Free Republic

Gov. Kathy Hochul is delivering a big win to businesses that have been pressuring her to pay off their billions of dollars in unemployment-insurance debt — but she’s stealing the cash from state reserves to do it. Hochul said Monday that the state will cover the roughly $7 billion debt still lingering for employers from the pandemic. The businesses had hoped federal money that the state received during COVID-19 would at least partly be used to help cover the deluge of unemployment claims spurred by the pandemic, as most other states did.+ But the state used the money for other...

Have you ever noticed it seems God does things at the last minute? He’s even been called “The God of the Eleventh Hour.” At times it feels like the 11:59th hour. Why do you suppose this is? - Abraham and Sarah had to wait for God’s promise of a child until they were very old and beyond childbearing years... - The Israelites were being chased until they thought they’d drown... - And Lazarus, he was already dead when Jesus showed up... Which is the greater miracle, a healing or a resurrection? Some could pass a healing off as he was...

New York’s top congressional Democrat is phoning in support for embattled “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recorded a robocall praising the controversial Bowman as “a public servant who fights for economic justice and in defense of historically underrepresented communities,” a source familiar with the move told The Post. But the last-minute robocall came as too little, too late for some lefty supporters of Bowman, who faces a well-heeled challenge in Tuesday’s primary from Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Jeffries, other than the robocall and an endorsement in March, has done little else to help Bowman’s campaign,...

The deepest and most damaging penetration of the U.S. Defense Department by an enemy agent in recent history was pulled off by a spy working for the terror-sponsoring, drug-smuggling Castro regime. The spy’s name is Ana Belen Montes, known as "Castro’s Queen Jewel" in the intelligence community. In 2002 she was convicted of the same crimes as Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and today she serves a 25-year sentence in Federal prison. Only a plea bargain spared her from sizzling in the electric chair like the Rosenbergs.Promptly upon Montes’ conviction a Cuban spy named Gustavo Machin, who worked under diplomatic cover in...

On January 13, Robert González Nieves, archbishop of San Juan, revealed Pope Francis’ role in Barack Obama’s pardon of terrorist mastermind Oscar Lopez-Rivera. Speaking from the Cathedral of San Juan, Nieves announced that although the Holy Father made no public statement of his involvement, he had indeed worked behind the curtain on behalf of the unrepentant, bloody-handed Lopez-Rivera. The archbishop was pleased to say: “I know that there have been efforts made through diplomatic channels. The pope is very aware. We are grateful to the Holy Father for his support.” Papal complicity in this politically charged act received little notice...

The Obama administration is ending the "wet foot, dry foot" policy that granted residency to Cubans who arrived in the United States without visas. That's according to a senior administration official, who said the policy change was effective immediately.

US President Barack Obama will almost certainly not pressure Israel to advance a peace process with the Palestinians during his final weeks in office, a new report claims. AP reported that it had obtained information from “US officials” that Obama had no intention of shaking Israel up with a new peace plan before he steps down. According to the officials, Obama had been considering over the past year to make a final grand statement - whether in the form of a speech or through support for a UN resolution - urging a renewed peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians....

Hey, why not sponsor one helluva pre-vote party get together for friends (and their friends, and friends of friends etc.)? No Booze (till after the vote, anyway). Don't forget name labels and if people kick in a buck or two, they get co-sponsor labels. The Hillary forces have a crushing ground game - a powerful voter "pulling operation" to get out their vote. Right now, the Dems are way ahead in this says The US News & World Report (The-Report, "Fight On the Ground", Oct. 14 2016 by Susan Milligan") The DNC & the unions are joining left-wing groups of...

(Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog) ********************************************************* Though Foremost has played a pivotal role in McConnell’s life, bestowing the senator with most of his personal wealth and generating thousands in donations to his campaign committees, the drug bust went unnoticed in Kentucky, where every bit of McConnell-related news has generated fodder for the campaign trail. That’s because, like many international shipping companies, Chao’s firm is shrouded from public view, concealing its identity and limiting its legal liability through an array of tax shelters and foreign registrations. Registered through a limited liability company in the Marshall Islands, the Ping...

The cruise-line industry is a rough business. Every time a passenger ship leaves port with a guest cabin unoccupied, that's money the cruise operators are never going to see. Last week Micky Arison, the longtime chief executive of Carnival Corp., announced that he will be stepping down; revenues at the world's largest cruise-ship line have been falling. Arison will remain as chairman of the firm, but a new CEO will step in. Cruise companies have always had to contend with uncertainties in the economy, which sometimes make travelers cautious about planning leisure trips, and Carnival has faced widespread unpleasant publicity...

Tuesday’s recall election in Wisconsin has been imbued with national consequence, with many political watchers declaring the outcome could have significant implications for November’s presidential race. So how has President Obama weighed in? On Twitter. “It's Election Day in Wisconsin tomorrow, and I'm standing by Tom Barrett. He'd make an outstanding governor,” Obama wrote Monday night, capping the Tweet with the “-bo” signature that denotes a “personal” tweet from the president himself. It was the only time the president personally has voiced support for Barrett, the former Milwaukee mayor seeking to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker, since Barrett won the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders rushed to line up Republican and Democratic votes on Monday for a White House-backed deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert an unprecedented debt default. With scars still fresh from the months-long brawl over increasing the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, a new fight was shaping over the incendiary topic of taxes. Global markets showed signs of relief that the United States appeared to be dodging default, but fears that the country might still lose its triple-A credit rating even with a debt deal contributed to a fizzle in a brief stocks rally. "We...

THESE ARE ALL reasons for concern. They are not, however, reasons for despair. Never in our adult lifetimes have the American grassroots been so on fire, on its own, in a bottom-up movement -- and a movement for all the right things, so well motivated, and so well informed. Never has the choice between mainstream American traditions and radical leftism been so starkly obvious -- not even when George McGovern ran in 1972.........But because the expectations now are so high, a failure to oust the current congressional leadership in at least one House will be treated, universally, as a major...

A last-minute budget concession is heading to a struggling business founded by a political ally and generous campaign contributor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Pacific Ethanol, a firm founded by state Republican Party fixture Bill Jones, would be relieved of a requirement to meet strict environmental standards by a change quietly inserted into budget legislation Wednesday. Jones is the former California secretary of state and was the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006. Jones and Schwarzenegger have endorsed each other's campaigns over the years, and Jones has given nearly $70,000 to Schwarzenegger's political committees, state records show. In August, the...

When I opened the turkey there was no instruction book

Decision 2004: American Jews must make our voices heard American Jews, who value Israel's security, have an important stake in this election. Senator John Kerry has been endorsed by Arafat, and hundreds of Muslim leaders, including the Protocol spouting form PM of Malaysia, Mohammed Mahathir. Senator Kerry's vision is increased reliance on the UN and European Union, both of which are anti-Israel. He has made it clear that he would support former President Carter, James Baker, or someone similar to pressure Israel on the Palestinians. President Bush, while imperfect on Israel, has supported the right of Israel to define the...