Free Republic

This was the year when Republicans had everything going for them, politically-speaking, in the 2016 presidential election. On every level, economically, fiscally, socially, America is in a lot worse shape under Barack Obama's debt-ridden, inept presidency. And his party's frontrunner is offering us four more years of the same. Poverty is up. Violent crime is up. The middle class is shrinking. Businesses, especially factories and retail, are in trouble. The economy is barely growing. People are hurting. The Gallup Poll this week found that only 36 percent of U.S. adults say the economy is "getting better," while 60 percent say...

The FBI is reportedly coordinating with Hillary Clinton’s campaign schedule in order to find a time to interview the presidential candidate about her private email server, CNN reports. Investigators have already interviewed several of Clinton’s top State Department aides, including Huma Abedin, the network reported on Thursday. Some of those aides have been interviewed several times. The next step in the investigation — which is looking into whether any classified information was mishandled on Clinton’s server — will be to interview Clinton herself. But that poses a problem because she is in the heat of a presidential campaign. And with...

Colorado Republicans blasted the EPA after an agency official refused to cover the full cost of damages done by the EPA’s release of toxic sludge from the Gold King Mine last August contaminated water supplies in Colorado and New Mexico after spreading from the Animas River to the San Juan River. EPA official Bill Murray explained that “people need to understand that when we took responsibility for the spill we were making a moral statement, not agreeing to compensate anyone for any injuries suffered. The government has ‘sovereign immunity’ and cannot be held liable without its consent. Obviously, we are...

(Story from April 16.) The Clintons and their family foundation have at least five shell companies registered to the address 1209 North Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware — which is also home to some 280,000 other companies who use the location to take advantage of the state's low taxes, limited disclosure requirements, and other business incentives. Two of the five are tied to Bill and Hillary Clinton specifically. One, WJC, LLC, is used by the former president to collect his consulting fees. The other, ZFS Holdings, LLC, was used by the former secretary of state to process her $5.5 million...

Hillary Clinton has turned up the rhetorical temperature on Donald Trump lately... “Ugly currents that lurked just the below the surface of our politics have burst into the open. And everyone sees this bigotry for what it is, therefore it is up to all of us to repudiate it,” Clinton said during a speech on race at the annual National Action Network convention... You would think that means she thinks Trump is so bad he should be radioactive to others in politics, and sure enough, the Democratic message machine has gone to great lengths to paint even Trump’s most determined...

During a protest against Hillary Clinton on Friday, supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) threw $1,001 in singles at Clinton’s motorcade as she was on her way to attend a fundraiser at the home of George Clooney, CNN reported. The protestors said the demonstration was supposed to represent the absurdity of campaign finance laws and to protest the amount of money funneled into political campaigns by Wall Street and wealthy celebrities. Once Clinton’s motorcade drove through the protest, Sanders’ supporters “danced in the street, stomping on the dollar bills.” One protestor named Howard Gold explained he doesn’t support the...

Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales will travel this week to Qatar, and the trip is drawing criticism that the mayor is breaking his own directives. Qatar is known for its anti-LGBT laws, and Gonzales' trip was announced just days after the mayor reaffirmed Santa Fe's ban on city employee travel to states that have passed what advocates say are discrimination laws against the LGBT community.

....one former Uber driver, Michael Pelletz, decided to create a woman-only ride-hailing service. It's called Chariot for Women, it's based in Boston, and it's scheduled to debut nationwide on April 19. More than 1,000 women have already signed up as drivers. Pelletz, whose wife, Kelly, is the company's president, said he came up with the idea after a scary experience with an unstable passenger. He imagined how much more terrifying it would have been if he were a woman, and remembered that his wife had thought about driving for Uber but was too afraid to.... ....There's also no surge pricing,...

....In a skit at Saturday night’s Inner Circle show, Clinton joined de Blasio as a surprise guest and ribbed him for delaying his endorsement.... ...a tasteless joke — built off the stereotype that black people are chronically late — fell flat. “Thanks for the endorsement. Took you long enough,” Clinton deadpanned. “Sorry, Hillary. I was running on C.P. Time,” de Blasio replied, riffing on the phrase “colored people time,” meaning always late. “Hamilton” star Leslie Odom Jr., who is black and plays Aaron Burr in the hit production, addressed the mayor from the stage. “That’s not — I don’t like...

