Free Republic

My latest song, hosted by an old friend.

"After taking into account all the laboratory results, examinations and specialist recommendations, it is my determination that the president remains in very good health overall," the president's physician, Sean Conley, wrote in a memo on Thursday....the 72-year-old president weighed 243 pounds, up from 239 pounds in early 2018. The findings pushed Trump into the obese range under a widely used government body mass index that aims to measure body fat based on height and weight.

Gym heads and jocks may hiss with envy when they see this giant cat with its power paws, enormous shoulders and post-workout swagger. The furry feline was filmed prowling around the streets of Montreal, Canada and it has built up a dedicated cult following. Buff cat had such an impact on those who saw him that someone set up a Twitter account in his honour which has amassed 14.7k followers. Some people suggested on Twitter that the cat is morbidly obese and perhaps Buff Cat needs to spend a more time on the treadmill, and less time slurping up protein...

http://fatcatart.com/my/?lang=en

Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is closing the door on adding more Democratic presidential debates, and said a controversial clause penalizing candidates for participating in unsanctioned debates would stand.

It's a sad day in Tennessee as Buddha, the obese cat who became an internet sensation thanks to his workout sessions on a underwater treadmill, has died. The six-year-old cat, who weighed 31.4lb when he was rescued at the start of August, had made good progress with his diet and exercise plan. But when a congestive heart defect was diagnosed last month, the cat was forced to stop exercising and instead moved to a foster home with a strict eating plan. He died last night.

More than nine out of every ten employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are considered "non-essential" and have been furloughed in the federal government's shutdown. Reuters obtained an EPA guidance in which the agency said it would "classify 1,069 employees, out of 16,205, as essential,"...

The days of gluttony are over for one fat cat out east. Tiny, a 30-pound house cat, was stuffed into a duct-taped box with a normal-sized cat one-third his size and dumped at an animal clinic in Fredericton, N.B., shortly before the New Year. Nancy Garon, Tiny’s foster mother, brought him home to get him in shape. So she has him chasing a laser dot, which he never catches, wrestling with a toy fishing pole and hunting rodents. He will lumber onto the scales every Tuesday as part of a weight loss challenge to raise funds for the Society for...

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Newt Gingrich signaled Wednesday that he believes his criticism of Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital is a mistake — and that he’s created an impression that he was echoing Democratic rhetoric. Gingrich conceded the problem when pressed by a Rick Santorum supporter at a book-signing here Wednesday. “I’m here to implore one thing of you. I think you’ve missed the target on the way you’re addressing Romney’s weaknesses. I want to beg you to redirect and go after his obvious disingenuous about his conservatism and lay off the corporatist versus the free market. I think it’s...

Texas governor Rick Perry, who is embarking on a hard push to recapture the buzz that surrounded him when he first entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination, is doubling down on the "birther" issue and also deeming his rival Mitt Romney a "fat cat." In an interview with John Harwood of CNBC and the New York Times on Tuesday, Perry was asked why he was keeping the "birther" issue alive. During an interview with Parade Magazine published Sunday, Perry suggested he doesn't "have a definitive answer" to whether President Obama was born in the United States. Mr. Obama...

(CNSNews.com) – International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. was paid a base salary of $294,285 in 2010, according to the labor union’s financial disclosure forms. (snip) Hoffa’s union salary in 2010 – the most recent figures available – was $294,285. That figure rises to $368,000 if bonuses and disbursements are taken into account. Of the additional $73,715, only $7,149 was for official business, according to Labor Department records.

Fiscal Policy: A New Jersey state senator wants to establish a millionaires tax. Have Trenton policymakers learned nothing from their state's experience with fleeing wealth? State Sen. Shirley Turner wants to dig even deeper into millionaires' wallets by hiking the tax rate on every dollar earned in excess of $1 million annually. The Democrat proposes jumping the top personal rate to 10.75%. The current top rate is 8.97% on income exceeding $500,000 a year. The 10.75% top rate isn't new. It was in place before Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who has his hands full with spend-and-spend-again Democrats, took office...

