Free Republic

Tapping on the Twitter icon recently, as I have done for a dozen years, I found a notice from the company, under its new name, telling me that I had been permanently banned, that my account was closed and that I would never be allowed to open another.“After careful review,” it read, “we determined your account broke the X Rules.”No specifics, no citation, no offending tweet. Just, you’re gone. I’ve never been warned, put on probation or otherwise censured or chastised by the company. All I’ve ever heard from Twitter were entreaties – which I declined – to monetize my...

For weeks, and probably months, teen-aged gangs have assumed and exercised tactical control of the streets of Rochester, executing people and terrorizing the community, all without effective opposition from law enforcement.Seven people were murdered over three recent days, with three of those homicides coming after the imposition of a “state of emergency” by the city and state.In one execution, a young man in a crowd of people outside the city’s busy bus station was shot point blank in the chest, in broad daylight, and was then stomped savagely and homicidally by two men, all under the watchful eye of a...

Rochester News Man Set on Fire at Lyell Avenue Apartment, Dies at the Hospital Mar 16, 2021 The man who was burned when he was set on fire at a Lyell Avenue apartment has died at the hospital. Two boys -- ages 16 and 14 -- were arrested this week for the attack on Friday. Police say the teens sprayed the man with a flammable liquid as he sat in a chair, then lit the man on fire. The unnamed victim had second- and third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body. WHAM1180's Bob Lonsberry reports the man was mentally...

He was wrong on the theology. But he’s not running for pastor in chief. He’s running for commander in chief. And if you’re eight months away from possibly swearing in as president, maybe you weigh and calculate your answers in a way not obvious to the rest of us. I’m talking about Donald Trump and the answer to a question I asked him last week. In the run up to the New York presidential primary, he called in to WSYR radio in Syracuse and I got to speak to him for a few minutes. I asked him several things over...

I think Mickey Gilley said it best. The girls all get prettier at closing time. That’s what I think about Jeb Bush. Right now, the night is young, I’ve not yet had my first beer, there are lots of pretty women all across the bar, and Jeb Bush is the crazy size-24 cat lady in the corner who smells of urine and eats her boogers. And has warts. And poor personal hygiene. And looks like she doesn’t like men anyway. I wouldn’t blank her with your blank. But I’m afraid I know how this night is going to turn out....

Reports to our own Bob Lonsberry, and other media outlets, say a tractor trailer was shot at on 390 South Near Buffalo Road. Last week a vehicle was reported as shot in the same area. Read more: http://www.wham1180.com/articles/local-news-122742/breaking-reports-of-tractor-trailer-shot-12308244/#ixzz30TsLisrU

By their fruits ye shall know them. That’s what Jesus said. It’s not words, it’s not promises, it’s not slogans or associations. It’s deeds. That’s what shows the heart of a person. Not the promise they make in a time of ease, but the actions they take in a time of stress. Like the vote on the Boehner bill. It separates the wheat from the chaff in the Republican Party. It shows who is and who isn’t. On the Boehner bill, the true believers stood their ground. The others caved. It was a test. Some passed. Some failed. Those who...

I wonder how many people Obama killed yesterday. Arguably, it was in the tens of thousands. With one stroke of the presidential pen, surrounded by lackeys on short leashes, he designed the automobile of the future. No more will Detroit make cars according to people’s tastes, needs and market demand. Now, we will have Obama cars. And why not. Hitler designed cars, why should our Fuehrer be denied the pleasure? Without congressional approval, without explaining it to the people, without trying to build public support, Caesar has declared that vehicles will get more gas mileage and give off less carbon...

In the movies, he’s the nice guy. Which proves he’s a great actor. Because in real life, Tom Hanks isn’t such a nice guy. He’s actually kind of nasty. At least that’s the clear impression after some recent comments he made about the Mormon Church. Basically, he called Mormons “un-American,” a claim that is both innaccurate and – coming from Tom Hanks – hypocritical. More about that later. First, the history. Tom Hanks has been causing trouble for the Mormon Church in recent years through his HBO series “Big Love.” The series – which Tom Hanks makes – depicts a...

There are two types of people in the world. Those who think Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama because he’s black, and those who believe that anyone who thinks that is a racist. One type is forced by modern political correctness into silence, and the other type is by the same means emboldened in its vigilant desire to denounce. The numbers of each probably exceed a hundred million. Personally, I believe racial solidarity was a factor, probably the deciding factor, in Colin Powell’s endorsement. The only other explanation is that, in the eighth decade of his life, Colin Powell has completely...

The lingering lesson of Hurricane Katrina is the great value of self-reliance and the terrible danger of dependence. It was a huge storm. Possibly the largest natural disaster ever to hit the United States. It was the storm of the century. But it taught us more about human nature than it did about the power of nature. More frightening than the storm itself, was the widespread personal failure demonstrated in its wake. It was a peek into the entitlement culture and a sad display of the unwillingness and inability of some Americans to take the slightest responsibility for themselves and...

WE SHOULD KNOW OUR HISTORY Who’d have thought a day would come in America when George Washington would be nothing more than a caricature in a television commercial. And that Abraham Lincoln would be his foil. We used to honor these great men. Now we mock them. And worse, we ignore them. Our understanding of American history has become so weak and distorted that we fail to comprehend and appreciate our heritage. Names and events sacred to us mean nothing. And instead of grateful we are indifferent. It’s hard to see this development as an accident. Instead, it is the...

THEY FOUND HIM IN A HOLE It’s only natural that they found him in a hole in the ground. It put him that much closer to hell. Because that is where Saddam Hussein belongs. It is where Saddam Hussein has drawn his inspiration. It is the home of the god Saddam Hussein worships. Not the Allah of Islam. But the serpent of the garden. We must never fear calling a spade a spade, or a devil a devil. And Saddam Hussein is that. He long since stopped being a man and became a partner with evil. A disciple of darkness....

WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? What cannot be refuted, must be silenced. That apparently is the attitude of the liberal and afraid. The minority who seek to dominate society through threat and intimidation, who have abandoned principle and decency in the name of arrogance and power. Who have failed at their callings, yet sit in judgement of all, ever ready to cast the first and the second and the hundredth stone. The blind leaders of the blind. It’s true, the emperor has no clothes. But they’ll kill you if you say so. Or at least take your livelihood, and curse...

<p>ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A radio talk-show host was suspended for two days Monday for alluding to Rochester's black mayor as a monkey.</p> <p>Bob Lonsberry (search) apologized to Mayor William Johnson Jr. (search) in taped remarks at the beginning and end of his three-hour show on WHAM radio, which was handled by a stand-in host Monday.</p>

September 23, 2003, 9:03 AM EDT ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A radio talk-show host was suspended for two days Monday for alluding to Rochester's black mayor as a monkey. Bob Lonsberry apologized to Mayor William Johnson Jr. in taped remarks at the beginning and end of his three-hour show on WHAM radio, which was handled by a stand-in host Monday. "I would certainly apologize for any interpretation of my words which would appear to be racist," and Lonsberry, who is white. "I am not a racist. But then racism is in the eye of the beholder, not in the heart of...