Free Republic

U.S. District Judge John McConnell is an unabashed liberal, big donor to the Democratic Party, and a longtime friend of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a far-left Democrat from the judge’s home state of Rhode Island. McConnell owes his job to Whitehouse, who asked President Barack Obama to nominate him to become a federal judge. A recent CQ Roll Call investigation showed that McConnell gave about $500,000 to Democratic political committees before becoming a judge – more than any other judge nominated by Presidents Obama or Trump. Why should you care? Because McConnell sits on the Committee on Codes of Conduct of...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH)– Governor Ned Lamont has announced on Monday that he is delaying the reopening of hair salons and barbershops. Salons and barbershops were originally due to reopen on Wednesday, May 20, during phase one of the state’s reopen plan amid the coronavirus pandemic. Both Governor Lamont and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo now intend to reopen hair salons and barbershops in their respective states in early June. Read entire article at the link above.

NEW YORK—A total of nine states on the U.S. East and West coasts said on April 13 they had begun planning for the slow reopening of their economies and lifting of strict stay-at-home orders amid signs the worst had passed in the CCP virus pandemic. The Northeast states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will work with Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island in coordinating to gradually reopen their economies together, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “Nobody has been here before, nobody has all the answers,” Cuomo said during an open conference call with his five counterparts. “Addressing public...

It seemed clear several weeks ago this was going to happen. East coast blue state governors and West coast blue state governors are uniting to begin the economic civil war planning to block any White House effort to re-open the U.S. economy. The three step plan seems predictable: (1) Get out ahead of President Trump. (2) Defy the ‘all clear’ and shape economic benefit to their political allies. (3) Then use Fauci’s upcoming dossier to hit the administration for heartlessly opening the economy too early. ♦ On the East Coast the governors of New York (Cuomo), New Jersey (Murphy), Connecticut...

EAST PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, April 9, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – As the abortion industry fights to exempt itself from the sacrifices being made across the medical profession to combat COVID-19, a Planned Parenthood board member in Rhode Island suggests that abortion is not only equal to but more imporant than the countless legitimate medical procedures that have been put on hold. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams and the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have advised healthcare facilities to reschedule non-urgent appointments and elective procedures, both to limit the spread of the coronavirus and to free up time and resources to...

Rhode Island cops enforcing the state’s coronavirus quarantine order have bagged three golfers from Massachusetts on misdemeanor charges. Richmond police say the three duffers went to elaborate lengths to hide their identities as out-of-towners so they could get in a round of golf at the Meadow Brook Golf Course in town on Wednesday. Gregory Corbett, 51, Tyler Pietrzyk, 22, and Nye Cameron, 22, were apprehended at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant, where police say the men changed cars to drive to the club in a vehicle with Rhode Island license plates, the Attleboro Sun Chronicle reported Friday. Employees at the McDonald’s...

It seems rather inappropriate for a teacher to use social media in order to offer money to a potential bioterrorist to kill the President. But when it’s mainstream for people to literally believe that Donald Trump is the modern-day equivalent to Hitler, can we really act surprised when people see nothing wrong with openly encouraging people to give him a deadly disease? Amy Bednarz, an ELL teacher at Villa Nova Middle School in Woonsocket made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. When Bednarz is not teaching English as a Second Language to middle schoolers, or offering to hire people...

Rhode Island police have begun stopping cars with New York license plates, and the National Guard will soon help officials conduct house-to-house searches to force anyone who has traveled from New York to enter isolation. “Right now we have a pinpointed risk,” Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) said, according to Bloomberg. “That risk is called New York City.” Raimondo on Thursday issued an executive order enforceable by law mandating that anyone who has traveled to New York via any form of transportation must enter into a two-week self-quarantine. The order applies to anyone who has been in New York within the...

On March 13th Around 400 National Guard personnel have been activated across six states to support operations to stem the spread of novel coronavirus, the National Guard Bureau said in a press release. The governors of Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington have all activated components of their Army and Air National Guard. Guardsmen in California and Maryland are also expected to join their states’ efforts today. Things have become even more serious and some conspiracy theories suggested that we are on our way to martial law. Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of...

The Rhode Island Department of Health has announced the first presumptive positive case of coronavirus disease in Rhode Island. The DOH said the person is in their 40s and traveled to Italy in mid-February. The person is being treated at an area hospital, according to the DOH. Gov. Gina Raimondo and the Director of Health, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, will hold a news conference at 11:45 a.m. to answer any questions.