From the New York Daily News website:”Prince Chunk, the astonishingly fat cat whose plight captivated the nation, has died. The portly pussycat passed away in his sleep Sunday just days after he was diagnosed with heart disease, his owner said. “We’re all upset,” said Vince Damiani, 20, of Blackwood, N.J. “We lost a family member.” Chunk became an international sensation two years ago when he was discovered wandering the streets of Voorhees, N.J., and was dropped off at the Camden County Animal Shelter. The tubby tabby had been abandoned after his owner lost her home to foreclosure – a tale...

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California is notorious for her high-decibel rants against corporate executives and career exploitation of identity politics. Class warfare and racial division are her two-decade-long stock and trade. She would normally be first in line (and in front of the cameras) to lambaste the very kind of Porsche-driving, luxury beach house-partying bank officials who begged her for a government handout. If they were white, that is. But the minority fat cats who lobbied her during the fall 2008 financial meltdown represented the black-owned OneUnited Bank. They were her longtime friends, donors and fundraisers. Her husband was...

Michael Moore calls for boycott of Connecticut By Jordan Fabian - 12/16/09 01:04 PM ET Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore on Thursday called for a boycott of the state of Connecticut in reaction to Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-Conn.) opposition to key provisions of healthcare reform legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recerntly removed the public option and Medicare-buy in proposal, which the centrist Lieberman opposes, from the bill in order to attract centrist votes. Reid needs 60 votes in order to break a Republican filibuster of the bill. Moore focused his anger on the Connecticut voters who reelected Lieberman in...

The two-stone ginger moggie who's too big to get even his head through a cat-flapBy GWYNETH REES - More by this author » Last updated at 00:47am on 11th April 2008He is the cat that got the cream - and the cake and the biscuits too.  Orazi the ginger tom weighs in at a whopping 35.2lb (16kg), the same as a two-year-old child. At 28lb heavier than the average moggie, he would struggle to get his front paws through a standard cat flap, let alone his broad fluffy rump. Scroll down for more ...   Heavyweight: Orazi's girth is...

Investments in limited partnerships, an offshore hedge fund and subprime-mortgage lenders have made this wealthy presidential candidate even richer. Former Sen. John Edwards has exploited the middle of his famous three H's -- his $400 haircuts, his hedge-fund consulting and his new 28,000-square-foot home -- to spread his fortune around a maze of trusts and accounts that total something between $29.5 million (his campaign's estimate) and $62 million (the high end of ranges described in his federal disclosure). Edwards' sprawling, 48-page campaign-finance disclosure for 2006 reveals substantial investments in limited partnerships, subprime-mortgage lenders and an offshore hedge fund. The latter...

Wealthy Democratic businessman Ned Lamont is pumping another $2 million of his personal fortune into his bid to unseat three-term Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lamont wrote the check Tuesday, his campaign confirmed. With less than a month left before the Nov. 7 election, Lamont has personally contributed $8,751,500 to his campaign.

'Monster' Cat In China Weighs 33 Pounds   POSTED: 6:16 pm EST February 20, 2006 UPDATED: 6:32 pm EST February 20, 2006   A 33-pound cat in Qingdao, China, is being described as a "feline monster" because of its 31-inch waist and large size, according to a report. The 9-year-old cat from the Shandong Province is so heavy it needs the help of its owner to get onto a bed. However, the cat is in surprisingly good health despite its weight, Local 6 News reported. The cat's owner said it has no interest in eating fish but prefers to...

Workers face prospect of wage, benefit concessions or court-ordered cuts. First came the U.S. steel industry. More recently, money-losing airlines have landed themselves in bankruptcy court to cut labor costs. Now, Saturday's filing by auto parts maker Delphi signals that the U.S. auto industry has arrived at the same crossroads with it’s work force: agree to out-of-court concessions, or face the prospect of court-ordered cuts in wages, benefits and pensions. Delphi, a $29 billion industrial giant, has been struggling to make a profit since General Motors spun off its parts subsidiary in 1999. Last year, Delphi lost $4.8 billion; it...