Free Republic

As Americans in several states went to the polls on Tuesday, a county in eastern Pennsylvania reported one of the most troubling issues any voter could worry about. A vote cast on whether to keep a sitting judge on the state’s Superior Court would be recorded for another judge on the ballot ... Officials in Northampton County, north of Philadelphia, posted a message about the problem. The problem affected judicial retention races on the court, which is one step below the state Supreme Court. On the ballot are Judges Jack Panella, a Democrat, and Victor P. Stabile, a Republican. Northampton...

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) slammed The New York Times' feature of her Saturday afternoon. The Democratic presidential candidate tweeted "As if to prove my point, NYT just published a “greatest hits” smear piece." "All your favorite hits in one article! These are the folks who will be acting as the “neutral” questioners/moderators of Tuesday’s debate lol," Gabbard continued. The Times' article is titled "What, Exactly, Is Tulsi Gabbard Up To?" with the sub head reading "As she injects chaos into the 2020 Democratic primary by accusing her own party of “rigging” the election, an array of alt-right internet stars, white...

Cities in red states such as Texas, Georgia, and Arizona are becoming increasingly deep blue as a wave of millennials and white liberals move from blue state cities, coupled with a booming foreign-born population.

It was one of those heartstring-tugging, tear-jerking, carefully curated narratives about DREAMers we're supposed to read and then respond to with sympathy. But a story that ran in the Los Angeles Times yesterday accidentally did more to raise questions about the issue of ballot-harvesting in California than any raving right-wing warning tome could ever do. The Times describes how California's famed ballot-harvestors, who flipped places such as Orange County blue in the last midterm, aren't actually citizens. They did it by "helping" voters fill out, and turn in, and continue to turn in, ballots from otherwise uncommitted voters until they...

In the United States, people are supposed to be considered innocent until the government proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt in a courtroom. But with plea deals, there’s no standard of evidence, no proof. The Constitution’s guarantee of a fair trial is disappearing. “Federal criminal defendants are being coerced to plead guilty,” cautions the nonpartisan National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “There is no more heart wrenching task than explaining” to an innocent person that “they must seriously consider pleading guilty or risk the utter devastation of the remainder of their life.” Yet flipping has plenty of supporters. Peter...

Rate Up in 53 Percent of Local Markets Led by Metros in Louisiana, New York, Alabama;Dollar Volume of Flipper Financing Rises to Nearly 10-Year High of $4.4 BillionIRVINE, Calif. – Sept. 14, 2017 — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s largest multi-sourced property database, today released its Q2 2017 U.S. Home Flipping Report, which shows that 53,638 single family homes and condos were flipped nationwide in the second quarter of 2017, a home flipping rate of 5.6 percent of all home sales during the quarter. The home flipping rate of 5.6 percent in Q2 2017 was down from 6.9...

UPDATE: As of 6:30PM Central Time the Associated Press is reporting that Trump has won Arizona. This would make it impossible for Hillary Clinton to qualify for the Presidency with pledged Electoral College votes, as Donald Trump has exceeded the 270 votes needed to win. Note: The Arizona results have not yet been certified. As AP analyst Michael McDonald notes, “just because the media calls something does not mean that that’s actually the outcome of the election.” Note: Elements of the Democrat Party have not given up. There is a concerted effort, as reported below, to convince Republican-pledged Electoral College...

Republicans, if you determine that there is fraud in your election, DON'T CONCEDE, even AFTER a judge rules that you lost.

On Friday, we, like many others, published photos of thousands of people standing in line to buy the new iPhone, the iPhone 6. Most people think of these lines as being filled with crazed fanboys who just can't wait to get their hands on the latest product from Apple. However, filmmaker Casey Neistat (via Re/code) created a six-minute video that shows there is a dark, disturbing side to these lines.The lines are not filled only with crazed fanboys. Neistat shows that the lines are filled with people waiting for days to buy an iPhone 6, only to flip it as...

Cows in the San Francisco area will be sleeping better at night since, for the last few days, gangs of angry internal combustion engine-likers have taken to a new trend - Smart car tipping. NBC Bay Area found four of the targeted Smart cars between Sunday night and Monday morning. "Whoever is doing this just has misdirected anger," noted one upset owner, as another witness joked, they reminded him of little dogs: "They look like they are dachshunds sitting up on their hind legs." The exact motives behind the vandalism are unclear, as a parody Facebook page was set up...

