Free Republic

During the inferno that devastated part of the island of Maui, wiping entire towns off the map and possibly killing more than a thousand people (once a full assessment can be made), people on Maui begged state officials to allow West Maui stream water to be diverted to fill up reservoirs for firefighting. That request went to M. Kaleo Manuel, Deputy Director of Hawaii's Commission on Water Resource Management, and he delayed approval of that water for five hours - five hours in which the once-contained fire exploded. By the time the approval was received, workers were unable to reach...

In a court filing from last week, “Governor” Katie Hobbs (D-Ariz.) requested that Kari Lake’s election lawsuit be thrown out, claiming that Lake failed to prove that Arizona voters were disenfranchised in the 2022 elections. “Despite seven witnesses, hundreds of declarants, and thousands of pages of exhibits, Lake failed to demonstrate any violations of Arizona law and offered no evidence that absent alleged violations the outcome of the election would have been different,” the filing reads. But on Monday, Lake’s team indicated that more evidence is on the way, and this evidence could be game-changing. “Yesterday @katiehobbs filed to get...

Months after a police officer on Mayor LaToya Cantrell's security team was removed from his post amid an investigation into his pay, a recent legal filing appears to accuse him and the mayor of having an “ongoing sexual relationship.” New Orleans Police Department Officer Jeffrey Vappie allegedly admitted to his wife that he had an “adulterous affair” with a woman identified in a divorce petition as “L.C.” The brief, filed Jan. 4 by Vappie’s wife, dates the beginning of the relationship to May 2021. While the brief does not give the mayor's full name, WVUE-TV and WDSU-TV reported that “L.C.”...

(Translation) Hundreds of public employees in the healthcare and education fields demonstrated in Venezuela on Wednesday, demanding salary increases and better working conditions. The march was named "March of the Burials", which alludes to public employees' salaries "being buried by inflation". As it became known, active and retired employees have had to sell appliances and other goods to buy food and medicines. According to polls taken in the country, over three quarters of the population live in extreme poverty.

Aug 31 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) executives and directors have been sued by a conservative think tank that believes the coffee chain's efforts to promote diversity amount to racial discrimination. In a complaint filed on Tuesday, the National Center for Public Policy Research objected to Starbucks' setting hiring goals for Blacks and other people of color, awarding contracts to "diverse" suppliers and advertisers, and tying executive pay to diversity. The plaintiff, a Starbucks shareholder, said those policies require the company to make race-baced [sic] decisions that benefit minorities, and violate federal and state civil rights laws.

(Translation) Governor Piedro Pierluisi has just declared a state of emergency due to the increase in monkeypox cases in Puerto Rico. Yesterday, Pierluisi signed Executive Order 2022-044 which orders the Office of Management & Budget, the Department of the Treasury, and the Financial & Fiscal Advisory Authority to make the corresponding arrangements to provide the Department of Health all necessary funding, including access to the Emergency Fund, to address the emergency. The order went into effect today and will be in force for 30 days. Up to the middle of this week, 114 confirmed cases, 39 suspected cases, 36 close...

We live in brutal times without transitions. Everything must be instant and rushed, leaving no time for reflection. Thus, relationships become mechanical and inhuman. We need time to ponder, even if just for a minute, to get our bearings. This is why we develop small social conventions to aid our judgment and temper the brutality of instant expectations. One example of these reflecting habits consists of greetings. Those small formulas that start conversations or written letters provide us with transitions so we might communicate more civilly and effectively. How we need greetings today, and how society is impoverished without them!...

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and the New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) are partnering this weekend with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to host the Southern Decadence Health Hub, which will provide free monkeypox and COVID-19 vaccinations and other health services. The Health Hub will be located at the main North Rampart Street entrance of Louis Armstrong Park (801 N. Rampart St.), conveniently located near the French Quarter where many Southern Decadence events and activities will occur. The site will operate between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. beginning on Thursday, September 1,...

Once a leader in education reform, Louisiana has fallen behind the rest of the country thanks largely to regnant faith in a one-size-fits-all Soviet model of education, a revanchism led by Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards but insufficiently challenged by lawmakers who should know better. As states begin a new policy-making cycle, many have launched new education initiatives or seem poised to do so. Over a decade ago, a similar wave occurred with the shellacking Democrats, who typically favor a model of government dictating to families what students can attend what schools facilitating little choice in the process, received from...

NEW ORLEANS — In a story first reported by our partners at the Times Picayune, New Orleans Advocate, New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell may be on the hook for close to $30,000 in air travel upgrades. Travel documents obtained by WWL-TV show Cantrell, more often than not, chooses to fly in either business or first class. Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche says the city’s long-standing travel policy requires city employees to travel in coach. “We see that she has upgraded her travel accommodations contrary to city policy at the expense of taxpayers,” Goyeneche said. Here’s just two recent examples:...

