Free Republic

Pressure is mounting to normalize the use of drones in the United States. "Don't drone, me, bro!"—that's one way to sum up Charles Krauthammer's heated reaction to last week's news that the Federal Aviation Administration had loosened restrictions on local police departments' use of surveillance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. "Stop it here, stop it now," Krauthammer exclaimed on Fox News's "Special Report" Monday, "I don't want to see it hovering over anybody's home. ... I'm not encouraging, but I am predicting that the first guy who uses a Second Amendment weapon to bring a drone down that's been hovering over his...

The Environmental Protection Agency held 12 hours of stacked hearings in Washington, D.C. and Chicago on Thursday in favor of a regulation that analysts have concluded would kill the building of new conventional coal plants in the U.S. Among the participants scheduled to testify in consecutive five minute blocks throughout the day were multiple representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and environmental activists from the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace. The proposed rule, reported by The Washington Post in March, limits the amount of greenhouse gases emitted...

What's green and blue and grabby all over? President Obama's new pressure campaign for Congress to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). The fight over LOST goes back three decades, when it was first rejected by President Ronald Reagan. He warned that "no national interest of the United States could justify handing sovereign control of two-thirds of the Earth's surface over to the Third World." According to top Reagan officials William Clark and Ed Meese, their boss believed the "central, and abiding, defect" was "its effort to promote global government at the expense of sovereign nation states --...

A bill that would close an IRS tax credit loophole that allows the IRS to funnel over $4 billion to illegal immigrants is being held up by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, has been vocal in his disdain for the blatant misuse of taxpayer monies: I’m disappointed that the Majority Leader objected to our effort today to prevent billions in tax credits from being wrongly sent to illegal immigrants claiming they have dependents, many of whom do not live in...

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- The Illinois State Police are pushing legislation that could have a severe, negative impact on gun rights in Illinois. Senate Bill 1034, which was introduced as an anti-drug bill, was recently amended by the state House of Representatives to cover Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) cards. This issue surfaced due to the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ), which has allegedly threatened to shut down Illinois State Police access to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS if numerous changes to Illinois law are not implemented. The ISP are the point of contact for NICS checks, so...

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – With the use of domestic drones increasing, concern has not just come up over privacy issues, but also over the potential use of lethal force by the unmanned aircraft. Drones have been used overseas to target and kill high-level terror leaders and are also being used along the U.S.-Mexico border in the battle against illegal immigration. But now, these drones are starting to be used domestically at an increasing rate. The Federal Aviation Administration has allowed several police departments to use drones across the U.S. They are controlled from a remote location and use infrared sensors and...

The news is that the Click it or Ticket stepped up enforcement is started on Monday. Even if you are wearing your seatbelt, that isn't any protection against a ticket. Police can now stop you for no other reason than they say you weren't wearing it. This is the ultimate revenue generator. On Twitter, the propaganda is in full swing @NHTSAgov #ClickItorTicket

Lapdog AP reporter Jordy Yager writes: Rep. Issa might not have the votes to push forward Holder contempt charge> Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) might not have the votes in his own committee to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. A number of Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are wary of moving forward with Issa’s proposed measure, putting the powerful chairman in an awkward position as he attempts to build support for the move. . . Two of the committee’s 23 Republicans have declined to support the measure at this point, while five other...

Ever since the Democrats passed ObamaCare "so we could find out what's in it," Americans have overwhelmingly said they didn't like the new law.  Now, the Obama Administration is spending $20 million of taxpayer money on a new public relations campaign to try to sell us, yet again, on this unprecedented intrusion into our lives by legislation that 72% of Americans believe violates the Constitution.The new public relations campaign "will inform the American people about the many preventative benefits" of ObamaCare according to the White House spin machine.   Porter-Novelli, one of the planet's glitziest consumer marketing firms, has been awarded the...

Illinois gun owners now face a brand new attack on their Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms. With gun rights advocates in Illinois having started in the last few years to find their voices and realize their power, the legislature's forcible citizen disarmament advocates are resorting to furtiveness in their efforts to impose new infringements on that which shall not be infringed. From an Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) alert: BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Illinois State Police are teaming up to pass legislation to destroy your...

