Free Republic

Another 99 people have tested positive for coronavirus onboard the stricken Princess Diamond cruise ship docked in Japan, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 454. Meanwhile concern is growing over possible infections among passengers from another cruise liner that docked in Cambodia last week. On Sunday a traveller from the MS Westerdam was confirmed to have the virus in Malaysia, days after disembarking along with hundreds of other passengers. SNIP Japanese public health experts advising the government defended the decision to isolate passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess. “Many people are testing positive on the ship, but...

Muslim communities in Germany have called for more police protection after the arrest of members of a rightwing extremist group that is believed to have been plotting large-scale attacks on mosques around the country. Twelve men who were arrested following police raids on Friday had been planning attacks using semi-automatic weapons on worshippers during prayers in 10 German states, said to have been inspired by those carried out in New Zealand last year, according to a government spokesman. Investigators had been following the men for months, monitoring their conversations and online activity, after suspecting them of having formed a terror...

Meet the new quarantine, same as the old quarantine. Two charter flights from Japan took hundreds of Americans from the cruise ship Diamond Princess to California and Texas, but not all of them are happy to be back in the good ol’ US. The evacuation comes from an “about face” on the US policy on coronavirus, CNN reports, and leaves all of the Americans stuck in limbo for at least two weeks longer than they first thought.“I’ve lost a month of my life,” one American woman says after finding out that the US changed its mind about relying on...

The presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has insisted he is a “champion for women in the workplace”, after the republication of a 30-year-old booklet purporting to contain his “Wit and Wisdom” cast an uncomfortable spotlight on the billionaire former New York mayor. The Washington Post made the 1990 booklet available online as it published an investigation of how Bloomberg has “for years battled women’s allegations of profane, sexist comments”. The booklet was presented as a gift to Bloomberg on his 48th birthday party and contains a catalogue of sexist remarks attributed to the billionaire during his time at the company he...

A week before the accident, Segundo Huerta’s wife said, her husband had complained to her that the boss at the Bronx construction site where he was working was pressuring his laborers, berating them for working too slowly. Mr. Huerta’s wife, Maria Guazhco, said her husband had told her that after 17 years with the company, he would try to find another job. Nonetheless, she said, he returned to the site the next week. “And then,” Ms. Guazhco, 39, said, “everything collapsed.” Mr. Huerta, 46, was killed on Aug. 27 after the third floor of the building where he was working...

Mike Bloomberg’s campaign on Monday launched a new ad ripping the so-called “Bernie Bros” for using online bullying tactics against anyone who opposes Sen. Bernie Sanders. “We need to unite to defeat Trump in November. This type of ‘energy’ is not going to get us there,” Bloomberg writes in a tweet along with the 53-second clip. The video contains numerous tweets, including one of a Photoshopped meme of Sanders pointing a handgun with the words “I am no longer asking.” “##Bernie or Bust now it’s #Bernie or Else,” the caption also read. Images of threatening text and other messages then...

President Donald Trump’s efforts to streamline, accelerate and modernize the environmental review process could curtail abusive litigation practices that undermine economic development and jeopardize national security, according to congressional figures and energy policy analysts. The 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, which has not been revised since 1986, has been weaponized by anti-development groups to delay vital federal infrastructure projects and exploited to serve as a tool for excessive litigation to the detriment of America’s military readiness, they argue. But Trump’s proposed overhaul of NEPA, which he officially announced during a White House press conference in January, has also been the...

Criminal justice reform has received a great deal of attention lately. There has been bipartisan applause for some aspects of this movement, but other aspects are very controversial and have come under heavy criticism in law enforcement circles.

A controversial bill that would have banned Virginians from selling so-called assault weapons and owning high-capacity magazines was defeated by lawmakers after a handful of Democrats rejected the proposal. State senators in the Judiciary Committee voted to shelve the bill (House Bill 961) until next year and asked the state crime commission to study the issue. Four Democratic senators—Creigh Deeds, John Edwards, Chap Petersen, and Scott Surovell—broke with their party and joined Republicans to reject the measure in a 10–5 vote. The Feb. 17 bipartisan vote sparked cheers in the committee room, which was packed with gun advocates, according to...

