Free Republic

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis let it be known Monday that he won’t support legislation in the Sunshine State that would put taxpayers on the hook for former President Donald Trump’s legal bills. In response to a Politico report noting that “some Florida Republicans” are backing a measure that could grant as much as $5 million to the 77-year-old GOP presidential primary front-runner, DeSantis tweeted: “But not the Florida Republican who wields the veto pen…” The proposal, filed by state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R-Miami), would set aside state funds for legal fees incurred as a result of criminal charges brought by...

The police power, aka internal police, is the capacity of the states to regulate behavior and enforce order for the betterment of the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of their citizens. As for public emergencies, statutes define the extent of police/executive authority and the public purposes they serve. While “police” isn’t found in the US Constitution, this power is natural to state sovereignty and predates the Constitution. As is happening all across the country, we can and should publicly debate, argue and demonstrate at state capitols over the many excessive, counter-productive and Pyrrhic measures against the CCP virus. In...

On April 11, The Washington Post ran an article about plans being made to reopen the economy. The article complains that state governors (rather than the White House) are leading the planning, which has resulted in a “mind-boggling level of disorganization,” according to a Centers for Disease Control director. The incessant bleating of prominent health leaders over the lack of federal control in this crisis only underscores how little they understand or respect this country’s Constitution and the freedoms it seeks to protect. Although the White House certainly has emergency authority to mandate all number of efforts to respond to...

Hazard Police arrested one woman Tuesday as part of an undercover investigation into prostitution in the downtown area. Nannie “Missy” Adams, 33, of Leatherwood, is facing one count of prostitution after police say she offered to perform sexual acts on an undercover officer with Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) in return for $40. She was additionally charged with loitering for prostitution purposes. Rest of story at link

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller on Friday joined the chorus of Hoosiers protesting a controversial Fourth Amendment ruling recently decided by the Indiana Supreme Court. Zoeller released a statement saying he will support a rehearing of the case due to concerns that the court ruled too broadly when it found citizens have no right under common law to reasonably resist police who unlawfully enter their homes. The Barnes v. State ruling came last week and was the first major opinion penned by Justice Steven David – Gov. Mitch Daniels’ appointment. “We believe however that a right to resist...

A Christian who prayed in a public park with six other people is serving a nine-day jail sentence for disorderly conduct even though his case is under appeal and charges against the others were dismissed or overturned. Julian Raven of Elmira, N.Y., said he was "surprised by police at his office," handcuffed and taken into custody this week, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, which is defending Raven. "According to his wife, police escorted him out of a court hearing … in handcuffs in front of his crying children to begin serving his nine-day jail sentence," the organization said in...

Mali, a 3-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier, balances her front paws on Demarkus Peeples’ thighs, gives him a long look then returns to all fours and takes a walk around the front porch of the North Park house where she lives with her owner, Ross Meyer. She walks back over to Peeples and does it again. She’s got sparkly purple polish on her nails. Two days earlier, Peeples’ dog Egypt, also an American Staffordshire Terrier, was shot by San Diego police officers who say the dog came at them in a threatening manner. Egypt was hit three times—in the paw, lower...

Steamed over a perceived increase in federal usurping of states' rights, Oklahoma's House of Representatives told Washington, D.C., to back off. Joint House Resolution 1089, passed by an overwhelming 92-3 margin, reasserts Oklahoma's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and, according to the resolution's own language, is "serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates." The Tenth Amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Traditionally, this language has meant that...

Motorists in Colorado are expressing outrage over a weekend stunt in Gilpin County, about an hour's drive west of Denver, where highway checkpoints were set up so a private organization could ask for samples of blood and saliva. "I don't think they're authorized to do what they're doing, and I view it as a gross violation of law-enforcement protocol," Roberto Sequeira, 51, told reporters for the Denver Post. He said he and his wife were "detained" for about 15 minutes even after they protested they wanted to get home because of a sleepy child in their car. (Story continues below)...

THIS WEEK, Congress considers legislation extending the implementation of the U.S.A. Patriot Act. Understandably, the debate surrounding the bill is fraught with emotion.At issue, however, is whether the proposed changes take appropriate steps to protect the civil liberties of innocent Americans. I believe they do not. Given the importance of these individual freedoms, I cannot support the bill in its current form.Ultimately, this debate is about police powers — powers granted by the people to government — and the balance we strike between these forceful tools and the rights of individuals.Provisions written into the Constitution and in laws are designed...

Dave Newman did what many of us like to think we would do — if we had the guts to leave, if only for a few minutes, our little cocoons of security. He rescued a man who was drowning in the San Marcos River, Abed Duamni. For his act of heroism, Newman did not get a medal, a letter of commendation or a key to the city. He got a visit to the jailhouse, where he was charged with interfering with public duties. "I was amazed," Newman, 48, told reporters after getting out of the Hays County Law Enforcement Center...