Free Republic

Charlie Rangel won re-election Tuesday, despite the ethical cloud still shrouding him, because all politics is local. Rangel’s censure by Congress in 2012 has been all but forgotten by his voters, and those who recall that embarrassing episode believe that “Charlie was shafted by Congress” for doing what other members have long gotten away with. (SNIP) If Puerto Rican pols backing Espaillat couldn’t move their bloc to him, one has to question their utility as endorsers. Former Bronx state Sen. Israel Ruiz says, “Puerto Ricans voters do not like Dominicans — especially Dominican politicians . . . perceived as cocky...

The hotly contested Democratic congressional primary in Harlem turned uglier than ever with challenger Adriano Espaillat’s campaign accusing Rep. Charles Rangel of sending out fake eviction notices to suppress the Hispanic vote in Tuesday’s election. A stunned Rangel, 84, who has marched and fought for civil rights during his five-decade career, insisted the accusation was a lie and immediately demanded an apology from Espaillat, a state senator. The explosive claim against Rangel was leveled in tweets by Espaillat campaign adviser Lis Smith.

After meeting with Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, at a political event, Garcia reached out. “We talked on the phone he said he really wanted to help me and help my campaign,” Otero said. And Garcia stayed true to his word, sending an email addressed to “Fellow House Members, Senate Colleagues, Elected Official Friends” Monday night.

In a changing world, it’s good to know that some things don’t change … like the ability of this White House to vet it Cabinet-level appointments. Barack Obama named Julian Castro as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development last week, but no one checked with the Inspector General at HUD first. Late yesterday, Politico also named Castro as a subject of criticism in a 2012 IG report that alleged San Antonio misused HUD funds while Castro was mayor: San Antonio failed to properly spend funds approved by Congress to combat the housing crisis while President Barack Obama’s expected...

Let’s pay a little attention to O’s newest cabinet appointee, in case you missed the news this weekend. President Obama is preparing to nominate Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio as his new secretary of housing and urban development, elevating one of his party’s Hispanic rising stars as part of a cabinet shuffle that has possible implications for the 2016 presidential race, Democrats informed about the plans said on Saturday. Mr. Castro, who has often been mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate for the Democrats, would take the place of Shaun Donovan, who is to become director of the Office...

The N.B.A. has started an investigation into remarks attributed to the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after the release Friday night of an audio recording on TMZ.com in which a person TMZ identified as Sterling admonished a female friend to avoid being seen in public with black people. Reaction around the league, whose players are predominantly African-American, was swift. The Clippers, who are in San Francisco for their first-round playoff series with the Golden State Warriors, held a team meeting late Friday, according to The Los Angeles Daily News. Magic Johnson, the former Lakers star and minority owner, said...

The California Legislature’s Latino Caucus boasts on its website that its mission “is to identify, promote and advocate on behalf of the professional, educational, social, political and cultural interests of the Latino community.” Who can argue with that? So after winning a seat to the Assembly in 2012 representing northern San Diego County, Rocky Chávez decided to sign up and see what he can contribute. Education tops the group’s legislative priority list, and it tops Chávez’s also. He spent years operating a charter school. “I said, ‘Hey, so when do we meet and how does this happen?’”, Chávez said in...

The FBI investigates the use of politiqueras in Valley elections. In the deeply Democratic Rio Grande Valley, the primary is the election that matters. And in local races like county commissioner and district attorney a sliver of votes can make a difference between winning and losing the election. Many times, paid campaign workers called “politiqueras” deliver the votes that put a candidate over the top. Politiqueras—who are paid to turn out voters, especially in low-income neighborhoods and colonias—have been part of elections in the Rio Grande Valley for decades. But the recent suicide of a school board president in the...

FRESNO (CBS/AP) — A Fresno-area father watched his four children and their mother perish in a fiery crash and was injured as he tried to rescue them from the burning vehicle. The crash occurred after 7 p.m. Saturday when a 2004 Nissan Quest minivan ran a stop sign and hit the 29-year-old woman and her four children — boys ages 1 and 3 and girls ages 6 and 11 — riding in a 2003 Ford Expedition SUV at an intersection in Fresno County, California Highway Patrol Officer Axel Reyes said. Within minutes, the SUV was engulfed in flames. The woman’s...

