Free Republic

Ten U.S. states still have not regained all the jobs they lost in the Great Recession, even after six and a half years of recovery, while many more have seen only modest gains. […] Wyoming had 3 percent fewer jobs last month than it did in December 2007, when the recession began, the Labor Department said Friday. That is the biggest percentage decline among the states. Alabama's job total trails its pre-recession level by 2.7 percent, followed by New Mexico, where job totals are 2.6 percent lower. Some larger states are also still behind. New Jersey has nearly 1 percent...

An actor who played a bit part in an independent gangster film is facing 10 years in state prison because he used a prop pellet gun without a state gun permit. Carlo Goias, whose stage name is Carlo Bellario, was charged under New Jersey's strict gun law. It requires permits for firearms, including the airsoft gun Goias used while filming a car chase scene.

… Gregory Alfred, 25, was extradited back to New York after police picked him up at his mother’s Sayreville, NJ home over the weekend. […] While speaking with cops, Alfred explained that he set out to slash white people because he blamed them and “the system” for preventing him from freely smoking weed, police sources said. He allegedly targeted 53-year-old Poland native Janina Popko, cutting her across the neck as she was walking near the corner of Beverly and Rugby roads in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn on March 10, police sources said. …

White House officials would not tell NBC News whether President Obama will raise the issue of 70 fugitives from U.S. justice — including convicted cop-killer JoAnne Chesimard — who are hiding in Cuba when he meets Cuban leaders during his visit to the island. ... Chesimard, who fled to Cuba in 1984 after escaping from a New Jersey prison in 1979, was convicted of the 1973 execution-style murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. She is on the FBI's Most Wanted International Terrorists list, and is the most notorious of a group of criminals and violent radicals who have...

Let’s say computers come for most of our jobs. This may not seem likely at the moment; computer scientists and economists offer wildly varying ideas for how deeply automation will affect future employment. But for the sake of argument, imagine that within two or three decades we’ll have morphed into the Robotic States of America.

WILDWOOD - A city man was charged this week with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. Juan Nieves-Barrios, 26, a restaurant dishwasher was charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Police said Nieves-Barrios is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Nieves-Barrio was lodged Tuesday at the Cape May County jail on $175,000 bail set by state Superior Court Judge John C. Porto.

In the past few days, the world has focused on the scary aspects of the Trump movement as a whole, but on Monday night, the front-runner reminded us that there's also something disturbing and sadistic going on in his personal relationship with Chris Christie. Rather than attending the Monday funeral of a state trooper killed in the line of duty, Christie opted to further anger his constituents by spending the day on the campaign trail with Donald Trump — who showed his appreciation by humiliating him again. While campaigning in North Carolina this morning, Christie had the privilege of questioning...

Clinton scolded the media for its constant coverage of the GOP front-runner Donald Trump, speculated about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's political future and his motivations for endorsing Donald Trump. "You guys can’t stop covering him," Clinton said told Matthews. "He is a dangerous presence." "It’s just like candy by the bushel." Matthews followed up by acknowledging that his network has "progressive leanings, obviously."

Senate Democrats have unveiled legislation to alleviate Puerto Rico’s debt woes, urging that the island be allowed to declare bankruptcy on all of its debt. The bill, released Monday, would allow the U.S. territory to restructure its $72 billion in outstanding debt and create a fiscal oversight board for the island. “For the 3.5 million American citizens living on the island of Puerto Rico, time is running short,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), one of the bill’s sponsors. “Congress has to act immediately to fix the federal funding shortfalls and give Puerto Rico the tools it needs to fully restructure...

There are few things that keep me up at night, but this is one of them. It may be cynicism, but more likely it’s the long sad experience of watching the courts over the years. So when your side finally wins one that should have you celebrating, and yet you walk away with a knot in your gut, it’s probably warranted. Senior Judge Laurence H. Silberman’s majority opinion in Parker v. District of Columbia was a thing of beauty, affirming armed self-defense as an individual right pre-existing the Constitution. It was almost hard to believe. Maybe that's what’s bugging me....

