Free Republic

Coronavirus panic has sent the famously crunchy Park Slope Food Coop into “chaos” as people stockpile organic goods to brace for a local outbreak — with a skirmish breaking out over a can of tuna fish, according to members. The famed Brooklyn produce collective saw its fair-trade food flying off the shelves Monday morning, just hours after New York City’s first case of coronavirus was confirmed. “There is nothing on the shelves. It’s chaos,” said Henderson Paternell, a nine-year member of the socialist-tinged Union Street supermarket. Some of the members reported that perishable items such as soups, peanut butter, rice...

To those who see no link between Lent and our failing economy, it might be the case to look again. Economics is about people. It cannot be reduced to numbers, formulae and analyses. “The subject matter of economics,” observes economic historian Odd Langholm, “is properly the habits, customs, and ways of thinking of producers, consumers, buyers, sellers, borrowers, lenders, and all who engage in economic transactions.” That means our moral habits can have a definite effect on determining if our economy grows — or fails. In my new book, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian...

In just ten days (September 20 through September 30) the broadcast networks overwhelmed their evening and morning shows with more than 7 hours of coverage devoted to a whistleblower’s complaint about President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the ensuing calls for impeachment. Only 46 minutes of that coverage referenced Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s sweetheart deal with a Ukranian company. Even when networks mentioned Trump’s concern about Hunter benefiting from his father’s status as Vice President, they were quick to dismiss the allegations with the refrain: “no evidence of any wrongdoing.” See montage video below:On the September 23 edition of ABC’s World News Tonight correspondent Jon...

An Ithaca man accused of killing a UPS driver said in court Monday afternoon that not only did he believe he shot and killed Donald Trump, but that no evidence could be presented to him to suggest otherwise. Justin R. Barkley, 38, said during his arraignment and subsequent attempt to plead guilty, "I shot and killed Donald Trump purposely, intentionally and very proudly." Now obviously Barkley is out of his mind. But the murder of an innocent man is another example of how the media's climate of hate can backfire. Did the media's paranoid fantasies about Trump feed into Barkley's...

John Zmirak writes, "The expected Supreme Court decision imposing on 50 states an entirely new understanding of marriage, and the frenzy of hatred that gay activists have stoked against Indiana for trying to shelter religious believers from crippling lawsuits should wake us to a cold and stark reality: The age of tolerance in America is vanishing before your eyes. The question is how Christians and other people of faith and good will are going to respond. Let’s break this down in stark and simple terms: Not only were gay activists willing to overturn an act of Congress (the Defense of...

It's the latest internet sensation--amateur footage of three red lights in a triangular formation hovering in the night sky above the town of Lafayette in Colorado. The video, shot last Monday, shows that the sky was clear and witnesses said they could not see anything connecting the lights. Leroy Vandervegt, a 50-year-old who has lived in Lafayette for 16 years, shot the video Sunday evening after his 17-year-old son saw the glowing orbs move from south west to south east along the horizon. 'I had no idea what it is,' he said. 'It wasn't a satellite, it wasn't an airplane

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. religious leaders joined on Tuesday to condemn an "anti-Muslim frenzy" in the United States, and the head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan warned that a Florida church's plan for a Koran-burning could endanger American troops abroad. Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders denounced the "misinformation and outright bigotry" against U.S. Muslims resulting from plans to build a Muslim community center and mosque not far from the site of the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks in New York by the Islamist militant group al Qaeda that killed 2,752 people. Tensions have risen with the approach of...

If you've tuned on the news, specifically MSNBC, you don't have to watch for very long to see the network views focusing on fringe elements of the right as a newsworthy endeavor. However, as MSNBC "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski suggested, discretion should be exercised with the amount of attention given to these radical components of the opposition to President Barack Obama's health care reform endeavors. "Yeah, call it out but also I think we have to be careful along the way," Brzezinski said on the March 26 broadcast. "I think this happened during the campaign. I think this happened...

