Free Republic

Union Station had as many as 100 stores more than two decades ago. It’s down to about 40 retailers and eateries while more than half its commercial space sits vacant. Calls for fire and emergency services show the range of problems at the station, including drug and alcohol intoxication, overdoses and assaults. Meanwhile, foot traffic remains well below pre-pandemic levels, with Metro and commuter rail traffic roughly halved, even as Amtrak reaches more solid footing.

A storage room stacked with food is seen at a preppers ranch in Mathias, West Virginia, on March 13, 2020. Most people don’t bother to prepare for uncertain times until it’s too late. It’s the “ant and the grasshopper” parable written on a human scale. “The problem is that while fear is a great motivator, it isn’t conducive to smart decisions,” said Diane Vukovic at Primalsurvivor.com, an online personal preparedness website. “No matter how terrified you are about a certain event happening, you still need to go about prepping in a calm, logical way,” Vukovic told The Epoch Times. Once...

A small Iowa town received a big surprise last week from an anonymous donor who shipped every household in town $150 worth of gift cards good at local small businesses. All 549 households in the town of 1,400 people received three $50 gift cards, according to the Des Moines Register, one each for West Side Bar and Grille, Hometown Market and Trostel’s Broken Branch. Collectively, the cards added up to $82,350, or $27,450 to each locally owned business. Mayor Jeff Lillie was in on the secret. On March 26, he was called by a man who said he was the...

“I want to believe God cares about me; I really do,” she told me, wiping tears from under her darkened, bloodshot eyes. Under the harsh fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor, Marci barely resembled the vibrant girl I remembered, that kid I’d watched grow up in our youth group at church. When she was a teenager, Marci was outgoing, fun-loving, and full of life, even as she was growing more and more serious about her faith, coming early to youth group and staying late. No one loved to worship and talk about God more than Marci.Then, in her early 20s,...

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said in a rare public appearance Thursday he’s exhausted with how everyone seems to consider themselves a victim these days. “At some point, we’re going to be fatigued with everybody being the victim,” Thomas, the second African American to serve on the Supreme Court, said during an on-stage interview at the Library of Congress in Washington. Thomas, a conservative appointed to the bench in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, recalled recently being with a young black woman in Kansas who told him, “I’m really tired of having to play the role of being black....

Hard Times Come Again No More1. Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears, While we all sup sorrow with the poor; There's a song that will linger forever in our ears; Oh hard times come again no more. Chorus: Tis the song, the sigh of the weary, Hard Times, hard times, come again no more Many days you have lingered around my cabin door; Oh hard times come again no more. 2. While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay, There are frail forms fainting at the door; Though their voices are silent,...

So last week, in what was perhaps a moment of madness, I posted a request on my Facebook page: Tell me your political predictions for the year. Among the more restrained answers: “Hyperinflation,” “Civil War,” “financial collapse,” “terribly awful things.” Optimist though I am, I can’t help feeling there’s something to this downhearted consensus. After living through the most peaceful and prosperous half century that any nation has ever experienced in the history of humankind, it seems impossible to believe we would re-elect a mediocre reactionary out to “fundamentally transform” our success into failure. But we did, and that’s —...

The Federal Reserve is asking 30 big banks to make sure their capital can withstand a deep recession in which the unemployment rate rises to 12%. The Fed, which first required big banks to conduct “stress tests” in 2009, laid out three scenarios lenders have to test against. The goal is to ensure that the firms have enough capital to continue operations during stressful economic times.

If your Rodeo Drive shopping stops include Versace, Armani, Chanel and Tiffany & Co., perhaps you’d be interested in a store where you could drop a real bundle, of $1 bills that is. The 99 Cents Only Stores chain announced that it’s searching for a retail space on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif., one of the toniest shopping strips in the world. “We think our store will do well. Our highest amounts of sales are happening in our branch on Wilshire Boulevard. We know for a fact a lot of customers there are coming from Beverly Hills. This store...

Time is running out for people in need to get help paying their summer utility bill. Today is the deadline to apply for aid through the county. Before 10 a.m., the Community Action Agency let 230 people in to apply. Some lined up before the sun came up this morning at the agency's office in Bond Hill. Applicants can get up to $175 to pay their utility bill, an air conditioner or a fan .. or a combination of benefits. Some in the line were upset that they couldn't get in or were turned away. But, those in charge of...

1.How to Find Water and How to Make Water Safe to Drink - Revised Oct. 21, 2009. 2.Realistic Self-Sufficiency: The Do's and the Don'ts - Added July 22, 2009. 3.A Simple But Effective Survival Plan - Added June 2, 2010. 4.How to Preserve Food Using Three Simple Old Fashioned Methods - Added May 7, 2010. 5.Part One: How to Start Preparing for Hard Times on a Very Modest Budget - Added Feb. 10, 2010. 6.Part Two: How to Start Preparing for Hard Times on a Very Modest Budget - Added Feb. 24, 2010. 7.How to Improve the Quality of an...

Times are getting hard, boys Money's getting scarce If things don't get no better, boys Gonna leave this place Take my true love by the hand Lead her thru the town Saying good-bye to everyone Good-bye to everyone Take my bible from the bed Shotgun from the wall Take old Sal and hitch her up The wagon for to haul Pile the chairs and beds up high Let nothing drag the ground Sal can pull and we can push We're bound to leave this town Made a crop a year ago It withered to the ground Tried to get some...

