Free Republic

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was baptized at notorious Rikers Island jail on Good Friday. Adams was baptized by civil rights campaigner Rev. Al Sharpton, alongside a group of male prisoners. The ceremony came as part of a visit to the jail, which has seen reports of violent crime and inmate deaths, where Adams met with detainees over Easter weekend. Adams was seen joining Sharpton in prayer, being baptized and having his feet washed by the reverend. 'Having been arrested and then elected mayor, I reminded these young men that where you are is not who you are,' Adams...

Amy Hadley watched in horror as her home was raided by police and destroyed in South Bend, Indiana, in June 2022. Over a year later, her family is still traumatized and their home still bears the scars of the raid. And all of this happened because police were searching for a man who was never in their home and who had no connection to Amy’s family.

An Army installation in Texas has been struggling to put food on the table for its soldiers for months as the base faces a shortage of cooks to staff its dining facilities. Fort Cavazos, Texas, previously known as Fort Hood, has struggled to provide its junior enlisted troops with meals for months, with the base only opening two of its 10 major dining facilities for much of the summer and with limited times, according to a report Tuesday from Military.com.According to the report, the base has faced a shortage of cooks to man the dining facilities around base, with many...

A New York man who pleaded guilty to rape and sexual abuse for assaulting four teenage girls during parties at his parents' home will not face jail time after a judge on Tuesday sentenced him to eight years probation. Niagara County Court Judge Matthew Murphy said he "agonized" over the case of 20-year-old Christopher Belter, who was accused of committing the crimes when he was 16 or 17. Belter pleaded guilty in 2019 to a series of felony charges that included third-degree rape and attempted first-degree sexual abuse, as well as two misdemeanor charges of second-degree sexual abuse. Although Belter...

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy Wednesday said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi harmed the House as an institution and undermined the Jan. 6 select committee by choosing not to seat Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, who McCarthy chose to fill two of the five GOP slots on the committee. "Speaker Pelosi has taken the unprecedented step of denying the minority party's picks for the Select Committee on Jan. 6. This represents something that has not happened in the House before for a select committee, by the historian," McCarthy, R-Calif., said at a press conference. "It's an egregious abuse of...

HONOLULU, Hawaii – A federal judge today sentenced Joelyn DeCosta, 48, of Honolulu, Hawaii, to two years of probation and a $5000 fine for willfully and maliciously interfering with the working and use of a communication system operated and controlled by the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1362.According to documents and information presented in court, DeCosta was an Airway Transportation Systems Specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration, and had worked for the F.A.A. for approximately 26 years. On January 4, 2019, she willfully and maliciously severed communications between Air Traffic Control in Honolulu and...

If you say “September 11” most people automatically think of the attacks on the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. What they probably don’t even remember happened on September 11, were the attacks on the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. Once the Libyan Revolution began in February 2011, the CIA began placing assets in the region, attempting to make contacts within the region. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, whose name and image would soon become synonymous with the Benghazi attacks, was the first liaison between the United States and the rebels. The task...

A Newburgh man who is classified as a level three sex offender – the most dangerous level – was arrested on Wednesday after he approached two nursery school employees and two children on the grounds of the school in New Windsor. Town Police charged Mark Edward Nelson, 61, with criminal trespass. He was released without bail due to the bail reform laws that prevent him from being remanded to jail. Police said when Nelson approached the women and children as they exited through a side door adjacent to the playground in a darkened area. He attempted to make contact with...

An illegal alien fined $280 for leaving two law enforcement officers dead after a negligent driving accident has since been driving freely in the United States, an investigation by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) finds. Roberto Garza Palacios, a 28-year-old illegal alien from Guatemala, was given a slap on the wrist after he caused a car crash in December 2017 that immediately killed 33-year-old Sander Cohen, the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office deputy chief, and later left FBI agent Carlos Wolff, 36-years-old, dead at a nearby hospital. Palacios received a $280 fine for the deadly car crash, with prosecutors...

On the morning of July 2, 2012, in the most dangerous warzone in the world, Lieutenant Clint Lorance took command of his small band of American paratroopers at the spearhead of the American War in Afghanistan. Intelligence reports that morning warned of a Taliban ambush against Lorance's platoon. Fifteen minutes into their patrol, three military-age Afghan males crowded on a motorcycle and sped aggressively down a Taliban-controlled dirt road toward Lorance's men. Three weeks earlier, outside the massive American Kandahar Airfield, Taliban terrorists struck by motorcycle, riding into a crowded area, detonating body-bombs and killing twenty-two people. Sixty-three days before...

