Free Republic

BIRMINGHAM, AL, August 8, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Alabama judge has shut down Birmingham's New Women, All Women abortion facility after finding its owner was illegally operating without a state license. Judge Joseph Boohaker of the Jefferson County Circuit Court also permanently barred its alleged proprietor, Dr. Bruce Norman, from operating an abortion facility at this location in the future. The decision comes just one day after an ambulance was called to the Jackson Women's Health Organization in Mississippi, where Dr. Norman also performs abortions, to transport a pale brunette woman to the hospital.

A West Virginia state senator leaves the Democratic party.In West Virginia, a fed-up Democratic state senator is changing parties — and hoping to represent his state in Congress. State senator Evan Jenkins is done with President Obama’s vision for America. “The Obama agenda has become crystal clear,” he says, pointing to the president’s support for “immigration reform that includes amnesty provisions” as well as “his limitations on our constitutional rights relating to gun ownership,” “his environmental agenda, which spells the end of coal and coal jobs,” and “the government takeover of health care.” “Those are issues and positions that I...

n Monday, August 5, the same day abortion clinic owner Diane Derzis faces a judge about the accusation she is illegally operating the New Woman All Women abortion clinic in Birmingham, shut down by the state of Alabama since 2012, pro-lifers have organized a simultaneous Twitter campaign called #ShutDerzisDown, in hopes of adding pressure and bringing public awareness to the accusation of the flagrant disregard for the law and persistent operation of what they say is now an illegal abortion clinic. new woman alabamaDerzis is infamous to Southern pro-lifers. Her ownership of two major abortion clinics has made her the...

Under the cover of Obama’s campaign to sell his budget .. it is no coincidence that his visit is occurring at the same time Volkswagen is being pressured to accept the UAW into its Chattanooga factory. The United Auto Workers have tried every other option at this point including calling in a favor with the union that resides in Volkswagen’s home plant in Germany. ... it doesn’t look like the UAW’s normal campaign of propaganda seems to be succeeding; therefore, it’s time to call in the big dog himself and hope their investment of $148,967 into the reelection of President...

Alabama executed a convicted murderer on Thursday who prisoners' rights groups said was mentally ill. Andrew Reid Lackey, 29, was put to death by lethal injection at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama, prison officials said. It was the state's first execution since 2011. Lackey was convicted of killing Charlie Newman, an 80-year-old World War Two veteran in Athens, Alabama. Andrew Reid Lackey, who was executed by Alabama on Thursday, was prescribed multiple psychotropic drugs, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. Lackey made no statement before his execution, according to prison officials. He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. local time...

BIRMINGHAM, AL, July 25, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Photographs, eyewitness testimony, online advertisements, and an undercover phone call all prove that an Alabama abortion clinic that was supposed to have shut its doors last year is still operating illegally, according to a pro-life legal group. The evidence against the New Woman All Woman (NWAW) abortion clinic in Birmingham was all compiled by the Life Legal Defense Foundation and submitted as part of an amicus curiae brief in support of the state’s request for a permanent injunction against the facility. After a state inspection last year uncovered 76 pages of serious violations...

Kansas laws could be targeted as the U.S. attorney general on Thursday announced a new federal offensive against state restrictions on voting rights. Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that he is shifting resources in the Justice Department to pursue more legal action against state-by-state voting restrictions. He said his efforts will begin with Texas and expand to other states where voting issues have surfaced. Joan Wagnon, chairwoman of the Kansas Democratic Party, applauded Holder’s speech and said she’s considering contacting the Justice Department over the issue of more than 12,000 Kansas voters whose registration is “in suspense” because of...

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – A Jefferson County lawmaker wants to change Alabama’s Stand Your Ground law so the defense can not be invoked by someone who followed or pursued a person before a confrontation. The legislation is directly inspired by the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. “I’m calling this the Trayvon Martin amendment,” Rep. Merika Coleman-Evans, D-Pleasant Grove.

Chanting "Justice for Trayvon," some 500 demonstrators marched from the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse up legendary Dexter Avenue Saturday in a noon time rally that coincided with at least 101 across the country. Organized by Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN), the Montgomery event included a keynote address by Sharpton's brother, Pastor Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow

Blackwell was wanted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Pulaski Police Department on one count of rape of a child. According to the TBI, Blackwell was babysitting a 4-month-old baby at a residence in Pulaski on June 9, 2013. When the infant's mother returned home, she noticed signs of trauma later determined to be injuries suffered from sexual abuse. The victim underwent surgery at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital to repair the injuries.

