Free Republic

Critics are nearly unanimous: The movie "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" is a dog. That didn’t prevent the producers from grossing $193.2 million within four days of its March 25 release date, according to Box Office Mojo. The movie review website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 29 percent rating, which is the same score given to “Dumb and Dumber To” (that's not a typo) and “Grudge Match” — a boxing movie featuring the fight between then 67-year-old Sylvester Stallone and 70-year-old Robert DeNiro. ForTheRecord says: The Michigan film office granted the production company a $35 million taxpayer subsidy in...

Bono understands your plight. He knows you pay a lot in taxes. He wants you to pay more: Tuesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, U2 frontman and anti-poverty activist Bono called for the U.S. to send more assistance to Europe to shore up the European Union as it buckles under the Third World migrant crisis, even though Americans are struggling to bear their own tax burdens. “I know the American taxpayer is really hurting at the moment and the same in Europe,” Bono said. “But I think between Europe and America there is a consensus building that, you know, the corruption...

How fact-checking would work if the media was actually serious about it If Donald Trump makes a statement about something that is clearly and demonstrably at odds with the facts, do you think the media will wait even five seconds to tell you about it? Or Ted Cruz for that matter? But when Bernie Sanders goes around railing on corporations for “not paying their fair share” or “not helping America,” when was the last time you saw a news report delving into the numbers to determine if his bluster was actually true? You won’t. So it’s left to CEOs themselves...

The Detroit Free Press reported last month that it obtained, via a Freedom of Information Act request, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report finding that a six-month closure of the Poe Lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan could trigger a nationwide recession. While the report does a good job of highlighting the economic costs of a Poe Lock closure, it notably ignores options like privatization and a user fee system that could provide the necessary funding. The report, a copy of which we have received from the Free Press, warns of scenarios in which a Poe Lock closure could...

If Bernie Sanders becomes president, America's fracking boom will be in danger. This week the Democratic presidential candidate called for a national ban on fracking, the controversial drilling technology that has not only led to a massive boom in oil and natural gas, created thousands of new jobs but also been linked to water contamination and even earthquakes. "If we are serious about combating climate change, we need to put an end to fracking, not only in New York and Vermont, but all over this country," Sanders said during a speech in Binghamton, New York this week. The anti-fracking crusade...

Overshadowed by the United States’ extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the Production Tax Credit (PTC) last year, Mexico’s cornerstone Energy Transition Law is quickly yielding results, lifting the lid on a renewable market primed for take off. On March 29, Mexico concluded its first long-term power auction since more fully deregulating its electricity sector in 2013. The auction, it should be noted, was a smashing success, generating 227 bids from 69 tenderers. State-owned Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) – the still dominant player in the sector and the sole buyer for this first go-round – awarded contracts...

In a sign of the times, the world’s largest private sector coal miner just went bankrupt. The St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. warned a month ago that it was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and on Wednesday they made it official. Peabody’s mines will continue to operate uninterrupted through the bankruptcy process. According to Peabody’s court filing, it has obtained $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing facilities. “Through today’s action, we will seek an in-court solution to Peabody’s substantial debt burden amid a historically challenged industry backdrop. This process enables us to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt, build upon the...

Calling GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump "an appalling choice," President Barack Obama promised a frightened nation that "I will do whatever I can to prevent this man from succeeding me as president." The President didn't rule out "any extraordinary, extra-legal actions that might be needed. Hopefully, it won't come to that. I trust that American voters will opt to continue the progress I've made by electing Secretary Clinton in November. But rest assured, I will not shy away from doing what it takes to keep Mr. Trump out of the Oval Office." Meanwhile, Obama's preferred successor sought to differentiate herself...

Some comments about Pete McCommons’ endorsement of Bernie Sanders: I'm not sure what you mean by "systemic flaws" that Bernie intends to fix, or what "traditional structures" he is going to change, but I agree that we have "deep problems.” But for me it is clear that any Democratic president will be more likely to deal with our problems in a progressive way than any of the Republican candidates. So I would vote for any Democrat over the likes of Cruz, Trump or Ryan, who appear to be genuinely dangerous candidates. So who is more likely to beat one of...

The Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence has a new ad out, and it's incredibly disturbing. In the new ad, a girl portraying Alice from the beloved childhood fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland" comes across a handgun and shoots herself in the face. An actor dressed in a white rabbit costume looks on in horror for added effect. As the young girl shoots herself and creepy music plays, a narrator is heard saying, “Over one-third of all American households have a gun. Ask your neighbor: Is there a gun where they play? Asking saves kids.”

