Free Republic

Tyler Perry's April 1 Facebook post about police pulling him over was no April Fool's joke: The highest-paid man in entertainment is accusing a pair of white Atlanta police officers of racial profiling. Four days later, Perry's post boasts more than 117,000 "likes," 21,000 comments, and 12,000 shares. Atlanta police have launched an internal investigation, E! News reports. Perry's predicament began when he admittedly made a left turn from a far-right lane -- a trick his security detail taught him, to make sure he wasn't being followed, Perry explained on Facebook. Two white Atlanta police officers pulled him over, but...

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel on Tuesday again insisted on his innocence in a 1975 killing, as he pleaded with a three-judge panel to reduce his prison sentence of 20 years to life. Skakel's lawyer, Hubert Santos, argued in Middletown Superior Court that the sentence Skakel received after his 2002 murder conviction in the beating death of Martha Moxley when the two were teen neighbors in wealthy Greenwich was excessive. Santos repeated his claim, which has been rejected by other state courts, that Skakel should have been tried in juvenile court, where the maximum sentence for a...

Just when you thought the Kennedys were fading from Massachusetts politics, there’s new speculation brewing about a Camelot comeback. This one involves Joe Kennedy — maybe even two Joe Kennedys. The younger, Joe Kennedy III, 30-year-old son of the former congressman, is raising the most ruckus among Democrats with his pending move from the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office to a spot in the Middlesex prosecutor’s office, a launching pad for a number of Bay State politicians. “When a Kennedy moves to the most populous county in the state, close to the major media where there are more high-profile...

Know what's worse than someone yelling on the train? Someone yelling on the train and making a complete ass of herself. Here is a self-identified "educated" woman yelling at a Metro-North train conductor who told her to pipe down. It's pretty incredible. According to the video's description, the woman was being loud and using profanity on the train. When the conductor told her to quiet down, she flew off the handle and started telling her, repeatedly, about how "educated" she is and how the conductor doesn't know "what schools I went to." (I'm betting she went to one of the...

According to the maid’s account, as told to investigators and relayed to FoxNews.com, the maid entered the room and was confronted by a naked Strauss-Kahn, who emerged from the bathroom and began grabbing the maid’s breasts while trying to pin her down on his bed. The maid is deeply religious, investigators said, and immediately put her hands over her eyes so she wouldn’t see the naked Frenchman. He ran to her, began grabbing her breasts and pulling her down the hallway inside the luxury suite toward the bedroom. The maid said she tried a variety of tactics to get herself...

Back when he was still the officially designated Next President of France and not an accused rapist, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was glimpsed at the annual IMF soccer tournament wearing a T-shirt emblazoned "YES, WE KAHN!" (Monsieur le directeur was not participating in the game: The field he likes to play requires more horizontal exertions, as even the deferential and protective French media have begun belatedly to acknowledge.) In consciously mimicking the slogan of another and very successful presidential candidate, the IMF boss and Socialist Party candidate improved upon it — or, at any rate, made it more accurate. "Yes, We Can"?...

NEW YORK (AP) -- IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was placed under a suicide watch in jail as pressure mounted on him to resign Tuesday, while the hotel maid who accused him of attempted rape said through her lawyer that she had no idea who he was when she reported him to the police. Law enforcement officials emphasized that Strauss-Kahn had not tried to harm himself but that guards were keeping a close watch on him just in case.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF, was arrested in New York on allegations that he forced or attempted to force a maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to perform oral sex on him. The New York Post was first to break the news that the IMF chief was hauled off an Air France flight two minutes before it was due to take off, and taken into custody by the NYPD. Here's its description of the events that transpired in the hotel: ------------------------ The trouble began around noon today, when a housekeeper entered Strauss-Kahn’s room at the Sofitel on...

HAVERHILL — The former head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority admitted Tuesday that he was driving drunk when he crashed his SUV into two parked cars in August. Matthew Amorello was ordered to give up his driver's license for 45 days and to pay more than $500 in fines. Under his admission to "sufficient facts" to charges of operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident, Amorello did not plead guilty, but acknowledged that if the case went to trial, there would be sufficient evidence for a jury to convict. Judge Stephen Abany continued his case without...

