Free Republic

The city’s annual prayer breakfast to honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr. on Friday at times turned into an election-year pep rally for Illinois Democrats to push the idea of a minimum wage hike. **SNIP** Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn weren’t listed on the program, but both took the stage after guests dined on eggs and sliced melon. Both politicians who are seeking new terms this year tied their support for an increase of the minimum wage at the federal and state levels to King’s legacy of fighting for justice. Quinn said leaders today...

Houston Mayor Annise Parker and longtime partner Kathy Hubbard are now married - at least in the eyes of 18 states, including California, where the couple formally exchanged vows Thursday in a sunset ceremony in Palm Springs.

Don Guardian was sworn in to office today, becoming the first Republican to lead the city in 23 years.

Liberals in New York City have been waiting 20 years for this day. For the first time in that period, a Democrat has taken office as the city’s mayor. Yes, there was Michael Bloomberg, but even he had a few redeeming qualities. Now with Bill DeBlasio taking office we can see a lot of smug people just telling everyone how wrong the rest of the country is. Belafonte said that DeBlasio will fight against, “the naysayers of progress in our midst” and ridiculed America’s “Dickensian” justice system.

Good news from Chicago: The catastrophic murder rate in the Democratic-controlled city was slightly less catastrophic in 2013 than in 2012. Only 413 Americans were shot, stabbed or bludgeoned to death in the city, where all 50 aldermen are Democrats. Most of the victims in the blue-voting city were African-Americans or Hispanic, and very few were white. Still, the city’s Democratic leaders cautiously cheered the deaths of the 413 Americans, more than one victim per day, which included one young woman who marched in President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration parade. “We continue to make significant progress in reducing crime rates...

INDIANAPOLIS - Indianapolis homicide officers were investigating three unrelated deaths this weekend as the city's murder rate continued to rise. The deaths, which occurred within just hours of one another, pushed total murders for the year to 124. Police say there have been another 16 justifiable homicides on top of that. -snip- An RTV6 analysis of the city's 2013 murder rate compared to Chicago's shows that Indy has seen approximately 10 percent more homicides per capita than the Windy City. Chicago, with a population of more than 2.7 million, has reported 409 murders and justifiable homicides this year, according to...

In regards to the 1.3 Million still unemployed for 2 or 3 years and still begging for more,anyone want to take a guess where the bulk of them live? If we had a "Top 10 Laziest/Least Educated Towns" in America, odds are most of these 1.3 Million live there.These unfortunate/unemployed have had plenty of time to look for work and develop new work skills to get them back into the working class. And yet the left is making the GOP look so evil because they want to stop wasting billions on these people who should of found a job by...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday announced the members of a grocery store task force that will work to find new owners for stores left vacant after Safeway closes all Dominick's stores in the Chicago-area Dec. 28. The task force will work with building representatives, gather local market data, find and approach likely prospects in the food industry as well as host tours, create marketing materials and engage brokers. It will also work to ensure the availability of fresh food and produce and support workers who are affected by the store closings.

With the closure of the recent Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, rumors of the bankrupt Revel being sold to Hard Rock, Las Vegas real estate prices remaining depressed, casinos opening up all around the country and online gambling legislation underway in various states, it seems as if the reasons for the very existence of Atlantic City and Las Vegas are in serious jeopardy. Beginning in the late 1940s, Las Vegas became known as the 'adult playground of the world.' Celebrities knew they made the big time when their names graced the billboards of ‘Sin City.’ Gamblers hoping to make money would...

The New York City Council voted Thursday to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public places where smoking is prohibited, including offices, restaurants, hospitals, parks and beaches. “Because many of the E-cigarettes are designed to look like cigarettes and be used just like them, they can lead to confusion or confrontation,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told CBS New York.

Last year, the city of Camden decided to can its unionized police force in favor of ununionized county cops who hit the streets this April. ... The city has been run exclusively by Democrats for several generations, and some local leaders openly worried that Camden, which already had the highest crime rate per capita last year, would get worse. But it hasn’t. In fact, crime’s gone down

New York’s SAFE Act is a bad, bad thing. It requires people to register, sell or transfer (out of state) “assault rifles” and “high capacity” magazines. Many Empire State gun and standard capacity ammunition magazine owners have complied. Many have not. So, at some point, the State’s gonna go get ‘em. People on both sides of the law enforcement divide will die and the s will hit the fan. Meanwhile, there it is: the reason why expanded background checks, indeed all background checks and any type of registration, set the stage for confiscation. And tyranny.

SEATTLE — Seattle City Councilmember-elect Kshama Sawant told Boeing machinists her idea of a radical option, should their jobs be moved out of state “The workers should take over the factories, and shut down Boeing’s profit-making machine,” Sawant announced to a cheering crowd of union supporters in Seattle’s Westlake Park Monday night.

Washington Comes Out: Ten percent of adults in the District of Columbia identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, nearly three times the national average. What makes the city such a gay-friendly place?

<p>Seattle voters have elected a socialist to city council for the first time in modern history.</p> <p>Kshama Sawant's lead continued to grow on Friday, prompting 16-year incumbent Richard Conlin to concede.</p> <p>Even in this liberal city, Sawant's win has surprised many here. Conlin was backed by the city's political establishment. On election night, she trailed by four percentage points. She wasn't a veteran politician, having only run in one previous campaign.</p>

Bill de Blasio overwhelmingly was elected mayor here Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to lead New York in 20 years and ushering in an era of activist liberal governance in the nation’s largest city. In early returns Tuesday night, de Blasio was soundly defeating Republican Joe Lhota, a protégé of former mayor Rudy Giuliani. De Blasio campaigned on a mantle of progressive change following Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 12 years in office, highlighting what he saw as “a tale of two cities.” The moneyed Manhattan elite have had their mayor, he argued, and now the 46 percent of New Yorkers...

A former medical center chief defeated a county sheriff to become the next mayor of financially troubled Detroit, though the job holds little power while the city is being run by a state-appointed emergency manager.

**SNIP** Whites lost their No. 1 status to Latinos in 19 suburban districts spread across the six-county area of Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane and McHenry. Blacks were displaced by Latinos as the leading group in nine other districts, including the city of Chicago. This year’s school report card shows that minorities make up nearly half the students in Illinois public schools. And, of those minorities, Hispanic students have eclipsed blacks over the last 10 years as the largest minority, 24 percent.

Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Prof. Richard Vedder, the Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University. Cincinnati and Detroit are separated by barely more than 250 miles – a five-hour drive at worst, or under an hour by plane. Despite this proximity, many Cincinnatians would prefer to believe that Detroit’s horrendous fiscal situation couldn’t possibly hit their city. Not so fast. As the largest bankrupt city in America, Detroit has seen its population drop by more than half, unemployment soar to well over double the national average, and services decline. This is what happens to a locality...

Another Democrat Success Story— The 23,500 pensioners in Detroit are going to have to adjust their budgets. The city plans on cutting pensions by 84 percent. Doug Ross and Reuters reported: On Friday, city financial consultant Kenneth Buckfire said he did not have to recommend to Orr that pensions for the city’s retirees be cut as a way to help Detroit navigate through debts and liabilities that total $18.5 billion. Buckfire said it was clear that the city did not have the funds to pay the unsecured pension payouts without cutting them. “It was a function of the mathematics,” said...