“Cheap natural gas is killing coal.” While that headline has been written dozens of times over the last few years, it continues to be true. In fact, natural gas has become even cheaper over the past year, and the slow death of coal is poised to accelerate. In a new report from Moody’s, and reported on by SNL, the ratings agency predicts that cheap natural gas could lead to another massive wave of coal-fired power plant closures over the next year and a half.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump listed a few of his fellow 2016 rivals as possible running mates in an interview published Monday. Speaking to columnist Kirsten Powers, Trump spoke favorably about Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) who he famously feuded with before defeating him in his home state.... “There are people I have in mind in terms of vice president. I just haven’t told anybody names,” he said. “[I] do like Marco. I do like (John) Kasich. … I like (Scott) Walker actually in a lot of ways. I hit him very hard. … But I’ve always liked him.”

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass) brushed off fears that a runaway national debt could pose a threat to America. "Look, a debt of whatever amount merely records resources that have already been acquired by the government," Markey argued. "The government has already gotten and spent that money for the benefit of America. Whether it ever pays this money back is basically irrelevant." "Let's imagine that, 'horror of horrors,' the government defaults on this debt," Markey continued. "Who's hurt? The people who lent the money to the government by buying bonds can obviously afford to lose this money. People who need their...

Many analysts had anticipated that a dramatic drop in oil prices such as we’ve seen since the summer of 2014 could provide a big stimulus to the economy of a net oil importer like the United States. That doesn’t seem to be what we’ve observed in the data. There is no question that lower oil prices have been a big windfall for consumers. Americans today are spending $180 B less each year on energy goods and services than we were in July of 2014, which corresponds to about 1 percent of GDP. A year and a half ago, energy expenses...

Donald Trump played up his plans to tax companies that move jobs out of the United States as he tried to appeal to blue collar workers in a New York rally Sunday. Speaking for about an hour Sunday in Rochester, N.Y., Trump recited statistics about the area's loss of manufacturing jobs and economic hardship in recent years. He reiterated his desire to tax goods sold by companies once based in the United States that moved away to find cheaper labor. The plan has been widely panned by economic experts. But the Rochester crowd ate it up. "I'm the only one...

A report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has revealed that most of the world’s nations hiked their military budgets last year, marking the first increase in spending since the 2008 crisis. It seems that the only ones not taking part in this military spending hike are some of the world’s biggest oil producers. While the United States is still the country with the largest military budget at $596 billion spent in 2015, this figure was actually a decline on the previous year. Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg, would also have cut its military budget if not for the...

As of this moment the world wonders, rightfully so, why Obama has to meet with Janet Yellen in private and just what information is so important that it can only be said behind closed doors. Perhaps sensing this confusion, White House spokesman Josh Earnest apologetically noted that President Obama "cares deeply about preserving both the appearance of and the fact of the independence of both the Federal Reserve" and Fed Chair Janet Yellen, White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest tells reporters in briefing; he added that he wouldn’t anticipate "even in a confidential setting" that Obama "would have a conversation"...

BP is facing a revolt from its shareholders over the salary of its CEO Bob Dudley. Dudley’s salary jumped 20 percent in 2015 to $19.6 million, the same year in which BP reported a record loss of $6.4 billion and laid off more than 5,000 workers. His rising salary has been met with opposition from shareholders because it is not only unseemly, but also because the raise is not connected to the company’s negative performance. "We consider the pay of the CEO to be simply too high, and particularly so in a year when the company suffered a record loss...

In a Fox News debate, Donald Trump attacked Sen. Ted Cruz’s critical reference to “New York values” with a passionate reference to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. As Real Clear Politics reported his remarks: I’ve had more calls on that statement that Ted made, that New York is a great place, it’s got great people, it’s got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York.

Trump 2012 on how we'll be paying for his massive,  far-to-the-left-of-Obama, BIG-government HC plan: But much like the Mexicans 'paying for the wall', all such taxes and levies will eventually fall in the lap of the American consumer -there's no such thing as a free ride, as some confidence trickster might propose to you. The Gipper knew that better than anybody... a lesson lost on much of today's detached-from-logic 'alt/right' conservatives: 'The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or...