Free Republic

"I would not be interested in becoming Russia's president if my country was developing normally..."  It did come as a surprise last December, when Vladimir Putin suddenly signed an early release for Mikhail Khodorvkovsky, who was the richest man in Russia ($15B) when he was jailed for 'tax evasion' (read: challenged Putin) in 2003... Hard to tell for sure what the thought process was there -perhaps feeling strong and aiming to soften his image a bit- but Putin at the time explained 'Ten years in prison is a serious punishment' and signed the form that freed Khodorkovsky from a decade of harsh detention....

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his aides swear the Syrian “rebels” he was pictured last year with weren’t ISIS members or supporters, and the mainstream media is by and large buying the 2008 GOP presidential nominee’s story. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has endured brutal criticism—media fact checkers, reporters, and political figures have shredded him—for questioning just who McCain posed with. But a closer look at the situation tells perhaps a different story than McCain’s office or the mainstream media have pushed. The criticism of McCain centers around how the Arizona senator met with Syrian rebel leaders in May 2013 when...

Tired of Cheech & Chong pot jokes and ominous anti-drug campaigns, the marijuana industry and activists are starting an ad blitz in Colorado aimed at promoting moderation and the safe consumption of pot. To get their message across, they are skewering some of the old Drug War-era ads that focused on the fears of marijuana, including the famous “This is your brain on drugs” fried-egg ad from the 1980s. […] “So far, every campaign designed to educate the public about marijuana has relied on fear-mongering and insulting marijuana users,” said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s...

President Barack Obama would seek to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad if American planes were attacked upon entering Syrian air space, Peter Baker of The New York Times reports. If Assad's troops fired at American planes entering Syrian airspace, "Obama said he would order American forces to wipe out Syria’s air defense system," Baker reports. "He went on to say that such an action by Mr. Assad would lead to his overthrow, according to one account."

Gay rights money funds archbishop’s critics Faithful America part of national progressive advocacy network September 10th, 2014 Many Catholics in the San Francisco Bay Area were surprised by the strong negative reaction to Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone’s decision to give a talk about traditional marriage at a June 19 Washington, D.C., rally organized to support marriage. A national online petition from Faithful America and a nationally publicized June 10 letter from 78 politicians and others urged the archbishop to withdraw from the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. The letter and petition citing “hate” speech by the National Organization for...

This is the worst possible time for Britain to consider leaving the EU – or for Scotland to break with Britain.

Tyler Durden 09/03/2014 "The stock market is at an all-time, but economic activity is not at an all-time," explains billionaire investor Sam Zell to CNBC this morning, adding that, "every company that's missed has missed on the revenue side, which is a reflection that there's a demand issue; and when you got a demand issue it's hard to imagine the stock market at an all-time high." Zell said he is being very cautious adding to stocks and cutting some positions because "I don't remember any time in my career where there have been as many wildcards floating out there that...

"The stock market is at an all-time, but economic activity is not at an all-time," explains billionaire investor Sam Zell to CNBC on Thursday morning, adding that, "every company that's missed has missed on the revenue side, which is a reflection that there's a demand issue; and when you got a demand issue it's hard to imagine the stock market at an all-time high." Zell said he was being very cautious adding to stocks and cutting some positions because "I don't remember any time in my career where there have been as many wildcards floating out there that have the...

As the 2014 midterm elections approached, the media were quick to criticize conservative donors like the Koch brothers for backing issues important to them. But journalists largely ignored the incredible financial power being used to promote the liberal agenda. Five top donors – Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, Pierre Omidyar, Tom Steyer and George Soros’s own son, Jonathan – are major funders of the left. Together, they have contributed at least $2.7 billion since 2000 to groups pushing abortion, gun control, climate change alarmism and liberal candidates. That’s not how major media depicted them. Broadcast networks applauded when billionaire hedge fund...

Hardly a day goes by without the media raising questions about the influence of powerful GOP megadonors, but five liberal billionaires have been pouring money into politics in recent years with nary a peep from the Fourth Estate, according to new report from the Media Research Center's Business and Media Institute and provided exclusively to Breitbart News.

The PJ Tatler Eric Holder’s Soros-Sponsored Police Sensitivity ‘Training’ Your money went to the radical Institute on Race and Justice. J. Christian Adams August 21, 2014 The vice president’s Boeing 757 delivered Eric Holder to St. Louis yesterday. In Ferguson, Holder announced that he was “a black man” and therefore had the power to heal Ferguson in ways that no other law enforcement official could. Yet his comments were sure to throw gasoline on fire burning hot with racial division. That shouldn’t shock anyone. It’s the community organizing model of running the Justice Department. What is shocking is who is...

