Free Republic

Venezuela is running out of just about everything. Food, medicine, electricity, toilet paper, condoms -- you name it. ( Full title ). And over the weekend at least two large international airlines -- Lufthansa and LATAM -- said they will suspend service to Venezuela in the coming months due to the economic crisis. The widespread scarcities and fleeing businesses reflect a country in crisis. "There's a shortage of everything at some level," says Ricardo Cusanno, vice president of Venezuela's Chamber of Commerce. Cusanno says 85% of companies in Venezuela have halted production to some extent. Venezuela's economy is spiraling into...

It was around noon when a food truck rolled up to a Venezuelan state-subsidized supermarket in the town of Guarenas just east of the capital. But, to the fury of the long line of people waiting out front, the cargo wasn't unloaded. Instead soldiers took it away. "We want food!" the crowd roared in protest, to no avail. Some tried to run after the truck. Under the state of emergency imposed by President Nicolas Maduro, the military, along with government-organized civilian committees, ensures that food packets are delivered door-to-door in order to -- as officials say -- cut out black...

One of the nuclear reactors at Hanford has had a scram. That means the cooling failed and the reactor automatically shut down. The news reports say they are checking it out and will restart when it's safe.

<p>The world is sleepwalking into a fresh crisis as investors start to lose faith in policymakers’ ability to revive the global economy, according to the International Monetary Fund.</p> <p>In its bluntest warning to date on the costs of policy inaction, the IMF said “financial and economic stagnation" could take hold unless governments prevented a "pernicious feedback loop of fragile confidence, weaker growth, low inflation and rising debt burdens" from forming.</p>

--snip-- This was the first official proposed "Bail-In" of creditors, one that took place before similar ad hoc balance sheet restructuring would take place in Greece and Portugal in the coming months. Or rather, it wasn't a fully executed "Bail-In" for the reason that creditors fought it tooth and nail. And then today, following a decision by the Austrian Banking Regulator, the Finanzmarktaufsicht or Financial Market Authority, Austria officially became the first European country to use a new law under the framework imposed by Bank the European Recovery and Resolution Directive to share losses of a failed bank with senior...

This from a good friend asking for URGENT prayers Mama told us this morning she's sitting in a waiting room thinking about getting the following procedure: "The Induction abortion takes 3-4 days to complete. On the first day the woman is given an ultrasound to determine the gestational age of her baby. Then, with the aid of the ultrasound to guide the abortionist, a lethal dose of the heart medication Digoxin is injected into the baby’s heart or into the amniotic fluid directly through the woman’s abdomen. Digoxin gives the baby a fatal heart attack." [3:16 PM] Dear Prayer Warriors:...

The next housing crisis is here. And this time the crisis is all about one thing: supply. Following the mid-aughts housing bubble that saw homeowners across the country get themselves upside down in homes and mortgages they couldn't ever afford to repay — a crisis that was as much about too much supply as it was about too much bad financing — the market has gone the complete other direction. First-time home buyers are crowded out, with Trulia's chief economist Ralph McLaughlin writing Monday that the number of starter homes on the market has declined 43.6% in the last four...

There is no evidence that a Trump presidency would promote evangelical values; in fact, there is more evidence that he would oppose them. Yet Trump continues to be the favorite candidate of evangelical voters. They do not seem to be asking the most basic questions, like whether this candidate has the right principles; whether the candidate offers a realistic plan for realizing those principles within the constraints of our political system; and whether the candidate demonstrates the character, experience, and virtue to make that plan succeed. How do we account for this evident discrepancy between these voters’ principles and their...

Financial bubbles are inevitable and their pathologies virtually identical. The only variable is timing. This is why financial crises appear so obvious in hindsight yet remain frustratingly difficult to predict... ...Markets are, Harding argues, human constructs. As such, they are prey to every human foible. His comprehensive chronicle of speculative mania and panics was meant to hammer home the point... ...Such financial crises tend to occur every two to three years on average, according to Danske Bank, which helpfully points out that the last one, the European sovereign debt crisis, ended more than three years ago. The pattern is always...

