Free Republic

MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Hundreds packed the Alabama Statehouse courtyard on Tuesday to rally against the state's tough immigration law, with organizers saying they chose to send a message on Valentine's Day that lawmakers need to love and respect immigrants. People bused in from across the state to demand repeal of the law that aims to be tough on those in the country illegally. Protesters carried signs reading, "Gov. Bentley, don't you have a heart?" "No Juan Crow" and "Una Familia, Una Alabama" while chanting in Spanish and English "no more HB56" (the bill that became the law) and "one family, one Alabama."...

“There will come a day, a point in time, when that frog is cooked, and all our rights and all our freedoms and all our liberties are going to be gone, folks,” comments made by Ashe County Commissioner, Gerald Price, in support of a motion he had made to not ban the carrying of concealed weapons on county property. His motion was made after listening to nineteen speakers share their beliefs, pro or con, during a public hearing on the issue. Rita Prevette, director of Ashe County Parks and Recreation Department, was one of three speakers who encouraged the Commissioners...

COTTONDALE, Ala. (WIAT)- A gun-fueled battle in West Alabama injures six people, leaving two in critical condition. A birthday celebration at Eddins Estates apartment complex on Ken Sealy Drive turned volatile when two men entered the home, demanded money, and opened fire. "When I came home there was, like, blood stains all over my building, like on the gorund. You could tell where something just happened," says Trent Gray, a resident of Eddins Estates. When Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Deputies arrived they found four victims in the apartment and another in a seperate unit. The sixth gunshot victim is one of...

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The tables were turned on a suspected would-be robber early Monday morning. It was after 4 a.m. when Eddie Richardson pulled up in front of his house on Center Street. But before he could get out of his car, he said two armed men were at his window with guns drawn. "What they said when they walked to the car; they said, 'Give it up,'" Richardson said. The robbers surprised Mr. Richardson, but he had a surprise of his own for them. "I took my pistol out, and I shot his (expletive)," Richardson said. One of...

Reuters) - Alabama's crackdown on illegal immigrants, widely seen as the toughest in the United States, could cost the state's economy up to $10.8 billion, according to a new study. The Alabama law, passed in June, requires police to detain people they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason, among other measures. The cost-benefit analysis by University of Alabama economist Samuel Addy estimated up to 80,000 jobs could be vacated by illegal immigrants fleeing the crackdown, costing Alabama's economy up to $10.8 billion. The lost jobs would cost Alabama...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Newt Gingrich was confronted by a black man outside Tommy's Country Ham House, who questioned him on his comments on having poor children work as janitors. The man said what Gingrich was asking for amounted to a "new form of slavery" and would force young African Americans to drop out of school.

The Jefferson County judge who dismissed a Luverne man's lawsuit to block President Obama from Alabama ballots today also ordered him to pay the state Democratic Party's court costs and lawyer fees within 45 days. Lawyers for Mark Kennedy, the state party chairman, sought the sanctions in a motion his lawyers filed last week filed last week in the suit filed by Harold Sorensen. But one of the lawyers said during a hearing today that party officials would not try to collect if Sorensen does not file any similar lawsuits during the 2012 election cycle. "The Democratic Party has no...

A Wetumpka man was acquitted of a murder charge Tuesday afternoon when an Elmore County jury returned a not guilty verdict in less than two hours after the closing statements were given. Bobby Stokes, 64 at the time of the incident, was arrested and charged with murder in the 2009 shooting death of Johnny Leonard in Stokes’ home. Stokes was watching television in his 1200 block Holtville Road residence around 12:50 a.m. Dec. 16, 2009, when his common law wife Christina Walker and Leonard walked into the home, according to court records. During the trial it was revealed that Leonard...

In a major step towards global centralization of election processes, the world's dominant Internet voting company has purchased the USA's dominant election results reporting company. When you view your local or state election results on the Internet, on portals which often appear to be owned by the county elections division, in over 525 US jurisdictions you are actually redirected to a private corporate site controlled by SOE software, which operates under the name ClarityElections.com. The good news is that this firm promptly reports precinct-level detail in downloadable spreadsheet format. As reported by BlackBoxVoting.org in 2008, the bad news is that...

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Call it a burglar's third strike. Mr. Holloway who doesn't want his face shown, says enough is a enough. After a third burglary attempt on his home he said he took matters into his own hands. He says a male suspect rang his doorbell and didn't expect anyone to be at home. "I proceeded to my doorbell. Once I got to the door I didn't see anybody. During that time, I looked over through the kitchen area, to my right, and I seen somebody trying to pry my window open. At the time, I seen two...

