Free Republic

For those -- and you know who you are -- who have been socially promoted to this semi-worthless diploma, I must tell you in all honesty that you are the functional illiterates of 2014.

What you have to keep in mind is that back in 2008 we had one of the greatest financial crises the United States ever faced. The system was on the brink of collapse at that point in time. What the Fed and the federal government did was spend every penny they could, anything they could create or anything they could guarantee. They did everything they could possibly do to keep the system from crashing. They guaranteed all bank accounts. So, they saved the system, but now what they did has not borne fruit. We have not seen an economic recovery....

New York Police officers arrested four men Tuesday night on suspicion of having a connection to drugs. Police acted after receiving a tip that the four had sold heroin to actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was found dead from an overdose of the drug on February 2. Drug dealers are far from my favorite people, and the arrests are welcome, but no drug dealer killed Philip Hoffman. Only one person is, ultimately, responsible for his death: Philip Seymour Hoffman, himself. Mr. Hoffman was the one who procured the drug, injected the drug and kept injecting the drug. Mr. Hoffman was...

As this is written, Atlanta is still in the throes of another winter weather situation. The TV is filled with images of major highways littered with abandoned vehicles. Many of their owners are stranded in make-shift shelters until warmer weather makes the roads passable again. The governor and other officials just concluded a news conference to explain how the mess unfolded and that they've learned much from this experience. One of the lessons they “learned” is that, once the potential severity of this event became obvious, dismissing public and private employees all at once to try to get home was...

Michigan Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema, who caused a stir last month when he posted an article to his Facebook page that labeled the homosexual lifestyle as “filthy,” is now comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and says it leads to drug abuse.

One of my favorite things about drinking in the morning is just how purposeful it has to be. At night, you can simply have a drink without need for any particular reason. But between the hours of, say, 5 a.m. and noon, society demands you explain your alcoholic intake. Given those demands, morning drinking can often be the most well-thought-out kind of drinking there is. Morning drinking didn't always have the stigma that it does now. Farmers traditionally drank hard cider all day long, soldiers once woke with whiskey, city dwellers in the nineteenth century invented entire lines of delightfully...

When I crossed the threshold of Cravath, Swaine & Moore 36 years ago next month, fresh from the bar exam and Harvard Law School, I entered a new world and began what turned into a life-changing experience.

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said on Wednesday that Congress ought to look at imposing a federal tax on soda pop. “We have to address the situation in the marketplace," DeLauro said at a press conference on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. "Right now, the least expensive beverages are often those with the least value to our health like regular cola or juice drinks that are only 10 percent juice. “But I will tell you that if you’re paying $3.49 for juice and 79 cents for soda, if you are in a low-income family and you have...

Justice prevails: two Seattle men were detained for a few hours by U.S. Customs when they tried to smuggle …chocolate… into the United States. That’s right. These menaces to society were trying to bring [gasp] Kinder Eggs into our fair country. Everyone knows those particular treats have little choking hazards inside them: choking hazards disguised as toys! How diabolical. And the worst part is, these confectionary terrorists were going to give these chocolates to… their… kids. It’s a good thing Nanny Guvment is there to save us from ourselves. Otherwise, who knows what terrible things we would do. We might...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg loves us. He wants us to be healthy. So he’s taken it upon himself to pass laws to stop people from eating too much salt, trans fats, and big sugary drinks. He believes these new laws will make a difference. Of course, they might, but so will passing a law that requires everybody to eat only 1800 calories per day. When Mayor Bloomberg gets a hold of the new exercise study, there’s no telling what new laws will be passed. According to the medical journal The Lancelot, “a third of the world’s adults are physically...

