Free Republic

"This is our mission, in the U.S. and everywhere. We make a difference in the world because we practice professional journalism that is both intrepid and unbiased," explained Reuters Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler to his pool of reporters this morning in a message to staff about covering Trump the Reuters way. But, in a strange twist, it appears the mainstream media is waking up to reality as Adler says: "Get out into the country and learn more about how people live, what they think, what helps and hurts them, and how the government and its actions appear to them, not to...

Submitted by Johnny Kampis via The Foundation for Economic Education,Migration patterns for 2016 show that Americans tended to move away from high-tax states and into states where residents keep more of what they earn.United Van Lines, the nation’s largest moving company, recently released its annual movers study report showing that South Dakota overtook Oregon as the top inbound destination. Generally, more people moved toward the West, and states in the Northeast saw the largest exodus of residents. The top four outbound states in 2016, in order, were New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and Connecticut.(Photo: Tax Foundation)The Tax Foundation pointed...

In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, Yahoo News visited towns and cities across the country, speaking to voters who had supported Donald Trump in the election. As the shape of his administration emerged, we asked voters if they were happy with their choice and optimistic about the future. Here is some of what we found: SANDY HOOK, Ky.—It used to be known as the most reliably Democratic county in America. In a state that had long ago gone deep red, Elliott County, located here in the winding forested hills of remote eastern Kentucky, was a true anomaly. Since...

KNOXVILLE, Iowa – One recent morning, I sat near two young men at a coffee shop here whom I’ve known since they were little boys. Now about 18, they pushed away from the table, and one said: “Let’s go to work. Let the liberals sleep in.” The other nodded. They’re hard workers. As a kid, one washed dishes, took orders and swept the floor at a restaurant. Every summer, the other picked sweet corn by hand at dawn for a farm stand and for grocery stores, and then went to work all day on his parents’ farm. Now one is...

“People in Texas will buy trucks even if they’re not going to haul anything heavier than raindrops.” The NY Times went on safari to Texas, and it has an article about a peculiar love of the natives for trucks, Rodeo Offers a 90-M.P.H. Glimpse of Texans’ Truck Mania: Tim Spell has noticed a peculiar condition that affects Texans’ mental, physical and automotive well-being. “I call it ‘truck-itis,’” said Mr. Spell, the former automotive editor for The Houston Chronicle. “People in Texas will buy trucks even if they’re not going to haul anything heavier than raindrops. I was interviewing one guy....

ENID, Okla. — One Sunday after church, Jeff Mullin and his wife were in line at the Western Sizzlin steakhouse here when a man, fists clenched, threatened to beat the hell out of him. “My first thought was just to kind of try to keep things calm. Otherwise, it was going to be two old guys rolling around on the floor of the steakhouse, and that would be pretty unseemly,” recalled Mr. Mullin, 64, the mustachioed senior writer for Enid’s daily newspaper, The Enid News & Eagle. The dispute was not personal. It was, of all things, editorial. Mr. Mullin’s...

•CBRL reported a decent Q1. •Comps were positive but only because of strong pricing; traffic and the retail stores were weak. •Margin growth continued but at nearly 21 times this year's earnings, the stock is way too expensive. Cracker Barrel (NASDAQ:CBRL) has long been an example for others in the restaurant sector. The company has bucked weak trends in casual dining and its retail stores have helped shoulder the burden as well. CBRL's unique model has worked extremely well over the past few years and it pays a sizable dividend to boot. After a nice Q1 report, the stock is...

As Tennessee battles raging wildfires, forcing an evacuation of thousands of people, a number of people on Twitter are mocking their plight, suggesting residents there deserve it for voting for Donald Trump. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, the epicenter of the wildfires because of their proximity to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, are popular holiday resorts for conservative and Christian families from the region. The towns have a number of attractions and wholesome family activities, including Dollywood. Some of the tweets, instead of expressing horror, are declaring “let them burn” and “too bad it’s not the whole state burning.” The tweeters...

No one listened to Tom Vilsack. As agriculture secretary during the entire Obama administration, the former Iowa governor has for years been telling anyone who will pay attention — farmers, members of Congress, even Hillary Clinton — that Democrats need a better message for rural America. And he’s spent most of his tenure focusing on rural development, trying to revitalize areas that ultimately voted for Republican Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election. “The Democratic Party, in my opinion, has not made as much of an effort as it ought to, to speak to rural voters,” Vilsack said Tuesday in...

