Free Republic

When I return to Washington for my arraignment in federal court this week, it will be by car, not gyrocopter. My flying days are over, perhaps forever. Accepting responsibility for my actions means I accept their consequences, which I always took seriously. As my freedom rests in the court’s hands, my hope is that Americans will understand why I took the risk to deliver them a message: We the people must pay attention to democracy. Everyone is entitled to an opinion about my flight over the Mall last month, but I did not commit this peaceful protest thoughtlessly. The most...

"............“I am concerned because I think, you know, we should have been alerted,” Cummings said. “I’m telling you whenever anything happens around here, I get about 20 alerts, but I didn’t see anything on this, which is amazing.” Whether the Oversight committee will hold a hearing on the incident remains unclear. A spokeswoman for Chairman Jason Chaffetz told CQ Roll Call staff is in the process of putting together a letter to the Secret Service to try and understand the circumstances surrounding the incident. At least one public official was warning against overreaction. “The gyrocopter incident yesterday was not a...

"What's a gyrocopter?" quote of the day.

Police arrested a Florida Postal Service worker who steered his tiny aircraft onto the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol after flying through restricted airspace around the National Mall on Wednesday. The pilot was Douglas Mark Hughes of Ruskin, Fla., who remained in custody Wednesday evening, Capitol Police said in a statement. On his website, Hughes took responsibility for the stunt and said he was delivering letters to all 535 members of Congress to draw attention to campaign finance corruption. "As I have informed the authorities, I have no violent inclinations or intent," Hughes wrote on his website, thedemocracyclub.org. "An...

Man with Ore. ties faces charges for bomb plot 06/09/2003 By KGW, NBC and AP Staff A man with ties to southern Oregon, who is currently in prison for vehicle theft, is now suspected of planning a significant attack -- say authorities who uncovered an arsenal of semiautomatic assault weapons, ammunition, pipe bombs and barrels of jet fuel. Authorities have not been able to identify any targets. And the man, John Noster, 38, has refused to talk to investigators, said Los Angeles County, Calif. sheriff's Sgt. John Demooy. Noster had traveled back and forth across the country in a pickup...