Free Republic

If racism is so rampant in America, why is it that time and time again people must resort to staging fake hate crimes to expose it? A growing problem, fake hate crimes are quick to be downplayed by the media, but these episodes reached a pinnacle with disgraced actor Jussie Smollet, whose name has become a verb to describe such incidents. Smollet has plenty of company, as seen in Johnson City, Tenn., where a black woman was arrested for scraping the words “white pride” into the sidewalk in front of a local gym owned by a black man. Mahagany Teague,...

Before he folded his presidential campaign and turned to trolling President Trump on Twitter, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared at AIPAC last Monday: “I was never prouder than when I stood in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and argued that Muslims had every right to build a Mosque anywhere in our city, including near the World Trade Center.” He may have been proud, but he was not successful. The infamous Ground Zero Mosque was Bloomberg’s pet project and was hailed by all the leftist intelligentsia, including Barack Obama, but the planned 16-story structure was not...

The spread of the coronavirus in China was aided by a government crackdown on news about the virus. Government officials showed up at the home of the doctor who initially tried to spread word about the virus in a chat room. They forced him to sign a document warning him about his illegal behavior. Something similar may be happening in Iran. Officially, there are 6,566 cases of the virus in Iran. However, the Atlantic published a piece today suggesting the actual number could be far higher.Of course the whole problem is that Iran, motivated by domestic and international political...

Ray and I live in Western Washington, and our area is considered the first Hot Zone for the Coronavirus epidemic. The first US case was detected in our county, and the man (who had traveled to China recently) went to the hospital to which we would go if we got sick. He also recovered and went home about two weeks after he was hospitalized. We both work in a factory setting (myself in the one building my company occupies; Ray in an office building on a factory campus). Both our employers have published safety guidelines for what employees are supposed...

Roger Stone is awaiting a 40-month prison sentence while Andrew McCabe enjoys life as a high-profile CNN commentator, creating outrage among conservatives who see a political double standard when it comes to prosecutions of false statements. Both men lied to federal investigators or Congress, a federal offense that can be prosecuted and result in prison time. Their disparate treatment gives rise to concerns that Washington has a two-track justice system that prosecutes President Trump’s allies and allows his liberal opponents to go free. “The declination of prosecution with McCabe seemed to be a tipping point where the perception of a...

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump campaign has sent a scathing letter to Twitter's leadership after the platform took the unprecedented step of labeling one of its videos "manipulated media," saying that under the social media giant's new standard, Joe Biden's team has uploaded its own "doctored and deceptively edited" video as recently as last week. “The Biden campaign is scared as hell that voters will see the flood of unedited and embarrassing verbal stumbles that will continue go viral if ‘Status Quo Joe’ is the nominee," Trump campaign rapid response director Andrew Clark told Fox News. "Twitter shouldn’t be an enforcement arm...

SANTA FE — A global oil price war had New Mexico lawmakers and other elected officials on edge Monday, as a prolonged price crash could zap a recent revenue boom and cause a state budget surplus to evaporate. The uncertainty prompted Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to veto a spending bill that would have appropriated $49.5 million to fund 216 road projects statewide, including funding for bike paths, safety enhancements and median landscaping in Albuquerque. “We do not yet know the degree to which (the coronavirus) and declining oil prices will impact our state’s economy,” Lujan Grisham wrote in her veto...

Does coronavirus make it okay to leave people hanging when they offer a handshake? Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Tampa Bay area. Handshakes can spread germs, and with the continued spread of the new coronavirus, not to mention flu season, people may be dreading social situations that normally include a hearty handshake. In Florida, 12 residents had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday afternoon. Etiquette expert Elaine Swann says that in the modern era, handshakes remain an important part of business deals and socializing. Tampa Bay career and executive coach Dianne M. Kipp said she even has...

"three videos of the Congressional reality" Less than 30 minutes of your time.

