Free Republic

The arena is configured to hold around 7,500 people, and the house is expected to be packed Wednesday night to see the president, who is traveling to the northeastern Louisiana city hoping to muster votes for Republican businessman Eddie Rispone and keep Democrat John Bel Edwards from a second term in a crimson state Trump won by 20 percentage points. Early voting ends Saturday in the Nov. 16 election. The rally is in Louisiana’s Congressional District 5, which is represented by Ralph Abraham, who was Rispone’s Republican challenger in the primary. District 5 will prove crucial on election night. How...

Is this the new de-facto logo of The National Basketball Association for the 2019-2020 season?

“Travel to Memphis, where Sun Studios artists Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley usher in the era of rockabilly. Ray Charles crosses America’s racial divide by recording a country album. Patsy Cline shows off Music City’s smooth new Nashville Sound.” As the 1960’s began Country & Western music was being heavily influenced by the rock & roll sound. A new generation of artists, songwriters and shrewd producers would record some great American music during this transitional era.

AT&T Inc. is exploring parting with its DirecTV satellite unit...a move that would mark a mark a sharp course correction in strategy for Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, who billed his $49 billion bet on the satellite provider as a key to the phone giant’s future...AT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015 for $49 billion. The company’s shrinking satellite business is under a microscope after activist investor Elliott Management Corp. disclosed a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T last week and released a report pushing for strategic changes. Elliott has told investors that AT&T should unload DirecTV...

After being presented with the Mariners Franchise Achievement Award -- the first player to receive the honor -- Ichiro talked for five minutes [without his interpreter] about his appreciation for the support he received in Seattle and across the Major Leagues after coming to the U.S. to pursue his baseball dreams. “This is a happy occasion...When I came to Seattle in 2001, no position player had ever come from Japan before. The one you got was 27 years old, small and skinny. “And I know, you had every reason not to accept me. However, you welcomed me with open arms...

“Last year, the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) mid-year report suggested that CD sales were declining three times as fast as vinyl sales were growing. In February, the RIAA reported that vinyl sales accounted for more than a third of the revenue coming from physical releases...This trend continues in RIAA’s 2019 mid-year report, which came out on Thursday. Vinyl revenue grew by 12.8% in the second half of 2018 and 12.9% in the first six months of 2019, while the revenue from CDs barely budged. If these trends hold, records will soon be generating more money than compact discs...”

Television and film star Debra Messing went to social media trying to look for help getting a new Hollywood Blacklist and a voter Whitelist (American’s of color who support President Trump) started. The Brandeis and NYU graduate invited anyone to call her with ideas...

“Hasbro, the company which owns Monopoly, Play-Doh, Furby, and Power Rangers, now owns Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’, Tupac’s ‘All Eyez Me’, the rapper’s first album [recorded at] Death Row Records, and one of the undisputed best rap albums ever made, Snoop Dogg’s ‘Doggystyle’, Dr. Dre and Suge Knight’s ‘Above the Rim’, and many more classic West Coast hip-hop records from the early 90s...”

“One of Bill Clinton’s ex-lovers, former Miss Arkansas Sally Miller, claimed that he would regularly jump into her frilly black nightgown and dance around while playing the sax as they were having their illicit affair...the painting of Clinton uncovered on the late Epstein’s property adds a new air of credibility to Miller’s allegations...If Miller’s stories of Clinton’s cross-dressing are true, Clinton may conceivably have posed in that dress while that painting was being rendered...”

“...This year's (2012) celebration honored Robert De Niro for his longtime support of the arts, and attracted such notable guests as...The Academy is considered the premier institution for studying the human figure, so naturally, its students' artwork focused on the body. Nudes were a common sight -- and not just on the canvas. In one room, a naked model held a pose while well-dressed patrons, seemingly unaware, munched on miniature hamburgers...”

C-SPAN LEAVES THE WHITE HOUSE Correspondents Dinner To Carry TRUMP RALLY in Wisconsin Instead...(Developing)...