Montgomery Police say a homeowner in the Vaughn Meadows subdivision shot a suspected intruder after an attempted vehicle break-in. It happened at 3:45 Tuesday morning in the 3100 block of Corwin Drive. Police say the homeowner spotted an intruder trying to break into his vehicles parked in the driveway. They say he confronted the suspect with a gun, got into a fight with the suspect and in the scuffle, the suspect was shot in the leg and the homeowner injured his knee. Neighbors say they feel uneasy about the crime. "You feel like your privacy has been invaded and you...

A Jefferson County judge today set a Monday hearing on a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's citizenship and right to be on the 2012 ballots in Alabama. Circuit Judge Helen Shores Lee will consider a request by Mark Kennedy, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, to dismiss the suit filed against him on Dec. 14 by Birmingham resident Albert E. Hendershot. The hearing will start at 9 a.m. Jan. 9 in Lee's Birmingham courtroom. Hendershot wants Lee to issue an injunction blocking Obama from being certified as a candidate in Alabama. His suit claims he has "staggering evidence" that Obama...

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters)- Israel killed the leader of an al Qaeda-inspired faction in the Gaza Strip on Friday, accusing him of involvement in firing rockets and a planned attack on the Jewish state from the neighboring Egyptian Sinai. The deadly air strike was Israel's second against a Salafi Islamist militant this week. Militants identified him as Momen Abu Daf, chief of the Army of Islam, among a loose network of Palestinian groups which profess allegiance to al Qaeda and have been reinforced by volunteers who slip in from the Sinai. Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, who have sometimes reined in more radical...

Mayor Sam Jones was the talk of town after he held a burglary suspect at gunpoint at his home in Mobile. But not everyone was impressed. In a twist, at least one pro-gun rights group accused Jones of being a hypocrite. Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, took issue with the fact that Jones is part of a coalition of U.S. mayors who have campaigned for stricter gun regulations. Jones is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an organization established to reduce violent crime by blocking criminals from illegally obtaining...

Six church leaders send Alabama governor letter seeking his support to repeal state immigration law A half-dozen religious leaders this morning delivered a letter to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's office asking him in the spirit of the Christmas season to support the repeal of the state's immigration law -- the Beason-Hammon Act. "We are writing to let you know that we are praying for you as you consider the multitude of problems caused by the Beason-Hammon Act," the letter states. "In this time when we celebrate the greatest of gifts, we pray that you will show great political courage and...

WASHINGTON -- The members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will meet next week with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss enforcement of Alabama's immigration law, according to Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. Gutierrez, a leading critic on Capitol Hill of states that try to police immigration themselves, said he wants the federal government's top immigration officials to emphasize that they will not deport illegal immigrants snagged in Alabama's dragnet unless they have a record of other crimes. President Barack Obama's administration has announced that its policy puts a higher priority on deporting those with criminal records, and less...

Warren Weinstein, pictured above, is a 70-year-old Jewish American and former USAID worker who was kidnapped from his bed late August in Pakistan. Now, a newly released audio message from al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claims responsibility for Weinstein’s disappearance and says the militant Islamist group is holding the man hostage. This supports a U.S. official’s claim that ”it’s entirely possible that al Qaeda or one of its militant allies may be holding Mr. Weinstein.” In the 30-minute long statement, which is reportedly circulating on jihadi-websites, al-Zawahiri states: “I tell the captive soldiers of al Qaeda and the Taliban and...

Only a week after there was a formal hearing in the state of New Hampshire on a request to remove Barack Obama's name from the 2012 presidential primary election ballot over allegations of fraud, state officials in Georgia are facing a related request. Activist Carl Swensson, who runs the RiseUpForAmerica.com website, and has been integral in campaigns to have Obama investigated, told WND that not only has he petitioned the state secretary of state, but some half a dozen others have done the same thing. In his complaint letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Swensson wrote that while...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- U.S. Justice Department officials said Monday that they have gotten more than 1,000 calls or emails reporting problems immigrants are having living under Alabama's immigration law. Tom Perez, assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department, and other Justice Department and U.S. Labor Department officials were in Birmingham on Monday to continue gathering information and listening to stories about the impact the law is having on immigrants and looking for possible civil rights violations. "The more we hear, as we do our listening, the more concerned we are about the impact of...