House opens center to answer questions, considering unspent money for digital phones, laptops The eco-system of Congress – 435 House members, 100 senators and hundreds of support staffers all working in close quarters – is preparing for a scenario in which Capitol Hill is shuttered to avoid spreading the coronavirus. The House on Monday opened a logistics center in advance of hundreds of laptops, cellphones and other digital devices possibly being used if the roughly 12-building complex is closed to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. “We’re doing everything to have the resources everybody needs,” a House Administration Committee...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday pledged that he will provide all Americans with a free vaccine for coronavirus if he is elected president. Addressing supporters in St. Louis on the eve of the Missouri primary contest, Sanders assailed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar for saying the Trump administration cannot control the price of the vaccine “because we need the private sector to invest.” “We are uniquely prepared to take on a pharmaceutical industry which in some cases charges us ten times more for the same exact drug that’s sold abroad,” Sanders began. “Let me tell you, if...

A person, who attended the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). Mainstream media has gone mad reporting this fact:

New research from the Barna Group found that the share of practicing Christians in the United States has nearly dropped in half over the last two decades — a shift the group warns will have “major repercussions” for church leaders. The latest research from the evangelical Christian polling firm, which examined the role of Christianity in the American Church, reveals that that just 25 percent of Americans are practicing Christians, compared to 45 percent in 2000. Barna defines a “practicing Christian” as someone who identifies as a Christian, agrees strongly that faith is very important in their lives and has...

Vatican 2022 Synod on Synodality Holy See: Synodality is a 'linguistic novelty' VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - So-called synodality will be the topic of the next ordinary Synod of Bishops. "Pope Francis has convoked the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops," according to Cdl. Lorenzo Baldisseri via a Vatican press release issued on Saturday. Baldisseri, as general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, is saying the theme of the synod — scheduled for October 2022 — will be "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission." Pope St. Paul VI Synodality, as it has been put into practice of late, has been a maturing concept...

The unfortunate incident occurred ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, which makes the bite ominous – as according to legend, the patron saint of Ireland performed a miracle that banished all the venomous snakes from the island almost 1,500 years ago, using nothing but his faith. According to The Irish Post, a 22-year-old man from Dublin was sent to Connolly Hospital due to a venomous snakebite – which is believed to be the first such case ever recorded in the country. The hospital had to ask the National Reptile Zoo for an antivenom, as only this facility has the right to...

...In the 1970s, Congress facilitated the passage of tax breaks for companies that base their operations in Puerto Rico. Drug manufacturers took advantage of these benefits and converted the island into one of the world’s pharma production hubs. However, President Bill Clinton signed a law that started to phase out the tax breaks during the 1990s. Once these tax breaks fully expire in 2006, the industry started to leave the island. Policymakers should consider bringing back these strategic tax breaks...

SÃO PAULO, Brazil —A recent visit of a member of President Jair Bolsonaro’s cabinet to the headquarters of the National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) may not be enough to heal the sometimes turbulent relationship between the conservative government and the Catholic Church in the South American country, according to leading experts. On Feb. 19, Damares Alves – the Minister of Women, Family, and Human Rights – met in the capital Brasilia with two of the bishops’ conference’s vice-presidents, Archbishop Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre and Bishop Mário Antônio da Silva of Roraima, and the secretary-general of the...

Portland, Maine, Mar 4, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Maine voters Tuesday upheld a ban on exemptions to the requirement that students in Maine schools be vaccinated. Voters in the state rejected an effort to overturn a state law that will go into effect next September. The law eliminates parents’ ability to opt-out of the state’s school enrollment vaccination requirement because of their philosophical or religious beliefs. LD 798 passed in May 2019. Under the law, a child must be vaccinated to attend any school, public or private, unless there is a medical reason preventing vaccination, such as an allergy...

Video at link Cramer's not the biggest Trump fan. Apparently doesn't like the current health system. But he does offer advice that is probably correct in this scenario.

The incarcerated workers typically make 65 cents an hour. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that the state had found a way to counteract price gouging on hand sanitizer amid the COVID-19 outbreak: by deploying cheap prison labor. Incarcerated people will be producing 100,000 gallons of the disinfectant, branded as “NYS Clean hand sanitizer,” to be distributed to government agencies, prisons, public transportation systems, and schools for free. “This is a superior product to products now on the market,”