The fifth and final paper in The Lancet Series on physical inactivity explained that because of the global reach, high prevalence, and colossal harms of inactivity, it should be considered pandemic. Harold W. Kohl, III, leading author and from the University of Texas Health School of Public Health, said:

Jerry Sandusky's trial in the Penn State scandal opened in graphic fashion Monday with the first witness testifying that the retired coach molested him in the locker-room showers and in hotels while trying to ensure his silence with gifts and trips to bowl games. The man, now 28 and dubbed Victim 4 in court papers, left nothing to the imagination as he told the jury about the abuse he said he endured for five years beginning when he was a teenager in the late 1990s. "I've denied it forever," he testified, looking straight at the prosecutor as Sandusky sat motionless...

Actress Cynthia Nixon refuses to bow to pressure from the gay community to change her opinion that her homosexuality is a “choice,” despite facing criticism for her beliefs. The “Sex and the City” star enjoyed a 15-year romance with her college sweetheart Danny Mozes – the father of her daughter Samantha, 15, and son Charlie, 9 – until their split in 2003. She then fell for Christine Marinoni in 2004, and the couple has been engaged to wed since 2009. Nixon, who also has an 11-month-old son, Max, with Marinoni, is convinced her change in sexual preference was a choice....

In one word; marketing skills. No one actually needs French perfumes. Fancy a rum and cola? - Why bother about coke? This Christmas, I and my brother, a programmer (silly job, good pay), discussed the issue of how to define a 'smart phone'. I'm a simple cook, but my Sony Ericsson Vivaz can do everything his iPhone could do, however, at the end of the row, we both agreed Apple and their products are among the best marketed brands on Earth. IKEA is another example of companies that are more than companies. Everyone has experienced sad misfortunes with IKEA furniture....

The only thing the “Occupy Wall Street” gang has done in the past month is occupy space and news headlines. Whatever we’re being told about these “occupiers” by their sympathizers, when they get an opportunity to speak for themselves, it’s clear that their “minds” are fully occupied with stealing from the rich to give to themselves — and they want the government to do it for them. But….this Anti-Occupation Gang has inspired me to create a number of graphics in response to their antics.7. From “FREEDOM!” to…Next: An appropriate graphic given the lack of port-o-potties at OWS…6. Taking a Dump...

Taking regular exercise, drinking only in moderation and watching what you eat makes no difference to one's chances of reaching 100, research has found. Those who are lucky enough to qualify for a telegram from the Queen have simply been dealt a good genetic hand at birth, the study indicates. Academics studied almost 500 people between 95 and 109 and compared them with over 3,000 others born during the same period. They found those who lived extremely long lives ate just as badly, drank and smoked just as much, took just as little exercise and were just as likely to...

In Tel Aviv’s Jaffa port, there is an old warehouse overlooking the Mediterranean. There you can find the “Nalaga’at” Center, the world’s only professional deaf-blind acting ensemble. The theatre is composed of 11 actors, most of them suffering from genetic disorder called Usher syndrome, which results in acute deafness at birth, followed by gradual loss of vision. Nalaga’at means “Do Touch” in Hebrew. “Because the actors of our show are blind and deaf, the way we communicate with them is by touch. We ask people who come to our center to communicate, to touch,” says Jonathan Tomkins, Development Manager. “Nalaga’at,”...

"'Becoming a grandmother at 29 is my worst nightmare' says mum after discovering her 14-year-old daughter is pregnant" A woman who is set to become Britain's youngest grandmother at 29 said it was 'her worst nightmare' when she discovered her 14-year-old daughter was pregnant. Kelly John said she always hoped Tia would not repeat her mistake and become pregnant at 14. But after getting over the shock, the grandmother-to-be has vowed to do 'everything' to bring up the new baby.

Does anyone here think that running a business from home is going to be the new way that businesses are run and how do you think this will affect hiring policies?

Is Queen Rania the Next Target of Middle Eastern Violence? Posted by Sasha Brown-Worsham on February 9, 2011 at 1:25 PM Comments (4)| Likes (5) Share 18 Queen Rania of Jordan is undoubtedly an international celebrity. Most of this is due to her marked beauty and taste for fine things. But her lavish lifestyle may soon come to end as Jordan is showing some signs that it could be the next Egypt or Tunisia. Recent revolts, like the ones that took out Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and currently threaten Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, have been played out on...