Free Republic

Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Oman, and Iraq reported their first coronavirus cases on Monday, all involving people who had been in Iran. Bahrain confirmed a single case, a citizen who arrived from Iran via Dubai, the health ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Bahrain News Agency. The patient was identified as a school bus driver and had worked Sunday, dropping off children at two schools. “All family members and individuals who have been in contact with the patient were contacted and tested to ensure they are free of the virus, as well as being placed under supervision for...

o say President Trump was welcomed in India is an understatement. While thousands of people lined the streets to greet America’s 45th president, that was just the beginning. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in Motera Stadium, the world’s largest cricket stadium, to an electrified crowd. The 110,000-seat arena was completely filled, and many were donning white caps that read “Namaste Trump” with the Indian and American flags on the brim. “The First Lady and I have just traveled 8,000 miles around the globe to deliver a message to every citizen across this nation: America loves India —...

Former Bill Clinton adviser Dick Morris said on 970 AM New York City’s “The Cats Roundtable” that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “will get massacred” in 2020 by President Donald Trump. Morris said, “Let me be clear: Bernie will get massacred by Trump. We’re not just talking about a minor defeat here. We’re talking about they lose the House. I think in the Senate, they could lose up to 60 seats. They could have up to 60 seat Republican majority, supermajority. I think that Bernie will get destroyed. I think the worst presidential defeat since McGovern.”

#NamasteTrump #USPresident #DonaldTrump is embarking on his maiden two day visit to India from February 24 which will further cement the relations between the two nations. Trump official visit kickstarts with his arrival in the city of Ahmedabad which is the business nerve center of the western state of Gujarat. Soon on his arrival at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport President Trump and Prime Minister #NarendraModi will hold a road show from the airport en route to the Sardar Patel stadium in #Motera. Over 1.2 lakh persons will participate in the participate in the ‘Namaste President Trump’ event on...

In a free society, speech at times can be annoying, obnoxious, unsettling or offensive. Panhandlers and political protesters can approach you on the street. Controversial ideas can be expressed on tee shirts, bumper stickers or license plates. And governments cannot block speech merely because it is irritating or bothersome — unless you are talking about commercial speech, in which case government bureaucrats have been given more deference to restrict speech. For example, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission determined that Uber and Lyft drivers could not install tablets that would display advertisements or allow passengers to play games...

A proposal from Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer to increase the federal minimum wage to $22 per hour would body-slam the economy, according to a former CEO of one of America's major corporations. Earlier this month, Steyer proposed increasing the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour, to $22 per hour, according to Fox Business. Other major Democratic presidential candidates have lined up behind a $15 minimum wage, according to The Washington Post.

Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett on Monday reaffirmed his aversion to cryptocurrencies. “Cryptocurrencies basically have no value and they don’t produce anything,” he told CNBC’s Becky Quick in a Squawk Box interview. “In terms of value: Zero.” “I don’t have any cryptocurrency and I never will,” he added. Buffett joined CNBC to discuss the markets just days after he released his annual shareholder letter.

Several people were injured Monday when a car drove into a carnival procession in the central German town of Volkmarsen, police said. "According to first reports, several people have been injured," police said in a statement, adding that the driver of the vehicle had been arrested. The local Waldeckische Zeitung daily cited witnesses as reporting some 15 people injured, "including small children". Volkmarsen is situated in the central state of Hesse, northwest of the city of Kassel. A silver Mercedes station wagon drove into a group of people at around 2:30 pm, according to a report in the Hessenschau.de. The...

For the past 11 months, Robert Hoogland, a father in Surrey, British Columbia, has been forced to watch as his 14 year-old daughter was “destroyed and sterilized” by court-ordered testosterone injections. After losing his legal appeal to stop the process in January, Rob (previously anonymized as “Clark” or “CD”) is making a desperate attempt to bring his case into the courts of public opinion, even though it breaks a court order demanding his silence about the case.“I had a perfectly healthy child a year ago, and that perfectly healthy child has been altered and destroyed for absolutely no good...

True to form, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (“CAIR”) -- also known as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the largest terrorist funding case in U.S. history, and a designated “terrorist organization” for nations allied to America -- is again protesting my forthcoming appearance to the U.S. Army War College, urging the latter to “reconsider its decision and disinvite Ibrahim,” since my presentation will no doubt be “hypocritical, ahistorical and hateful.” This, of course, is all déjà vu -- a repeat of events from eight months ago. As CAIR itself notes in it new press release, which came out on Feb. 21,...

