Free Republic

Last summer, Amazon announced a $10 million donation for “organizations supporting justice and equity,” including a donation directly to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. At the time, BLM Global Network was sponsored by Thousand Currents, a non-profit whose vice-chairman is Susan Rosenberg, a convicted left-wing terrorist. It’s a major oversight for Amazon, the self-anointed arbiter of domestic terrorism.Amazon’s ties to Rosenberg are fully exposed in Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media’s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruption, my new book revealing the secret ties between the establishment media, Big Tech, and the activist left.Rosenberg, a former member of...

Between the pandemic, Hurricane Maria, and the recent earthquakes, the last four years have been an immense struggle for Puerto Rico. But as the island rebuilds, it must be careful to do so in a manner that corrects past mistakes and lays a stronger foundation for the future. This is especially true for Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure. Systemic problems with Puerto Rico’s electricity were obvious even before the recent natural disasters. Just two months before Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) declared bankruptcy on $9 billion in bond debt. In the hurricane’s aftermath,...

A businessman was arrested in Puerto Rico for allegedly shooting and killing a dog that had stolen his ball on a golf course, police said Monday. Former Long Island resident Salil Zaveri, 60, is accused of gunning down the pooch on Saturday at the well-known Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Resort in coastal Río Grande. He apparently became enraged after the dog snatched his ball near the 17th hole, local newspaper El Nuevo Día reported. Police said Zaveri allegedly pulled out a 9mm gun and shot the animal at least twice in front of several horrified golfers, the report said. Then...

Soros-Backed Mag Pushes For 5 New States To ‘End Whiteness’ Of Government.OpenDemocracy, a left-wing magazine funded by organizations linked to George Soros, called for granting statehood to five U.S. territories in order to “end the whiteness of Congress.”Written by Karl Widerquist, a Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University-Qatar, the piece argues that “one of the most transformative things Democrats could do with their narrow majority in Congress would be to grant statehood to all the remaining inhabited US territories”: Washington DC, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Mariana Islands. The article – “The Case For Five...

A 24-year-old tourist from Delaware was killed in Puerto Rico over the weekend after allegedly buying drugs in a coastal shantytown, authorities said. Tariq Loat and a friend, James Jackson, were attacked in La Perla on Saturday following the alleged drug deal when they tried to take photographs, despite being told not to, according to Police Commissioner Antonio López Figueroa. The duo were beaten with an exercise weight, a piece of wood and a deep fryer, authorities said. Jackson managed to flee and was later hospitalized, authorities said. But Loat’s badly burned body was found by authorities on Sunday in...

A group of 47 academics from top U.S. universities lambasted a proposed bill that would determine Puerto Rico's territorial status through a convention process. In a letter sent Monday to a group of bipartisan congressional leaders, the academics, led by Columbia Law School's Christina Ponsa-Kraus, said the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, which was introduced by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), "disserves its purported goal perpetuating the pernicious myth that [multiple sovereignty] options exist. They do not." "There are two, and only two, real self-determination options for Puerto Rico: statehood and independence. Yet the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act defies constitutional reality by...

Headline photograph in Puerto Rico today. A policeman stands by a dying traffic accident victim.

CBS4) – An 18-year-old Colorado man was arrested in Puerto Rico over the weekend for not wearing a mask. The U.S. territory requires everyone to wear a mask even if they’ve been vaccinated. A news report in Puerto Rico names the tourist as Torino Walter Bickmore. It states the man was “disoriented, uttering profanity, aggressive with passers-by.” Officers asked the man to get out of the middle of the street, but the man refused. The man was apparently intoxicated. Police also say the man was not wearing a face mask and refused to wear one when asked to. Police ended...

At the Condado Vanderbilt hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Christian Correa clocked in to work the night-shift as a doorman and braced for the worst. Correa, who is also a bellman at the hotel, has seen a surge in American tourists coming to the US territory in the last three months and the hotel has been busy. Although he used to enjoy high season before the pandemic, recently, many tourists arriving to Puerto Rico have enraged local residents and hospitality workers as the island eases its Covid-19 restrictions. “The tourists think they can do whatever they want,” says Correa,...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The construction worker stood on his tiptoes and tried to arrange a crown of thorns on a statue of Jesus while architect Jorge Rigau fired a flurry of directions from beneath the ladder. “Grab it like this and move it just a bit,” he said, motioning with his fingers. “Move it to the right, but don’t lower it.” It was one of the final touches on a detailed restoration of the second oldest surviving Spanish church in the Americas, whose construction had begun by 1532 on land donated by famous explorer Juan Ponce de...