About 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Alabama state Capitol in Montgomery to call for passage of the DREAM Act and to protest the state’s new anti-illegal immigration law, widely regarded as the toughest state law crafted to combat illegal immigration. Illegal immigration has been a volatile topic in Alabama since the legislation known as HB 56 was signed into law by Republican Gov. Robert J. Bentley in June. Anecdotal evidence suggestions that many illegal immigrants have fled the state. The demonstrators took a far different approach Tuesday. “Undocumented, unafraid!” they chanted. Eleven protesters sat down in the middle of a...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Two Spanish language radio hosts are joining NAACP leaders for a rally on Saturday in Birmingham to protest the state's tough crackdown on illegal immigration. The Birmingham News reports that Jose Antonio Castro and Orlando Rosa of La Jefa radio are in the middle of a 14-day walk across the state to oppose the law. The pair will meet with leaders from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on Saturday. First, they will place flowers on the grave of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. The civil rights icon died in October at age 89....

Utility company PROHIBITING illegal immigrants from obtaining electric, gas, water or sewer service in Alabama... A major utilities company in Alabama is now prohibiting illegal immigrants from receiving electricity, gas, water or wastewater services to heated reactions on both sides, but they're just following the law. The Decatur Utilities company is now one of many in the state that follows the newly signed immigration law which prohibits business with illegal immigrants in the state or its subdivisions. 'We did not [originally] document or confirm whether or not they were citizens or aliens here legally,' Stephen Pirkle, Decatur business manager and...

ALBERTVILLE, Alabama -- A three-day workshop that has brought together more than a dozen groups concerned about Alabama's crack down on illegal immigrants ends this afternoon in Albertville. Elizabeth Brezovich, with the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, said that the event was sponsored by the Southeast Immigrants Rights Network and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, in collaboration with the coalition. About 60 people from six groups outside the state and eight Alabama-based groups participated, she said. The groups are working to see Alabama's new immigration law overturned or repealed. Brezovich said the event was a combination of training on...

MOBILE, Alabama -- A former Citronelle police officer violated the law when he kept a pair of handguns he took from motorists during his 11-year tenure on the force, a federal jury here decided this afternoon. The jury convicted Bill Eugene Newburn guilty of 2 counts of possession of a stolen firearm. Under a preliminary calculation of advisory guidelines in his case, he faces at least a year and 9 months in prison and as much as 2 years and 3 months behind bars. U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose scheduled his sentencing hearing for Feb. 10. Police Chief Shane Stringer...

1. Alabama is a wonderfully free "right-to-work" state, which simply means it prevents unions from extracting dues from workers who do not wish to join. 2. General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt is the poster-boy for crony capitalism, having backed Obama's rush to socialized medicine and green energy to benefit various of its business units. 3. It turns out that GE's Aviation division is breaking ground on a new factory in Alabama. And, unlike Boeing, which tried to build a factory in a right-to-work-state, the National Labor Relations Board hasn't uttered a peep. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Remember...

State lawmakers are working to pass a group of bills against illegal immigrants known as, the National Security Begins at Home Legislation. Stolen jobs, and a burden on tax paying Pennsylvanians are just two of the reasons State Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R) 12th District, is trying to pass a package of Illegal Immigration bills in Pennsylvania.

BIRMINGHAM — It was just another schoolyard basketball game until a group of Hispanic seventh-graders defeated a group of boys from Alabama. The reaction was immediate, according to the Mexican mother of one of the winners, and rooted in the state's new law on illegal immigration. "They told them, 'You shouldn't be winning. You should go back to Mexico,'" said the woman, who spoke through a translator last week and didn't want her name used. She and her son are in the country illegally. Spanish-speaking parents say their children are facing more bullying and taunts at school since Alabama's tough...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Poultry plants that employ thousands are planning to close or scale back operations because of a work stoppage being promoted by Hispanic residents and their supporters to protest Alabama's tough new law against illegal immigration.

An illegal immigrant in Marshall County will be deported after she serves 20 years in prison for the death of her one-year-old son. Perla Edith Hernandez was accused of capital murder, but entered a guilty plea to aggravated child abuse Her son Uriel died from head injuries January 1, 2008. Investigators said Hernandez brought Uriel to Marshall Medical Center North in Arab, and claimed he fell off a bed and hit his head. District Attorney Steve Marshall said that was not the case. "Twice in my career have I been into a crime or seen a body that has been...

Four people charged during the weekend under Alabama’s new immigration law pleaded guilty Monday in Decatur Municipal Court. The four would have been released after pleading to willful failure to procure alien registration documents, a Class C misdemeanor under Section 10 of the law, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had placed holds on them earlier Monday. Each agreed to a fine of $100, $196 in court costs, and a 30-day suspended sentence with 12 months of probation. It was unclear whether anyone at the arraignment was aware ICE had already placed detainers on the defendants. “I wasn’t aware of...

