Free Republic

I want to see if Sam Elliot wins...I saw A Star Is Born today...

**SNIP** But even supposing the “ultra-rich” would hold still while the state extracted a fixed yearly portion of their net worth, any plan for universal pre-K deserves skepticism — the opposite of what most news stories convey. ABC News, for example, contends, “The benefits of early child care have long been documented, even showing taxpayers can make money back when investing in high-quality early education.” This is tendentious and wrong. The links ABC provided don’t even support its assertion. The first is to a National Education Association publication (hardly a neutral arbiter), citing one famous study of extremely high-quality day...

Billy Porter isn't playing around on the Oscars red carpet tonight. The Pose star arrived ready to snatch wigs in an actual tuxedo gown by Christian Siriano, which looked worthy of its own Academy Award. The velvety look featured silk lapels, white ruffled sleeves, a black bowtie, and a voluminous ball skirt. To say Porter slayed in the ensemble in an understatement.

The conscientious citizens of Philadelphia continue to put their pizza boxes, plastic bottles, yoghurt containers and other items into recycling bins. But in the past three months, half of these recyclables have been loaded on to trucks, taken to a hulking incineration facility and burned, according to the city’s government. It’s a situation being replicated across the US as cities struggle to adapt to a recent ban by China on the import of items intended for reuse.

I previously wrote how Brie Larson is a huge gamble for Disney and Kevin Feige - especially following the failure of Star Wars: The Last Jedi - and now the Captain Marvel movie looks to be in big, big trouble, unfortunately. Back in January, following the NCAA trailer, it was reported that Captain Marvel was projected to have a massive $160 million opening weekend with some estimates even offering $180 million. However, the bad news for Kevin Feige and Captain Marvel is that those projections have now dropped upwards of $80 million (note: article has been updated to reflect million...

"The agreement reached tonight would include: -$1.375b for border barriers (55 new miles of bollard fencing) -Dems drop call for new cap on ICE beds for detentions in interior -Overall cap on detention beds drops from 49,057 to 40,520 Per congressional official."

The good news: Congressional negotiators reached a deal late last night to finish the FY2019 budget — and it includes some funding for the border wall. The bad news: Sean Hannity may veto it. The Fox News host called it a “garbage compromise” as he covered Donald Trump’s rally in El Paso last night, and warned that Republicans who support the deal will have to answer to him: “On this new, so-called compromise, I’m getting details,” said Fox News host Sean Hannity, referring to the tentative agreement reached by a bipartisan conference committee that would allocate roughly $1.375 billion...

Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, on Monday blasted the “garbage compromise” after congressional negotiators said they reached an “agreement in principle” on border security funding that includes more than $1.3` billion for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. During his Monday night broadcast, Hannity broke into President Trump’s speech in El Paso, Texas, to criticize the reported deal to avoid a second government shutdown.

Washington (CNN)Former FBI Director James Comey called Thursday for the removal of Confederate statues in Virginia's capital in the wake of blackface scandals involving top statewide elected officials, in an op-ed for The Washington Post. "Expressing bipartisan horror at blackface photos is essential, but removing the statues would show all of America that Virginia really has changed," Comey writes. "There is no doubt that Virginia's leaders need to be held accountable for their personal history, but every Virginia leader is responsible for the racist symbols that still loom over our lives," Comey writes.

The Oscars ceremony will not have an official host this year, an Academy spokesperson confirmed to NBC News. Variety reported earlier that the Oscars will instead recruit stars for various roles in place of "one marquee name to kick things off in a monologue filled with Trump zingers." Comedian Kevin Hart in December stepped down from hosting the Oscars after past homophobic tweets resurfaced. ABC's new entertainment chief says this year's pre-Oscars disarray had an upside.

