Free Republic

The newborn was found Tuesday afternoon, abandoned on a dumpster in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago. A mother and her daughter brought the infant to the nearby firehouse in the 1700 block of North Pulaski. “It’s a good thing they made the right decision and brought the baby to the firehouse,” said paramedic fire chief Patrick Fitzmaurice. “It was rush hour. They wouldn’t have made it to the hospital in time.” When the baby arrived, firefighters scrambled, administering CPR, trying to warm the infant and coordinating with police to make sure an ambulance could get through...

The cost of owning and operating a vehicle in Illinois would increase dramatically under a proposal in the state Senate aimed at paying for repairs to crumbling roads and bridges. The legislation, introduced this week by Democratic Sen. Martin Sandoval of Chicago, would more than double the state’s gas tax to 44 cents a gallon, double the driver’s license fee to $60 and raise the vehicle registration fee to $148. The driver’s license fee is now $30; the vehicle registration fee is $98. It also would significantly hike the registration fee for electric vehicles, from $17.50 to $1,000. Greater fuel...

Voters encountering Elizabeth Warren on the presidential campaign trail these days often seem surprised. After a packed gathering at an elementary school in Concord, N.H., in April, a 40-something woman told me she had expected Warren to be more like Hillary Clinton but found them miles apart. A college student who caught Warren’s speech in Hanover said he was perplexed to learn that a woman once described by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s political director as a “threat to free enterprise” in fact believes in entrepreneurship and markets. And at an event in a Portsmouth high school cafeteria, a retired...

Editorial: Admiral, I Am NOT Ready For War May 8, 2019 by John Konrad “It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.” -John F Kennedy by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) As has been the case before every major world conflict a majority of citizens believe that peace will persist indefinitely and, as a civilian myself, I tend to agree that a large scale war with a major superpower like China or Russia is unlikely. Regardless of my views, the United States Military is spending billions to prepare for war against China in the...

Brendan Bialy, the aspiring Marine who jumped into action during the Colorado school shooting, said he desperately pumped the chest of his fallen friend after they tackled one of the attackers. Despite his efforts, 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo died after throwing himself on the shooter at STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday. Another heroic student, Joshua Jones, suffered two gunshot wounds during the scuffle and is recovering at home.

Vice President Pence on Wednesday announced that the administration will challenge the ability of federal district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions that halt policies advocated by President Trump. The administration's move — aimed at pushing back at unfavorable decisions from lower courts across the country — would set the stage for a vast legal debate and battle over the role that national injunctions play in the courts. Pence argued to supporters at an event hosted by the conservative Federalist Society that the Trump administration has been “unfairly” targeted by injunctions issued by lower courts, saying the rulings have prevented...

Two, the 2020 progressive agenda -- whether defined as the Green New Deal, a wealth tax, Medicare for All or open borders -- will not compete well with Trump's currently booming economy. Impeaching Trump for collusion and obstruction is seen by progressives as the best (or perhaps only) way to return to power. That effort so far is failing, causing even more hysteria. Three, the Mueller investigation is over, finished after 22 months, $34 million and a 448-page, two-volume report. There will be no indictments of Trump for either collusion or the obstruction of justice during the investigation of that...

A man in Los Angeles' posh Holmby Hills neighborhood was hiding a stash of weapons large enough to outfit an army. The Los Angeles Police Department busted Girard Damien Saenz, 57, with as many as 1,000 weapons piled up in his home. Authorities also found massive stockpiles of ammunition. Saenz, who was living in the home alone, was booked for unlawful transportation and giving, lending or selling assault weapons. Additional charges may be added later, including federal charges, authorities said. He is being held on $50,000 bond. "I had never seen so many weapons in my career of 31 years,"...

A staggering 87% of migrant families who crossed the border in recent months are failing to show up for their deportation hearings, a top ICE official told Congress on Wednesday. Nathalie R. Asher, the acting chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation branch, said those numbers come from a new pilot program in 10 cities where her agency has tried to speed hearings for new migrant families that have shown up at the border this fiscal year. ICE and the Justice Department tested out a last-in, first-out model in the pilot program, hoping to see if faster deportations could...

