Free Republic

Daniel Musso of Brentwood was one of a group of people protesting the Mayors Against Illegal Guns rally. An anti-gun violence rally at the Statehouse plaza on Tuesday turned ugly when gun rights supporters turned out to protest the event and one pro-gun advocate had to be Tasered by Concord Police after resisting their efforts to detain him. Daniel Musso, 52, of Brentwood attempted to interject commentary while John Cantin of Manchester was speaking about his efforts to influence U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, on the background check issue. Musso, who was wearing a pro-Native American rights T-shirt, asked Cantin...

(Reuters) - Democratic legislators in Maine scrambled on Tuesday to muster the votes needed to override Republican Governor Paul LePage's late-night veto of a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to an additional 60,000 people. LePage late on Monday blocked a compromise bill that would have increased the number of low-income people eligible for the federal insurance program, an expansion allowed by the U.S. healthcare reform that stands as the signature domestic legislative achievement of President Barack Obama's first term. In vetoing the Medicaid bill, LePage warned against repeating past mistakes, calling previous expansions of Medicaid - which contributed to the...

Maine’s highest court will soon decide which restroom Nicole Maines, a 15-year-old transgendered student, should use. Last week the state supreme court heard oral arguments about whether a school district violated her civil rights when it forbid her from using the girl’s restroom. She was in fifth grade at the time. Maines is biologically male but has identified as female since she was very young. As such, she wished to use the girl’s restroom. State law, however, mandates that boys and girls use separate facilities. Her school told her to use the staff restroom instead. These requirements violate the Maine...

Maine's highest court heard arguments Wednesday over whether transgender students can use the bathroom of their choice, and the girl at the heart of the case said she hoped justices would recognize the right of children to attend school without being "bullied" by peers or administrators. Nicole Maines, now 15, watched lawyers argue over whether her rights were violated when the Orono school district required her to use a staff bathroom after there was a complaint about her using the girls' bathroom. Maines said after the hearing in Bangor that she hopes the Supreme Judicial Court will ensure no one...

Where should a transgender schoolgirl be allowed to pee? To some, this may sound like a minor, insignificant question, but not to Nicole Maines, a 15-year-old transgender girl who attended Maine public schools. Born a boy biologically, Maines now self-identifies as a girl, dressing in girls’ clothing and sporting a typical 15-year-old girl’s hair and makeup. In addition to the harassment she faced from other kids, Maines also met intolerance by school officials, who refused to allow her to use the girls’ bathroom. Instead, in a remarkably insensitive decision, the school required her to use a staff bathroom after a...

Dustin Reininger is a U.S. veteran and former police officer serving 3-5 years in a New Jersey prison for possession of firearms that he legally owned. As a result of the extreme and unjust New Jersey gun laws, Reininger was convicted of illegal possession of firearms as he was passing through the state. Dustin Reininger is not from New Jersey. He was actually moving from Maine to Texas and was driving through New Jersey when he parked his car in a parking lot to rest for the night. Reininger was awakened in the night by police officers who searched his...

A twisted story out of Maine, where police say one man's plan to play the hero ended with the death of a 15-year-old girl. Kyle Dube, 20, allegedly planned to kidnap a teen, who he would then "find." Police say he set up a fake Facebook account under the name Bryan Butterfield and used it to convince Nichole Cable to meet him on the evening of May 12 at the end of her street. A ski mask-clad Dube grabbed her, secured her with duct tape, and hid her in his dad's truck, according to a police affidavit; Cable was reportedly...

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Dr. Michael Ciampi took a step this spring that many of his fellow physicians would describe as radical. The family physician stopped accepting all forms of health insurance. In early 2013, Ciampi sent a letter to his patients informing them that he would no longer accept any kind of health coverage, both private and government-sponsored. Given that he was now asking patients to pay for his services out of pocket, he posted his prices on the practice’s website. The change took effect April 1. “It’s been almost unanimous that patients have expressed understanding at why I’m...

AUGUSTA, ME, May 20, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The number of deaths in Maine now exceeds the number of births, according to a new report released by the Governor's Office of Policy and Management (OPM). Last year, there were 103 more deaths than new babies. The state's birth rate has steadily fallen over the last 23 years, from 14.1 live births per 1,000 women in 1990 to 10.2 per 1,000 women today. The state's analysis of census data found the state has the nation's highest median age, 43, and is tied with Vermont for the lowest percentage of minors. Only 20.7...

