Free Republic

[snip] At every level of government, our representatives, nearly all of them Democrats, prove inadequate and unresponsive to the challenges at hand. Witness last week’s embarrassment, when California lawmakers used a sketchy parliamentary maneuver to knife Senate Bill 50, an ambitious effort to undo restrictive local zoning rules and increase the supply of housing. It was another chapter in a dismal saga of Nimbyist urban mismanagement that is crushing American cities. Not-in-my-backyardism is a bipartisan sentiment, but because the largest American cities are populated and run by Democrats — many in states under complete Democratic control — this sort of...

Cardinal Ricard says decision to shut second seminary 'is not the end of the road' Opened in 1901, St. Joseph's Seminary in Bordeaux will close from the start of the new academic year in September, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard has announced. "I did not come to this decision without some heartache but the good of the seminarians and concern for their formation need to come before any other consideration," said Cardinal Ricard, the archbishop of Bordeaux, in a May 18 statement, noting that only five new candidates were expected for September. "That number will not allow us to offer these young...

A friend of mine, a photographer took this photo on a recent road trip. She doesn't know much about it, she just liked the look of it. It was on the side of a hwy at a place that sells old stuff, junk and antiques. Guy there, told her it was used in Vietnam. When I asked her about that, she doesn't know if he meant this particular plane was used in Nam, or if this type of plane was used in Nam, or if that was in reference to it being used during Vietnam war. I did quite a...

Fiat Chrysler says construction is set to begin immediately on a new $1.6 billion assembly plant on Detroit's east side. A representative of the automaker told state officials Tuesday that vehicles are expected to start rolling off the line at the plant by late 2020. The Detroit City Council on Tuesday approved land deals and community benefits agreements tied to the project. Michigan's Strategic Fund was expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on the state's portion of incentives for the project. Fiat Chrysler is pledging to add 6,400 jobs in the Detroit area, including just under 5,000 in the city of...

Most Americans remain confident about the U.S. economy and in their own financial situation, and more now give President Trump's policies credit for a strong economy than did so last year. Seven in 10 Americans say the economy is in good shape, including a quarter who say it is very good. Nearly all Republicans and most Democrats and independents share this view.

... Police officers in Washington won’t be able to inquire about immigration status except in limited circumstances, and the state attorney general will draw up rules for courthouses, hospitals and other state government facilities aimed at limiting their use as places where federal immigration agents look for people in the country illegally. “Our state agencies are not immigration enforcement agencies,” said Inslee...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi snapped at White House counselor Kellyanne Conway after a tense, aborted meeting on infrastructure Wednesday, a senior administration official told CNBC. “I don’t talk to staff. I talk directly to the president,” Pelosi said after Conway asked the speaker a question, according to the official. The interaction followed President Donald Trump’s abrupt exit from a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders. Pelosi earlier in the day accused the president of engaging in a “cover-up” by blocking White House aides from providing testimony and responding to document requests from congressional investigations. The president responded by saying he doesn’t...

Ford is developing self-driving delivery vehicles it plans to launch in 2021, but there’s a problem. If there isn’t a driver, who’s going to bring the package or pizza to your door? In tests with faux-autonomous Domino's Pizza cars, Ford discovered that a lot of people were simply too lazy to make the trip to the curb to get their orders from the car themselves, so it came up with the obvious solution: robots. The automaker has teamed up with Agility Robotics to field trial a humanoid robot that can unload and carry as much as 40 pounds to its...

The headlines for the 2020 Democratic primary election polls are still the same — Joe Biden is well ahead of everybody else — but the most interesting trend is the uptick in support for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the first major candidate to announce way back in December. Warren, who had been lagging with just 4 percent in a March Quinnipiac University poll, reached 13 percent in their latest survey, nearly matching Sen. Bernie Sanders at 16 percent with Biden in the lead at 35 percent. Looking across multiple polls paints a clearer picture of Biden’s lead — but also...

New Coke was considered one of the biggest marketing blunders, but the soft drink company is now bringing back the item for a limited time as a partnership with the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” New Coke’s revival brought back memories of other product failures from major companies in the past. Here are some memorable blunders.