George Soros gave $500,000 apiece to House Majority PAC and the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund. Climate-change activist Tom Steyer gave the biggest super PAC donation in July with $7.5 million. Super PACs spent July beefing up for the fall campaign. Many groups filed new disclosure reports this week, leaving a paper trail littered with big checks from big names. Democrats dominate the list of notable July donors ... Michael Bloomberg is staying plenty active in his post-mayoral days. Aside from funding his gun-control-focused super PAC, Bloomberg has written checks to Senate Majority PAC and super PACs that backed...

Update, August 19: On ABC “World News with Diane Sawyer” on Aug. 18, Senior National Correspondent Jim Avila included a soundbite from Texans for Public Justice Director Craig McDonald in his story. McDonald was merely introduced as a “critic,” with no ideological label, and Avila never verbally said the name of his group. The Soros connection and the group’s involvement in Perry’s indictment charges were not addressed. NBC and CBS still have not mentioned the group. Sometimes it seems like there isn’t a single political issue that a Soros-funded group isn’t involved in. Texans for Public Justice, one of the...

Seems like global-socialist Mac daddy George Soros has his evil paw in the sketchy Rick Perry indictment right from the start- the more you dig into these stories these days, the more poop you find. I used to hate conspiracy theory, but these days you can't be suspicious enough. And as you know, this 'Godfather of the Left' has got his tentacles in most every socio-political issue being debated in the United States today- it's unreal.  Now the Texans for Public Justice -one of the groups behind Rick Perry’s indictment charges- is part of a “progressive” coalition that has received $500,000 from hyper-liberal, hyper-rich...

Liberal billionaire George Soros gave $500,000 to Texans for Public Justice, one of the groups behind Rick Perry’s indictment charges. Rick Perry was indicted by a Texas grand jury for vetoing funding for the state’s public integrity unit, unless the lead prosecutor resigned following her drunk driving arrest. Since the news of Perry’s indictment charge broke on Aug. 15, none of the network morning or evening news broadcasts have mentioned the Soros connection, or mentioned Texans for Public Justice at all. Naturally, this piece of information is going completely unreported by the mainstream media. When it comes to funding, liberals...

Billionaire investor George Soros has increased his financial bet that U.S. stocks will collapse to more than $2 billion. The legendary hedge fund manager has been raising his negative bet on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since late last year. The latest 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Soros Fund Management increased its position in “puts” on the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund by a staggering amount in the second quarter from the first. …

August 15, 2014 By Barbara Kollmeyer Oh, goody. It’s 13F time, when mere mortals like us get to see how the big boys rolled the dice in the last quarter. Among the highlights, Soros Fund Management increased a bear-call bet on the S&P 500 in a huge way. The fund lifted a put position — a bet the market will go lower — on the S&P 500 ETF SPY to its biggest size yet, in terms of value and portfolio percentage, making a 605% leap over the previous quarter. Bullion Baron, who has long kept a beady eye on Soros’s...

The Ukrainian hryvnia just made a new low against the U.S. dollar. On Tuesday, one dollar bought 13.4 hyrvnias, with the hryvnia losing more than 4% against the dollar just today. The latest drop in the currency comes amid reports that Russia is sending a convoy of 280 humanitarian aid trucks into Ukraine, according to Reuters.

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said European companies would have to agree on a major revision of gas contracts with Russia if Kiev imposes sanctions on Moscow and Gazprom, a measure that may lead to disruption in gas transit to Europe. Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said last week that parliament would debate sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, which could include bans on Russian gas and sanctions against Russian banks. Ukraine gas grid Naftogaz said on Monday that the sanctions could limit or even exclude some companies from piping gas through the country, which would allow other firms to take over...

“When you get farmers, dentists and folks who have never fought before going up against a ruthless opposition in Assad, the notion that they were in a position to suddenly overturn not only Assad but also ruthless, highly trained jihadists if we just sent a few arms is a fantasy.” - Barack Obama to CBS on June 22 Editor's note: Obama reiterated the statement to Tom Friedman of The New York Times in an interview published on August 9. In one sentence, U.S. President Barack Obama disregarded the thousands of soldiers who defected from the Syrian Army since the uprising...