Alabama's new immigration law appears to have sparked an exodus of illegal immigrants from the state. Yet while some have left, many are still here, with local Hispanic churches urging their members to stay put. Fears over the new law have driven many parishioners away from Spanish-speaking churches in Huntsville, Decatur and other north Pastor Raul Zacarias oversees Eben-Ezer Pentecostal Church in southwest Huntsville, with most of its 70 members admitted illegal immigrants. Zacarias told WHNT News 19 that some of his families have left town in the last two weeks, leaving a depleted but determined congregation.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Terrified by Alabama's strict new immigration crackdown, parents living in the state illegally say they are doing something that was unthinkable just days ago -- asking friends, relatives, co-workers and acquaintances to take their children if they're arrested or deported.

This poem was read during the Wells Middle School broadcast, to all students, on 8/17/11. HEY YOU LATINO! Hey You Latino! Yes you who they call Spanish, Hispanic, Mexican. You, the one that they yell at to go home. Tell them who you really are. Hey you Latino! Tell them you are of the air, land, water, and fire. These rivers flow from your mother earth. The warmth of your face, from father sun. Hey you Latino! Tell them to pronounce your name correctly. No it is not Letisha it is Leticia. No it is not Alexander it is Alejandro....

Alabama's new immigration law made its way to Scottsboro Tuesday evening. Police chief Ralph Dawe said an accident in the 24600 block of John T. Reid Parkway brought officers in contact with a Hispanic female. "She didn't have the proper identification which led us to believe she could be an illegal immigrant," said Dawe. "We followed the law." Officers detained Maria Del Carmen Peralta, 20 who was residing in Scottsboro.

A man may have been acting in self-defense when he shot and killed his roommate Monday morning, authorities said. The 54-year-old who was killed had attacked his two roommates with a wrench at their home onFosters Ferry Roadaround 8 a.m., said Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit Capt. Loyd Baker. A 58-year-old roommate told investigators that he fired the shots in self-defense. A 68-year-old roommate received a head wound from the wrench attack and was being treated Monday atDCHRegionalMedicalCenter. Investigators recovered a shotgun and a handgun from the home nearPalmoreParkin westTuscaloosa. Baker did not release the names of any of the...

President of the NHCLC Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Frustrated By Federal Judge's Decision to Block Key Portions Alabama's Immigration Law SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- One week after a historic Immigration Summit hosted by Hispanic Evangelical leaders with delegates from across the nation, including representatives from President Obama's administration, denominational leaders, pastors, local community leaders and pro-immigrant activists, convened to discuss Biblical solutions for the immigration crisis in America, U.S., District Judge Sharon Blackburn, last Wednesday, refused to block key parts of Alabama's immigration law including a measure that requires immigration status checks of public school students...

(CNN) -- The ink had barely dried on the order signed by Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn, allowing most of Alabama's anti-illegal immigration law to go into effect, when fear settled into some in the state's Hispanic community. "We are in panic mode," said Maria Morales, an illegal immigrant living in Montgomery. The law known as HB56 is the strictest in the country, allowing police officers to ask about the legal status of people investigated for a crime, if reasonable suspicion exists, and detain them for immigration authorities. "We cannot even go out and buy food," Said Perla Perez, who has...

New photographs obtained exclusively by BigGovernment.com reveal that Barack Obama appeared and marched with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Alabama in March 2007. The photographs, captured from a Flickr photo-sharing account before it was scrubbed, are the latest evidence of the mainstream media’s failure to examine Obama’s extremist ties and radical roots.

A federal judge has upheld most of Alabama’s new immigration law, the nation’s harshest and most radical attempt to harness a state’s power to find and punish illegal immigrants. The consequences for Alabamans will be serious — not just for the undocumented, but for their blameless citizen children, for those who are mistaken for unauthorized immigrants and for farmers and other business owners ensnared in the law

Jesus Alejandro Meraz-Martinez has spent more than half his life in the Birmingham area. During that time, he has been sent back to his native Mexico an even dozen times. Nine times he voluntarily left after being arrested by federal immigration authorities. He went before judges in three other cases. After one arrest on Oct. 9, 2006, by the U.S. Border Patrol in Santa Teresa, N.M., he was convicted of illegally re-entering the country and served an 18-month sentence in prison before being deported. The 33-year-old man, who has worked in construction, has been back in an Alabama jail since...

State organization leaders opposing Alabama's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration say "paralyzing fear" has gripped the Hispanic community and hindered the lives of all Alabama citizens since the law's passage in June. "This is creating an incredible fear at the ground level," said Isabel Rubio, executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. "And not just in the Hispanic community, but with immigrants from all across the world who call Alabama home." Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed the law on June 9. U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn has put the law, much of which was originally...

