Free Republic

Dear Mayor Menino, I have a friend who’d like to open a business in the city of Boston. He knows it’s more expensive than most other American cities. He also knows that the permitting process here is more onerous and that his tax burden will be higher here, too. But he still insists that he wants to come here, spend money, pay taxes and put Bostonians to work. Only one problem: He has stated — publicly, repeatedly and for the record — that he thinks the designated hitter rule in the American League is stupid. It’s also his opinion that...

Vows to block eatery over anti-gay attitude... Mayor Thomas M. Menino is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from bringing its Southern-fried fast-food empire to Boston — possibly to a popular tourist spot just steps from the Freedom Trail — after the family-owned firm’s president suggested gay marriage is “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.” “Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston. You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion,” Menino told the Herald yesterday. “That’s the Freedom Trail. That’s where it all started...

Autopsies performed on the two hero firefighters who perished battling a West Roxbury blaze on Aug. 29 showed that one of them was legally drunk at the fire while the other had traces of illegal drugs in his bloodstream, three city officials told the Herald. Paul J. Cahill, 55, had a blood alcohol level of .27 - more than three times the legal alcohol limit for motorists - when he was killed fighting the fire at Tai Ho Restaurant on Centre Street in West Roxbury, said three sources with direct knowledge of the state Medical Examiner’s toxicology report that is...

It’s “very unusual” for a judge to issue an order preventing news organizations from running or publishing stories, a Boston civil rights attorney said yesterday. “They should have been allowed to run the story,” attorney Howard Friedman said of WHDH-TV (Ch. 7), which was banned by a judge from airing a story yesterday on the autopsy results of two Boston firefighters killed in August. “In our system with the First Amendment, in almost all instances, you can run with the story but suffer the consequences,” Friedman added. “Obviously, they publish at their peril. If it’s inaccurate, if there’s some damage...

The Hunley Burial This site does not engage in rebel flag waving nor does it have any intention of refighting the Civil War. That being said, we have the utmost respect for the men, women (yes, there were) and children who stood up for their right to freely exit a union they freely entered. This past weekend, the crew members of The Hunley, the first submarine to ever successfully sink an enemy ship were laid to rest in Charleston, SC. Fourteen governers from the south were invited to attend. A grand total of zero showed up. While some cited scheduling...