Free Republic

The MAGA drive to take over Maricopa County kicks into overdrive this week as the hard right begins its drive to unseat Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. According to MAGA mythology, Richer is the Beelzebub of county government. He’s the devil who singlehandedly denied Kari Lake her due, with backup from his dark angels, the (GOP-run) Board of Supervisors. Never mind that they’ve provided no evidence or really, any explanation for why a Republican recorder would want to rig an election for a Democrat to become governor. (I quit counting last summer, when they were 0 for 27 in election...

The largest newspaper in Arizona announced Thursday that it has filed lawsuit to obtain financial records and communications from the Republican-led state Senate and Cyber Ninjas, the private firm that has overseen a highly irregular recount of the 2020 election in Maricopa County. "Arizona law entitles the public to know how this audit is being conducted and funded," David Bodney, an attorney for The Arizona Republic, said in a statement. In a June 30 complaint, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, the newspaper argues that it is entitled to the records under the state's public records law. The lawsuit comes...

Kelli Ward suggested Saturday that the statement issued Friday by U.S. Sen. John McCain's family about ending treatment for brain cancer was intended to hurt her U.S. Senate campaign. McCain died Saturday hours after her remarks. Ward, a conservative former state senator from Lake Havasu City, is in a three-way race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Tuesday's Arizona primary. Ward wrote on Facebook that "I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that they hope is negative to me." Her comment was made under a Facebook post by one of her campaign staffers, who questioned if it...

Washington (CNN) — The Arizona Republic, the state's largest newspaper, has never endorsed a Democrat for president -- until now. In an op-ed published to its website Tuesday, the editorial board backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump for president. "The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified," the editorial board wrote.

During my last bombshell blog post, I chronicled the Spanish conglomerate Abengoa that snagged billions of U.S. green energy stimulus funds, exposing how this foreign-owned entity screwed over American taxpayers, workers and vendors. This included a long wrap sheet of chilling, unethical and potentially criminal activity that only came to light due to the testimony, coupled with substantiated documentation, by a whistleblower, whom had worked for Abengoa for three years, from 2010 until 2013. In summary Abengoa: Violated at least the spirit of the 2009-stimulus law as well as the Department of Energy (DOE) loan stipulations Conspired and blatantly broke...

Earlier this week the Arizona Republic editorial board published an opinion piece titled, “Dennis Burke should've been celebrated, not sanctioned.” The board portrays the former U.S. Attorney and Operation Fast and Furious ring-leader as a whistleblower and victim rather than holding him accountable for his extensive and reckless actions during his time in office. Consider the following a direct response. Between 2009 and 2011 when Operation Fast and Furious was active, Dennis Burke and his Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley refused to prosecute nearly every straw purchaser case handed to them citing “no probable cause.” One of those straw purchasers...

The Arizona Republic has printed a barrage of articles, editorials, and guest op-eds by attorneys lately highly critical of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas. When attorneys like Dennis Riccio, below, try to submit an article with a positive viewpoint of Arpaio and Thomas, the Republic can't turn their bias aside enough to print even one positive article. My Turn: Enough of Prejudging Thomas and ArpaioIt is disturbing reading many of the editorials and op-eds in this newspaper about Sheriff Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas's attempts to prosecute Supervisors Stapley and Wilcox and investigate the...

Have you ever noticed how the Republic editorial board turns to its pet in-house so-called conservative writers (about two out of twelve or however many editorial board members there are — namely Robert Robb and Doug MacEachern) to slam conservatives so it will be considered more legitimate? These are nevertheless obvious contract hits. Witness MacEachern writing the infamous editorial slamming J.D. Hayworth in his race last year against Harry Mitchell, saying he was a “bully,” etc. Never mind Napolitano being a bully for renaming the Squaw Peak Parkway and bullying the Chamber of Commerce for an endorsement, or Goddard for...

Six imams removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix are calling on Muslims to boycott the airline. If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether. Witnesses said the imams stood to do their evening prayers in the terminal before boarding, chanting "Allah, Allah, Allah" -- coincidentally, the last words heard by hundreds of airline passengers on 9/11 before they died. Witnesses also said that the imams were talking about Saddam Hussein, and denouncing America and the war in Iraq. About the only scary preflight ritual the imams didn't...