Plan 2020 strives to use where students are now as starting point Beginning this fall, Alabama public schools will be under a new state-created academic accountability system that sets different goals for students in math and reading based on their race, economic status, ability to speak English and disabilities. The state's new Plan 2020 will replace No Child Left Behind, the much-maligned, Bush-era accountability program. Plan 2020 emphasizes getting students college- or career-ready and closing the achievement gap that exists between impoverished minority students and students who are better off socioeconomically. It sets a different standard for students in each...

Churches across Alabama are known for their clever and sometimes humorous signs promoting the Sunday sermon –but not many people are laughing at the sign outside the New Era Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. “They’re calling me a hate-monger,” Pastor Michael R. Jordan told Fox News. “Most whites down South don’t like it.” The sign reads, “George Zimmerman jury supported white racism.” It was first reported by Birmingham news reporter Greg Garrison. Jordan said he made the decision to post the controversial statement after preaching the Sunday night message, calling Zimmerman a ‘”racist” and his acquittal a “racist verdict.” “I...

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and the attorneys general of 11 other states sued the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday, demanding that the agency turn over documents the states allege will show the agency cooperates with environmental groups as part of a "sue and settle" legal strategy to develop regulations. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, alleges that binding consent decrees between the EPA and environmental groups that have sued the agency over the years have led to new rules and regulations for states without allowing their attorneys general to defend their interests and those of its...

Grassroots Americans from across the political spectrum will march in Washington, D.C., from Freedom Plaza to Capitol Hill on Monday from 9:30 AM until the early afternoon. Breitbart News will be broadcasting the event live online at Breitbart.com, starting when speeches from members of Congress and leaders in the activist community begin on Capitol Hill at 11 AM EDT and continuing until 4 PM EDT. Confirmed speakers at the event include Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), Reps. Steve King (R-IA) and Mo Brooks (R-AL), former Florida Republican Congressman Col. Allen West, conservative activist Wayne Dupree, the Rev....

MOBILE, Alabama -- A man is recovering at the University of South Alabama Medical Center after police say he and two women tried to set two men up for an armed robbery at a home on South Gimon Circle Wednesday night, according to the Mobile Police Department. Their plan was foiled after the homeowner grabbed a gun from his bedroom closet and opened fire on the man, who was armed at the time, according to MPD spokeswoman Ashley Rains. Kastellio Demarcus Vaughan, 23, is in custody at USAMC with multiple gunshot wounds, Rains said. He will face one count of...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A pregnant, 28-year-old nurse was abducted as she walked to her car in the parking lot of Princeton Baptist Medical Center on Saturday night, according to a Birmingham police spokesman. An unknown, armed black male abducted the woman at the hospital at 701 Tuscaloosa Avenue and forced her to drive her vehicle to several ATMs to withdraw money, Birmingham Police spokesman Capt. Henry Irby said. The woman was abducted while she was on the phone with her husband, who called police at 6:45 p.m.

Four high-ranking Republican lawmakers criticized the Obama administration on Friday for three failed tests of the country's missile-defense system, saying budget cuts and neglect are to blame. Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., along with Reps. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., and Mike Rogers, R-Ala., sent Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel a letter faulting President Obama for allegedly gambling with national security by cutting funding to the program. They claim this hampered the ability to conduct vital tests needed to make sure the "ground-based midcourse defense system" (GMD) worked properly and conduct regular maintenance. The last successful GMD intercept test...

CROSSVILLE, AL - A Crossville man's home was broken into Sunday. When a trio tried to break into his camper the next day, they got a little more than they bargained for. According to DeKalb Co. Sheriff Jimmy Harris, a home on County Road 24 was broken into Sunday. The owner was cleaning up from the break-in on Monday when he heard people outside and found three people trying to break into his camper. The owner called the Sheriff's Office, then held the offenders at gunpoint until the authorities arrived.The victim noticed some of his belongings from the first burglary...

He aims to make the jump from writing about Congress to serving in it.Alabama GOP representative Jo Bonner announced in May that he was resigning to take a vice-chancellor’s job at the University of Alabama System in Tuscaloosa. Among the first to announce interest in his seat was Quin Hillyer, a senior editor at The American Spectator magazine and past contributor to National Review. Hillyer spoke to NRO’s Jim Geraghty Friday. Jim GERAGHTY: Quin, here’s the question that has nagged at me since the moment I heard you were running: Why on earth would anyone want to give up the...

