Free Republic

In an extraordinary ruling, a state supreme court judge has ordered the developers of a nearly completed 668-foot block of flats in New York to remove as many as 20 or more floors from the top of the building. Scott Mollen, a lawyer with the firm Herrick Feinstein, which is representing the project, said the ruling contradicted earlier decisions from the Department of Buildings and the Board of Standards and Appeals that were based on a long-established zoning interpretation. SJP, one of the developers, said they would “appeal this decision vigorously”. What comes next is unclear. While further litigation would...

A new study from the MIT Sloan School of Management and State Street Associate says there's a 70% chance that a recession will occur in the next six months.The researches used a scientific approach initially developed to measure human skulls to determine how the relationship of four factors compares to prior recessions.The index currently stands at 76%. Looking at data back to 1916, the researchers found that once the index topped 70%, the likelihood of a recession rose to 70%.  There's a 70% chance that a recession will hit in the next six months, according to new research from...

The Republican Party did not respond positively to Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) waging a primary challenge against Sen. Kelly Laoeffler (R-Ga.), who was appointed to the seat by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) last December and has to defend it in a special election in November. Now, the National Republican Campaign Committee, the Senate GOP's campaign arm, has formally asked vendors to stop working for Collins and against Loeffler, and multiple vendors have quit the Colllins campaign, Politico reported Wednesday. Collins took the defections in stride. "Instead of a bunch of suits like the cast of Law & Order" working...

I see the big red trial balloon has been raised: Hillary as Mikey’s running mate anyone?(#EpsteinDidn’tKillHimself)Mike Bloomberg might be a shrimpy billionaire but he’s clearly none too smart if he’d even consider Hillary Clinton as his running mate. For one thing Hillary hardly personifies the ideal “mate” of any kind. Sure, she’s still married to Bill - in the same way albatrosses theoretically mate for life – but not in any meaningful way. Like all politicians her “friendships” are casual, serial and based entirely on expediency.Not that Little Big Man needs my advice but I’d think twice about choosing a...

WASHINGTON - When intelligence officials briefed President Donald Trump on the most worrisome terrorist threats during the first two years of his tenure, they regularly mentioned the names of the senior terror figures the CIA was working hardest to find and kill, including the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri. Trump would ultimately greenlight successful strikes on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Yemeni al Qaeda chief Qasim al-Rimi - perhaps the most significant names on the CIA list of potential U.S. targets. But he was more interested in a young and less influential figure much farther down the list,...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Psalm 119 Psalm 119[a] ‎א Aleph 1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,     who walk according to the law of the Lord. 2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes     and seek him with all their heart— 3 they do no wrong     but follow his ways. 4 You have laid down precepts     that are to be fully obeyed. 5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast     in obeying your decrees! 6 Then I would not be put to shame     when I consider all your commands. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart     as I...

Majors, 18, was at Morningside Park in New York City on Dec. 11 when three teenagers tried to rob her. She was stabbed repeatedly during a struggle. A 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged in the murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors, who was killed during an armed robbery in a New York City park in December. He is the second teen charged in the killing. A 13-year-old was arrested days after the incident and charged with second-degree murder, robbery and a weapons-related count. "Sadly, it cannot bring back this young woman, this student, this victim," New York City...

This was not a banner week for the idea that justice is alive and blind in America. Three separate stories converged to drive home the obvious truth that America has a two-tiered justice system: the Justice Department's decision to not indict the guilty-as-sin plotter Andrew McCabe, the attempt to give Roger Stone an outrageous jail sentence, and the Army's decision to shrug that one of its officers attempted to orchestrate the removal of his commander-in-chief. Even in the unlikely scenario that the Barr-Durham investigations send the full stable of coup-plotters to jail for decades, it will not erase the obvious...

Romney, along with Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, voted last week to allow for additional witnesses to testify at the impeachment trial. The measure ended up failing 49-51 after other moderate Republicans joined the rest of the party in voting no. As Romney “has said, he wants to hear from Ambassador Bolton, and he will vote in favor of the motion today to consider witnesses,” Johnson tweeted. But he stunned everyone as he becomes the only Republican to vote to convict President Donald Trump in the Democrat-led impeachment trial. But was that the only reason for his decision? A new...