Call it the Resistance 2.0. Three liberal groups that launched in the chaotic aftermath of Donald Trump’s 2016 election — Arena, Run for Something and Swing Left — are teaming up for the 2020 campaign season. But their goal isn’t specifically to oust Trump. They’re joining forces to tackle the unsexy but hugely consequential problem of gerrymandering. On Tuesday, founders for the three groups unveiled the Grassroots Redistricting Project, a joint effort to flip state legislative seats from Republican to Democratic and win majority control of at least one chamber in nine states around the country. The goal is to...

Argentinian doctor found guilty for refusing to abort 23-week old baby May 22, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – A doctor in Argentina has been found guilty of failing to accomplish his duties as a public functionary after he refused to perform a legal late-term abortion on a woman who was 23-weeks pregnant. Dr. Leandro Rodriguez Lastra, prosecuted in the Argentinian town of Cipoletti for "obstetrical violence," will be sentenced during a special hearing in the days to come by a criminal court in Cipoletti. Dr. Rodriguez Lastra could receive a suspended prison sentence of up to two years, meaning that if he once again were...

New York State lawmakers on Wednesday gave their final approval to legislation that would allow Congress to obtain President Trump’s state tax returns. The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, would lift an existing state restriction on revealing an individual’s tax returns. It says the state Commissioner of Taxation and Finance shall release those returns if requested by the House Ways and Means Committee, Finance Committee, or Joint Committee on Taxation.

It’s a male student’s worst nightmare. No matter the proof, he’s not believed, but she is. Lawyers for Ben Feibleman, a former journalism graduate student at Columbia University, are advising him not to discuss his pending lawsuit against the school after a woman accused him of sexual assault in 2016. Her name is being kept tightly under wraps and has not been reported by the media. In what is being hailed as the “anti-male” lawsuit, Feibleman is suing the school for expulsion and gender bias. Lawyers filed the suit against Columbia Monday in Manhattan Federal Court. Also under wraps is...

A group of champion female squash players slammed the Spanish tournament they won as sexist after being given vibrators as a prize. The incident took place after the winner of the Asturias Squash Championship 2019, Elisabet Sado Garriga, received her prize along with runner-up Olaya Fernandez Lence. Third-place winner Marina Arraiza Mier and fourth-place winner Cristina Barandica Fernandez also were given gifts. The prizes for the four included a “Pure Fantasy” vibrator from Durex, a waxing set and an electronic exfoliator for their feet. The vibrator is sold as an “elegant personal stimulator designed to give you sensual pleasure.” The...

The economy, voters say, is strong. Most Americans say they are better off financially than they were in 2016; more say that things stayed the same than say they got worse. And yet many more voters say President Donald Trump is doing a poor job than say he's doing a good one. This is all according to a new Quinnipiac poll, and it should give Democrats hope for 2020. At this point, the election is the left's to lose. Polls this early in the game won't necessarily mean much come Election Day, but the latest Quinnipiac numbers suggest that Americans...

Ben Carson has fired back at Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Mich., after the controversial freshman congresswoman criticized him after a hearing Tuesday. Omar knocked the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary over his conduct during an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee. "Not sure he was fully awake, maybe he meant to reclaim his time back to sleep," she quipped. She was playing off of Carson's request for time during a testy exchange with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

FULL TITLE: Information slowly emerging about pipe-wielding mob of Somali 'youths' who attacked people waiting for light rail train in Minneapolis last Friday 'My hometown of Minneapolis has been totally transformed by the arrival of tens of thousands of refugees from Somalis, one of whom now represents the city and a few suburbs in Congress. Nobody there was asked if such a makeover was desired by the residents;...'

A major swing state has passed a bill in its state legislature that would give the state’s Electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. As noted by The Daily Wire, Nevada’s state legislature passed a bill on Tuesday that, if signed into law, will move the National Popular Vote movement six votes closer to nullifying the Electoral College.If Nevada Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak signs the bill, it will ensure that all of the state’s Electoral votes go to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. Under this system, that would mean that Hillary Clinton won...

Tweets and videos at link. Things got very testy between Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson and House Democrats. Carson received some ridicule in the media for mistaking a housing term for an Oreo cookie. Cortney has more : Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) set the tone by accusing Carson of leading an agency that is "actively causing harm," sentiments that were shared by other Democrats on the panel. "It pains me that your gifted hands are doing the bidding and carrying the water of what I believe to be one of the most morally bankrupt president's history," Rep....