State officials across the South are aggressively moving ahead with new laws requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls after the Supreme Court decision striking down a portion of the Voting Rights Act. The Republicans who control state legislatures throughout the region say such laws are needed to prevent voter fraud. But such fraud is extremely rare, and Democrats are concerned that the proposed changes will make it harder for many poor voters and members of minorities — who tend to vote Democratic — to cast their ballots in states that once discriminated against black voters with poll...

The Huntsville Stars minor league baseball team is planning to give away the opportunity to win guns to fans in drawings at the July 3 game at Joe Davis Stadium. The game is being billed as "2nd Amendment Night." The Stars have clarified on Twitter than the promotion is a raffle and that the guns will not be given away at the stadium. Stars general manager Buck Rogers said today there will be no guns given away at the game, only the raffle tickets redeemable at Larry's Pistol and Pawn. Guns are prohibited at all Huntsville Stars games. Rogers said...

A landmark Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act has set up a stand-off between Republican-led states and the Obama administration over controversial voting laws that until now had been stalled. The 5-4 ruling on Tuesday addressed a 1960s-era provision that largely singled out states and districts in the South -- those with a history of discrimination -- and required them to seek federal permission to change their voting laws. The court ruled that the formula determining which states are affected was unconstitutional. ********************** Attorney General Eric Holder warned states against going too...

The Talk Shows June 23th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Mike Lee, R-Utah; Gabriel Gomez, Republican nominee for Senate in Massachusetts.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Reps. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.THIS WEEK (ABC): Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency; Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas; Mike Kelly, R-Pa.; and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,...

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) blasted the Senate's border security amendment to its immigration bill, touted as a breakthrough for the controversial legislation. Sessions alleged that it does not hire any new border agents until years after its presumed passage. Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and John Hoeven (R-ND) gave reassurances on Thursday that their amendment would enact tough border security provisions before any legalization of new immigrants could occur. Corker and Hoeven stated on Fox News Friday that their amendment would bring a “surge” to border security. The provisions of the amendment include 20,000 additional border patrol agents, 700 miles of...

On the Senate floor on Friday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) mocked and blistered Karl Rove and his "fat cat" and "country club" pals at American Crossroads for being out of touch with working class Americas on immigration. Sessions, one of the staunchest opponents of the Senate's immigration bill, said Rove "raised a bunch of money for Crossroads to run ads in the last election that was supposed to elect Mr. Romney. Didn't do so well, Karl. Sorry about that. Wish you'd been more effective." American Crossroads wasted more $100 million last year and supported no winning candidates. He suggested Rove...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The fate of Paula Deen's magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen, is still up in the air after a controversy over the Food Network host's use of racial epithets led to the end of her television contract. "We are not in a position to discuss her magazine and contract right now," said Phyllis Hoffman DePiano, the president of Birmingham-based Hoffman Media, which produces the magazine. "A statement will be forthcoming later." "We at Hoffman Media do not condone discrimination of any kind," DePiano said.

Not many players walk away from football as abruptly as Glen Coffee did. The former Alabama star running back played a season with the 49ers and even started two games. Then the former third-round pick simply told the team he was done with football during training camp before what would have been his second season, in 2010. Most football players will stay in the NFL until they're told they can no longer come back, but Coffee admitted he just didn't like football anymore. And it turns out, he had bigger goals. AL.com reported Coffee enlisted in the U.S. Army in...

Bishop Kee Sloan, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, has posted a letter asking churches to sponsor Boy Scout troops. In apparent response to the Southern Baptist Convention's resolution opposing the Boy Scouts' decision to accept openly gay scouts, Sloan wants Episcopal churches to step forward to host troops that may need a meeting place. Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter said while in Birmingham last weekend that his church, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, plans to stop hosting its Boy Scout troop. First Baptist Church of Pelham and First Baptist Church of Helena have also announced...

WASHINGTON — Senator Jeff Sessions, an elfin Alabamian with a mischievous smile and a relentless approach to legislative battle, has a theory about the sweeping immigration bill pending in the Senate: It’s as good as dead. “The longer it lays in the sun, the more it smells, as they say about the mackerel,” said Mr. Sessions, the Republican enthusiastically leading the opposition to a bill others on his side of the aisle see as vital to the very future of the Republican Party. If that sounds familiar to the immigration rights advocates who have been pressing an overhaul since 2006,...

A self-described debt collector for Mexican drug cartels says he has slayed more than 30 people across the United States, according to investigators. If Jose Martinez, 51, is found guilty of scores of homicides on both coasts, he would earn a place among the most lethal serial murderers in American history. Investigators have confirmed that Martinez is responsible for a 2006 double-homicide in Marion County, Fla., a March homicide in Lawrence County, Ala., and at least 10 other killings in California, according to sheriff’s officials. Martinez, a U.S. citizen, told investigators that he committed those murders and more than a...