COPENHAGEN – A diplomatic frenzy enveloped the final scheduled day of the U.N. climate conference Friday, with President Barack Obama meeting with China's premier as world leaders pressed to salvage a global warming accord amid deep divisions between rich and poor nations. But neither Obama nor Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered any new commitments to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming as they addressed the conference. And Wen skipped a high-level meeting of major nations, sending an envoy instead. "We are ready to get this done today but there has to be movement on all sides to...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told "Fox News Sunday" this morning that he would not support the stimulus package as the House Democrats have written it because it includes too much wasteful spending. The stimulus currently includes $275 billion in tax cuts and doesn't include Republican input or a spending timeline, McCain said. "There should be an end point to all of this spending.say two years...The plan was written by the Democratic majority in the House primarily. So yeah, I think there has to be major rewrites, if we want to stimulate the economy," McCain said. "I am opposed to most...

Erika Wilson of Alexandria, Virginia cries as she listens to Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) during a campaign rally in Bristow, Virginia June 5, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA

BAGHDAD, March 30 -- By early Friday night, families here were hunkered around their televisions, nervously awaiting the election results that would come hours later. In the northern Iraqi town of Irbil, thousands packed into a shopping mall courtyard and stood before a massive screen, shouting for the victory of their candidate: "Shada! Shada!" The chestnut-maned object of their obsession was Shada Hassoun, Iraq's contestant on the fourth season of the Lebanese talent show "Star Academy," the "American Idol" of the Arab world. She had made Friday's finals, and a public vote, sent via cellphone, would decide her fate. And...

Did you hear!!!! The UAE is going to be running 6 of our ports. In other news, Cancer is cured, the Cubs win the World Series and Dick Cheney shot some guy. Just thought you'd like to know.

Shark Frenzy Closes Australian Beaches ASSOCIATED PRESS BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Several tourist beaches along Australia's popular Gold Coast were closed again Sunday because of a massive feeding frenzy involving more than 100 sharks, a lifeguard official said. Several beaches in Queensland state were closed for the second straight day after more than 100 hammerhead, gray nurse and whaler sharks were spotted feeding close to shore, said Sue Neil, spokeswoman for Surf Lifesaving Queensland. Neil said most swimmers were staying out of the water, but some surfers were putting themselves at risk by coming within yards of the feeding frenzy....

With the face of Rep. Tom DeLay pasted over a photo of Napoleon, Chris Levack talks with the media outside an Austin, Texas courthouse Friday, Oct. 21, 2005, where DeLay made his first court appearance on money laundering and conspiracy charges. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Has anyone noticed the degradation of political activism as reflected in the quality of e-mail forwards? During the election, when this country was in the grip of political passion, the internet hummed with outraged forwards explicating and excoriating the current snakepits and malevolence of public policy. Every citizen in possession of a computer (and that's every citizen! Some citizens have several, one in every color for every mood!) forwarded madly his or her opinions. These forwards, judging by volume and pitch, were not just opinions: they were expressions of the forwarder's innermost soul, as radical in their way as the...

House votes to end need for 60% on school levies By Andrew Garber Seattle Times Olympia bureau OLYMPIA — The state House of Representatives yesterday passed legislation, for the third year in a row, that could make it easier for school districts to get property-tax levies approved by voters. The constitutional amendment now goes to the state Senate, where it has died in past years. It would allow school levies to be approved by a simple majority of voters instead of a 60 percent supermajority. The amendment would go before voters in November if approved by a two-thirds majority in...

Ms Anderson, who hails from Hobart, Indiana, said the unexpected attention generated by her whimsical eBay sale had "left her a nervous wreck" and that she had cancelled some of the more "outrageous bids". She reiterated that the purpose of the exercise was simply to reassure her five year-old-son who was uneasy about living in a house that he felt was haunted by his "mean" grandfather.

SACRAMENTO -- The first federal corruption probe since five lawmakers went to prison a decade ago has hit the Capitol like a tornado over the last few days, raising both hopes and fears for legislators statewide, analysts said Monday. Some senators are concerned the probe of the Senate leader-elect and its aftermath could damage majority Democrats in coming clashes with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over issues such as the budget. Others see chances for higher-ranking jobs in the potential toppling of Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, which could upset the balance of power between Northern and Southern California in the Legislature....

In the Friday's edition of the Arizona Republic Chip Scutari opines that John McCain is the GOP front runner for 2008. He claims that McCain is the most "influential politician not living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave." He's a national statesman with star power to match Hillary Clinton. He has hosted Saturday Night Live, appeared on Letterman and Leno and is a constant fixture on the Sunday talk shows. Scutari goes on to write that If Kerry wins, McCain will run in 08. He can garner crossover vote from moderates and independents and will appeal to "pragmatic conservatives." McCain thinks there...