"What I knew was what they were doing was wrong then, and it's wrong today," said [Rick] Monday. "I had a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented. I'm not sure what I was thinking, except I was angry and I started to run after them. It is the way I was raised growing up in Santa Monica, [Calif.], and it was reinforced by my six years in the Marine Reserves," he said. Monday said the crowd suddenly began to sing "God Bless America."...(with video)

The two-year extension is worth $68 million and includes a $37.5 million signing bonus and a $30 million injury guarantee, a source told [Adam] Schefter. Roethlisberger had one year at $12 million left, meaning he will make $80 million total over the next three seasons. The extension all but guarantees Big Ben ends his career with the same franchise that drafted him in 2004. “I am grateful to the Rooneys and the Steelers organization for continuing to believe in me," Roethlisberger said in a statement announcing the deal. "It has always been a goal to play my entire career in...

Remember Del Hall...the guy who gave up food for Lent and chose to adopt a beer-only diet? Ringing a bell now? Well, we're back with an update because his boozey mission is done and he didn't crumble once - and he's 44 pounds lighter for it. Del, who works at Fifty West Brewing Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, has drank exclusively from an assortment of beers for 46 days - a plan which was inspired by the fasting rituals of 18th century Bavarian monks...

WHERE WAS RUSH LIMBAUGH on Good Friday 2019? Palm Beach, Florida at Mar-a-Lago golfing with The 45th President Of The United States Of America...

[Mark] Hamill can't officially confirm or deny whether Luke died a virgin, it does bring the expanded Star Wars universe into question. Star Wars Legends of course introduced Luke's wife named Mara Jade, who is a fan favorite character from the Star Wars novels. Together they had one child named Ben Skywalker, although neither Mara Jade nor their son have been introduced in the movies thus far and Star Wars Legends was removed from canon following Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm. After the title reveal of Episode IX and the fact that J.J. Abrams recently said there is more to learn about Rey's parentage, the truth behind Luke's...

topping Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers' contract as the richest ever with a new-money annual average of $35 million per season, [Russell] Wilson's signing bonus also sets a record. Rodgers was first in both categories at $33.5 million and $57.5 million, respectively, on the extension he signed last summer. Wilson is coming off arguably the best season of his seven-year career. He edged his previous career bests with 35 touchdown passes and a 110.9 passer rating while tying his career low of seven interceptions. Wilson did that on 427 attempts, his fewest since 2013, as the Seahawks operated one of the...

The marketing for Star Wars 9 is due to begin at this week's Star Wars Celebration in a dedicated panel on Friday, April 12 at 9.00am-10.00am PT (12.00pm-1.00pm ET, 5.00pm-6.00pm GMT). It's here we're expected to get the title and first trailer for Episode IX, likely at the end of the hour if the approach taken with Star Wars: The Last Jedi is anything to go by. The Star Wars 9 Celebration panel, as with all major Star Wars events over the weekend, will be live-streamed on the official Star Wars YouTube channel and also on StarWars.com..

The Mediterranean house – which was the address for [Rick] Singer’s Key Worldwide Foundation – was listed for sale Feb. 20 at $2.599 million, nearly three weeks before his court appearance on Tuesday, March 12. Records show Singer paid $1.55 million for the Newport Beach home in 2012. Built in 2003, the 5,167-square-foot house sits on “one of the most sought after blocks” in Newport Heights, the listing description said, touting high ceilings, stone floors, a gourmet kitchen and butler’s pantry. An office suite,  secluded patio and firepit also were highlighted, as were the master suite decks and “spa-like” bathroom...

In one email conversation that was obtained by New York Magazine, [Rick] Singer [college admissions scandal ringleader] instructs an employee to submit Olivia’s application to the University of Southern California. Olivia was later cc’d on emails with her parents and CW-1 in which her mother asked for help with applications to other colleges — “I don’t want to call any attention to [Olivia] with our little friend [guidance counselor].” CW-1 “responded by directing an employee to submit the application on behalf of [Olivia Jade.]” So did she understand what was going on? She certainly would have known, at the very least, that...