A Michigan family is grieving the heartbreaking death of their 62-year-old relative, who police said was found frozen and emaciated inside his mobile home last weekend. According to WJRT-TV, police found Arnoul Jaros dead in his below-freezing home in Saginaw County on the afternoon of Feb. 15. Jaros’ family described him as a “recluse” who also suffered from extreme social anxiety. “Arnie,” as his family called him, rarely interacted with anybody and had not held a formal job since his 20s, his family told MLive. Karina Jaros told MLive that her uncle was fiercely independent and avoided situations where he...

The upcoming film “Onward,” which will be in theaters on March 6, will feature a self-identified lesbian heroine with a girlfriend, the first-ever animated LGBT character in the Disney-Pixar universe. The character, named Officer Specter, will be a Cyclops cop, voiced by openly gay screenwriter and actress Lena Waithe, Yahoo Entertainment reported. “It just kind of happened,” the film’s producer, Kori Rae, was quoted as saying. “The scene, when we wrote it, was kind of fitting and it opens up the world a little bit, and that’s what we wanted.” Director Dan Scanlon stated, “It’s a modern fantasy world and...

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court said it would consider the city of Philadelphia’s decision to exclude a Catholic organization from its foster-care program because the group indicated it wouldn’t work with same-sex couples as foster parents, a case with major constitutional implications for church and state. The justices, in a brief written order, said they would consider an appeal by Catholic Social Services and others who say the city’s position violates constitutional guarantees of religious liberty. Philadelphia says private groups that contract with the city to care for abused and neglected children must abide by the city’s antidiscrimination laws, which prohibit bias...

U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in the west Indian city of Ahmedabad Monday, beginning his first official visit to India with the inauguration of the world’s largest cricket stadium. In his two-day visit, Trump is expected to raise several issues, including religious freedom, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Accompanied by First Lady Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump addressed a gathering of about 100,000 people at the “Namaste Trump” event at the newly-built cricket stadium in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the home state of Modi, Monday afternoon. “All over the planet, people take great joy...

Why do our political leaders want to take away our plastic bags and straws? This question is even more puzzling than a related one that I’ve been studying for decades: Why do they want us to recycle our garbage? The two obsessions have some common roots, but the moral panic over plastic is especially perverse. The recycling movement had a superficial logic, at least at the outset. Municipal officials expected to save money by recycling trash instead of burying or burning it. Now that recycling has turned out to be ruinously expensive while achieving little or no environmental benefit, some...

Hundreds of people have been filmed queuing up to buy face masks in the city at the centre of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak. A long line of people snaked out the doors of a supermarket in the city of Daegu on Monday as people tried to protect themselves against the spread of the disease amid fears of a global pandemic. South Korea now has the largest number of confirmed cases outside of mainland China after infections spiked at the weekend, standing at 830 by Monday morning.

For decades, liberal activists yearned for a European-style, single-payer health system that they argued would lead to more affordable, efficient, and comprehensive medical coverage for all citizens. When Vermont four years ago enacted a landmark bill to establish the nation’s first single-payer health care system, they saw their long-sought dream about to be fulfilled. But reality hit last month. Governor Peter Shumlin released a financial report that showed the cost of the program would nearly double the size of the state’s budget in the first year alone and require large tax increases for residents and businesses. ---SNIP--- In short, if...

This reads like a Tom Clancy novel on steroids. Like a bizarre merger between Debt of Honor and Executive Orders, our hero, Jack Ryan/Donald J. Trump as the Boy Scout who can't be bought, has to deal with a myriad of seemingly disparate circumstances that intertwine into a cataclysmic finish that only our hero can navigate. But unlike in a "normal" Clancy thriller, our hero is not presented with three simultaneous crises. In our real-life adventure, Trump is dealing with more than double that number. Our in-your-face villain is the Deep State, who, in an unusual turn, has decided to...

While Michael Bloomberg's Nevada debate performance was justly and widely panned, he attacked Bernie Sanders effectively, demonstrating he's probably the only candidate who can derail the Vermont senator's nomination. By the same token, Sanders can wreck Bloomberg's hopes by mobilizing his own base against the billionaire at the convention or even running as an independent candidate. Each man has the ability to take the other one down, and that dynamic is the key to who eventually wins the nomination. The sudden ascent of Bloomberg to the top ranks of Democrat contenders is generating plenty of speculation about machinations within the...

President Trump spoke at an unusual graduation ceremony on Thursday and inspired the class of graduates, all former prisoners. HOPE for Prisoners assists formerly incarcerated people with reentry into society by providing long-term support and services. Founder Jon Ponder experienced significant challenges on his release from prison and noted the lack of resources for others in his situation. He started HOPE for Prisoners to help others.Trump has often expressed his support for criminal justice reform, signing into law several acts that reduced sentencing, shortened jail terms, and stopped the chaining of women in prison as they give birth. His...