Free Republic

Those of us in the 99 percent have had few encounters with the one percent of wealthy elites we keep hearing about. We did find a good place to start looking, though: the front office at your local state university. The Chronicle of Higher Education shows us who belongs to the millionaires’ club—presidents of public colleges who made more than a million dollars this school year: *E. Gordon Gee, Ohio State University, $6,057,615 *R. Bowen Loftin, Texas A & M at College Station, $1,6363,274 *Hamid A. Shirvani, North Dakota University, $1,311,095 *Renu Khator, University of Houston main campus, $1,266,000 *Sally...

ackie Kennedy’s marriage to JFK was headed to a divorce when his life was cut short by an assassin's bullet in November 1963. She was about to become the only First Lady to divorce a sitting president. That's the shocking bombshell in a new book Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince from Blue Moon Productions publisher. Jackie had had enough. Fed up with his constant womanizing, and having her own dalliances that fueled the fire of her desire for liberation, Jackie told her confidantes that she wanted out. Her anger amped...

It is well known that Senators and Congressmen enrich themselves through book deals, speaking engagements, campaign finance cash, etc. When Lyndon Johnson was president, he was open in stealing money from the public treasury, a fact that even his strongest supporters acknowledge. Johnson left office with a net worth of tens of millions of dollars (if not more), which was a lot of money in 1969. When Nixon told the American people that he was not a crook, he was referring to Lyndon Johnson's corruption. Is Lyndon Johnson the only person who enriched himself during the presidency, or are there...

There is an internet site called WatchMojo.com. It has numerous top ten videos - top 10 Queen songs, top 10 nominated actors who never won an oscar , top ten Marvel movies, etc. I like going there to see various top 10 lists and such. Yesterday while browsing through it, they had a Top 10 U.S. Presidents. I watched it to see if I would be disappointed and to no surprise, I was. Why? Two things. One - President Reagan was not in their top 10. They had one term James Polk in there - #8 I believe - but...

Lynne Cheney has spent decades studying and admiring the nation's fourth president, James Madison. Her new book, "James Madison: A Life Reconsidered" is a labor of political admiration that began five years ago and culminated in a historical journey in which Madison, the father of the Constitution, also becomes a prophet of productive conservatism. ....She considers Madison the prophet of small government. He pushed for a strong central government early in his political career when he served in the early House of Representatives, but he started having some doubts. "Madison began to worry about too strong a government," Cheney told...

The CBS Evening News on Wednesday ignored one of the day’s top news stories: the revelation that White House aide Ben Rhodes — brother of CBS president David Rhodes — instructed Susan Rice to emphasize a false talking point about the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya. In a White House email chain recently obtained through a lawsuit by Judicial Watch, Ben Rhodes urged Rice “[t]o underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure or policy” ahead of her infamous appearance on several Sunday shows. The decision by CBS to ignore the story...

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter joined nine other Nobel Peace Laureates in sending a strongly worded letter to President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, urging them not to approve construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The letter opened as follows: "You stand on the brink of making a choice that will define your legacy on one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced – climate change. As you deliberate the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, you are poised to make a decision that will signal either a dangerous commitment to the status quo, or bold leadership that...

When Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Revenue Act of 1913, it probably sounded like a good idea. Most people would pay less in taxes and the prices of everyday goods would drop, he promised. And the rich would — finally! — start paying their fair share. In those days, tax collection was a highly diffuse business with various states and localities collecting taxes at various rates. The federal government mostly skidded by on exorbitant and uneven tariffs, and on booze and tobacco taxes. This was always tough and disorganized business for the federal government. Those hardships became especially acute...

Thirty-three years ago today, on the thirtieth day of the third month of 1981, a gunman attempted to assassinate President Ronald Wilson Reagan. This is not only a major historical event; it is also an American healthcare first: the only time a president was shot in office and survived.

I looked into his eyes once, and what I saw scared me half to death.In June 2001, George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin ended their first face-to-face meeting with an outdoor news conference beneath a craggy mountaintop in Slovenia. "Is this a man that Americans can trust?" I asked Bush as Putin glared at me. "Yes," Bush replied, before allowing Putin to answer a separate question. A few minutes later, the American president elaborated: "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to...

When Putin Met Reagan Written by Alex Selwyn-Holmes December 7, 2009 In May 1988, President Ronald Reagan travelled to Moscow for his 4th summit with Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviets prepared a grand welcome; buildings across from the Kremlin were repainted, streets repaved and trees and flowers planted along the boulevards. The president’s schedule included attending the Bolshoi Ballet, speaking to students at Moscow’s State University and visiting Danilov Monastery, while First Lady would tour Leningrad.The visit was not without its own share of diplomatic incidents. The First Couple took an unscheduled walk through the Arbat, a Moscow shopping pedestrian street,...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is expressing concern about Venezuela's escalating political crisis and wants to meet with leaders on both sides in an upcoming trip. Carter, a mediator of past political conflict in the deeply polarized South American nation, made the offer in private letters he sent this week to President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Henrique Capriles. Expressing "grave concern" about the loss of life in recent protests and the risk of more conflict ahead, Carter in the letter to Capriles said that for dialogue aimed at easing tensions to succeed both side must...

This is amazing history. Be sure to read the quotes in BOLD at the end. Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped. At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor. At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French. At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages. At 16, entered the College of William and Mary. Also could write in Greek with one hand while writing the same in Latin with the other. At 19, studied law for 5 years starting under George Wythe. At 23, started his own law practice. At...

What are we supposed to -do- on President's Day? The Lawless One occupying the White House would no doubt make it a day to celebrate himself as one would expect from a Fidel Castro or Kim Jong Un. This President's Day, try to forget about the sabotage being daily employed by this person known as Barack Hussein Obama and instead reminisce about a time when we had a President who didn't daily work to undermine the foundation of this nation. Articles of impeachment would be the most appropriate President's Day gift this year. However, that's obviously a fantasy since John...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential ticket, according to most political pundits. The presidential hopeful’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, has made millions on lucrative book deals and more than $100 million on the speaking circuit. Secretary Clinton has recently begun to earn that kind of money as well. Secretary Clinton received an estimated $14 million advance on her new book last year, and she has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for each speaking engagement, figures that rival her husband’s. In all, the couple’s net worth is estimated by 24/7 Wall...

An Italian exchange student once asked me what he should know in order to understand America. The best I could come up with on the spot was the U.S. Constitution, jazz and baseball. Later it would come to me that to study each of those only in the abstract, as just a rule book or a series of notes on a page, would be less than useful to someone trying to understand America. The notes would be there, but not the music. The rules of the game would be there, but not the spirit. That spirit cannot be appreciated...

President Lincoln has been all but deified in America, with a god-like giant statue at a Parthenon-like memorial in Washington. Generations of school children have been indoctrinated with the story that “Honest Abe” Lincoln is a national hero who saved the Union and fought a noble war to end slavery, and that the “evil” Southern states seceded from the Union to protect slavery. This is the Yankee myth of history, written and promulgated by Northerners, and it is a complete falsity. It was produced and entrenched in the culture in large part to gloss over the terrible war crimes...

WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama is bringing together university presidents from across the country together to exact commitments from each other to expand access to higher education.

As many of you know, there was an hiatus between Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown (October 19, 1781) and the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783). Washington stayed with his army and did not return to his beloved Mount Vernon until word of the treaty’s signing reached him, and he would see the British Army and Navy depart NYC on Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783. New Yorkers had made up a rhyme, “From Kip’s Bay to Evacuation Day” that had much meaning to them since Kip’s Bay (near present day First Avenue and 30th St. on the East River) was the...