Free Republic

Washington (AFP) – US authorities announced the arrests Monday of the co-founder of the notorious Atomwaffen neo-Nazi group and a woman he met online in the latest extremist plot to attack public electricity facilities.The FBI said Brandon Russell, who helped found Atomwaffen in 2015, was arrested in Florida, after spending four years in prison for possessing bomb-making materials.The woman, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, was arrested in Maryland where she had also spent time in prison for armed robbery.Guided by Russell, Clendaniel had planned to acquire a gun and to attack five electrical substations around Baltimore, Maryland, the FBI said.SNIPIn February 2022,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pakistani convicted of supporting an al Qaeda plot to blow up U.S. gas stations was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday in a case Washington has called a victory in its war on terror. Uzair Paracha, 26, has said he falsely confessed under the pressure of three days of interrogation by the FBI, but U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein said Paracha "knew what he was doing" in lending support to al Qaeda. Paracha remained calm after the sentence was read and waved to relatives as he left the courtroom wearing a blue...

A Maryland school district is educating students about "speciesism," which includes the oppression against plants as part of a lesson plan linked to Black Lives Matter. Teachers in Howard County Public School System [HCPSS] were instructed to assign students a "Privilege or Oppressed? Worksheet." The worksheet prompts students to identify "the places where they enjoy privilege and places where their status causes them to lack privilege." Speciesism is one of 13 "types of oppression," including racism, sexism, classism, ageism, and adultism. This type of oppression is illustrated through a chart that breaks down how each type of oppression is manifested...

On any given day, hundreds of birds gather at Baltimore County’s landfill in White Marsh, an unincorporated community just west of aptly named Bird River which drains...eventually the Chesapeake Bay. These massive flocks of birds... are doing what birds do: pooping and eating, then dropping landfill trash in nearby neighborhoods. And that’s not a fun reality for residents, good for environmental water quality, or the sanity of neighbors. So Baltimore County officials are considering hiring some aerial muscle to frighten away the nuisance birds. Early last year, Dan Vitilio, who lives in nearby Kingsville, made a trip to the landfill...

The Lead panel discusses.

The GOP House can stop the project and rein in a runaway bureau. The federal government is proceeding with plans to build a new FBI headquarters complex twice the size of the Pentagon building. Riveted into the colossal new project are woke regulations to ensure that the FBI center will comply with diversity, equity, LGBTQ+, and climate change political goals. The plan, unveiled last September, has received little attention. For years the FBI has sought to vacate its present headquarters, a brutalist concrete bunker on stilts and occupying two city blocks between the White House and the Capitol. Plans for...

CLARKSBURG, Md. - Fentanyl overdoses among young people across the country are on the rise, and Montgomery County is no exception. So county school official hosted a community forum on Saturday to talk to parents about the deadly drug… During the community call to action, packed cafeteria of parents learned about the dangers of Fentanyl and harm reduction techniques for Fentanyl users. The parents were also given Naxolone kits, also known as Narcan, and they trained on how to use the life-saving medication that can reverse or reduce the effects of an overdose. The meeting comes after a reported spike...

Young Republican who ran for office in Maryland.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Since the Baltimore Police Department started overhauling its practices through a series of court-ordered reforms in 2017, officers have become significantly less likely to use force against members of the public, such as brandishing a service weapon, deploying a stun gun or striking an uncooperative suspect into compliance. But the agency still needs to improve its ability to hold wayward officers accountable and address a dire staffing shortage, according to testimony Thursday in federal court in Baltimore. With a mix of praise and admonishment, the discussion focused on recent developments in a yearslong effort to enact sweeping...

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore was sworn in as the state’s first (b)lack governor on Wednesday, punctuating his inauguration with references to (b)lack history that included an acknowledgement of the enslaved people who once arrived by ship near the state Capitol. Before his inaugural speech, Moore attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Annapolis City Dock, which was once a regional slave port and the site of a memorial to enslaved African Kunta Kinte, who arrived there in 1767 and was written about in Alex Haley’s book “Roots.” Moore was joined by other (b)lack leaders at the ceremony on a bright sunny...