The Women’s National Basketball Association and the Women’s National Basketball Players struck an eight-year labor deal that includes boosting the average player salary to six figures, guaranteeing full pay during maternity leave and providing better travel conditions. Cathy Engelbert, the commissioner of the WNBA, was instrumental in negotiating the collective bargaining agreement. A core part of the vision is to help catapult WNBA’s players like Candace Parker and Sue Bird into global superstardom, akin to the way LeBron James and Steph Curry have become household names.

If no news is good news we've got GREAT news. China didn't report ANY fatalities due to WuFlu yesterday!!! WOOHOO!!!

These thoughts reflect the writer's concern about the worsening political and social conditions in Germany, a nation whose importance — for America, Europe, and the world — should require no laboring to a readership of politically sophisticated Americans. What's happening today in Germany is deeply disturbing. And it's not for the reason casual American observers, including many conservatives, might think based on information derived from the mainstream English-language media. Contrary to these purveyors of globalist, multi-cultural propaganda, the reason for growing unease about Germany is not the presence in the German parliament (Bundestag), and persistent electoral strength, of "Die Alternative...

“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD . . . The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil” (Proverbs 16:1, 4).

So many of this week’s top news stories involve legal matters in Washington, D.C. that I’m making it the focus of this week’s column. There’s the Roger Stone case, the decision to close the investigation into Andrew McCabe over the Horowitz referral that indicated that he had lied to the FBI about the Clinton email leak, and Congressman Jerry Nadler’s calling Attorney General William Barr as a witness in an upcoming hearing. (a) The Problem with DC juriesWashington, D.C. has a relatively small population from which jurors must be found for the federal and local grand juries, petit juries, and...

Michael Bloomberg sent up a trial balloon on Saturday that should have us all very, very concerned. Mini-Mike had one or more of his lieutenants tell the Drudge Report that he is interested in picking the Pantsuit Princess to be his running mate should he win the Democrat Party’s presidential nomination. This is a very ominous sign that the entire Democrat Party is still working to install the most corrupt politician in American history in the nation’s highest office. Regular readers here will know that I don’t believe Mr. Bloomberg is really interested in serving four years as President. The...

China’s use of foreign media, Franco’s amateurish and heavy-handed attempts notwithstanding, are becoming increasingly sophisticated and the CCP is recruiting foreign faces for those platforms as well, especially on YouTube. Even in China, where YouTube is illegal, China’s government is using westerners to push the party line and suppress contradicting information. Westerners on those platforms outside of China, like J.J., and even inside China itself, have reported attempts by individuals to sponsor their platforms and secure them massive audiences on Chinese platforms in exchange for editorial control over a new, pro-CCP message.

ALBANY, N.Y. — A serial bank robber who struck again four hours after he was released from custody. A wall of white faces in police uniforms, filling the State Capitol steps in protest. A protected witness bludgeoned to death. These are some of the images and incidents that have been used in what has become one of New York’s most divisive political battles in years: a bitter, often racially tinged debate over the state’s new bail and discovery laws. Since the changes went into effect, law enforcement officials across the state have drawn attention to crimes committed by people freed...

Our gospel tune today is Drop Your Net by the Blue Sky Boys (1950). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

This week was dominated by the questions regarding the sentencing of political operative Roger Stone. Last January, he was subjected to a pre-dawn raid by federal officials carrying assault rifles. Somehow, CNN was informed about the raid and their cameras captured the dramatic footage of agents entering his home and arresting Stone. The former advisor to Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Trump was eventually charged and convicted of making false statements, obstruction of an official proceeding and witness tampering. The foreman of the jury that convicted Stone was Tomeka Hart, who revealed herself this week with public statements about the case....

Author’s Note: After receiving positive comments and emails from readers about Vol. 2 of this nascent, occasional Sunday series, I was encouraged to write Vol. 3. Today’s study explores a set of extremely controversial passages, Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 — found in the Old Testament, also referred to as the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Isaiah is influential and prophetic, with 66 chapters written by its namesake around 700 BC (or 700 BCE (or 700 BCE if you are trying to be politically-correct.) Isaiah also has the distinction of being the Old Testament book that Jesus quoted from second most frequently during his earthly...