Free Republic

In the last couple of weeks my cigar company has had a hell of a time trying to find a credit card processing company that’ll do recurring revenue charges for my customers who’d like to get an automated, monthly dose of one of the finest cigars on this planet, our Safari Cigar. As my team and I were going back and forth trying to find a company to handle our transactions, I started redlining, getting a wee bit pissed, about how ridiculous it has become to do trade. My business boys tried to calm me down by telling me it...

You know, being a fan of the Minnesota Vikings is difficult enough just based on what happens on the field. We’re 0-4 in Super Bowls. We’ve got to deal with the stomach-curdling memories of the 1999 NFC Championship Game, not to mention 41-doughnut in the same game two years later, and the bounty-hunting Saints putting out a contract on Brett Favre in 2010. But on a cultural level . . . hey, what the heck did we do? We were just sitting here minding our own business. First we got stuck with a petulant, attention-mongering punter who couldn’t and can’t...

If people are willing to pay up for niche channels, Palin might be online video’s next guinea pig.In the introduction to her new online video channel, Sarah Palin announces how she’s going to turn traditional media on its head. She’ll, naturally, “cut through the sound bytes” and “through the media’s politically correct filter.” But she may also do something else for media in the process, which is test the hypothesis that there may be a business in getting people to pay $100 a year to watch a niche streaming tv channel. After seeing a solo act like Glenn Beck succeed...

It has been two years since General Motors admitted that there was little demand for the Chevy Volt (as reported here)due to there being "no plug-in market." Their answer was to "create market" to drive sales for the politically popular but economically-nonviable Volt. GM manipulated sales for the Volt through the use of subsidized leases at a time when President Obama's favorite, green wonder-car was being criticized for low sales as it failed to live up to the early hype. GM was able to use taxpayer money in the form of electric vehicle tax credits to help drive down...

These left-wing billionaires direct and control the environmentalist movement – and your lives

Back in 2008, economist Alan Blinder called the idea of a “cash for clunkers” federal rebate plan “the best stimulus idea you’ve never heard of.” But more and more analysis of the program suggests “cash for clunkers” will be a stimulus idea we’ll never hear of again. “Cash for Corollas: When Stimulus Reduces Spending by Mark Hoekstra, Steven Puller, and Jeremy West finds the programs merely pulled forward car sales from the subsequent seven to nine months and thus “had no impact on the number of vehicles sold.” This counters the Obama White House claim that “a substantial proportion of...

America, the former “land of the free, home of the brave” is crony capitalism ruled by an anti-American socialist/Marxist regime “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.” - Anonymous My reality today in America, the former “land of the free, home of the brave” is crony capitalism ruled by an anti-American socialist/Marxist regime. I feel like the musicians on the Titanic.

Last Friday, for the first time in nearly a decade, Minnesota's minimum wage went up. The first in a series of incremental hikes brought the wage floor from $6.15 to $8 per hour for relatively large companies, and from $5.25 to $6.50 for small ones. As you'd expect, some businesses aren't thrilled about that -- especially bars and restaurants, as the new law doesn't include a tip exception. But the Oasis Cafe in Stillwater is generating a stir for transparently including a "Min Wage Fee" on all customer checks:

On June 13, the first bus of illegal immigrant minors, aged 12-17, arrived at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The state of Oklahoma was given no formal notice, and no chance to object. After weeks of bad publicity, public outrage and political pressure, the Obama administration announced this week that the facility will close by Friday, Aug. 8. That’s good news for the people of Oklahoma and the men and women of Fort Sill, who will once again have the full use of their military base for the purpose it was designed for: housing and training soldiers. What the facility’s closure does...

Barack Obama has raised the deficit by more than 7 trillion in six years. Let me repeat: Barack Obama has accrued a 7 trillion dollar deficit in only six years of office! And the man still has two years remaining! It’s nearly beyond comprehension and more than the first 42 Presidents combined; nearly twice as much George W. Bush who presided over the economic fallout from 9/11, a war on two fronts, the credit collapse and subsequently was besieged by Democrats as “unpatriotic” and “incompetent” for wasting taxpayer money. So why isn’t anyone being held accountable for such reckless incompetence?...

"..........Many of the reporters, pundits, and commentariat class have married or slept their way into the status quo and have no real problem with preserving it. They see that most Americans hate them and they only fret because of their superficial desire to be liked. Very view pieces of commentary out of Washington these days mention voters or constituents except to note they are pissed off. Instead, we get articles about what the Chamber of Commerce wants, what unions want, what conservative groups want, etc. What about what the voters want? Often, the press doesn’t know or understand. They misread...

