Free Republic

A second police officer who responded to the violent insurrection that rocked the Capitol Building on Jan. 6 has died by suicide, according to testimony obtained by POLITICO. Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee told House appropriators during a closed-door session on Tuesday that Jeffrey Smith, a D.C. Police officer, and Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood both “took their own lives in the aftermath of that battle.”

<p>JOHANNESBURG - In 1963, lawyer George Bizos saved anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela from the gallows, and Mr. Mandela went on to become president of South Africa. Forty years later, he is defending Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on a capital charge of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe.</p>

“No Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA!” When Green Day chanted the repurposed lyrics from Texan punk trailblazers MDC’s 1981 song Born to Die during the 2016 American Music Awards, it gave the burgeoning anti-Trump, anti-fascist movement the slogan it needed – and it would soon appear on placards, T-shirts and be chanted by protesters in their thousands in months to come. It was a tiny piece of punk history writ large on American cultural life – but it only gave the merest hint of US hardcore punk’s influence on the current political landscape.

Punk rockers Green Day have never been afraid of getting political. So when the American Idiot singers took to stage at the American Music Award, they decided to use their set to take a swing at president-elect Donald Trump. 'No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,' lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong chanted during a performance of their new single 'Bang Bang.'

Police: Inmate hid in laundry basket to escape ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Authorities say a New Mexico inmate has been captured after he escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry basket. Officials say 28-year-old Kevin Matthew Perkins packed himself in the basket on Monday to get away from the Metropolitan Detention Center. Authorities say the laundry basket was headed to another facility. When an officer opened a truck door, officials say Perkins jumped out of the basket and ran. Albuquerque police later received a breaking and entering call at an assisted living complex. That's where they found broken glass from...

Excerpt - Loud jeers and howls accompanied President Robert Mugabe's address to Zimbabwe's newly convened parliament, leaving ruling party members fuming. Such uncouth behaviour from the opposition, one Zanu-PF insider said, was uncalled for. But after gaining control of parliament, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) clearly wanted to make its mark. The opening of parliament had started with the usual pomp and ceremony. ~ snip ~

HARARE (AFP) - The Zimbabwe opposition's number two was charged with subverting government on Thursday and faces a potential death penalty, as more violence was reported before next week's presidential run-off. Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general, faces four charges including subverting the government, election rigging and "projecting the president as an evil man." MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces President Robert Mugabe in the June 27 run-off election, dismissed the charges as "frivolous." The charges stem from documents prosecutors say Biti authored discussing plans to rig the March 29 first-round parliamentary and presidential vote,...

Mugabe mob kidnaps wife and child of MDC mayor of Harare By Peta Thornycroft in Harare Last Updated: 11:44PM BST 17/06/2008 President Robert Mugabe's onslaught against his opponents widened to include their families when the wife and child of the mayor of Harare were abducted. Armed men raided the house of Emmanuel Chiroto, a senior member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and recently elected mayor. They burned down the house with petrol bombs and kidnapped his wife, Abigail, 27, and their four-year-old son, Ashley. The boy was released a few hours later, but Mrs Chiroto is still missing....

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe is now run by a "military junta", the country's opposition leader charged on Tuesday, vowing not to accept victory for Robert Mugabe in a presidential run-off later this month. There had been a "de facto coup d'etat" following the first round of the election in March, Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters, with a campaign of violence unleashed throughout the country. "This country is effectively now run by a military junta," the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader said. "As a people we have been exposed to state-sponsored brutality." With the UN Security Council prepared for a special...

The next three weeks in Zimbabwe will be the most traumatic in its history. Robert Mugabe has declared war on the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), NGOs and churches to reverse the electoral defeat he suffered in March. It is a war on unarmed people. Can he win it and what would victory mean? Scenario one: When the votes are counted after a peaceful, well-organised and credible election on June 27, President Mugabe concedes defeat, congratulates Morgan Tsvangirai, hands over the reins of power and retires. Likelihood? Zero. The official results of the election on March 29 did not give...