May 8 (UPI) -- A Chinese doctor shared video of the unusual cause of a patient's ear discomfort -- a spider building a nest inside his head. The video filmed at a hospital in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, shows the inside of an ear belonging to a patient identified by the surname Li. Li came into the hospital complaining of discomfort in his ear and the doctor looked inside to discover a small spider was building a nest inside the man's ear canal. The doctor said the spider was too small and fast to be grabbed using tools, but hospital staff...

Customs officers were shocked to find 40 frozen piranhas in the luggage of Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez. The chef said he planned to cook traditional Peruvian dishes at the Los Angeles Times’ month-long food festival Food Bowl. It took hours of questioning, but Martinez was able to walk out with his piranhas and serve them up the following day, according to the Times. Piranhas are an omnivorous freshwater fish found in South American rivers. Live piranhas are illegal to import or possess without a permit in California.

Leonardo’s dragon (How did he draw a dinosaur so accurately?) by Philip Robinson Published: 7 May 2019 (GMT+10) The month of May 2019 marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo Da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519). The polymath was well known for his contributions to science, history, engineering, architecture, drawing and especially painting, with his most famous painting being the Mona Lisa. For this anniversary the UK’s Royal Collection Trust is displaying some of its collection of Leonardo drawings in 12 different locations. One particular drawing is causing a stir.

ICE has already released 168,000 illegal immigrant family members into the U.S. this fiscal year, and the number is likely to surge as the border situation deteriorates, a top deportation official told Congress on Wednesday. According to the results of a pilot program, a staggering 87% of released families are skipping their court hearings, leaving judges to order them deported in absentia — and the government is ill-equipped to track them down.[snip] “Family units are not appearing in great numbers,”said ( Nathalie R. Asher), the acting chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation branch. She revealed the numbers to...

... Despite President Donald Trump saying "our country is full" earlier this month during a visit to the US southern border, if Vermont wants to improve its economy, it needs to bring in more people. But the New England state has two problems. It doesn't have enough people to do the jobs it already has, and it doesn't know how to attract people of a different demographic from Vermont's current population, which is nearly 95% white. Under the Trump administration's policies, there are fewer refugees, immigrants and temporary visa workers coming into the state. Joan Goldstein - commissioner of the...

The National Rifle Association's Institute For Legislative Action's Chris Cox penned an article reminding Second Amendment supporters of the challenges – and victories – gun owners have had, despite calls for stricter gun control legislation. Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts saw the piece but must have skimmed it. Either that or she doesn't understand the very basics of firearms and ammunition. She took to Twitter to attempt to call out the NRA for defending "armor piercing ammunition," the very ammo that's used for self-defense purposes.

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is paying the funeral expenses for Jaylon McKenzie, the promising eighth-grade football player killed by a stray bullet last weekend. "For him to reach out to me was unbelievable," McKenzie's mother, Sukeena Gunner, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "Jaylon loved Ezekiel Elliott. He talked about him all the time. When Ezekiel was playing, he would sit in front of the TV. His eyes were glued to the TV, watching him. For him to reach out to me and help me in this difficult time leaves me speechless."

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Rep. Jim Jordan. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle.Representative Jim Jordan, a member of Congress from Ohio, is a true statesman and a member of the Freedom Caucus.All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the white squares on the...

A vigil for the victims of the recent shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch that was organized by Team ENOUGH, a student-led initiative that is part of pro-gun control group Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, did not go as planned as students walked out to protest the group's politicization of the tragedy. During the vigil, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America activists, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., each made remarks the students in attendance did not appreciate because, according to them, the adults were politicizing the event. The students walked out of the...

A vigil for the victims of the recent shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch that was organized by Team ENOUGH, a student-led initiative that is part of pro-gun control group Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, did not go as planned as students walked out to protest the group’s politicization of the tragedy. During the vigil, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America activists, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., each made remarks the students in attendance did not appreciate because, according to them, the adults were politicizing the event. The students walked out of the...

President Trump is questioning his administration’s aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a U.S.-backed effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist strongman with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers. The president’s dissatisfaction has crystallized around national security adviser John Bolton and what Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires. Trump has said in recent days that Bolton wants to get him “into a war”...