Free Republic

President Donald Trump called from South Korea on Tuesday to share with Democrats what his accountant told him about the GOP tax measure, namely that he is "going to get killed in this bill." According to NBC News and other news outlets, the exact quote made by the president as he spoke to 12 Senate Democrats during a phone call was: "My accountant called me and said 'you're going to get killed in this bill.' The deal is so bad for rich people, I had to throw in the estate tax just to give them something."

The U.S. housing market is going through an adjustment of historic proportions. Before 2006, when the housing slump commenced, American home builders regularly built as many as 2 million new houses annually, rarely less than a million. This amount was needed to keep up with new household formation, immigration, homeowners moving up, and replacement due to obsolescence. Since then the number of new houses built has dropped drastically—the seasonally adjusted annual figure announced by the federal government in February 2011 was about 400,000! What's going on? The recession, obviously. High unemployment and unease about the economy have made potential first-time...

The McMansion is dying, and Mandy Multerer is helping to kill it. "People say times are changing," said Multerer, a marketing director for K. Hovnanian Homes, which is doing a brisk business selling smaller un-mansions. "It's just like people don't need that giant SUV, but instead buy a smaller car," she said. "It is the same with houses." With that, she as much as delivered a eulogy for the McMansion — the 1990s-style monument to suburban excess. The median size of a new Twin Cities home will drop 11 percent to 2,300 square feet in 2009, according to the Builders...

Bow, NH—No longer satisfied with having an upbeat tone, John Edwards is ready to draw blood on the campaign trail, flogging any opponent that gets in his way. During his campaign, he plans to punch harder, especially when addressing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh, and big oil. "Hillary continues to defend a system that does not work, that is broken, that is rigged, and is corrupt," Edwards said. “And if you think I’m going to let an emasculating woman become President of the United States, then you’re out of your mind." Critics say that he...

Chris Matthews bushwacks Ann Coulter by setting up a call from Elizabeth Edwards during his full hour with Coulter on Hardball last night.Video Here Mrs. Edwards gets owned by Ann Coulter when it is brought up the sleezy tactics that Edwards (A Democrat candidate for President of the United States of America) has used in his profession as an Attorney that exploits doctors and children for his own enrichment.

This is about a week old now, but if you haven't seen it, watch until the very end when Edwards answers the question "right or privilege?" Here's the full transcript of the "Right or Privilege" portion: Question: A college education? Edwards: Right. Q: Health care? E: Right. Q: A livable wage? E: Right. Q: Owning a handgun? E: Privilege. Q: American citizenship for someone not born here but has worked here for one year? E: Working for one year? That's a hard one, because I think people have to earn citizenship. I think I would have a period be longer...

We got our hands on an upcoming New York Times magazine cover story examining Edwards and his poverty platform. Some highlights of the piece: -- “What stands out the most about Edwards’s antipoverty ideas is their familiarity. It’s as if he has taken most of the proposals that have been talked about in policy groups and at university forums since the 1990s and thrown them all together into one comprehensive and expensive package. The individual proposals themselves, far from being radical or populist, basically sound — there’s no other way to put it — Clintonian”... “Exiling oneself from Washington and...

Presidential hopeful John Edwards said Monday that Americans should speak out against the war in Iraq this Memorial Day weekend, renewing an anti-war call that has been criticized by the leader of the American Legion. Edwards also said all young people should serve their country, "not just poor kids who get sent to war." The former U.S. senator from North Carolina and 2004 vice presidential nominee said the most patriotic position now is to end the war, and the best way to honor veterans this Memorial Day weekend is to bring the troops home from Iraq. "There's another thing we...

During the lead-up to the 2004 Iowa Caucus, John Edwards was fond of saying that three tickets would be punched out of the state and he wanted to be one of those tickets. Come caucus night, Howard Dean sagged, John Kerry held on, and Edwards surged, prompting him to thank Iowa for punching his ticket. For Edwards, there has never been any doubt he would run again in 2008. So he kept his foot on caucus soil and spent four years devoting time, money and effort to Iowa. Would have been a great strategy, had the primary landscape not changed....

John Edwards Takes Campaign To Michigan By Staff Apr 23, 2007 U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards told an audience in Detroit the United States must get out of Iraq as soon as possible. Edwards called the Iraq War a "bleeding sore" as he spoke to more than 2,000 Democrats at a dinner Saturday, The Detroit News reported. "America needs to be leaving Iraq, this is very, very simple," said Edwards, 53, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. "We have had multiple surges, none of them worked."

Al Gore, who aspires to be Mr. Reddy Kilowatt himself, and David Cameron, the grassy-green leader of Britain's Conservatives, are calling in reinforcements. But only each other. Al will take his Sunday-best "earth tones" to London this week to address the Tory shadow Cabinet, a collection of wannabes who would be the actual Cabinet if the Tories could figure out a way to dislodge Tony Blair's Labor government. Mr. Cameron, willing to try everything, wants Al to tell them how to paint Britain a deeper shade of green.

Starting soon.

Republican lawmaker's bill could gut Austin's home-size ordinance Seguin representative wants to limit cities' zoning restrictions By Laylan Copelin AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Wednesday, February 28, 2007 A state lawmaker wants to rehab Austin's so-called 'McMansion' ordinance outlawing larger homes in central neighborhoods. Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, said he filed the legislation at the behest of builders to get city officials negotiating on how the ordinance might be changed to better protect homeowners and landowners. "It's certainly not Austin-bashing in any way, shape or form," Kuempel said. "We just wanted to let everyone know we're still interested in private property rights." It's...

It was a dark and stormy night. No kidding, it really was, and we were having dinner with old friends here on Long Island in their quaint, cozy AND FRIGGIN' FREEZING HOUSE. Our hosts, I'll call them Mr. and Ms. Green, had bought this little gem, their Dream House, because living in it gave them a sense of history. For me, just being in it for less than an hour was robbing me of my senses and leaving in their place a predictable and creeping numbness. After dinner we were all invited to the family room for coffee and dessert....

Atlanta residents now make more money than folks who live in the rest of the metro area. But the influx of high-income homebuyers to the city is creating unexpected friction with longtime intown residents. Newcomers with deep pockets are tearing down aged bungalows and ranch houses and replacing them with bigger, more eye-catching homes. The outcry from established neighborhoods is the reason Atlanta is revising its zoning codes. The average income per person in Atlanta in 2004 was 28 percent higher than that of those who live outside the city — $34,304 compared to $26,905, according to an ongoing study...