The founder of the Organic Pastures business in California is reporting that government health officials have begun tracking down the names and addresses of natural-foods customers and showing up at their homes, demanding to confiscate any raw milk they might have. The dispute over raw milk has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, with a judge ruling that owners of cows have no right to the milk their herds produce, and protests being staged by mad moms whose access to such foods is being threatened. The latest report is at NaturalNews.com, which interviewed McAfee. The report said Los Angeles...

Russ Caswell, 68, is bewildered: “What country are we in?” He and his wife, Pat, are ensnared in a Kafkaesque nightmare unfolding in Orwellian language. This town’s police department is conniving with the federal government to circumvent Massachusetts law — which is less permissive than federal law — to seize his livelihood and retirement asset. In the lawsuit titled United States of America v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, the government is suing an inanimate object, the motel Caswell’s father built in 1955. The U.S. Department of Justice intends to seize it, sell it for perhaps $1.5 million and give...

“I just don’t want to see something this significant – whatever the pros and cons – go through without anyone noticing,” “ says one source on the Hill, who is disturbed by the law. According to this source, the law would allow "U.S. propaganda intended to influence foreign audiences to be used on the domestic population." The new law would give sweeping powers to the State Department and Pentagon to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public. “It removes the protection for Americans,” says a Pentagon official who is concerned about the law. “It removes oversight...

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- The battle for your Second Amendment rights continues to rage in Sacramento. On Monday, May 14, the California Senate passed two bills that are detrimental to California gun owners. Senate Bill 1315 passed in the state Senate by a vote of 21 to 14 and Senate Bill 1366 passed by a vote of 23 to 14. Senate Bill 1315, introduced by anti-gun extremist state Senator Kevin de León (D-22), is just a stepping stone to completely destroying California’s firearm preemption law. Firearm preemption laws are in place to standardize firearm laws across the state. This critical law...

President Obama’s reelection campaign launched a national drive Friday to counter new restrictive voter-access laws, which advisers said threaten his electoral chances in November. Organizers will fan out in key swing states this weekend to teach volunteers and voters how to navigate a series of laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures imposing stricter identification requirements, limiting early voting and making it harder to organize voter-registration drives. It is the beginning of a months-long effort, campaign officials said, to combat what they described as a Republican effort to stifle voting among young people and minorities, two groups that traditionally tend to...

If you’re the owner of an ice cream stand in Massachusetts and you make building improvements without asking the state for permission, you may find yourself on the receiving end of a prohibition-style shutdown. An ice cream stand in Great Brook Farm State Park, MA (of course), was shut down by state officials this weekend after it was discovered that the owner had made building improvements without the appropriate permits, lowellsun.com reports. “Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the stand, said armed...

The Franciscan University of Steubenville has announced it will drop health insurance coverage for students because the cost of the plan is expected to double under Obamacare. [...]The plan currently costs approximately $600 per year. However, Hernon said their health care provider informed them that under Obamacare, the policy would double in price to $1,200 and the following year it would triple. “We couldn’t believe the price (increase),” he told Fox News. “We had them go back and reconfirm it. They said it was dictated by coverage limits that were released by the Obama administration.” “At the end of the...

A Detroit groundskeeper, who turned in a loaded handgun he found hidden in weeds while working, was fired by the Wayne County Department of Public Services, MyFoxDetroit.com reports. John Chevilott, who is just two years shy of retirement, found the loaded snub-nosed revolver on May 3 when he and his crew were mowing a lawn in Wayne County. Chevilott secured the gun, waiting for police to drive by so he could hand it over to them.

Despite being prohibited by no less than the United States Constitution, cruel and unusual punishment is apparently in vogue at the EPA. Obviously former EPA administrator Al Almendariz meant figurative crucifixion, but his negative attitude betrays an alarming view towards oil and natural gas companies that provide over 90 percent of primary residential energy consumption. Thankfully Al Almendariz resigned when his comments recently came to light nearly two years after he made them. That’s two years of crucifying oil and natural gas companies while Obama wastes money Solyndra and other on failed green collar projects. Green energy provides less than...

The District grabbed the guns belonging to 1st Lt. Augustine Kim and won’t give them back. Two years ago, the South Carolina Army national guardsman had been injured on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. Now he’s fighting to restore his constitutional rights. Before deploying overseas, the soldier drove his collection - which included an AR-15, a Beretta 9mm and several .45 caliber pistols - to his parents’ house in New Jersey for safe storage. Upon his return to the states and recovery, Lt. Kim wanted to bring his weapons back to his home in Charleston. On the way,...