<p>More Americans are buying homes in all-cash deals, according to several recent studies. But real- estate experts say this increase may not be a good sign for the health of the housing market.</p> <p>All-cash purchases accounted for 40% of all sales of residential property in July 2013, up from 35% during the previous month and 31% in July 2012, according to data from real-estate data firm RealtyTrac released Thursday. That’s the second highest rate since the survey began in January 2011 – second only to 53% in March 2012.</p>

A photo of police forcing an off-duty firefighter to the ground has gained national attention after it was revealed that the police action was taken after the man waved to the officers. George Madison Jr., an African American firefighter and youth pastor in Evansville, Indiana was threatened with a taser by police when he committed no crime. Madison says that he was riding his bike when he saw a police car approaching the same intersection. Through his work on the local fire department, he is familiar with a number of the police officers in Evansville and he thought he recognized...

Realty Trac has an interesting study of the top 25 areas for house flipping. They are primarily dominated by sand states (Arizona, Nevada, California, Florida) and … Tennessee? This comes at the same time that The Fed is keeping rates low and the ECB just announced a rate cut. (Bloomberg) — The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate to a record low as the 17-nation euro region struggles to emerge from recession. Policy makers meeting in Bratislava today lowered the main refinancing rate to 0.5 percent from 0.75 percent. The reaction? Global sovereign yields declined … even more....

A humpback whale which was freed from almost certain death by three men off the coast of California repaid the favour to its rescuers with a breathtaking display of breaches and dives. The amazing hour-long performance was caught on camera moments after the creature was cut free from fishing nets. When the boat came across the whale it was trapped with its tail and flippers hopelessly entangled in the nets. Scroll down to watch video The whale watchers first thought the humpback was already dead as it was floating on top of the water. But then it let out a...

Have you ever flipped a coin as a way of deciding something with another person? The answer is probably yes. And you probably did so assuming you were getting a fair deal, because, as everybody knows, a coin is equally likely to show heads or tails after a single flip—unless it's been shaved or weighted or has a week-old smear of coffee on its underbelly. So when your friend places a coin on his thumb and says "call it in the air", you realize that it doesn't really matter whether you pick heads or tails. Every person has a preference, of course—heads...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - The white bus rumbles into the quiet suburban neighborhood, heading toward a foreclosed home that sits empty. Neighbors, young and old, cock their heads in curiosity or point at the slow-moving coach. Once the vehicle stops, about 20 potential buyers file out and become detectives, opening and closing cabinets and drawers, knocking on walls and asking about the price, the previous owners and what repairs may be needed. Welcome to the Foreclosure Bus Tour, a six-hour expedition to show Orlando-area homes and educate potential buyers on the vagaries of snatching foreclosures in a state where the...

The mother of a boy convicted Friday in the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl on Labor Day told a judge the girl was also to blame and that her son was the victim of "little flipper girls" who think it's cool to have sex with multiple partners. That prompted Milwaukee County Children's Court Judge Mary Triggiano to abruptly interrupt her. "What he did was rape that girl," Triggiano said, calling the deflection of responsibility to the girl appalling. "He got caught. He didn't take responsibility until something pegged him

Weekly Jobless Claims Climb by 12,000 to 321,000, but Data Indicates Stable Job Market WASHINGTON (AP) -- Considerably more newly laid-off workers signed up for unemployment benefits last week, although the figures suggest the job market remains stable even as a housing slump afflicts the economy. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that new applications filed for the work week ending Nov. 18, rose by a seasonally adjusted 12,000 to 321,000. The increase was bigger than many economists were expecting. They were forecasting new claims to clock in at about 310,000. Even though the increase left claims at a three-week high,...

Davis off of A&E, on to TLC 'Flip This House' creator sues network BY PETER HULL The Post and Courier Richard C. Davis, a Charleston real estate entrepreneur turned cable TV personality, is flipped off. The star and creator of A&E's "Flip This House" was replaced for the second season, which began airing Sunday evening. The good news, Davis said Tuesday, is that the show will return on a rival cable station this winter. All he has to do is think of a new name. "That's the easy part," he said. In the meantime, Davis and his James Island-based...

"House" flap -- A&E sued over reality show By Andrew WallensteinTue Jul 25, 12:26 AM ET A&E has been slapped with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit stemming from its reality series "Flip This House." Richard C. Davis, executive producer and star of "Flip," filed suit in the Court of Common Pleas in Charleston, S.C., against the cable network and production company Departure Films, citing fraud, breach of contract and seven other counts. The lawsuit hinges on A&E's decision to move ahead with a second season of "Flip" without Davis and his real estate company, Trademark Properties. The series follows Trademark staffers...