Free Republic

The New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has been a close friend of President Donald Trump for many years. He has even visited him at the White House multiple times over the past four years. That’s why it had to have come as a shock to Trump that Belichick snubbed him by turning down the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Public transit services and Connecticut’s transportation building program have been forced to compete for limited resources for nearly a decade. But if Connecticut is to revitalize its economy in an inclusive fashion, experts say, legislators and governors must embrace both priorities in equal measure. Without a comprehensive, time-efficient system of buses and trains — and interconnecting bicycle and walking paths — too many workers can’t get to the jobs, classes and other training they need to make the economy grow. And if a construction industry that has languished since the last recession isn’t allowed to rebuild Connecticut’s aging infrastructure, many...

The caller, identified as “Bob from West Hartford,” hit a nerve when he dialed into Gov. Ned Lamont’s Jan. 9 appearance on WTIC-1080 AM with morning hosts Ray Dunaway and Joe D’Ambrosio. “Hi Governor Lamont. In the most recent [state] budget you diverted $170 million out of gas taxes in the Special Transportation Fund,” Bob said. “That’s a myth that gets perpetrated day-in and day-out,” Lamont responded. “There is no diversion taking place, so you can put that one to rest.” Not so fast, governor. Although Lamont and fellow Democrats insist the diversion charge is a “myth,” the truth is...

https://twitter.com/RayDalio/status/1340110013122134019 It is with great pain that I am sharing with you that my 42 year old son was killed in a car crash yesterday. My family and I are mourning and processing and would prefer to be incommunicado for the time being. 7:41 PM · Dec 18, 2020

Governor Ned Lamont signed an executive order Tuesday increasing the amount CT business can be fined for violating the COVID-19 sector rules and capacity limited. Businesses can now be fined $10,000 per violation. The order goes into effect at 12:01 AM Thursday, November 26. Lamont says the action was taken in response after receiving feedback from municipal leaders, public health officials, and people from within the business community. “The sector rules and capacity limits we’ve implemented are intended to mitigate the spread of this disease to the greatest extent possible,” Governor Lamont said. “While the overwhelming majority of businesses in...

Stratford Police Sgt. Jamie Rivera talks to a reporter in Stratford Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. A town police officer shot a suspect while serving a search warrant at a home at 25 Yarwood St. early Friday morning. Autumn Driscoll / Hearst Connecticut Media STRATFORD — A police officer who called Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization in a Facebook post was suspended for three days without pay and ordered to attend implicit bias training. The police union has filed a grievance appealing the suspension. Mayor Laura Hoydick announced the discipline of Sgt. Jamie Rivera during a Town Council meeting Monday....

A Connecticut-native Navy sailor has created Navy-themed comics. She joined us Thursday to talk about her art and where her inspiration comes from. Jessica Reilly of the U.S. Navy is from Prospect, CT, and is currently stationed out in San Diego, California. She is a Navy air traffic controller – a high-stress job, for sure – who has turned to writing and illustrating comics series with her husband in her downtime. Her husband is a Navy veteran himself and is currently serving in the Army reserves. In the video above, Reilly shares more about her job as an air traffic...

Connecticut GOP House Rep. Craig Fishbein was declared the loser in the race for his seat until a town clerk found an “error” had caused the race to be called for his Democrat opponent. Wallingford town clerk Barbara Thompson said Tuesday her office discovered that votes had not been recorded in the state’s reporting system from Yalesville Elementary School, reported CT Mirror. The school is one of nine polling places in the 90th House District that includes Wallingford and Cheshire. “I can’t answer if it was a clerical error or a computer error in the elections management system,” Thompson said....

I am travelling from Maryland to either CT or MA next week. When I tried to book a flight, an alert came up about China Virus travel restrictions. 1) Question: Are CT and MA questioning arriving passengers at their airports? Are they taking your information, etc.? 2) If you travel by car into CT, do they stop you? 3) How about Amtrak? Bottom line: I don't fear the China Virus, but I fear that I could get stuck in some leftist state b/c of their travel restrictions.

An East Haddam woman was reportedly attacked by a coyote twice in a single day. The coyote bit her boot before it was kicked by the donkey in the first instance. The same day, the coyote attacked again when the woman was driving her car near her home. The neighbors encountered the coyote on their property and shot and killed it.

