Free Republic

“Today, I endorsed Hillary Clinton to be our next president,” Bernie Sanders announced to supporters on July 12, shortly after formally endorsing Clinton at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. “I know that some of you will be disappointed with that decision. But I believe that, at this moment, our country, our values and our common vision for a transformed America are best served by the defeat of Donald Trump and the election of Hillary Clinton.” This was, unfortunately, the best Sanders could do ahead of the Democratic National Convention to ensure Clinton and her superdelegates don’t vote down every...

Oh please, Br'er Fox, don't throw me into the briar-patch.” So goes the line from the old American and long ago Disney-ized folk tale Song of the South by Joel Chandler Harris. The rabbit pleads with the fox not to throw him into the briar patch. The fox does just what he is asked not to do - and thus tossed into the thicket where rabbits thrive, the rabbit escapes. Laughing all the way. The scene comes to mind with the news that Univision has abruptly told Donald Trump that they will no longer carry the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant....

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Deepwater Wind's initial project will raise state and local governments' electric bills by a combined $1.5 million in its first year, according to documents reviewed by the Target 12 Investigators. Municipal electric bills will increase by a total of $1 million while state government's bill will rise by $476,630, according to an estimate commissioned by National Grid from Energy Security Analysis Inc. The cost would rise by 3.5 percent every year for the next two decades. The estimate was included in a document National Grid asked the R.I. Public Utilities Commission to seal from the public...

Ever heard that old adage "Don't mess with the goat, you'll get the horn"? Neither had we, but maybe it's time for it to start going viral, after Rep. Anthony Weiner's bracing encounter with a pair of farmyard animals Thursday on Capitol Hill. The New York Democrat, known for his flair for theatrics, showed up Thursday morning on the Hill with a pair of mohair goats, Lancelot and Arthur. It was all about one of Weiner's, um, pet projects: his effort to repeal a nearly 60-year-old federal subsidy for mohair. According to Weiner's office, the subsidy hit the books back...

Sarah Palin's attack on the "Family Guy" TV show and its portrayal of a young woman with Down syndrome has backfired, to a degree. The actress who did the voice-over for the young woman has hit back at Palin. From CNN News: Andrea Fay Friedman, the actress who herself has Down syndrome, said the scene was merely meant to be sarcastic. "I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor," she said in an e-mail to the New York Times. "I thought the line 'I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska' was very funny....

THE al-Qaeda cell wiped out by Black Death may have infected ITSELF while developing biological weapons, it emerged last night. The terrorists planned to wreak havoc on Western targets but fell victims to their own weapon, a leading expert on chemical warfare believes. The Sun revealed yesterday that Black Death, also called the Plague, killed at least 40 fanatics at a terror training camp in Algeria earlier this month. It was thought they caught the disease through poor living conditions in their forest hideouts. But Dr Igor Khrupinov, of Georgia University, said: “Al-Qaeda is known to experiment with biological weapons....

Bombing backfires by uniting Iraq's MPs By Robert Watson and Aqeel Hussein in Baghdad, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 11:54pm BST 14/04/2007 The bombing of Iraq's parliament by suspected al-Qaeda militants appears to have backfired by uniting Sunni and Shia politicians against a common enemy. The Iraqi parliament holds a special session one day after the blast An alliance of Sunni insurgent groups that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, in which an MP died and more than 20 other people were injured. Shia parliamentarians had previously voiced disquiet at the security threat posed by their Sunni colleagues,...

Effort to impeach Bush backfires on Newfane (pop 1,680) By Philip Sherwell in Vermont (Filed: 09/04/2006) After approving funds for pavement repairs and discussing new property tax assessments, the burghers of the New England community of Newfane (population 1,680) turned their attention to weightier political matters. Among the usual community affairs on the agenda at the annual town meeting was a motion of impeachment. And the target was not locally elected officials, but George W Bush, the President of the United States. Impeacher: Dan DeWalt with his tally of war dead As befits the traditionally liberal state of Vermont, the...

SEOUL — A North Korean propaganda film about the repatriation of a spy — Lee In-Mo — who had languished for years in a South Korean prison may have a short shelf life, according to defectors now living in the South. "What we could not believe in the movie was that Lee and others were conducting hunger strikes in the prison," said one defector about the movie. "Refusing to eat was a form of resistance in the South? Boy, South Korea must be a paradise. That's what we said among ourselves" One of the first things South Korean President Kim...

Paris anti-Britain plot backfires By David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 28/06/2005) A French charm offensive aimed at driving a wedge between Britain and new EU member states ran into early trouble yesterday after bullying from top French ministers. First, the French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, demanded that the European Union's future enlargement be "suspended" to allay the fears of French voters. Nicolas Sarkozy Then Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, provoked a row between Paris and Warsaw by hectoring his Polish counterpart over his warm links with London. Emerging from a crisis summit of ministers in Paris, Mr Sarkozy declared...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's strategy of making deals with some of the recipients of state funding was intended to help pave the way for early action on a new state budget. But his deal with local government groups has backfired, leading to a lengthy budget deadlock that has become the governor's first real setback since he took office in November. An impressive string of victories, among them changes to workers' compensation and a $15 billion deficit-reduction bond, ended when the state entered the new fiscal year July 1 without a budget. Now Schwarzenegger, who wanted an on-time budget to...

Briton held in US jail as 'bomb' joke backfires By Nick Britten (Filed: 21/01/2004) A British student was being held in an American jail last night after joking to airport security on three occasions that she was carrying a bomb. Samantha Marson, 21, was charged with a second degree felony - which in theory carries a 15-year jail term - after laughing and telling staff at a checkpoint that her hand luggage contained explosives. Samantha Marson She was arrested while passing through Miami International Airport for a London-bound British Airways flight. When she reached the checkpoint, she placed her rucksack...

Mbeki's Haiti visit backfires January 03 2004 at 10:11AM By Peter Fabricius Bullets fired at a South African police helicopter and into a sports stadium in Haiti forced President Thabo Mbeki to call off his controversial participation in the key ceremony marking Haiti's independence celebrations. South African police said on Friday that the South African helicopter was fired at on Thursday while it was carrying South African security officials scouting the port city of Gonaives to ensure that it was safe before Mbeki visited it hours later. Mbeki was supposed to join Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a re-enactment ceremony...

Terminator's crass humour backfires as candidates clash By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 26 September 2003 He came. He spouted statistics. He let loose his one-liners. With less than two weeks to go before California's extraordinary gubernatorial recall election, a hitherto absent Arnold Schwarzenegger at last agreed to debate with his rivals in the race to succeed the unpopular Gray Davis. It didn't kill him, but it probably did him few favours. For 90 minutes, the action star was jumped on, savaged, patronised and, for long stretches, simply ignored. He may not have been demolished but the challenge proved a...

Thursday Aug. 1, 2002; 10:14 a.m. EDTIRS-gate Backfires on Gray Davis It looks like the attempt by Clinton appointees at the IRS to smear California GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon by leaking confidential information from his tax return has backfired, according to the latest statewide survey released Wednesday. A SurveyUSA poll of 861 likely voters shows Simon pulling ahead of incumbent Democrat Gov. Gray Davis with a slim 47-45 percent lead, the Washington Times reports. Simon's surge comes despite a Davis campaign warchest that dwarfs his own and a prominent Davis endorsement from the wildly popular (in California) Sen....