Free Republic

Former Attorney General Eric Holder insists that his redistricting lobbying and litigation shop merely wants to make maps less partisan. Responding to our editorial last November on his court redistricting coup, he wrote that he supported “citizens or nonpartisan commissions to draw electoral lines so neither party benefits.” Interesting, then, that he’s not supporting such a reform in Virginia now that Democrats control the Legislature. Last week Virginia’s House of Delegates voted 54-46 to place a referendum on the November ballot to establish an ostensibly nonpartisan citizen commission to draw legislative and Congressional maps after the 2020 Census. A majority...

Looks like another blood bath today.  The Coronavirus hysteria in the media is drving the market down. https://www.cnbc.com/pre-markets/   

The cruise ship industry is reeling. The outbreak of the new coronavirus has made the basic fundamentals of the business medically inadvisable to the point that the State Department has issued a warning to U.S. travelers—chief among them the elderly—to stop taking cruise ships until the threat has passed. And yet, even as thousands of people have found themselves stuck on ocean liners, in close confines with others suffering from a deadly virus, not everyone is ready to bag their cruise ship getaway. Indeed, while some shudder at the prospect of enduring severe flu-like symptoms and a 14-day quarantine, others...

Most conservatives who lived through the Clinton years would not want to stomach all 253 minutes of the new "Hillary" documentary streaming on Hulu, a platform now owned and controlled by Disney. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was asked if he would do an interview for it, and apparently, he told the filmmakers he would "rather stick needles in (his) eye than do the interview." I sat through all of it. There's only one Republican in this thing -- former Sen. Bill Frist -- and he was quoted as saying that it "was easy to demonize her." Gingrich knew instinctively...

Dr. Helen Y. Chu, an infectious disease expert in Seattle, knew that the United States did not have much time. In late January, the first confirmed American case of the coronavirus had landed in her area. Critical questions needed answers: Had the man infected anyone else? Was the deadly virus already lurking in other communities and spreading? As luck would have it, Dr. Chu had a way to monitor the region. For months, as part of a research project into the flu, she and a team of researchers had been collecting nasal swabs from residents experiencing symptoms throughout the Puget...

Tuesday during remarks carried live on CSPAN, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the Democrats were worried about President Donald Trump’s “incompetence and lack of focus” regarding the fight against the spread of coronavirus. Now, I’m going to be blunt. We are very worried about the president’s incompetence and lack of focus on fighting the spread of coronavirus. We believe that his lack of focus, his hamstringing efforts to address this public crisis, and inflicting pain on the stock market. One word could describe thus far the administration’s response, incompetence.”

The mainstream media has downplayed another scandal involving former Vice President Joe Biden's family.A new report revealed legal problems and allegations of possible fraud involving former Biden's brother, James, on Monday – but anyone who relies on the mainstream media would have no idea. In the latest instance of the Democratic primary front-runner’s family members’ dealings drawing scrutiny amid his presidential bid, James Biden’s business with medical companies – including Americore Health – led to allegations that he potentially engaged in fraud and traded on his brother’s name, Politico reported early Monday.CNN and MSNBC completely ignored the story on air through Tuesday afternoon. ABC, NBC and CBS skipped the story on their evening...

There’s an old brain teaser that goes like this: You have a pond of a certain size, and upon that pond, a single lilypad. This particular species of lily pad reproduces once a day, so that on day two, you have two lily pads. On day three, you have four, and so on. Now the teaser. “If it takes the lily pads 48 days to cover the pond completely, how long will it take for the pond to be covered halfway?” The answer is 47 days. Moreover, at day 40, you’ll barely know the lily pads are there. That grim...

There was another mass shooting in America. This time at a Molson Coors brewery in Milwaukee on February 26. An employee walked in the plant and, for inexplicable reasons, gunned down five people before committing suicide. This tragedy has once again sparked the discussion of gun control. The usual suspects are making the usual claims - and as usual - stoking demonization of Second Amendment advocates. But much of the public and media discourse about mass shootings, like the public discourse about crime in general, is fact-free. This has led to a political and ideological war. As in all wars,...

From Twitter, cropped by Dean Weingarten Writing in the Atlantic, Aaron Tang, Professor of law at the University of California, creates a profoundly misleading comparison of the Second Amendment with a fabricated entitlement to an education. Tang attempts to make the case that Second Amendment supporters and proponents of a theory the Constitution guarantees a right to an equally funded state education are rough equivalents.There are minimal similarities in the arguments: a basic right implies a level of supporting rights. You cannot have effective Second Amendment rights without access to ammunition and a place to train. You cannot have an...

