnight Wednesday, the last day of of his term as president. “President Trump granted a commutation to Bill Kapri, more commonly known as Kodak Black,” the White House wrote in a statement. “Kodak Black is a prominent artist and community leader. This commutation is supported by numerous religious leaders,...

Former Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones was arrested on a charge that she hacked into the state’s emergency response system — and later learned she tested positive for COVID-19. Jones — who said she was fired from the state’s Department of Health in May for refusing to alter coronavirus data — turned herself in late Sunday, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Her attorney, Steve Dobson, said Jones, 31, was tested for COVID-19 after being booked into the Leon County Detention Facility, and learned she was positive on Monday.

Good Morning/Afternoon, MEGARushGetsReadyToSayGoodByeToPresidentDonaldJTrumpAndCommentsOfPlugsBeingSwornInOnJanuary20thAtHighNoonDITTOS!

Federal law enforcement agents have arrested a Florida Man and charged him with trying to organize an armed response to pro-President Donald Trump protesters expected at the state Capitol on Sunday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the FBI arrested Daniel Baker of Tallahassee on Friday. Authorities say Baker issued a “call to arms” on social media to recruit people in a plot to create an armed circle around protesters and trap them in the Capitol complex “using firearms.” “Extremists intent on violence from either end of the political and social spectrums must be stopped, and they will be stopped,”...

Federal agents arrested a self-admitted anarchist and “hardcore leftist” on Friday on suspicion of plotting to violently disrupt planned election-related protests at the Florida state Capitol. Prosecutors said they “averted a crisis” at the Capitol by arresting 33-year-old Daniel Baker, taking him into custody on a charge involving making a threat to kidnap or injure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced in a news release. “Baker issued a call to arms for like-minded individuals to violently confront protestors gathered at the Florida Capitol this Sunday,” prosecutors said. “He specifically called for others to join him...

A Florida college is seeking to fire a professor whose controversial tweets — including one claiming “black privilege is real” – led to widespread calls for his termination as protests raged in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. An investigation by the University of Central Florida determined that associate psychology professor Charles Negy created a “hostile” classroom environment and tried to deter students from filing complaints, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The probe also found that Negy didn’t report a student’s claim that she was sexually assaulted by one of his teaching assistants and gave false information during the investigation, which...

.... MIAMI (WSVN) - President-elect Joe Biden personally reached out to a Miami business owner who, despite being hit hard by the pandemic, helped others. As dozens of small businesses struggle to operate amid the pandemic, Biden said he wants to help them and even took the time to speak to Half Moon Empanadas owner Pilar Guzman Zavala.....

FBI Special Agents arrested Daniel Alan Baker, 33, over an alleged plot to rally like-minded individuals to violently confront protesters on Sunday at the Florida Capitol. Baker claimed to have fought in Syria against ISIS and the Turkish government, according to a federal complaint.

A substitute teacher in a Florida school district telling her students that antifa was culpable for the U.S. Capitol riot has been fired, TMZ reports. A student at Bok Academy in Lake Wales, Florida caught the teacher’s rant on camera during a middle school language arts class, where she fraudulently alleged that three members of antifa were paid to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, and were to blame for the violence. “We've had trouble with this all summer long,” the teacher says in the video. “There are peaceful demonstrations, we're fine, until a bunch of antifa members showed up...

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., pushed back against fellow Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, Wednesday after the congressman defended Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the highest-ranking woman in the house, for her vote to impeach President Trump. "With all due respect to Rep. Crenshaw, this is a minority view within the minority party," Gaetz tweeted to Crenshaw. Crenshaw said earlier that Cheney had a "hell of a lot more backbone than most" and called her a "principled leader."

The state allows vaccinating nonresidents, which rankles some; ‘it lowers the numbers of vaccines available to people here’ Visitors from Toronto to New York to Buenos Aires have long flocked to Florida for sun, surf and shopping. Now they are coming for the Covid-19 vaccine. Some of the arrivals are Americans or foreigners who own second homes in the state and reside here part-time. Others are making short-term visits, seizing the opportunity provided by Florida’s decision to make the vaccine available to people age 65 and older, including nonresidents. The practice, which some are calling vaccine tourism, has drawn fire...

Rumors that Ivanka Trump will soon launch a political career have started to recirculate. According to recent reports, the President’s daughter is most likely considering Florida for a potential Senate run as she and her husband, Jared Kushner, are reportedly moving to Miami-Dade County. “Over the last four years I’ve seen a lot, I’ve seen it’s easy for politicians to survive if they silence their convictions and skip the hard fights,” Ivanka stated. “I couldn’t believe so many politicians actually prefer to complain about a problem, rather than fix it.” Political experts have suggested Marco Rubio’s Senate seat is the...

CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — There is a federal investigation into the reported harassment of a manatee, found with the word "Trump" written on its back, in a story first reported by the Citrus County Chronicle. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed an investigation is underway after the agency received a report about the manatee. The Chronicle reported the manatee was found over the weekend in the Blue Hole on the Homosassa River.

From a chaotic vaccine roll-out to the fast-spreading variant, here's the latest news about the novel coronavirus in Florida. Nine things to know, as of Jan. 11: 1. Florida reported almost 20,000 COVID-19 cases Jan. 8 and more than 15,000 cases Jan. 9, reports The New York Times. 2. At least 22 cases of the fast-spreading U.K. coronavirus variant have been confirmed in Florida, the CDC said Jan. 8. The agency has reported 60 total cases in the U.S. across eight states. 3. Florida is allowing everyone 65 and older access to the COVID-19 vaccine, a move that has led...

The constitutional law scholar warned of the precedent such an impeachment would set Harvard Law professor emeritus and constitutional law scholar Alan Dershowitz said that while he does not believe it would result in a Senate trial, impeaching President Trump over what he said in an address prior to protesters storming the Capitol building on Wednesday would provide a "loaded weapon" to both parties to use at their will in the future. Speaking to Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," Dershowitz first said that even if Trump is impeached for a second time, the Senate will not be able to hear...