Legislators in Maryland's 2023 session's first bill would seriously restrict where the tens of thousands of people who recently received concealed handgun permits might actually carry their weapons. The Maryland laws that prevented many otherwise law-abiding persons from obtaining a concealed carry permit were overturned by the supreme court decision in NY v Bruen. Following this decision, applications for firearm licenses skyrocketed. Now, Maryland Senate Bill One would prohibit people with guns from being within 100 feet of a long list of locations that provide "public accommodation," including nearly every retail establishment in the state. It would also make...

A bill heralded by progressive lawmakers would allow Montgomery County and other jurisdictions in Maryland to raise income taxes on high-earning residents by a half-percentage point to provide tax relief for low- and moderate-income families. The bill would increase the maximum allowable income tax rate from 3.2% to 3.7%. “It’s simply unfair that the wealthy few have a smaller tax burden,” Del. Julie Palakovich Carr (D-Dist. 17) told members of the news media last week...If passed, the bill would raise the cap on what county governments can tax residents in the highest income bracket. The statutory limit on income tax...

A teacher in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, accidentally emailed sexually explicit photos to students, and the principal is asking students not to share them. In a letter Friday, Principal Taryn Washington told families of students enrolled at Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School what happened, Fox 5 reported. The letter read: A Wise employee inadvertently emailed a message that included sexually explicit photos to all students. Immediate action was taken by school administrators to retract the correspondence; however, many individuals saw the photos and have since shared them with others. I am asking that all students, as responsible online citizens,...

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The Juvenile Justice Reform Act, known previously as House Bill 459, does not allow anyone under 13 to be charged with certain crimes. As juvenile crime has plagued Baltimore City, it is also happening in Harford County. Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler says in January alone, 18 juveniles, who fall under the law, can't be charged with crimes. Some of those crimes involved thefts, burglaries, and much more. "Someone sent some pictures that they shouldn't have sent, which is a crime," said Gahler. Gahler feels lawmakers in Annapolis were not considering the right factors when passing the...

A high school in Maryland issued an apology Friday after an employee accidentally sent sexually explicit photos to the entire student body, according to school officials. Principal Taryn Washington at Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School in Prince George's County sent a letter to students' families Friday informing them of the incident, stating the employee "inadvertently" sent an email to all students containing the photos. Washington said school administrators immediately tried to retract the email, but the photos were seen by many people and were shared with others. "I am asking that all students, as responsible online citizens, not...

Maryland Democrats are pushing restrictions for licensed concealed carry that would prevent the legal carriers from being armed for self defense in pubic places. WBAL-TV reports that State Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D) is pushing the Gun Safety Act of 2023, would bans concealed carry in “schools, hospitals, libraries, synagogues, churches, mosques. Also parks, restaurants, anywhere the public is gathering.” The synopsis of Waldstreicher’s bill says: “Prohibiting a person from knowingly wearing, carrying, or transporting a firearm onto the real property of another unless the other has given certain permission to the person or the public generally; and prohibiting a person...

Maryland police are searching for a lone suspect after three men were stabbed during a mass attack Tuesday inside a McDonald’s restaurant. The stabbing incident was reported around 6:45 a.m. in the 8400 block of Colesville Road in downtown Silver Spring, FOX5 DC reported. The three victims suffered what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, the station reported as per Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD).

Wes Moore, the incoming Democratic governor of Maryland, said he is “confident” he can reach his economic goals without raising taxes in the state. Moore said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that economics will be his priority, and he is going to work to create pathways for “work, wages and wealth.” He said too many people are working in their jobs and still living below the poverty line, and he wants to make sure people own more than they owe.

During a hearing on anti-semitism today, Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) claimed that those who “espouse hate” are not protected under the First Amendment, and called for the federal government to be “more aggressive” in its efforts to combat hateful rhetoric. Senator Cardin serves as the Chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is also referred to as the Helsinki Commission. […] On Dec. 13, the Helsinki Commission held a hearing entitled, “The Alarming Rise of Anti-Semitism and Its Threat to Democracy.” During the hearing, Cardin stated, “If you espouse hate, if you espouse violence, you’re...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican weighing a 2024 White House bid, said Monday he believes former President Donald Trump is “at his lowest point ever,” as the House Jan. 6 committee wrapped up its investigation into what Hogan described as “one of the darkest days in American history.”In an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the committee released its recommendations, Hogan said he believes the former president should be held accountable, after he “inflamed kind of a riotous mob to go attack the seat of our democracy.” However, the outgoing, term-limited governor was not specific...