Free Republic

PARIS — The call to Vincent Grandil’s Paris law firm began like many others that have rolled in recently. On the line was the well-paid chief executive of one of France’s most profitable companies, and he was feeling nervous. President François Hollande is vowing to impose a 75 percent tax on the portion of anyone’s income above a million euros ($1.24 million) a year. “Should I be preparing to leave the country?” the executive asked Mr. Grandil. The lawyer’s counsel: Wait and see. For now, at least. “We’re getting a lot of calls from high earners who are asking whether...

Media Bias: What if they gave a news event and no one came? That's the story of the Chick-fil-A "Kiss-In" called by gay rights activists and copiously covered by the press. The real story is how the media played it up. In a dishonest bid to discredit the authentic display of national unity Aug. 1 over free-speech rights at Chick-fil-A, a fast-food chain whose CEO supports traditional marriage, the mainstream media marshaled their troops to cover what was billed as a "kiss-in" counterdemonstration by gay rights activists at the same outlets last Friday. One problem: The media outnumbered the kissers....

FR seems to have taken on many of the cult like attributes the cabal of anti-Mormon critics here ceaselessly and falsely subscribe to Mormons. I’ll follow the tactics of these folks in describing why FR is a cult. To start I’ll come up with my own definition of ‘cult’ and then follow up with a series of points selectively chosen to suit my own agenda. I’ll follow this model so as at to not confuse the usual suspects since the pattern of circular logic will be so familiar to them. A ‘cult’ is defined as an organization that: - Bears...

During the height of the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy in March, software company Carbonite announced it would no longer sponsor the conservative radio host. As CEO David Friend said at the time: No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our...

It appears Blaze readers weren’t the only ones disgusted by the actions of Adam M. Smith, the grown man who recorded a video of himself berating a female employee at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru in Tucson, Ariz. It looks like his former employers at Vante were just as displeased: Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A. Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company. The actions of Mr. Smith do not reflect our corporate values in any manner. Vante is an equal opportunity...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Mitt Romney attracting 47% of the vote, while President Obama earns support from 43%. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided... Currently, 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way Obama is performing as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -23 (see trends). This is the president’s lowest Approval Index rating of 2012.

Adam Smith, former CFO and treasurer of medical supplies manufacturer Vante, riled people up today when he put up a video of himself bullying a Chick-fil-A drive-thru employee in Tucson on YouTube. Smith unsympathetically berates the worker in the video, which was initially titled ”Reduce $’s to Chick-Fil-A’s Hate Groups.” It has since been taken down (though other have uploaded it too). ”I’m a nice guy, by the way … totally heterosexual," he says to the worker. "Not a gay in me, I just can’t stand the hate.” Smith has now been fired from his job at Vante. Here's the...

Third time in a week I cant access Yahoo Mail. Anyone else having this issue?

Chick-fil-A announced Thursday morning that supporters who flocked to the restaurant for "Appreciation Day" propelled the company to a "record-setting day." The statement confirmed anecdotal claims that the long lines seen at Chick-fil-A's across the country Wednesday fueled unprecedented sales. The turnout came after CEO Dan Cathy came under fire in some circles for his opposition to same-sex marriage. "We are very grateful and humbled by the incredible turnout of loyal Chick-fil-A customers on August 1 at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country. We congratulate local Chick-fil-A Owner/Operators and their team members for striving to serve each and every customer with...

Business General Motors GM profits slip 41% as European struggles take their toll America's largest car firm made $1.5bn in the second quarter of 2012, with European division reporting operating loss of $361m Share 531 Email Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 August 2012 09.25 EDT General Motors GM's CEO Dan Akerson said: 'We have more work to do to offset the headwinds we face.' Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/EPA General Motors' profits fell 41% in the second quarter as troubles in Europe undercut strong sales in North America. America's largest automaker made $1.5bn in the second quarter of 2012, compared with $2.5bn...

“Denial” is not a river in Egypt… "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man." - Former President Calvin Coolidge, 1932 I had an interesting conversation yesterday with someone who has just recently started to get their head around this idea of coming “The Event”. She had an interesting viewpoint on why so many people are offering up resistance to this idea of what's coming. “People continue to...

