Free Republic

Erin Moran, best known as Ron Howard's kid sister in the classic sitcom "Happy Days," has died, TMZ reports......

Last night, Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. A frightening and incredibly gripping piece of visual storytelling from cinematographer-turned-director Reed Morano, it stands as a remarkable piece of art that speaks to atrocities committed against women around the world and throughout history. While writer and executive producer Bruce Miller began developing the 33-year-old novel before the rise of Donald Trump, the story of women who have been stripped of all agency to exist solely as breeding vessels for the patriarchy seems all too prescient in a 2017 when immigrants are being separated...

The tenth edition of the Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index has just been released, and once again, Utah was found to have the best economic outlook of any state in the nation. The rankings are based on 15 equally-weighted economic policy variables, including tax rates, labor policy, and regulatory climate. They continue to show that states valuing economic freedom and competitiveness outperform states adhering to the tax-and-spend model, with state economic policies having a substantial effect on where businesses and individuals choose to set up shop. Taxes matter for economic competitiveness. People and businesses often...

President Trump told The Associated Press on Friday that he intends to release a tax reform plan next week that includes a "massive tax cut" for businesses and individuals. This is what I have been waiting for and have been building my portfolio since December on this hope. I was very concerned when the "Freedom" Caucus damaged the momentum by not accepting reality and being hardliners who could not wait to stage in the required changes needed in the name of what Americans have their hopes in - jobs and the economy. My position is the DOW already "priced in"...

For the first time, the nation's largest wireless provider is losing customers faster than it can replace them. It's a major milestone for Verizon, which on Thursday reported a net decline of 289,000 cellphone subscribers over the past four months. Even though Verizon usually loses some cellular customers every quarter, it has historically lured enough back to be able to report growth in that part of its business. But recent months have seen hundreds of thousands of customers defect to competitors such as T-Mobile and Sprint, analysts say. Things could have been even worse if Verizon hadn't suddenly reintroduced unlimited...

Today is the 47th annual Earth Day. On this day, it is worth reflecting on how completely, totally wrong environmental alarmists often are. Few things tell us more about the environmental movement—where it’s been and, more importantly, where it is now—than its dismal track record in the predictive department.Case in point: Paul Ehrlich, who is as close to a rock star as you’re apt to find among environmentalists. Ehrlich is most famous for his 1968 book “The Population Bomb,” in which he famously predicted that, during the 1970s and 1980s, humanity would suffer mass famine and starvation due to overpopulation....

Erin Moran who famously played Joanie Cunningham on "Happy Days" and its spinoff "Joanie Loves Chachi" has died ... TMZ has learned. We're told authorities in Indiana got a call just after 4 PM ET Saturday from someone reporting an "unresponsive female."  EMT's arrived and found Erin Moran's body ... she was already dead.   Moran shot to spotlight in the early 70s when she was cast on "Happy Days" as Joanie, the younger sister of Ron Howard's character. She continued the role in 1982 alongside Scott Baio in "Joanie Loves Chachi" but the show only lasted one season.

Once upon a time, David Brooks was considered the house conservative at the New York Times.  But in his April 21 New York Times column, he put President Donald J. Trump on a list of "strong men" that includes Turkey's Recep Erdoğan and North Korea's Kim Jong-un.  Mr. Brooks noted that Erdoğan has "dismantle[d] democratic institutions and replace[d] them with majoritarian dictatorship."  The Times columnist went on to assert: "While running for office, Donald Trump violated every norm of statesmanship built up over these many centuries[.]"  Mr. Brooks, however, does not elaborate, explain, or elucidate the nature of the alleged violations. But when it comes...

This excellent video exposes some the forces behind ANTiFA h/t Vlad Tepes https://vladtepesblog.com/2017/04/22/turkeys-future-paris-police-wives-expose-of-antifa-links-1-on-april-22/

The book tour Rachel Dolezal set out on recently has wound up taking her further than I might have imagined. In fact, she made it all the way to South Africa at the invitation of one Clyde Ramalaine, a former priest who now refers to himself as a “bishop” but actually runs a communications company. Her appearance didn’t go off without a hitch, however, Many of the black, South African students in attendance were, shall we say, a bit less than receptive. (Daily Mail) Deriding Ms Dolezal’s claim to ‘racial fludity’, she was told by a member of the mostly-black...

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have developed novel ultrafiltration membranes that significantly improve the virus-removal process from treated municipal wastewater used for drinking in water-scarce cities. Current membrane filtration methods require intensive energy to adequately remove pathogenic viruses without using chemicals like chlorine, which can contaminate the water with disinfection byproducts. Researchers at UIUC and BGU collaborated on the new approach for virus pathogen removal, which was published in the current issue of Water Research. "This is an urgent matter of public safety," the researchers say. "Insufficient removal of...

