Free Republic

Senator John McCain has killed Obamacare "skinny repeal" but it should be made clear that much of the fearmongering by mainstream media about repeal and skinny repeal was dishonest by leaving out the complete story. New York Times "economist" Paul Krugman led the dishonesty by omission. with this retweet:

Wells Fargo will give refunds to more than 570,000 auto loan customers who were also charged for auto insurance without their knowledge. The bank said in August it will begin sending letters and refund checks to customers, most of whom already had insurance of their own, and some who had their cars repossessed, in part, because of the practice. Wells Fargo will make $80 million in payments -- $64 million in cash and $16 million in account adjustments -- the bank said Thursday.

White House officials who fingered Sen. John McCain as a major intelligence leak against President Donald Trump in February said Friday they believe the Justice Department could prosecute McCain despite his recent alleged medical diagnosis of a brain tumor. “Justice is supposed to be blind,” one administration insider said. “We know he was a major leak and he should be prosecuted if evidence is found which we clearly believe is there. We’ve seen much of it. No special consideration should be given to anyone who leaks classified information. There were far too many special exceptions like that during the Obama...

MSNBC political analyst Joan Walsh likened immigration agents to a criminal gang while Thomas Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), spoke at a White House briefing Thursday. As Homan delivered an impassioned defense of the Trump administration’s crackdown on transnational criminal organizations and illegal immigration, Walsh referred to the law enforcement veteran as the “head of a violent gang.” “Wow, the head of a violent gang is taking the podium at the White House,” she tweeted. “The head of ICE. Ask good questions please, WH press corps.”

Support for polygamy in the United States is at an all-time high, and Americans' love for TV may be one explanation for the trend. Gallup polling on American values and beliefs in May found acceptance of a person having multiple spouses at one time has grown in the U.S., with 17 percent of people saying the practice is "morally acceptable." That number marked the highest rate on record dating back to 2003, according to Gallup data.

On the surface, the video looked like a confession that would steer police away from their suspect, Alexa Emerson. But something did not seem quite rightWhen the videos arrived in Saskatoon newsrooms in April, it was another strange twist in one of the most bizarre criminal cases to hit the city in recent memory. A fresh-faced young woman in an orange shirt began the video by exclaiming, “Today was a crazy day!” She recounted helping another woman “who really doesn’t like Alexa” put together packages containing cookies, tissue paper and a white powder. “People will think the white powder is...

In the end, it was a simple hand gesture - Senator John McCain pointing his right index finger in a downward motion to register a no vote - that ruined his party's seven-year effort to repeal Obamacare. But in that signal in the early hours of Friday, the 80-year-old McCain also delivered a political gut-punch to U.S. President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican and a man he has clashed with repeatedly over the past two years. McCain denied Trump what could have been the first major legislative victory of his administration, and demonstrated to the businessman-turned-president that Washington works in...

That will just make it easier for Trump to win re-election. The other day, Bill Kristol, sounding like a spokesman for the ACLU, decried the theism of Donald Trump. “In America the president doesn’t tell us who or what or whether to worship,” he harrumphed on Twitter after Trump merely said that Americans worship God above government. To these Americans, the Dems lift up their middle finger and declare them “intolerant.” This gives Trump an enormous political advantage. With very little effort, he can pick off uneasy religious voters in the center while pulling down almost all of them on...

Hillary Clinton took to social media on Thursday to tell fans that it 'wasn't easy' to write her new memoir What Happened as she shared the link for fans to preorder it on Amazon for $22. 'I'll be honest: Writing “What Happened” wasn’t easy. Neither is witnessing what we see in the news every day. It’s never been more important to fight back and stand up for what we believe. I hope this book inspires you to keep going,' she said.

Cersei Lannister needs some anti-dragon air defenses. This past week on Game of Thrones, the self-appointed Queen of Westeros asks her cryptic right-hand man, Qyburn, to reveal his secret dragon-killer because Daenerys Targaryen and her trio of fire-breathers might be knocking on the door of King's Landing any day now. What he comes up with is this double-bowed monstrosity. He even tests it on an ancient dragon skull (which would be like firing an AR-15 through King Tut's sarcophagus, but whatever).

