Free Republic

dvertisers paid a premium for airtime during the first Republican presidential debate on Fox News, but it looks like they’ll be getting a major discount during round two on Wednesday night.Semafor reviewed the rates the network shared with one prospective ad buyer for both the first and second GOP primary debates. For the first debate, the cost of a single 30-second spot topped $495,000. But the same 30-second spot during Wednesday night’s contest would cost just over $200,000.Another ad buyer did not share the rates for ads running during the first debate, but confirmed that Fox was charging $225,000 for...

A mugger wearing in an “I love NY” t-shirt repeatedly slashed a man in the face and chest before stealing his wallet in Brooklyn, cops say. The NYPD is now asking the public’s help in identifying the suspect, who attacked his 40-year-old victim around 5:30 p.m. near Fulton Street and Bedford Avenue in Bed-Stuy on July 10. The slasher was last seen running from the scene in black tennis shoes, black shorts, a blue baseball cap — and a gray t-shirt with the iconic logo. The attacked man told cops the suspect demanded money from him before “forcefully removing the...

A scissor-wielding man slashed two people in apparently random attacks in the West Village Thursday morning — and then bolted to Midtown, where he was arrested, cops and law enforcement sources said. The 48-year-old assailant described as an emotionally disturbed person, targeted the victims on Hudson Street, at Christopher and Bleecker Streets around 9:30 a.m., police and sources said. He first approached a man and slashed him once in the neck with the scissors, authorities said.

Microsoft has cut some jobs after it faced slower revenue growth last quarter. According to Axios, the tech giant slashed around 1,000 jobs across a variety of sectors. A spokesperson for Microsoft told The Hill that “like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly.” “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead,” the spokesperson said. Microsoft had employed about 220,000 people at the end of June.

<p>A Colorado woman went to the hospital with a slash wound to her arm, and the story she told staffers was so preposterous they assumed she was covering up an act of domestic abuse.</p>

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson – President George W. Bush’s top speechwriter from 2001 to 2006 – was hired by the Post in 2007 because he would be “a different kind of conservative” and "an independent voice." Translation: he would slash other people on the right as dishonest, dishonorable, unpatriotic people. He has not attacked talk-show hosts on MSNBC or other leftists this way. In his Friday column, Gerson whacked Ron Paul, Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin with these harsh attacks. Mark Levin offered NewsBusters his reaction. Gerson began: A number of libertarians and conservative populists have found data collection...

State transportation officials have slashed the price tag for California's controversial high-speed rail project by $30 billion and expanded the first stretch of track to run from Merced in the Central Valley south to the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. The California High Speed Rail Authority's revised business plan, which will be released Monday in Fresno, calls for those dramatic changes as the agency prepares to ask the Legislature to use $2.7 billion in state high-speed rail bonds to start construction by early next year. The drastic revision, which puts the proposed cost of the system at $68.4 billion...

The Tea Party hit its stride in the summer of 2009 when concerned citizens showed up to town halls across the United States to protest the healthcare takeover law being considered in Congress. The people rightly felt that the bill’s labyrinthine and onerous regulations were corrupt and designed to increase the power of the government, line the pockets of shortsighted insurance companies, and squeeze as much blood from the country’s taxpayer turnip as possible. Just when America believed the US government health scandal couldn’t get worse, President Obama’s handlers go one step further—increasing service members’ and veterans’ medical premiums.

President Barack Obama unveiled a $37 billion budget blueprint that calls for $640 million in military construction projects at installations in Texas, including $315 million for Army and Air Force projects at Fort Sam Houston, Lackland AFB and Randolph AFB in San Antonio.The amount of Pentagon-proposed military projects in the state is far below the $1.1 billion sought last year, but represents the end of a building boom created by the 2005 base closure process and the transfer of Army troops from overseas installations to Fort Bliss and Fort Hood.

The California Citizens Compensation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to cut state legislators' monthly car allowances, fringe benefits and their per diem allowance by 18 percent. ... The 18 percent cuts in benefits, per diem and cars also apply to constitutional officers of the state. The action follows and earlier vote to cut lawmakers' and state elected officials pay by 18 percent effective Dec. 1, 2010.

Confronting the biggest crisis of his political career, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today proposed slashing payments to schools by billions of dollars, releasing tens of thousands of "low risk" inmates from prison early, and closing a number of state parks as part of a plan to fill a gaping $14 billion hole in the state budget. The proposal immediately triggered howls of protest from lawmakers across the political spectrum and among some of the most powerful interest groups in the Capitol. The governor said he hopes to start a debate among Californians about what services they want from state government and...

Call it "A Nightmare on Bulwer Road." A British man, Jason Moore, could spend the rest of his life in the clink for attacking his friend John-Paul Skamarski with a knife-equipped glove -- much like the one Freddy Krueger used to snag his prey in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" horror flicks.