We have an update on the illegal immigration law and perspective from one of the plaintiffs. In April of 2009, Ellin Jimmerson's 16 year old daughter and her boyfriend were killed in a car crash. Illegal immigrant, Felix Ortega, smashed into them while driving drunk. He pled guilty to reckless murder. Now Jimmerson is fighting to stop Alabama's illegal immigration law, HB 56, from going into effect. “HB 56 makes it a crime to transport someone who is undocumented and to encourage them to stay in the state of Alabama and so as a minister these are just things that...

Alabama's illegal immigration law will go into effect this Thursday, but protesters in Montgomery are pushing forward to have their voices heard in opposition to what's considered the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration in the country. Hundreds gathered at the capitol steps to oppose Alabama's new illegal immigration law, which will go into effect in just four days. The majority of the people in attendance were families and some said they are worried that this new law will break up their family. "I don't like this law, because I think it is going to tear my family apart," Edward E....

The Alabama Legislature opened its session on March 1 on a note of humility and compassion. In the Senate, a Christian pastor asked God to grant members “wisdom and discernment” to do what is right. “Not what’s right in their own eyes,” he said, “but what’s right according to your word.” Soon after, both houses passed, and the governor signed, the country’s cruelest, most unforgiving immigration law. The law, which takes effect Sept. 1, is so inhumane that four Alabama church leaders — an Episcopal bishop, a Methodist bishop and a Roman Catholic archbishop and bishop — have sued to...

The Rev. Al Sharpton abruptly backed out yesterday of a symposium on the 1991 Crown Heights riots after his invitation triggered outrage. Sharpton said he would not appear on a panel discussing the "State of Black-Jewish Relations: Twenty Years After Crown Heights" because it would "pain" Norman Rosenbaum, whose brother Yankel was stabbed to death during four days of rioting. After the invitation to Sunday's symposium at The Hampton Synagogue on Long Island was disclosed, Rosenbaum denounced it as "an absolute disgrace." He said Sharpton's "vile rhetoric incited the rioting."

After Climategate cooled the fire of manmade global warming, Al Gore kept himself pretty much out of the limelight, until last week, when he suggested that we put together an “American Spring.” After hearing this, my friend Dmitry shot off an email in his typical, sarcastic style, saying, “I am so delighted to learn about Al Gore’s proposal for an ‘American Spring’ – a sequel to the original ‘Arab’ one! I wonder if he has any candidates for the role of Lara Logan, who was raped by a cheering Arab mob.”

Al Sharpton isn’t one to keep quiet when under attack, and tonight he responded in kind to the near-universal conservative guffaw his “resist we much” teleprompter gaffe received last night. Specifically, he responded to Rush Limbaugh, who suggested jokingly that the teleprompter was “racist.” Taking full responsibility for garbling the words, he thanked Limbaugh for bringing him viewers, telling him, “I want to preach to your choir!” Sharpton seemed in good spirits about the gaffe, clarifying that, unlike Limbaugh’s conspiracies, “there’s no racist teleprompter” and “there’s no black journalist trying to sabotage me– I messed up a line!” He took...

Ever since CNBC’s Rick Santelli inspired the Tea Party movement’s creation in early 2009, the left has been looking for a similar spark on their own side. The earliest liberal alternative, the so-called Coffee Party, was a flop. But former Vice President Al Gore insists such a movement still needs to be invented. On Tuesday’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” Gore made an appearance on his own network, Current TV, for the second night in a row. This time it was to respond to the debt ceiling legislation agreed upon by Congress and signed into

Lawsuit Cites Conflict with Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice challenged the state of Alabama’s recently passed immigration law, H.B. 56, in federal court today. In a complaint and brief filed in the Northern District of Alabama, the department said that various provisions of H.B. 56 conflict with federal immigration law and undermine the federal government’s careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives. The brief filed today makes clear that, while the federal government values state assistance and cooperation with respect to immigration enforcement, a state cannot set its own immigration policy, much less...

My parents live in the middle of ten acres of woods in a small community in central Alabama [not shown]. Since they moved there, houses have sprung up all around them as people who want to “live in the country” have migrated there from nearby cities. A few years back a developer put a “manufactured housing developemnt” (a.k.a., a trailer park) in a field across the road from them. Enter my brother and his collection of firearms . . . For years he’s been target shooting whenever he’s visited the ‘rents. There’s a natural berm on the backside of the...