Free Republic

The following is a recent note that I wrote to our former high school football coach, Art Davis, who is now 85 years old. Dear Art, Thanks for the greetings. I hope you were able to make contact with my brother Tom. I got to thinking about the similarities of what we both do. You were the football coach at Barstow High School. The BHS varsity Football team, under your direction, won for the first time, the California State Championship (CIF), division AA, 50 years ago in 1969. You are a football coach. In a certain sense, I might call...

You would have thought that the vibe at CPAC this year would involve stressing about our November election prospects, but even as the market dipped over the coronavirus scare the general consensus was that whether we face Vermont Stalin or that miserable monied midget, we got this. The common image of conservatives is one of dour pessimism, but that is less due to some inherent doom-mongering on the right than to the decades of failure by Conservative Inc. Under the wise, steady guidance of our establishment betters, all we did was lose, but Donald Trump gave the cons a...

The senior official passed away on Monday morning at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, where a large number of Tehrani citizens suffering from the disease are hospitalized. Born in 1948 in Qom, Mr. Mohammadi was a member of the sixth and seventh Iranian parliaments. He had been appointed by Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as a member of the Expediency Discernment Council since August 2017. He was also a nephew of senior cleric Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani, and his mother – the cleric’s sister – had earlier died of the same disease. Before Mirmohammadi, Iran’s former ambassador to Vatican, Hadi...

A French hypermarket used self-service checkout stations to circumvent the country’s strict limits on working on Sundays, and many people were none too happy. Advertising For the first time in French history, a hypermarket was open on a Sunday afternoon. French labor law prohibits the employees of hypermarkets and large supermarkets from working after 1pm on Sundays. But last Sunday, the Géant Casino de la Roseraie in Angers, in northwestern France, was open to customers until 9pm. So how did they do it? Self-checkout stations and security guards employed by an external company. The workaround at the 5,000-square-metre store didn’t...

Some Israeli celebrities took to social media on Monday to post about the unprecedented third round of elections in Israel, but many chose not to rock the vote so much as ignore it. Among those who did acknowledge the day were actress/model Yuval Scharf, who posted a picture of herself on Instagram canoodling with her husband, musician Shlomi Shaban, next to the message, "Choose right ♥️ #govote #forabettertomorrow#today"

(Reuters) - South Korea reported 123 new coronavirus cases, taking the country's total infections to 4,335, the Yonhap news agency said, citing health authorities. The updated numbers added to the 476 recorded earlier ... (Full article at the link)

Subtitle: The Article VI Placebo There are some bright guys at The John Birch Society (JBS). Since I share their exasperation with Washington DC, I wish they devoted more of their intelligence to study. In particular, they should look both closer at, and beyond, Article VI. The pertinent clauses of Article VI are frustratingly brief. The Constitution, laws pursuant thereof and treaties are the supreme law. Judges and everyone else in the state and federal governments are “bound by oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.” Well, there you go. JBS relies on Article VI to restore Constitutional government. Just...

Donald Trump was right. Germs are scary. For three decades, I talked to Trump about his fear of germs. When I interviewed him at the Trump Tower restaurant during the 2016 race, the famous germophobe had a big hospital-strength bottle of hand sanitizer on the table, next to my salad, ready to squirt. He told me about the nightmarish feeling he had when a man emerged from the bathroom in a restaurant with wet hands and shook his hand. He couldn’t eat afterward. Today, in a stunning twist of fate, germs are infecting his presidency and threatening a bad prognosis...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Sunday that it is investigating a manufacturing defect in some initial coronavirus test kits that prompted some states to seek emergency approval to use their own test kits.

China could be facing a locust invasion, a government body warned on Monday, urging local authorities to prepare for the arrival of the voracious insects that are already in neighboring Pakistan and India.

Sen. Doug Jones took a pricey European fundraising trip this winter where he stayed at two fancy hotels in London and Paris and paid for the luxe getaway with his campaign funds, records show. The Alabama Democrat spent $487 to stay at the K+K Hotel Cayre in Paris, billed as “a beautiful historic building located in heart of Saint Germain Des Prés” that's within walking distance to Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. The hotel boasts "soundproofed" luxury rooms and private black marble bathrooms with underfloor heating. The red-state politician up for reelection in November also spent $1,296 at the Baglioni...

Singer, who opposed President Trump's campaign in 2016, has since changed his tune, raising the prospect that some of the changes to Twitter could make the platform a friendlier place for pro-Trump users. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Singer donated $24 million to Republican and right-leaning groups in the 2016 election...Trump said in 2017. "So, I want to thank Paul Singer for being here and coming up to the office. He was a very strong opponent and now he's a very strong ally and I appreciate that."

The owners of a Mexican restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, who were criticized for attending a Trump rally, got a five-star review from the sitting president himself. After Betty Rivas was spotted in the audience at President Trump's Feb. 19 rally in Phoenix, negative reviews began hitting the Facebook page for Sammy's Mexican Grill. That hurt business for several days, co-owner Jorge Rivas told "FOX & Friends" Sunday, but he said Saturday was a "very good day" for sales. "The food is GREAT at Sammy's Mexican Grill in Phoenix, Arizona," Trump tweeted. "Congratulations to Betty & Jorge Rivas on doing such...

North Korea launched at least one unidentified projectile on Monday, just days after its leader Kim Jong Un supervised an artillery drill aimed at testing the combat readiness of some of its units.

Moments after former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg told supporters he's ending his presidential campaign Sunday, President Trump said it reflected the growing pressure among more moderate Democrats to consolidate in order to blunt the rise of progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Trump tweeted: "Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday votes will to Sleepy Joe Biden. Great timing. This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play - NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!" Buttigieg previously had said Sanders was too liberal to be elected.

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Religion Forum threads labeled "Prayer" are closed to debate of any kind.

The Seoul city government says it will open tomorrow four "drive-through" coronavirus testing facilities in the capital. The makeshift clinics will be set up in the Eunpyeong, Seocho, Songpa and Gangseo districts. Those with COVID-19-like symptoms will be able to get tested for the disease without getting out of their cars. (Please see link for full story)

Hip-hop legend Flavor Flav was fired from Public Enemy on Sunday night after he slapped Bernie Sanders with a cease-and-desist letter for claiming the group would perform at a rally in Los Angeles. “Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,” the group said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.”

The Center for Disease Control mistakenly released a patient from the San Antonio Texas Center for Infection Disease Sunday, according to Mayor Ron Nirenberg. The patient had some contact with others while out of isolation, and local public health officials are following up to trace possible exposures and notify them of the potential risk.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is currently the youngest man still standing in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Of the men remaining on the Democratic side, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are both 78, although Bloomberg’s birthday was last month and Sanders will turn 79 in September.