Free Republic

A friend of mine used to say that the best words in the English language are “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve begun our descent into JFK Airport.” That friend lives in Florida now. It didn’t help that all the news from Florida was that it was like a 2019 wonderland. People were sane! Masks were not worn in low-risk situations! Kids went to school every day! The main reason we pulled the trigger on a complicated, albeit temporary, move, though, was for our youngest son. Learning on Zoom for a four-year old is not a possibility. His Florida teacher understood that...

A history of hurricanes in New York—including the day in 1893 that Hog Island disappeared for good. Last week, as the news from New Orleans kept getting worse, New York found itself in the position of watching another American city’s catastrophe, and giving back some of what was extended to us—in money and worry—four years ago. Despite the horrors we’ve seen, this was not one we could easily imagine. But our own hurricane history is more tumultuous than many New Yorkers might think. In 1821, when a major hurricane made a direct hit on Manhattan, stunned residents recorded sea levels...