Free Republic

Mumbles chickened out. This whole Chick-fil-A fiasco turned into, as he would say, an Alcatraz around his neck. Amazing, this guy who goes to Mass every Sunday — does he know he’s supportin’, to use his terminology, a group that is probably more opposed to gay marriage than Dan Cathy? And if Boston College gets invited to the Chick-fil-A bowl, will you allow the Eagles’ plane to take off from Logan airport? Usually, Mumbles takes his cues in PC idiocy from Mayor Bloomberg. This time, he was driving the lead clown car. And you know the old saying: Monkey see,...

Authorities say a homeless man robbed a Tampa bank, fled on a city bus and handed out stolen cash to passengers. Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies say 27-year-old Elmer McGuirt handed a note demanding money to a Wachovia Bank teller about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Witnesses told deputies he then got on the bus and started handing out money, keeping some of the cash for himself. The sheriff's office contacted the bus driver, who stopped the bus and pretended to have mechanical failure. Deputies arrested McGuirt and were also able to get some of the money back from passengers. McQuirt now faces...

A simple city event wound up pitting mayoral pique against a burrito maker’s overheated tweet It seemed like a feel-good idea: Boloco, the hip burrito chain, would provide free burritos to the first 200 people who showed up wearing a bike helmet at Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s unveiling of the city’s new bike-sharing program. Boloco would enjoy some goodwill from the public. The city would get attention for its program. And the rest of us? We might get a free lunch. But what ensued was nothing less than a burrito brouhaha involving hot tempers, a Twitter tirade, and a tense...

CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire’s House Republican leader says Roman Catholic Bishop John McCormack is a "pedophile pimp" who should’ve been led from the Statehouse in handcuffs after speaking at a rally criticizing the budget. Rep. D.J. Bettencourt of Salem posted the comment Friday on Facebook in an apparent reference to McCormack’s tenure as head of the Manchester diocese during the clergy sex abuse scandal. In 2002, McCormack averted unprecedented criminal charges against the diocese by agreeing that it had harmed children by moving abusive priests from parish to parish. Bettencourt later said that while his language was colorful, he...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a decision that may slow foreclosures nationwide, Massachusetts' highest court voided the seizure of two homes by Wells Fargo & Co and US Bancorp after the banks failed to show they held the mortgages at the time they foreclosed. Bank shares fell, weighing on broader stock indexes, on fears the decision could threaten lenders' ability to work through hundreds of thousands of pending foreclosures. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts' unanimous decision on Friday upheld a lower court ruling. It is among the earliest cases to address the validity of foreclosures done without proper documentation....

Bank of America will begin testing a new slate of checking accounts in Massachusetts and two other states later this month in an effort to generate more revenue from customers.......... A second new account, called “Premium,’’ will cost $15 a month unless customers either maintain a $5,000 minimum balance, use a Bank of America credit card at least once a month, or add $2,000 to the account every month. A third new account, labeled “Enhanced,’’ will cost $25 per month unless holders maintain at least $20,000 in deposits and investments in certain accounts or link their accounts to a Bank...

He was a published author. He inspired a president. He barked at members of Congress and foreign dignitaries. Splash, Vicki and Edward M. Kennedy’s beloved Portuguese water dog and a constant presence at the senator’s side, bounding and romping through the halls of power, has died. The death of the 13 1/2-year-old curly-haired canine is eliciting fond tributes, .............snip..........“The dogs,’’ he said, “were very a much part of him.’’

WASHINGTON — In a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horse has left, the Obama administration and the Department of Defense have ordered the hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors not to view the secret cables and other classified documents published by Wikileaks and news organizations around the world unless the workers have the required security clearance or authorization.

FRANKLIN, Vt. — The red brick house sits unassumingly on a sleepy back road where the lush farmlands of northern Vermont roll quietly into Canada. This is the Morses Line border crossing, a point of entry into the United States where more than three cars an hour constitute heavy traffic. The bucolic setting of silos and sugar maples has become the focus of a bitter dispute that pits one of America’s most revered traditions — the family-owned farm — against the post-9/11 reality of terror attacks on US soil. The Department of Homeland Security sees Morses Line as a weak...

BOSTON -- Mayor Tom Menino was at it again today in the middle of honoring Bruins legend Bobby Orr with the statue unveiling of "The Goal" outside TD Garden near the West Entrance. The mayor said the statue captured an "ionic" moment, and also asserted that Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek was the field-goal kicker who pushed the New England Patriots to their first Super Bowl victory: "Boston has an amazing set of remarkable athletes whose actions in the moment have become (sic) ionic in sports. Havlicek stole the ball. Fisk waved the ball fair. Flutie launched the Hail Mary...