Venezuela's Supreme Court has overruled the opposition-controlled congress and granted broad decree powers to President Nicolas Maduro. Congress last month had refused to approve Maduro's declaration of an economic emergency. The court ruled in a decision made public Thursday night that Maduro did not need congressional approval after all. The court said the declaration of emergency is now in effect, granting Maduro greatly expanded authority over the economy for 60 days. ...

The United States is facing economic disaster on a scale few nations have ever experienced. Most people are unaware of the easily observable signs of this crisis, where it came from and how to stop it. While we persist in our superpower mentality, we have quietly become a second-class country in many respects.

We may have finally reached a tipping point in Germany this week. It’s hard to say for sure, but something has changed in the halls of power over there. Whether it’s the gang violence related to the Syrian immigrants, the mass sexual assaults or the rising crime levels, it sounds like Angela Merkel has finally heard the outraged cries of her citizens and might be coming around to facing reality. In a statement released this weekend, she finally conceded that perhaps all of these new arrivals should turn around and go home once the war in Syria winds down. (Sydney...

Some of the richest people in the world gathered in Davos, Switzerland yet again this week for the World Economic Forum, but the topics under discussion quickly veered away from the normal program as representatives of many nations grappled with the Syrian refugee crisis. We shouldn’t be terribly surprised, since you can’t mention Europe these days without the subject of the mayhem being caused by the flood of migrants coming up. As you might expect, there were two distinctly different camps engaged in the debate, with some referring to the new Syrian and Iraqi settlers as an economic opportunity, while...

EPA regional chief FINALLY resigns over Flint crisis - 22 months after residents first started complaining about the high levels of lead in the water A regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has resigned in connection with the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Susan Hedman, the head of the agency's regional office in Chicago whose jurisdiction includes the state, will step down on February 1 so the government can focus solely on the crisis in the city. High levels of lead have been detected in the impoverished city's water since officials switched from the Detroit municipal system...

A Leader-for Change On March 17, 1980, after consulting with his daughter Amy James Earl Carter, President of the United States and fearless bunny rabbit fighter, signed into law the United States Refugee Act of 1980 which implemented a number of provisions set down by the United Nations. Limits on the numbers of refugees admitted per fiscal year were raised to 50,000 from 17,000 and special provisions were put in place for “emergency” resettlement. Also, the definition of what constitutes a refugee was altered so as to comport with U.N. opinions on the subject. Refugees were now defined as: “owing...

Despite France's draconian gun laws, terrorists have once again proven that only good people obey bad laws, and they do so to their own detriment. It is important to realize that the best security practices, people, and technology governments have to offer could not thwart the ISIS attacks in Paris. Nor will these practices, institutions, and technologies thwart the next attack. [..] Thankfully, the reality of these attacks is that they can be deterred, disrupted, and even defeated by properly trained and well-armed civilian populous. A handful of properly trained civilians carrying concealed weapons in the Bataclan Theatre could have...

Duck Dynasty’s Alan Robertson said Friday on Breitbart News Daily that America is having a national crisis. Robertson guest co-hosted Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Steve Bannon in Louisiana Friday.

Three more just last night... what makes me think  this isn't making the German evening news? German newspaper BILD has reported seven centers burned-down in just the last week, according to the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA)... Merkel's CDU has worked in-union with Bavaria's CSU -led by Horst Seehofer- to form the core of the German right throughout the entire post-war period, for over 70 years... but Seehofer has threatened to end that and take-down her chancellorship if she doesn't immediately re-instate border controls. The Bavarians said they will start bussing them to her doorstep pretty soon. Perhaps Ma can now clearly...

Austria said Wednesday it would build a fence along its border with fellow EU state Slovenia to "control" the migrant influx, in what would be the first barrier between two members of the passport-free Schengen zone. Both countries have become key transit points for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants seeking to reach northern Europe ahead of the winter, and before more potential EU border closures. Vienna's announcement prompted sharp criticism from Berlin amid an escalating spat over Austria's handling of the humanitarian drama. "We do not believe that the current migrant crisis that Europe is facing can be...

I have good news and bad news. We live in the age of Fatima. So we know how this all ends: “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” It is quite natural, reasonable, and proper to view the current events in the Church and wonder where this time fits within the big prophetical scheme of things. It isn’t uncommon, unfortunately, to see people claiming that this or that current personage is the False Prophet or...