Free Republic

Full Title: President Reagan's Photo Opportunities on November 13, 1987, President Reagan Meeting with Congressman Frank Wolf and Senators Jesse Helms and Bill Armstrong in Oval Office, President Reagan Meeting with Senators Joe Biden and Strom Thurmond in Oval Office, President Reagan Meeting with American Legion Commander in Oval Office, President Reagan Meeting with American Lung Association Poster Child in Oval Office (Tom Smothers with Yo-Yo) on November 12, 1987

We hear a lot about Critical Race Theory and how America is a systemically racist country. Everything is all about skin color and which group — oppressor or oppressed — you belong to. I hesitate to write this article because to even broach the topic of race these days or to offer an honest critique runs the risk of being labeled a racist and being canceled. We see constant examples of real racism, largely against White people. The evidence is indisputable. Along with the racism comes a colossal double-standard, which should be enough to make your blood boil. In America...

After my first album came out with RCA in 1984, the first single to go to radio was “It’s a Lie.” To promote the record, I was sent to Mexico to perform on one of the biggest TV variety shows in the country, Siempre en Domingo (Always on Sunday). After my performance, the host of the show, Raúl Velasco, came up to me and said, “Rudy, we loved your performance. We are taking several artists on a promotional tour of Mexico and the U.S., including Puerto Rico, for six weeks, and we want you to go.” The invitation was an...

A record number of Americans are quitting their jobs to seek better opportunities, according to Labor Department data first reported by Bloomberg. The rate of U.S. employees quitting their jobs reached its highest rate in 17 years, rising from 2.3 percent in April to 2.4 percent in May, when 3.56 million Americans left their jobs. Rising “quit rates” are considered positive because they often indicate employees are leaving their current positions for jobs with higher wages and better benefits. The Labor Department data show there were fewer job openings in May than there were in April, but considering April’s number...

Primaries ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER this year and next. Less than 10% of the people vote in primaries so that means that JUST FREEPERS ALONE can affect the outcome. There are millions of us! AND TURNOUT WAS *LOW*???????

The Baker Hughes/Halliburton merger saga continues to drag on. Jefferies recently downgraded the probability of the deal being completed from 85 percent to 67 percent, indicating concern over the antitrust review being run by the U.S. government. Haliburton will have to sell roughly $7.5 billion in assets to get regulatory approval for the deal. More importantly though, it will have to sell those assets to a single buyer. Given that price tag, conglomerates General Electric and Siemens look like the most likely buyers. There is always the possibility of a dark horse bidder like Berkshire Hathaway or Blackstone, but that...

<p>On Tuesday, the BLS engrossed in the same frenzy of openly making up data like the Dept of Labor has been with the initial claims data ever since early September when it started upgrading its California "systems" and never finished, announced that while only 140K or so jobs were created in September, nearly 700K full-time jobs were added as over 500K part-time jobs were converted into full-timers. On the surface this is great news... until one actually looks for empirical evidence that this is happening anywhere besides the data manipulating, massaging and fabricating models used by the BLS. And one certainly won't find it at the biggest private employer in the US - Walmart, which just announced that a whopping 475,000 of its employees earn at least $25,000 a year. Great news, right? Sure, until one considers that WMT has over 1 million employees, which means that well over 50% of Wal-Mart's employees make a tiny $25,000 year.</p>

(CNSNews.com) - Why shouldn't women in the military have the same opportunities as men do? Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel asked on Thursday. It's not a matter of lowering standards, he said. In remarks at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, Hagel was asked how he feels about putting females on the front lines of combat -- "based on our social background of men being the protectors of women," as the questioner put it. Hagel's reponse: First, I think everyone understands, and this is the right thing, we can't lower standards. We have high standards. We should have high standards. Our...

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the White House challenger, Mitt Romney can seize on the attention that accompanies the selection of a running mate. When the London Olympics get under way, he can use that spotlight to play up his leadership of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. His candidacy also is benefiting from the fundraising power of outside GOP-aligned political groups that are spending millions on TV ads to promote him and undercut President Barack Obama. The weak economic recovery offers the chance for Romney to make inroads among unhappy voters. Not all is rosy, however, for the...

