Free Republic

Schlafly unloads on Rubio: 'He betrayed us all' In 2009, Marco Rubio was a plucky challenger for the open Senate in Florida, taking on incumbent Republican Gov. Charlie Crist. Though Rubio was trailing in the polls, one leading conservative activist thought that he had real potential and vowed to help him. “When Marco Rubio ran for the Senate in Florida, I think I was the first one to endorse him,” said Phyllis Schlafly. “I made a trip down to Florida in 2009 just for the purpose of helping him.” But Schlafly, a legendary conservative activist, author, and WND columnist, now...

During Thursday night's Democratic debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) trotted out a variation on a line we've heard from him often on the campaign trail: "I'm the only candidate up here who doesn't have a super PAC." As a loud critic of money in politics, Sanders loves to rip super PACs while on the stump. And he's right to suggest that super PACs backing rival Hillary Clinton's candidacy are raising piles of dough right now. But Sanders' bid for the White House also has a super PAC supporting it. It's called National Nurses United for Patient Protection. National Nurses United...

"Cuck-mercials" portray men as wimps

Tattoo parlors in New England are inking Donald Trump and Bernard Sanders supporters for free if they're willing to brand their bodies with the names, faces or slogans of either presidential hopeful ahead of the upcoming New Hampshire primaries. After the owner of The Clay Dragon Tattoo Parlor in Seabrook, New Hampshire, announced last month that he was offering free tattoos of Mr. Trump for fans of the Republican Party front-runner, Aartistic Inc. in Winooski, Vermont, agreed to do the same with designs inspired by the Democratic hopeful. Tyre Duvernay, the owner of Aartistic, originally said he would give out...

This one is a little weird, even for me. (And yes, it was inspired by the weapon of the same name in Robert A. Heinlein's masterpiece Starship Troopers.) I write and record all my music under the stage name of Hopalong Ginsberg. I could tell you why, but then I'd have to bore you to death. For a free MP3 download of "I'm a Thirty Second Bomb!" click here.

Hillary Clinton got her groove on after a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Friday. After Clinton finished her speech, she and five other female politicians broke out into a jig to Clinton's signature tune, "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten. "This is my fight song, take back my life song, prove I'm all right song!" the song blared. "My power's turned on, starting right now I'll be strong!" Clinton wriggled her arms to the song, and her politician buddies joined in. She then embraced Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) on one side and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) on the...

Horst Seehofer, the premier of the state of Bavaria, a nominal partner in Angela Merkel's coalition, and a persistent thorn in her side, has called for a sea change in diplomatic dealings with Russia, following his trip to Moscow. "Extending anti-Russia sanctions was a mistake," said Seehofer, referring to the EU's decision to prolong travel restrictions and economic embargoes against Russian individuals and companies over Ukraine late last year. "We need to consider the reality -- they cannot be removed straight away. But we can deploy political means to repeal them... I think that they can be revoked in the...

Instead of Joseph Mengele, MD, being placed in charge of the medical implications of "The Jewish Question"; What if he'd had to "Do The Hustle" in a Chicago-style political shakedown? The Thousand Year Reign (Reich) ran from 1933 to 1945, roughly twelve years. Its tally of non-person victims runs roughly 20 million. The General Secretariat of Ioseb Besarionis Jughashvili (Stalin) ran from 1922 to 1952, roughly thirty years. Its tally of non-person victims runs roughly 60 million. The First Chairmanship of Mao Zedong ran from 1945 to 1976, roughly thirty-one years. Its tally of non-person victims runs roughly 70 million....

Long Island father fighting deportation to El Salvador after 30 years in U.S. Julio Cesar Acosta came to the U.S. and built a family — but recent changes in immigration policy might tear them apart. Acosta, a Baldwin, Long Island, father of three who fled to the U.S. from El Salvador's civil war 30 years ago, is now fighting to stay in this country — after immigration authorities put him on the short list for deportation. "They're taking away my other half," said 33-year-old Deysi Aldana, Acosta's partner, and mother of his children. "I don't know what I'm going to...

Macklemore explores racism and hip-hop in a new song called "White Privilege II" -- rapping about a white person's position in society with black people fighting injustice -- and even namechecks Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azalea and Elvis Presley for appropriating black culture, along with himself. The track, released Friday, is close to nine minutes long and starts with the Grammy-winning rapper at a march in support of the "Black Lives Matter" movement. "I wanna take a stance because we are not free, and I thought about it, we are not we," he raps on the song, released with his musical...

