Free Republic

Ben Carson, on his first visit here, tells ‘Post’ he is not sure that a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria ‘makes sense,’ and that Israeli settlement construction is ‘blown out of proportion.’ Retired neurosurgeon and aspiring US politician Ben Carson could walk down the streets of Jerusalem, shout at the top of his lungs “I am Ben Carson,” and almost no one would know who he is. At least not yet. But that could change very quickly as the 2016 US presidential campaign picks up speed, and Carson gains traction. And if recent polls are any indication, the 63-yearold...

They just don't make them like this anymore.

It was the city on the verge of collapse, perhaps the ultimate example of how a one-time metropolis turned into a sad memory. For the past four decades or so, Detroit, once a mecca for immigrants and the heart of America's industrial revolution, not to mention pop culture, turned into a virtual ghost town. Businesses shut their doors and residents fled by the masses, from a peak of 1.8 million to around 700,000 today. The rapid decline of the auto industry, which the city once so proudly called its lifeline, unearthed a catastrophic failure. One of the nation's major cities...

Gov. Rick Snyder is touting his handling of the Detroit bankruptcy to media outlets around the country. While the bankruptcy went smoothly compared to other municipal proceedings, there is a difference between emerging from bankruptcy and fixing the city government’s problems. Whether Detroit will be successful remains to be seen. The city emerges from bankruptcy having reduced its debt burdens, including large cuts to its retiree health insurance and to its pension benefits. City debts had been looming to take two-thirds of city operating revenue. While easing these burdens was necessary, there is a lot more that needs to be...

In the wake of a New York grand jury deciding not to indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, racially diverse protests instantly erupted across the nation. White faces could be seen in swelling crowds from NYC and D.C., to Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Denver. Their mouths covered with masking tape with the words "I can't breathe" scrawled over it. The righteousness of racial solidarity burning in their eyes as they joined in chanting, "Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter!" This is not to say that there were not White allies...

Yes, this is happening. Because the US Army needs a few extra bucks. That’s why. Very soon you will be able to buy a surplus Army-issue Humvee at prices starting around $10,000. Yep, this is the real deal. According to Yahoo News and the Army Times, the US Department of Defense will auction off as many as 4,000 military-spec Humvees, instead of sending them to scrap yards. The first batch of 25 Humvees is heading to the auction block tomorrow. Obviously these retired vehicles aren’t in perfect condition, most having been built between 1987 and 1994. They have anywhere from...

Greg Willerer may not seem like your average entrepreneur. The once full-time school teacher quit his job to follow his passion for farming in the most unlikely of places. Located not far from Downtown Detroit, Willerer launched his urban farming business on just one acre of land. During his first year, Willerer earned almost the equivalent of his teaching salary. His venture, Brother Nature Produce, sells locally grown produce to restaurants across Detroit. They recently received a $10,000 grant to help grow their business from the New Economy Initiative’s small business challenge, and his farm was among one of five...

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A published report says dozens of suspected killers, rapists and others who were arrested by Detroit police over the past four years have been released because of a backlog of unsigned warrants. Among the unsigned warrants at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office are 21 for murder, including one going back to 2010, according to a report in the Detroit News. The newspaper says there are 105 for sexual assault and 126 for child abuse. In most cases, police were forced to release the suspects, since the law requires that they can’t be held beyond 72 hours without...

n 1950, Detroit was America's fifth largest city and one of the most prosperous on the back of its booming motor industry. It prompted the construction of skyscrapers on the banks of the river and the development of vast suburban housing projects in the surrounding areas. But almost 55 years on, a dwindling motor industry and a dramatic fall in blue collar jobs has caused people to leave the Michigan city, abandoning their homes and businesses. These aerial photos reveal the tiny urban island that is left - a clutter of high-rises surrounded by empty housing plots now covered in...

They came to the nation’s capital on buses and planes and minivans and trains, from Florida, Detroit and Staten Island, led as much by the families, friends and supporters of African-American men and boys killed at the hands of the police as by civil rights leaders. Thousands of people marched along the National Mall on Saturday to protest the deaths, mirroring protests planned around the nation Saturday, ranging from hikes in canyons in the West to marches down the streets of the nation’s urban centers. The demonstrators here — many of them wearing T-shirts that read “Black Lives Matter” and...