The Bias Arizona RepublicYears ago the Arizona Republic was a conservative newspaper -- oh how it has changed.One of it's most slanted feature is the letters to the Editors page. Not a day goes by without letters bashing Bush, bashing capitalism, bashing corporations or bashing the US Of A. The paper's defense might be that those are the only letter they receive. Wrong. I and several of my conservatives friends complain that letters refuting liberal lies are never printed. Here are some examples of letters that make my point: one that suggests the recent face transplant would be appropriate for...

Some of the best questions yet on Air America's scandal, where $875,000 in taxpayer-funded community center grants instead went to the liberal radio network, appear in today's paper. To which New York publication might the Radio Equalizer be referring? Actually, none of them: it's all in today's Arizona Republic, 3000 miles away from the crime scene. In a blunt, knock-'em-dead op-ed column by Doug MacEachern, we see what was once a given in New York City journalism, tough talk:

On June 23, this letter to the editor appeared in The Arizona Republic: A wake-up call from Luke's jets"Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at approximately 9:11 a.m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyn's early-bird special? Any response would be appreciated. - Tom MacRae,...

Air America's New Outrageous Claims We've heard some pretty outrageous claims made about Air America's programming in recent months: that it was available to 60% of Americans via radio, that liberal (including non-Air America) talk shows have grown faster than Rush did in his first year. And we were lectured on the "fact" that radio ratings weren't available to the public, therefore we couldn't possibly know whether the network was performing well, or not.

Recapture the spirit Re-electing George W. Bush is the best answer to a nation's questions Oct. 17, 2004 12:00 AM The essential question of the 2004 presidential election is what will become of Iraq. And the essential answer is that it must be transformed into a peaceful and free nation. Domestic policy is important, certainly, and there is much to do. The health care system is in critical condition. Immigration must be resolved with a commitment to decency, humanity and finality. The listing ship of Social Security must be righted. And the appointment of new Supreme Court justices - the...

[AZCentral content can't be posted, so see this link] [Hopefully the rules could be changed to allow at least links to AZCentral to be posted]

Last night, as part of a school assignment, I took my son to an exhibit on aviation. There was only one display at the exhibit that spotlighted ethnicity, and true to form, it was about Italians -- Italian pilots to be exact. How embarrassing and insulting to feature my ethnic group and no others, as if it was surprising to the organizers of the exhibit that Italians have enough intelligence to fly an airplane. There was a front-page story the same day about Italians in the Arizona Republic, which is the largest-circulation daily in the Gannett empire next to USA...

Circulation of the Nation's 20 Biggest Newspapers The Associated Press Published: Nov 3, 2003 Average weekday circulation of the nation's 20 biggest newspapers for the six months ended Sept. 30, as reported Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The percentage changes are from the comparable year-ago period. 1. USA Today, 2,246,996, up 0.7 percent 2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,091,062, up 16.1 percent (a) 3. The New York Times, 1,118,565, up 0.5 percent 4. Los Angeles Times, 955,211, down 1.1 percent (b) 5. The Washington Post, 732,872, down 1.9 percent 6. New York Daily News, 729,124, up 2.1 percent...

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN Al-Qaida planned U.S. forest fires FBI memo described plot to set blazes in the West Posted: October 27, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is a weekly online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for the last 25 years. © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com As arson wildfires consumed nearly 200,000 acres in Southern California, destroying 850 homes and killing at least 13, the inevitable question arises: Who started the fires? While firefighters focus on containing the blazes rather than...

<p>You anti-war protesters are planning big marches this weekend in Washington and San Francisco.</p> <p>It means Sunni and Kurd and Shia turning on one another. It means civil war and anarchy. It means the breakdown of infrastructure, the collapse of water and electrical supplies. It means disease and privation for millions of people and particularly children.</p>

<p>It is a lonely place to die, out in the soft sandy washes. The desert floor, with its volcanic rock, can reach 160 degrees. Most people go down slowly.</p> <p>Blood starts to seep into the lungs. Exposed skin burns and the sweat glands shut down. Little hemorrhages, tiny leaks, start in the heart.</p>