Free Republic

Senators urge president to enforce provisions 'as enacted and intended' Leading Democrats are taking aim at the Obama administration for its opposition to newly passed legislation that aims to bolster the U.S.-Israel economic relationship and combat boycotts of Israel, according to a statement issued this week. The Obama administration announced that it opposes portions of a bipartisan trade bill that would strengthen economic ties between the U.S. and Israel and force trade partners to sever ties with backers of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an anti-Israel movement that seeks to economically isolate the Jewish state. President Barack Obama...

-Image from msnbcIn Connecticut, a cynical lawyer is attempting to destroy the Second Amendment for money.   Josh Koskoff, a medical malpractice and personal injury  specialist in Connecticut, is taking advantage of the grief of parents and staff from the Sandy Hook massacre to attempt to destroy innocent firearm manufacturers. He has filed suit against gun manufacturers who make the AR-15 rifle that was used in Sandy Hook, the wholesaler, and the retailer, Riverview sales.  It appears that the shooter, who I will not name, has claimed another innocent victim.  Riverview sales, who had done nothing illegal, is now defunct. ...

(CNN) -- To hear Jackie Barden and David Wheeler describe their lives today is a master class in hope. On December 14, 2012, Barden's youngest son, 7-year-old Daniel, and Wheeler's son, 6-year-old Ben, were among those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. "(My husband) Mark and I still have a great life, and we really have to remember that," Barden said, adding that their two children bring the family an enormous amount of love and strength. "We are fortunate with what we have with the two of them." .... "Our families deserve that day in court," said...

"Abe Lincoln may have freed all men, but Sam Colt made them equal." It's an interesting idea to ponder. President Lincoln is praised universally today, across the aisle, and around the world, but what of Samuel Colt? Who is Samuel Colt? ...The region reminds me of New York's former boomtowns like Kingston and Binghamton, and Connecticut's Waterbury and Hartford. These once vibrant communities and buildings were gutted by the twin blades of time and politicians, their facades decaying and cadaverous, lining streets and throughways like architectural tombstones. Where is everyone? Kingston and Binghamton were home to IBM and Singer Link....

Faced with alarmingly low graduation rates for black males, the University of Connecticut is trying something it calls bold -- and critics call segregation. The school's main campus in Storrs has launched a program slated for fall in which 40 black male undergraduates live together in on-campus housing. Proponents believe the students can draw on their common experiences and help each other make it to commencement. But others cringe at the idea of black-only housing, saying it turns decades of hard-fought racial progress on its head. [...] ScHOLA2RS House -- which stands for "Scholastic House of Leaders who are African...

Officers in Connecticut last year fired stun guns at blacks and Hispanics at a higher rate than at white suspects, and warned but didn't fire at white suspects at a higher rate than they did blacks or Hispanics, according to preliminary data from the nation's first statewide accounting of the weapons' use by police.

The First and Second Amendments protect and reinforce each other.In a free society, there is always pressure to expand the power of the government to suppress freedom of speech.  Those in power, for the last 100 years, have been infringing on our right to bear arms, and claiming that those who support the Second Amendment are kooks, in an attempt to suppress our First Amendment rights. With the voice provided by the First Amendment and the Internet, brave activists have been rolling back those attacks on the First and Second Amendments, and have been winning important victories. Michael Picard...

ANSONIA, Conn. - A Connecticut high school student was pulled out of classes and reported to police for substituting "ISIS" for the "United States of America" during the Pledge of Allegiance. The incident occurred before Christmas break, according to the Connecticut Post. Lt. Andrew Cota said the 15-year-old student at Ansonia High School wasn't charged, but the case was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Police said there is no danger to the community. Federal officials declined to comment.

The nation's capital is now under a blizzard watch, the first watch of its kind issued in advance of Winter Storm Jonas. Now is the time to prepare for Winter Storm Jonas, which is expected to kick into high gear Friday and pummel parts of the East through the weekend with heavy accumulations of snow and ice. Strong winds will likely add to the threat of power outages and may also bring serious coastal flooding along parts of the Atlantic coast. The National Weather Service issued the blizzard watch late Wednesday morning for Washington, D.C., and nearby Baltimore. The watch...

A pistol carrier in Connecticut was asked by a police officer to produce a permit.  He asked the officer what the reason was for the officer asking for the permit.  The officer replied with an expetive.  From fox61.com: Brown told FOX 61 what happened next: "Well, you have a gun. So then he said, 'do you have a permit?' And I'm like why? He said 'because I (expletive) said so." But, according to the newly written law, police may only request a permit if there is reasonable suspicion of a crime.The officer did not arrest or detain Brown.I did...

