Free Republic

Last week onClashDaily.comwe ran a story about Mormon twin sisters who founded “Beauty Redefined”, who are calling on folks to boycott Carl's Jr.’s hamburger joint because they run adverts with hot models. According to the religious twins, these ads, “objectify women”; and I guess, by that inference, girls everywhere, because of the ads, will start to feel badly about themselves, adopt some eating disorder and/or get ocean-buoy-sized breast implants in order to look like Kate Upton. Or something to that effect. Now, before I go on, here’s an FYI for forlorn ladies wanting to look like Kate after watching a Carl's...

CKE Restaurants' roots began in California roughly seven decades ago, but you won't see the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's expanding there much anymore. Related Stories What's causing what company CEO Andy Puzder describes as "very little growth" in the state? In part it's because "the minimum wage is so high so it's harder to come up with profitable business models," Puzder said in an interview. The state's minimum wage is set to rise to $9 in July, making it among the nation's highest, and $10 by January 2016. In cities in other states where the minimum wage...

Carl's Jr. said its newly opened unit in Houston set a company record with $117,203 in sales its opening week. The revenue topped the chain's domestic and international sales mark, Carl's Jr. said Thursday.

Carl Karcher, who parlayed a single hot dog pushcart into a chain of more than 1,000 fast-food restaurants bearing his name, died Friday. He was 90. The affable, burly entrepreneur, known to millions as the jovial television pitchman for the Carl's Jr. chain, died of complications from Parkinson's-related pneumonia at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, according to Beth Mansfield, a spokeswoman for parent company CKE Restaurants. A stalwart Orange County Republican, Karcher worked tirelessly for the party and its candidates, still finding time for active and enthusiastic involvement in local causes, including United Way of Orange County, Orangewood Children's...

There's the the new commercial with the billionaire Maloof brothers. If you have that much, a $6,000 Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger Combo Meal is a piffle. For the rest of us, its wretched excess.

Paris Hilton is at it again. The 24-year-old hotel heiress is the feature attraction in Carl's Jr.'s new Spicy Burger ad campaign, aimed at the horny male TV-watching population. Scantily clad in a one-piece leather outfit plunging down to below her navel, Hilton struts into an empty warehouse, licks her finger, then suds up herself and a Bentley automobile, as a stripper-styled "I Love Paris" rendition slowly plays in the background. At the end of the spot, Hilton bites the burger and sucks her finger clean. The commercial closes with Hilton's tagline flashing across the screen: "That's Hot." The spot...

A Web site touting Paris Hilton's racy television spot for burger chain Carl's Jr. crashed for four hours as Internet surfers raced to see the seductive swimsuit-clad socialite doused in suds. The 30-second commercial, which features the hotel heiress washing a Bentley and chomping on Carl's Jr.'s Spicy BBQ Burger in a stringy black swimsuit, has generated media attention since hitting the TV airwaves last Thursday. Carl's Jr., a unit of CKE Restaurants known for its male-focused ads and hefty burgers, at the same time launched a special Web site called SpicyParis.com featuring a special 60-second version of the ad....

I just love this story. "The parent of the Carl's, Jr...." I've got to tell you a little story. When I first moved to Sacramento back in 1984 I took the southern route when I drove out there from Kansas City. People said, because I was going in October, "Yeah you want to take the southern route because you go the northern route you get snow. You don't want to go I-80 and all that because if you go out to the Sierra you might get snow, so take the southern route. Go into New Mexico and Arizona and southern...

A pro-family group is taking issue with a national fast-food chain for featuring pornographer Hugh Hefner and his Playboy "Bunnies" on a new television commercial. Last week, CKE Restaurants -- parent company of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. establishments -- defended a sexually provocative TV commercial for Carl's Jr. by saying it was designed to target young men. The ad shows a model simulating sexual moves while riding a mechanical bull. Apparently believing that sexual fantasy is somehow related to the decision process one goes through before ordering a hamburger, this week the corporation released another Carl's Jr. commercial, this one...

