Free Republic

Picture a neighborhood composed of low and middle income families, each with two parents, no homeless people, no street drugs, safe to walk the streets at night. Is this the figment of an overactive imagination? Well, it is in fact a peek at a neighborhood in New York City where the son of immigrant parents read The New York Times every morning in high school, before orchestra rehearsal. Me. The principal, strongly authoritarian and well loved, opened a weekly assembly of highly diverse youngsters by reading a psalm from the Bible. Tough-as-nails, yet tenderhearted teachers passed on a tradition of...

US Ambassador to the United Nation Kelly Craft slammed Iran and supported Israel at the United Nations Security Council debate on the Middle East last Tuesday, as reported by the Jewish News Syndicate. She urged council members to focus on Iran instead of Israel. “While the world criticizes Israel, Israel is making the world a better place. The council should not lose sight of this fact,” she said. “Our failure to address Iran’s central role in destabilizing the region sends a powerfully damaging message to those seeking lasting peace and prosperity in the region.” Craft urged the council to “focus...

Having recently returned from several days in Cuba, I watched the Democrats debate last week and wondered why they don’t just hop on a plane and move to Havana, the Cuban capital that has been languishing in the 1950’s thanks to Fidel Castro’s revolution. Sure, the old cars are pretty cool to drive around in but most of them are dirty, loud, and don’t come close to meeting Obama’s emissions standards. The reason why they remain on the roads is not so much because of the U.S. embargo (the newer automobiles are Russian for the most part) but because the...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager is providing free and discounted cybersecurity services for political candidates ahead of 2020 elections . . . DDC is intended to help protect campaigns against phishing, as well as provide them with secure websites and mobile app security, among other services. Matt Rhoades, GOP Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign manager, co-founded the venture alongside Mook

The aerospace giant had named its hypersonic concept vehicle Phantom Express. That moniker is now oddly appropriate, since the spacecraft will never take physical form. Experimental Spaceplane, previously known as XS-1, aimed to nurture the development of a reusable vehicle that could help loft satellites cheaply and rapidly. Indeed, DARPA wanted the craft to be capable of launching 3,000-lb. (1,360 kilograms) satellites into orbit 10 times in 10 days, at a cost envisioned to drop eventually to around $5 million per mission. DARPA initiated Experimental Spaceplane in 2013. In 2017, the agency selected Boeing for the second and third phases...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

Today’s Campaign Update, Part II (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Don’t count on hearing from Hunter Biden or the fake whistleblower, folks. – Adam Schiff, in his closing arguments Friday night, pounded the final nail into the coffin on the question of whether any witnesses will ultimately be called in this national disgrace of a Senate trial against President Donald Trump. In the midst of repeating himself for about the 256th time over the past three days, ol’ Bugeyes made the mistake of tossing in something new, referring to a completely false CBS News report, citing only a “Trump confidant”...

Following Monday's 22,000-plus strong rally in Richmond, Virginia – which Gov. Northam claimed was "some kind of über-Klan rally of white supremacists," but the only arrest was for an LGBT activist who refused to remove her mask – the state's Democratic lawmakers proceeded to push through a gun-control bill one day later. I don't think Virginia politicians realize what a hornet's nest they're stirring.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff arrived in the Senate this week as an impeachment trial manager, leaving the House with a trail of inaccuracies, conspiracy theories and attempts at obstruction, the record shows. Liberal media have bathed the California Democrat in praise. A CNN analyst called him “dazzling.” A Washington Post reporter tweeted that his trial argument to convict President Trump was one for the ages.

Liberals are always claiming that radical Muslims pose no real threat to the Western world. We all know that’s not true. We are being sold out by the political class, importing the world’s trash will be the destruction of our nation. With all due respect for the immigrants that come here legally no matter the religion, but we have a huge problem with illegal immigration and with radical Muslims. Here we are not even 20 years after the largest Islamic terrorist attack in US history thanks to dangerous immigration policies by George W. Bush and Barack Obama. We are at...

