Free Republic

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday that his government’s ultimate goal was to restore state authority over Kurdish controlled areas in northeast Syria after an abrupt U.S. troop withdrawal but he expected it to happen gradually. In a state television interview Assad also said that a deal between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin to drive out the Kurdish-led YPG militia from a 30 km (19 mile) “safe zone” along the border was a “positive” step that would help Damascus achieve its goal. “It might not achieve everything ... it paves the road...

They have no chef and they cook for themselves, often together. They make their own yogurt. On this summer morning, Rosalynn mixes pancake batter and sprinkles in blueberries grown on their land. Carter cooks them on the griddle. Then he does the dishes.

Shortly after he claimed to be a “unifier” during his Super Tuesday press conference, Donald Trump was at it again, lambasting “so-called conservatives” who don’t share his liberal position on Planned Parenthood, continuing to insist he applauds the group because it allegedly “does a lot of good of good things” for women’s health. Similar logic applies to his position on ObamaCare. He loves the coercive freedom- and job-killing individual mandate, which is the heart of ObamaCare, because he doesn’t want to see bodies in the street, a classic liberal rhetorical scare tactic. Planned Parenthood may do the occasional mammogram referral,...

Why I Changed My Mind and Joined the #NeverTrump Movement DAVID FRENCH March 2, 2016 Let me begin by saying that I was wrong. Weeks ago I said on a number of radio interviews that while I opposed Trump in the primary, I’d back him if he won the GOP nomination. I hadn’t yet seen — or had been unwilling to believe — the full extent of his contempt for the truth, his fondness for far-left conspiracy theories, and his sheer malice. When I saw Trump in full, my decision was easy: Never Trump. I have spent my entire adult...

As Super Tuesday draws near and Americans from 12 different states choose their candidate, I want to make one final plea to my friends, fellow tea partiers, patriots, conservatives, and Christians, who will be voting on Super Tuesday. I know you're tired of losing. I am too. I know it feels good to have someone voicing our frustrations and be heard for a change. I know it feels like voting for Trump will send the establishment, the media, and everyone who has ignored us for the past eight years a powerful message. I know it feels good to finally feel...

During the debate among Republican presidential candidates last month, Jeb Bush hammered Donald Trump on his abuse of eminent domain. But Trump apparently sees nothing wrong in having government officials force people to sell their property. Trump replied, Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn’t have roads, you wouldn’t have hospitals, you wouldn’t have anything. You would have schools, you wouldn’t have bridges. And what a lot of people don’t know because they were all saying, oh, you’re going to take their property. When somebody — when eminent domain is used...

Donald Trump said today he may ask the federal judge overseeing an upcoming civil fraud trial involving the now defunct Trump University to recuse himself because he is Hispanic and is therefore biased against him due to his plan to build a wall to keep out immigrants from Mexico. Trump first raised the idea of filing a motion to recuse U.S. Judge Gonzalo Curiel during a campaign rally on Saturday in which, without mentioning him by name, the Republican candidate said the judge overseeing his case has shown “tremendous hostility” to him. “He’s Hispanic, which is fine,” Trump said. “Why...

Donald Trump moved closer to a jury trial over allegations he misled Trump University students with promises that seminars as good as the Wharton business school would be taught by his "handpicked" instructors. Trump, 69, and the school on Wednesday lost a bid to throw out the claims by senior citizens and other disappointed students ahead of trial. The billionaire and his business, which stopped enrolling students in 2010 and changed its name to Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, convinced U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego there was no need for a court order barring further misrepresentations about the seminars....

Donald Trump must disclose how much money he made from his so-called Trump University, San Diego U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel ruled this week. The judge ruled that one of several plaintiffs that had signed up for Trump U is allowed to question the current GOP presidential candidate about the profit he made, whether directly or indirectly, from Trump University. ((snip)) In his ruling, Curiel added that Trump failed to show "that a broad federal right to financial privacy exists that bars discovery regarding any financial transactions of a defendant accused of defrauding large numbers of people." "Thus, Trump's payments...

