Free Republic

Gamblers will soon be able to roll the dice in New York City. A state board on Monday awarded three licenses to operate the first Vegas-style casinos in New York City that are expected to generate billions of dollars in tax revenues, jobs and economic activity — two in Queens and one nearby in The Bronx. The New York Gaming Facility Location Board, in a 5-0 vote, approved licenses to all three finalists: Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock’s Metropolitan Park gaming complex near Citi Field. The Genting Group Resorts World’s slots parlor’s expansion to offer table games next...

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. This event is one of 1,000 "Random Acts of Culture" to be funded by the...

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In a late-night Truth Social post published on Thanksgiving evening, President Trump called for “reverse migration” and promised sweeping changes to U.S. immigration policy. His message came in the wake of a tragic shooting in Washington, D.C., where a 29-year-old Afghan national allegedly gunned down two members of the National Guard. One soldier has died, and the other remains in critical condition. In a later reported incident, Fox News published that an "Afghan national was arrested this week after posting a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth...

Last May, two brothers allegedly bound their 18-year-old sister in packing tape, gagged her, and drowned her in a swamp. This was an honour killing, motivated by what the girl’s brothers saw as her ‘westernisation.’ During the trial last week, WhatsApp messages revealed that the family’s main grievances were the fact that she had refused an arranged marriage, had a boyfriend, and had stopped wearing a headscarf. “There is no other solution,” one of the brothers wrote in a message. The girl’s own mother said that she was “a disgrace to the family and deserves to die” and should be...

Daily Readings from the USCCBWhen Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 8:10–11Jesus looks into the heart, not just at one’s exterior. Today’s Gospel presents us with the profound faith of a Roman centurion—a pagan and Gentile. Though not of the Jewish faith, this centurion recognized Jesus’ spiritual authority to...

... KEY FACTS Since calling the strike on November 13, the company’s highly trafficked “Red Cup Day” when it gives away free reusable coffee cups to customers, Starbucks Workers United reports new stores have been added to its strike list each passing week, now totaling 120 stores. SWU claims that baristas in 550 unionized stores are prepared to continue escalating the strike until Starbucks delivers a fair union contract and resolves hundreds of unfair labor practices charges. Since the strike began, Starbucks has disputed the number of stores impacted, claiming many stores on the strike list never closed and others...

Kaja Kallas said that Belgium has legitimate concerns about the risks, but the other member-states have said that they are willing to share those risksBRUSSELS, December 1. /TASS/. The European Commission intends to make the decision on the expropriation of Russian assets at the European Council’s meeting on December 18-19, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told reporters. "We are not going to leave the Council in December without the result for the financing of Ukraine," Kallas said. "Belgium has legitimate concerns about the risks, but the other member-states have said that they...

If you grew up in a Latino household, you know the blue tin. You know the smell. You know the heartbreak of opening it and finding sewing needles instead of cookies. Royal Dansk is basically a cultural artifact at this point. So when TikTok videos started going viral claiming our favorite Danish butter cookies are “actually made in India,” the internet spiraled.

China's new low-altitude economy is taking off with flying taxis and food delivery drones, but the industry faces obstacles, including strict airspace controls. In the neighboring city of Shenzhen, food-delivery drones have become an integral part of everyday life and serve as a unique tourist attraction, despite the premium pricing for such services. At the waterfront park encircled by towering skyscrapers, Polish visitor Karolina Trzciańska and her companions placed a phone order for bubble tea and lemon tea, simply to experience the novelty.

Food stamps were first issued in 1939 as an assistance program to prevent starvation during the Great Depression. But 86 years later, thousands of liquor stores and smoke shops have become approved retailers, increasing the possibility of fraud, new research shows. The longest ever government shutdown, which ended after 43 days of deadlock, thrust the federal food stamp program into the national spotlight as millions of recipients went without benefits. But, it also laid bare many abuses in the system. Even before the shutdown, the Trump administration planned to crack down on fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)...

