Free Republic

Team Jay Z is going to bat for beleaguered Yankee star Alex Rodriguez. As the drama surrounding the ailing $275 million third baseman’s return to the lineup and a looming Major League Baseball suspension play out, associates of the entertainment mogul-turned-sports agent have been helping Rodriguez behind the scenes. Last week, Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Jay Z’s superstar wife, Beyoncé, represented A-Rod in a telephone conference with Yankee brass. On the call, Bomber General Manager Brian Cashman, President Randy Levine and Tampa-based trainer Tim Lentych discussed with Siev the time frame for A-Rod’s return to the team.

Twitter is running rampant with #NSACalledToTellMe tweets Here are some examples: #NSACalledToTellMe they need to use my bathroom -- the van's portapotty has exceeded its limit #NSACalledToTellMe Kudos on eating a salad with no dressing instead of The Blue Bell Rocky Road Icecream in my freezer. #NSACalledToTellMe they're not the NSA, don't know anything and would I please do the damn dishes. #nsacalledtotellme that my spare set of car keys fell in between the couch cushions! #NSACalledToTellMe to press 1 if my wiretapping experience was agreeable. If not, please notify next-of-kin of impending absence. #NSACalledToTellMe their data center is totally...

I just spent alot of time posting!I see that, looks like you hit a small bump.Pictured: Small BumpWhat happened?Well, someone set up us the bomb?I'm serious!Oh, well.. looks like your post got pulled. Augh! I spent alot of effort on that! How did it happen?!Couldn't be because you were doing it wrong?What the, how'd you get that video of m-- uh.. I don't even wear that!Right Skippy. *cough* Well, since you asked, here's how posts get removed. First, if it is against TOS it gets seen.Then it gets marked.Okay, I have that much.Then the mods gather:Pictured, mods gathering.I don't think...

Wyoming lawmakers propose bill to nullify new federal gun laws January 10, 2013 | 11:03 am 202Comments Charlie Spiering Commentary Staff Writer The Washington Examiner Wyoming lawmakers have proposed a new bill that, if passed, would nullify any federal restrictions on guns, threatening to jail federal agents attempting to confiscate guns, ammunition magazines or ammunition. The bill – HB0104 – states that “any federal law which attempts to ban a semi-automatic firearm or to limit the size of a magazine of a firearm or other limitation on firearms in this state shall be unenforceable in Wyoming.” The bill is sponsored...

The University of California has agreed to pay about $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by UC-Davis students who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during an Occupy-style protest on campus last November.

After hugging their families and the Larry O'Brien Trophy, the Miami Heat players went to the LIV nightclub in Miami early Friday to celebrate the franchise's second NBA championship. The players reportedly spent an estimated $200,000 on champagne, including a 15-liter super-magnum-sized bottle called Ace of Spades. The players began filing into the nightclub around 2:30 a.m. and sat on the main stage, which had been converted into a VIP area. Chris Bosh was the last player to arrive, at about 4:30 a.m.

Joe Biden, speaking in Ohio today, said that he is "tired of being called a 'Middle Class Joe.'" While it's not clear who actually calls the vice president that, it is clear that his house and finances tell a different story. Here's a picture of his home (not his official vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.):

Alec Baldwin, Stanley Tucci and a bunch of lobbyists are crawling all over Capitol Hill attempting to steal more money out of our pockets to fund "artists" who don't have the talent to survive on private donations and earnings. What a racket: Robert Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, the premiere lobbying org for arts groups, said that while "some of the rhetoric is negative," the records of Santorum and Romney both reflect some support for arts funding. He's encouraged by President Obama's request to increase funding for the NEA to $155 million, restoring it to the...

...[Tom Hanks has] plunge[d] into a property deal that has made him the owner of the most expensive house in Los Angeles. ...Hanks along with his actress wife Rita Wilson (last seen as Meryl Streep’s buddy in ‘It’s Complicated’) have together bought a house in the Pacific Palisades for about $26 million. The sprawling home is spread across 14,500 square foot and was built in 1996. Apparently, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall formerly owned it. The building consists of 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. Two levels of living space and three levels of support space go very well with gorgeous...

First of all, RIP Andrew Breitbart, you will not be easily replaced. In your honor I have written the following.

President Barack Obama will deliver his fourth State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 24th–the very day that marks the 1,000th day since the Democrat-controlled United States Senate last bothered to pass a budget...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Goldman Sachs reported a fourth-quarter profit of about $1 billion on Wednesday, reversing a loss from the third quarter and topping expectations. But the company's revenue declined from a year ago and missed analysts' forecasts. Slashing compensation and nearly $1.4 billion in other expenses helped Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) generate its nearly nine-figure profits last year. Chief financial officer David Viniar said cost-cutting won't be the firm's primary focus going forward. "It's not possible to cut expenses as a means to prosperity," he said during a conference call following the earnings release.

9. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the ninth richest member of Congress in 2010, with an average net worth of $101,123,032. Much of her wealth is based on her husband's investments in real estate, a football team and other assets. 14. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was the 14th richest member of Congress in 2010, with an average net worth of $69,046,622. Feinstein's husband has a number of investments in a diverse range of industires, including a property management firm and a biotech venture.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have sold a 7-acre property in Kauai’s Hanalei district for $20 million – $6.5 million more than they paid for it two years ago, according to public records. Candace Jackson has details on The News Hub.

AFSCME’s International Executive Board voted this week to endorse President Barack Obama for a second term. The vote was unanimous. The board acted after a substantial majority of AFSCME members indicated in a large telephone poll that they wanted the union to endorse the president. President Obama is the only candidate for president who is fighting to put people back to work, make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share and protect vital public services. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich (snip) want to privatize your job. They have targeted the modest pension you earn after a career of public service,...

"The richest 1% now pays nearly 40% of all federal income taxes, up from 25% two decades ago, while the bottom 50% of Americans only play 2%, down from 6%."

President Obama believes that Republican leadership of the country would ruin the United States as a land of opportunity, but he's (justifiably) confident that his daughters will have plenty of opportunities, no matter what. "Our kids are going to be fine," Obama told supporters at a campaign event last night. "[T]hey’re on a path that is going to be successful, even if the country as a whole is not successful. But that’s not our vision of America. I don't want an America where my kids are living behind walls and gates, and can’t feel a part of a country that...

President Obama echoes the Occupy Wall Street Movement in demonizing the top 1 percent—suggesting that prosperous people somehow create painful problems for the rest of us. But the president never bothers to answer a basic question: who makes up the top 1 percent? Economists Joe Bakija, Adam Cole and Bradley Heim have completed authoritative research on leading earners—some 1,400,000 taxpayers in 2010, each of whom earned more than $380,000.

In various cities across the country, mobs of mostly young, mostly incoherent, often noisy and sometimes violent demonstrators are making themselves a major nuisance. Meanwhile, many in the media are practically gushing over these "protesters," and giving them the free publicity they crave for themselves and their cause — whatever that is, beyond venting their emotions on television. Members of the mobs apparently believe that other people, who are working while they are out trashing the streets, should be forced to subsidize their college education — and apparently the president of the United States thinks so too. But if these...