Free Republic

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick has vetoed the state legislature’s attempt to ban the use of EBT cards — or food stamps — to purchase items such as tattoos, porn and jewelry. Patrick vetoed the reforms Sunday while signing the state’s $32.5 billion budget. According to the Boston Herald, which first reported the veto, the governor berated the legislature’s stab at banning the purchase of specific items like manicures, tattoos, guns, porn, body piercings, jewelry, and bail by saying the move was “political grandstanding” at a time when such reforms are already on track elsewhere. “I’m not going to do...

The judge in the Trayvon Martin case set the new bond for George Zimmerman at $1 million. But Zimmerman needs to post only a percentage to be freed. His lawyer says he has the money. A Florida judge ordered George Zimmerman released from jail for a second time if he can raise $100,000 to post bail under a $1 million bond. Mr. Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, says “The Real George Zimmerman Defense Fund” – a cache of money donated by strangers that Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, allegedly tried to hide from the court – has enough money to cover...

A judge said Thursday that George Zimmerman appeared to be preparing to flee when he transferred funds out of his name just before his bond hearing, but his plan was “thwarted.”

Film directors, authors, journalists and socialites who raised £200,000 to secure Julian Assange bail face losing thousands after the WikiLeaks founder breached his bail.

A Florida judge revoked the bail bond of George Zimmerman on Friday and ordered the man charged in the death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin to surrender within 48 hours.

Welfare spending overall has increased 41%, food stamp enrollment has gone up by 70% since Obama has been in office, 5.4 million people have signed up for Social Security Disability payments. Tack on the massive abuse of EBT cards like this heroin dealer: Kimball Clark, 45, was locked up Friday on drug-dealing charges — again — when he was overheard using his one phone call to ask the person on the other end of the line to “get my EBT card and go to the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outa here tonight,”...

URGENT: A Florida judge said George Zimmerman can be released on $150,000 bail as he awaits trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester set several conditions Friday for Zimmerman's release. He cannot have any firearms, drink alcohol or use drugs and must observe a curfew. The judge said details need to be worked out between Zimmerman's attorney and law enforcement, and that Zimmerman will not be released Friday. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the 17-year-old Martin's death during a February confrontation in a Sanford, Fla., gated community. He is claiming self-defense. The bail...

Check out this Boston Police Department report from last Friday that you won't believe -- on second thought, you probably will believe it. A convicted heroin dealer in Roxbury used his one phone call to reach out to someone and demand that they use his EBT card at the ATM machine to get some cash to bail him out. Read my column about this in the Wednesday Herald. We'll also have Kimball Clark's mugshot and his rap sheet. And guess what we'll be talking about at 3:08 on the radio. (Column(s) to follow in thread)

Three advertisers on Rush Limbaugh’s popular radio show Friday announced that they are pulling their ads, and other companies are expressing concern over customer outrage in the wake of the conservative host’s controversial “slut” comments this week. “We don’t condone negative comments directed toward any group. In response, we are currently pulling our ads from Rush with Rush Limbaugh,” the company Sleep Train Mattress Centers announced on its Twitter account early Friday. The company began tweeting at some of its followers starting around midnight, telling multiple Twitter users, “Thank you for your concern. We are currently pulling all of our...

Link only - Ex-Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky jailed after he is unable to pay bail

Federal judge rejects DiMasi appeal for bailBy Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff September 24, 2011 Disgraced former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi lost his bid yesterday to remain free pending an appeal of his conviction on political corruption charges and must report to a federal prison Nov. 16. In rejecting DiMasi’s request for bail, US District Court Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf said he found no likelihood that the former lawmaker will be successful in his appeal to have his conviction overturned or his sentence reduced. **SNIP** Once one of the most powerful politicians in the state and the first...

The hotel maid who claims former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped her has been accused of working as a prostitute. Allegations have emerged that the 32-year-old cleaner was was taking extra money from male guests at the hotel for sex. 'There is information... of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean. And it's not for bringing extra f**king towels,' a source close to the defence investigation told the New York Post. The woman also had 'a lot of her expenses – hair braiding, salon expenses – paid for by men not related to her,' the source added....

