Free Republic

The hagiographic New York Times article paints a picture of Bloomberg as a selfless philanthropist mayor. The reality is a good deal more complex. In the past, the city paid its mayor; Mr. Bloomberg paid to be the city’s mayor. That much is true only because Bloomberg did spend a lot of money on elections. But he wasn’t the first billionaire to run for office that way. An analysis by The New York Times shows that Mr. Bloomberg has doled out at least $650 million on a wide variety of perks and bonuses, political campaigns and advocacy work, charitable...

I've not read the official obituaries because they are predictable. "Billionaire." "Reclusive." "GOP donor." "Swift Boat Vets." "Industrialist." "Controversial." "Dallas." And there you have it: the death of a sinister figure driven by greed, the puppeteer manipulating the political process, a 21st century J.R. Ewing. (Or is it Mr. Burns?) If this is what you've read, it's written by someone who didn't know Harold Clark Simmons. I never knew a man quite like him. I met him in 1981 while panhandling for some political cause or another. Back then, he kept a ledger of his political donations on 5-by-7 cards....

October 16, 2013 A ground-breaking, new high-luxury residential tower, emblematic of contemporary and revolutionary architectural design, is showing signs of being the most anticipated project in the history of Miami Luxury Real Estate. The Porsche Design Towers, slated for erection sometime in 2016 on 2.2 acres of beachfront property along Collins Ave in Sunny Isles, will be one of the world’s first residential condominiums to have large glass elevators that transport residents-while still inside their cars- to their apartments. As residents arrive at the building and switch off their engines, an automatic platform will extend, scooping up the car and...

A restaurant manager from Tyler, Texas, briefly became the world’s first trillionaire earlier this week—until his $4 trillion bank balance was found to be an online glitch. In an interview with KLTV, Reggie Theus said he would have used $3 trillion of his windfall to pay down the national debt.

Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has lost a defamation lawsuit against the National Jewish Democratic Council. Adelson asked for $60 million in damages, arguing the council libeled him by saying his political contributions were sullied by links to prostitution. On Monday, a federal judge in Manhattan found that the council’s speech was protected. Adelson, whom Forbes ranks as the ninth-richest American, is chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and a major Republican donor. The lawsuit accused the council of “assassinating” Adelson’s character by saying he personally approved of prostitution in resorts owned by Sands China Limited, a...

Billionaire and Democratic Party financier George Soros got married Saturday and celebrated the nuptials with hundreds of his closest friends, including corporate executives, world leaders, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. …Soros, 83, married Tamiko Bolton, a healthcare consultant who is nearly half his age. She is his third wife. …

Sometimes, God simply laughs, and occasionally, he lets us into the joke. I saw THIS PICTUREof George Soros and his brand new bride on a FR thread. I noticed the text behind him, on the movie poster, and it simply SCREAMED for some attention.I created THIS:

NEW YORK – Billionaire political activist George Soros is the primary patron of New York mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio, WND has learned. Last month, the New York news media reported Soros had endorsed De Blasio’s mayoral bid but failed to disclose the billionaire’s major financial donation to the candidate’s nonprofit as well as De Blasio’s cozy working relationship with Soros-funded activist groups. “I am endorsing Bill de Blasio for Mayor because I believe he has the talent, vision and ability to lead New York City,” Soros said in a statement released by the de Blasio campaign in early August....

Democratic Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe recently met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an effort to get support from the billionaire politician, two sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO. The pair met in New York a week-and-a-half ago, according to the sources. Aides to McAuliffe declined comment, and a Bloomberg spokesman did not respond to an email asking about the meeting.

The girlfriend at the center of the split between Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife will no longer be working side by side with her billionaire beau in the wake of the bombshell office romance that has rocked Silicon Valley, The Post has learned.

Environmentalist billionaire Tom Steyer is testing his influence in the Virginia gubernatorial election in support of Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, with his political group preparing to spend a large amount of money in the race. Steyer is a San Francisco billionaire who used to work as a hedge fund manager, and is using his super PAC "NextGen Climate Action" to launch television ads to mobilize environmentalist voters to turn out in the gubernatorial race in support of McAuliffe in the Old Dominion, Politco reports. Steyer told Politico that he hopes to send a message to the country about the power...

