Free Republic

Shortly after New Year’s Day, Man Hyung Lee, 77, was nursing a coffee in his usual seat in a narrow booth at a McDonald’s in Flushing, Queens, when two police officers stepped into the fluorescent light of the restaurant. Mr. Lee said the officers had been called because he and his friends — a revolving group who shuffle into the McDonald’s on the corner of Parsons and Northern Boulevards on walkers, or with canes, in wheelchairs or with infirm steps, as early as 5 a.m. and often linger until well after dark — had, as they seem to do every...

Union bosses have an air of entitlement among themselves nowadays. Over the past two election cycles, organized labor has collectively spent hundreds of millions dollars electing President Obama and like-minded Congressmen and Senators. For their efforts, they have come to expect a sizable return on investment. And for the most part, their every wish, no matter how absurd, has been granted by the president himself. Since Big Labor helped President Obama pass his signature healthcare legislation, union bosses have been pushing to receive an exemption from the very same law. The hypocrisy is striking, which is perhaps why the...

It's often good fun and sometimes revealing to divide American history into distinct periods of uniform length. In working on my forthcoming book on American migrations, internal and immigrant, it occurred to me that you could do this using the American-sounding interval of 76 years, just a few years more than the Biblical lifespan of three score and 10. It was 76 years from Washington's First Inaugural in 1789 to Lincoln's Second Inaugural in 1865. It was 76 years from the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865 to the attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Going backward, it was 76...

We mighta, coulda, woulda, shoulda, still-some-day-may elect a president serious about the matter of the nation's freedoms. Or, possibly, not. The second possibility -- so an ancient mariner reflects -- arises from a sea change in our culture. It could be that more than half of us - a fast-rising proportion -- don't understand "serious" the way it was understood until half a century ago. The loose, lax, louche United States of 2012 seems dissimilar in important respects to the country that chose Dwight D. Eisenhower for president. A week after the Nov. 6 debacle, the post-mortems go on: the...

The belief that no one owes me anything is one of the greatest gifts my hardworking, blue-collar father gave me when I was young. His words carried me through some difficult times growing up, sustained me through widowhood, years back, and helped to shape me into the person I am today. Once upon a time in America, and not so long ago, my dad’s can-do attitude toward life was common place, until liberals and their faithful following began to understand that immense and everlasting power could be bartered by peddling handouts in exchange for votes. If liberal politicians know anything,...

There’s big news breaking simultaneously in the world of entertainment and in the not-so-different world of politics. Jerry Lewis is coming out of retirement. And he’s doing it just in time for the first annual Occupy Wall Street Labor Day Telethon. The telethon is being held for disillusioned youths who voted for Barack Obama only to have their hopes and dreams dashed by hopelessness and an undersupply of change – particularly change in the national rate of unemployment. For Barracks Kids, also known as Barry’s Kids, Jerry Lewis has said he’ll be coming out of retirement only temporarily. “I want...

"Don't touch me!" the man in the wheelchair shouted to stop me from placing my hand on what used to be his left arm. "I'm sorry -- I was just -- " "I know what you were doing," he said calmly. "You were showing me you care. I get it. But you have no idea how much pain I'm in. Don't feel bad. People are always touching me -- and because my left arm is gone and most people are right-handed, well ... Doctors, believe it or not, are the worst -- always touching me there. You'd think they of...

The mirror into modern-day America created by the "occupiers" who have taken to the streets reveals painful images and insights for those committed to traditional American values. Even without a clear, core message, most Americans can identify with the anger at those who have contributed to our broken economy. But many tax-paying Americans are equally fed up with the stream of complaints from the self-obsessed protestors who want their debts forgiven and the "rich" to pay for their "free" education. This is not the orderly and respectful Tea Party crowd who scheduled demonstrations around working hours and cleaned up after...

It's the summer of John Kerry's $7-million yacht and Chelsea Clinton's fairy-tale $2-million wedding at a faux-Versailles estate in New York. Throw in the First Family's royal progress from one tony vacation spot to another, and even the Boston Globe mutters about Marie Antoinette. Well, you wouldn't expect liberals to be writing about $800,000 city manager salaries out in Bell, California. For conservative readers interested in a bit of the high life, there's The Wall Street Journal's review of Aristocrats by Lawrence James. No, Aristocrats is not yet another Kennedy hagiography or a scholarly analysis of John Kerry's haughty demeanor....