Free Republic

Is it possible that evidence against Democrats in Troy, New York,has finally hit rock bottom? When they weren't paying off college kids with their vote, they were apparently tricking mentally impaired voters into signing absentee ballots, telling them "the city made it easier to vote this year." A witness who testified in the upstate New York ballot fraud case explained that she would frequently visit two brothers, both of whom had 'mental disabilities'. Three men allegedly paid a visit to the family home of Michele Ziglitt one day. Two of the men were identified as Gary Galuski, and Anthony DeFiglio....

On Wednesday, the first witness called to testify in the upstate New York ballot fraud case, Jermaine Joseph, provided the expected testimony - ballots were filled out on his behalf, votes were cast across a straight Democrat party line, etc. But an interesting caveat was also revealed, something Joseph did not provide in his grand jury testimony - He claims he was paid for his troubles. According to his testimony, Joseph was handed $10 for grocery shopping. Today, another witness in the trial has given the same exact story. Donell Patterson claims that he was asked to sign an absentee...

Michael LoPorto arrived at the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. on Tuesday for his trial, which accuses him of being part of a “massive” voter fraud scheme. The former Democratic city councilman and popular local restaurant owner appeared jaunty and relaxed as he answered a series of questions from Fox News -- despite facing felony allegations that could send him to prison for seven years.

Water flows uphill. A city turns down $8.5 million in federal grant money. In what could be a new high water mark of anti-Washington sentiment, the city of Troy, Mich., is rejecting a long-planned transportation center whose construction would have been fully financed with federal stimulus money. The terminal, which would help Troy become a transportation node on an upgraded Detroit-to-Chicago Amtrak line, was hailed by supporters as a way to create jobs and to spur economic development. But federal money is federal money, so with the urging of the new mayor, who helped found the local Tea Party chapter,...

For years we have been waiting to see the fruits of Barack Obama’s presidency, hoping this man was the embodiment of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s dream, that he would be a peacemaker, that he would show solidarity with the poor and persecuted - yet gradually we have come to see the Obama Tree as barren and useless. But lately the Obama Tree has burst forth with fruit, a fruit born of political expediency – and it is a strange and bitter crop: The legal lynching of Troy Davis Lack of moral courage and political expediency means Obama has...

There are various allegations of possible voter fraud across the country, against both parties, but nowhere does there seem to be a more unusual case than in Troy, New York. A special prosecutor investigating allegations of voter fraud, Trey Smith, is collecting DNA from the majority of the city council...all Democrats. Five city councilmen, including the council president, as well as four other city and county public officials and political operatives, have been ordered to or have had their saliva swabbed for DNA samples to compare to absentee ballots and absentee ballot applications that were allegedly forged. The investigation centers...

German archaeologists have made new discoveries at modern day Hisarlik, northwest Turkey -- ancient Troy. The finds further confirm the area occupied during the Bronze Age was not limited to the citadel; Troy VI and VII were much larger than originally thought. The three year research project at Troy -- lead by Prof. Ernst Pernicka, from the University of Tubingen's Institute of Pre- and Early History -- sees scholars focus on the analysis and publication of materials found since the university started excavations at the site in 1988... smaller excavations... in combination with geophysical surveying and the drilling of test...

The scientist had traveled from Germany to examine the ancient items that lay before him on the University of Pennsylvania laboratory table, and he was dazzled. Earrings with cascades of golden leaves. Brooches adorned with tightly coiled spirals. A necklace strung with hundreds of gold ringlets and beads. The jewelry bore a striking resemblance to objects from one of the world's great collections - a controversial treasure unearthed long ago from the fabled city of Troy... The 24 pieces had been purchased from a Philadelphia antiquities dealer more than 40 years ago, and came with no documentation of their origin....

And now, we see, there are groups attempting to commit voter fraud through absentee ballots: A state Supreme Court justice invalidated 39 absentee ballots in question for the Working Families Party primary in Troy after a court hearing last month. County Legislature Majority Leader Robert Mirch of Troy, working with private investigators, obtained affidavits from voters who said they did not cast the absentee ballots and that the ballots were fraudulent. Trey Smith, a former assistant district attorney, has been named as a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations. City Democrats and Republicans have fought over the Working Families Party...

The Working Families Party and local Democratic Party Officials are at the center of a massive voter fraud scandal in Troy, NY. According to the Times Union: Dozens of forged and fraudulent absentee ballots from people registered to vote on the Working Families Party line were filed in the Sept. 15 primary elections in Troy. Documents at the county Board of Elections show the fraudulent ballots were handled by or prepared on behalf of various elected officials and leaders and operatives for the Democratic and Working Families parties. There may be as many as 50 absentee ballots that were forged,...