Apparently even Sen. Chuck Schumer isn't immune to the pitfalls of the new voting system. What the hElmo is going on with these voting machines? A party insider told me Schumer showed up at his polling place, P.S. 321 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, at 5:55 a.m. "They don't open the polling place until 6:10... They can't figure out how to open the machine and he is, like, screaming at the staff that he wants to vote," the insider said.

Concerning Right to Life - As America kills its offspring in the womb, we hear about it being a "social issue". It is not a "social issue". It is the violation of an important founding principle. Now, if someone were to do a study of whether it was Bill or Hillary Clinton who had the most venereal disease (if any), THAT would be a "social issue"! Come on, Democrats, media, and others, - let's get it right!

RHINEBECK, N.Y. – Chelsea Clinton's wedding along the Hudson River will be under a no-fly zone. The Federal Aviation Administration says local airspace will be restricted from 3 p.m. Saturday to 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, will wed investment banker Marc Mezvinsky on Saturday evening in Rhinebeck. That's about 90 miles north of New York City. FAA spokesman Jim Peters says Thursday that decisions to restrict air space are made in consultation with other federal agencies. He could not confirm whether the Secret Service requested this one....

<p>Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank caused a scene when he demanded a $1 senior discount on his ferry fare to Fire Island's popular gay haunt, The Pines, last Friday.</p> <p>Frank was turned down by ticket clerks at the dock in Sayville because he didn't have the required Suffolk County Senior Citizens ID. A witness reports, "Frank made such a drama over the senior rate that I contemplated offering him the dollar to cool down the situation." Frank made news last year when he was spotted looking uncomfortable around a bevy of topless, well-built men at the Pines Annual Ascension Beach Party.</p>

Democratic Rep. Bob Ethridge of North Carolina lost his cool on camera in a video that is making the rounds of the conservative blogosphere today. Ethridge was walking down the street when he was approached by a pair of camera-wielding questioners. As one asks if Ethridge "fully supports the Obama agenda," a visibly agitated Ethridge asks, "Who are you?" He repeats the question and appears to slam the camera with his hand. In the edited video, which you can watch above, Ethridge is then shown holding the wrist of one of the questioners and repeatedly asking him to identify himself....

Filmmaker James Cameron garnered some headlines recently when he called BP "morons" for their handling of the Gulf oil spill (Cameron was asked to offer advice on how to fix the problem). "Over the last few weeks I've watched as we all have with growing sort of horror and heartache watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking, those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said last week. Now, Cameron is clarifying his remarks, telling CNN's Larry King that his words were "taken out of context."

Two Massachusetts doctors, both who teach at Harvard Medical School, were arrested Sunday and charged with facilitating an underage drinking party in which 70 teenagers -- mostly new graduates of St. Paul's School in Concord -- were placed into police custody. Police said J. Wesley Boyd, 46, and Theonia Boyd, 49, were charged with facilitating an underage drinking party. Wesley Boyd said he hosted the graduation party Sunday for his daughter, Ariana, who had graduated from St. Paul's School hours earlier. But the Boyds stressed in two e-mails to guests that drinking and drugs would not be tolerated, he said....

In , 2002, Bishop walked into an International House of Pancakes in Peabody with her family, asked for a booster seat for one of her children, and learned the last seat had gone to another mother. Bishop, according to a police report, strode over to the other woman, demanded the seat and launched into a profanity-laced rant. When the woman would not give the seat up, Bishop punched her in the head, all the while yelling "I am Dr. Amy Bishop." Bishop received probation and prosecutors recommended that she be sent to anger management classes, though it is unclear from...

BOSTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenya native who once cared for his siblings, defied a deportation order in 2004 and became a political liability for her famous nephew, is preparing to make her case in federal Immigration Court that she be allowed to stay in the United States. Zeituni Onyango, 57, is expecting to make her second bid for political asylum Thursday before an immigration judge in Boston and could potentially argue that her relationship to the president would make her a political target in Kenya's unstable political climate. "She wants to stay in this country so...

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post_article Today my home was surrounded by Police, FBI, SWAT teams armed with machine guns and even a sniper that set up position in front of the house (not a good sniper since I spotted him right away). They insisted there was a pizza bandit hiding in my home. This is no joke. Here's a Digg for a news article on this ridiculous abuse of authority and waste of money. Please Digg! Digg! Pizza Bandit Eludes SWAT Team They arrived pounding on the doors and windows, so I was already upset to begin with, but then when I answered the...