President Obama believed that opposition to his healthcare reform law would fade after the 2010 election, according to former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Obama courted Snowe’s support in an attempt to make the bill bipartisan. He assured her GOP opposition to the law would be short-lived, she said. “He thought the opposition to it would lessen after the [2010] election. I said, ‘It’s just the beginning.’ I said, ‘It’s going to grow because I can tell you it’s not going to go away and it’s going to get worse,’” Snowe said in a radio interview moderated by Julie Mason, host...

A Maine teenager who advertised his BMW for sale on Craigslist was forced into the vehicle’s trunk at gunpoint and taken on an eight-hour drive to Delaware by a man who masqueraded as a purchaser, The Smoking Gun has learned. After posting his online ad last month, Alexander Filatov, 19, was contacted by Travis Landry, who said he was interested in buying the grey 2004 sedan. Landry, 29, directed Filatov to meet him at the Motel 6 in Portland where he was staying.

Shortly after Barack Obama won reelection in November, New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed out that Republicans’ cloudy political prospects had a bright silver lining. “One of the reasons you have 30 Republican governors in America, and why we’re the only organization to add Republican strength,” Christie said, “is because people see us getting things done.” Christie’s stance countered most of the elite postelection commentary, which gleefully pronounced the Republican Party’s political irrelevance. But the governor was right. Since Obama first took office in 2008, Republicans have picked up a net nine governorships, bringing their total to 30 states,...

The FBI has revealed that they now know the identity of the American known as Misha who helped radicalize the Boston bombing suspects. Family members of dead bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev have described Misha as the guiding influence in the elder bomber developing radicalized views. Speculation as to who Misha is has varied wildly in the past week, with some suggesting he is the mastermind behind the marathon bombings while others believe he could be a Russian spy - sent to identify and keep tabs on young men like Tamerlan who are at risk of turning to militant Islam. To date...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Gov. Paul LePage has signed into law a bill to keep confidential names and other information about gun owners who obtain concealed handgun permits. LePage, who has a concealed handgun permit, announced Friday he’d put his signature on the bill, which was approved a day earlier by lopsided votes in the Maine House and Senate.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stopped talking once he was prematurely read his Miranda rights. That helps the authorities establish the lone wolf narrative. Whatever else we might have learned from him is probably lost. ... District Court Judge Marianne Bowler arrived at the hospital where he is being treated to preside over his initial hearing Monday, when she read him his Miranda rights. ... Judge Bowler has some interesting international connections. She is a member of the Member of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Apparently in that capacity, she visited and spoke on legal...

After having a husband and a son in the White House, Barbara Bush said she did not miss “one darn thing” about life there. And she does not want another reason to go back, even if it means depriving the country of the “best-qualified man.” On Thursday, Mrs. Bush, the former first lady and first mom, announced on the “Today” show that she does not want her son Jeb Bush to run for president. “He’s by far the best-qualified man, but no. I really don’t,” Mrs. Bush told Matt Lauer when asked if she wanted to see Jeb Bush, the...

Dozens of resorts with permits to operate on national forests have bought or acquired rights to use nearby bodies of water for snowmaking. The Forest Service had adopted a clause that said those resorts had to transfer their water rights to the federal government ... After the National Ski Areas Association sued, a judge ruled last year that the agency violated procedure in not seeking public comment before adopting the clause. The agency now plans open houses April 16 in Lakewood, Colo., on April 17 in Salt Lake City, and April 18 in Lake Tahoe, Calif., to get input.

As more states follow the lead of New York, Connecticut and Colorado, passing rafts of laws which are decidedly unfriendly to Second Amendment supporters, gun and weapons equipment manufacturers have been feeling the squeeze. Some are already looking to pack up their plants and their jobs and head to friendlier climes, and governors like Rick Perry have been quick to welcome them with open arms – pun intended. But the rest of the more freedom oriented states apparently won’t be willing to sit on the sideline and let Perry grab up all the benefits.Governor Paul LePage of Maine is getting...