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, February 11, 2020 An East Greenwich, Rhode Island, property developer was sentenced to eight years in prison today for operating a $10.3 million dollar Ponzi scheme and obstructing an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman for the District of Rhode Island.  According to court documents and statements made in court, Monique N. Brady owned and operated MNB LLC, a property preservation and rehabilitation business. From 2014 through summer...

[The "Equality Act "reads (in part)] (1) Discrimination can occur on the basis of the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity... (2) discrimination against a married same-sex couple could be based on the sex stereotype that marriage should only be between heterosexual couples, the sexual orientation of the two individuals in the couple, or both.... (3) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (referred to as “LGBTQ”) people commonly experience discrimination in securing access to public accommodations...providers including adoption and foster care providers...Forms of discrimination include...unequal or unfair treatment... (7) The discredited practice known as “conversion therapy” is a form of discrimination...

WEST WARWICK, Rhode Island - The pastor of a Rhode Island church issued a flier which said that every state legislator who voted last year to preserve the right to an abortion in state law would be denied communion. Father Richard Bucci distributed the fliers last week at Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, the Providence Journal reported on Saturday. He also mailed them to the homes of several lawmakers. “In accord with the teaching of the Catholic Church for 2000 years, the following members of the legislature may NOT receive Holy Communion, as are all the officers of the...

<p>WEST WARWICK, Rhode Island - The pastor of a Rhode Island church issued a flier which said that every state legislator who voted last year to preserve the right to an abortion in state law would be denied communion.</p> <p>Father Richard Bucci distributed the fliers last week at Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, the Providence Journal reported on Saturday. He also mailed them to the homes of several lawmakers.</p>

The Warwick pastor who falsely accused a teenage boy of raping his teenage girlfriend spent one night in jail before starting her 18-month sentence of home confinement. The Daily Wire previously reported that Kelly Shannon, 48, who is also a Christian rock singer, would reportedly get no jail time after she falsely accused the boy and was charged possessing child pornography and allegedly grooming a young girl for sex. Shannon was officially sentenced on Tuesday and was forced to spend a single night in jail in addition to her home confinement. Shannon admitted in court on Tuesday to “two counts...

The Senate overwhelmingly passed President Trump's proposed replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Thursday, sending the deal to the president’s desk for his approval. Passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) represents a rare moment of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress. The deal cleared the Senate by a vote of 89 to 10 on Thursday, close to a month after passing the House by a vote of 385-41. Republicans were eager to help Trump accomplish a major pillar of his economic agenda despite their preferences for a deal with looser restrictions. Democrats, who broadly shared Trump’s...

They use it to call it "voting with their feet" or something like that.  Indeed, people are voting with their feet by trading in their old blue shoes for shining red shoes. This is from Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas: According to an Election Data Services analysis of the Census Bureau report, "The population projections point toward a ten [congressional] seat change over 17 states across the nation by year 2020." Seven states are projected to gain one or more congressional seats after the 2020 election; 10 states are projected lose one...

Westerly Apartment Complex Shooting: 2 Dead, 2 In Hospital A building employee died and two others, another employee and a resident, were seriously injured. By Rachel Nunes, Patch Staff Dec 19, 2019 10:59 am ET | Updated Dec 19, 2019 4:01 pm ET The shooting happened at Babcock Village, a retirement home on Cross Street, according to a report. (Courtesy Lorren Kleinkauf) WESTERLY, RI — A shooting at an apartment housing complex in Westerly, R.I. has left two people dead - including the apparent shooter - and two more fighting for their lives at New England hospitals. Police arrived at...

Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Monday called for the panel to hold a hearing to investigate U.S. strategy in the 18-year Afghanistan War following a damning report that senior U.S. officials knowingly lied to the public for years about the country's progress in the conflict. “We all read today, the striking reporting by The Washington Post, suggesting that administration officials, potentially including military officials, have misled the American public about the war in Afghanistan. I am writing to request hearings to address these deeply concerning revelations about the Afghan war,” Gillibrand wrote in a letter to...

School-bus drivers Billie McClinsey and Brad Mayer didn’t like being represented by the Teamsters and wanted to put the matter to a vote. That should have been straightforward. Federal law provides that if union opponents collect signatures from 30% of their co-workers, they can ask the National Labor Relations Board to schedule a vote. But the process is frequently made convoluted and oppressive. As a result, Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer are trapped—likely indefinitely—in the union they oppose. The NLRB is soliciting comments on proposals to lift barriers that limit workers’ right to remove a union. Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer work...