Free Republic

U.S. court officials in Oregon are reviewing bans on future protesting that were placed on some people arrested during protests in Portland after some raised concerns that the prohibitions violated the First Amendment. “We’re reviewing every case again right now and looking at the wording of some of the conditions,” Brian Crist, chief pretrial services officer for the U.S. District Court in Portland, said Wednesday. “A lot of this I think will be resolved.” Crist said he couldn’t comment on individual cases, but he noted the court looks at each defendant individually and doesn’t have “blanket conditions” that are placed...

A total of 22 people are facing federal charges in connection to the protests in Portland, Ore., federal officials announced Monday. U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams announced that 22 people were charged with criminal conduct between July 23 and July 27. Demonstrations in Portland have persisted since George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on May 26. Court documents allege criminal activity has broken out at night outside the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, including assaults on law enforcement officers, destruction of property, looting, arson and vandalism. A release from Williams’s office said that federal authorities from the U.S. Marshals...

Seattle radio host and Twitter-based criminal defense advocate Paul Gallant "dunked" on President Donald Trump last month by denying that the riots are violent, then the radio host was scored on by rioters who set fire to his apartment. Now he's taking up arms. ... "Walked through it last night out of curiosity and saw no burning, pillaging, or deaths," Gallant responded in June to Trump's tweet calling out the violent leftists who continue to terrorize Seattle. "Chill dawg," Gallant added sarcastically. ... Last night, Gallant had a sudden change of heart towards the "peaceful protestors" when he came home...

Let blue cities and their feckless leaders reckon with the destruction of the violence and looting. Remember all those “peaceful protestors,” later amended to “mostly peaceful protestors”? You probably recall, also, the Main Stream Media’s determined effort to portray the people in the streets protesting the death of George Floyd as nothing but well-meaning reformers—until pictures and video made the spin wear thin. Indeed, now even Democratic politicians are conceding that this wasn’t the “summer of love.” With costly reality staring him in the face, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, on July 2, sent a letter to President Trump, formally requesting...

A driver who struck and killing a Seattle woman with a car during a protest Saturday was charged Wednesday with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Dawit Kelete is being held with bail set at $1.2 million and is expected to remain in jail, according to the prosecuting attorney’s office. The crash is still being investigated by State Patrol and the FBI and the prosecuting attorney’s office said it may add or amend charges based on the investigation. "Today the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed charges against Dawit Kelete for...

Far-left protesters burned an American flag near the White House on Saturday and chanted, "America was never great" moments after President Trump finished delivering a speech at the "Salute to America" Independence Day celebration. Video shows the flag being burned in Black Lives Matter Plaza, just outside the White House. Activists can be heard chanting, "One, two, three, four, slavery, genocide and war. Five, six, seven, eight, America was never great."The flag burning was organized by the Revolutionary Communist Party. A speak-out before the event was held by Refuse Fascism, which also held protests nationwide on July Fourth calling for...

A car drove onto a closed freeway early Saturday and struck two people in a crowd protesting against police brutality, killing one and critically injuring the other, authorities said. Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle died in the evening at Harborview Medical Center, spokesperson Susan Gregg said. SNIP Dawit Kelete of Seattle drove the car around vehicles that were blocking I-5 and sped into the crowd about 1:40 a.m., according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol. Video taken at the scene by protesters showed people shouting “Car! Car!” before fleeing the roadway. Love is in serious condition...

Yet, we seem to have moved on from Minneapolis, or at least covering the extend to the destruction of the city. Michael Tracey decided to venture into Mill town, braving threats of violence from Antifa. Tracey, who conducted interviews with folks sifting through the rubble of their community, noted that minorities hate Antifa, but that’s beside the point. In a lengthy Twitter thread a few days ago, he documented the aftermath and it’s eye-opening. We knew it was going to be based off what Rosas saw the night all of this went down. Julio is a veteran of covering such...

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) moved into the "Capitol Hill Organized Protest" (CHOP) zone and returned to the department's East Precinct early Wednesday morning. The precinct was evacuated on June 11. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan issued a 48-hour executive order for protestors to vacate the area due to the ongoing violence and public safety issues in the area of the East Precinct and Cal Anderson Park. Mayor Durkan's order declared the gathering as an “unlawful assembly” that required immediate action. Police moved into the CHOP just before 5 a.m. and issued a dispersal order to any protestors in the area....