A federal appeals court said on Monday that Alina Habba had been serving unlawfully as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, dealing a blow to the Trump administration and most likely setting up a showdown at the Supreme Court. In its ruling, the three-judge panel, based in Philadelphia, affirmed an earlier ruling by a Federal District Court judge, shooting down each of the government’s arguments for why Ms. Habba could continue to serve. In their opinion, the judges wrote that the Trump administration appeared to have become frustrated by the legal and political barriers that have prevented its preferred U.S....

Minnesota social service workers slam Gov. Tim Walz as ‘100% responsible for massive fraud’ of $1B roiling state Hundreds of state workers at the Minnesota Department of Human Services publicly excoriated Gov. Tim Walz for allowing a “massive fraud” scandal to unfold under his watch and retaliating against their whistleblowers. Over $1 billion in taxpayers’ money was fleeced by dozens of scammers in Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, the largest known COVID-19 fraud case in the country. “Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a...

A man has been jailed for possessing and distributing extreme right-wing music and material.Norbert Gyurcsik, from Kestrel Road, Hereford, was arrested in May last year over albums in which lyrics breached terrorism legislation and intended to incite racial hatred.

Freedom of speech will be under even greater threat if the British government is able to do away with jury trials for almost all cases because legal studies show a judge sitting alone is far more likely to convict defendants in free speech than juries, the Free Speech Union warns. The Free Speech Union warns the United Kingdom risks losing “a check on governmental power and arbitrary justice” in “the biggest assault on our liberties in 800 years” if the government is able to push ahead this week with plans said to be looking at abolishing the right to a...

When developers began transforming the kitschy waterfront motels of Sunny Isles Beach into luxury high-rise condos and hotels more than two decades ago, they were confident they understood the challenges of erecting massive towers on shifting sand. They were wrong. It turned out to be far more complicated than anyone expected. Within just a few years, engineers discovered they’d underestimated how much some buildings would sink on a barrier island composed of varying layers of sand, silt, peat and porous limestone — much the same material underlying many of South Florida’s premier oceanfront properties. In their own reports filed with...

This writer remembers being in kindergarten when her teachers started talking about the hole in the ozone layer. It was going to get bigger, we were told, and the world would begin boiling from heat, crops would burn from acid rain, and cities would be uninhabitable thanks to smog. That was 1988, and now — 37 years later — this writer is staring at a foot of snow outside her window, and there's nary a drop of acid rain in sight. Cities are uninhabitable, but that's because of Democratic Party policies and not smog. Ah, so we didn't have to...

The video of the ambush is brief and sickening. Two young National Guard soldiers, barely into adulthood, walk their post near the White House. An Islamic terrorist rounds the corner, raises a revolver, and opens fire. By the time other guardsmen tackle him, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom is fatally wounded and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe is fighting for his life. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is not some random drifter. He is a former member of the CIA’s elite Afghan “Zero Units,” a paramilitary strike force trained for kill capture missions in the Taliban heartland. He came here through President Biden’s Operation...

This potty-mouthed passenger took a stand — and lost her seat. A United Airlines passenger’s meltdown went viral after the irate woman lobbed a few choice words at a poised flight attendant during a delay on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport. A fellow traveler captured the woman’s entire tirade — which quickly garnered nearly 500,000 views on TikTok since it was posted on Nov. 10. Then, in a moment of karmic glory, the testy traveler realizes she’s being recorded and goes dead silent. She drags her gaze away from the phone and tries to play it cool. From...

A while back, a married couple asked for the time of the morning service at my church, promising to show up the following Sunday. They did, and enjoyed the service, but an observation by the wife surprised me. “Everyone’s dressed up,” was the essence of her comment. Even the ladies, she noticed, were wearing skirts and dresses instead of pants, something she seemed to think was refreshing. Apparently, I’ve been in my own church bubble for too long to realize that dressing up for special occasions and places is no longer a thing. It’s a pity that it isn’t. Because...