Free Republic

Metals magnate and Republican donor Andy Sabin said he has soured on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over his stance on abortion and Ukraine, and is now planning to back Senator Tim Scott instead in the 2024 Republican White House race. Sabin had been considering donating to DeSantis, who is expected to officially announce a White House run in June, but changed his mind after the governor signed a new law banning abortions after six weeks and called the war in Ukraine a "territorial dispute." While Sabin is not a megadonor, his decision not to back DeSantis underscores concerns among some...

Donald Trump marked his return to Instagram after more than two years with posts promoting his line of NFT trading cards. The former president, who was previously suspended from Meta’s social media services following the Jan. 6 riot, celebrated his first post in 118 weeks by announcing a “SERIES 2” of his digital cards. The NFTs, which were launched as a “major announcement” in December, depict the 76-year-old as a cartoon cowboy, a sheriff, a race car driver and in other fantastical outfits. The first series of NFTs featured 45,000 cards, which sold out in a day and reportedly made...

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion on his failed presidential campaign, more than both Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and President Trump in all of 2016. Bloomberg spent a total of more than $1.2 billion on his bid for the White House in 2020, according to 2019 and 2020 Federal Election Commission filings. More than $1 billion of that was spent in 2020 alone before the former mayor dropped out of the race at the beginning of March. The former 2020 candidate, who self-funded his campaign, outspent Clinton’s and Trump’s totals from the last election...

The Texas senator looks like the top challenger to Donald Trump. Hey, 2015. Crazy news from the future: It's March 8, 2016, and front-runner Donald Trump has won 12 of 20 Republican primary contests. However, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is coming off a particularly strong "Super Saturday" performance, including double-digit wins in Kansas and Maine, a delegate tie in Louisiana with Trump and a respectable showing in Kentucky. More and more, it's starting to look like Cruz is the non-Trump candidate poised to give the billionaire businessman a run for his money heading into the Republican National Convention this...

A study from the Texas Association of Realtors shows international buyers pumped more than $11 billion dollars into the Texas economy between March of 2013 and 2014. One Austin Realtor says people from outside of the U.S. are looking for a secure investment. “An international client can come into the Austin market, get a great value for what they’re buying and almost be insured that there’s profitability in that and that’s unique to the world as a whole,” said J Kuper, owner of Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty.

Hugh Hefner's Christmas was extra, extra jolly this year: He's engaged again! The Playboy founder, 84, is engaged to Crystal Harris, his 24-year-old girlfriend and Playmate, a Playboy rep confirms to UsMagazine.com. Hefner first Tweeted about it on Sunday. "When I gave Crystal the ring, she burst into tears," the Girls Next Door star wrote. "This is the happiest Christmas weekend in memory...I got what I was hoping for for Christmas...Crystal's love." To make his news absolutely clear, the mogul then added: "Yes, the ring I gave Crystal is an engagement ring. I didn't mean to make a mystery out...

Stevey Cohen, head of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, wants you to short New York City real estate. He doesn’t actually say that—Stevey isn’t a broker and his statements are not a solicitation to buy or to sell etc., etc.—but he does claim that the city will soon be under water, be “battered” by hurricanes, suffer “bouts” of heat stroke, and will generally suffer under the awful burden of global warming. Thus, the clear implication of his recent New York Daily News op-ed is that if you don’t sell now, you’ll be under water: both literally and figuratively. Stevey...

Darwin historians not misrepresented More controversy erupts with renewed allegations against the makers of The Voyage—this time directly from three interviewees. “Historians misrepresented by creationists” shouted the headlines of the website of the National Center for Science Education...

Plans to follow the initiative spearheaded in California by the Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former actor and now state Governor, were disclosed during the unveiling of Britain's first hydrogen-powered car. The filling stations will be put in place by BOC, which is working with Riversimple, the company behind the car which will have a range of more than 200 miles on a tank of hydrogen. The Riversimple Urban car was unveiled today at Somerset House in London, is a new hydrogen-powered vehicle Backers for the project include a member of the Porsche dynasty, Sebastian Piech. Britain's only hydrogen facility for cars...

Stocks soared Monday morning, continuing the powerful rally off the March lows. The advance is likely to continue and take the S&P as high as 1100 by year-end, says Jon Najarian, co-founder of OptionMonster.com. Such a move would translate to a Dow above 10,000 - and probably well above after Monday's removal of GM and Citigroup and insertion of Cisco and Travelers into the price-weighted index. In addition to technical factors such as the changes to the Dow and the S&P having eclipsed its 200-day moving average on Friday, stocks were rallying as continued upward momentum has investors previously on...