MARTIN COUNTY — What to do when you spy folks engaging in “intimate” activities in a hot tub? Grab your gun and start shooting. That’s what Robert Hakins, 64, is accused of Jan. 19 at an undisclosed address in Martin County, an arrest affidavit states. A woman told Martin County sheriff’s deputies after 11 p.m. that she, Hakins and a “friend” were in a hot tub on a back patio. She said Hakins went inside to go to sleep, while she and the “friend” stayed in the hot tub. The woman said she and the “friend” got “romantic” in the...

A biblical scholar has suggested that due to an unfortunate mistranslation in the Bible, God did not create Eve from Adam’s rib but rather from his penis. Needless to say, several historical purists are up in – arms. Professor Ziony Zevit from the American Jewish University in Maryland has proposed his theory in a new book, “What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden.” According to Zevit, the Hebrew word ‘tsela’ in the Old Testament does not translate as ‘rib.’ Rather, Zevit believes that ‘tsela’ means a limb sticking out sideways from an upright human body, and contextually translates this...

Just asking. She plays the damsel-in-distress rather well on Gutfield's show. Like Swift I enjoy looking at her. Like Swift she's not screwed up like her contemporaries. Plus she doesn't put herself in a position where she gets gets down and dirty with opponents. You can't help but like her. Out of our league right?

The American ice dancer is not just the first female skater to come out during her competitive career, but alongside skating partner Joe Johnson, part of the first ice dance team with two LGBTQ competitors. As they take the ice Friday at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Manta and Johnson will challenge the norms that have long governed the sport. But will their new openness impact their scores?

When Filet-O-Fish aficionado Donald Trump invited the Clemson Tigers to enjoy the White House’s first Presidential Value Meal, most of Clemson’s national championship football team members jumped at the opportunity to meet the original cheeseburger-swallowing clown. But The Root has learned that Clemson’s black players, some specifically citing racism and their disdain for Trump’s divisive politics, passed on the opportunity to hang out with the real-life Mayor McCheese. The Root spoke with three black Clemson players who each separately confirmed that many players, both black and white, had no interest in making the trip. All three acknowledged that Donald Trump...

WASHINGTON (WJLA) - A 33-year-old man required medical treatment at a Dublin, Ireland hospital after he repeatedly injected himself with his own semen in an unusual attempt to treat his lower-back pain. The man, after injecting the semen in his arm, developed a subcutaneous abscess on his right arm, where he had been injecting himself on a monthly basis for 1.5 years. A radiograph also revealed an excess watery under his skin.

[snip] ...he presided over some of the Trump administration’s most controversial immigration and security policies. In the phone interview Friday, Kelly defended his rocky tenure, arguing that it is best measured by what the president did not do when Kelly was at his side. It was only after Kelly’s departure was confirmed Dec. 8, for example, that Trump abruptly announced the pullout of all U.S. troops from Syria and half the 14,000 troops from Afghanistan, two moves that Kelly had opposed. Kelly’s supporters say he stepped in to block or divert the president on dozens of matters large and small....

Editor’s note: The opinions in this article are the author’s, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of MSN or Microsoft. An impeachment process against President Trump now seems inescapable. Unless the president resigns, the pressure by the public on the Democratic leaders to begin an impeachment process next year will only increase. Too many people think in terms of stasis: How things are is how they will remain. They don’t take into account that opinion moves with events.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Taking on a previously unregulated weapon, the federal government has instituted a five-day waiting period for all Nerf guns. “We decided it was time to act when we noticed how large the ammo is,” explained bureaucrat Joseph Clarkson. “The darts it fires are far larger than the average bullet, which must mean it’s a far deadlier weapon... as far as we understand things or care to understand things.”Nerf guns use air to fire foam darts at velocities so high that, if used improperly, they could “really, really irritate someone.” Kids will often purchase Nerf guns when the urge to...

INVESTIGATIONS Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting BY PETER STONE AND GREG GORDON DECEMBER 27, 2018 10:36 AM, UPDATED 15 MINUTES AGO Play Video Duration 4:52 WASHINGTON A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, leaving an electronic record to support claims that Cohen met secretly there with Russian officials, four people with knowledge of the matter say. During the same period of late August or...