Free Republic

Not one day – not twenty-four hours after the Chattanooga jihad mass murder – the symbol of American individualism, capitalism, and the capital of the world, the Empire State Building, one of the foremost symbols of American freedom, celebrated the Muslim “holiday” of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is the most violent month of the year in the Islamic world, because Ramadan is the month in which Muslims renew their devotion to Allah, and violent jihad is a supreme act of devotion to Allah. All told, 2,988 people were shot, burned, blown up, beheaded, or hacked to death...

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.

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A Haitian immigrant who was released from prison in January after serving a sentence for attempted murder is back in custody on a murder charge in the death of a Connecticut woman last month. ... His crimes also included the illegal use of a gun during a 1996 deadly shooting, qualifying him for deportation to his native Haiti, the newspaper reported. ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer told the newspaper federal privacy laws prohibit him from discussing Jacques’ case. .... Norwich Police Chief Louis Fusaro Sr. said it was discomforting that Jacques wasn’t deported after his prison...

Law enforcement officials in Connecticut were called into a flea market over the weekend after someone called in to report a person selling Confederate and Nazi memorabilia. Despite the controversy surrounding the nature of the objects, nobody was arrested since no laws were technically broken, WTNH reported (video below). The items were being sold on private property, according to the chief of police. William Moore is the co-owner of Military Specialties Inc. in Newington, Connecticut, which sells authentic objects from Nazi-era Germany, Civil War-era United States, and reproductions. He told WTNH that such items can often be found in Connecticut.

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...

Over the weekend, Wallingford police were dispatched after someone called them to say there was a merchant selling Nazi and Confederate memorabilia at flea market, which some had found deeply offensive. The police chief says no one was arrested because no laws were broken; the items were being sold on private property. It’s not clear if the items that were being sold were authentic, but they’re easy to find in Connecticut. Military Specialties, Inc. in Newington sells a variety of historical military objects, including those produced by the Third Reich and Confederate reproductions. “It’s here and you’re likely to see...

(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.

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Daily Thread)Sound Off Connecticut is a popular conservative/libertarian call in talk show hosted by Jim Vicevich weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon ET. Although based in Connecticut, the show welcomes callers from all over the United States! This is your chance to sound off America! Call into the show toll free (800) 966-9842! Listen to the LIVE AUDIO STREAM at http://wtic.com - it's free and NO registration is required! If you're in southern New England listen over the air to WTIC 1080 AM, the 50,000 watt...

Here’s the problem with getting rid of standards you find outdated, such as the Ten Commandments or traditional morality: In the chaos that inevitably results from their absence you wind up trying to concoct something to replace them with without calling it by the same name. Consequently, you wind up trying to disguise the original guidelines. David Brooks fumbled around with this in a recent column and Yale has created an entire center devoted to bringing back self-control and discipline without ever once using that old-fashioned terminology. “Put aside a culture war that has alienated large parts of three generations...

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...

New Yorkers, who come from every corner of the world, speak 180 languages. Not surprisingly, nearly half of public school students speak a language other than English at home. This makes life difficult for the city's Department of Education, which, according to federal law and its own regulations, must provide translation and interpretation services to the thousands of parents of those children whose first language is not English

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...

The governor of Puerto Rico has admitted that it can't keep paying down the over $72 billion worth of public debt obligations. As a result, it finds itself in a uniquely awful position. It can't go into bankruptcy according to its own laws, so now it has to deal exclusively with its creditors to restructure its debt. That means it has to deal with Wall Street. "I think the surprise was that it happened this quickly," said Brian Kelly, CEO of Connecticut-based fund Brian Kelly Capital. "We thought it would take 6 months to a year... the solution is a...

Puerto Rico's governor believes the U.S. territory will not be able to pay back its $72 billion public debt, a spokesman told the Associated Press late Sunday. 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 in a report in The New York Times published late Sunday, less than a day before Garcia is scheduled to deliver a public address amid debate on a $9.8 billion budget that calls for $674 million in cuts and sets aside $1.5 billion to...