NC Representative Fires Back At PayPal Hypocrisy By: Susan Wright April 10th, 2016 Last week saw the state’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest respond to PayPal’s announcement that they were suspending plans to expand their business in North Carolina, in objection to the recently passed bathroom bill. Lt. Governor Forest posted a photo of PayPal’s global operations center, which has clearly defined, gender-specific bathrooms. The cultural Marxist crowd really are all about “Do as I say, not as I do.” Not to be outdone, NC Representative Robert Pittenger issues this statement: “PayPal does business in 25 countries where homosexual behavior is...

union hypocrisy and betrayal of its membership ... a series of loopholes that cut union workers out of the very pay increases their leaders have championed. ... written into the fine print of wage ordinances in a dozen California cities at labor leaders’ urging. San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and Santa Monica have all adopted union waivers in their most recent minimum wage laws. L.A. city officials are expected to indicate whether they will include such an exemption in their own $15 minimum wage at a hearing next week. ... Thanks to the “union waivers” agreed to by union leaders,...

There’s been plenty of anticipation about booking trips to Cuba since travel restrictions eased in the past year. However, a first-person report in the Miami Herald says there are some people living in the U.S. who can’t take part in a Cuba vacation cruise.... [the Carnival representative] asked me to hold. She returned to read me a statement from the legal department: “Current Cuban law prohibits Cuban-born individuals from entering Cuba via ship or other sea vessel, regardless of U.S. citizenship status. For that reason, at the present time, Fathom cannot accommodate Cuban-born individuals.”

The Hypocrisy of PayPal By Julio Severo PayPal has vowed to discontinue the expansion of its services in North Carolina after its governor passed a law to protect women and children against homosexual predators by not allowing biological men to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms. In answer to the PayPal boycott, on Facebook Franklin Graham, son of the legendary evangelist Billy Graham, said, “PayPal gets the hypocrite of the year award!… PayPal operates in countries including Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Yemen for Pete’s sake. Just last month PayPal announced they would be expanding in Cuba, a country in which...

April 6, 2016 Ivanka Trump Scarves Recalled Because Of "Burn Risk" Scarves made in China and sold as part of Ivanka Trump's fashion line are being recalled because they are too flammable and pose a "burn risk" to consumers. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday that no injuries have been reported. The recall involves about 20,000 rayon scarves, sold from October 2014 through January 2016 in department stores and online. They range in cost from $12 to $68. A representative for the Ivanka Trump brand, which includes clothing, accessories and fragrances, said that it is disappointed for the...

When PayPal announced plans to expand in Charlotte, it made headlines by promising 400 jobs and millions of dollars in payroll. Now PayPal is making bigger headlines nationwide as it backs out of the deal with Charlotte, citing the recently passed House Bill 2. PayPal said the law violates their values and principles concerning equality... Congressman Robert Pittenger...released a statement saying, “PayPal does business in 25 countries where homosexual behavior is illegal… yet they object to the North Carolina legislature overturning a misguided ordinance about letting men in to the women’s bathroom? Perhaps PayPal would like to try and clarify...

Since this news story made the sidebar here on FR, I decided to provide some context to the remarks that have garnered so much interest. I just view my DVR tape of the Jimmy Kimmel Show last night. Just prior to Senator Cruz coming on was a segment on cool April Fools jokes that could be played on friends. One of the jokes was to duct tape a Freddie Kruger action figure to someone's rear view camera. The guy demonstrating also said that a picture could be used as well. He held up a picture of Donald Trump. Cruz was...

Neither political party can lay claim to purity when it comes to hypocrisy, but Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, as well as others in her party, has taken hypocrisy to new depths. While campaigning in Wisconsin before next week's presidential primary, Clinton said that as president she would have a litmus test for any Supreme Court nominee. "I would not appoint someone who didn't think Roe v. Wade is settled law," she declared. Her nominee(s) would also have to show that they support overturning the Citizens United decision that established free speech rights for interest groups. She added that while...

Marquette University has moved to suspend and then fire Professor John McAdams for backing a student who tried to defend man-woman marriage when a leftist teaching assistant shut the student down. In the fall of 2014, junior faculty member Cheryl Abbate told a student, who secretly recorded the exchange, that his defense of man-woman marriage was an unacceptable topic in her ethics class and compared his views to racism. She said, "You can have whatever opinions you want but I can tell you right now, in this class homophobic comments, racist comments, and sexist comments will not be tolerated." And...

"I don't make a habit out of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family, and Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee," Cruz told reporters Friday afternoon, his clearest suggestion yet that he could not back the billionaire if he is the GOP's standard-bearer in the general election. . . . "I want to be crystal clear: These attacks are garbage," Cruz wrote on Facebook. "For Donald J. Trump to enlist his friends at the National Enquirer and his political henchmen to do his bis bidding shows you that there is no low Donald...

I suppose none of us should be surprised that the apologists for homosexuality are also capable of rampant and unrepentant hypocrisy. Nevertheless, the duplicity recently on display in Georgia belongs in the hypocrisy hall of fame. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous Obergefell decision, and after previous efforts at a religious liberty bill failed, and in order to protect its citizens from the militant homosexual agenda, legislators in Georgia felt renewed urgency to join over 30 other U.S. states which have similar religious liberty legislation or provisions.