In five and half years in office President Obama has presided over an increase in the national debt of $7 trillion. His predecessor presided over a $4.9 trillion increase in eight years. Obama called the increase in the debt under Bush “unamerican.” What do you want to bet Obama doesn’t think the same of his debt increase? No doubt he’ll blame others. Our nation has a national debt of $17.6 trillion, it’s increased $12 trillion since 2001. This sort of debt is unsustainable and yet no one is talking about it. It’s no surprise that Obama doesn’t want to talk...

A pizza vending machine takes convenience food to a whole new level, delivering fresh pies to customers in just three minutes 24/7. The Let's Pizza unit invented by Claudio Torghele, an entrepreneur from Rovereto, Italy, mixes flour and water together and presses the dough flat to create a 10.5 inch base. Desired toppings are then added and the meal is flash-cooked in a high temperature infrared oven at 380 degrees Celsius. While the baking process is underway, a takeaway box is prepared. The finished pie is then placed in the cardboard container and delivered through a slot. As they wait...

It’s a mystery why one person can be poor but still be proud, independent, and reasonably content while the guy next door is only content to slide into a swamp of misery, blame, slovenliness, dependence, and cigarette smoke. I agree that Alchemist summed things up pretty well by observing, “Poor is a state of finance. Poverty is a state of mind.” But why? Entire tomes have been written about poverty, of course. How soul-crushing it is. How it leads to crime. How it’s everybody’s fault except the individuals who are in that state. How it’s increasingly becoming institutionalized among entire...

Sarah Palin’s new eponymous channel already has some competition from an online video platform that’s taking a swipe at the Republican firecracker, and devoting its entire lineup to all things Palin. The one-time GOP vice presidential candidate announced last month the creation of her subscriber-based news site, SarahPalinChannel.com. Now, Pluto.TV is launching its own “#SarahFailin” channel, which it says features a “tongue-in-cheek mashup” of Palin’s “most (in)famous broadcast T.V. interviews and parodies of the ‘Going Rogue’ author.” The online video channel, which curates content from across the internet as well as traditional television shows, launched this week.

During the week of July 28, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held hearings in four cities: Atlanta, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Washington. DC. The two-day sessions were to allow the public to have their voice heard about the proposed rules it released on June 2 that will supposedly cut CO2 emissions by 30 percent. Many, including myself, believe that these rules are really an attempt to shut down coal-fueled electricity generation and implement a cap-and-trade program that the Administration couldn’t get through Congress in 2009, when cap-and-trade’s obvious allies held both houses of Congress. If the EPA’s plans were clear, direct,...

Feds Confiscate 40 Land Rovers Over VIN Controversy Federal agency seize 40 old Land Rovers, claiming that they are actually newer vehicles. Forty Land Rover SUVs have been taken away from owners around the country by armed federal agents descending on private property with overwhelming force. Agents for Homeland Security Investigations last month wrapped up the seizure of forty vehicles pursuant to a sealed warrant issued in May. The agency insists that there were discrepancies with the VIN numbers for cars imported by Aaron Richardet at Patterson Auto Sales in Wilmington, North Carolina, and that the Land Rovers violated Environmental...

There are many ways to look at the United States government debt, obligations, and assets. Liabilities include Treasury debt held by the public or more broadly total Treasury debt outstanding. ThereÂ’s unfunded liabilities like Medicare and Social Security. And then the assets of all the real estate, all the equities, all the bonds, all the depositsÂ…all at todayÂ’s valuations. But letÂ’s cut straight to the bottom line and add it all upÂ…$89.5 trillion in liabilities and $82 trillion in assets. There. ItÂ’s not a secret anymoreÂ…and although these are all government numbers, for some strange reason the government never adds...

In what looks like the final nail in the coffin for climate-change denial, some of the world’s most credible professional organizations have just announced they will no longer work with “climate deniers.” That’s right, ten of the globe’s top public relations firms have declared that they will no longer “frame the debate” from the “sky is NOT falling” perspective. Along with “the science,” the PR is now settled. A spokesman for WPP, the world’s largest ad agency and parent of Burson Marsteller and Ogilvy Public Relations, said… We ensure that our own work complies with local laws, marketing codes and...

Wall Street, the Fed and the oval office are determined to convince you that the U.S. economy is on the upswing. After all, the economy grew at a 4% annualized rate in the second quarter.  And jobs growth continues to exceed 200,000 new jobs monthly — assuming, of course, that you buy into the manipulations used to calculate the jobs picture and disregard the inconvenient truth that our economy is gaining more low-wage part-time jobs and losing more higher-wage full-time jobs. So, apparently, life outside my front door is hunky-dory, peachy-keen and all-around nifty — at least that’s what...