Jeb Bush is meeting with the three Republican presidential candidates seeking to take down front-runner Donald Trump before Thursday's GOP debate, according to a new report. Bush is huddling with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich before the Miami debate, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The former Florida governor repeatedly clashed with Trump during his own GOP presidential campaign, which ended late last month after disappointing results in early-voting states. Bush is meeting Rubio on Wednesday and speaking with Cruz and Kasich on Thursday before the debate. It's unclear whether Bush will endorse a...

Jersey City's former IT director says he was fired after a mayoral aide spotted right-wing posts on his Facebook page, posts that slammed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and criticized moves to accept Syrian refugees into the country. The city's decision to terminate Alan Guglielmi came after the city spent more than a year searching for someone to lead its IT department, and less than three weeks after Guglielmi was hired. The 70-year-old North Arlington man said he's hoping to hire an attorney to help him win his job back. "I think my First Amendment rights have been infringed upon," he...

If Ted Cruz is to come from behind and win the Republican nomination, it's "gonna take an entire unity effort" to win support from the establishment, Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show Thursday. The comment from Limbaugh, who has not formally backed any candidate, is the latest indication that the iconoclastic Texas senator will have his work cut out for him as he seeks to cut off Donald Trump. Limbaugh presented two theories, the first of which assumed that Cruz accepts the premise that he still has time to get to 1,237 delegates before the Republican National Convention, adding...

"ISIS hackers have threatened 55 New Jersey police officers by releasing their names, addresses, telephone numbers and working locations online."

Christie's ground game doesn't match his aggressive debate style. His volunteer effort it rather tame. The NJ crowd didn't make the 4-hour drive north to New Hampshire.

ISIS hackers threaten 55 New Jersey police officers by releasing home addresses, phone numbers and working locations ISIS hackers have threatened 55 New Jersey police officers by releasing their names, addresses, telephone numbers and working locations online. The Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA), an ISIS-affiliated group of hackers that largely focuses on defacing websites and spreading propaganda, released an Excel spreadsheet containing the details of 55 New Jersey Transit Authority police Wednesday. The Daily Mail understands that the information - which lists the details of employees from a probationary police officer up to a number of captains - was obtained by...

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Friday praised Donald Trump for his last-minute decision to skip the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). CPAC organizers announced Friday that the GOP presidential front-runner had dropped out of his commitment to speak at the conference on Saturday morning. The real estate mogul's campaign issued a statement shortly after saying he would instead be campaigning in Kansas and Florida. “Because of this, he will not be able to speak at CPAC as he has done for many consecutive years,” the statement read. “Mr. Trump would like to thank Matt Schlapp and all of...

The New York Times leaked off-the-record conversation with Donald Trump in January recently to Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed’s editor in chief Ben Smith wrote this week that Mr. Trump reportedly told the NY Times that his extreme position on deporting immigrants was fluid and developing. Senator Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio lashed out at Trump and immediately demanded that Donald Trump order the release of the off-the-record conversation.

Despite all his talk of repealing and replacing the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told an audience September 19 that he takes it as "a compliment" when President Barack Obama calls him "the grandfather of ObamaCare." Appearing at a Univision "Meet the Candidate" forum, Romney touted his own "experience in healthcare reform." That, of course, would be the 2006 healthcare law that Romney signed into law as governor of Massachusetts. That law mandated that all residents carry health insurance or pay a tax penalty and that insurers not discriminate against individuals with pre-existing...

The day after Glenn Beck watched his favorite 2016 candidate pick up three more states in the Republican primary race, he acknowledged front-runner Donald Trump remains poised to clench the nomination unless something changes. In one segment of his radio program on Wednesday, Beck revealed a presidential ticket he said would be “unstoppable” against Trump, whom he sees as a menace. With Beck’s pick, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, at the top and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate, the host predicted his combination could take down Trump in the Florida Primary later this month. “How is that not...