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's ruling party said Friday there will be a presidential runoff election between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. ZANU-PF party secretary and Minister of State Didymus Mutasa also charged that the opposition bribed electoral officials and said his party would contest results of 16 parliamentary seats — enough to win back its majority. Mutasa spoke at a news conference after a party politburo meeting, the first since elections results showed it has lost its control of parliament. The opposition claims to have won the presidency, but official returns in that race have not yet...

via translation - The chief of the Zimbabwean opposition stopped to Harare HARARE - The principal one directing Zimbabwean opposition Morgan Tsvangirai was stopped Sunday after dispersion by the police force of a demonstration against president Robert Mugabe, one learned near his party, the Movement for the democratic change (MDC). “The president of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, was stopped this afternoon in the shopping centre of Machipisa with several of his collaborators”, stated in AFP a spokesman of the MDC, Luke Tamborinyoka. Its arrest took place close to the shantytown of Highfields where the demonstration was dispersed by the police...

After devoting his life to opposing Zimbabwe's regime, Frank Chamunorwa was beaten up on a street corner. Yet he was not attacked by thugs loyal to President Robert Mugabe. Instead, his assailants were drawn from his own party, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which is paralysed by violent factional rivalry. "I have never been so dejected in my life because my own party perpetrated atrocities on me," said Mr Chamunorwa, 55. "I was not only beaten but forced to bend down, lie on the ground by youths, most of them younger than my first-born child." The gang of about...

Are Zimbabwean thug Robert Mugabe's increasingly brutal crackdowns on virtually every segment of society leading the country toward inevitable civil war? In a race against North Korea to claim the world's biggest basketcase title, the government recently attacked poor citydwellers and announced plans to nationalize all farmland, abolishing private land ownership.

HARARE (AFP) - Police in Zimbabwe went on high alert after youths took to the streets in Harare to urge Zimbabweans to reject the outcome of elections overwhelmingly won by President Robert Mubage's party. As the opposition pressed calls for new elections and reform, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stepped in and called on Mugabe's government "to build a climate of confidence" to take the southern African country forward. "He calls on all sides to engage in constructive dialogue in the period ahead," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement released at UN headquarters in New York on Monday....

South African government observers yesterday gave President Robert Mugabe's victory in Zimbabwe's election a clean bill of health, endorsing his Zanu-PF party's grip on power which will enable him radically to alter the country's constitution.The decision of Mr Mugabe's most important regional ally to endorse the results of Thursday's parliamentary election - in which Zanu-PF won an overwhelming majority of seats - came despite widespread complaints of electoral fraud and the opposition's total rejection of the outcome. The group's leader, labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana, who weeks earlier predicted that it would be free and fair, declared that the landslide win...

Mugabe's party sweeps to victory President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has swept to victory in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections. So far the party has taken 40 seats, official results show - enough to guarantee Mr Mugabe's party will control the legislature. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said "disgusting, massive fraud" had been committed in Thursday's polls. President Mugabe, who has been in power for 25 years, has dismissed the complaints as nonsense. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has won 32 seats so far, mostly in urban areas, where it is strongest. A total of 120 seats are being contested, with...

A South African spy captured by Zimbabwean counter intelligence is alleged to have been severely tortured before agreeing to co-operate with local officials, the Institute for Security Studies said in Pretoria today. The spy recently was nabbed by Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives at Victoria Falls and under questioning, revealed the names of his collaborators within the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu(PF)). Chris Maroleng, an analyst, said the spy would not have naturally agreed to work with the Zimbabweans as they had alleged and therefore must have reached his "pain threshold". "The Zimbabwean CIO are renowned...

The MDC Member of Parliament for Makokoba Constituency, Thokozani Khupe was this morning arrested together with 100 members of the three ward structures in her constituency. Among those arrested are two councillors Peter Nyathi, Ward 10 and Amen Mpofu Ward 2. Hon Khupe was having a strategic meeting with members of her ward structures and councillors at her restaurant when the police's riot squad pounced on them. They are currently detained at Bulawayo Central police station and are being charged under (POSA) for holding an illegal meeting although it is evident that this was a private meeting. Lawyer Job Sibanda...

The three-day Zimbabwean strike that ended on Friday shifted the balance of power in local politics and set alarm bells ringing for President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe said that his organisation's stayaway in protest against massive fuel price increases illustrated a surging tide of popular anger about the country's political and economic crisis. The stayaway call was widely heeded, with the union congress claiming that 90% of the country's 600 000 labour force stayed at home. Most shops in Harare's central business district closed, although some small businesses remained open. Chibhebhe said the strike...