A Hamden man who allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and attempted to fight for the terrorist organization is not mentally fit to stand trial. Kevin Iman McCormick, 27, was charged with a felony for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in October 2019, according to the office of United States Attorney of Connecticut John H. Grisham. Based on a medical assessment given by Dr. Hassan M. Minhas, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, U.S. District Court, Connecticut, Judge Kari A. Dooley said McCormick is not mentally prepared to be tried. Dooley placed McCormick in...

A curfew in Philadelphia tonight from 9pm to 6am. Streets in the downtown area closed. Members of the Pennsylvania National Guard deployed... A federal judge in Portland granting a preliminary injunction saying that federal officers denied First Amendment rights to peaceful protesters... Walmart removing firearms and ammunition from display floors...Today Walmart reversing course... The country with the highest coronavirus infection rate in Europe moving to a national lockdown. Belgium shutting down... In Canada Winnipeg the largest city in Manitoba moving to a Code Red coronavirus lockdown... An earthquake measuring 7.0 struck off the coast of Turkey today... The current UK...

In a Bengali poem, one verse roughly translates to “the maddening rage of a caged impotent.” It fits the left’s reaction to the Trump administration’s executive order banning critical race training in federal departments and lawsuit against Yale University for discrimination against white and Asian applicants.For a long time, the overwhelming majority of sane, hardworking people had to endure being ruled by a handful of ideologues and their crackpot theories, in a long march continued unopposed. Bafflingly, for decades there was zero substantive pushback among Republican lawmakers, even from ostensibly conservative presidents. That has now changed. Whoever takes up...

At the Trump Parade in North Haven CT Big crowd. Getting ready to roll.

A security firm in Tennessee cutting a deal with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Ellison's office probing an allegation that armed guards were being recruited for polling places in Minnesota... Efforts by President Trump's campaign to monitor activity at ballot drop boxes in Philadelphia with video recording may be voter intimidation. That's the view of... Pennsylvania's Supreme Court with an elected 5-2 Democrat majority ruling that that election ballots cannot be rejected for mismatched signatures... Is this all just a political stunt? That's what Republican lawmakers here in York County, Pennsylvania are asking... More towns added to Connecticut's Red Alert...

Billionaire activist investor Paul Singer is reportedly the latest Wall Street bigwig looking to relocate his hedge fund from New York City for Florida. Singer is taking his $41 billion firm, Elliott Management, to West Palm Beach, according to a report from Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter. While planting a new headquarters in West Palm Beach, Singer will also keep space in Midtown Manhattan and open offices in Greenwich so that all of his employees are not required to relocate, the publication said.

Rarely has our nation seen a judge more competent and qualified to serve on the Supreme Court than Amy Coney Barrett. During her confirmation hearing, she held me in thrall with the magnificence of her mind. Only once before has anyone inspired the thought, "Greatness walks amongst us." His name is Trey Gowdy. In Amy Coney Barrett, I feel the same awe and chills once again. With Amy's confirmation, Lady Justice will no longer peek from underneath her blindfold. No longer will there be a finger surreptitiously pushing down on one side of her Scales of Justice. When Barrett's Senate...

Chances are you’ve already made up your mind about whom to vote for as we decide who’s going to be the next president of the United States. You probably are also aware there’s no way The Hartford Courant or most any other newspaper is going to endorse Republican Donald Trump for reelection. There are many reasons for that, and we’re not going to go into them in great detail here. If you are voting for Democrat Joe Biden, you know what they are. If you’re voting for Trump, you probably don’t care. But there is one issue that demands a...

Mayor Luke Bronin hosted a Virtual Town Hall with several city leaders Saturday morning. The Zoom event is set to discuss public safety in the capital city, officials said. Bronin will be joined by Hartford’s new State’s Attorney Sharmese Walcott, City Council President Maly D. Rosado, members of the City Council, Police Chief Jason Thody and Assistant Police Chief Rafael Medina. ... Governor Lamont said this week he is directing the Connecticut State Police to provide the Hartford Police Department with resources targeting gun violence. Republican lawmakers are now calling on Lamont to suspend the state’s police accountability law in...

Dear friends, the death of Eddie Van Halen has absolutely rocked the music world and has hit millions upon millions of fans of all ages with sorrow, grief, and tears. To those of you who are not aquatinted with Eddie Van Halen because you lived in a Christian upbringing, I cannot even begin to express to you what the music world and its millions of fans are feeling right now! Eddie Van Halen was an Arch Icon and a Mega hard rock guitarist vanguard on so many fronts of the music world since the mid-seventies! His name alone - when...