Free Republic

DETROIT (WWJ) – After McDonald’s announced a $1 an hour raise, increased vacation time and educational benefits for employees in its non-franchise stores, local cashiers and cooks marched to one of the company’s restaurants Thursday. And it wasn’t to offer thanks. Dozens of protesters burst into the McDonald’s on W. McNichols and Livernois Thursday to have their voices heard, demanding raises to boost them to $15 an hour....

Police in Pasadena, Calif., arrested a Black Lives Matter protester on two outstanding warrants for terrorist threats, assault, trespassing, and petty theft among other alleged crimes. The Pasadena Star-News reports that Jasmine Richards’ arrest emerged out of a protest that took place last week. Richards’ arrest appears to have occurred shortly before a meeting of the Pasadena City Council. The Black Lives Matter chapters in Los Angeles and Pasadena issued a statement claiming the police misused their authority in arresting the 28-year-old protester, who became a member of the organization after visiting Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014. “Since her return...

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz could be headed to Texas A&M International University as the commencement speaker for Spring 2015 should an agreement between the University and the senator be finalized within the coming weeks. Senator Cruz’s visit, however, will have to be accommodated with some changes to the usual graduation schedule. Should Cruz be confirmed as the speaker, the three commencement ceremonies usually held throughout the morning of graduation day would be consolidated into one night-time ceremony to be held at 8 p.m. outside of the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library. The visit will be the first time a candidate...

Konstantin Sivkov has previously spoken about expecting to see American society "decay" and has elaborate plans for how that could happen.What would happen if the Russians tried to launch nuclear bombs onto American soil, aiming to trigger a giant tsunami or the eruption of a supervolcano? That was precisely the plan one Russian military analyst laid out to combat the West, and it's fit for a Superman comic book or an Eisnehower-era James Bond caper. "The consequences will be catastrophic for the United States — a country just disappears," Konstantin Sivkov, director of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems in Moscow,...

San Antonio woman Deborah Wall poses with her Ford Mustang bearing license plates with the phrase "CRUZ16" in support of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who announced his intent to run for president on March 23. The back license plate also features an autograph from Cruz. Wall later stuck the plates on her 2015 Ford Mustang.Most people might slap a bumper sticker on their car to show support for a political candidate. San Antonio resident Deborah Wall took it one step further. To further beef up her credentials as a Ted Cruz superfan, she did it at more than two...

When it comes to LGBT rights, the 2016 GOP roster may be more ridiculous than the clown car of 2012. Thanks to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, we’re getting an early look at a field of GOP presidential hopefuls that is supposed to include some moderates who plan on expanding the party’s appeal beyond its right-wing base. And it’s pathetic. Before Pence’s odd press conference, where he promised to “fix” the bill but insisted there was nothing wrong with it, the top GOP contenders hustled to outdo one another in backing Pence and his divisive legislation. Let’s remember that in...

Like they did a week ago, ”Black Brunch” protesters hit the Atlanta area on Palm Sunday to disrupt “white spaces” by walking into restaurants, standing among diners and loudly reading statistics and proclamations regarding black oppression. Twitchy noted the latest protests, which were caught on cellphone video and spread around the Internet via social media. In this clip a man who appeared to be a manager attempted to get protesters out of the eatery to no avail — not even when a woman told them, “You’re scaring the children!” (VIDEO-AT-LINK)[continued]

The most cherished of all we hold dear is our health. Good health allows us to enjoy life, work, love others, and see the splendor around us created by God. Not knowing when one would get sick or injured, insurance companies were formed to handle this uncertainty. Unions saw the benefits of health care and started including it in their benefits package when collectively bargaining for a larger share of the company’s profits. Today, most of our health insurance plans are through our employer. As insurance costs became higher and higher it was more difficult for employers to handle premiums....

Republican lawmakers in the Indiana House and Senate have said for months that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act enjoys large support among their constituents. Now, facing a political crisis unlike the state has ever seen before, the question must be asked: Why haven't those supporters spoken up? Since Thursday, when Gov. Mike Pence signed the bill into law in a closed-door ceremony, the list of critics of Indiana's RFRA has expanded across the state and from coast to coast. With the possible exception of Pence, who appeared on "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday defending the law, few people...

So-called “religious freedom” laws in Indiana, Arkansas and other states are merely thiny veiled discrimination that harkens back to the days of segregation, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. “There’s something very dangerous happening in states across the country,” Cook wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Monday. “The days of segregation and discrimination marked by ‘Whites Only’ signs on shop doors, water fountains and restrooms must remain deep in our past,” the head of the world’s largest company wrote. “We must never return to any semblance of that time.” The op-ed from Cook, who is gay and grew up...

