Free Republic

A friend of Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year, testified that the teenager was "freaking out" after the shooting. Dominick Black said in court Tuesday that then-17-year-old Rittenhouse was pale and "really scared" after he fired shots at an Aug. 2020 protest that followed the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. Black added that Rittenhouse said he had to shoot them because "people were trying to hurt him," according to The Associated Press.

San Francisco restaurants will reopen indoor dining on Wednesday, March 3, Mayor London Breed announced at a media event held Tuesday. This will be the first time diners are allowed to take a seat inside the city’s restaurants since COVID-19 cases skyrocketed by 250 percent last NovemberAccording to a statement from Breed’s office, “at this time, San Francisco is averaging 67 new cases a day, which is comparable to where the city was in mid-November before the surge.” The city’s “new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have decreased steadily since the holiday surge that peaked in early January,” the statement says.Inside,...

The rush was on Sunday night for out-of-town travelers to get back home to Santa Clara County as a new mandatory travel directive went into effect at midnight. The order requires that travelers arriving in the county from more than 150 miles away quarantine for two weeks. But how will the county enforce such a broad order? Airports are going to be a key component of the new order, as it will be up to them to post signs and educate passengers about the new requirement. Passengers will be given a written copy of the directive upon landing. There are...

Fear, Prejudice Contribute to Pandemic Slump in San Francisco Chinatown SAN FRANCISCO — Chinatown is one of the most colorful and historic districts in San Francisco but, despite a relatively low infection rate, the area is fighting for its life as fear of the pandemic is causing longtime businesses to fail. “It’s desolate and there’s nothing here anymore,” said area resident Mark Lobell. Grant Avenue on a Sunday morning would normally be jammed with shoppers and diners but, these days, it’s quiet and empty. Steven Lee co-owns the Sam Wo restaurant which has been operating in Chinatown for more than...

At Safeway and picked up my dinner. Standing in line minding my own business. Gal in front of me starts looking around and suddenly turns directly to my face "You need to back up!" she exclaimed. Slight LOL "I don't think I heard you" my reply "You are standing to close! You need to move away!" She hissed. "Okay" I responded. Walked past her and she says "Whuh!", place my dinner on stack of beers at front of the register and then exclaims "Well, that's..." I kept on walking. I don't need no shit off some thin lipped, mealy mouth,...

"I'm going to put it very simply: the president of the United States has the authority to do what the president has the authority to do, which is very powerful. The president of the United States calls the shots," Trump said Monday evening, pressed on his claim during a news briefing at the White House. He continued: "When somebody’s the president of the U.S., the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s gotta be." But experts — and the Constitution — say Trump is wrong. The authority to require businesses to close in a public health crisis is what...

**SNIP** It’s a further irony of the moment that the suddenly leading Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, is neck-deep in that spilled garbage, the story unspooling even as I write that then-Veep Uncle Joe strong-armed the Ukraine government to fire its equivalent of Attorney General to quash an investigation of his son, Hunter, who received large sums of money from the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, which had mystifyingly appointed the young American to its board of directors after the US-sponsored overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych. That nasty bit of business comes immediately on top of information that the Hillary campaign was using...

NBC News made a “fundamental mistake” when its network executives thought Megyn Kelly was a “super star,” according to a television executive CNN interviewed. Kelly, the former Fox News talent, has come under fire for her interview with Alex Jones, which is set to air on this Sunday on her Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly show. “They’ve made a fundamental mistake about Megyn which is they think she’s a super star,” the television executive reportedly told CNN. “What she is is a cable star, and that is a very different solar system.” While promoting her show, Kelly told numerous outlets...

Okay Freepers. Time to play Freeper MD. For three weeks my hip has been killing me. left side. Doesn't hurt when I jabbed with my thumb. Has been hurting when I lay on it. The last three days, it has been hurting when I sit. My vainglorius head is getting bigger but, I discern no deformation or growth in the area of pain. As I sit here typing this out, it is throbbing. Get to guessing. Bursitis? Just the fun of being a bit over 50? Hypochondriac? I'm no longer hip? My guess it bursitis. I am pretty flexible. Can...

St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, and with it the annual debate over whether open participation by marchers associated with the LGBT (sorry if I forgot an initial there) movement should be allowed to appear. The epicenter of this year's conflict was Cincinnati, where the sponsors of the parade stood firm and refused to allow openly gay marchers to take part. This is evidently one of the few occasions in which the marchers were told flat-out that were not wanted due to sexual preference. The uproar over the rejection was marked with the standard arguments: while the parade may...

