Free Republic

House Democrats who are a "no" on the deal (9 of 44 needed to override potential veto): Steve Israel, New York Nita Lowey, New York Ted Deutch, Florida Grace Meng, New York Kathleen Rice, New York Albio Sires, New Jersey Juan Vargas, California Eliot Engel, New York Brad Sherman, California Note: 150 House Democrats signed a May letter supporting the then-unfinished Iran negotiations and none have come out against the deal since it was completed. Senate Democrats who are a "no" (1 of 13 needed to override potential veto): Chuck Schumer, New York Senate Democrats who are a "yes": Tammy...

In a free market, there’s a pretty simple process for dealing with the situation that arises when one person covets another’s belongings: The coveter makes an offer to purchase them. If the offer is rebuffed, the coveter can make a new proposal, but he cannot simply take what he wants. It’s an effective way of recognizing the impracticality of the Tenth Commandment while enforcing the Eighth. Donald Trump’s covetous nature is not in dispute, but what many may forget is that he’s no great respecter of the admonition not to steal, either: The man has a track record of using...

On Sunday, New York City’s AM 970 host John Catsimatidis had former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) on his “The Cats Roundtable” program to talk about the Iran nuclear deal. Lieberman started off by ripping the White House for its proposed Iran nuke deal by saying, “First, it’s a deal with somebody we can’t trust. Why? Because they have said for years and continue to say even after the agreement was signed, ‘Death to America.'”

Last month Matt Vespa covered the story of Democrats in Virginia who were talking about changing the name of their annual Jefferson Jackson dinner because of the Dylan Roof shooting or the Confederate Battle Flag or racism or something. That may have sounded rather silly at the time, but it’s turned out to be prophetic. Democrats in Connecticut also have an annual dinner named after the same prominent early Americans – as with their fellows across the nation – and have made the decision to change the name. (Because who would want to be associated with those guys, right?)...

Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are history in Connecticut. Under pressure from the (NAACP) the state (Democrat Party) will scrub the names of the two presidents from its annual fundraising dinner because of their ties to slavery.

In 1862, Sarah married William Wirt Winchester, son of Oliver Fisher Winchester, Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut and manufacturer of the famous Winchester repeating rifle. The couple’s life together was happy, and they moved in the best New England society. However, in 1866, disaster struck when their infant daughter, Annie, died of then mysterious childhood disease marasmus. Mrs. Winchester fell into a deep depression from which she never fully recovered. Fifteen years later, in March 1881, her husband’s premature death from tuberculosis added to Mrs. Winchester’s distress. It is said, she ultimately sought help from a spiritualist... ...However, the medium also...

Education remains separate and unequal nearly everywhere in the United States, but Confederate-flag-waving Southerners aren’t responsible for the most racially divided schools. That title goes to New York, where 64 percent of black students attend schools with few, if any, white students, according to a recent report by the Civil Rights Project. In fact, the Northeast is the only region where the percentage of black students in extremely segregated schools — those where at least 90 percent of students are minorities — is higher than it was in the 1960s. Schools in the South, on the other hand, saw the...

A Haitian immigrant who was released from prison in January after serving a 17-year prison sentence for attempted murder is back in custody on a murder charge in the death of a Connecticut woman last month. The Bulletin reports that Jean Jacques's prison file was marked "Detainer: Immigration" and that Connecticut officials say he was released in January to the custody of the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but was never deported. ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer tells the newspaper the law prohibits him from discussing Jacques' case. On Monday, the 40-year-old Jacques was in a Connecticut court...

Connecticut cops have reported making a grim discovery near a commuter train station: severed human arms in a plastic bag and nearby in a separate location severed legs with sock-clad feet. The human limbs were found Wednesday near the Metro-North State Street Station in downtown New Haven. The arms contained no hands. The feet had socks on but no shoes.

Connecticut Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats, have called on President Obama to take executive action to close a “loophole” in federal gun control legislation. The so-called “default to proceed” rule under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act allows firearm dealers to sell a weapon to an individual if they have not been notified by the FBI of a buyer’s criminal background within three business days. If the background check has not been completed within three days, the dealer has discretion to sell the firearm. The rule allowed Dylann Roof, the alleged killer of nine people at a...