A couple of days ago there was a #ConceptsProgressivesCantGrasp hashtag game on Twitter. I tweeted... #ConceptsProgressivesCantGrasp you can't get economic growth by taxing the private sector & then give that $ to the public sector A dumb liberal tweeted back... "uhhh actually...yeah that is exactly how it works ....look at history" To keep this brief. I fired back with a quote from FDR's treasury secretary that the New Deal failed (after she said it didn't). Suddenly, she changed the subject to a different burden of proof (her opinion...that's it), and history didn't matter anymore...RAH KEYNES!The exchange got me wondering how/if I...

NBC has united the world…in scorn, contempt, and mockery of its gaffe-plagued, stone-age Olympics coverage. Cutting the tribute to the 7/7 London Islamic terror victims from the network’s opening ceremonies coverage was just the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday, the #NBCFail hashtag erupted worldwide and showed no signs of let-up. Ridiculous tape delays, news/programming spoilers, arrogant tweets from former NPR executive-turned-NBC chief digital officer Vivian Schiller, geographic errors, and streaming woes have earned the peacock network global social media mockery.

For everyone who marvels at the amount of time President Obama spends playing golf, here are a few numbers from the Government Accountability Institute, which has analyzed how much time Mr. Obama actually spent in economic meetings of any kind during his first 1,257 days in office, based on the official White House calendar and the daily presidential calendar compiled by Politico. Among other things, the analysis found that Mr. Obama spent less than 4 percent of his total time in economic meetings or briefings and that there were 773 days (72 percent), excluding Sundays, in which the president had...

TSA Let 25 Illegal Aliens Attend Flight School Owned by Illegal Alien By Edwin Mora July 18, 2012 (CNSNews.com) -- The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approved flight training for 25 illegal aliens at a Boston-area flight school that was owned by yet another illegal alien, according to the Government Accountability Office. The illegal-alien flight-school attendees included eight who had entered the country illegally and 17 who had overstayed their allowed period of admission into the United States, according to an audit by the GAO. Six of the illegal aliens were actually able to get pilot’s licenses. Discovery of the trouble...

Nancy Pelosi: Democrats should skip the convention By: Tim Mak July 18, 2012 07:59 AM EDT House minority leader Nancy Pelosi says that Democratic members should stay home and campaign in their districts rather than go to the party’s national convention in North Carolina. “I’m not encouraging anyone to go to the convention, having nothing to do with anything except I think they should stay home, campaign in their districts, use their financial and political resources to help them win their election,” Pelosi said in an exclusive interview for POLITICO Live’s On Congress, a new weekly show to be streamed...

I have to wonder if all the Romney haters on this site were the same people who ran home to mom when they lost at games as kids. I did not vote for Romney in the primaries. If you asked anyone that knows me, they would say I am right of Reagan. What I don't understand is all of you that love this country,which I truly believe you do, that are willing to not vote for Romney and potentially allow this country to fail by re-electing Obama!, how does that make sense?

A taxpayer-funded study released this week declares that Muslim terrorists are generally misunderstood, don’t want to force their religion on the world and only kill people to protect themselves from victimization by enemies of Islam. A 14-page document, titled, “How Islamist Extremists Quote the Quran,” explains the study’s analysis of 2,000 instances of propaganda from al-Qaida and other Islamic extremist groups from 1998 to 2011: We conclude that verses extremists cite from the Qur’an do not suggest an offensive foe seeking domination and conquest of unbelievers, as is commonly assumed. Instead they deal with themes of victimization, dishonor, and retribution....

In either a moment of anger or of trying to goad their supporters into ponying up more dough, the Obama Campaign released a new message: "This is no joke." The sentence came in the latest email to Obama supporters in which Ann Marie Habershaw, Chief Operating Officer for Obama for America, trembled at the prospect of the Romney campaign fundraising more money than President Obama. "We still got beat. Handily," Ms. Habershaw explained to Obama followers. "Romney and the RNC pulled in a whopping $106 million... You know what that means. We've got some work to do," she continued. She...

Two-thirds of likely voters say President Obama has kept his 2008 campaign promise to change America — but it’s changed for the worse, according to a sizable majority. A new poll for The Hill found 56 percent of likely voters believe Obama’s first term has transformed the nation in a negative way, compared to 35 percent who believe the country has changed for the better under his leadership.