There are a couple of false-flag "conservative immigration reform" ads every commercial break on Rush today. Who's paying for them? George Soros?

On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on ''media reform.'' She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists. The 2,500-person event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, one of more than 180 different media-related organizations that receives money from liberal billionaire George Soros. Soros, who first made a name for himself in investing and currency trading, now makes his name in politics and policy. Since the 2004 election, the controversial financier has used his influence and billions to push a laundry list...

Continuing their commitment to controlling global population growth through artificial contraception, sterilization, and abortion initiatives, Microsoft founder and philanthropist, Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, a self-described “practicing” Catholic, are now attempting to control the curriculum of the nation’s public schools. Subsidizing the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $76 million to support teachers in implementing the Common Core—a standardized national curriculum.   This, on top of the tens of millions they have already awarded to the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers...

This article was posted on 04/01/2013 Russian billionaire’s plan for immortality by 2045 includes turning us into cyborgs Technology may be advancing, but it doesn’t change the fact that the human body is limited. Eventually, human beings die.  Maybe immortality sounds like science fiction, especially when thinking about cyborgs, avatars, and robots, but for one Russian man, living forever in a machine’s body is the future, and it’s not so far away. After Dmitry Itskov made a fortune as founder of a web publishing company, New Media Stars, he began thinking about the meaning of life and consciousness. Last February, Itskov gathered...

A California billionaire is pledging to spend as much of his fortune as necessary to make climate change “the defining issue of our generation.” Tom Steyer, who made his riches as a hedge fund manager, told The Hill on Tuesday that he wants to make climate change a campaign issue for years to come and Democratic support for environmental protections as widespread as support for gay marriage and immigration reform. “The goal here is not to win. The goal here is to destroy these people. We want a smashing victory,” Steyer said of candidates he judges to be on the...

An eccentric Australian mining magnate who is building a replica of the ill-fated Titanic has unveiled his latest scheme -- a park of giant robotic dinosaurs. Clive Palmer, who last month in New York launched an ambitious plan to build and sail the "Titanic II", said he had ordered more than 100 life-size dinosaur robots from China to populate his north Australian resort. "We'll have the world's biggest dinosaur exhibit, with 165 animatronic dinosaurs," Palmer said. He already has two of the towering creatures -- named Jeff and Bones -- on display at his Palmer Coolum Resort on the Sunshine...

Daniel Creswell’s house in northeast Raleigh sat on the market for nine months until late last month, when a deep-pocketed buyer arrived seemingly from another era. Creswell had bought the property back in April at a foreclosure auction for $162,500. After fielding low offers for months, the mystery buyer offered $210,000, or $10,000 below his asking price. Creswell eventually agreed to a price of $213,000, or $1,000 more than the home originally sold for in 2002. In addition to paying cash, the buyer paid the closing costs and the cost of the home inspection.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage applications fell -7.11% from the preceding week. Mortgage purchases applications fell -3.87%. They remain in a rut since the April 30, 2010 spike. Sustainable? Yes. Does it help the housing rally? Of course not. Mortgage refinancing applications fell -8.01% from the previous week. This is not surprising since mortgage rates have remained low for so long that the pool of borrowers wanting to refinance their mortgages is thinning out. Unless, of course, the Federal government (or FHFA) changes the requirements for negative equity refis. Yield Curves Of course, one of the most important...

Huma Abedin drew worried glances at a fund-raiser for Terry McAuliffe, who is running for governor of Virginia, by wearing bandages on both forearms. Abedin was joined by husband Anthony Weiner at the event, thrown by billionaire hedge-fund manager and longtime Clinton backer Marc Lasry and his wife, Cathy, at his Manhattan town house. Sources tell us Abedin was injured during a cooking accident. She burned her arms taking something out of the oven.