Four years ago, when the charity-minded Women of Quail Creek collected baby shower items for military wives and active military moms-to-be, the event was so graciously welcomed that they’ve continued the event every year since. This year, the event has been moved from August to April 18 so winter visitors can participate. Idea originator and 30-year Army retiree Peggy McGee said the first event was held at the Army National Guard in Tucson with successive showers at the Air National Guard with the Army invited. For this shower, 28 moms-to-be are expecting 29 babies, and 13 are active members of...

FORT HUACHUCA — Beginning Monday, the lower Garden Canyon Picnic Area will be closed to the public so it can be used as a staging area for heavy construction equipment needed to repair Garden Canyon Road, according to a press release from the Post Public Affairs Office. The road in Garden Canyon is in extremely poor shape after last year’s flood. It is hazardous in its current condition and the danger level will increase as heavy construction equipment moves in Monday to begin repairs, the release stated. For safety reasons, public access to Garden Canyon Road will now be further...

SIERRA VISTA — A small group of “almost forgotten veterans” were laid to rest during a short, simple ceremony Saturday. Fred Santana, the founder of the Missing in America Project, said those who were honored are like many “who have been on the shelves in America’s funeral homes.” The cremains were brought to Sierra Vista from Tucson. Santana came to the event from California to witness the latest group of soldiers, sailors and airmen — 17 of them this trip — to finally have a military-style burial. He said one time he helped recover 15 Civil War veterans and some...

Amid rampant speculation of potential congressional challengers to John McCain, it looks like a long shot that any of them will step up to the task. In fact, they are peeling off faster than a cheap auto paint job in the Phoenix sun. Schweikert‘s officially out. Gosar won‘t take on the fight. Franks has no reason to give up the seat on which he has a lock, and it will be a shocker of monumental proportions if Salmon decides to run against John McCain. None of these Arizona congressmen are willing to subject themselves and their families to the brutality...

A contentious battle between supporters of religious freedom and people in favor of gay rights in Indiana reached a turning point on Thursday, when Governor Mike Pence signed Senate Bill 101 -- a measure that both the state House and Senate had passed earlier in the week -- into law after stating: “The legislation is about respecting and reassuring Hoosiers that their religious freedoms are intact.” However, blogger Arthur Chu wrote an article the same day for the liberal Daily Beast website on this topic with the title “Gay Money Is No Good in Indiana” under the subhead “Bigots Vs....

In a bizarre domestic case in Florida, a jury has found the man who shot and killed his former girlfriend's boyfriend and severely wounded her, not guilty.  The father of the girlfriend's four children drove the shooter to and from the shooting, and had been the employee of the shooter.   The driver was also a convicted felon.  The shooting occurred in 2009.  The driver was convicted in 2010 and is serving a 30 year sentence for being an accessory to murder, after the fact.  From tbo.com: A jury last month found Eric William "Scooter" Bazemore guilty of the...

Ferguson will hold municipal elections on April 7. The mayor and five of the six city councilpersons are white. Three are up for reelection. Since Michael Brown was gunned down by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, the one loud refrain has repeatedly been how could a city where African-Americans make up the overwhelming majority of the population be policed by a nearly all-white police force, and governed by a nearly all-white city administration? The thought was that the Brown slaying angered and engaged so many thousands that it was almost a done deal. The first chance...

SIERRA VISTA — The Missing In America Project will have another ceremony Saturday at the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery during which the cremains of 17 former service members and one dependent will be laid to rest. Joe Larson, the cemetery administrator, said normally two such ceremonies a year are held in which indigent service members are honored. This year, two of those involved are World War II veterans. Since those being honored may not have family members, Larson said the public is a stand in for them an he hopes area residents will attend the ceremony. People should arrive...

EAST VILLAGE (WABC) -- There was an explosion and collapse at an apartment building in Manhattan Thursday, and a seven-alarm fire raged in the aftermath. CLICK HERE to watch live coverage The blast happened on Second Avenue at the corner of East 7th Street in the East Village around 3:15 p.m....

Among the countless tragedies that go by in fleeting moments on the streets of the hometowns of the world, Hernan’s is one that stands out unforgettably. In our own villages, towns and cities we all have a Hernan, or someone like him, but in the rush of everyday life, keep passing them by. The blind man with the tin cup, the homeless huddled in raggedy blankets, over city grates, the lost, lonely and the forlorn are sadly only fleeting moments in the lives of the perpetually purposeful and busy. Someone else will try to find out if there is any...