Free Republic

She was known as Katie, a pretty, popular girl from a well-respected Rhode Island family. In high school, she excelled at music and art and worshipped David Bowie. As a freshman at Suffolk University, she majored in communications, and she and a gaggle of friends modeled themselves after the girls on “Sex and the City.” She thought about joining the Peace Corps. That was before 2010, when she met the man she’d drop out of school to marry, the man for whom she’d convert to Islam, the man who, three years later, would leave her with a baby daughter and...

The Speaker of the House in Rhode Island, Gordon Fox, resigned from the speakership after his office was raided by the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the IRS.   He was rated a "C" by the NRA.   While second amendment supporters had fought efforts to promote further infringements on their rights to a standstill in the state, several bills are still in the legislative process.   House Bill 7583 would mandate registration and restrict possession of "assault weapons".   HB 7585 would ban magazines of more than ten rounds.   HB 7584 would do both.    An explanation of these bills, which are...

This is becoming one hell of a week! The “gun-grabbers” are falling finally, and it all started with Rhode Island State Senator (“Go F%#K Yourself”) Joshua Miller. Next was Rhode Island Speaker of the House Gordon Fox when his house was raided by the “Feds,” then Democratic gun-grabbing CA Senator Leland Yee who’s charged with illegally trafficking machine guns and rocket launchers, and who’s in the hot seat now? None other than Illinois Democratic State Representative Keith Farnham. How could things possibly get any worse for the Democratic party? We’ve already got cheating, bribery, extortion, money laundering, illegal weapons trafficking,...

<p>The Daily Caller: A reporter has been detained by Capitol Hill police for trying to ask a question of Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy.</p> <p>Bloomberg BNA energy reporter Ari Natter tweeted about being detained.</p> <p>Natter was detained while covering the American Council On Renewable Energy conference, where McCarthy spoke. Also speaking at the conference was Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a staunch supporter of green energy who regularly takes the Senate floor to sound the alarm on global warming.</p>

A reporter has been detained by Capitol Hill police for trying to ask a question of Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy. Bloomberg BNA energy reporter Ari Natter tweeted about being detained. #transparency RT @AriNatter: I am being detained by Capital Police for trying to ask @EPAGina a question after her remarks. — nickjuliano (@nickjuliano) March 28, 2014 Natter was detained while covering the American Council On Renewable Energy conference, where McCarthy spoke. Also speaking at the conference was Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a staunch supporter of green energy who regularly takes the Senate floor to sound the...

Rhode Island State Senator Josh Miller, a pro-gun control Democrat, had some choice words for those who support the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, Paul Joseph Watson said at Infowars Tuesday. “Go f**k yourself," he told Infowars correspondent Dan Bidondi, who reminded Miller about the Second Amendment's language stating the right to keep and bear arms "shall not be infringed."

<p>Rhode Island state senator Josh Miller (D-Cranston, Warwick) and his apparent cameraman — though henchman may be more appropriate in this case — told Dan Bidondo of Truth Radio Show to “go f*ck” himself after the conservative talk-show host asked for comment on Second-Amendment rights, according to a video posted to YouTube Monday.</p>

On March 18, Truth Radio Show's Dan Bidondi, approached Rhode Island state senator Josh Miller (D) for comment on "several unconstitutional, draconian gun bills"--Miller told Bidondi to "go f*** [himself.]" Bidondi's exact words to Miller were: "The Second Amendment shall not be infringed, you people need to understand that." Miller's exact response was: "Go f*** yourself." Miller's camera man/photographer then leaned in to the microphone and said, "Yeah, go f*** yourself."

The number of food stamp recipients (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) fell in Texas in 2013, dropping 4.6 percent from a year earlier to 3.9 million recipients in December 2013. Nationally, SNAP caseload declined by 2.1 percent from December 2012 to December 2013 as the job market gradually warmed up. California’s SNAP caseload bucked the national trend, increasing 4.1 percent to 4.3 million recipients, the second-largest percentage increase in the nation behind Maryland. Eleven states saw an increase in their SNAP rolls, Maryland, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Nebraska and Rhode Island , while...

Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox is resigning from his leadership post and will not run for re-election, he said Saturday, a day after federal and state authorities raided his Statehouse office and home as part of a criminal investigation that they would not detail. “Because of the respect I have for all members of the House of Representatives, I am resigning as Speaker,” Fox said in a written statement emailed to reporters. “The process of governing must continue and the transition of leadership must be conducted in an orderly manner.” The 52-year-old Providence Democrat, who became the nation’s first...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Law enforcement officials raided the office and home of House Speaker Gordon Fox on Friday as part of a criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney's office, FBI, IRS and state police. Officials would not say who or what was being investigated, but authorities worked for hours inside the Democratic House speaker's Statehouse office while state police troopers stood outside. Authorities entered the office carrying an evidence bag and empty cardboard boxes Friday morning. Fox's spokesman, Larry Berman, said state police had asked everyone working in the office to leave, but he didn't know why. At around...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Federal and state law enforcement authorities took over House Speaker Gordon D. Fox’s State House office Friday morning, carrying storage boxes and a bag marked “evidence.” Rhode Island state troopers took up positions outside the office just before 11 a.m. They were followed just before noon by other investigators, including some wearing IRS jackets. The troopers would not answer questions about why they were there nor would they allow reporters into the office. They referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Jim Martin, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said the office, the FBI, the state police...

If you’re a mom of grown children, this is for you.Did you know that the Obama administration and the state of Rhode Island are counting on you to nag your kids into signing up for Obamacare?Good old-fashioned guilt and annoyance—that’s the ticket, apparently. But just giving your kids a call or sending them an email isn’t enough.Rhode Island’s newest strategy is urging mothers to sign up for social networking and even online dating sites to send messages to their children.The state’s Obamacare exchange has put together the “Nag Toolkit.” The website isn’t subtle. It says, “learn how to be where...

At least 28 Senate Democrats plan to spend hours Monday night and early Tuesday speaking on the Senate floor in a push for congressional action on climate change. It's a strategy that's been in the works for several months, organized by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who've been seeking to raise awareness about their concerns on and off the Senate floor. Adopting a strategy used in the past year by some Senate Republicans, the Democrats will begin speaking Monday night after a series of votes and continue until about 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to...

Gun-grabbing Democrat Representative Joseph S. Almeida introduced deceptively titled “Safe Firearms Act” (H 7583) yesterday to the Rhode Island General Assembly yesterday. The citizen control law (PDF) is more restrictive than controversial laws in New York and Connecticut in some respects. It bans the purchase of so-defined “assault weapons” immediately upon enactment, and requires registration of all firearms that meet the definition. The bill, referred to the House Judiciary Committee, targets selective-fire and semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and pistols, both rimfire and centerfire, and adds a constructive possession clause that would deem any otherwise compliant firearm an “assault weapon” if the...

As a hard-partying teenager, Patrick Kennedy met President Reagan at a fundraiser for the JFK Library, a meeting captured in a photograph that the former Rhode Island congressman now hangs in his home office. He used to think of it as a funny episode, a collision of Camelot’s cocaine kid and America’s foremost opponent of illegal drug use. But Kennedy took his last hit of anything in 2009, and he’s since honed an anti-drug message that sounds a bit like Reagan with a Boston brogue. Kennedy believes there is "an epidemic in this country of epic dimensions when it comes...

A group of Democrats are urging Walmart to follow CVS Caremark and discontinue selling tobacco products. The seven Democrats said Walmart, the nation’s biggest retailer, is also the nation’s biggest seller of cigarettes. “We recognize the legality of selling and profiting from tobacco products; however, Walmart’s position as the nation’s largest retailer of any kind puts your company in a unique position to contribute to the health and well-being of all Americans<” the Democrats said in a letter to the company. The letter’s signatories included Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the number two Democrat in the Senate. The letter stats that...

Hell-bent on arming opposition forces in Syria—despite strong evidence that they’re run by Islamic terrorists—John McCain displayed behavior unbecoming of a United States Senator during a recent meeting with Syrian Christian leaders touring Capitol Hill. The delegation of Syrian clergy came to Washington to raise awareness among lawmakers of the growing crisis among the region’s minority Christian community. Christians make up about 10% of the Syrian population and they are being targeted and ruthlessly murdered by radical elements of the rebel forces, according to the visiting church officials. They say the media and human rights groups in the west have...

The facts 1. There are 21 US Senate seats held by Democrats in the 2014 election. 2. There are nine US Senate seats held by Democrats in the 2016 election. This is likely to be 10 due to a special election in HI in 2014. 3. Republicans need to pick up six senate seats to have a majority. The Analysis The failures of ObamaCare and broken promises by Democrat senators create a target rich environment in 2014. This is a year Republicans have to do well. Winning a majority in the senate by only one seat or maintaining the status...

A homeless man told the police on Friday that his conscience drove him to reveal something he’d kept secret — that he’d beaten a man to death in South Providence 24 years ago. By nightfall, Daniel Serrano, 65, was charged with the murder of 32-year-old Michael Holliday — a man he said he didn’t intend to kill, Maj. David Lapatin said. “He claims he was feeling very guilty about it,” the police major added. A workman discovered Holliday’s body in a vacant third-floor apartment at 27 Somerset St. on Feb. 24, 1990. The man had been beaten to death. He...