In a Tuesday segment on “All In” marking 50 years since Wallace personally stopped two black students from registering at University of Alabama, Hayes introduced a clip of Wallace making his stand, saying “George Wallace was obviously the villain in this story.” A chyron overlaid on the clip misidentified Wallace as a Republican.

PELL CITY, Alabama -- St. Clair and Bibb county authorities are confirming there were roadblocks at several locations in their counties Friday and Saturday asking for blood and DNA samples. However, the samples were voluntary and motorists were paid for them as part of a study, they said. According to Lt. Freddie Turrentine of the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, it isn't the first time such roadblocks have occurred in the area. "They were here in 2007," said Turrentine, the supervisor in charge of the roadblocks, which took place in several locations in St. Clair County Friday night, early Saturday...

And now we have our first named storm of the season, Andrea... TS Andrea gained strength over the course of the day, becoming more organized; however the computer models form a consensus that the storm is not likely to reach Category 1 strength prior to landfall. Andrea is projected to make landfall along the Florida coast between Crystal River to Apalachicola, with the Big Bend area most likely target. Gulf Coast Florida is currently under a Tropical Storm Warning until 8PM Friday, from Boca Grande to Ochlocknee river. The southeast US coast is under a Tropical Storm Watch during the...

An Alabama teenager was denied her high school diploma and fined $1,000 for wearing a feather on her graduation cap to celebrate her Native American heritage. Escambia Academy High School in Atmore, Ala., makes its students and staff sign a pre-graduation contract agreeing not to wear "extraneous items during graduation exercises unless approved by the administration." Chelsey Ramer, 17, tried in vain to get approval to attach an eagle's feather to her graduation cap as a symbol of her Native culture. "They told me that if I wore it that they would pull me off the field," Ramer, a member...

The FBI has released pictures of an underground bunker in Alabama. The bunker was the site of a deadly child hostage situation earlier this year. Alina Machado took a look at the photos and has more on what they reveal. This is an inside look at the underground bunker where Jimmy Lee Dykes held a 5-year-old boy hostage for 6 days. Just released photos show Alabama and federal investigators processing the scene.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is nullification — the idea that states can limit the enforcement of federal laws within their borders. --snip-- They’ve wiped the dust from the 10th Amendment with state laws seeking to nullify federal statutes. Over a dozen states, with South Carolina being the most recent, have passed legislation aimed at preventing the Obamacare health care mandate from being enforced in their jurisdictions. South Carolina’s goes the furthest by proposing to grant taxpayers a state tax deduction equal to the federal penalty for failing to purchase health care. Montana, Kansas and...

A Brewton man held a home invasion suspect at bay with a shotgun early Sunday morning until deputies could arrive and make an arrest. The suspect, identified as 20-year old Glenn Phillips of East Brewton, was allegedly walking along Travis Road about 2 a.m. when came to a house, kicked in the door and entered, according to Escambia County (AL) Chief Deputy Mike Lambert. A dog inside the home cornered Phillips, giving the resident time to retrieve his shotgun and call 911. The victim held Phillips on the floor with the shotgun until deputies arrived and arrested Phillips without incident.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A Birmingham megachurch pastor predicts a surge in alternatives to the Boy Scouts of America after a decision Thursday by the Boy Scouts to accept openly gay scouts. The Rev. Harry Reeder III, senior pastor of the 4,100-member Briarwood Presbyterian Church, former moderator of the Presbyterian Church in America and outspoken critic of efforts to change Boy Scout policy on homosexuality, said evangelical churches are a bedrock of support for the Boy Scout tradition in Alabama. That’s now in danger, he said. “When a church holds to a biblical social ethic of sex only between a man...

...Churches have been perhaps the biggest supporters of scouting groups. But today a few pastors in the Birmingham area predicted that the new policy will cause some churches to drop their sponsorship of scouting programs. The Rev. Harry Reeder, senior pastor of the 4,100-member Briarwood Presbyterian Church and outspoken critic of efforts to change Boy Scout policy on homosexuality, said evangelical churches are a bedrock of support for the Boy Scout tradition in Alabama. But that's now in danger, he said. "When a church holds to a biblical social ethic of sex only between a man and a woman in...

Cold Case Posse Commander Mike Zullo of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on submitted a devastating 57 page 207 paragraph affidavit to the Alabama Obama ballot challenge appeal case that is before the Alabama Supreme Court. He did this at the request of Attorney Larry Klayman representing the appellants. Now Alabama Democratic Party attorney's Barry Ragsdale and Thomas Woodall have fired back with a 'Opposition To Motion To Strike'. They slam Zullo and the Cold Case Posse's evidence confirming Obama's birth certificate and selective service registration card are forgeries. They state in their motion to strike that Mike Zullo's affidavit...