California’s newly-announced rule barring the sale of new gas-powered cars in 2035 will apply to Virginia as well under the terms of a 2021 state law, Attorney General Jason Miyares’s (R) office confirmed to The Hill on Monday. In 2021, the state General Assembly, where Democrats then held majorities in both chambers, passed a law requiring the state to adopt the same automobile standards as those adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Although Democrats lost their majority in the state House of Delegates in 2021, efforts to repeal the legislation in this year’s legislative session were unsuccessful. California’s...

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who has earned a lot of negative attention for an expensive trip to Paris on the taxpayers’ dime and for appearing to come to the defense a carjacker in court, is the subject of a recall petition filed at the Secretary of State’s office Friday. Cantrell, a Democrat currently presiding over a major crime wave in the city as well as a dwindling police force, did not issue any comment herself but her office released a statement Friday evening. “The mayor is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to solve the problems...

Democratic National Committee adviser Cedric Richmond argued Thursday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that President Joe Biden canceling student debt was about “bringing this country together.” Richmond said, “We as a country tell people all the time, education is the best way to lift yourself out of poverty. Then the cost of education is so high that it bars so many people from getting there. Then when they get it, we say that home ownership is the best way to transfer wealth from generation to generation, but they can’t, in fact, buy homes because they’re saddled with student loan debt....

Let me first tell you this is my opinion. I get really upset when leaders coddle criminals or other folks who cause trouble in our community. It happens from time to time in cities all over the nation. It's happened in Louisiana. But I think what happened in New Orleans this month is so outrageous, I can't really believe it actually took place. Mayor LaToya Cantrell showed up in court to support a 14-year-old carjacking suspect and his mother. This happened right in front of the victims. This teenager used a fake gun to physically overtake the victims and steal...

Two popular gay clubs in the French Quarter are hosting a "vaxxtravaganza" — an outdoor block party to promote public health on Wednesday, Aug. 24 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Health officials will be at Oz and and Cafe Lafitte’s in Exile to distribute both monkeypox and COVID-19 vaccines, in addition to providing STI screenings, HIV testing and overdose prevention resources. The event is part of a broader effort to curb the spread of the monkeypox virus as the city gears up for the Southern Decadence festival, which is expected to bring in thousands of visitors for a weekend...

The producer of the Bourbon Street Extravaganza, one of Southern Decadence’s signature events, has canceled the free outdoor concert over concerns about the monkeypox virus. Thousands of revelers were expected to gather Sept. 3 at the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann streets outside the gay bar Napoleon’s Itch to hear dance music diva Jeanie Tracy and other singers. This was to have been the Bourbon Street Extravaganza’s celebratory return after two years of cancellations prompted by the COVID pandemic.

Louisiana's last three abortion clinics are leaving the state after the state Supreme Court upheld a near-total ban on abortion. The Louisiana Supreme Court handed down the decision Friday, effectively ending any possibility of running an abortion clinic in the state. Staff at Louisiana's last three clinics, Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Women’s Health Care Center in New Orleans and Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge say they will be relocating to other states, according to WWNO. Louisiana's law bans abortions in all cases, carving out exceptions only for saving the life of the mother or for when a...

(Translation) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to a Latin American audience for the first time and asked regional leaders to cease trade with Russia as part of the economic sanctions due to the war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy had spoken through videoconferencing to international audiences, mainly in Europe and the United States, but this was Latin America's turn. He began his speech by telling about the situation in Ukraine in terms of economic losses and loss of life and then answered questions. The videoconference was organized by the Catholic University of Chile, with over 300 universities in the world connected to...

(Translation) Through the Nicaraguan Telecommunications and Mail Institute (Telcor), President Daniel Ortega's regime canceled the broadcast license of three other radio stations, for a total of thirteen so far in August, the affected [stations] announced. As the EFE news agency reported, the closed radio stations are Sky and La Guarachera, both owned by exiled journalist Anibal Toruño, and Radio San Carlos, from liberal former San Carlos Mayor Silvio Linarte, who is also in exile. Both Sky, which aired in the Department (Province) of León, as well as La Guarachera, which covered Chinandega, both in northwestern Nicaragua, belonged to Toruño and...

(Translation) [Dominican] President Luis Abinader asked the Virgin of Altagracia to keep protecting the Dominican people and "to God to bless us always". The leader pointed out that veneration of the Virgin, which began with a promise from lancers from El Seibo and Higüey to help them survive a battle where the Spaniards defeated the French in 1691, is the same Dominicans have today of the virgin who "will keep being our protector". "She is our mother and, as such, she intercedes with God to favor her children," President Abinader stressed. He said that "there is not a single corner...