Free Republic

The city of St. Paul doesn’t have direct say over statewide gun laws, but that isn’t stopping city council members from calling for more gun control. At the Wednesday, Jan. 2 council meeting, they amended their annual request to lawmakers to include a crackdown on semi-automatic weapons and high capacity magazines. They join a chorus of municipal bodies, politicians and Hollywood celebrities clamoring for tighter gun laws in the wake of the horrific school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Here’s a look at six proposals being mulled across the country. Some gun enthusiasts are dubious that a ban on semi-automatics would...

'Former Emmerdale actress Jenna-Louise Coleman has landed the role of the Time Lord's new companion in Doctor Who, the BBC has confirmed. Producer Steven Moffat announced the actress will replace Karen Gillan's character Amy Pond when she leaves the show in the next series. Coleman, 25, has also appeared in Waterloo Road and Julian Fellowes' four part mini-series Titanic. The star said: "I am beyond excited. I can't wait to get cracking." Coleman, who will make her first appearance in the Christmas special, added that she is a "huge fan" of the show. The actress, who is from Blackpool, revealed...

KNOXVILLE — A judge said today he has no authority to make public the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's file on former judge Richard Baumgartner. "This court has no authority whatsoever to decide on its own, 'I'm going to let the public see this file,'" Special Judge John Kerry Blackwood said at a specially-called hearing in Knox County Criminal Court. Blackwood said the portions of the file not made public contain phone records and recorded conversations in which Baumgartner discusses sex with two women and makes "crude remarks" about people. "What you're not going to find (in the TBI file) is...

"FBI Seizes Computers of Portland Blogger For Allegedly Posting Sheriff Death Threat" SNIPPET: "If you're going to target the police, guess what happens next."

He doesn't claim to know her post-presidential campaign plans, but fellow Minnesotan Norm Coleman, a Romney backer, believes Rep. Michele Bachmann has what it takes to be vice president. "She could serve well," he says of the Minnesota lawmaker who once led the polls for the Iowa caucus. "I think she's helped herself in this process." Bachmann isn't reconsidering her future other than believing she is positioned for a comeback against Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in the GOP primaries. But even her critics are giving Bachmann good grades for her campaign, debate performances and fund raising despite some early...

As many of our readers are aware, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman has consistently worked against the Second Amendment and the Constitution during his long term as mayor. The Ohio chairman of the anti-gun group Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), Coleman and his city council enacted an unenforceable assault weapons ban in 2005, which caused the NRA to pull plans to hold their annual meetings in the city in 2007, which would likely have poured upwards of $25 million dollars into the Ohio economy. Coleman also drove the Ohio Gun Collectors Association out of town with unreasonable demands he put upon...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman is getting behind Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential race, and gaining a role within the ex-Massachusetts governor's campaign. Romney's campaign announced Wednesday that Coleman would come aboard as a special adviser on policy. Coleman joins former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a Romney backer.

“Guns in Bars” sounds like the concept of a high-octane Hollywood film, kind of like “Snakes on a Plane.” Unfortunately, it is instead a new law in the State of Ohio. Issues involving firearms always stir up a great deal of passion in this country, and the degree to which the Second Amendment affords Americans the right to own any and all guns will probably always be debated. But you’d think there are some gun-related issues on which we could all agree. For example, I would expect that few level-headed people would advocate having loaded weapons in establishments that are...

SNIPPET: "Al Qaeda commander continues to pose a threat to U.S. and South Asian security as Pakistan’s military and intelligence services look the other way” IPT News June 22, 2010 SNIPPET: “Top Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri poses a major threat to U.S. interests both at home and abroad. Described by intelligence agencies “as the most effective, dangerous and successful guerrilla leader in the world,” Kashmiri heads Al Qaeda’s military operations wing. He figures prominently in two recent high-profile terrorism indictments issued in Chicago. But Kashmiri remains free in South Asia and in control of a renowned Al Qaeda terror...

Columbus no longer planning for streetcars, light rail Thursday, February 10, 2011 10:44 PM By Robert Vitale The Columbus Dispatch Despite a lingering presence in regional planning documents, officials say the idea of streetcars for Columbus and light rail for central Ohio has been shelved. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission gave its OK yesterday to use more than $225million in federal money for roadwork, buses, bike trails, sidewalks and other projects designed to ease traffic congestion and improve air quality. Don't expect action soon, however, on another item on the list: Although MORPC continues to list Mayor Michael B. Coleman's...