Kevyn Orr has agreed to step down as Detroit’s emergency manager, saying in a letter released Tuesday that the city will no longer be in a financial emergency once it exits bankruptcy. Orr also told Gov. Rick Snyder in his letter, dated Monday, that he has implemented the city’s two-year budget that reflects the elimination of about $7 billion in debt through the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. […] Orr—a turnaround expert who helped steer Chrysler through the automaker’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy—had been the official face of Detroit government since he was appointed in March 2013 by Snyder. …

DETROIT -- Lions running back Reggie Bush, who has been outspoken about the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, continued his outspoken nature Sunday when he wore a shirt reading "I Can't Breathe" during pregame warm-ups Sunday. Bush wrote the message -- in black ink on his blue shirt -- signifying the last words of Eric Garner, the New York man who died while being placed in a chokehold as he was being arrested. Bush wore the shirt a day after Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose wore an "I Can't Breathe" T-shirt in pregame warm-ups prior to his team's game Saturday night...

An open carry group in Michigan has done a remarkable thing.  True, they built on the accomplishments of a great many before them.   They have made the open carry of long guns in Detroit cool and hip on an MSNBC video. Here is a link to the video: The video is done by Ronan Farrow, featuring 22 year-old activist James Baker.  He is well spoken, photogenic, and persuasive.  He and a couple of other people formed the group, Hell's Saints, in July of 2014.  He comes across as cool and hip.  He narrates much of the video.   He reminds...

City officials say power has been fully restored to government buildings, schools and other facilities after a major cable failure caused parts of the city to go dark. The city announced at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday that all customers affected by the outage had their power back.

Detroit — A widespread power outage Tuesday has caused evacuations of buildings throughout the downtown, including Joe Louis Arena, Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, the Detroit Institute of Arts and some buildings at Wayne State University. Most of Detroit's municipal power grid has gone down, cutting electricity to public buildings in the city, officials have said. Police, fire, school, and jail buildings have lost power and traffic lights aren't working, a city spokesperson said. Some people are trapped in elevators throughout Detroit, according to Detroit Fire Chief Jack Wiley, and fire crews are working...

The shooting happened just after midnight, back on May 16, 2010. A SWAT team had conducted a raid to search for a murder suspect. Weekly ended up being first through the door. There was even a film crew on hand to film for a reality show about murder investigations. Weekley says that another SWAT member had thrown a flash-bang grenade, which temporarily blinded him. That’s when he fired the shot that killed Aiyana who was asleep on the couch in the front room of the house. Doubling down on this claim, in court he actually testified that Aiyana’s grandmother had...

The far left Eclectablog repeats what is becoming a recurring drum beat in public education in Michigan – poor people can’t afford school choice. If Detroit serves as an example, statewide statistics show that not only can poor families afford school choice, they often times prefer it. There are 51,083 students from Detroit attending charter public schools, which exceeds the 49,172 Detroit students who attend Detroit Public Schools. And about 89 percent of Detroit charter school students are eligible for free-or-reduced lunch status compared to 82 percent of DPS students, according to an analysis of data from the Center for...

Bankrupt Detroit’s thousands of empty buildings are being flogged at rock-bottom prices — and Chinese investors are answering the siren call of unbeatable deals. With family homes regularly selling for around $10,000, the beleaguered Motor City is now the number-four destination for Chinese housing investors in the U.S. Bigger spenders have already snapped up some of Detroit’s most iconic commercial buildings. “There are factories, commercial real estate and upscale areas around Detroit with proximity to good schools that are worth investing in,” said Wang Ning, deputy manager in charge of international business at China online real estate agency SouFun. The...

About 25 members of the pro-affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary -- also known as BAMN - broke out with chants of "Minority enrollment's been going down, open it up or we'll shut it down" and "We don't need another committee, open it up to Detroit city," during the University of Michigan's Board of Regents meeting Thursday afternoon. The chants quickly turned physical as the protester pressed forward toward the regents. Security responded and the group continued to press forward as multiple protesters were forced to the ground after refusing to back down and move their protest out of...

Muslim groups have stepped up efforts to co-opt protests over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., with a drive to equate the teen’s death to the death of a radical Islamist shot during an FBI raid in 2009, a Washington-based security watchdog group is warning. Using social media, conference calling and traditional outreach methods, leaders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are portraying Brown and Detroit mosque leader Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah as African-American victims of police targeting, according to the Washington-based Center for Security Policy (CSP). In a conference call organized by CAIR-linked "Muslims for...