Not thinking anyone is surprised about This but CNN is reporting that: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, became the second Republican senator not involved in negotiating a bipartisan background check measure to say she will support it, according to a statement Sunday. She described the bill as a responsible compromise between two senators - Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, and Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia - who have strong ratings from the National Rifle Association. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, has indicated his support for the deal.

The Republican plan to block debate on Senate Bill 649, which requires background checks on almost all gun purchases and transfers, failed spectacularly Thursday morning when sixteen Republican Senators joined almost all of the Democrats to vote in favor opening debate on the bill. Among those voting to defeat the filibuster were 9 Democrats with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association, and 12 A-rated Republicans (out of 16 Republican “ayes”). Two Democrats, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), joined the majority of Republican Senators who tried to prevent debate, much less a vote, on the bill....

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: From the Wall Street Journal last Friday, April 5th. I missed it Friday. I was informed about this on Saturday afternoon. It's a piece by David Feith. David Feith is assistant editorial features editor at the Wall Street Journal. "It sounds like the setup for a bad joke: What did the Wall Street type say to the college president on the golf course? Well, we don't know exactly -- but it has launched a saga with weighty implications for American intellectual and civic life. Here's what we do know: "One day in the summer of 2010, Barry...

In May, New England's fishermen will again see a cut to the number of fish they can catch, this time so deeply that the historic industry's existence is threatened from Rhode Island to Maine. But as hard as the cuts are likely to hit fishing communities, local seafood eaters may not notice at all. In the region's markets, grocery stores and restaurants, imported fish dominate, and the cuts make that less likely to change. The cuts will shrink the catch limit 77 percent for cod in the Gulf of Maine and 61 percent for cod in Georges Bank, off southeastern...

Catch limits threaten business and a way of life for generations in Gloucester, Mass. and all of New England

Convenience-store owners in Maine are concerned that the state lottery wants to rebrand its scratch-off lottery tickets as "Kwikies." -snip- The newspaper interviewed a cashier who said he tested the new name by asking customers if they would like a Kwikie. “I tried that on a couple of women," Tom Borden, a cashier at Fox Brook Variety in Dover-Foxcroft, said. "It didn’t go over very well."

Maine has received a $10.5 million federal grant to aid homeless people and families, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Wednesday.The funding will support 42 homeless housing and service programs throughout Maine.“This funding is critical to local Maine programs that are on the front lines of helping those who might otherwise be living on our streets,” Barbara Fields, HUD’s New England administrator, said. “The evidence is clear that every dollar we spend on these programs that help find a stable home for our homeless neighbors not only saves money but quite literally saves lives.”Housing and Urban Development’s...

FALMOUTH, Maine — Gubernatorial hopeful Steve Woods unveiled an economic strategy Tuesday that could result in the closure of more than 100 small Maine towns and redirect their state dollars — and potentially their residents — toward more urban centers. Woods said the state now invests too much maintaining infrastructure to reach a widely dispersed population and it’s unsustainable. In his report, Woods states that 108 Maine towns receive five times as much in state and federal subsidies as they generate in local taxes and fees. In short, the study contends the state’s “underlying problem” can be summed up as...

Maggie Hassan, the Democratic .. governor .. New Hamphshire. Maggie is married to Thomas Hassan, the principal of Phillips Exeter Academy. ... On Thomas Hassan’s watch, numerous Islamic scholars and activists with ties to radical Islamic groups have been invited to address student assemblies and other student forums. Among them, Hadia Mubarak, former president of the Muslim Student Association, spoke at a PEA assembly on Oct, 1, 2007. Founded by the Muslim Brotherhood, the MSA was labeled “a virtual terror factory” by terrorism expert Patrick Poole. Its former members include such notable jihadists as Anwar al-Awlaki, Ramy Zamzam, Omar Hammami,...

WISCASSET, Maine — About 150 gun rights activists from all corners of Maine gathered in Wiscasset Saturday to protest against bills proposed in the Legislature around concealed carry permits. Organized by the recently formed Maine Gun Rights Coalition, the rally targeted by local Rep. Timothy Marks, D-Pittston, who has proposed several adjustments to Maine’s concealed weapons permits laws. Jessica Beckwith of Lewiston, who founded the coalition, said her goal is to make sure that when lawmakers propose changes to gun laws — whether they constitute gun control or not — that they’ll hear from their constituents. “Our representatives’ job is...