Democrats in rural America have a blunt message for the rest of their party: We saw the electoral disaster coming — and it’s your fault. Strategists and party officials say their warnings about the party’s lackluster outreach to rural voters went unheeded by Democratic leaders for years, culminating in this month’s shock defeat to Donald Trump. A presidential candidate who actually performed poorly in many cities and suburbs nonetheless scored an upset victory because of a surge in support from small towns and rural areas. To these old Democratic political hands — many of whom hail from well outside the...

Ravaged by months of drought, huge swaths of the southeast United States are on fire, but you wouldn’t know it judging by national media coverage.A total of six states in the southeast (Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi) are currently suffering from “exceptional drought,” a category reserved for the most severe drought conditions, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center. The majority of land in four states (Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia) are facing “extreme drought,” the second most severe level.(snip)But because it’s not happening in New York or D.C. or Los Angeles, it doesn’t really count...

MEMO: Pennsylvania’s Red State Status November 27, 2016 Filed in News, Press Releases 11 DATE: November 27, 2016 TO: Interested Parties FROM: PA GOP Chairman Rob Gleason RE: Pennsylvania’s Red State Status On November 8th, 2016, Donald Trump made history when he turned Pennsylvania red for the first time since 1988. In addition, Pennsylvania Republicans helped re-elect U.S. Senator Pat Toomey and 13 Congressmen as well as expand our majorities in the State Senate and State House. In recent days, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has decided to launch baseless attacks against the integrity of Pennsylvania’s election system as well...

ROBERTS COUNTY, TX (KFDA) - A small town in the Texas Panhandle is having to deal with some unwanted attention after being dubbed the "Most Pro-Trump county in the Nation." Though the election is over, voices of supporters for both parties remain loud and clear. But the small town of Miami is being criticized for how they voted. More than 95 percent of Roberts County voters cast their ballot for President-Elect Donald Trump, the highest of any county in the United States.

President-elect Donald Trump will host a new round of rallies in the coming weeks to celebrate his 2016 election win, according to one of his top aides. George Gigicos, the head of the Trump advance team, spoke to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City Thursday, where he said their team is working on "the victory tour now." He asked Trump's former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, who was behind him, to ask when the tour would be happening. She came forward to reporters and said, "'Thank you tour.' It's not a 'victory tour,'" to which Gigicos...

We’re working on a victory tour now; it will happen in the next couple of weeks,” Gigicos told reporters at Trump Tower on Thursday, per the presidential transition pool report. Gigicos said Trump’s victory tour will start some time “after Thanksgiving.” He did not identify any of the places Trump plans to visit but said they would focus on “the swing states we flipped over” and other places where Trump scored wins on Election Day last week.

On Thursday morning the "Today" show had a segment with a psycologist who was there to guide parents on how to explain Hillary Clinton's loss to their children. "Well that is interesting, they sure didn't have a child psycologist on to explain to my children the loss of Mitt Romney, or John McCain. You just simply did not have that," said a suburban mother sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office with the morning show streaming on the television. The young mother, an IT professional who lives in Pittsburgh, the "Paris of Appalachia," said she was stunned once...

Vist Mark's site for the article. Lots of graphics.

Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump's upset presidential election win has dominated global headlines, but for those against capital punishment, Election Day offered other surprise: three states voted to reinstate or otherwise support the death penalty. The measures voted through in Oklahoma, Nebraska and California via referendum are not expected to spark a sharp rise in the number of executions, but activists say they are a step in the wrong direction. "Those states have chosen a failed, broken policy when they had the chance to move towards a new dawn," said Shari Silberstein, director of the advocacy group Equal Justice USA....

Donald Trump’s presidential victory not only helped preserve the Republican Party’s majority in the Senate, but it also buoyed the GOP’s control of state legislatures. Republicans now hold an all-time high of 68 out of 99 state legislative chambers, The Associated Press reported. Republicans also have control of both chambers in 33 states, up from 31. In Kentucky, Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo was ousted along with 15 other Democratic incumbents, effectively ending 95 years of control of the state house. -

Donald Trump’s presidential victory not only helped preserve the Republican Party’s majority in the Senate, but it also buoyed the GOP’s control of state legislatures. Republicans now hold an all-time high of 68 out of 99 state legislative chambers, The Associated Press reported. Republicans also have control of both chambers in 33 states, up from 31.