Free Republic

... are really just saying "We're done bleeding the U.S. dry -- let's get some cash now from China and Russia et al."? Do they just see another new source for handouts, now that U.S. has driven itself into impossible levels of debt? This has been on my mind a lot lately. It took something like a decade for the EU to get its act together at the start -- and those countries, at least, had many things in common. I don't see how a BRICS-type arrangement can hold itself together for very long, with so many disparate cultures and...

This addresses some of the questions I've had about the pros vs. cons of a reserve currency. (Source article has links)

Time to once again consult the great hive mind that is my fellow FReepers... I am a relatively new (about 6 months) silver stacker (and gold, when I can afford it). One thing I've been hearing for a long time is "Silver is undervalued."I know silver is used for a zillion industrial uses -- solar, electronics, medical, etc. I know there is a huge deficit between "paper" silver and actual physical silver to back that paper. I know demand has been through the roof for many months -- not just in the U.S. but around the world -- and not...

Economist Stephen Jen, a former Morgan Stanley managing director, expects a shift “from a unipolar reserve currency world to a multipolar world,” with the Chinese yuan, the euro, and the U.S. dollar forming a “tripolar” reserve currency configuration.‘A Multipolar World’Economist Stephen Jen, the CEO of asset management firm Eurizon SLJ, expects multiple currencies will chip away at the U.S. dollar’s dominance. Jen was formerly a managing director at Morgan Stanley in London and a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).After stating that the U.S. dollar is losing its world’s reserve currency status at “an alarming pace,” the former...

Hello fellow FReepers, would love to pick your brain on a topic I've been thinking about. Are there any reasons why BRICS would NOT want to be the world reserve currency? Are there responsibilities and burdens that would become theirs, should they succeed in doing this? Seems to me that, since the U.S. dollar became the world reserve currency, it is the U.S. that has shouldered the brunt of every (or most) debt, war, international bailout, humanitarian aid, and so forth. If BRICS should succeed, wouldn't these responsibilities/liabilities then transfer to them? This is not a question of "Will or...

I have a full-time job (which is now fully remote, yay) and am looking for more remote part-time work. What people are now calling "overemployed."Question: it seems to me that it's best to have a second phone line for business -- both for security/privacy purposes and just to keep personal and work lives separate. Do others of you do the same? I've looked into dual SIM, Tracfone, Mint Mobile, etc. Virtual phones (Google Voice) have their place but can't be used in every situation (i.e., some places/services will not accept a virtual phone for verification and apparently are able to...

For months, I have seen multiple conservative channels on news and social media apps touting something called a "Trump TRB Red Voucher." Does anyone know what this is, or how it got started? Every link I can find directs to a similar page, and I can't find any reference to Trump actually pitching something like this. It sounds like one gigantic scam ... but giant scams aren't usually so pervasive and found in so many different venues.

Hello FReepers, looking for your recommendations for curved or curved/widescreen monitors. The type of work I do (proofreading and editing) necessitates that I upgrade from 27" to at least 32". I do a great deal of side-by-side document comparisons (of files that differ in layout and formatting), and I'm thinking that a curved (or curved & widescreen) monitor would go a long way in reducing eye and neck strain.I don't do any gaming, and the monitor I have now is more than sufficient for the small amount of graphics work that I do. But I run into problems when I...

The folks on Martha's Vineyard are doing great PR showing the extraordinary measures they are taking to address the "humanitarian crisis" of 50 illegal aliens. Leave a comment!

Text from Getty Images page: TOPSHOT - US President Joe Biden attends the ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York, on September 11, 2021. (Photo by ED JONES / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Hello FReepers. Looking for any advice on negotiating the best price for a new car. (I'm getting a 2021 Honda CRV-EX, no options). I've put together an email (see following) that I will send to the local Honda dealers. Asking for any suggestions or wording to make it the most effective. Thanks in advance.

Or a link that explains it. Thank youEven after watching Trading Places for 30+ years, I still don't understand exactly what they were doing at the stock exchange. 🙁

In a stunning filing on Tuesday, November 10, potential intervenors in the Trump campaign’s lawsuit against the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, proved one of the allegations of illegality the Trump campaign brought forth in their initial complaint against the Secretary and several boards of elections. The Trump Campaign alleges that in contravention of election law, certain precincts reached out to mail-in and absentee voters to “cure” their ballots before election day, or fix errors that would have otherwise made their votes invalid. On page 35 of the complaint, found in full here, the Trump campaign spells out election...

At the beginning of the debate, Trump should say, "You know what, Joe? Let's switch podiums." Watch the panic as Trump comes over to the rigged Dem podium/teleprompter. He should also bring -- and display/explain for the TV cameras -- a device that jams earpiece transmissions.

... and now the Democrats are all in a huge panic. They already had a woman ready to swear that she was molested by whomever the male pick would have been -- now they have to try to find a guy who's willing to go before the Senate (and on TV) with a compelling story that he was raped 25 years ago by a female judge... 😮 #MeToo

Hoping someone can jog my memory... Trying to track down the specific cartoon where Bugs Bunny says "What a maroon! What an ignoranimus!" It sounds like the first few seconds of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxGgnI6kCrs There are other cartoons where Bugs uses "maroon" or "ultra-maroon," but to the best of my knowledge, this particular combo was used only once. (There's a Tasmanian Devil cartoon where Bugs calls him a maroon and then uses ignoranimus in the next sentence, but that's not this particular quote.) I have the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, but it's taking me a while to re-watch the entire...

Since each state gets to make its own laws about how its elections are conducted, Trump might not have the power to force blue governors to follow standard voting procedures. BUT, I'm thinking, he MAY have the authority to direct the FEC to move up the date by which all votes have to be certified. Yes? No? What are the flaws to this idea? If it's do-able, it could be a great way to knock these governors back into line. Feedback please, FReepers -- thanks

Barbers gathered outside the Michigan state capitol this week to give free haircuts in defiance of the state’s stay-at-home restrictions. Nearly 400 people attended the demonstration on Wednesday. “Operation Haircut” was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition. Protesters have accused Governor Gretchen Whitmer of “killing small businesses” and called the restrictions overbearing. According to Michigan state police, at least three of the barbers were given citations for disorderly conduct.

"...Gibson City Police Department will not be making any criminal misdemeanor arrests of individuals or business owners for violations of temporary rules or Executive Orders." Image of memo at link.

As we've heard about increasing numbers of sealed indictments over the last couple of years, a lot of people (myself included) have been asking, "WHEN is the justice going to begin?" Different reasons have been advanced: waiting for IG's report, waiting for Durham's report, waiting until all the i's are dotted, etc. And there's probably a lot of truth to those. However, when I heard Trump's speech on the day after acquittal, he mentioned the number of federal judges appointed -- now 191 confirmed. And that got me to thinking... maybe Trump had to restore the judiciary first, to handle...