(CNN)Connecticut police have recovered the body of a 7-month-old baby, who died after his father allegedly jumped off a bridge with him. Aaden Moreno was found Tuesday evening in the Connecticut River near the town of East Haddam, miles downstream from where Tony Moreno leaped from the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown, police said. Moreno was listed in critical condition at Hartford Hospital. Authorities said he was alert and stable. No charges have been filed against him, but Middletown Mayor Daniel Drew told CNN that the state's attorneys office is investigating and charges are expected.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration will need to recalculate how it divides additional money in the budget for nursing homes to ensure the allocations comply with federal law. . . . (Rep) Wood questioned why the state would give an additional $9 million to 60 unionized homes across the state, while the 170 facilities that aren’t unionized would need to share the remaining $4 million.

Laura Bush was spotted dining with a friend at the posh Bull’s Bridge Golf Club in South Kent, Conn. — sparking rumors that she and former President George W. Bush are house-hunting in the area.

Multnomah County has the state's highest percentage of global warming believers, according to new figures from Yale University. According to the university's national climate change opinions map, 74 percent of residents believe global warming is happening, while 13 percent don't buy it. The newly released figures are based on a complex statistical analysis of public perceptions about climate change in every state, congressional district and county across the country. Washington, D.C. residents led the nation in climate change affirmation, with 81 percent of residents. Floridians' title as the nation's biggest climate change deniers. Curious what your neighbors think about global...

Hillary Clinton will attend a fundraiser in New York on Tuesday hosted by Facebook millionaire and vertically integrated media company caretaker Chris Hughes, who recently described himself in a Vanity Fair profile as “the Antichrist, or something pretty close to it.” Hughes is best known for being Mark Zuckerberg’s roommate at Harvard and for pioneering the “poke” button feature on the popular social media website Facebook. His husband, Brown graduate Sean Eldridge, was the worst candidate of the 2014 election cycle. Eldridge ran for Congress in New York’s 19th Congressional district after Hughes bought him a mansion there. He ended...

The governor of Puerto Rico said in a televised address Monday that the island cannot pay back more than $70 billion in debt, setting up an unprecedented financial crisis that could rock the municipal bond market and lead to higher borrowing costs for governments across the United States. “This is not about politics,” said Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla. “It’s about math.” “The first step is to revive economic growth...We will never get out of this vicious cycle,” said Garcia Padilla. “But we need to do more—much more—to return to riches and to become more competitive and have an...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has said that he supports Puerto Rico filing for bankruptcy in the face of the massive debt the Caribbean island is facing. When Bush visited Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. territory, on a campaign stop in April, he told a crowd that the public agencies in Puerto Rico should be able to seek bankruptcy under Chapter 9, according to the Puerto Rico Report.

Now that you’ve created the next great app and your investment in your startup is worth a billion dollars, at least on paper, it’s time for a really difficult challenge: how to cash out without paying capital gains taxes anywhere in the world? With no U.S. or Puerto Rican tax on much investment income of new residents, U.S. citizens now can pay zero tax on capital gains. For several hundred affluent Americans over the last couple of years (including Toby Neugebauer, a key financier to Ted Cruz) the answer has been to establish a principal residence in Puerto Rico, and...

Summary •Puerto Rico's borrowings represents an exceptionally complex set of credits in the (already arcane-enough) municipal bond market. •The Legislature's recent rejection of the Governor's tax reform proposal leaves fewer options to balance the budget and raises liquidity concerns. ~ snip ~ Puerto Rico released its most recent quarterly financial report on May 7. The report's list of risk factors includes the possibility of the Commonwealth running out of cash and defaulting on debt payments as soon as September. As organizations go, state and local governments are hideously illiquid. Even in the best of times, their political constituents do not...

The governor of Puerto Rico told the New York Times that the island cannot pay back it's $72 billion debt and will seek permission from its creditors to defer payments. The news precedes an address by Governor Alejandro Garcia to the Puerto Rican legislature, where he will unveil a budget that cuts about $670 million from a $9.8 billion budget, while setting aside another $1.5 billion to pay the debt. Fox News: Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla's spokesman, Jesus Manuel Ortiz, confirmed that the island's government is seeking to defer payments while negotiating with creditors. He confirmed comments by Garcia that appeared...