Actress Maria Conchita Alonso loses acting job for supporting tea party January 19, 2014 by Michael Dorstewitz When a famed Cuban-born singer/songwriter/actress openly supported a California tea party gubernatorial candidate, the San Francisco Latino community responded much as one might expect — with derision instead of acceptance. Maria Conchita Alonso appeared with Assemblyman Tim Donnelly in a campaign ad promoting his bid for the GOP nomination. She added a Spanish translation and a little humor to Donnelly’s spiel, saying: Donnelly’s conservative views include a strong opposition to illegal immigration. He was once associated with the Minuteman Project, a group that...

The problems, glitches, etc. with Healthcare.gov were well-known and well-documented. Now, attention has shifted to the issues with CuidadoDeSalud.gov, the Spanish-language version of the site—namely, that the website is so poorly translated that native Spanish speakers cannot decipher it without help. The website launched two months behind schedule, and is riddled with grammatical errors and clumsy wording. Even Obamacare cheerleaders navigators have described the language as "Spanglish." “When you get into the details of the plans, it’s not all written in Spanish. It’s written in Spanglish, so we end up having to translate it for them,” said Adrian Madriz,...

You would think Hempstead Middle school principal Amy Lacey was asking to see the “papers” of the 50% Hispanic students at her school as this story is now getting national attention. But all she did was announce that students can not speak Spanish while in class to avoid disruption. The students make it sound like horrible discrimination and apparently the school district agrees. She has been placed on paid administrative leave and the school district is bending over backwards to apologize for the principal’s actions. But some residents of Hempstead (outside of Houston) agree with the principal according to KHOU11:

**SNIP** Whites lost their No. 1 status to Latinos in 19 suburban districts spread across the six-county area of Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane and McHenry. Blacks were displaced by Latinos as the leading group in nine other districts, including the city of Chicago. This year’s school report card shows that minorities make up nearly half the students in Illinois public schools. And, of those minorities, Hispanic students have eclipsed blacks over the last 10 years as the largest minority, 24 percent.

The White House is getting ready to launch a major fall blitz for immigration reform... While Washington may be consumed in the latest continuing resolution crisis and debt ceiling drama, it’s also just days away from massive new push on an issue many had written off months ago. [snip] The political imperatives driving the latest immigration effort are clear: Obama can’t just abandon an issue that he promised to deliver on during his last campaign without suffering a major backlash from activists who helped elect him, and congressional Democrats are anxious to make sure Latino voters are motivated to punish...

The National Football League and its teams will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) with a series of special events focused in week 3 of the season. All NFL teams will enhance the celebration with local efforts throughout the month including designated home games with in-stadium themed elements and local community outreach in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. is expected to nearly double this year from 2002. That’s the finding of a study released Friday by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Geoscape, a company that provides demographics data. …

Speaking to the National Council of La Raza Tuesday afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama shared her deep love of Chicago soul food with the Hispanic activists, but warned Hispanic parents that they could be putting their kids in danger by feeding them too much. The First Lady noted that changes in the modern family life were affecting Hispanic families in America. “Sadly all these changes and how we live and eat are having a devastating effect on our children’s health,” she said. “Right now nearly 40 percent Hispanic children in this country are overweight or obese – nearly 50 percent...

Apparently, “Justice for Trayvon” includes threatening to kill a Hispanic guy who was found not guilty of murder, for the express reason that he was found not guilty of murder. ABC News: George Zimmerman immediately went back into hiding after being acquitted of murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, his parents told Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview with ABC News, adding that they haven’t seen him since he left the courthouse. The Zimmermans said that because of “an enormous amount of death threats,” they, too, have remained in hiding and still don’t feel safe enough to return...

Do we have a way to catalouge all of the reports of "knockout" games, flash mobs, etc where there is black on all other ethnics so these could be easliy referenced as rebuttal when the leftists go ape about how unfair the "system" is?