For years, Andrew F. Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast-food chains, has been telling the world that while the U.S. government makes life needlessly miserable for businesses, California, where it has been headquartered, is exponentially worse. This week, CKE announced that it is moving its headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee. A story at the Orange County Register failed to go beyond the company's deliberately non-combative statement to explain why. As far as I can tell, the Los Angeles Times hasn't covered the move at all (I can't be absolutely sure because...

NASHVILLE, Tennessee— Many of the 49 delegates in Tennessee who are pledged to either Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)will reportedly meet this month to seal a grassroots alliance in which they pledge their votes during any contested convention only to Trump or Cruz. “My concern is that whether you are a Cruz delegate or a Trump delegate the establishment wants to nominate somebody like John Kasich who has no mathematical chance or moral authority to become the nominee because he has received so few votes in the primaries,” former State Rep. Joe Carr, an at-large Cruz delegate, tells...

The Senate voted 49-40 Monday evening to confirm John B. King Jr., President Barack Obama’s nominee, as secretary of education. A total of 11 senators did not vote on King’s confirmation, while those who voted against him cited his loyalty to the system and support for Common Core education standards. King, 41, has been the acting secretary of the Department of Education since January, after Arne Duncan stepped down from the Cabinet post at the end of last year. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, spoke in support of King on the Senate floor....

Senator Mark Green presented his constitutional carry bill (SB1483) today in the Senate Judiciary committee. This bill would have, as amended, imposed only the burden on a citizen of obtaining at least 8 hours of training from any state approved, law enforcement or military certified firearms training instructor and that the citizen carry proof of such training. The bill is retained at present in Senate Judiciary on a 4-4-1 vote as discussed below. The bill is not defeated but it can be placed back on notice under the Senate rules or it can be moved by the sponsor, Senator Green,...

Donald J. Trump won sweeping victories across the South and in New England on Tuesday, a show of strength in the Republican primary campaign that underscored the breadth of his appeal and helped him begin to amass a wide delegate advantage despite growing resistance to his candidacy among party leaders. Mr. Trump’s political coalition — with his lopsided victories in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee, and narrower ones in Arkansas and Virginia — appears to have transcended the regional and ideological divisions that have shaped the Republican Party in recent years. With strong support from low-income white voters, especially those...

Well the big day is here, enjoy!

Memo to Republican leaders: Be careful what you wish for. Hoping to avoid a repeat of the messy fight for the Republican nomination in 2012, the party drew up a calendar and delegate-selection rules intended to allow a front-runner to wrap things up quickly. Now, with Republicans voting in 11 states on Tuesday, the worst fears of the party’s establishment are coming true: Donald J. Trump could all but seal his path to the nomination in a case of unintended consequences for the party leadership, which vehemently opposes him. --snip-- A majority of the 595 delegates at stake that day...

Donald Trump is poised to grow his delegate lead over the Republican field with a strong showing on Super Tuesday. The long-time GOP front-runner leads in the latest polls in eight of the 11 states that will vote on March 1, and heÂ’s the only candidate who is competitive across-the-board. Even worse for TrumpÂ’s rivals is that you must win at least 20 percent of the vote to get any delegates in the four states with the largest prizes. The latest polls show Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson are below the threshold in all four of those states,...

Donald Trump’s campaign rallies draw the biggest crowds of any of the presidential candidates. His TV appearances get the highest ratings. Just ask him. But almost 25 years before the show business spectacle/presidential campaign that some are calling “the Trumpening,” Whitfield County got a taste of the media maelstrom a Trump visit can unleash. In October 1991, Trump came to town, and his visit brought media from across the country, big crowds and lots of excitement. But as hard as it might be to believe today, Trump himself was not the main attraction. The star of that show was his...

Tennessee's rule factory is cranking at full tilt, and Nashville lawmakers want to tell Memphians how to pay for bike lanes, what monuments we can move, and whether or not we can own skunks (seriously). No gas tax for bike lanes A new bill would prohibit spending any gas tax revenues on bike lanes, pedestrian walkways, and "other non-vehicular facilities." Portions of the state gas tax are required to go to cities and counties. Those governments sometimes use the gas tax funds for matching dollars to get federal money for bike and pedestrian projects. The new bill says all of...