A new study shows Connecticut is in the top ten for paycheck-to-paycheck living. People everywhere have to pay rents or mortgages, groceries and utilities. But those bills vary from state to state. When everything's paid, a study by the website GoBankingRate shows, not a lot is left in Connecticut. Moving from Maine, Sandra Champlin said she learned quickly that her money doesn't get her as far in Connecticut as it did there. “Rent is higher in Connecticut,” said Champlin, who now lives in Rockville. She added that rent a few hundred more in Connecticut than Maine. Champlin said she wasn't...

-snip- One "Amigo" is in the Bush camp -- and another is being courted. Sen. Lindsey Graham endorsed Jeb Bush this past week, calling him best-prepared among the Republican candidates to be commander in chief. Graham's own presidential campaign didn't get very far, but Bush is hoping his endorsement helps in the senator's home state of South Carolina. And now, the former Florida governor is trying to enlist Graham's help in winning another high profile endorsement: that of Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. McCain, of course, was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, and traveled often with Graham and then-Sen. Joseph...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains "the most out-of-control, unaccountable, and nontransparent agency in the federal government... And we can say that without reservation because this is one of the only agencies that literally operates outside of congressional oversight," added Wise, whose Virgina-based organization "works to protect consumers' right to access free-market goods and services." The CFPB, created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, is funded largely by fees banks pay to the Federal Reserve. While its director, Richard Cordray, has bragged that his bureau has levied more than $141 million in fines used for CFPB education programs or reparation to...

As Wilbur Ross so eloquently noted, for Puerto Rico "it's the end of the beginning... and the beginning of the end," as he explained "Puerto Rico is the US version of Greece." However, as JPMorgan explains, for some states the pain is really just beginning as Municipal bond risk will only become more important over time, as assets of some severely underfunded plans are gradually depleted. But, as JPMorgan details, Muni risk is on the rise for US states, but broad generalizations do not apply (in other words, these five states are 'screwed')... The direct indebtedness of US states (excluding...

<p>As Wilbur Ross so eloquently noted, for Puerto Rico "it's the end of the beginning... and the beginning of the end," as he explained "Puerto Rico is the US version of Greece." However, as JPMorgan explains, for some states the pain is really just beginning as Municipal bond risk will only become more important over time, as assets of some severely underfunded plans are gradually depleted.</p>

New York is reaping the whirlwind of sky-high cigarette taxes with a wave of smuggling decimating the state’s revenue. New York raised taxes on cigarettes to $4.35 in 2010 from $2.75. In total, cigarette taxes have increased by 190 percent since 2006. The sharp rise has resulted in a raft of unintended consequences which are dealing a significant blow to the state’s finances. New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reports New York’s revenue from cigarette taxes has plunged by $400 million over the past five years.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) says that although he is a gun owner himself and strongly believes in the Second Amendment, he also believes people on the no-fly list should be barred from purchasing guns. "I’m a gun owner. I strongly believe in the Second Amendment," Thompson said during an emotional press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday held by House and Senate Democrats to commemorate the third anniversary of the Newtown, Conn. shootings.

In 2011, Democrat Gov. Dan Malloy claimed to have exacted "painful" concessions from state employees. Here's how the employees' lead negotiator, Dan Livingston, described the deal: * On retirement benefits: "Now we have an 11-year pension and health care agreement ... that no other state worker in the country has." * On job security: "Four years' job security. Nowhere else in the country will you find four years' job security." * On wage increases: "Giving up the raise next year (3%) .. . to get three threes in a row in the three out years. ... Arbitrators around the country...

In 2013, the New York City Police Department began sending notices to certain gun owners using a “…centralized firearms registry which lists the city’s gun owners and what firearms they have in their possession.” The notice referred to firearms prohibited under New York’s “Safe Act,” the law passed (in part) in vengeful retaliation against law abiding owners of so-called “Assault Weapons” for the murders at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The gun owners were given a simple choice—surrender the now illegally held guns to the police, remove them from the city, destroy them or become a wanted...

Three years ago on Monday, a gunman opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 first graders and six adults. Marking the anniversary, Vice President Joe Biden tweeted: Since that nightmare, an estimated 555 children have been killed by guns in America. It is shameful that Congress hasn't acted. As the nation debates gun laws and access to mental healthcare, Newtown parents remind us of the urgency.