Free Republic

SALEM, Mass. - Just in time for Halloween, a self-proclaimed witch priestess got an order of protection against a man who calls himself the world's best known warlock after she accused him of harassment. In an affidavit, Lori Sforza, 75, says that Christian Day, 45, has been calling her in the middle of the night about three times a week, calling her "the c-word" and saying "I am gonna get you." Sforza, who also goes by the name Lori Bruno, also alleged that Day has been "speaking ill of me on the Internet" and that she is afraid for her...

At least $335 million of the state’s controversial film tax credits have been sold off to corporations and individuals that critics say likely have nothing to do with the movie the perk was intended for, in a secondary market largely shrouded from public view, a Herald review of state records has found. --SNIP-- Established in 2006, the film tax credit is a 25 percent rebate filmmakers earn if they spent at least $50,000 in Massachusetts. But many don’t end up owing enough in state taxes, and the credits are legally transferable, meaning that filmmakers can sell them — on average...

A certain candidate’s daughter just lent a helping hand to a new mother while they were en route to Boston. Anny Deese was traveling from Philadelphia with her 4-month-old daughter, Talar, according to People, and bogged down with a stroller, carseat, and bags. Deese got stuck on the jetway, but even though she clearly had a lot to juggle, she said that people passed right by her without offering any help.Until Chelsea Clinton came along.On her way to Boston to make an appearance at the Harvard Book Store to promote her book, It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired &...

A Massachusetts woman apparently botched some home repairs yesterday and blew her house to smithereens, WBT reports. Lucky for Laurie Beliveau, 52, she fled her property in Taunton, Mass., minutes before the explosion. "We, my son and I, got her a pair of sandals and a glass of water and within about five minutes the house was in flames and the windows exploded," says Paul Saltalamacchia, a neighbor who saw her crying for help. Seems that Beliveau was trying to fix her hot water heater—which was gas-fueled—when she took off the gas shut-off valve, according to fire officials. That allowed...

If, like some of us of a certain age, you wondered where the exotic term “microaggressions” comes from, the answer is that, like many maladies that bedevil us, it started in the 1970s, and in academia, no less. “Despite microaggression’s vogueishness, the term itself was coined in 1970 by Chester M. Pierce, an African-American psychiatrist and professor at Harvard Medical School,” Matt Labash writes in The Weekly Standard. “While Pierce, by some accounts, was a well-liked, genteel scholar, not given to rhetorical excess, he did manage to anticipate our present Cocked Fist Culture when writing, ‘Every child in America entering...

AN asteroid discovered today will hit Earth's atmosphere over Sudan in a few hours -SNIP- The asteroid would create a large fireball about 10.46pm EDT (1.46pm AEST) as it burns up, a team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said. "We want to stress that this object is -SNIP- a threat," said Timothy Spahr, director of the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center at Harvard in Massachusetts. "We're excited since this is the first time we have issued a prediction that an object will enter Earth's atmosphere," Dr Spahr said. The asteroid, known as a meteoroid, -SNIP- "A typical meteor...

<p>Flaws in nuts that hold up lights throughout the Big Dig’s tunnels may be the result of workers overtightening the fasteners when they were first installed, a top highway official said Thursday.</p> <p>Highway officials revealed this week that an inspector had discovered a cracked nut on a light fixture in the Ted Williams Tunnel in September. After further inspection of the Williams Tunnel and the Interstate 90 Connector and Interstate 93 tunnels, officials said they believe hundreds of fasteners throughout the Big Dig tunnels are flawed and must be replaced.</p>

U.S. banks are going to new lengths to ward off a surprising threat to their financial health: big cash deposits.

Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis in 2004. Republicans try to regulate fannie mae and freddie mac without success.

BERLIN — With Israelis and Palestinians caught in another widening cycle of bloodshed, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Berlin on Thursday and urged him to tone down the harsh language that American and European officials believe is fueling the violence. The message delivered on Thursday to Mr. Netanyahu, who claimed this week that a Muslim cleric had inspired the Holocaust, will be repeated in the coming days when Mr. Kerry meets the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, whose own comments Mr. Netanyahu and others have blamed for provoking attacks....

