Free Republic

... I've mapped all the counties above according to where they rank on the natural amenities index -- mouse over to check out how desirable (or not) your own county is. You'll see that Sun Belt counties fare pretty well -- especially ones in California and Colorado. In fact, every single one of the 10 highest-ranked counties is located in California. After Ventura County, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, Mendocino and Del Norte counties round out the top five ...

WHILE residents of Melbourne enjoy another year in the world’s most liveable city, according to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking from our corporate cousin the Economist Intelligence Unit, spare a thought for those who live in the 57 cities that have steadily deteriorated over the last five years. The ranking, which considers 30 factors related to things like safety, healthcare, educational resources, infrastructure and environment in 140 cities, shows that since 2010 average liveability across the world has fallen by 1%, led by a 2.2% fall in the score for stability and safety. Ongoing conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Libya...

Getting back to posting this weekly. There's an election a comin'!

While Amelia and Oliver were the favourite names nationally, Muhammad topped boys’ names in London. And when spelling alternatives including Mohammed, Muhamad and Muhammet were combined, the traditionally Muslim name even overhauled Oliver as the national favourite boys’ name...The data, released by the Office of National Statistics, revealed that 6,649 boys born in 2014 were called Oliver, with 5,800 were named Jack. There were also 3,588 Muhammads, 2,536 Mohammeds and 1,116 Mohammads – a total of 7,240 babies.

1 Ohio State (62) 14-1 1598 — 2 TCU (1) 12-1 1487 — 3 Alabama (1) 12-2 1452 — 4 Baylor 11-2 1365 — 5 Oregon 13-2 1260 — 6 Michigan State 11-2 1230 — 7 Auburn 8-5 1103 — 8 Florida State 13-1 1057 — 9 Georgia 10-3 1026 — 10 USC 9-4 1014 — 11 Notre Dame 8-5 883 — 12 Clemson 10-3 838 — 13 LSU 8-5 727 — 14 UCLA 10-3 697 — 15 Ole Miss 9-4 668 — 16 Arizona State 10-3 577 — 17 Georgia Tech 11-3 573 — 18 Wisconsin 11-3 470 —...

The Princeton Review recently named Emerson College in Boston was recently named the most lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-friendly college in the U.S, while Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, was named the most unfriendly campus for that demographic of students. Getty Images The Princeton Review released this week its annual rankings of the 380 best colleges and universities in the U.S. But the test prep company did more than just crown party schools, it also broke higher education institutions down into 62 lists measuring everything from dorms to food. It also looked at demographics and compared schools...

Bret Baier just announced the ten presidential candidates who qualified for the Fox News-Facebook Republican debate Thursday night in Cleveland. Here is the full lineup: 1. Donald Trump 2. Jeb Bush 3. Scott Walker 4. Mike Huckabee 5. Ben Carson 6. Ted Cruz 7. Marco Rubio 8. Rand Paul 9. Chris Christie 10. John Kasich

Okay, I just saw the list of the GOP presidential candidates. The top 10 at the main debate and the 7 who have to be at the "kiddie table." One unnoticed as yet aspect of this format is that one or more of the Top 10 candidates could be demoted in future polls to the "kiddie table." A very public humiliation. Okay, so who do you think will be the FIRST Top 10 candidate to exit the main debate in the future and be assigned to the "kiddie table?"

The obvious problem when trying to rank the 10 people most likely to wind up as the Republican presidential nominee next year can be summed up in two words: Donald Trump. On one hand, Trump is ahead in most national polls on the nominating contest — an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll out Sunday puts him at 19 percent, four points clear of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — and he even leads (or comes close to leading) in surveys conducted in early-voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.On the other hand, he is Donald Trump. I put the question of...

Amazon shares spiked in early trading Friday after the online retailer blew past quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, boosted by growth in the North American market and cloud computing segment. Shares rose 20 percent, giving the retailer a larger market capitalization than bricks-and-mortar behemoth Wal-Mart. The surge also generated a huge windfall for CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns 83,921,121 shares of the company. At Friday's early prices, his fortune rose some $8.05 billion—a gain that by itself would be enough to put him in the world's 200 richest people.

Given that there’s a second video released about Planned Parenthood’s organ harvesting it’s time to look into…adjusting…their slogan to get better truth in advertising. It may seem grotesque, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to highlight.

The results of the first major test of the 2016 presidential race were announced this past week: the initial six months of fundraising numbers for the slew of candidates running to be their party’s nominee next year and for aligned super PACs. As with any test, some people passed with flying colors. Others, well, didn’t. Here are the winners and the losers of the cash dash for those contests and other races. WINNERS ● Jeb Bush Sure, we all knew the former Florida governor was going to raise scads of money, largely through his Right to Rise super PAC. But...

In one of this year's most intense international competitions, the United States has come out as best in the world — and this time, we're not talking about soccer. This week, the top-ranked math students from high schools around the country went head-to-head with competitors from more than 100 countries at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Chiang Mai, Thailand. And, for the first time in more than two decades, they won. Po-Shen Loh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and head coach for Team USA, says the competition is held over the course of two days. Students work on three...

Full title--- America's favorite fast food chain is Chick-fil-a while McDonald's is at the bottom of the heap in new survey The annual American Consumer Satisfaction index polled 70,000 people for their opinions on various consumer offerings, including fast food. In its first year on the index, the Southern-born, Christian-run sandwich chain debuted at the top.

Chick-fil-A is America's favorite restaurant. American Customer Satisfaction Index’s 2015 Restaurant Survey named Chick-fil-A the most-loved restaurant in America. The company scored an 86 out of a possible 100 points in customer satisfaction, beating Chipotle and Panera Bread. Chick-fil-A's secret? Having the perfect blend of great food and excellent customer service. Fast casual companies like Chick-fil-A are successful because they, "typically offer better ingredients, freshness, and more developed décor," according to the report. Chick-fil-A not only beat all other chains in customer satisfaction, but it also took ACSI's top rating in dining experience as well. The criteria evaluated for this...

New study shows where we drink the most, and who’s doing it. A new study has been released that tells us a lot about our nation’s drinking habits. Which states drink a lot? Which house the most teetotalers? Where do you fall? See below:

50. Florida When putting together a list such as this, there can be some temptation to defy popular expectations, and go against the grain. However, Florida’s awfulness resume is so staggeringly impressive that it couldn’t go any other way. You were born for this. Embrace it. 49. Delaware Dogfish Head, one of the most enduring jokes from Wayne’s World, and… that about covers it. Even people from Delaware don’t really fight back all that hard when you make fun of Delaware. 48. Ohio Getting LeBron back only further cemented its position as the Florida of the North.

The 50 Sexiest in TV News 2015 We spend a lot of time here at Mediaite watching national news on TV. So, as we approach summer 2015, we thought now would be the perfect time to share our list of the 50 Sexiest in national TV News. While this is certainly a list of physically beautiful people, remember, being sexy isn’t only about looks. It’s also about how they cover the news and in many cases, having something to say and not being afraid to say it. Whether you agree with them or not, love them hate them (or maybe...

Here are 200 of the highest-paid chief executives in American business. The list comes from the Equilar 200 Highest-Paid CEO Rankings, which lists the compensation of the chief executives of 200 public companies with a market capitalization of at least $1 billion, that filed proxies by April 30.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Emma and Noah were the most popular baby names in 2014. Among girls, Emma was followed by Olivia, Sophia, Isabella and Ava, according to the list released Friday by the Social Security Administration. For boys, Noah was followed by Liam, Mason, Jacob and William.