Free Republic

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Uses New Device To Seize Money Used During The Commission Of - News9.com http://m.news9.com/story.aspx?story=32168555&catId=112032 Posted: Jun 07, 2016 5:57PM CDT Aaron Brilbeck, News 9 You may have heard of civil asset forfeiture. That's where police can seize your property and cash without first proving you committed a crime; without a warrant and without arresting you, as long as they suspect that your property is somehow tied to a crime. Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards. It's called an ERAD, or...

With its nomination settled, the GOP has been healing its wounds, but Democratic feelings are still raw because of the ongoing fight between Clinton and Sanders. The latest round of polls re­leased pri­or to Me­mori­al Day week­end, which showed Hil­lary Clin­ton and Don­ald Trump in a vir­tu­al tie, set off in­tense hand-wringing among Demo­crats, Clin­ton back­ers, and Trump de­tract­ors alike. They much pre­ferred the polls from a month earli­er giv­ing the former sec­ret­ary of State a double-di­git lead over the real-es­tate mogul. What’s lost on many people is that any tri­al heat between Trump and Clin­ton today is like com­par­ing...

A powerful array of the Republican Party’s largest financial backers remains deeply resistant to Donald J. Trump’s presidential candidacy, forming a wall of opposition that could make it exceedingly difficult for him to meet his goal of raising $1 billion before the November election. Interviews and emails with more than 50 of the Republican Party’s largest donors, or their representatives, revealed a measure of contempt and distrust toward their own party’s nominee that is unheard of in modern presidential politics. More than a dozen of the party’s most reliable individual contributors and wealthy families indicated that they would not give...

German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer and the US group Monsanto said Thursday they are in talks on a possible merger to create a global player in pesticides, seeds and genetically modified crops, following weeks of speculation about a possible tie-up. Both sides have emphasized that the talks are still only exploratory at this stage and neither has mentioned how much any proposed deal would be worth. But with Monsanto’s market value estimated at around $42 billion (€37.5 billion), observers say it would be bigger than the recent acquisition of Switzerland’s Syngenta by China National Chemical Corp. […] The US group has...

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was mayor during the horrific 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center — the twin towers — and resulted in the tragic death of over 3,000 Americans, says that Donald Trump calling George W. Bush a liar over the matter is “absolutely wrong.”Giuliani, appearing on FOX & Friends Wednesday morning, said that while he may turn out to be a supporter of Trump’s, perhaps even during the primary and even considers him a friend, his blame of President Bush for 9/11 is way out of bounds.“What he said...

Yet somehow I wasn’t surprised to see Donald Trump supporters, those swaggering tough guys, turn one of their favorite Internet forums into a safe space where they no longer need to encounter criticism or opposition. Earlier today, Free Republic proprietor Jim Robinson announced that the discussion board would no longer tolerate opposition to Trump’s candidacy.

Republicans have a major electoral-map problem in November. Major. Donald Trump’s victory last week in Indiana’s primary not only effectively sealed the GOP nomination for the real estate billionaire but also brought into sharp relief how difficult it will be for any Republican to get to 270 electoral votes and beat Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president this fall. Start here: Eighteen states plus the District of Columbia have voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election between 1992 and 2012. Add them up, and you get 242 electoral votes.

Some 95 percent of the 220 billion euros disbursed to Greece since the start of the financial crisis as loans from the bailout mechanism has been directed toward saving the European banks. That means about 210 billion euros was eventually channeled to the eurozone credit sector while just 5 percent ended up in state coffers, according to a study by the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin. “Europe and the International Monetary Fund have in previous years mainly saved the banks and other private creditors,” concluded the report, published yesterday in German newspaper Handelsblatt. ESMT director Jorg...

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What has happened to the Free Republic that I can’t break away from? You know the one where you knew something big was happening in the world because you couldn’t open the site because of too much traffic (late 90’s)? The one that where you read articles that were of great interest on science, religion, or the bizarro? The one where you would have to don a flame retardant suit if you posted something that was outside the thought prevailing thought process of the other posters? I long for those days as I am sure many of us do as...

