Free Republic

GENEVA - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that white supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are becoming a “transnational threat” and have exploited the coronavirus pandemic to boost their support. “White supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are more than domestic terror threats. They are becoming a transnational threat,” he told the Geneva forum. Without naming states, Guterres added: “Today, these extremist movements represent the number one internal security threat in several countries.” In the United States, racial tensions simmered during the turbulent four-year presidency of Donald Trump. His successor Joe Biden has said the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S....

U.S. President Joe Biden will launch changes on Monday to the main U.S. coronavirus aid program for small businesses to try to reach smaller, minority-owned firms and sole proprietors left behind in previous rounds of aid. The changes, to be formally announced by Biden on Monday, come as small business bankers say demand for Paycheck Protection loans is slowing as firms reopen. The officials said the program will also set aside $1 billion for businesses without employees in low- and moderate-income areas, which are 70% owned by women and people of color. The SBA will provide new guidance making it...

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The renaming of 44 schools in the San Francisco Unified School District is apparently being put on hold after intense local and national blowback. In a statement first released in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, SF school board president Gabriela López said it would make reopening schools during the pandemic the “only focus,” and that renaming committee meetings will be cancelled for now. In response to widespread criticism that the school board had not consulted historians before the near-unanimous decision, Lopez promised a "more deliberative process moving forward, which includes engaging historians at nearby universities to help" with future...

Once limited to bank robbers, eccentric pop stars and health-conscious (and conscientious) Japanese tourists, the wearing of face masks in public is now common enough to be dubbed "the new normal". Normal it might be - but it's not new. From the Black Death to the suffocating smog, traffic pollution to the threat of gas attacks, face coverings have been worn by Londoners for the past 500-odd years. Although the very earliest masks were used to disguise, donning a protective (rather than costume) mask dates back to at least the 6th Century BC. Images of people wearing cloth over their...

(...) Motiva is currently assessing the impacts of Winter Storm Uri after record low temperatures necessitated the shutdown of its Port Arthur Manufacturing Complex on Sunday, February 14," said the company in its Feb. 19 statement. (...)

Anticipation is building over the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks. For many, a portion of their relief money may go straight into paying down credit card debt. Over 45% of U.S. families are still battling credit card debt, says LendingTree’s Value Penguin. Although Americans' card debt has dipped during the pandemic — as folks cut spending and follow stay-at-home orders — households are still carrying $6,270 in credit card debt on average. If you take the following shocking credit card statistics into account, it's no surprise many families are holding out for more stimulus relief from President Joe Biden....

Karen Hudson-Samuels’ career in broadcast journalism spanned over four decades in Detroit. After making her name at WGPR-TV as an anchor, producer and news director, the historian and journalist used her vision to create one of the biggest accomplishments of her lifetime. To preserve the history of the country’s first black-owned and operated television station, WGPR, Samuels worked tirelessly to bring the William V. Banks broadcast museum to life. “When this museum got into the national registry she was very, very proud,” her husband, Cliff Samuels said. The 68-year-old’s sudden death leaves the industry reciting her legacy and questioning why...

USCP Officer Brian Sicknick’ 44. Died of a stroke on Jan. 7. Brian is a Trump supporter, USCP officer, Howard Liebengood, 51, It seems self terminated Jan.9, MPD Officer Jeffrey Smith, It seems self terminated Jan.15, Of the 850 working security that day one lost a finger during a fight, while another, shot to death an un-armed female on the other side of a window she had broken. Lawmakers fain memorial Wednesday, for Brian in the Rotunda; where he has been lying in limbo. There will be a send-off milking before his remains are transported for burial. Pelosi delivers remarks...

“Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease” (Proverbs 22:10).

Merrick Garland will tell senators on Monday that he will fight discrimination and domestic extremism if confirmed as attorney general, according to testimony released by the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It is a fitting time to reaffirm that the role of the attorney general is to serve the Rule of Law and to ensure equal justice under the law,” Garland is expected to say at his confirmation hearing. Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court was bottled up in the Senate for nearly a year in 2016. Republicans refused to give him a hearing because they argued that the winner of that...

The gist of the Congressional inquiry into the role NSA may have played in manipulating the U.S. civilian government technical standards development and approval process is not the first time the legislative branch of government has smelled a rat when it comes to NSA inserting “Trojan horses” into standards developed for civilian government and commercial use. In the case of Dual_EC_DRBG, NSA’s zeal in providing itself with a hidden back door to spy on targeted computers and networks relying on the NIST standard may have boomeranged. Back doors of any nature in information technology products is a hack waiting to...

In the right context, cursing on the job can be cathartic. But in the wrong setting, it can stain a career — like in the infamous case of Charles Rocket, who was fired from Saturday Night Live soon after dropping an F-bomb during an episode on Feb. 21, 1981. This wasn't the dismissal of a frivolous bit player — Rocket had been singled out as a potential breakout star in the 1980-81 season, a polarizing and bizarre period in SNL history. The show's original executive producer, Lorne Michaels, left the sketch series with the intent of taking a year off...

It's the kind of thing you hear about but don't think anyone would really do. Vegas local Cynthia Baer says believe it. "This actually happens to people! It happened to me," she said. Watch the full story during Good Morning Las Vegas on 13 Action News at 5 and 6 a.m. Feb. 22. A frustrated worker might actually spit in your food. Here's Baer's story: she's a single mom selling her handmade masks on Etsy to help make ends meet. She says she needs to stay home and help her young children with online school. "We live such a careful...

Link only - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/01/meet-sg3-the-elite-legal-squad-that-vowed-to-safeguard-the-election

Texas utility regulators will temporarily ban power companies from billing customers or disconnecting them for non-payment, after the deadly winter storm that caused widespread blackouts, Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday. Abbott called an emergency meeting with state lawmakers on Saturday after reports of many customers receiving bills for thousands of dollars for just a few days of electricity service while Texas was gripped by frigid temperatures. 'Texans who have suffered through days of freezing cold without power should not be subjected to skyrocketing energy bills,' Abbott told reporters on Sunday in San Antonio.

Former President Donald Trump will soon begin screening 2022 midterm candidates who are eager to forward “America First” policies while ensuring every open Republican seat has a MAGA-approved contender vying for it. Trump has received dozens of requests from prospective candidates who wish to earn his support, and he is fielding them as he sees fit. Trump has rejected meetings with former South Carolina governor and 2024 hopeful Nikki Haley and with House and Senate GOP candidates vying for his ear. Formal meetings with prospects could begin as early as March, according to Politico.

Pop star Madonna took to Twitter Friday to rail against “the Patriarchy,” claiming that this entity “continues to try to crush my neck” and “cut off my life force and take away my voice.” “The Patriarchy continues to try to crush my neck with their heavy boots, cut off my life force and take away my voice — Even those who call themselves artists…………..” she wrote. While Madonna — who has a net worth of roughly $850 million — did not go on to clarify what she meant by “the Patriarchy” cutting off her “life force” and taking away her...

The National Football League did not have a very good year in terms of television ratings. Though, you wouldn’t know that based on what they’re asking their broadcast partners to pay. The NFL is asking their broadcast partners – NBC, Fox, CBS, ESPN (Disney) – to pay double what they have been paying for the right to broadcast NFL games. However, Disney-owned ESPN is throwing sand in the NFL’s gears.

The Wollman and Lasker rinks will not be closed after all, with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio suddenly folding to pressure to keep the ice rinks open. Sunday was destined to be the last day of the season the rinks would be open in Central Park. The mayor wanted to shut them down because they are run by the Trump Organization, whose contracts he has been trying to cancel in the wake of the Capitol riot.