All over America, restlessness and frustration are growing. It has now been almost three years since the great financial crash of 2008, and yet the U.S. economy is still a complete and total mess. Click here to see the facts > In fact, there are all sorts of signs that things are about to get even worse, and the American people are just about fed up. Virtually every major poll, survey and measure of consumer confidence shows that the American people are becoming more pessimistic about the economy. Millions of hard working Americans that worked their fingers to the bone...

The weight of the world may be on his shoulders but there's not much around President Barack Obama's middle. The U.S. president has invoked the concern in America after walking out of a gym looking skinnier than ever. Clutching an energy drink, Mr Obama is pictured looking cheerful as he left the gym at Fort McNair in Washington

BRIGHTON, Mich., March 25 (UPI) -- High school students in Brighton, Mich., say they'll boycott a prom because they've been asked to sign contracts against "freaking," a style of dancing. "We're not trying to have sex on the dance floor. We're just trying to have a good time," senior Josh Partridge said. Various Detroit-area schools have tried to deal with freaking, in which dancers mimic a sex act as they rub against each other, the Detroit News said Thursday.

AMERICAN teenagers are facing school bans on a new style of sexually suggestive dancing called freaking, the first dance craze to have been spread through the internet. In California head teachers, dismayed that many liberal parents do not see the problem, have resorted to showing them videos which use dolls to portray the children grinding their pelvises together. Some schools are introducing “no freaking contracts” for pupils to sign before they can attend autumn dances; others are suspending dances known as winter formals until the craze abates. For the first time in its 90-year history, the National Association of Secondary...

By Seema Mehta, Times Staff Writer October 17, 2006 A teenage boy dances behind his winter-formal date, hands on her hips, thrusting his pelvis against her while she hitches up her satiny gown and bends at the waist. Another couple dance facing each other, their bodies enmeshed and their hips gyrating in a frenzy. A boy approaches a third couple, nearly sandwiching the girl between himself and her partner. Teenagers call it "freaking," a style of dance made popular on MTV. Educators call it "simulated sex" that has no place at school dances. This clash between outraged adults and sexualized...

The grainy high school dance video is lurid. A teenage boy dances behind his winter-formal date, hands on her hips, thrusting his pelvis against her while she hitches up her satiny gown and bends at the waist. Another couple dance facing each other, their bodies enmeshed and their hips gyrating in a frenzy. A boy approaches a third couple, nearly sandwiching the girl between himself and her partner. ADVERTISEMENT Teenagers call it "freaking," a style of dance made popular on MTV. Educators call it "simulated sex" that has no place at school dances. This clash between outraged adults and sexualized...

It was national news Wednesday when Foothill High School Principal Kevin Johnson declared a ban on freak dancing at the Pleasanton school's events, and penalties for the rebels who persist. But the school is just the most recent battleground over the sexually explicit dance style. Freak dancing has been around for years, but in districts nationwide many school officials say the rubbing, bumping and grinding have to stop. The students "forgot at school you have a different mode of behavior," said Thea Sorscher, president of the faculty club at Walnut Creek's Northgate High, where freak dancing at this year's homecoming...

The television trucks were lined up four deep at Foothill High School on Wednesday night for the announcement that the school is banning sexually suggestive "freak dancing." And no wonder. It was a story made for headlines: "School Forbids Sex-Crazed Dancing." That it was happening in upscale and suburban Pleasanton was almost too perfect. The story had it all: Out-of-control teens, shocked parents, stern school administrators, racy bumping and grinding to an MTV soundtrack. This wasn't a news story, it was a remake of the movie "Footloose." But somewhere in the midst of it all, behind the TV cameras looming...

(Vanity) 9/03/05 Where is the compassion? Where is the feeling for another human being? After a brief hiatus I come on here expecting to find an outpouring of outrage and/or sympathy for our fellow human beings, citizens of America trapped in New Orleans and all I can find so far is sniping at the other party and recriminations against Jesse Jackson or some such political wag. And I find paranoia all over the place here about how the media is treating Pres. Bush and even jokes about who is right or wrong about the hurricane aftermath. Granted, that I have...

'Dirty dancing' booted by Oakwood School's letter gives ultimatum to students By Mara Lee e-mail address: mara_lee@coxohio.comDayton Daily News Oakwood High School is going to kick students out of school dances for MTV-style “freaking” or “booty dancing,” which looks like simulated sex acts on the dance floor.Last week, Oakwood High School Principal Joe Boyle warned parents in a letter sent to parents: "We firmly believe Oakwood High School should not provide the forum for such obscene and degrading behavior."Administrators around the Miami Valley agree.Trotwood-Madison High School Assistant Principal Imani Zaire said, "A lot of kids have no shame. They're not...