Sen. Joe Manchin, the moderate West Virginia Democrat whose vote the party will almost surely need to pass laws this year, signaled Sunday that he may be open to reforming the filibuster, a procedural rule that requires 60 votes for many measures, effectively dooming most legislation.

@Breaking911 NEW: House Democrats have introduced a bill to give Puerto Rico statehood (H.R. 1522), which would give Democrats two more Senate seats and multiple House seats -Politico

Fifty is a nice, round number. It looks good: “The 50 States of the United States.” I can vaguely remember when it was the “good ole’ 48” states. And then Alaska and Hawaii entered the union and 48 became 50. Back then, we all looked around and didn’t see any more room for a state. The U.S. was full up and we posted a “no vacancy” sign. But “50” is not set in stone. There was always that holdover from the American imperial era, Puerto Rico. Following the end of the Spanish-American War, the U.S. military basically just stayed there,...

Republicans are smart to look at statehood for the District of Columbia as a way for Democrats to elect two new far left-wing senators and a bunch of House members. Democrats campaigned in the last election on the idea of ridding the Senate of the filibuster, packing the Supreme Court, and making the District of Columbia a state as a move to consolidate power. The push for D.C. statehood to the exclusion of Puerto Rican statehood is nothing more than a ploy to solidify Democratic control of the levers of power for the federal government.Need evidence to support the idea...

Youtube/ScreenshotThis bit of breaking news caught by Tristan Justice at The Federalist slipped under the radar a bit yesterday — Dem. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has flip-flopped back on his earlier announced support for statehood for Puerto Rico.During a community Zoom meeting Thursday, Schumer said he now opposes Puerto Rican statehood. “I don’t agree with them, I’m not going to support their statehood bill,” Schumer said of legislation from Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres that would open the door to Puerto Rico becoming a state.The motives behind this announcement are likely multidimensional. It was in the heat of the firestorm...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer flipped on his position over Puerto Rican statehood this week, declaring his opposition to the idea after having endorsed it last year. During a community Zoom meeting Thursday, Schumer said he now opposes Puerto Rican statehood. “I don’t agree with them, I’m not going to support their statehood bill,” Schumer said of legislation from Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres that would open the door to Puerto Rico becoming a state. Flash back to four months ago, however, and Schumer held the opposite position. “Believe me, on D.C. and Puerto Rico, particularly if Puerto Rico votes for...

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said in an interview tonight that Congress is “morally obligated” to act. Pierluisi says that he expects the House to propose legislation for Puerto Rican statehood by mid-March. The governor cited discussions with lawmakers, including Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) and Del. Jenniffer González-Colón (R-Puerto Rico), for his prediction, adding that statehood would provide new access to programs, such as Medicaid and the earned income tax credit. “What I anticipate is that there will be considerable support for a statehood bill in this Congress.” “The U.S. could be expanding by admitting Puerto Rico into the union,”...

(Translation) Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González said that the proposed increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour could “kill” local production. “At the congressional level, the President (Joseph Biden) has talked about supporting amendments to the federal minimum wage. This is under review. There has been talk about being in Bill 21, [but] we haven’t been told yet,” González said. “We have to manage this matter with a lot of caution since, while it’s true that no one can live off the federal minimum wage, not to mention we have such a high poverty level in Puerto Rico, we...

The new administration of the City of San Juan reports that it has found hundreds of food packages and other supplies which had been donated to address the emergencies as a result of Hurricane María and the earthquakes in the southwestern region of the island. The images were revealed in the TV program "Jay and his X-Rays" (Telemundo), which show from blue tarps to water bottle pallets, first aid kits, rice, beans, batteries and other essential items. All expired and some spoiled. 'El Nuevo Día' attempted to contact former Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulín Cruz for a reaction but...

Puerto Rico has long been stuck in limbo between becoming the 51st state and remaining an unincorporated U.S. territory. But now, with Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, the issue of Puerto Rican statehood is back on the table.