Your yearly Dementia Test ! (only 4 questions this year) I am only sending this to old folks. Yep, it's that time of year again for us to take our annual senior citizen test. Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert. If you don't use it, you will lose it !!! Here is a very private way to gauge how your memory compares to your last test. Some may think it is too easy, but the ones with memory problems may have difficulty. Take this...

The Sundance Film Festival 2020 opened Thursday in Park City. Thus begins 10 days of the 36th annual “fest” around here. In years past the Festivals kickoff began with Robert Redford, president and founder of the Sundance Institute, giving his annual Day One speech. This year he was replaced with a “Day One Press Kit.” Sundance skipped its traditional opening day press conference where Redford, the festival's ever-sunny face, has presided since the 1980s. Last year, Redford made only a brief cameo at the press conference and said he would be stepping back. “We’re at a point where I can...

Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 5

This one will get you thinking! It has teeth. Just to be clear.....this is not opinion..they are factual. Life is not a fairy tale. If you lose your shoe at midnight, you’re probably drunk. If women are upset at Trump’s naughtiness, who bought 80 million copies of "Fifty Shades of Gray"? Bill Clinton paid $850,000 to Paula Jones to get her to go away. I don’t remember the FBI raiding his lawyer’s office. Not one feminist has defended Sarah Sanders. It seems women’s rights only matter if those women are liberal. They sent more troops and armament to arrest Roger...

MADISON — Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes believes we must “stymie capitalism” if we want to save the world from the threats of climate change. That’s what the Democrat told a gathering of fellow doom-and-gloomers last month during a panel discussion at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid. Barnes was joined on stage by a bevy of North American bureaucrats, including Canada’s “Climate Ambassador” and Mexico’s “Climate Change Director.”The “side event,” as it was described on the conference agenda, was on “subnational strategies in North America for meeting Paris Commitments.”  It was oozing with liberal politics. The session’s smug host,...

"There are clear weight-loss benefits to high-protein diets, which has boosted their popularity in recent years," said senior author Babak Razani, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine. "But animal studies and some large epidemiological studies in people have linked high dietary protein to cardiovascular problems. We decided to take a look at whether there is truly a causal link between high dietary protein and poorer cardiovascular health." The mice on the high-fat, high-protein diet developed worse atherosclerosis -- about 30% more plaque in the arteries -- than mice on the high-fat, normal-protein diet, despite the fact that the mice...

President Trump’s historic speech to the March for Life crowd on Friday reminds us that there is often a very line (and, quite often, very blurry) line between religion and politics. And as much as some of us would like to separate those two entities, putting each of them in their own category, it’s not always so easily done. On the one hand, the realm of religion – in the best sense of the word – is not political at all. It calls for human beings to come into right relationship with God, whether those human beings live in a...

Today’s CG was chosen by me. ZLJ MSRONJ QGSRBQFI RJPJQ UJJNM QJMIFRMSCNJ UFQ ZLJ UNFFB. ---BFYONGM GBGDM You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general comments, but DO post your time and any tips you might give the group on how...

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans said lead impeachment prosecutor Adam Schiff insulted them during the trial by repeating an anonymously sourced report that the White House had threatened to punish Republicans who voted against President Donald Trump. Schiff, who delivered closing arguments for the prosecution, was holding Republican senators rapt as he called for removing Trump from office for abusing his power and obstructing Congress. Doing anything else, he argued, would be to let the president bully Senate Republicans into ignoring his pressure on Ukraine for political help. “CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said that key senators...

As I wrote in The Spectator way back on February 13th 1999: At the time of writing, I do not know the verdict of the impeachment trial. But undoubtedly, by the time you read this, William Jefferson Clinton will have been convicted and removed by, oh, at least 83 out of 100 Senators. Okay, maybe not. So instead, in this brief interlude between the end of the President's first impeachment trial and the start of his second - over the so-called 'Jane Doe #5', the contract killing of Kathleen Willey's cat, or whatever else comes along - let me make...