Free Republic

Maryland’s state flag, one of the most recognizable and widely embraced symbols in the nation, has drawn renewed attention after Gov. Wes Moore referred to it as a “contradiction” during a recent podcast appearance — remarks that appear rhetorical rather than reflective of any policy direction. Moore made the comments while discussing mid-decade congressional redistricting during an appearance on The Press Box podcast on Jan. 28, 2026. In that context, he invoked the state’s history and identity, tying it to broader themes about division and reconciliation. “Do I understand the history of this country? Absolutely,” Moore said. “You can’t look...

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA—Maryland governor Wes Moore, who is widely expected to seek the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, has a powerful family story of racial injustice that he repeatedly tells during public speeches: His grandfather, as a small boy, fled 1920s Charleston with his family in the dead of night after his father—a prominent black minister and Moore’s great-grandfather—angered the Ku Klux Klan with sermons condemning racism. Narrowly escaping a lynching, the family took refuge in Jamaica. But Moore’s grandfather, just six years old at the time, vowed to return to America, where he eventually raised a grandson who made history...

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Sunday he will vote to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress so long as the lower chamber also votes on holding Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt. “I will vote yes on contempt against them and anybody else, as long as Pam Bondi is part of it,” Raskin told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Last month, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee advanced resolutions to hold the Clintons in contempt over their refusal to appear for depositions after being subpoenaed...

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A nonprofit tied to Mayor Brandon Scott’s wife stopped operations after receiving roughly $100,000 in taxpayer money, leaving unanswered questions about whether those funds will be returned. ...

There is a cynical reason why Democrat leaders keep illegal aliens in the country. It is not for humanitarian reasons. The net effect of increases in both legal and illegal immigration in the 2020 Census shifted 17 House seats and 17 Electoral College votes. It resulted in a net gain of 14 seats in blue states. Ten seats shifted from red states and four from battleground states. It’s partly due to districts with high percentages of noncitizens who lean heavily Democrat. “Of the 24 districts where one in five adults is not an American citizen, twenty were won by a...

Maryland governor Wes Moore (D.) declared he won't waste "a second" of his time finding his missing graduate thesis, which he now claims made him an expert on Hamas. Oxford University, meanwhile, refuses to confirm whether Moore was ever a doctoral candidate in 2006, a representation he made in the résumé he submitted that year to obtain a prestigious White House fellowship that jump-started his political career. "I am not going to spend a second of my time trying to dig up a paper that I wrote 20 some odd years ago because a blog, because a right-wing blog post...

The FBI searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson Wednesday morning, as part of a classified document leak investigation. Agents reportedly executed a search warrant at her residence in suburban Alexandria, Va., seizing her phone, a Garmin watch, and two laptops (a personal computer and a Washington Post-issued device). Natanson was reportedly told she is not the target of the investigation. The suspected leaker, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, is a Maryland-based government system administrator with top-secret clearance. The Justice Department alleges in its complaint that he took home classified material, including documents found in his lunchbox and basement. Attorney General...

Federal prosecutors have charged a Maryland man with orchestrating a years-long theft scheme inside the U.S. House of Representatives, alleging he stole hundreds of government-issued cell phones and sold them for personal profit. The findings of this case were revealed by the Department of Justice on Monday. Christopher Southerland, 43, of Glen Burnie, was arrested Friday after a federal indictment was unsealed in U.S. District Court, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. Authorities said the stolen devices were worth more than $150,000. According to the indictment, Southerland worked as a system administrator for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure...

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the longest serving House Democrat, will not seek re-election in 2026 and retire after serving more than 44 years in Congress. “I did not want to be one of those members who clearly stayed, outstayed his or her ability to do the job,” Hoyer said in an interview Wednesday with the Washington Post. Hoyer, 86, plans to formally announce his retirement plans Thursday on the House floor. The Maryland Democrat is one of more than 40 House members who have opted to depart the lower chamber by the start of 2027. Hoyer’s district, southeastern Maryland’s 5th...

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — A 13-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, in October has been found. According to a post from the Rockcastle County Sheriff's Office, 13-year-old Wynter Wagoner was last seen on Oct. 14. Officials posted a month later, announcing that they were continuing to look for Wagoner, working with Kentucky State Police, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals. On Dec. 27, Montgomery County, Maryland, police announced that Wagoner had been found. MCPD said that Wagoner was found in a home in Silver Spring, Maryland, which is just outside of Washington, D.C. Officers...

