Free Republic

Thought someone should start a live thread about today's festivities.

PARRISH, Fla. (WFLA) —It was a nightmare before Christmas for Parrish parents after their son was flown 1,200 miles south to Puerto Rico instead of 1,000 miles north to Cleveland. Logan Lose, 16, waved goodbye to his family last Friday at Tampa International Airport and headed to his flight to visit his mom for the holidays. When he got to the gate, he saw other passengers boarding and got in line. His father, Ryan said the Frontier Airlines boarding agent checked his son’s baggage, looked at his boarding pass on his phone and told him he could get on the...

The king of urban latin music follows joins Héctor 'El Father' and Farruko on Their Christian Journey SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - In his final concert this Sunday night, Daddy Yankee, el rey del reggaeton, announced a significant change in his life: he's embracing Christianity and dedicating his future to his faith. The announcement represents a drastic shift in the life and career of 46-year-old Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez, better known by his stage name, Daddy Yankee. Renowned for chart-topping hits like "Gasolina" and "Despacito," he had previously hinted at his spiritual leanings. Yet, this is the first occasion where...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hundreds of stray cats that roam a historic seaside tourist area of Puerto Rico’s capital where they are considered both a delight and a nuisance will be removed over the coming year, under a plan unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. National Park Service. The agency said it will contract an animal welfare organization to remove the 200 cats estimated to live on 75 acres surrounding a fortress at the San Juan National Historic Site that the federal agency operates in Old San Juan. If the organization fails to remove the cats within six months,...

This past weekend flying to Atlanta, I met a FEMA guy who was on his way to Chicago to continue dealing with a disaster, he said. "What disaster - I haven't seen anything in the news?", I asked. He says the news of it are being smothered but that according to FEMA, this is Chicago's second-most expensive disaster in history. What happened was - he said - that a sewage main collapsed and backed up, flooding hundreds if not thousands of home, building and business basements. That aside from the bio-hazard that represents and its cleanup, thousands of boilers (furnaces?)...

Which sounds better? 'My God-given rights do not end where your devil-driven fears begin' or 'My God-given rights will not yield to your devil-driven fears'

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s capital is renowned for its all-night partying, but a new municipal code is expected to change that. San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero on Tuesday signed a new measure to prohibit alcohol sales after certain hours, saying he was “morally convinced” it was the right thing to do. The new code, scheduled to go into effect in November, is expected to affect hundreds of restaurants and bars across San Juan. It was fiercely debated in recent months, with businesses and Puerto Ricans used to long nights and decades of no oversight decrying the...

Title: 17-Year-Old Boy Killed in Beach Shooting near Casa Cuba Club in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico Subtitle: Incident Marks Third Tourist Murder in Less than Two Months In a tragic incident on a beach near the Casa Cuba club in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, a 17-year-old boy from Maryland lost his life, while two others were injured in a shooting that took place during the evening hours. The Carolina Municipal Police were quick to respond to the scene after receiving reports of the incident. Preliminary information suggests that the shooting occurred following a heated argument between the three individuals involved....

Spain’s conservative opposition Popular Party (PP) made significant gains in local and regional elections, offering a perilous assessment of public feeling towards the country’s ruling left-wing coalition ahead of general elections in December. MADRID -- Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party made significant gains in Sunday's local and regional elections, offering a dire assessment of public feeling towards the ruling left-wing coalition ahead of general elections in December. In the local vote, the Popular Party, or PP, won 31.5% of votes compared with 28.2% for the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, or PSOE, which leads the central government, with more than 97%...

This is a pre-enforcement action by journalists Sandra Rodríguez-Cotto and Rafelli González-Cotto to enjoin, under the First Amendment, Article 5.14(a) of the Law of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety, Law No. 20 of 2017, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 25, §§ 3501, et seq. (“Law 20”), which criminalizes some types of speech after the Governor has decreed a state of emergency or disaster in the Commonwealth. 1 For the reasons explained below, the challenged provision cannot be enforced. As drafted, it does not pass muster under the First Amendment. BACKGROUND Law 20 creates the Puerto Rico Department of Public...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman who went missing more than 30 years ago in a case that stumped authorities who later declared her legally dead has been found living in a nursing home in Puerto Rico. Patricia Kopta left behind a husband and siblings and meandered through northern Puerto Rico for a while before she was taken as a person “in need” to the adult care home in 1999, according to details announced at a news conference this week in Ross Township, where she once lived. Kopta, once known as a street preacher in her home...

There are no survivors after a military helicopter carrying two people on a routine training mission crashed onto an Alabama highway Wednesday, officials said. The Black Hawk aircraft crashed around 3 p.m. near Highway 53 and Burwell Road in Harvest, about 10 miles northeast of Huntsville, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. The helicopter caught fire upon impact, and both passengers died, military officials said.

"It's clear to me this is not a recent phenomenon," he told reporters, saying "this has been going on" since at least 2017. Calling for more transparency, he said: "If you are confused, you understand the situation perfectly." Concluding his comments to the gathered media, Kennedy added: "Lock your doors tonight."

I wonder why HBO turned off comments on their Twitter ads/threads for this show.

[Spanish language media only so far, quick translation] Perú President Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress, which in turn impeached him. Unlike with Fujimori in 1992, this time the Police and the Armed Forces did not back the presidency, and promptly arrested him as he sought to flee to Mexico.

No link yet, but local news in San Juan are breaking a story of a shoot out at sea between U.S. Border Patrol Agents and drug smugglers in the Mona Passage between the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter pulled the three agents from their boat and airlifted them to the big island of Puerto Rico. The helicopter had to initially land in the western city of Mayagüez to stabilize one of the agents, before proceeding to the San Juan Medical/Trauma Center. No word if the smugglers were wounded, killed, captured or...

Conservative Latinos blasted Jen Psaki for referencing Spanish language "disinformation" just ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis,' R., re-election victory Tuesday night. A majority of Latino voters supported DeSantis in his resounding win over Democrat Charlie Crist. The Republican won 55% of the Puerto Rican vote, and 50% of all the other Latino voters in the state of Florida, according to NBC. He notably won the historically blue Miami-Dade County, which marked the first time in 20 years that the county chose a Republican for governor. Psaki, the former White House press secretary turned MSNBC pundit, cautioned her Twitter followers...

Let the games begin. If you know of a conservative that hasn't voted yet, drag him to the polling station!

No named tropical cyclones since early July through late August, 2022. Nothing of concern down the visible pipeline. But La Niña still strong. What gives?

The population of Puerto Rico was overcounted by 5.7%, or 174,000 people, when the Census Bureau conducted its 2020 count. The overcount came to light Tuesday after the bureau announced it concluded a post-enumeration survey used to measure the accuracy of the census by independently surveying a sample of the population on the island. The effort is being used to inform improvements on the 2030 census. On April 2021, the Census Bureau announced Puerto Rico’s population fell 11.8% to nearly 3.3 million over the past decade. But the latest post-enumeration survey suggests that Puerto Rico's total population may be closer...