Free Republic

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) said that he sees “no evidence whatsoever in the Democratic caucus or in the Democratic Party of antisemitism at all. In fact, the strongest voices that have condemned acts of antisemitism and this rise in antisemitic violence have been members of the Democratic caucus.”

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — “Tomorrow, Rhode Island — with a few exceptions — will be reopened.” Gov. Dan McKee spoke those words Thursday afternoon as he and other state leaders discussed the imminent lifting of restrictions during their weekly COVID-19 briefing. On Friday, Rhode Island will be the closest to normal that it’s been since before the pandemic, with most businesses and services able to start operating at 100% capacity and the social gathering limit coming to an end.McKee said those changes have been made possible by the downward-trending public health data and rising vaccination rates. “It’s safe for people...

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) on Friday began asking Democratic colleagues to sign onto a resolution to censure three House Republicans who tried to minimize the severity of the Jan. 6 insurrection this week. In a letter to fellow House Democrats, Cicilline said that a resolution will be forthcoming to specifically censure Republican Reps. Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Jody Hice (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) for their remarks at a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Wednesday downplaying and making false claims about the violent attack on the Capitol.

There is something very fishy about the new 2020 Census Bureau data determining which states picked up seats and which states lost seats. Most all of the revisions to the original estimates have moved in one direction: Population gains were added to blue states, and population losses were subtracted from red states. The December revisions in population estimates under the Biden Census Bureau added some 2.5 million blue-state residents and subtracted more than 500,000 red-state residents. These population estimates determine how many electoral votes each state receives for presidential elections and the number of congressional seats in each state. Is...

Several Democratic lawmakers are pushing for Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from an upcoming case linked to a conservative group that funded an ad blitz supporting her confirmation to the Supreme Court. In a three-page letter, the lawmakers argued that Barrett was at risk of bias in favor of a litigant funded by Charles Koch, the conservative billionaire behind a group that bankrolled a high-priced ad campaign for the Trump appointee’s Senate confirmation last fall. “Statute, constitutional case law, and common sense all would seem to require your recusal,” Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and...

A handful of coins unearthed from a pick-your-own-fruit orchard in the US state of Rhode Island and other random corners of New England may help solve a centuries-old cold case. The villain in this tale: a murderous English pirate who became the world’s most-wanted criminal after plundering a ship carrying Muslim pilgrims home to India from Mecca, then eluded capture by posing as a slave trader. Jim Bailey, an amateur historian and metal detectorist, found the first intact 17th-century Arabian coin in a meadow in Middletown.

The results are in—and they overwhelmingly vindicate the free states over the authoritarian experiments. .. When COVID-19 first came to our shores, it presented policymakers and elected officials with a crisis like nothing in living memory. In the year since, states have taken markedly different approaches to pandemic policy. Some, like New York, embraced sweeping government lockdowns and top-down mandates while others like Florida and South Dakota took a more humble, hands-off government approach, trusting individuals to make the best decisions for themselves. The results are in—and they overwhelmingly vindicate the free states over the authoritarian experiments. First, we saw...

This is Jill Sheridan, an 8th grade science teacher at Qualters Middle School in Mansfield. She is an active supporter of black lives matter, a domestic terrorist organization that seeks to abolish the police and is directly responsible for the destruction of American cities and the murders of dozens of people this summer. She’s quite proud of herself. Over the weekend in Bridgewater she and several of her Antifa friends decided to disrupt an anti-lockdown rally in the center of town, in which three of her friends were arrested for assaulting police officers and carrying guns. It should be noted...

Democrats are using the mass shooting in Colorado on Monday to renew their push to eliminate the filibuster and pass new gun control legislation. Prominent Democrats said the Senate must eliminate the filibuster in order to push through new gun control laws in response to the killings. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.), Rep. David Cicilline (R.I.), Pennsylvania lieutenant governor candidate John Fetterman, and Pennsylvania Senate candidate Malcolm Kenyatta all called for the filibuster to end in the wake of Monday's attack. "Things won't get better until Democrats get rid of the filibuster and finally pass gun safety...