Kerry slams Cheney's 'hysteria' By Eric Zimmermann - 01/06/10 01:47 PM ET Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is taking up the Democrats' cry against the GOP for "politicizing" the Christmas Day attack. From a statement Kerry issued this afternoon: “Unfortunately, too many Republicans have treated this episode as a political opportunity. Led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, they have resorted to partisan denunciations that serve no legitimate purpose and have no place in the nation’s vital debate over how to fight terrorism. The hysteria of Mr. Cheney and some of his fellow Republicans is sadly reminiscent of the days when...

Phone, cable and broadcast companies can get away with a lot in DC, but they best not stand between a man and his football games. As we noted yesterday, Time Warner Cable and News Corporation are engaged in a retransmission fee fight that could wind up with Fox programming being pulled from Time Warner Cable's channel lineup. This apparently displeases football fan and U.S. Senator John Kerry, who sent a letter to News Corp. warning them that Uncle Sam would step in if Fox programming is disrupted later on today

New York's famously garrulous senior senator, Chuck Schumer, got busted Wednesday for calling a female flight attendant the B-word aboard a US Airways flight from New York to Washington on Sunday. Schumer was sitting next to protege Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, gabbing away on his phone, when a flight attendant told him to shut it down. Schumer turned off his phone, and then argued with the attendant that he was allowed to talk while the cabin door is open. He lost.

Alexandra Kerry is off the hook in her DUI case and won't face any criminal charges, Los Angeles prosecutors said Monday. "We reviewed the arrest report and have declined to file criminal charges due to insufficient evidence," says L.A. City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan. The daughter of Sen. John Kerry was pulled over in Hollywood on Nov. 19 for an expired registration, her father's spokesperson said.

One of Sen. John Kerry’s daughters was arrested early this morning for driving under the influence, Los Angeles police confirmed. Alexandra Forbes Kerry was pulled over in Hollywood for a traffic violation and was arrested for DUI at 12:40 a.m., Officer Sara Faden said. Kerry posted $5,000 bail at 5:20 a.m. Faden would not confirm Kerry’s blood alcohol level or what substance the senator’s daughter was under the influence of. Developing...

PORTSMOUTH — A Kensington man was found guilty of criminal threatening for holding an open pocket knife at his side while asking two people who were walking behind him at midnight, "Why are you following me?" The pair walking behind Dustin Almon, 28, of 27 Wild Rose Lane, were state Liquor Enforcement cops, both in plain clothes without any indicators that they were members of law enforcement, according to testimony during a Thursday Portsmouth District Court trial. Both were also carrying concealed handguns and Tasers, they testified. One of them, Officer Anthony Cattabriga, said he was walking behind Almon on...

You would think by now, Sen. John Kerry would have learned to avoid co-eds packing Instamatics! But nooooo. Our senior senator was captured in yet another embarrassing Kodak moment with a couple of Emerson College students, who popped by his posh Louisburg Square digs to trick or treat on Halloween night.

Insulted in Restroom, Texas Judge Jails Court Attendee, 69, for Contempt Posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago By Martha Neil Angry about a Texas judge's ruling in a custody matter involving his granddaughter, Don Bandelman followed the jurist into a public restroom at the Caldwell County courthouse. Then the 69-year-old called District Judge Jack Robison a fool, reports the American-Statesman. Bandelman says the judge told him to leave, and he did. But then Robison had his bailiffs arrest Bandelman on the courthouse outside the sidewalk and, without any hearing, sentenced him to a 30-day jail term for contempt, the article...

Michelle Malkin: Independent TV documentarian Jan Helfeld asks California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark about the national debt and the economy. Stark tells him repeatedly to “shut up,

ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost her cool Monday after a Congolese student, speaking through a translator, asked her what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" Clinton replied, clearly irked by the thought of being her husband Bill's spokeswoman.

