Free Republic

My first lesson on diversity came when I was about 7 years old. I was several years into the foster-care system, and the agency was struggling to find me a permanent home. After one of what felt like dozens of home visits, I asked my social worker why this was so hard. "It's because we don't know if you belong with a white family or a Black family," she said, matter-of-factly. This tidy explanation was a reference to my biological parents: my mother, who was white, and my father, who was Black. To her, it was a simple, even clinical,...

Link to the HLSR Art Auctions. Record set today for Grand Champion of $275,000. Personal keynote would be the painting of Leon Coffee who decided to personally autograph the photo was $160,000.

A new report indicates that a shortage of paper at multiple Harris County polling places on Election Day was more severe than initially indicated. According to KHOU-TV, 121 polling places did not initially receive enough paper to cover the voter turnout at their polling places. The county’s Elections Administration Office had previously estimated the number as being between 46 and 68 polling places. The county’s post-election review document admitted that its investigation “has not yet revealed how many of these VCs had to turn voters away due to a paper shortage,” using the abbreviation VC for “voting center.” [more at...

Olivia Julianna, an 18-year-old from Sugar Land, is shown Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021 in Houston. She was one of the TikTokers who hatched a plan to sabotage a pro-life group's "whistleblower" website by encouraging her peers to flood the website with fake complaints. "We grew up on Divergent and Hunger Games and all these things," Julianna said, referring to the dystopian books and movies. "They taught us to fight for what we believe in. To stand up for what we think is right. So now we're doing that."

A friend posted a meme about April 3, 2021 with wonder if it's a countdown (4, 3, 2, 1) - well, obviously that made me think of Major Tom. Four, three, two, one Earth below us Drifting, falling Floating weightless Calling, calling home Yes, it's a vanity, sue me. :-) https://genius.com/Peter-schilling-major-tom-coming-home-lyrics

My dad signed me up for the DNC emails (I hope as a joke..) but figured I'd share my answers, as well as the link, to any FReeper's who wanted to see it from the 'other (wrong) half'. https://go.stop-republicans.org/page/s/2021-Advisory-Board?source=MS_EM_SURV_2021.03.11_B1_Democratic-Advisory_X__F1_S1_C1__ns_RS

If anyone is looking to help my friend out, do NOT use Facebook. Here's why: Facebook - you're on my mind. You are a LEECH. A SCUM SUCKER. I, a disabled Navy veteran, donated to a classmate, friend, and fellow veterans benefit for his medical care. YOU, FACEBOOK, took a "fee" out of that donation. So, my donation wasn't a donation, it was a money making opportunity for you. I will be calling my financial institution at 12 Noon on 22 / Jan / 2021 (TOMORRROW) and refuting the charge if you do not either reverse the fee, or cancel...

FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) — Bond was denied Tuesday for a man charged with murder in a random assault on a City of Florence employee. Police took Jawan Kavorie Crittenden, 18, into custody in the 700 block of Habitat Lane around 5 p.m. Monday, police said. Crittenden has been charged with murder and possession of a deadly weapon during a violent crime. Crittenden appeared in court at 2:30 p.m. While no bond was set for the murder charge, a $100,000 bond was set for the weapon charge. Around 10:09 a.m. Monday, Florence police responded to the area of 801 Clement Street...

Semi-political thought of the day... I think Keyshawn Johnson should sue the Biden campaign for their use of "Come on, maaaaaaaaaan"... Biden, now, are you really upset about Trump doing business in China, has a bank account in China? Well, consider they are literally 1/7th of the WORLD'S population, a SMART global business man would do exactly that, or in other words, it would be STUPID not to have a business relationship with China. (Oh, and don't forget, all of President Trump's holding are in a conservatorship, HE doesn't get to decide what happens, where it happens, when it happens,...

Amazon says it will place a "one-year pause" on allowing police to use its facial-recognition tool, one day after IBM said that it's exiting the business. While IBM will no longer offer, develop or research the software, Amazon is using a moratorium in the hope that Congress will "put in place appropriate rules for ethical use of facial recognition." Amid crackdowns on protests against police racism and brutality across the country, tech companies are facing increased scrutiny over their contracts with law enforcement agencies, with studies showing that the technology is inferior at identifying the gender of people with darker...

Just wondering if anyone else is thinking of the TV show "The Last Ship" - at least the first season - and what's going on with the world today?

Vanity - my wife had a major stroke on Friday en route to her job as a junior high science teacher. Fortunately, even at a high rate of speed on a twisty 2 lane road, she missed everyone, and his a intersection light pole, injuring no other person, or causing no one else and damage. Her spirit, or soul, departed the instant of the stroke, we were assured by the doctors (as well as the lack of high speed crash injuries in a conscious person). The doctors, or more importantly, the nurses at Memorial Hermann Medical Center 7th floor Neuroscience...

Council Member Martha Castex-Tatum (District K) offered the amendment, with the full support of Mayor Sylvester Turner, and it would have created an exploratory committee to research the new fee. “This is just an opportunity for us to look for another way to source some additional revenue,” she said as she rolled out the amendment. The amendment died because of a tie vote of 7-7 (two council members were out of chambers and couldn’t vote), but there wasn’t much of a discussion as to what exactly is a congestion fee and what commuters should expect.

When people go to vote in midterm elections this November, they may be thinking about any number of serious issues. In Texas, polling data suggest both immigration and border security are priorities for voters. One group of Houston’s most motivated activists are hoping voters care enough to show up to the polls in support of immigrant issues. Their future in this country could depend on it. Whether it’s knocking on doors, making calls or registering voters on campus, Houston youth are taking action. “Across the country, and here in Houston, we have not seen youth involvement at this level since...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston police say a husband got into a shoot-out with two gunmen who grabbed his wife and tried to force her inside the couple's house on the city's south side. Investigators tell Eyewitness News that around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday the man heard noises outside his home on South Acres Drive near Rubin Street.

While airport terminal architecture has a solid history of style and innovation, rarely is a proposal put forth to utterly redesign the runway. But that’s precisely the aim of Henk Hesselink, a Dutch scientist working with the Netherlands Aerospace Centre. Dubbed the “endless runway”, Hesselink’s brainchild is a 360-degree landing strip measuring more than two miles in diameter. Since airplanes would be able to approach and take off from any direction around the proposed circle, they wouldn’t have to fight against crosswinds. And three planes would be able to take off or land at the same time.

Years from now, Hurricane Harvey may be remembered as the first major storm that signaled the arrival of climate change that scientists predicted for decades. Already, the trio of deadly hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. during the 2017 season — Harvey, Irma, and Maria — are being associated with the effects of rising temperatures. In a September article by National Geographic, every scientist contacted by the magazine was in agreement that Harvey's destructive rainfall was "almost certainly driven up by temperature increases from human carbon-dioxide emissions."

Excerpted Last week, we received a death threat in the “most livable city in America.” It hung wrapped around a tree in front of our Regent Square home, visible from where we sit every day at our dining room table. The black cord was twisted into the shape of a killing device used to publicly hang the bodies of Black people for generations in this country. ... Indeed, we are not the first residents of Pittsburgh to have experienced acts of racial intimidation. We are acutely aware of it as we both work actively to dismantle forms of systemic racism...

Video at link

"It’s [already] illegal to go into a bathroom with the intent to harm someone. And, last time we checked, rapists and abusers are going to behave as you would expect them to behave–without regard for the law, with or without an equal rights ordinance."