Escape from Rikers: Bailed 'rape' banker forced to move to secret hideaway after neighbours block move to luxury New York apartmentBy Daniel Bates Last updated at 11:33 PM on 20th May 2011 **SNIP** He and his family were earlier told he was not welcome at the luxurious Bristol Plaza in Manhattan's Upper East Side by its wealthy and influential residents. The landlord of the complex also reportedly changed his mind when he realised the amount of attention his new resident would bring. As the complaints only began pouring in - hours before Strauss-Kahn was to be released - his legal...

Ex-IMF big granted bail, but he has no place to goBy LARRY CELONA and JENNIFER GOULD KEIL Last Updated: 12:11 PM, May 20, 2011 He may want to leave Rikers, but former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has no place to go. Strauss-Kahn's plans to ditch his Rikers Island jail cell today may have to be put on hold as his wife scrambles to find an apartment that can be used for her husband's home confinement while he's out on bail, sources told The Post. Anne Sinclair had rented an apartment at the posh Bristol Plaza on East 65th Street, but...

Judge May Allow Former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn Out On BailMay 19, 2011 9:05 AM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The head of the International Monetary Fund stepped down from his post overnight amid the sex assault scandal which could land him in prison for 25 years. Dominique Strauss-Kahn spent the week at Rikers Island under suicide watch, but his attorneys were working on a deal that could get him out as early as Thursday. If approved by a judge, he would have to post $1 million bail, arrange for electronic monitoring and remain in Manhattan under house arrest. “We are...

An elderly couple have been arrested on suspicion of killing their daughter who died after two decades battling an extreme form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Ken and Marion Hancox, who are both in ill health, have spent eight months under suspicion of the manslaughter of their housebound daughter, Samantha, a former law student. The 40-year-old developed a crippling phobia of germs which forced her to shower up to 20 hours a day and left her incapable of cooking for herself. She developed the disorder as a student and had needed constant care from her parents ever since. By the time...

Judge Denies Bail for Abortion Practitioner Gosnell And Staff Philadelphia, PA -- Kermit Gosnell was arraigned without bail late Thursday afternoon after charged with eight counts of murder in the death of a woman from a botched abortion and seven babies purposefully born so they could be killed in infanticides shortly thereafter. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/01/20/judge-denies-bail-for-abortion-practitioner-gosnell-and-staff/

It’s looking increasingly likely that California will get bailed out by the federal government. The Golden State is $70 billion in the hole. Analysts expect that figure to reach $150 billion within four years — and that’s not including the state’s $500 billion unfunded pension liability. Spending needs to be cut dramatically, but it won’t be; the state is too politically dysfunctional to do that. And the election of big-spender Jerry Brown will only make things worse. (Incidentally, Governor-elect Brown recently described his state’s budget problems this way: “It is much worse than I thought. I am shocked.”) Most conservatives...

The decision to release WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on bail has been upheld by London's High Court, pending moves to extradite him to Sweden. A senior judge rejected an appeal against a lower court's decision earlier this week to release the 39-year-old on conditional bail. The Australian is wanted for questioning over alleged sex offences committed in Stockholm while he was visiting the city in August. He was granted bail on Tuesday by Westminster Magistrates Court, but an appeal was lodged against the decision. But High Court judge Mr Justice Ouseley rejected prosecution arguments that he was a flight risk...

In the first decision of its kind in the nation, an appellate court has ruled in a Sacramento case that DNA testing is a legitimate condition of release on bail for a federal defendant not yet convicted. Before a federal felony can be charged, there must be probable cause to believe a crime has been committed, a three-judge panel of the 9th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted in Tuesday's 47-page opinion. Under those circumstances, the panel ruled, the government's interest in definitively identifying the defendant "outweighs the defendant's privacy interest in giving a DNA sample as a condition...