Three women were shot, one fatally, at a vigil held for a shooting victim in Long Beach Monday evening, police said. Long Beach police said gunfire erupted around 9 p.m. in the 5800 block of Orange Avenue, near South Street. A crowd was gathered at a vigil for a man fatally shot in the same area Sunday evening. Officers responded and found three victims - all women - with gunshot wounds. They were transported to a hospital, where one died. One victim is hospitalized in critical condition, while the other woman is in stable condition. Investigators were interviewing witnesses. Police...

The suspect arrested in the shooting death of a man during a Louisville protest over the police killing of Breonna Taylor had taken part in demonstrations but was disruptive and had been asked by other protesters to leave, authorities and protesters said Sunday. The man, identified by an arrest citation as Steven Nelson Lopez, was hospitalized and being interviewed by homicide investigators about the shooting that happened late Saturday, interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said at a news conference. Lopez was wounded in the leg by gunfire from bystanders at the park who were defending themselves, the arrest citation...

Protesters say they took the statue down because they don’t feel the state is moving forward. “We’re not moving forward, we’re moving backwards,” said Ebony Anderson-Carter. “This (statue) doesn’t need to be here until we’re ready to move forward.” Anderson-Carter says she and the other protesters want to see something done about racial injustice in the state, and speak with the state’s Black youth. “The Capitol is where we solve problems, and nobody’s coming here to solve problems,” said Anderson-Carter.

It looks like the DC Metro and Park Police are taking a stand to drive back 'protestors' from destroying the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Park. This is clear provocation. They're testing the limits of how close they can get to the White House. 4 min clip: Reporters are told to leave the White House amid reports protesters attempted to remove an Andrew Jackson statue nearby.

Louisville Metro police said no charges have been filed against the driver of a car that hit a protester in downtown Louisville Wednesday morning after she was identified. Multiple videos captured the 46-year-old woman hit a protester with her car and driving off after several people attempted to stop her from continuing on Liberty Street. A video provided to WHAS11 shows protesters telling a different car to turn around before her car approaches the intersection. Protesters then tell her to turn around, however her car does not move. Three protesters can be seen gathering at the driver's window, though it...

Liberal-progressive types were overjoyed that the Chinese Wuhan virus plague and fears of mass gatherings were keeping President Trump off the campaign trail where he couldn’t shout over the media filter and Joe Biden in the basement where his senior moments were relatively unseen. Now that is about to end with a Trump rally in Tulsa that has garnered over a million ticket requests while Joe Biden would have trouble filling a VFW hall if he could even remember what “VFW” stood for. The prospect of a vigorous Trump rocking tens of thousands in venues that only he, rock stars,...

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) -- Over 1,000 people have signed a petition to rename the city of Lynchburg. The city of Lynchburg is named after founder John Lynch. "He believed in emancipating slaves," Chief Public History Officer Ted Delaney said. "He had slaves but he freed all of his. He supporting recolonization, which is sending slaves back to Africa. He did not believe in perpetuating the institution of slavery in this country." The petition was started by Daisy Howard, who grew up in Lynchburg. Howard believes that it is possible to honor the city's founder without using his last name.

The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from contract talks with the officer union as it seeks to end relationships that have “eroded trust” in the community and overhaul the force following George Floyd’s death, its chief said on Wednesday. Chief Medaria Arradondo, at a media briefing, also said he would implement a new early-warning system to identify police officer misconduct, allowing supervisors to intervene more quickly to get problematic officers off the street. The decision to cut off negotiations with the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis comes a few days after a majority of the city council pledged to dismantle...

Some of the most colorful descriptions of the violence facing police officers at Lafayette Square were clumsily spliced out of the middle of Barr's answers to questions. Key details on violent riots near the White House were removed from the broadcast of an interview of Attorney General William Barr on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” Sunday. Anchor Margaret Brennan repeatedly described protests as “peaceful” and the clearing of protesters to set up a stronger perimeter as unnecessarily rushed, contentions Barr strongly denied.Left out of the interview that aired on CBS on Sunday morning was Barr’s detailed accounting of much of...

America is in chaos with rioters creating mayhem all around the country, and you can thank the left for the resulting death and destruction. First of all, please understand the difference between protesters and rioters. This whole thing started out as legitimate protests by peaceful people exercising their First Amendment rights against a terrible injustice.

Just moments ago, here in DC. Florida National Guard Soldiers from the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team swear in as temporary U.S. Marshals in support of citizens at the Nation’s Capital.