Free Republic

After launching a new TV spot in the vein of its popular "Russian Billionaire" ads, DirecTV has abruptly pulled the commercial from YouTube due to a flood of negative comments. Posted for only a few days on DirecTV's official channel, the ad by Grey New York sparked heated allegations of racism, reverse-racism, and even elder abuse. As you can see in the clip below, the spot stars fictional boxing champ Tommy "The Truth" Thompson and his entourage, which includes a kid called "Half Truth." The ad might have passed as annoying at worst, were it not for the fact that...

It has been pounded into our heads from our earliest days doing fire drills in elementary school; In the event of an emergency, walk quietly -- do not run -- to the nearest exit. So with stocks extending their pre-summer swoon by shedding more than 5 percent in five weeks, many are bracing for the worst and pushing others aside to get to the exits. Raymond James' Chief Investment Strategist Jeff Saut is not one of them. "I just don't see that [a crash] happening right now" Saut says, adding that he sees any correction "limited to seven to 10...

Many of the GOP freshman class elected to the House last year are members of Generation X: Their average age is 47, and many of them formed their political notions during the Reagan presidency. Reporting from Washington The thing Rep. Scott DesJarlais remembers most about the energy crisis of 1979 is collecting extra gas money from his buddies. The Republican from Tennessee was 15. When President Reagan was renominated by his party in 1984, Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) was outside the Dallas convention center with his friends, wishing he was a few years older so he could vote for the...

Considering how immediate the best of it feels, it's always a little bit surprising how well metal music ages. While not everything still sounds fresh, many of the genre's cornerstone releases hold up extremely well. Slayer's Reign in Blood still sounds as fresh and vital as it did when it first came out, and Black Sabbath's Paranoid remains top-shelf. While not all of their albums hold up well, Metallica's Master of Puppets — which came out on this day in 1986, a full 25 years ago — remains a stone cold classic and an album by which other metal albums...

Climate change could rob Melbourne of its beloved comedy festival, one of Australia's best-known stand-up comedians says. Rod Quantock says the art of making people laugh is part of Melbourne's identity, but global warming could see off the fun. "Because of climate change, in 25 years, we won't have a comedy festival," Quantock said. "The money that we need for comedy festival will be needed for solving the problems of the next cyclone or the next bushfire or the next flood." Quantock was joined by 24 other comedians for the launch of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's 25th anniversary at...

Summer of 1985: Fidel Castro sits behind a transmitter and broadcasts a national radio address of monumental proportions: Cuba’s great American enemy to the north is in a state of decay. Though this statement came during the paranoid final years of the Cold War, Castro’s claim was not based on some clandestine CIA document smuggled by a double-agent. No, the proof of America’s decay, was that Coca-Cola tasted kind-of different. A few months earlier, before an audience of 700 reporters seated in New York’s Lincoln Center, Roberto C. Goizueta, Coke’s president and CEO (and, fittingly enough, a Cuban ex-patriot) made...

What if the sympathy for terrorism and the drive toward socialism, the falling birth rates and cultural bankruptcy in civilized countries, the economic decay and decline of the family all had a common cause? What if that common cause lay behind the multitude of ways that we can see civilization collapsing around us. Following that cause will require a brief journey, not into the realm of geopolitics or global economics, but into the human spirit. They say that the child is father to the man. But what becomes of the man when the child never grows up? That is the...

Will the increased cost of base metals finally bring about a change to the composition of coins? President Obama's recently submitted 2011 Budget includes a proposal to allow the United States Mint greater flexibility in the material composition of coins for the purpose of reducing production costs. Since 2006, it has cost the US Mint more than face value to produce and distribute the penny and nickel. This has led many to debate the merits of eliminating the lower denominations or at least altering the compositions. In 2008 a bill was introduced known as the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings...

New jobless claims increase less than expected after 2 weeks of sharp drops. A government report Thursday on claims for unemployment aid signaled that layoffs are easing and that the economy could be on the verge of posting the first monthly gain in jobs in two years. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits for the first time barely rose last week, after two weeks of sharp drops. But the four-week average of claims, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the 18th straight week to 450,250. That figure is nearing the roughly 425,000 that many economists say would be a sign...

The degree of intermediation by the Federal Reserve in the issuance of US Treasuries hit a record in Q2, accounting for just under 50% of all net UST issuance absorption. This is a startling number, as the Fed's $164 billion in Q2 Treasury purchases dwarfs the combined foreign/household UST purchases of $101 billion and $29 billion, respectively, over the same time period. In fact, the Fed was a greater factor in UST demand than all three traditional players combined: Foreigners, Households and Primary Dealers, which amounted to a $158 billion in net Q2 purchases. This dramatic imbalance puts a lot...