Iran's Oil Mafia April 16, 2007 Frontpagemagazine.com Hassan Daioleslam Robert William (Bob) Ney is a current federal prisoner and a former Ohio Congressman from 1995 until November 3, 2006. Ney pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff lobbying and bribery scandal. Ney reportedly received bribes from Abramoff, other lobbyists, and two foreign businessmen - a felon and an arms dealer - in exchange for using his position to advance their interests. Conspicuously missing from this dossier of disservice to the country was Ney’s assistance in the creation of a Washington-based lobbying...

Rejected absentee ballots are private information, with that ruling the Minnesota court of appeals says KSTP-TV can't look at them. That reverses a ruling by a Ramsey county judge that allowed KSTP and four other Hubbard broadcasting stations to get access to unopened, rejected absentee ballots from the 2008 election. Last year, a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation uncovered absentee ballots that had been wrongly accepted and rejected. The station sued to examine the 13-thousand that were never counted in the election to continue it's investigation. The appeals court says the law states clearly that sealed absentee ballots are private data...

Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman reportedly is considering a run for chairmanship of the Republican National Committee and has begun talking to associates about taking on Michael Steele should the embattled current chairman seek another term in January. Coleman plans to attend the RNC's summer meeting next month in Kansas City, Mo., in part to be on hand for a tribute to longtime New Jersey Committeeman David Norcross, who is stepping down from his party post. But senior Republicans say Coleman's appearance will allow him to meet the party members who will pick the next chairman and signal to them...

Gov. Tim Pawlenty jumped into a growing controversy Wednesday when he said that a conservative interest group may have found "credible evidence" that voter fraud involving felons tipped the narrow 2008 U.S. Senate race toward Sen. Al Franken. Pawlenty's remarks, in a television interview, gave a boost to a study released by Minnesota Majority that purports to have found that more than 1,000 felons voted illegally in the bitterly contested election. The group's claims have been broadcast by Republicans in Minnesota and elsewhere, reigniting a debate over a cause long championed by Republicans: use of voting safeguards such as photo...

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman says investigations into felons voting illegally in the 2008 election won't cause him to try to change the outcome. Coleman lost his Senate seat to Democrat Al Franken after a recount and court contest that lasted eight months. On Wednesday, the Republican said there will always be "a cloud of doubt" and the allegations add to that, but he hasn't sought legal advice on his options and doesn't intend to. Prosecutors in Minnesota's biggest counties are investigating a conservative watchdog group's allegations that ineligible felons voted or registered to vote illegally in 2008. Earlier Wednesday,...

Felons Voting Illegally May Have Put Franken Over the Top in Minnesota, Study Finds July 12, 2010 FoxNews.com The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities. That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman. The final recount vote...

Felons Voting Illegally May Have Put Franken Over the Top in Minnesota, Study Finds By Ed Barnes July 12, 2010 The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities. That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman. The final...

It's against the law for convicted felons to vote on election day, but a watchdog groups says hundreds of felons not only registered to vote, but cast ballots. The group Minnesota Majority says they spent the last 18 months matching felony criminal records with voting records. Group member Dan McGrath says they found 289 convicted felons in Hennepin County and 52 in Ramsey County voted illegally during the 2008 election. McGrath claims nothing is being done to stop or correct the incidents. He blames the Secretary of State and local county attorneys for being slow to prosecute voter fraud cases.

June 30th marks one year since Sen. Al Franken was declared the official winner in the U.S. Senate race, marked by the longest recount in Minnesota state history. Chief Political Reporter Tom Hauser spoke to Franken about how he would evaluate his job performance, so far.

Monday May 31, 2010 Gary Coleman's Quick Removal off Life Support and Resulting Death Raises Questions Commentary by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman May 31, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The death of Gary Coleman has elicited reactions of surprise and sadness from Americans who had come to know and love the actor through his role on the popular situation comedy Diff'rent Strokes during the late 70s and early 80s. However, what is not being discussed in the mainstream media, what is being assiduously avoided, are the obvious questions: is it certain how Coleman sustained his deadly head injury, and why did his wife "pull the plug" on...