From the investigator touting as truth the opposite of the testimony of the AFC Championship Game referee on the matter most salient to Deflategate to the league admitting ignorance of the Ideal Gas Law to Roger Goodell hearing the appeal on the fairness of the suspension Roger Goodell handed down, the NFL gives its fans myriad reasons to doubt its investigation into Tom Brady.

Tom Brady is suspended (again) for his role in Deflategate, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's guilty of what he's been accused of doing. What it means is that the Roger Goodell believes Brady is guilty and deserves a four-game suspension, and the judges who reinstated that suspension believe Goodell has the proper authority to do so. At least one player doesn't agree with that assessment. According to Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who spoke with Sports Illustrated's Maggie Gray, Goodell has too much power and the league shouldn't be trusted.

"It's not fair!" may be the most pitiful lament in the English language, but Donald Trump seems intent upon adopting it as his battle cry heading into this summer's Republican convention. The GOP's poorly designed nominating process includes more than its share of problems, but is it really unfair to Trump? ..... < snip > ..... open primaries invite abuse from voters whose goals may not involve selecting the party's strongest representative. Those with deep ties to the party deserve greater input than those with tenuous or nonexistent connections. Yet Democrats and Republicans alike have chosen to pretend otherwise. ........

So when the genius rips up trade agreements and a trade war erupts where will America be able to sell its exports when every country puts massive tariffs on all US goods as a result? Just wondering because he acts like they will all just grab their ankles and bend over...which they won't.

Donald Trump will not reach 1237 delegates before the GOP July Cleveland Convention and there will be a floor fight for the Nomination. For the purposes of this analysis, both Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are peripheral characters. Both will continue to pursue their best strategy to the nomination, Trump on first ballot, Cruz on 2nd or 3rd (most likely 4th after Florida delegates are released). There will be a contested convention because the media will push for it. 1. Blood in the streets in Cleveland? Damn, that's a generational story. Somebody's gonna win a Pulitzer here. 2. Permanent...

In a complicated political season, nobody has more complications to worry about than the half-dozen Republican senators seeking re-election in tight, swing-state contests. Those senators–hailing from Illinois, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina—are being buffeted by big forces largely out of their control as they try to hang onto their seats. Their fate will determine whether Republicans keep control of the Senate, where they currently have a 54-46 advantage. The predicament of these GOP senators comes into clearer focus in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, completed just last week, which helps crystallize three big complications they...

Based on the raw vote and delegate counts at Real Clear Politics, consider the following: Raw vote %: Trump - 40% Cruz - 29% Delegate %: Trump - 49% Cruz - 32% Bump created by the "system" (delegate % divided by raw vote%): Trump - 22% Cruz - 10% Votes per delegate (how many votes did it take on average to get one delegate): Trump - 10,322 Cruz - 11,430

Donald Trump has presented himself as a protector of conservative Christians and as the best friend Christians will ever have. He has held up his mother’s Bible and pledged to bring Christ back into Christmas. But when the rubber meets the road, he is anything but the defender of conservative Christians and their values. This became crystal clear yesterday morning (April 21), when Trump, appearing on the Today show, answered questions on abortion, North Carolina’s Bathroom Privacy Act, and transgender rights. When he was asked if he would like to change the Republican Party Platform on abortion, which allows no...

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, “hates” the new Trump. Coulter tweeted Friday that she wishes “Trump would go back to retweeting juvenile photos of Heidi Cruz.” “I hate the new Manafort and Black Trump,” she added. Trump’s convention manager Paul Manafort on Thursday told members of the Republican National Committee that the GOP presidential front-runner is “evolving.” “The negatives will come down, the image is going to change,” Manafort said. Trump hired Manafort weeks ago to oversee the campaign’s delegate efforts. He has since been promoted to convention manager. Once a regular on the Sunday...

As his top aides spent the week gingerly courting Republican insiders at a seaside resort in Florida, Donald Trump was busy railing against them. "The system is all rigged," Trump told supporters at a rally Friday at the Delaware State Fairgrounds ahead of the GOP primary. "That's why we have to win big. That's why on Tuesday, everyone has to go out and vote. We have to win big because the system is rigged."