Free Republic

What I’m starting to sniff in the zeitgeist today is that Trump’s kids are totally changing what people think of the father. People are making the semi-rational assumption that anyone who can raise such good kids must be very different in private than he is on the campaign trail... A large number of voters – I’m guessing about 20% of the public – want to support Trump but find it impossible because of the way he has so far presented himself. His brand is too toxic. So people lay low and wait for a “fake because” so they can throw...

They (the mergers) put at risk the system that Americans across the country rely on to pay for their healthcare – threatening to increase insurance premiums, reduce benefits, lower the quality of healthcare, and slow innovation.

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - According to an email sent by the reported alias of the Baton Rouge police shooter, Gavin Eugene Long, the Alton Sterling shooting may have been on his mind just days before the tragedy. Dr. Boyce Watkins of the Black Business School received an email from Long on Monday, July 11 at 10:31 p.m., just one day before the Louisiana State Police says Long rented the car he drove from Kansas City, Missouri to Baton Rouge. Watkins says he did not read the email until after after Sunday's police ambush shooting took place, but had he...

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham urged Donald Trump to clarify his position on defending European allies after a New York Times article quoted the GOP presidential nominee as not fully supportive of the NATO alliance treaty. “Statements like these make the world more dangerous and the United States less safe,” Graham, R-S.C., said this morning. “I can only imagine how our allies in NATO, particularly the Balkan states must feel after reading these comments from Mr. Trump,” Graham said. “I’m 100 percent certain how Russian President Putin feels – he’s a very happy man.” Trump, in a New York Times interview...

TEL AVIV – Confronting the U.S. is the only choice Iran has left, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned Wednesday. The remarks came following legislation proposed by U.S. opponents to the Iran deal to further sanction the Islamic Republic, and the UN’s first bi-annual report, which said that Iran was not following the “spirit” of the nuclear agreement signed last year by continuing ballistic missile tests. “Majlis (Iranian Parliament), utterly regretting the UN chief’s move, is warning the US administration and its House of Representatives and Senate that injurious measures against the nuclear agreement have reached such a point that...

Former House speaker addresses the Republican National Convention

The attack seemed like a garden-variety digital holdup. A computer intruder, calling himself the “Albanian hacker,” left a message for the administrator of a website for an Illinois internet retailer: Pay two Bitcoins, or about $500 at the time, and the intruder would “remove all bugs on your shop!” Such demands are typical among underground hackers who infect computers with malicious code and seize control of them, freeing them only after receiving a payment. But this case was more than a surreptitious digital mugging. The trespasser had ties to the Islamic State Hacking Division, a terrorist cyber unit, and before...

There are many prominent Republicans who have stayed away from the Republican National Convention this week. Prominent among them is former GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain, who says he's not even watching the convention and is focused instead on winning re-election.

The Las Vegas magnate who has been Donald J. Trump’s friend and business partner for two decades, told delegates at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Wednesday that Trump’s vision and determination to succeed in business are the skills he needs as president to “Make America Great Again.” Phil Ruffin, himself a billionaire and the owner of Las Vegas’s Treasure Island hotel, said Trump’s word is his bond. “If Donald tells you something, you can put it in the bank. He’s been my partner and friend–and believe me, his handshake is better than any contract you will ever write.” It...

Words -- and the left's hypocritical relationship with them -- have been in the news quite a bit of late. The most recent tempest-in-a-teapot is the speech given by the wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Monday night. Although 93 percent of Trump's speech was original, a couple of passages were virtually identical to those in a speech given by Michelle Obama in 2008: "you work hard for what you want in life"; "your word is your bond"; "you do what you say"; and "you treat people with respect." There was an additional sentence in Melania Trump's...

Ted Cruz will not vote for Hillary Clinton, he said at a Texas delegation briefing Thursday morning, but said that he was not ready to back Donald Trump. Cruz walked the Texas delegation through his thinking in giving Wednesday's speech, saying that he had given the Trump campaign ample heads up that he was not planning to endorse the Republican Party nominee, and that they had spoken three days ago, when the Texas senator made clear that an endorsement would not be coming. But he did not rule out an endorsement in the future.

You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make [things] in this country, build [things]. Now we just put our hand in the next guy’s pocket. —Frank Sobotka, “The Wire,” Season 2 Leave it to a Baltimore native to quote HBO’s “The Wire” to understand the 2016 election. This quote resonated with me long before the 2016 election, but this year’s campaign brought it back to mind. I wasn’t on the Trump train—I started out thinking I’d vote for Scott Walker and ended up casting my vote for Marco Rubio in the Virginia primary—but nevertheless found the Trump...

hiladelphia’s Fraternal Order of Police slammed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over the lineup for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. The FOP released a statement Wednesday saying they didn’t see any widows or family members of slain police officers on the initial itinerary for planned speakers at the DNC. “The Fraternal Order of Police is insulted, and will not soon forget, that the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton are excluding the widows, and other family members of Police Officers killed in the line of duty who were victims of explicit, and not implied racism, and 'being on duty in blue,'" a...

On the morning Fox and Friends show guest Frank Luntz, the corpulent pollster, was wearing Nike running shoes with American flags on them. Shoes made in Vietnam. Nike puts American flags on shoes made by third world slaves after shutting out the American worker. I am sure those things cost $200.00. This is the problem in a nutshell..

When a satanist tried to invoke curses during a city hall meeting, men and women joined hands behind him and began reciting the Lord's Prayer. (Screengrab via Charisma News) Satanist David Suhor led the invocation at the Pensacola City Council meeting last week. But he wasn't the only one there to pray...

An unarmed Florida therapist was shot by police while trying to calm down his autistic patient, authorities said. Police in North Miami were responding to a report of a man with what appeared to be a gun when they came across Charles Kinsey and his patient, who had run away from a group home.

CLEVELAND — Ayla Brown is singing the national anthem tonight at the Republican National Convention. During a conversation with Herald 
Radio yesterday her phone vibrated. “My dad just texted me,” she explained. “And he said, ‘Things are heating up there, be careful.’” “Be careful.” It may be the most prevalent sentiment sent to us here at the RNC by loved ones from all over.

In technical analysis we are taught to trade what we see and under that directive the stock market, or at least the larger capitalization end of it, has a significant breakout in place. After nearly two years of sideways trading, albeit with some large swings, the indexes finally gave what should be an important buy signal. But is it really? It sure walks like a duck, as the old saw goes. But it is quacking like a platypus.......What really bothers me is the lack of dissent in the bullish chorus...   ... many sentiment surveys still show doubt in this rally....

Police pepper spray and arrest 17 Communist protesters trying to burn the Stars and Stripes outside RNC in the most violent rally since convention beganPolice pepper sprayed and arrested a group of Communists as they attempted to burn the US flag outside the Republican National Convention. Officers arrested 17 people after a violent melee broke out near the gates of the Quicken Loans Arena, preventing delegates and journalists from entering the stadium. One police officer was pushed to the ground as cops attempted to separate the Communists from their rivals, which included members of a group called 'Bikers for Trump'....

A federal judge on Wednesday urged the State Department to give a gender neutral passport to a Colorado Navy veteran who does not identify being male or female in a case that's the first of its kind in the United States. U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson also suggested he might issue an order forcing the government to do so if it does not successfully negotiate a settlement to the legal challenge by Dana Zzyym, who was denied a passport for refusing to check "male" or "female" on the application. Zzyym was born with ambiguous sexual characteristics and raised as...