GOP Rep. Jo Bonner is resigning after a decade in Congress to take a job at the University of Alabama, he announced Thursday. The congressman said he would leave the House by Aug. 15 to become vice chancellor of government relations and economic development at the University of Alabama System. Bonner’s sister, Judy, is the president of the university’s school in Tuscaloosa.

TALLADEGA COUNTY — A man in Talladega received a rude awakening after breaking into his neighbor’s home in the 100 block of Dusty Trail Lane early Thursday morning between 4-4:30 a.m. Jimmy Lee Garrett, a 48-year-old male residing at 116 Dusty Trail Lane, was arrested and charged for second-degree burglary, but not before a catching a bullet in the foot for his troubles. According to Talladega County Sheriff Jimmy Kilgore, a female resident told investigators she woke up and saw Garrett in her kitchen. At that point, she yelled for her husband, who began chasing Garrett throughout their home while...

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Gov. Robert Bentley said today he has signed into law sweeping gun legislation.Following a luncheon speech today, Bentley reiterated that he backs the Second Amendment that provides the right to bear arms but his enthusiasm for the bill seemed to be tempered."The gun bill, I believe it was OK," he said. "I went ahead and signed it. It was a bill that took a lot of work - the sheriffs and the district attorneys working together. Everybody signed off on it and I signed it."Asked about his seemingly lukewarm thoughts on the bill, Bentley answered, "I think...

Mr./Madam President, every week we’re here I try to remind this body of the damage that carbon pollution is doing to our atmosphere and oceans, try to awaken us to our duty.  I’ve done it thirty-three times now.  I’ve tried to kick out the underpinnings of any argument the deniers could stand on. I’ve kicked out the scientific denial argument, which properly belongs in the category of falsehood.  I’ve kicked out the economic denial argument, pointing out that in a proper market the costs of carbon must be in the price of carbon.  I tried to kick out the religious denial...

While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters. “So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate...

Contact Governor Bentley TODAY and ask him to sign Senate Bill 286 into lawToday, the Alabama House of Representatives accepted the conference committee report for Senate Bill 286 by a 73-28 vote.  This measure now goes to Governor Robert Bentley (R) for his approval.  While not perfect, SB 286 is an important step in the right direction for the law-abiding gun owners in Alabama and residents of other states traveling to and through Alabama.  Therefore, it is critical you contact Governor Bentley TODAY and respectfully ask him to sign Senate Bill 286 into law.Governor Robert Bentley:(334) 242-7100Click here to send...

ATHENS, Ala. (WHNT) – A pharmacist stopped a robbery in Athens on Monday morning by pulling out his own gun on the crook. Around 8 a.m. Noah Jay Davis, 22, walked into Westside Pharmacy, at the corner of Hines Street and Market Street. He handed the clerk a list of drugs he wanted.“He said that he had a list of drugs and he would like for me to look at,” says pharmacist Terrell Milby. “He had questions about them. When he looked at them, the napkin that he had, something written on, he said this is the wrong list. And...

It figures. This is what happens when you run out of other people’s money. The Democratic Party in Alabama faces eviction for not paying its bills. The water company wants their money, too. Blog.Al reported: Acting state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley lowered her head and slowly shook it side to side when summing up the financial condition of her once powerful party. “We’re broke, broke, broke,” Worley told the party’s Executive Board in a special called meeting Frida. How broke is broke? Worley didn’t sugar coat the answer. “This is my 18th day as chair and thirty minutes after...

Apparently spending money you don’t have doesn’t work too well when you can’t just print your own money. But maybe the Alabama Democratic Party can get some budget tips from Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. Or maybe tips like those nearly got them evicted. According to its website, the Alabama Democratic Party believes in the equality of all people, the power of education, the dignity of work, and our responsibility to each other, especially the least of these. One thing it doesn’t believe in is having a budget. Acting state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley lowered her head and slowly...

Acting state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley lowered her head and slowly shook it side to side when summing up the financial condition of her once powerful party. "We're broke, broke, broke," Worley told the party's Executive Board in a special called meeting Frida. How broke is broke? Worley didn't sugar coat the answer. "This is my 18th day as chair and thirty minutes after I took over on April 22nd the landlord of the building where our party headquarters are came in and said he wanted us out, that the rent was overdue and was always overdue," said Worley....