<p>In 2020 we have finally hit peak progressivism. The adjective “peak”—apex or summit— is often used to describe something that has reached its maximum extent but thereafter will insidiously decline—like supposed U.S. domestic oil production in 2000 when more oil was purportedly taken out of, rather than still in the ground. While the idea of peak oil in the days before fracking and horizontal drilling proved vastly premature, we likely are witnessing something like “peak progressivism” today.</p>

RUSH: How about Avenatti? How about Michael Avenatti? This guy was on CNN more than anybody two years ago. This guy was at every CNN party. He was on every CNN show multiple times. He was feted, he was hosted by CNN, he was promoted, he was trumpeted. There were people — and I’m not making this up ’cause I commented on it at the time — there were people who were actually touting Michael Avenatti as the Democrat nominee for 2020 as the only guy who could beat Trump. And there were even Republicans, serious Never Trump Republicans who...

The Nevada caucuses are days away and officials are already worried about another tech meltdown. One Nevada Dem volunteer predicted a “complete disaster.” The Iowa caucuses were a total train wreck after the Hillary-linked app “Shadow” failed to properly count votes. The Iowa Dem party released partial, fudged numbers days after the caucuses showing Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders in the lead, It looks like Nevada is bracing for a disaster too.

RUSH: Bloomberg, all the stuff that’s being discovered about Bloomberg. Folks, this myth that billionaires are brilliant. They may be at one or two things, but they are not massive, triumphant examples of a brilliant IQ. This guy says some of the stupidest stuff and has said some of the stupidest stuff and done some of the stupidest stuff over the course of his political and business career that you can imagine, and it’s all been kept under the radar. Now it’s starting to surface. Ignorant and Arrogant Bloomberg Insults Farmers Feb 17, 2020 RUSH: Bloomberg, all the stuff that’s...

The Trump campaign fired back Monday after former President Barack Obama, in a subtle swipe at President Trump, claimed credit for the economic gains in both their terms. Obama tweeted Monday morning to note the anniversary of his signing the 2009 economic stimulus package. “Eleven years ago today, near the bottom of the worst recession in generations, I signed the Recovery Act, paving the way for more than a decade of economic growth and the longest streak of job creation in American history,” Obama tweeted, alongside a photo of his signature on the bill. ~snip~ But the Trump campaign, in...

by Sheri Urban According to a new bombshell report, Omar’s campaign has been paying $250,000 to her ex, Ahmed Hirsi, for his silence on her affair with D.C. political consultant Tim Mynett. Federal Election Commissions records also show that Omar’s campaign has paid Tim Mynett’s fundraising company $500,000 in the last year alone. This is NOT the kind of scrutiny Omar wants, since the FBI announced it was investigating criminal allegations against her.

Senators ask how al-Qaeda leader was admitted as a “refugee” and became a US citizen FEB 17, 2020 4:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER “Despite his fugitive status and role as a leader for Al Qaeda, Al-Nouri was admitted to the United States in 2008 as a refugee.” Of course. Because no one involved had the first foggiest idea what al-Qaeda was all about, and wouldn’t have cared if he or she did, because that would have been “Islamophobic.” “How Did an Al Qaeda Leader in Iraq Become an American Citizen Living in Phoenix?,” by Katie Pavlich, Town Hall, February 14,...

They were sent to a government-run quarantine centre and investigated by police, with two served summons in first such prosecutions Contravening quarantine measures is a criminal offence punishable by a maximum fine of HK$25,000 (US$3,200) and six months’ jail Four Hongkongers under home quarantine amid the coronavirus outbreak have been intercepted in separate cases by authorities while attempting to leave the city for mainland China or Macau. The Department of Health said they were immediately sent to a quarantine facility and investigated by police. Among them, two men, aged 41 and 37, were served summons on Monday, the first such...

While fuel prices are plummeting, electricity prices are staying stubbornly high. This is bad news particularly for tens of millions of low-income Americans. It also puts an unnecessary drag on economic growth.

RICHMOND — State Sen. Amanda Chase, a Trump-style Republican at odds with both parties in Richmond, announced on Monday that she will run for governor next year as a Republican — and failing that, as an independent. “I can’t take it anymore,” Chase (Chesterfield), said referring to “the liberal, socialistic agenda that has taken control of the Capitol.”

The 2020 Census will not have a citizenship question. Yet it may still achieve its sinister goal — keeping immigrants from participating. When the Supreme Court last summer prevented the Trump administration from asking census respondents whether they are American citizens, some were quick to declare victory. In reality, it was akin to a small win in a raging war with multiple shifting fronts. Whether or not the question was allowed, its mere evocation was designed to have a chilling effect on vulnerable portions of the population. “It’s about creating a culture of fear, and when you create a culture...