The Minivan Celebrates 25 Years Picture the American automotive landscape without the minivan. There was a time that no such vehicle existed here, although it's difficult to imagine. Chrysler invented the front-wheel-drive minivan that debuted in the fall of 1983 as the 1984 Dodge Caravan and the Plymouth Voyager. Here's the story that led to the creation of this entirely new type of vehicle. As much as the minivan continues to be one of the most important vehicles on the road (over 500,000 minivans are sold in the U.S. each year), it's lost a lot of luster to the popular...

The new Jason Voorhees is coming this Friday in Friday the 13th, and a new Freddy Krueger is not far behind. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, A Nightmare on Elm Street is being remade by first-time director Samuel Baye, who has given us music videos like "No Rain" from Blind Melon and the classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana. The script reportedly draws heavily from the original film and not the sequels. Casting for the clawed Freddy, who invades the dreams of his victims, is underway. Though there may be a guest spot for Robert Englund, he will...

They say life improves with every decade, so good news for the thirtysomethings amongst us, after a new survey reveals women feel at their most beautiful aged 32. After leaving behind acne in our teens, insecurities and heartbreak in our twenties, once we hit our early thirties, we feel the most comfortable in our own skin. Nearly 40% of women quizzed on how they feel about their looks said they felt most attractive at 32 – and they’re in good company with celebs including Liv Tyler, Sophie Dahl and Sarah Michelle Gellar all entering their 32nd year in 2009. Women...

Fans of the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” are celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary with a convention and trips to the house where the movie was made. The 1983 film, an adaptation of Jean Shepard’s memoir of a boy in the 1940s, was set in Indiana but largely filmed in Ohio. The movie starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it. It eventually joined “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street” as a Christmas classic. “It’s...

Wall Street hardly delivered a rousing welcome to President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday, dropping by the largest margin on record for a day following a U.S.presidential contest. The slide more than wiped out the previous day's advance, the largest Election Day rally ever for U.S. stocks. The following table shows the percentage rise or decline in the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI, Standard & Poor's 500 index .SPX and Nasdaq composite index .IXIC on the day after a U.S presidential election and who won the Election Day vote.

American climate scientist James Hansen explains why he's testifying against coal. James Hansen, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, is well known for rattling his nation's political establishment. This week, the climate scientist was in London, UK, to testify on behalf of activists who defaced a coal-fired power station in Kent. Geoff Brumfiel caught up with Hansen at a London hotel to find out what has got him all hot and bothered. Why did you come to testify? Nothing could be more central to the problem we face with global climate change. If...

Major Highlights NOAA: U.S. Temperature Above Normal in July, Fifth Warmest July on Record for Globe July 2008 was the 30th warmest July for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The average July temperature, 74.9°F, was 0.7 degrees above the 20th century mean, based on preliminary data. The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2008 tied with 2001 and 2003 as the fifth warmest July since worldwide records began in 1880, according to an analysis by NOAA's National...

Over the past 35 years we have been waiting longer and playing the field more before settling down. According to the Office for National Statistics, men are getting married for the first time seven years later and women six years later. This means that the average man is aged 32 when he asks “Will you marry me?” and the average woman is 29 when she says “Yes”. But is this trend towards the thirtysomething marriage making us happier and more satisfied? And when it comes to the fortysomething crunch - the most common age for divorce - who is most...

Think of some of the movies you really want a chance to see on the big screen. The Wizard of Oz? Lawrence of Arabia? Star Wars? Would you ever, ever put War Games, the 1983 Matthew Broderick thriller, on that list? No, me neither. But, lucky us, we will have the chance to see War Games in theaters this summer—on July 24, the movie will screen for one night only in select theaters across the country, thanks to NCM Fathom, a company that specializes in special theater events. It’s the 25th anniversary of the movie, and the Fathom website boasts...

This past month was the coolest April in 11 years for the lower 48 United States, and fell into the lowest twenty-five percent of all Aprils based on records going back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA's national Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The average April temperature, 51°F, during April was one degree below the 20th century mean, and was the 29th coolest, or 86th warmest, based on preliminary data. The combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for April ranked 13th warmest since worldwide records began in 1880. U.S. Temperature Highlights Fifteen states, all in...