Here is video of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today in the Congo letting her placid facade down for a moment and showing the Hillary we always knew was there. She thought she was being asked what her husband would think about an International Financial matter, but it turns out the translator was actually asking what President Obama thought. Pity the poor translator. Hillary flashed with anger and said, "You want to know what my husband thinks? My husband is not the Secretary of State." . . . . . (Watch Video)

Actual photo of police report from 1984 'Think we may have a pattern here? CRANSTON, R.I. -- "Attitude poor" was the note that a Rhode Island state trooper included in a 1984 speeding ticket issued to then Yale professor Henry Louis Gates. Records do lack a description of the words exchanged during the stop. The decades-old incident occurred on I-95 in Richmond, a town south of Providence. Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal Magistrate William Guglietta said it is not unusual. "We get these all the time," said Guglietta. Gates contacted the Rhode Island Traffic Court in 2002, asking to settle the...

WSVN ch.7 in South Florida has just reported that a Rhode Island TV station is reporting that Prof. Henry Louis Gates received a speeding ticket in 1984 outside of Richmond and the notation on the ticket was "uncooperative" and displayed a "bad attitude." This is the power of the Inter Net!

San Diego police Officer Frank White was found not guilty yesterday of criminal charges resulting from the shooting and wounding of a mother and her young son during a road-rage incident last year. A Vista Superior Court jury acquitted White, 29, of a felony count of grossly negligent discharge of a firearm and a misdemeanor count of exhibiting a firearm. White showed little emotion as the verdicts were read about 4 p.m., but after the jury left the courtroom, he bear-hugged his attorney, Rick Pinckard, then his wife, Jacquellyn.

TORONTO – Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton says he got a black eye from the manager of the Black Eyed Peas. Hilton says he got into argument with Fergie and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas at a Toronto nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside the club by Polo Molina, the band's manager. Toronto Police Constable Tony Vella says Molina turned himself in and has been charged with assault

Video Here: http://www.butasforme.com/2009/03/24/busy-simon-cowell-tells-jay-leno-he-turned-down-obamas-invitation/Busy Simon Cowell Tells Jay Leno He Turned Down Obama’s Invitation to Have Dinner in LA — Says Washington Finally Getting Smarter for Criticizing Obama the Simon Cowell Way

Among Members of Congress, there's a long-standing, proud tradition of the Airport Freakout. Add to the list of those who've indulged in meltdowns and temper tantrums while traveling one Sen. David Vitter, who on Thursday joined what we've dubbed the "Mile-Low Club" by going ballistic on an airline worker after missing a flight from Washington's Dulles airport to New Orleans. According to an HOH tipster who witnessed the scene, the Louisiana Republican arrived Thursday evening at his United Airlines gate 20 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart, only to find the gate had already been closed. Undeterred, Vitter...

One Democratic operative suggests keeping track of Barack Obama’s cabinet selections with a March Madness-type tournament chart. While no official announcements have been made, a controlled series of leaks have given a good sense of who's still in contention, and which big names have been bounced from the bracket. The new administration still has some major posts to fill, including heads for the departments of Defense, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Labor, and Energy, not to mention the Environmental Protection Agency. But a number of the biggest prizes seem to have already been won, and a handful of serious contenders...

Dozens of federal air marshals charged with protecting the public from airplane terrorists have themselves been accused of criminal wrongdoing, including 18 who were charged with felonies. The tally comes from an investigation by the investigative journalism group ProPublica. Its story says marshals have been accused of aiding a human trafficking ring, smuggling drugs and money, trying to hire a hitman and trying to smuggle explosives from Afghanistan. "Since 9/11, air marshals have taken bribes, committed bank fraud, hired an escort while on layover and doctored hotel receipts to pad expenses, records show,” the story reports. They have also “used...

John Kerry fighting for own image ‘I am proud that Ted Kennedy is my senior colleague. It does make it harder, that’s all.’ By Hillary Chabot Saturday, October 25, 2008 - Updated 3h ago + Recent Articles + Email EmailE-mail PrintablePrintable Comments(73) Comments LargerSmallerText size ShareShare Rate(0) Rate An exasperated Sen. John F. Kerry vowed to defend his image yesterday and lashed out at opponents’ portrayals of him as a do-nothing senator riding the coattails of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The former Democratic presidential candidate now up for re-election to the Senate presented a stack of 50 thank-you letters from...