If Van Jones, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kim Kardashian all agree on a bill, it’s probably not a good idea. Republicans and Democrats came together to pass the FIRST STEP Act into law this month, which will allow felons early release. It’s being touted as a criminal justice system overhaul, to let nonviolent offenders out of prison for good behavior. But as Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who graduated from Harvard Law School, observed, “there are almost no low-level, non-violent offenders in federal prison.” If they are in prison for low-level convictions, it’s because they were allowed to plea down to a...

President Trump’s frustration last week over special counsel Robert Mueller not investigating the Democrats’ links to Russia election meddling is aimed at Christopher Steele, the British ex-spy who compiled and imported the unverified dossier. “The only ‘Collusion’ is that of the Democrats with Russia and many others,” he tweeted Nov. 15. Mr. Steele is a paid Democratic Party operative who spread among Washington power elites pre-Election Day Trump gossip originating from Moscow. Mr. Mueller has made a theme of enforcing the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), which requires people working on behalf of foreigners to register with the Justice Department...

The Senate testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, the man she alleges assaulted her at a small house party in high school, revealed several details in their stories that do not match up. Here are three of these inconsistencies and the people who Dr. Blasey said were connected to the story. STATEMENT FROM BLASEY There were four boys I remember specifically being there: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, a boy named P.J. and one other boy whose name I cannot recall. I also remember my friend Leland attending. STATEMENT FROM KAVANAUGH All four witnesses who are alleged...

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's second sexual abuse accuser, Deborah Ramirez, will not testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. According to Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), a member of the Committee, said he spoke with Ramirez. She made it very clear that she gave her story to the press, which can be found in The New Yorker article that was posted late Sunday night, The Washington Times reported. “Our counsel repeatedly tried to reach him,” Kennedy said. “They finally did reach him, and he said we are not issuing a statement. He said if you want our statement, read the New Yorker.” Ramirez...

Noor Salman, the wife of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, was declared not guilty on all counts Friday morning. She faced charges of obstruction and providing material support to a terrorist organization. A guilty verdict could have lead to life in prison. Prosecutors and defense attorneys painted radically different pictures of Salman over the course of the trial -- on the one hand helping her husband prepare for the attack and on the other, an abused woman who "married a monster."

The House is about to vote on impeachment articles against President Trump. Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas said he will force a vote on impeaching Trump as early as Wednesday. Republicans will easily table the symbolic vote, but it will put lawmakers on the record. “Three prominent Democrats have asked to meet with me to discuss impeachment,” Green said on the floor Tuesday. Green appeared to be referring to members within his party’s leadership who have urged him to stop his campaign to force an impeachment vote. “I will tell them I refuse to sit on the sidelines while...

It’s outrageous that after nearly a year in office AG Sessions is now considering an investigation into the Clinton Foundation and the approval of the sale of US uranium to Russia by Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration. The fact that Congress asked the Justice Department to look into the many corrupt and criminal actions of the Clintons and the Obama Administration and that we are just finding out now that Sessions is looking into these issues is appalling. What took Sessions so long? Is he even serious about looking into these crimes? Americans have known for years that the...

An Oregon man has been fined $500 by the state government for suggesting that yellow traffic lights should last slightly longer. The Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying hit Mats Järlström with a fine for unlawfully engaging in the “practice of engineering” by studying the state’s traffic flow systems.

The White House Correspondents' Association announced on Tuesday that comedian Hasan Minhaj will perform at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner. The WHCD is where the White House and members of the media get together and joke about one another. The dinner is often referred to as "Nerd Prom." This year the dinner will be missing its biggest guest: President Donald Trump announced in February that he will not be attending the dinner. Trump is the first president to skip the event in decades. Vice President Mike Pence and the rest of the White House staff also announced they will...

Barack Obama's name is revered in his home state. But the Illinois House has rejected making his birthday a state holiday. Legislation to make the 44th president's Aug. 4th birthday a state holiday fell six votes short Tuesday. Chicago Democratic Rep. Sonya Harper said it would honor a man who adopted Chicago as his home and served in the Illinois Senate. But Rep. Steven Andersson of Geneva suggested it be honorary. The Republican floor leader said even Obama wouldn't want the cash-strapped state to give state workers another paid day off. He noted that Tampico native and 40th president Ronald...