I am in acceptance at this time that the power outages of April 21, 2017 in San Francisco, New Jersey, and New York were terror related. Think about this first and foremost: San Francisco’s power supply is controlled by Pacific Gas and Electric, most of Los Angeles is controlled by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power while other areas are controlled by Southern California Edison and much of New York City is controlled by ConEdison. In other words, the power systems of the three cities, all of which are either far or very far from one another are...

President Donald Trump ordered the Treasury Department on Friday to examine two controversial powers given to financial regulators in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, including a bailout authority widely favored by the biggest banks. One of the memos Trump signed Friday takes aim at the “Orderly liquidation authority” or OLA, which authorizes the federal government to take over and wind down a failing financial firm. It instructs Treasury to examine whether OLA encourages excessive risk-taking or exposes taxpayers to liability. It also orders Treasury not to use OLAA while the review is underway. OLA has been a target...

The current military culture values enemy lives above those of U.S. troops ANALYSIS/OPINION: Donald Trump and James Mattis came to office vowing to “win” America’s wars again. But unless they change our politically correct military culture, it is certain America won’t. With Thursday night’s cruise missile strikes in Syria, the United States is facing down the barrel of another war in the Middle East. But as President Trump and congressional leadership weigh the risks on an expanded, messy conflict, possibly including U.S. ground forces, they also ought to examine whether a military plagued by overlawyering has what it takes to...

•Somali pirates tried to hijack a cargo ship attacking the vessel in speedboats •Private security contractors hired to protect the cargo began shooting at them •The guards saw off the pirates firing dozens of rounds from sub-machine guns •Dramatic footage captures the furious gunfight between the two boats •Attack thought to have happened in 2012 but reemerged after hijacking in March Dramatic footage of a private security team engaging in a fire fight with Somali pirates trying to hijack a cargo ship has emerged online. A speedboat can be seen hurtling towards the vessel as a private security contractor wielding...

Gold had been discovered in Georgia in 1828, resulting in a Democrat-controlled Congress rushing through the Indian Removal Act, which passed by a single vote in 1830. It was signed by Democrat President Andrew Jackson and carried out by Democrat President Martin Van Buren. Though unauthorized by the Tribe, prominent Cherokees John Ridge and Elias Boudinot felt Indian removal was inevitable and negotiated with Washington politicians to sign the Treaty of New Echota of 1835. Elias Boudinot, publisher of the Cherokee Phoenix - the first newspaper published by an American Indian tribe - wrote in editorials that the removal was...

In July 2016 it was revealed the kingdom was one of the nations to which Pyongyang had dispatched supposed assassins to launch terror attacks against defectors and South Koreans. That same month, a proposed visit by DPRK foreign minister Ri Yong-ho was rejected by the Cambodian government. In August, North Korean vessel Jie Shun, sailing under a Cambodian flag, was seized carrying a large shipment of munitions. That action coincided with an end to the kingdom’s flag convenience scheme, known to have assisted North Korea smuggle drugs and weapons throughout the world for years. Cambodia has also found itself oddly...

“There was one time — this was 20 years ago — when I went into Cedars-Sinai for a four-way bypass,” Mr. Woolery said. “I remember that Bruce and Kris Jenner were the first people in to see me. That’s true! Back when Bruce was Bruce. Anyway, the doctors were just ready to put me under anesthesia, and I suddenly shouted: ‘I’m the only conservative in Southern California. If I die, somebody has to vote for Bob Dole!’”

        ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE Good morning this rainy Sunday! This morning someone asked me, "How do you like the lousy weather, Chaplain?" I thought a moment about the fact that my uniform was wet, my car had trouble starting, and about all those poor people stuck in the wall of traffic that inevitably occurs when 58 gets drenched. Then later I thought, how would we exist without the rain which makes all life on our planet possible? I remembered the old prayer in my prayer book, a blessing to God for the gift of wind and...

Cardinal Robert Sarah spoke of the “grave risk of fragmentation of the Church” in an interview with the charitable group Aid to the Church in Need. Cardinal Sarah said that Church unity is “threatened by confusion,” and that without a clear understanding of a common faith, “can slide into dispersion and schism.” The cardinal, a native of Guinea, discouraged a reference to the “African Church.” He observed that “there is no such thing as an ‘African Church’ and, as distinct from it, a ‘universal Church.’“ He said that an emphasis on “national identities” leads some Catholics to assume that they...