Harte’s wife, Addie, bolted downstairs with the children. Their son put his hands up when he saw the guns. The family of four were eventually placed on a couch as police continued to search the property. The officers would only say they were searching for narcotics. Addie had a thought: It’s because of the hydroponic garden, she told her husband, they are looking for pot. Not only were the Hartes upstanding citizens with clean records, they were also both former Central Intelligence Agency officers. And they were not marijuana growers. Rather, the quick-trigger suspicion of law enforcement had snagged on...

Tobacco stocks are plummeting on Friday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a new regulatory plan to protect consumers that includes cutting nicotine levels in cigarettes to non-addictive levels.

(Note, appears to be in Wisconsin) In the years leading up to 2014, police calls for service to retailers in Cottage Grove mainly came from two stores — Target and Kohl’s. Walmart threw open its doors in March of that year, immediately becoming the top source of calls for service in the east metro suburb, claiming a lead that has remained firm since it opened. “It’s become its own little city,” said Cottage Grove Public Safety Director Craig Woolery. The statistics in Cottage Grove follow a similar trendline in other St. Croix and Mississippi River valley communities, where the retail...

As if the Secret Service didn't have enough to worry about... Not only are they protecting the President - and not just any President, but this particular President - and now he goes and starts inviting random dudes up on to the stage with him? It must be absolutely exhausting. Trump was rallying for the 2020 election (no, that isn't a mistake, he's ALREADY started his campaign for the next election), when he invited super-fan Gene Huber to join him at the podium, who claimed he'd been there since 4am, despite the rally not taking place until 5pm. Afterwards, Huber...

Slavery in America, typically associated with blacks from Africa, was an enterprise that began with the shipping of more than 300,000 white Britons to the colonies. This little known history is fascinatingly recounted in White Cargo (New York University Press, 2007). Drawing on letters, diaries, ship manifests, court documents, and government archives, authors Don Jordan and Michael Walsh detail how thousands of whites endured the hardships of tobacco farming and lived and died in bondage in the New World. Following the cultivation in 1613 of an acceptable tobacco crop in Virginia, the need for labor accelerated. Slavery was viewed as...

My good friends at Free Republic. We must force Congress to live under the same laws as all of us normal Americans. The time is now. We are not surfs. We own this country, we make it run. The Trump Presidency has given us the window we need to fix our criminal Congress. No Congressman should get lifetime anything in excess of what any U.S Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine, Coast Guard earn defending this country. No special health care, No lifetime perks, no insider trading. We must show up at every event where our elected representatives and make it...

As predicted, the national news syndicate is quick-mentioning the Awan case and then burying it. As predicted, Fox News will carry it for days until 'throws' force them to downplay its intensity. The news media is busy framing the story as 'just one' Awan caught up in a rage of Islamophobia. ('throws' are news scripts designed to distract 'throw off the track' the viewing public from following a story like the Awan story by drawing their attention to something else) In the meantime, this morning while they are in Florida investigating mysterious political murders, Jason and George are making their...

ALBANY — Sen. Chuck Schumer, long among the most popular state public officials, has seen his approval numbers drop dramatically since he became Senate Democratic leader in January, a new poll found Just 53% of those surveyed by the Siena College poll hold a favorable view of Schumer, his lowest ever in a Siena poll. The 37% who now view him unfavorably is the highest ever in a Siena poll. Schumer’s highest ever favorability rating was 70% in 2005. He was at 67% in December but has seen that number drop consistently since. In May, his favorability rating was 57-33%.

By now I’m sure you’ve all heard about the incredulous story of former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ IT staffer, Imran Awan, a Pakistani national. It is finally being covered on FoxNews and other outlets that attempt to portray reality and let the viewers and readers decide for themselves. It is of course being ignored by the Amazon Washington Post, New York Times, and even The Wall Street Journal, with other liberal propaganda outlets such as FakeNews CNN giving it only a brief mention. This needs to be given more air and let us hope justice is served in the...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was moved to near tears while speaking about Sen. John McCain early Friday morning after the Republican "skinny repeal" of Obamacare failed on the Senate floor. Schumer choked up as he turned his attention to McCain, who recently received a diagnosis of brain cancer. "And let's turn the page in another way," Schumer said. "All of us were so inspired by the speech and the life of the senator from Arizona. And he asked us to go back to regular order, to bring back the Senate that some of us who've been here a while...