A town of 140 people in western Maine is considering an ordinance making gun ownership mandatory, the latest of a handful of communities nationwide to pass or consider such a rule even though the measures are widely considered unenforceable. All three members of the Board of Selectmen in Byron favor it, and Head Selectman Anne Simmons-Edmunds said she expects residents to approve it at Monday's town meeting, a New England institution where townspeople vote up or down on municipal proposals. "We're hoping that the town will get on board with us but will accept whatever the town wants," Simmons-Edmunds said...

President Obama and his family are likely headed to Martha's Vineyard for a summer sojourn again this year. A source tells POLITICO that the Secret Service has started booking accommodations on the toney island off the Massachusetts coast. So far, the White House isn't saying anything, but the Vineyard is abuzz with the news. The first family is expected toward the end of August, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Nathan Bibeau of Lewiston, Maine said he made an unsettling discovery during his son Cayden’s 2nd birthday celebration. After the toddler blew out the candles, his Elmo-themed cake was cut and four pieces in, he found a paring knife inside the dessert. So the party was paused and Bibeau called the Auburn Walmart bakery where he purchased the cake to inform them -snip While the father says he understands that mistakes can happen and will still shop at Walmart, he has contacted a lawyer and is considering legal action.

FALMOUTH — Three municipal police departments and the Maine State Police took in a small arsenal of unwanted guns and bags full of ammunition and raised money for a charitable cause during a gun donation program Saturday. The event was aimed at helping reluctant gun owners, such as hunters' widows who don't know what to do with the weapons that have come into their possession. In all, 68 guns and a pile of ammunition were turned in at Cumberland, Falmouth and Yarmouth police departments and the state police barracks in Gray. At the end of the day the usable guns...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Lawmakers this session once again will debate whether recipients of state and local welfare benefits should be subject to drug testing. And this time, a Democrat is bringing forward the proposal, which is more likely to prove popular with Republicans. Rep. Paulette Beaudoin, D-Biddeford, is sponsoring a measure that would allow the state to conduct random drug tests on Maine residents receiving benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program or health insurance through Medicaid. Under the measure, the state would cut off benefits to anyone who tests positive. Beaudoin’s bill, LD 678, also would let...

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King are downplaying the significance of an advertisement by the National Rifle Association that urges Maine voters to convince their senators to reject President Obama's gun-control agenda. "I haven't seen it," King said Thursday, referring to a full-page ad in Thursday's Bangor Daily News. "This story isn't going away. I'm working on the issue. I've sat down with gun owners and sportsmen in Maine. I've sat down with gun control advocates in Maine. I'm trying to come up with what I think are the most effective proposals that will actually diminish gun violence while...

Link only.

Reid has 57 votes for cloture. Collins of Maine is one of two R's supporting cloture but claims she'll vote "no" on floor vote, when her vote will make no difference. What a coward.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will introduce legislation that would allow U.S. citizens to sponsor their same-sex partner for legal residency in the country. Collins is the first Republican supporter of the bill, which Leahy has introduced in each Congress since 2003. She said it would help keep same-sex families together by giving them the opportunity to live in the United States legally. “More than two dozen countries recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes,” said Collins in a statement. “This important civil rights legislation would help prevent committed, loving families from being forced...

Remember cap-and-trade? Back in 2010, Democrats in Congress had a proposal to set a nationwide limit on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and let businesses trade pollution permits. But the climate bill died, and cap-and-trade mostly vanished from discussion. Except in the Northeast. For the past decade, ten states stretching from Maine to Maryland have been experimenting with their own modest cap on carbon pollution from electric power plants. And, this week, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced that it would continue to cut emissions by tightening the cap between now and 2020. So how effective has the RGGI program been?...

Guy needs to get his bread and milk!

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage’s remarks to a rally Friday against gun-control legislation under consideration in Congress lasted only a few seconds, but his message was crystal clear.