It's time to stop projecting and guessing about what Cain wants to do and why. Here it is, in his own words. It's a PDF. I don't know how to post it here. http://www.hermancain.com/wp-content/themes/hc/images/HC-OppZone-MI-WebPDF-v1.pdf

In record numbers, they're struggling to find work, shunning long-distance moves to live with mom and dad, delaying marriage and raising kids out of wedlock - if they're becoming parents at all. Young adults are the recession's lost generation in the U.S. The unemployment rate for them is the highest since World War Two, and they risk living in poverty more than others - nearly one in five. There are missed opportunities and dim prospects for a generation of mostly 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming of age in a prolonged period of joblessness.

Foreclosures, plant closings, offshored jobs, underwater mortgages, miserable rates of unemployment, stagnating incomes: Is there any end to the woes of the struggling American middle? Apparently not, because now comes news of a trend guaranteeing trouble ahead for the more than half of the nation that make up the moderately educated and moderately earning middle — even if the economy improves. That seismic shift, outlined in a new report from the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values, is towards more divorce, more out of wedlock births and, ipso facto, fewer kids with a hopeful future. Family breakdown,...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Getting a degree used to be a stepping stone to limitless career opportunities. Now it's more of a hiatus from living under your parents' roof. Stubbornly high unemployment -- nearly 15% for those ages 20-24 -- has made finding a job nearly impossible. And without a job, there's nowhere for these young adults to go but back to their old bedrooms, curfews and chore charts. Meet the boomerangers.

After getting frustrated out of the lemons his problems gave him, David Miller made his own corporate lemonade. Due to the frustration of always having to call technical support to solve his own frequent hardware problems, he started taking the initiative to educate himself.

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2010 – U.S. investment and sacrifice in Iraq has paid off with fully capable Iraqi security forces and a paradigm shift toward law and order that will allow for a long-term relationship between the two countries, the U.S. Forces Iraq deputy commanding general for advising and training Iraqi forces said today. Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero, the U.S. Forces Iraq deputy commanding general responsible for the training of Iraq’s armed forces and police, holds a press briefing at the Pentagon, June 18, 2010. Barbero said he is confident that Iraqi security forces will be ready to...

WASHINGTON, June 16, 2010 – A new university in Afghanistan will help to bring educational opportunities for the country’s security forces. "The desire for a self-sustaining, self-sufficient Afghan national security force is what led NATO Training Mission Afghanistan to one of our top priorities: leader development," Jack Kem, deputy to the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan commander, said during a "DoD Live" bloggers roundtable yesterday. "Afghan Defense University will be the leader development institution for Afghanistan [and] the capstone for the Afghan security education system," Kem added. The university, being built on a 105-acre site in the Afghan capital of Kabul,...

NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The Female Engagement Team of Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team met with the Mohmand Dara District sub-governor and local leaders to discuss training opportunities for women in the Hazar Naw Village district, March 1. The meeting was the third in a series of meetings with International Security Assistance Forces to discuss training opportunities for women. The women were informed of a future project that would teach them how to make soaps lead by the Department of Women’s Affairs. This was also an opportunity for women to bring up more ideas for improvements and voice their concerns on...

BAGHDAD, March 25, 2009 – The Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq unveiled two initiatives March 21 that will expand Iraqi businesswomen’s ability to gain work with the division. GRD officials announced the initiatives at the division-hosted Women-Owned Business and the Future Conference in Baghdad’s Al-Rasheed Hotel. From left, Azza Humadi, program manager, Women’s Advocate Initiative; Iraqi Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Mikhael; and Lt. Col. Sandra Rodriguez-Brown, Joint Contracting Command Iraq and Afghanistan’s director of business development and outreach program, speak at the Women-owned Business and the Future Conference at Baghdad’s Al-Rasheed Hotel, March...

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2009 – U.S. forces in Iraq are contributing to the health and welfare of Iraqis through events such as medical outreaches and business and job fairs. Booths at an “opportunity fair” that focused on agriculture businesses in Iraq’s Wasit province make educational materials available, Feb. 28, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Two soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team are proving that even small-scale efforts go a long way. Army Capt. Candi Darst and Army Spc. Nicholas Pieper, assigned to the 27th...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 21, 2008 – He has been living in the United States since 1993, when he was 7 years old and his parents moved from Guatemala to escape a civil war and the dangers of the violent drug trade. Army Spc. Noe Barrientos, who hails from Corpus Christi, Texas, gives the thumbs-up signal as he prepares to head out from Camp Liberty, Iraq, on a mission, Aug. 13, 2008. Barrientos is a combat engineer with the 836th Sapper Company, 890th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Multinational Division Baghdad. U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Patrick Moore, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click...