ROSENDALE, NY—Controversial upstate New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey has been ordered to town court to answer a charge that he struck a constituent during a July event. Democrat Hinchey, who represents Ithaca and much of the state’s Southern Tier, has been directed to appear in Rosendale Town Court on September 9 to answer a charge of Harassment Second Degree. According to the Kingston Daily Freeman the charge stems from an altercation between Hinchey and a local member of the National Rifle Association: Paul Lendvay, 46, of Rosendale, the chairman of the Catskill Regional Friends of the National Rifle Association, had...

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) may have one of the best-known faces in the world, but that doesn’t mean he is recognized everywhere, even in Washington. Washington Sports Club employee Takehia Wheeler was manning the front desk to scan members’ identification cards Friday morning when the presidential candidate walked in with his entourage. The gym opened a month ago in the Columbia Heights district. “He came in and walked past me,” Wheeler told In The Know. “I was like, ‘Sir, you need to come back.’ ” Wheeler said Obama looked familiar, but she didn’t recognize him. So she asked for his...

Keith Olbermann had a temper tantrum at a memorial reception for the late Tim Russert.

An HIV-positive man with a history of spitting at police officers and biting fellow jail inmates was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday. Willie Campbell's sentence came one day after the same Dallas County jury convicted the 42-year-old of harassment of a public servant for spitting into the eye and open mouth of Dallas Officer Dan Waller in May 2006. As Mr. Campbell was being arrested for public intoxication, he began to resist and kicked at the computer screen in the police vehicle, Officer Waller testified during the two-day trial. "He turns and spits," Officer Waller said. "He hits...

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- A 75-year-old woman was arrested at a Clearwater McDonald's drive-thru, because police say she wouldn't pull her car forward. Authorities said Jean Merola, a grandmother of eight, was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused an officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window. Merola said the McDonald's employees told her to wait there for her food. Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser. Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail . Merola said she was searched,...

Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), center, talks with Fox News Channel television talk show host Bill O'Reilly, left, after O'Reilly shoved Obama's National Trip Director Marvin Nicholson while trying to get to the Senator at the end of a campaign rally in Nashua, New Hampshire, January 5, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES

Pro-life activists are calling for an investigation into – and possibly prosecution of – police officers who responded to a severely injured abortion clinic sidewalk counselor, but then allowed his suspected attacker to leave the scene. "It is unbelievable that an officer would allow an attacker to go free after inflicting life-threatening injuries on an elderly gentleman, then threaten to arrest the witness to the crime," said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue. "That was not only unprofessional conduct, but it showed a fundamental lack of respect for Mr. Snell's life and beliefs. She should face serious discipline."

W.Va. Woman Accused of Wiping Her Nose on Cop's Shirt Charged With BatteryThursday, December 27, 2007 DUNBAR, W.Va. — Sometimes you need a police officer; sometimes you need a tissue. Confuse the two, and it could cost you. A woman in this Charleston suburb was charged with battery on a police officer after the officer said she wiped her nose on the back of his shirt.

With the New England Patriots now one win away from finishing the regular season undefeated, Sen. John Kerry is stepping up his campaign to get the final game broadcast on national television. The contest Saturday with the New York Giants is to air locally in Boston and New York. But outside those markets it is scheduled to appear only on the NFL Network, a cable channel that reaches just 35 million households nationwide while the league and cable operators dicker over pricing and distribution. Kerry asked football Commissioner Roger Goodell today to move the game to NBC – and threatened...

Cop indicted in road-rage incident during which other driver shot him in leg After being indicted Thursday for allegedly making terroristic threats during a road-rage incident last summer in Coon Rapids, a Robbinsdale police officer gave his side of what happened in the confrontation that left him with a gunshot wound to the leg. [...] A 19-year-old Anoka woman said she saw the man later identified as Beard driving next to another vehicle and leaning out his window as he repeatedly swore and threatened to kill the other driver, adding, "I don't care about jail." Several witnesses said they saw...

SAN DIEGO, (AP) -- The House Ethics Committee said Wednesday that it dropped its investigation of U.S. Rep. Bob Filner for his altercation with a baggage employee at Dulles International Airport. Members of its investigative subcommittee unanimously agreed Filner's behavior demonstrated "poor judgment" that reflected badly on the House of Representatives, but they also felt the case was adequately handled in court, according to a committee statement. The California Democrat entered a no-contest plea Nov. 26 in Loudoun County, Va., General District Court to misdemeanor trespassing charges after prosecutors dropped assault and battery counts. He was fined $100 and ordered...