Nothing seems to scare the establishment more than a return to 'normal'. And by 'normal', we mean a return to an environment outside of the tyrannical control of career politicians and bureaucrats who have got a taste for this 'being king' stuff and know that anyone who questions their edicts will be 'canceled' by their Covidian cultists.So, a week after Johns Hopkins surgeon, Dr. Marty Makary, penned an Op-ed in the WSJ saying that we will have herd immunity by April... and was instantly disavowed as 'dangerous', some awkward 'facts' and 'science' have been dropped by none other than FundStrat's...

Rhode Island Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin joined a growing chorus of Catholic leaders this week in urging Joe Biden not to present himself for communion because of his pro-abortion stance. Biden claims to be a devout Catholic but holds positions on abortion, family and religious freedom that contradict his faith. Catholic and other Christian leaders have been urging Biden to repent of his support for the evil of abortion, and some bishops have warned him not to receive communion until he does. This week, Tobin told WJAR News 10 that he would ask Biden not to receive communion if he...

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, issued lockdown orders to the state’s residents and posted a tweet on December 7. She told everyone to stay home and if they do go out, to wear a mask. She relayed the usual kind of we’re-all-in-this-together rhetoric in the post. It’s week two of our pause. I know it's been hard, but I want to thank every Rhode Islander who's following our guidance. Please, stay home except for essential activities & wear a mask anytime you’re with people you don’t live with. Together, we can turn our case numbers around. — Gina...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Republican Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung has ousted Rhode Island’s Democratic House speaker, Nicholas Mattiello.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) ─ The revving of ATVs and dirt bikes could be heard throughout the South Side of Providence Tuesday evening as hundreds of people gathered to demand justice for the victim in an officer-involved moped crash from over the weekend. ... Cell phone video from a witness shows Gonsalves take an abrupt right turn before losing control of his moped and slamming into a building. It’s still unclear at this time whether Endres actually hit Gonsalves before he crashed. ... The rally was organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is calling for an independent investigation...

Cars blocking roads, fireworks thrown at cops, riot police respond with charge. At least 6 arrest so far. Seconds ago ongoing. Not too major yet, but they aren't dispersing either. Line of riot police across road now.

Supreme Court fight pushes Senate toward brink BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 09/26/20 01:02 PM EDT The burgeoning fight to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat is pouring fuel onto already simmering tensions in the Senate and threatening to fundamentally reshape the institution. Senators in both parties acknowledge the level of dysfunction in a chamber where the bulk of their time is spent processing nominations amid failures to break stalemates on pressing national issues such as coronavirus relief and police reform. “I’m praying to God that the better angels start flying with my colleagues. That’s all I can tell...

The Supreme Court is now a central issue in the election campaign, and House Democrats are helpfully holding a hearing Tuesday on the subject. This is a chance for the Republican minority to ask Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about his ties to what he likes to call “dark money” and court packing. The subject of Jerry Nadler’s Judiciary Committee hearing is "Maintaining Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law: Examining the Causes and Consequences of Court Capture.” One purpose of the hearing is to give Mr. Whitehouse, who is in the Senate minority, a chance to showcase his political...

A Rhode Island professor with a history of incendiary comments against conservatives is under fire this week for appearing to suggest that the fatal shooting of a Patriot Prayer supporter during unrest in Portland last month was morally justified. The comment from Erik Loomis, a history professor at the University of Rhode Island, came in response to a comment on his blog post: “Why Was Michael Reinoehl Killed?” The post questioned whether police deliberately “murdered” 48-year-old Michael Reinoehl, the man who fatally shot Aaron “Jay” Danielson on Aug. 29, the night Trump supporters clashed with backers of Black Lives Matter...

Black, Latino and American Indian and Alaskan Native people were disproportionately hospitalized for Covid-19, according to a new analysis of 12 states' populations published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. ... In a nearly two-month period from late April to late June, there were 48,788 cumulative Covid-19 hospitalizations in the states that reported race and hospitalization data -- Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington. "The share of the hospitalizations of White patients was substantially smaller vs. their share of the population in all 12 states," the authors found. The authors...

School districts developing their plans for reopening for the new academic year should find ways to offer as many outdoor activities as possible, from classes to recess and lunchtime, the nation's top infectious disease expert recommended in an online discussion Thursday. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also suggested in his Facebook Live chat with Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo that, on school buses, windows should remain open and students wear their masks as much as possible. "Get as much outdoors as you can. If you look at the superspreader events that have...