A federal judge ruled Monday to keep a temporary order in place, preventing Trump officials from re-detaining illegal Salvadoran immigrant and alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. “U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said she was concerned the administration might try to take Abrego back into custody ‘in the middle of the night’ before she could take steps to ensure due process in his case, and she dressed down a Justice Department lawyer for repeated misrepresentations by the U.S. government,” The Washington Post reported. “Once again, I’m making a finding that these representations, which are misrepresentations, are in bad faith,” she...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland will create a commission to study potential reparations for slavery after lawmakers voted Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Wes Moore — currently the nation’s only Black governor — that disappointed many fellow Democrats. Moore said in his veto letter in May that it was a difficult decision to veto the bill, which was a priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. But he wrote there has been enough study of the legacy of slavery, and it was now time to “focus on the work itself” to address it. “Now is the time...

Maryland will launch a study to analyze the economic impacts of climate change to determine the costs associated with storm damage and health outcomes. The move is part of the Moore-Miller administration's strategic approach to investing in a clean energy economy and modernizing the state's energy infrastructure. "While the federal government has spent the past year rolling back climate protections and driving up energy costs, Maryland is taking a responsible step toward understanding the true price tag of climate change," Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. "This study will give us a clear, data-driven look at the real burden...

A Vietnamese mother and business owner whose deportation sparked liberal outrage has an extensive criminal record, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Melissa Tran, 43, has criminal convictions including grand larceny, multiple counts of forgery and fraud, DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. The mom-of-four is the owner of Nail Palace and Spa, a nail salon in Hagerstown, Maryland where she had become a pillar of the community. Tran arrived in the US on a Green Card at the age of 11 after fleeing from Vietnam in 1993. But her world came crashing down when she was unexpectedly detained...

Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday launched a redistricting commission to consider whether to redraw the state's congressional lines ahead of next year's midterms, as other states redo their districts. The launch comes the same day that California voters are casting their ballots on whether the Golden State should participate in the redistricting movement. The resolution would redraw House districts to secure a greater Democratic advantage as retaliation for similar Republican efforts in states like Texas. The commission will be led by Maryland Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and will hold public hearings, solicit feedback and make recommendations to the...

State Senate president rejects midcycle changes to congressional map as ‘too risky’Gov. Wes Moore (D) hinted that he may move ahead with plans to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts, and to call a possible special session, despite opposition from a key lawmaker. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), in a letter to Senate Democrats Tuesday, said he opposed mid-cycle redistricting, which he called “too risky” for Democrats who could end up losing a seat in their efforts to redraw congressional districts to gain one. Ferguson said that redistricting in the middle of a decade “twists rules for potential short-term...

A Democratic state senator from Maryland is accused of orchestrating a scheme to secretly record two critics — including a former campaign consultant — in bed together and then using the footage to threaten and silence them, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment. Federal prosecutors say Maryland State Senator Dalya Attar, her brother Joseph "Yossi" Attar, and Baltimore Police Officer Kalman Finkelstein secretly filmed the pair during an intimate encounter, then used the recording to intimidate them into silence. The 20-page indictment, unsealed Thursday, charges the trio with conspiracy, extortion, illegal wiretapping and violations of the Travel Act. Prosecutors...

Maryland State Senator Dalya Attar has been indicted after allegedly filming two of her rivals in bed together in an attempt to silence them. The bombshell indictment, filed on October 23, alleged that Attar, 35, planted tracking and recording devices to catch her two critics in the act. Attar then threatened to release the footage of the two 'in bed' unless they met her demands not to speak out against her publicly, prosecutors said. She is facing eight federal charges of extortion and conspiracy related to the alleged plot, which prosecutors said occurred in the run-up to the 2020 and...

The U.S. Secret Service, alongside local law enforcement and state agency partners, conducted an Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and payment card skimming outreach operation in Baltimore and the surrounding area on Oct. 22-23. Personnel visited 493 businesses and removed 22 illegal skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of nearly $22.9 million. More than 3,000 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. Teams also distributed educational materials about Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and skimming to businesses to help them better identify the warning signs of illegal skimming devices in their point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs. This outreach operation...

Maryland Governor Wes Moore strongly hinted today that he is ready to call a special session of the General Assembly to redraw the state congressional districts. That move would flip Maryland’s lone Republican seat in Congress, currently held by Representative Andy Harris, to a Democrat. At an appearance at a food pantry in Bowie today, 7News pushed the governor for an answer to redistricting. Yesterday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called for redistricting in a series of social media posts. “I hate gerrymandering. I hate it as a concept. I hate that it happens. But also you know what I hate?...