How exactly would the public insurance plan put private insurers out of business? Former Deputy Secretary of HHS Tevi Troy tells Will Cain, and predicts the public plan won’t make it out of Congress. Link http://tv.nationalreview.com/offthepage/post/?q=NmE5NmE5MDczZDk0YjA0MjU5N2IxNGJjNTEyNWExMjY=

In tears, the Westland woman accused of accepting money for sex from the husband of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., began serving five days in jail today for violating the terms of her probation. The decision, said 52-4 District Judge William Bolle, effectively ends the case. It's been a long ride for the 21-year-old Alycia Martin, who is now eight months pregnant and engaged, said her pro bono attorney Frank Cusumano Jr. Martin, who dropped out of high school in the ninth grade and has been on her own since she was in her late teens, is working at a...

ALBANY — Cities across the greater Capital Region will bear the brunt of a massive plan to close 33 worship sites throughout the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, Bishop Howard Hubbard announced Saturday. Troy will be ground zero in an unprecedented consolidation the 14-county diocese is undertaking to cope with shifting demographics and a shortage of priests. Hubbard, despite lobbying to change the outcome, decided to close six of the Collar City's dozen Catholic churches. That is more than any other city. And the list of soon-to-be-shuttered Troy churches includes St. Peter's, the state's third-oldest Catholic parish.Elsewhere, St. Teresa of...

COHOES — Al Rigney knows the pain of closing a church. A decade ago, Rigney performed the grim ritual of boarding up the windows of St. Agnes, the big-steepled Cohoes landmark where he was confirmed and married. He gave up after a few. "I can't do any more," Rigney told a fellow window-boarder. "It hurts too much."The bundled-up 80-year-old spoke before the 12:10 p.m. Mass on Friday in a light wood pew at St. Bernard's, another historic treasure of this river city. It, too, may close in a new round of Albany Catholic Diocese parish consolidations that will be announced...

COLONIE-- Roughly 20 percent of worship sites in the 164-parish Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany will close or merge in an unprecedented restructuring plan expected to be released this month, Bishop Howard Hubbard said Wednesday. But Hubbard said his decisions will largely hew to the recommendations of 38 local planning groups from across the 14-county diocese. Those panels of lay Catholics and priests analyzed parish resources and made suggestions to Hubbard in June as to which churches should merge or close."There will be some surprises," Hubbard said. "There will be some places that were recommended for closure that won't close....

In his influential book, "Troy and Homer," German classicist Joachim Latacz argues that the identification of Hisarlik as the site of Homer's Troy is all but proven. Latacz's case is based not only on archeology, but also on fascinating reassessments of cuneiform tablets from the Hittite imperial archives. The tablets, which are dated to the period when the Late Bronze Age city at Hisarlik was destroyed, tell a story of a western people harassing a Hittite client state on the coast of Asia Minor. The Hittite name for the invading foreigners is very close to Homer's name for his Greeks...

Ancient Troy was much bigger than previously thought, and may have housed as many as 10,000 people, new excavations have revealed. The lower town, in which most of the population would have lived, may have been as large as 40 hectares (100 acres), according to Professor Ernst Pernicka... Excavations by the late Manfred Korfmann showed that this Troy was just the citadel and that a much larger lower town lay south of it enclosed by a rock-cut ditch (The Times, February 25, 2002). Professor Pernicka's continuation of Korfmann's work has confirmed the substantial nature of this defensive work, which was...

Lufkin Mayor Jack Gorden has been selected by the Texas Transportation Committee to serve on a citizens' advisory committee for putting together information regarding the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. According to Texas Department of Transportation officials, advisory committee members represent a cross-section of community and business leaders, landowners, local transportation experts and others. "Our goal is to enhance the public dialogue and meaningfully involve more Texans in transportation decisions," said Texas Transportation Commission Chair Hope Andrade. "These committees will have an important seat at the table as we work together to shape the future of transportation for our state." Gorden...

Schliemann's identification of Troy with a place near Turkey's Aegean coast called Hisarlik is more certain than ever. He wasn't the first to make the connection, but his excavations in 1870 proved the Bronze Age city was prosperous enough to match Homer's description... Among the subdued lands, Hittite texts tell us, was a place called Wilusa. Since the 1920s, shortly after Hittite was deciphered, some have identified Wilusa with Troy (Ilios in Greek, possibly Wilios before Greek lost its W sound)... several Hittite texts... use the place-name "Ahhiyawa," currently thought to refer to one or more Greek-speaking kingdoms. Ahhiyawa is...

TROY -- The mosque, a converted funeral home, is so small it can't accommodate worshipers for the best-attended prayers of the week. On Fridays, they pray in the basement of a nearby college athletic center instead. They also borrow space for marriage ceremonies. And interfaith meetings. And holidays."It's time the community gets its own place," said Abdulkadir Elmi, a trustee and ex-president of Troy's Masjid al-Hidaya.That should start to happen at the end of this month, with a groundbreaking expected for a proper mosque with a dome and two minarets on more than 12 acres in Latham.It's a small story...