Last semester, Northern Illinois University offered a chance to win free tuition for a semester to one lucky student who attended all six home football games. A total of 86 students recorded their attendance at all of those games, but the student body as a whole failed to fulfill another condition. That's according to Morris White, an associate director for NIU athletics. He says the "Mission 6" incentive also required an average student attendance of 6,000 for the home games. He says that number fell short, so no student in that pool of those who made it to all of...

Chase replied noting the policy cuts both ways -- if the actual amount deposited was greater than the amount declared, the extra cash would go to Chase, but if the amount deposited was less than the amount declared, the customer would keep it. According to a notice posted on Chase's website, the bank may review deposits to make sure the amount on the deposit slip matches the funds received and may adjust customers' accounts to fix any errors they flag. But Chase's notice said it's not required to adjust errors of $10 or less and might not unless the customer...

Shares in some of the world's biggest banks are plunging. Financial stocks in the S&P 500 are down more than 11% so far this year. That's worse than oil, energy stocks, and even the emerging markets index. European banks have fallen even further. Deutsche Bank (DB) has lost 31% so far this year, Unicredit (UNCFF) is down 35%, and Credit Suisse (CSGKF) is 30% down. Barclays (BCLYF), BNP Paribas (BNPQF), Societe General (SCGLF), and UBS (UBS) have all lost about 20% since the beginning of 2016. Bank earnings have generally been disappointing. Credit Suisse shares hit a 24-year low after...

It is 350 days, 5 hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds until the destructive malevolent anti-American socialist petulant incompetent malignant narcissist illegal communist gay crack-smoking Kenyan crypto-muslim dictator President "Stompy-Foot" Obama leaves office. That is: 350 days 8405 hours 504317 minutes 30259042 seconds Please ask if you wish to be put on, or taken off, of the Countdown: Exit Obama (C.E.O.) Ping List Note: This timer is synched to January 20, 2017 at precisely 12 noon. It includes the Leap Year day.

When investors are nervous, they flee risky assets like stocks for the safety of cash. That's exactly what's been happening lately. Since July 1, cash and money market funds have easily been the world's most popular asset class, attracting $208 billion of inflows, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. By comparison, investors have poured a relatively paltry $7 billion into stocks and yanked $46 billion from bonds. It's the latest evidence of the jitters ripping through financial markets amid crashing oil prices, a slowdown in China and soft U.S. economic activity. "The individual investor is scared by the volatility....

DO NOT VOTE ON THIS THREAD. This is the nightly DISCUSSION thread for the ongoing 2016 Free Republic Caucus. Per caucus rules, no comments are allowed on the caucus thread itself - hence this open chat thread. If you'd like to vote in the caucus, please look in the sidebar for the link, or check downthread here. Thanks, and let 'er rip! Windy

The Iowa Democratic party chair who is refusing to release raw vote totals from Monday’s state caucuses is a long-time Hillary Clinton supporter who donated to the politician’s various campaigns and who reportedly drives a Buick with the license plate “HRC 2016.” Dr. Andrea “Andy” McGuire has shot down calls to review vote tallies from Monday’s contest despite Clinton’s razor-thin win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The former secretary of state squeaked by the democratic socialist, hauling in 49.9 percent of state delegate equivalents versus Sanders’ 49.6 percent. The Clinton campaign claimed complete victory in the caucuses on Tuesday despite...

Listening to these two old angry white hacks is very funny folks. No joke. They are really going at it....

Hours after six bodies were discovered in a Gage Park bungalow, Noemi Martinez waited by the phone nearly a thousand miles away in Texas, still not sure whether the victims were family members her husband had just visited over Christmas. "This is shocking and I don’t know what to think,” she said. “We’re trying to find out what’s going on.” Finally, about four hours after police found the bodies of five adults and one child around 10 years old, Martinez was resigned to the idea that they were her relatives. But she still had many questions about what happened inside...

I will donate $50 to FR for the first person who can prove Ted Cruz tweeted anything other than what was contained in the CNN announcement. I will accept as proof a link to any available video, screen grab, Twitter post, etc that shows TED CRUZ saying it. No opinions, inferences, logical conclusions, third party accounts.