Minutes after New England fishery managers took a vote that cast doubt on the historic industry’s future, the prospects most clear to Gloucester fishermen Paul Vitale were his own. “I’m bankrupt. That’s it,” said the 40-year-old father of three. “I’m all done. The boat’s going up for sale.” The New England Fishery Management Council on Wednesday approved a year-to-year cut of 77 percent on the Gulf of Maine cod limit and 61 percent for Georges Bank cod. The cuts come on top of a slew of other reductions, ranging from 10 to 71 percent, on the catch of other bottom-dwelling...

As McIntyre and Dellairo continued to batter Williams and Ramos, Williams broke free and ran to his bedroom, where he armed himself with a .22-caliber handgun equipped with a laser sight. Williams shot McIntyre in the leg then followed him, Dellairo, and the female out of the apartment. While outside the apartment, Dellairo lunged at Williams with a knife. In response, Williams “fired off a couple surprised rounds,” which struck Dellairo’s hip. As the three fled, they entered a vehicle, possibly with a second female. Williams fired two rounds that impacted the vehicle’s trunk in an effort to aid police...

Republicans in swing states that went for President Obama are pushing for a big change in how the Electoral College works, reports the Washington Post. The idea is to apportion electoral votes according to congressional district, instead of the winner-take-all system that most states employ. In Virginia, for example, the difference would be dramatic—Obama would have taken only four of the state's 13 electoral votes in 2012.

AUGUSTA, Maine — In the aftermath of the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., lobbyists and lawmakers expect between 40 and 60 bills related to gun violence to be submitted to the Maine Legislature before the Jan. 18 deadline. Most of the proposed legislation will go to the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. Two new members of that panel, Rep. Timothy Marks, D-Pittston, and Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, the House chairman, are former police officers. They bring decades of firsthand experience dealing with gun violence in Maine to the discussion. That experience leaves...

F. Lee Bailey, the attorney who represented O.J. Simpson and Patty Hearst, had been denied his request to practice law in Maine. The 79-year-old Bailey passed the Maine bar exam last winter. He was previously licensed in Massachusetts and Florida, but was disbarred in those states for mishandling $6 million worth of stock for a client.

Arriving in a limo, Donna Galluzzo and Lisa Gorney had all the trappings of a traditional wedding: Rings, flowers, wedding vows, an entourage and a friend to officiate. With tears in their eyes, they were among the first gay couples to exchange wedding vows early Saturday morning after Maine's same-sex marriage law went into effect at midnight.

The president of a Maine gun owners group said he and his peers were troubled by a gun-rights activist's decision to walk with an assault rifle in Portland Monday, an incident that drew a police response but did not result in any citations or arrests. Monday at approximately 11:03 a.m., the Portland Police Department began receiving calls about a white male in his twenties walking in the West End of the city carrying a rifle. "He was an open carry activist and just wanted to do it because he could," explained Portland Police Commander Gary Rogers in an interview. The...

What do you do when you are an assistant professor at a public university and you’ve been caught red-handed retweeting a tweet advocating murder? If you’re University of Rhode Island professor Erik Loomis, you delete your entire Twitter account ... We’re glad he won’t be advocating violence on Twitter any longer. Hopefully, he will use the freed-up time to seek help from a mental health professional. * * * Update: What exactly is Loomis hiding? Before he deleted his Twitter account, we managed to make note of a few of his angrier tweets

Sen. Boxer firms up plans for weekly ‘climate change clearinghouse'By Ben Geman - 12/18/12 04:08 PM ET Senate Democrats — and any interested Republicans — will huddle weekly on climate change in the next Congress in an “open forum” to help craft and support legislation, the plan’s architect said. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told The Hill on Tuesday that the “climate change clearinghouse” will also focus on working with the Obama administration and keeping members of abreast of the latest science. Boxer said she will co-chair the clearinghouse alongside the chairmen of the Senate...

BELMONT, Maine — Mack Page was sound asleep in his bed at 11 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 3, when he was startled awake by the frantic barking of his black Labrador. “What have I got now?” the 63-year-old commander of the Maine Militia remembers wondering. “A raccoon? A coyote?” But it was none of those things. Instead, Page’s dark residence on a quiet Belmont road suddenly was lit up by men outside his windows carrying flashlights. He lives alone, he’s not in the best of health and he was scared. “They called, ‘State police! Come out with your hands up!’”...