Free Republic

For many years I’ve avoided writing about “West Side Story.” As a Puerto Rican critic, I resent the expectation that I have something to say about a musty old musical from 1957. Just as the U.S. government bestowed second-class American citizenship upon islanders in 1917 without popular consent, “West Side Story” continues to recruit us as extras even when we never intended to audition for the show. The Puerto Rican writer Nelson Rivera once recalled studying abroad in Paris, where he was greeted by “Oui, ‘West Side Story’!” at every turn, as if collecting stamps in the passport of an...

As of November 2019, Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg was “the 12th richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $61.8 billion.” That quote came from this paragraph, which also gives one a sense of how quickly Mr. Bloomberg’s net worth has grown. On Valentine’s Day 2020, Forbes’ profile listed Bloomberg as the 8th richest person in America, and the magazine’s “real time net worth” gizmo calculated his wealth at $62.8B. Pretty soon we’re gonna be talking “real money.” In March of 2009, Forbes pegged Bloomberg’s wealth at $16B, a $4.5B bump-up from the previous year, and...

Former New York mayor and multibillionaire Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, four years ago at Oxford, England, dismissed farming, ancient and modern. He lectured that agriculture was little more than the rote labor of dropping seeds into the ground and watching corn sprout — easy, mindless, automatic. “I could teach anybody,” Bloomberg pontificated, “even people in this room, no offense intended, to be a farmer.”

Can President Trump invoke emergency powers that would wave many of the non-essential permits and red tape issues and begin rapidly ramping up Factories in the United States? It would seem to me that if we act NOW (not three months from now) we can accomplish two major things to avoid Catastrohpie. 1) Reduce reliance on non US Made Goods. 2) Put people to work who lost jobs due to supply chain collapse. Even if Coronavirus is kept in control here (and that's not likely) the economic collapse coming is going to be significant, and worse, medicines and other essential...

Jim Acosta calling the president a liar to his face in front of a foreign audience on the basis of nothing is a bad look. He came all the way around the world to make a jerk out of himself. Acosta is a DNC activist. He should no longer consider himself a journalist and should not be called one. What he did today, in a foreign land is tantamount to treason. Today he proved that he is now a journalist again. President Trump fired back at CNN’s Jim Acosta after the reporter accused him of lying. While holding an afternoon...

You know it’s NFL scouting combine week when we hear talk of how big a quarterback’s hands are. One of the more curious phenomena of the combine coverage is the overreaction to hand size. Good or bad, you’re going to hear more about how big a quarterback’s hands are than you ever expected. In the case of presumptive first overall pick Joe Burrow, the news of his hand measurement will be a part of the conversation surrounding his draft stock. And the news was not great.

An 11-year-old girl toting a loaded AR-15 assault weapon appeared Monday at a legislative hearing with her grandfather, who is supporting a proposal that would allow visitors to Idaho who can legally possess firearms to carry a concealed handgun within city limits. Charles Nielsen addressed the committee that voted to send the legislation to the full House as Bailey Nielsen stood at his side with the weapon slung over her right shoulder, but did not say anything. “Bailey is carrying a loaded AR-15,” Charles Nielsen told lawmakers. “People live in fear, terrified of that which they do not understand. She’s...

The only thing that can be said about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's first appearance with his fellow Democratic presidential candidates in Las Vegas Wednesday night was that Mike did not get it done, as his campaign ads promise he will if he becomes president. He was boring, expressionless and could not defend himself against past racist, sexist and misogynistic comments, including one mentioned by Elizabeth Warren, who said Bloomberg once referred to women as "fat broads" and "horse-faced lesbians." During the debate he also refused to release women who worked for him from sexual harassment nondisclosure agreements,...

A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 80,000 people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it. The latest figures reported by each government’s health authority as of Tuesday in Beijing: — Mainland China: 2,663 deaths among 77,658 cases, mostly in the central province of Hubei — Hong Kong: 81 cases, 2 deaths — Macao: 10 cases — South Korea: 977 cases, 11 deaths — Japan: 860 cases, including 691 from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 4 deaths — Italy:...

Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) on Monday doubled down on his praise of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and added praise for aspects of the Chinese authoritarian regime. “Truth is truth. All right?” Sanders said at a CNN town hall event when challenged on his previous praise for Castro’s regime. “If you want to disagree with me, if somebody wants to say that—and by the way, all of the Congress people you mentioned just so happen to be supporting other candidates…but you know, the truth is the truth. And that is what happened on the first years of the Castro regime.”...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Psalm 119 Psalm 119[a] י Yodh 73 Your hands made me and formed me;     give me understanding to learn your commands. 74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,     for I have put my hope in your word. 75 I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous,     and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. 76 May your unfailing love be my comfort,     according to your promise to your servant. 77 Let your compassion come to me that I may live,     for your law is my delight. 78 May the arrogant be...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has decided to bring the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act up for consideration in the Senate; meanwhile, over 80 times in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has blocked efforts to bring up for a vote this bill that will simply require life-saving medical care to be given to infants who survive abortion. Democrats have tried to argue that the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is unnecessary because we already have protections in place and that doctors will be convicted under state homicide laws. They have even gone so far as to say born-alive infants do not...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released his plan to give free, full-day child care for every child beginning at infancy and free preschool education to all children starting at age three at a cost of $1.5 trillion over the next ten years. The federally funded programs would be administered by states and tribes in partnership with local public school systems, and the money would also theoretically pay for workers who run the programs and infrastructure costs.

Subway crimes spiked this January compared to the same month last year — and the number of robberies more than doubled, police said Monday. There were 261 major felonies recorded in the subway system this January — as opposed to 201 in January 2019, according to NYPD data shared at the MTA’s board monthly transit committee meeting. Of the 75 robberies reported, the NYPD made 58 arrests, Transit Bureau Assistant Chief Vincent Coogan said. Last January there were only 35 robberies with 31 arrests, according to the NYPD. Coogan tried to downplay the rising numbers — but admitted that crime...

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's security situation has been branded 'unworkable' as it's revealed that the couple's cost could soar to £20 million a year. Experts claimed the couple's jet-set lifestyle could leave the police unable to cope as they undertake trips to various countries in order to establish their own brand away from the British Monarchy. A row has reportedly broken out as to who will foot the bill to keep the couple and their son Archie safe as they continue to live in Canada. The independent couple could push costs to the extreme as they continue to act,...

“By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone. Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it” (Proverbs 25:15).

Iran's deputy health minister has tested positive for coronavirus as the crisis deepened in the Islamic republic today. Iraj Harirchi was taken into quarantine just a day after sweating heavily at a press conference where he insisted that the outbreak was not as bad as feared. The virus's spread into the health ministry is the latest sign of Tehran's faltering efforts to contain the outbreak as the official death toll rose to 15 today. The regime has refused to seal off the holy city of Qom at the centre of the crisis even as pilgrims spread the virus around the...

I’m quick to blame men for their toxic behavior, but in this case, I, the woman, was part of the problem Emily Halnon Mon 24 Feb 2020 04.30 ESTLast modified on Mon 24 Feb 2020 08.58 EST Shares 750 Emily Halnon’s boyfriend in his dress: ‘I’ve found the one!’ he proclaimed when he bought it. Emily Halnon’s boyfriend in his dress: ‘I’ve found the one!’ he proclaimed when he bought it. Photograph: Emily Halnon My gaze scanned the colorful racks of clothing and stopped abruptly on something I’d never expected to see: my boyfriend was clutching a wedding dress –...

The mainstream media will never admit it, but Donald Trump is responsible for the most remarkable economic boom that Black America has ever seen.  For the past three years, this president has worked to ensure that America’s strong and growing economy works for all Americans, not just corporations and wealthy investors — and his efforts are already paying major dividends in our community.  I’ve said this before and I will say it again — the best social program in the world is a good-paying job, not a welfare handout. Thanks to President Trump’s policies — including massive tax cuts...

Here we are – Fat Tuesday, Carnevale, Shrove Tuesday. The final debauchery prior to the Lenten season of penitence and prayer, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins and almsgiving. So…laissez les bon temps rouler! Back in the day we’d always celebrate at Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen in downtown Detroit where they had the best catfish beignets, oysters Rockefeller, crayfish étouffée and Jambalaya this side of New Orleans.And one year we actually went to New Orleans for the last few days of Mardi Gras, it was crazy and fun and exhausting. It’s the sort of thing you should only do once and...