Washington (CNN)Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, a key voice on gun violence prevention, has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, calling him the "choice for a true gun safety president." "Joe Biden leads with his heart. He has the compassion and toughness to lead on gun safety," Giffords said in a statement Wednesday morning. "I've witnessed him comfort the survivors of gun violence, and I've seen him fight for solutions to gun violence—and win. This is the leadership we need in the White House. Joe Biden is the choice for a gun safety president." Biden thanked Giffords for her support,...

Do you have your "bug-out bag" (BOB) ready for when the "s*** hits the fan" (SHTF), or will you "bug in" for "the end of the world as we know it" (TEOTWAWKI)? This jargon is well understood within niche "prepper" communities, whose members spend their lives preparing for impending Armageddon -- natural disasters, pandemics or financial collapse. And the ideas that drive this culture are becoming increasingly mainstream as coronavirus panic sees people across the world stockpiling rations, sourcing gas masks and self-isolating at home. Now, "civilians" are turning to expert preppers in droves for help in getting ready for...

After years of squeezing ever more workers into tighter office spaces, companies are realizing how efficiently the modern workspace can spread diseases like the coronavirus. Cubicles and private offices have made way for open floors, where a sneeze or cough can circulate uninterrupted. Companies have removed physical barriers between employees, encouraging them to socialize as much as possible. Between 2018 and 2019, the average office space per seat in North America declined by 14.3% to 195.6 square feet, according to brokerage firm JLL’s 2020 Occupancy Benchmarking Report. Many companies also have abolished assigned seating, rotating workers through the office. That...

Anti-Trump NBC pundits Seth Meyers and Nicolle Wallace just mockingly asked if during the Coronavirus panic, it was proper for First Lady Melania Trump to give an update on the construction of the White House tennis pavilion. Long-time President Trump despising talk-show host Meyers condescendingly opined to Wallace: “If people want to play tennis, they should be able to play tennis. I feel very strongly about this. But…our first lady, in the middle of a pandemic, posted a photo about how the tennis pavilion is going. As someone who was in communications, do you think this is a good...

In recent years, discussion about homelessness has been circumscribed around a set of premises acceptable to progressive opinion. The homeless were thrown onto the streets, we’re told, because of rising rents, heartless landlords, and a lack of economic opportunity. Activists, journalists, and political leaders have perpetuated this line of reasoning and, following it to its conclusion, have proposed investing billions in subsidized housing to solve homelessness. But new data are undermining this narrative. As residents of West Coast cities witness the disorder associated with homeless encampments, they have found it harder to accept the progressive consensus—especially in the context of...

I was proud recently when Marc Little, chairman of my organization, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, stood behind President Donald Trump at a White House event for Black History Month and prayed for him. Then a parade of black liberals did their thing in the media to try to deflate and devalue this important event. Their actions help us understand why so little progress has been made after more than half a century of civil rights activism. CNNs Keith Boykin called the black Christians grouped around the president "Uncle Toms." Chris Redd of "Saturday Night Live" called them...

A Florida woman stepped forward to claim a Powerball jackpot from January worth $369.9 million, Florida Lottery officials announced Tuesday in a news release. She will know how to get the most out of her money, too. According to Sheryll Goedert’s profile on LinkedIn, she is an accountant with offices in Ocala and Dunnellon. Goedert chose to receive the winning amount in a one-time, lump-sum payment of $276,558,034.09, according to the Florida Lottery. That’s before taxes. The winning ticket was a Quick Pick, purchased at a 7-Eleven store in Bonita Springs. The retailer will receive a $100,000 bonus commission for...

"Never let a crisis go to waste,” Rahm Emanuel famously said during the 2008 recession. That same ethos is currently at play in the current Coronavirus crisis. Democrats have wasted no time using the health scare to push long-time progressive policy goals, including paid sick leave and “universal health care.” During a recent Democratic press conference on the viral outbreak, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said the issue proved the need for paid family leave, collective bargaining, ObamaCare, expanding entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid — all of which she said are now isues of “national security.”

Joe Biden was sworn into the United States Senate on Jan. 3, 1973. He remained in the Senate until Jan. 15, 2009 -- a span of 36 years. If history is any guide, that alone is a disqualifier in Biden's quest for the White House. What does 36 years in the Senate say about a politician? It says he is a senator -- not a president. So the first reason Biden will not become president is that no one who served 36 years in the Senate has ever become president. No one who served 30 years in the Senate has...

"O Lord, in accordance with all Thy righteous acts, let now Thine anger and Thy wrath turn away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Thy servant and to his supplications, and for Thy sake, O Lord, let Thy face shine on Thy desolate sanctuary. "O my God, incline Thine ear and hear! Open Thine eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by...