He would have been treated better if he were a U.S. Army deserter, or a Gitmo terrorist, a murderer or a crack cocaine dealer. He might have even have called himself Sally and asked for a sex change. Instead he was a politician -- Sal DiMasi (remember him?) -- a former speaker of the Massachusetts House, who is serving time in a North Carolina federal prison after being convicted of accepting some $65,000 in payoffs to facilitate approval of a state computer contract. DiMasi, once one of the most popular of progressive political leaders in the state, is in the...

Ok, it's Massachusetts... but their primary counts like any other.

After five years ex-Alabama professor who opened fire during faculty meeting killing three colleagues and injuring three more FINALLY apologizes to victims and her family as she challenges her sentence Amy Bishop Anderson killed three colleagues and wounded three more during a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama at Huntsville in 2010 She pleaded guilty to capital murder and attempted murder in 2012 The professor waived her right to appeal with the guilty plea, but she's been challenging the conviction ever since with a number of claims Now she has apologized to the victims, their families and her family...

My weekend column in on the Palestinians’ new intifada, the Obama State Department’s disgraceful response to it, and how Islamists and Leftists continue to push for the “One State Solution”—no more Jewish state—an objective that is helped along by the “Two State Solution” fantasy peddled by the bipartisan Beltway. A related development: A watchdog group, UN Watch, reports that staffers at a major United Nations agency with a long history of encouraging Palestinian terrorism, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), is inciting the latest spate of attacks in Israel. …

Donald Trump rally in Tyngsborough, MA, October 16, 2015.

There they go again. New England authorities are passively accepting the closing of the Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor, one of the region’s four remaining reactors, which Entergy announced it will shutter up by 2019. The loss is 685 megawatts or 5 percent of New England’s electricity. Once again a reactor has been deemed too expensive to operate because nuclear gets absolutely no credit for delivering clean, emissions-free energy. As it happens, Pilgrim was delivering 84 percent of the clean energy in the state of Massachusetts. The closing leaves only the Seabrook reactor in New Hampshire and Connecticut’s two Millstone reactors, which...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) is calling on Secretary of State John Kerry to resign over recent comments by senior Obama administration officials accusing Israel of committing “terrorism” amid a spate of violent attacks by Palestinians against Jews.Palestinian terrorists have murdered at least eight Israelis and wounded dozens more over the last few weeks, with Palestinian leaders calling on citizens to commit more violence.However, the State Department has attempted to blame Israel for fostering these attacks. Kerry blamed so-called Israeli “settlement” growth for the violence, while State Department spokesman John Kirby accused Israel of committing “terrorism.”The comments sparked outrage among...

The owners of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth have announced that they will close the plant by June 2019. Entergy Corp. said Tuesday it is closing the only nuclear power plant in Massachusetts because of "poor market conditions, reduced revenues and increased operational costs."... ...The plant needs millions of dollars in safety improvements. The plant was relicensed in 2012 for 20 years....

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks in New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of WCVB NORTH ANDOVER State Rep. Jim Lyons has been named chairman of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign in Massachusetts. "I was honored to have the senator ask me to chair the campaign in Massachusetts," Lyons said. "What we're trying to do is build a team of activists in Massachusetts, and my role will be to work with the Cruz national campaign for a coordinated message with the folks in Massachusetts. there is a large contingency of supporters for Ted in Massachusetts." Lyons and his wife Bernadette hosted...

Integrating women into combat will eventually force lawmakers to have an "emotional discussion and debate" about whether women should also be part of the draft, the Army secretary said Monday. John McHugh said it's still too early to discuss whether women should have to sign up for the Selective Service as men have. But, as the military drives toward a Jan. 1 deadline to open some or all combat positions to women, McHugh acknowledged the country will need to have the conversation if women have the same opportunities in the military as men. "If your objective is true and pure...