February 21, 2008: Vermont businessman and former state government official Charlie Kireker is becoming Chair of the board of Air America Radio as his newly formed Pendulum Media agrees to purchase a controlling interest in the liberal talk network from Green Family Media. Kireker takes over from Stephen Green, who will remain on the Air America board. Green Family Media completed its purchase of Air America from Piquant LLC in March 2007, six months after the network filed for bankruptcy under previous owner Piquant LLC. Air America President Mark Green and COO Scott Elberg will remain in place under the...

THREE POINTS, Arizona (Reuters) - Financial advisor Jaron Ness stands in the cool desert air waiting for the clouds to clear and the moon to rise. As the conditions come into alignment, he steps into the path of a cool blaze of blue-white light bounced off a wall of highly polished parabolic mirrors five stories high. "It feels magnetic," he says, turning his hands slowly in the reflected glow of the light from the almost full moon. The young professional from Colorado is among a growing number of curious people beating a path to this patch of scrub-strewn land out...

NEW YORK - Brad Pitt expects the foundations to be built for at least 150 eco-friendly homes in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward by the end of next summer. [Snip] The initiative, called Make It Right, is Pitt's latest effort to help the area recover from Hurricane Katrina. Pitt has also worked with the environmental organization Global Green USA to build five single-family homes and an 18-unit apartment complex and community center; earlier this year, he and Angelina Jolie purchased a mansion in the city's French Quarter for $3.5 million. Pitt has pledged $5 million of his own money toward...

Camelot has withdrawn its short-lived "Cool Cash" scratchcard after it required a higher than absolute zero grasp of how numbers work to understand it. According to the Manchester Evening News, to qualify for a prize, punters had to "scratch away a window to reveal a temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card". Sadly, as the card had a decidedly wintery theme, this initially-shown figure was often below zero. Cue anarchy, as Camelot was beseiged by "dozens" of confused customers who thought they'd won, but suffered a "computer says no" snub. Among these was Levenshulme's Tina Farrel, a 23-year-old...

Paul Campaign Raises Over $5,000,000 In Third Quarter FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - The Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign raised $5,080,000 during the third quarter of 2007. That is an impressive 114 percent increase from the second quarter. Cash on hand for the Paul campaign is $5,300,000. "Dr. Paul's message is freedom, peace and prosperity," said Paul campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "As these fundraising numbers show, more Americans each day are embracing Dr. Paul's message." Ron Paul's 114 percent increase is in stark contrast to the decrease suffered by Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Romney's fundraising was...

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, an anti-war libertarian making his second run at the White House, will report having raised $5.08 million in the third quarter. The number, which rivals those of John McCain and Bill Richardson, was boosted thanks to last-minute online fundraising that brought in more than $1.2 million in the last week of the quarter alone. Paul has drawn himself in sharp contrast with the rest of the field, often engaging in loud exchanges with fellow candidates over his vehement opposition to the war in Iraq. His campaign has been marked by frugal spending and a surprisingly strong...

Hollywood actor Kevin Costner has squandered more than £20million of his fortune on doomed investments to save the planet, he admits. The Oscar-winning Dances With Wolves star plunged the cash into "green technology", forming two companies to develop his passion. His first venture championed a revolutionary method to clean up major oil spills and the second tried to develop a successful non-chemical battery. But both projects failed and he lost the entire investment. Rough rider: Costner, seen here at his Colorado ranch, is unfazed by his losses He says in an interview in Live magazine: "I've invested enormous amounts in...

The controversial $27 million Creation Museum located just outside Cincinnati has made a fairly strong start, boasting 40,000 visitors since its opening on Memorial Day. Patrons enter the Special Effects Theater for a film presentation at the $27 million Creation Museum, which depicts a literal six-day account of creation. In its first month, 40,000 people made their way to the museum. Counting the 9,000 visitors that pre-visited the museum, which depicts a literal six-day interpretation of creation from the Bible, the founding ministry Answers in Genesis (AiG) is well on its yearly goal of 250,000 guests, already meeting one-fifth of...

LOS ANGELES – Developers plan a $1 billion downtown condominium complex with twin towers – one rising 76 stories to make it the tallest residential building in the West. There would be 732 condos. Plans unveiled Monday for the Park Fifth complex overlooking Pershing Square park also call for a 14-story, 218-room luxury hotel. The two blue-green glass condo towers – the shorter one 43 stories – would rise above the hotel. It's the latest massive development planned downtown from Bunker Hill south to the Staples Center. “This is the first time in 30 years that all the stars have...

Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken, a Democrat, announced today his campaign had raised more than $1.3 million in the first quarter of the year, finishing the period with over $1 million in the bank. Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live'' performer and more recently a liberal radio talk show host, raised the money since announcing his candidacy on Feb. 14. The campaign is still finalizing its numbers. The filing deadline is April 15. Franken and fellow Democrat Mike Ciresi are hoping to take on GOP Sen. Norm Coleman, although Ciresi has not yet filed a statement of candidacy. Coleman's campaign...