It will be a temple of taxes, a Tax Mahal, as the headline puts it. What a fitting symbol for a government run amok, and in a perfect setting too - the town of Andover, where last year 626 streetlights were turned off because the town couldn’t afford them anymore. But now the Feds spend $92 million on the same IRS facility where they just eliminated 1,400 jobs. The Internal Revenue Service - all you need to know about Obamacare is that it will create not one single new physician or health-care provider, but it will require hiring new IRS...

Barack Obama used to live in Somerville - I wonder if he ever went to Fenway Park [map], or, as he might put it, Funway Park. Once again, the president has tried to pass himself off as a regular guy, a Joe Sixpack who likes nothing better than to crack open a Bud and listen to a game from . . . Cuminski Park. Cuminski . . . rhymes with Alinsky. As in “Saul Alinsky.” Yes, that’s right, the president talked about “Cuminski” Park again Monday at the Washington Nationals’ home opener, at which he threw out the first pitch...

A former top official for the US Department of Homeland Security testified yesterday that she did not question her Brazilian housekeeper about her immigration status, despite a colleague’s warning that the immigrant was in the country illegally. “I didn’t think we had the authority to ask her if she was legal,’’ said Lorraine Henderson, taking the stand during her trial in federal court on a charge that she encouraged an illegal immigrant, the housekeeper, to remain in the country. ..........She was suspended from her $140,000-a-year job without pay

Former Gov. Mitt Romney showed the right stuff by keeping cool when an unruly airline passenger threatened the likely GOP presidential contender in a flap over reclining seats, experts said. “There’s no need to get into fisticuffs over a reclined seat,” said etiquette guru Jodi R.R. Smith, president of Mannersmith. Smith called Romney “generally one of the more well-mannered politicians on our national stage.” The former Bay State governor and his wife, Ann, were on a flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles Monday when Romney asked the man sitting in front of his wife to put his seat upright for...

Cites actions that followed brother’s death Amy Bishop could have been charged with three serious crimes after she shot her younger brother to death in 1986, instead of being allowed to walk away without a mark on her criminal record, Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating said yesterday as he released Braintree police records missing for more than 20 years. snip......Attempts to reach US Representative William D. Delahunt, who was Norfolk district attorney at the time, were unsuccessful yesterday.

Bringing down the curtain - at least for now - on Camelot and one of the most storied political dynasties in the nation’s history, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, says he is not running for re-election. In a taped message intended for broadcast Sunday night and obtained by the Herald, the R.I. Democrat, looking haggard and speaking directly into the camera, said it was time to leave Congress after 16 years. “Now having spent two decades in politics, my life is taking a new direction, and I will not be a candidate for...

The illegal alien aunt of President Obama could learn this week whether she can put down roots in Boston - or start packing her bags for a one-way trip back to Kenya. And, save for U.S. Immigration Court Judge Leonard I. Shapiro, she’ll know before anyone else. Zeituni Polly Onyango has persuaded Shapiro to bar the public from her removal proceeding Thursday morning at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, though it’s unclear why. “I assume (Shapiro) thought it would be a three-ring circus. She’s the aunt of the president of the United States - the most famous man in...

Mumbles Menino has learned a new word, and it’s quite impressive. I bet he spent the whole weekend working on getting it right. Tsunami. T-S-U-N-A-M-I. As in Tsunami Scott Brown. “There’s a tsunami, that’s what it was,” Mumbles was saying yesterday at the Parkman House after the new senator-elect made a call on him. “It just got rollin’ and it’s very difficult to stop. And ya know he had the best TV ads, he just had the momentum.” Not bad, Mumbles. A big word - a foreign word - and then some standard boilerplate analysis. But then, he had almost...

Just when he was set to bask in the limelight as the Bay State’s senior senator, Democrat John F. Kerry is being pushed back into the political shadows, forced to play the liberal foil to GOP superstar Scott Brown. “He’s out of the shadow of Ted Kennedy and he’s finally the senior senator, and he still is being upstaged by this new rising star within the Republican ranks,” said George Serra, a political professor at Bridgewater State College. Decades spent eclipsed by Kennedy were not easy for Kerry. “ ‘John Kerry doesn’t get anything done. John Kerry lives in the...

The Amiraults were a busy, confident trio, grateful in the way of people who have found success after a life of hardship. Violet had reared her son Gerald and daughter Cheryl with help from welfare, and then set out to educate herself. The result was the triumph of her life—the Fells Acres school—whose every detail Violet scrutinized relentlessly. Not for nothing was the pre-school deemed by far the best in the area, with a long waiting list for admission.