New York Attorney General Eric Schniederman is suing Donald Trump and his real estate "university" for defrauding more than 5,000 people of $40 million. "Mr. Trump used his celebrity status and personally appeared in commercials making false promises to convince people to spend tens of thousands of dollars they couldn't afford for lessons they never got," Schniederman says in a release. "No one, no matter how rich or popular they are, has a right to scam hard working New Yorkers. Anyone who does should expect to be held accountable."

Donald Trump has to put his mouth where his money is. The Republican presidential candidate will have to answer questions under oath about his net worth - and about how much money he raked in from his now-defunct Trump University, a California federal court judge ruled this week. Lawyers for The Donald had contended he didn't have to answer questions in a civil racketeering lawsuit about how much money he made from the "school" because he'd already acknowledged under oath that he had "significant involvement with both the operations and overall business strategy of Trump University." In a ruling Tuesday,...

Published on Feb 28, 2016 Gov. John Kasich looked ahead to Super Tuesday contests and predicted Trump will win "probably all of them" in an interview with Jake Tapper.

In hindsight, that would make sense...  How else to explain Christy's complete '180' from 'Trump lacks temperament to be POTUS' just last August to 'the man who can solve our problems' today. And I like the way Trump -at the Christie endorsement press conference- goes into how he 'doesn't usually care' about endorsements, they're mostly a 'waste of time', but 'this one is special'. Pretty rich coming from a guy some intelligent people suspect of buying such endorsements. Except for David Duke of course- he says he doesn't like that one. As for Chrispy Creme, if you'll rewind to last...

LAS VEGAS - It's going to be a long ride. Rather than anointing a presumptive nominee, the early voting states have narrowed the Republican primary to a three-man race heading into Tuesday's Nevada Caucuses and the 12-state delegate bonanza on March 1. Donald Trump leads nationally and in most state polls, but both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are armed with the rationales and the resources to stay in the race through at least March, if not right up to the Republican National Convention in July. Despite Trump's polling lead, there are significant obstacles to his running away with the...

One of the many topics of debate that came up during Thursday night’s debate between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont was Dr. Henry Kissinger, one of Clinton’s predecessors. Clinton has expressed admiration for Kissinger in the past, particularly of his opening to China. Ms. Clinton expressed the view that one should listen to a variety of opinions, including that of the 92 year old former Nixon era cabinet officer.

Excerpt: Groover said supporters who work hard for the party will be rewarded tickets. People selected will fill the 1,900 seats that have been made available for the event, according to Groover. Groover said the Republican National Committee gives a lot of tickets to supporters. He said more are then allocated for the state party to distribute among the county chairs.

The real estate mogul is responsible for 40 percent of the conversation during the CBS debate from Greenville, S.C., according to data obtained from Twitter. Jeb Bush accounted for 20 percent of the conversation, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 14 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at 13 percent, Ben Carson at 8 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) at 5 percent. ... Trump also gained the most Twitter followers of all presidential candidates, followed by Rubio, Kasich, Democratic contender Hillary Clinton who wasn't on stage, and Ted Cruz. ... The top three moments on Twitter all centered...

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) sparred in an early presidential debate exchange during which Trump confronted the audience multiple times. (SNIP) Trump took another shot at the audience shortly after. The crowd loudly booed Trump when he mocked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), for having "0%" in the polls before dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Bush.

Bernie Sanders said in tonight's Democratic debate that as a senator, he's well aware there is "an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government." Asked if there are any areas of government he would like to reduce, Sanders said, "I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government." Here's the exchange: WOODRUFF: Welcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corefield, he's a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio....

A 95-year-old man who worked as a paramedic at Auschwitz will stand trial next month as an accessory to the murder of 3,681 death camp inmates, a German court announced Monday. Hubert Zafke, accused by prosecutors of serving as an SS sergeant in Hitler’s killing machine, is set to face justice Feb. 29 in Neubrandenburg state court. Zafke was stationed at Auschwitz in 1943 and 1944 and would have been on duty at the notorious death camp when diarist Anne Frank and her family were sent there on Sept. 5, 1944, authorities have said.