Amid rowdy protests, a committee of the University of California regents voted Wednesday to raise student fees by 32 percent in two steps over the next year, bringing the annual cost of a UC education above $10,000 not including room, board or books. Today, the full board is scheduled to vote on the plan, which also includes increases in financial aid. Fourteen protesters – out of about 500 – were arrested at UCLA, where regents held their meeting. Roughly 1,000 protesters rallied at UC Berkeley, according to campus officials, and 300 demonstrated at UC Santa Cruz. "Look at all these...

Can't stand your boring husband? Thinking of calling it quits? Well, you should have mustered the nerve to leave him well before this economic crisis. Now you might not be able to afford to live without him, literally. It's a well-known fact that financial woes are the biggest cause of marital spats. With the economy the way it is, you'd expect lots of husbands and wives to be at each other's throats. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. This recession is so bad that you can count divorce lawyers among those professions that have taken a hit. That's good news,...

Are we experiencing the worst economic downturn since the Depression? In most California cities, it looks that way. In most Texas cities, probably not. That's one story emerging from a new Brookings Institution analysis examining the performance of the nation's largest metropolitan areas over the course of the current recession. Notwithstanding the attention lavished on the national economic figures emanating from Washington each week, we're not undergoing one uniform recession nationwide. The effects on our 100 largest metropolitan areas -- the combined city/suburban labor and housing markets that collectively represent three-quarters of the U.S. economy -- have ranged from glancing...

Unable to find a buyer for his Weston, Fla., home, Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino has a new game plan: He’s throwing in $1.5 million worth of designer furniture—and a signed football, too. The former Miami Dolphin first listed the house—about 25 miles west of Fort Lauderdale—three years ago and twice cut the price. Now, Mr. Marino, 47 years old, and his wife, Claire, are asking $13.5 million for the 15,000-square-foot Tuscan home on four acres. They built it in 1998 and among other things put in a new master suite and marble showers. The home has 10 bedrooms,...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53605 Missile Defense Requires New Focus, Vice Chairman Says By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 23, 2009 – The future of missile defense requires a new way of thinking that will benefit the American taxpayer and allow the United States to stay ahead of foreign threats, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. “As you look toward the future, it is a time, because of the economy, that we have to make some pretty significant decisions” regarding missile defense and related programs,...

Job Banks: http://www.census.gov/hrd/www/index.html Census jobs http://www.nationsjob.com/ Nation Job http://www.monster.com Monster http://www.ajb.dni.us America's Job bank http://www.jobfox.com http://www.sologig.com http://conservativejobs.com http://www.ceweekly.com http://www.usajobs.com http://geo.craigslist.org/ Select your city and state http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/ Hot Jobs http://jobcircle.com/ http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/tempjobs/a/tempjobs.htm http://jobs.nj.com/careers/jobsearch?new=1&searchType=advanced http://www.allmyfaves.com/Beyond http://www.biznik.com http://www.caljobs.ca.gov/ California http://www.careerbuilder.com Career Builder http://www.careeroverview.com/recruiters.html http://www.christianet.com/christianjobs/ Christian jobs http://www.clearedjobs.com http://www.defensecareers.com http://www.defenselink.mil/sites/c.html#civjobs http://www.dice.com/ Dice (Mostly IT & High Tech) http://www.employment911.com http://federalgovernmentjobs.us/job-agency.html http://www.firstjobresource.com/ http://www.fiveoclockclub.com/Go Free Lance http://www.groovejob.com http://www.hcareers.com -— Primarily hospitality careers, but also catering, cruise lines, travel industry and restaurants. http://Hire Net.net (mostly medical) http://www.hirevetsfirst.gov/ Hire Vets First http://www.hotjobs.com http://www.indeed.com/ http://www.intelligencecareers.com http://jobagencies.com/ http://www.jobbankinfo.org/ http://www.jobbankusa.com/ http://www.jobcentral.com http://www.job.com/ http://www.jobsonline.com http://www.linkedin.com http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?displayHome=&trk=hb_ft_jobs http://www.mrinetwork.com/ http://www.quintcareers.com/recruiter_directories.html http://regionalhelpwanted.com/corporate/our_sites_usa.cfm http://www.retirementjobs.com/ http://www.sba.gov/ http://www.seniors4hire.com http://www.simplyhired.com http://www.snagajob.com...

<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Countrywide Financial Corp Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo said on Thursday the U.S. housing downturn is likely to lead the country into recession, but that the largest U.S. mortgage lender will survive.</p> <p>In an interview, Mozilo also said that to promote liquidity, the U.S. Federal Reserve should cut the rate it charges banks to borrow.</p>

WASHINGTON - Plummeting stock prices. Mortgage lenders filing for bankruptcy or shutting down. Layoffs at homebuilders and banks. Soaring foreclosures and loan defaults. Damage from the nation's slumping housing market is evident throughout the economy and permeates financial markets. Add real estate agents to the growing list of victims, although they know few tears will be shed for them. The National Association of Realtors expects membership rolls to decline this year for the first time in a decade. The group ended 2006 with nearly 1.4 million members — almost double the roughly 716,000 it had in 1997 — but expects...