Free Republic

As Cyber Monday draws near and debate continues about the Stop Online Piracy Act, the U.S. government has again seized a bevy of domain names it says belong to Web sites that deal in counterfeit goods. Blog TorrentFreak ran a list of more than 130 domains it said were seized by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security's Immigrations and Customs Enforcement division as part of "Operation in Our Sites." TorrentFreak called the move the largest such round of seizures to date.

Is it me or are we really going to hell in a hand basket? I'm sick of of all the BS and why don't we all do TAKE BACK AMERICA rally in the the October 2012 time frame? Seriously.. We had the Tea Party, we had gathering of Eagles, we had the Glen Beck, rally, why noy a SERIOUS TAKE BACK AMERICA RALLY in October 2012? Bring the silent majority to the front, HAMMER the opposition just before the elections?

As every major developed economy hits Bass's Keynesian Endgame, the status quo is set to change dramatically. Nowhere is this climax playing out louder than in Europe and the implicit solution of Germany-uber-alles (while seemingly inevitable though nevertheless lengthy in execution) is likely to not sit well with many of the EMU nations. To wit, The Telegraph today reports that Britain's Foreign Office is advising its overseas embassies to draw up plans to help expats should the collapse of the Euro turn explosive. Almost incredibly, a senior minister has revealed that Britain is now planning on the basis that a...

Around the country, night workers at Walmart stores are being told to come in five hours early ON Thanksgiving. After having work until 7am that morning, they must get whatever sleep they can and then reutrn to work at 5pm for a 12 hour shift. How much time does this leave for them to spend the holiday with their family? Walmart wants to call their employees associates. No, they are just workers.

􀂃 In the Republican race for the presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich’s support continues to slowly grow, and he is now tied with Mitt Romney for second place, while Herman Cain just edges both of them out for the top spot. Both Cain and Romney have lost support since late October. 􀂃 61% of Republican primary voters say the sexual harassment accusations against Cain won’t make any difference in their vote, but 30% say the charges make them less likely to back him, and that rises to 38% among women. Cain has lost support among women since last month – from...

What is everyone's favorite Thanksgiving Recipe and/or Tradition?

MARKETS DESTROYED AROUND THE WORLD: Here's What You Need To Know Joe Weisenthal Sep. 22, 2011, 3:59 PM But first, the scoreboard: Dow: -387.37 NASDAQ: -79.69 S&P 500: -36.19 And now, the top stories: * The "day" really started yesterday around 2:20 when the FOMC released its highly anticipated "Operation Twist" announcement. Markets were already down modestly heading into that, but the selloff got serious after that, and stocks really fell out of bed. To some extent, the selling was a "sell-the-new" kind of thing, and perhaps to some extent some were disappointed that Bernanke didn't go further. Alongside the...

Fires broke out across Central Texas Sunday. The hot, dry, windy conditions made the job that much harder for firefighters. Authorities say 14,000 acres have burned in Bastrop, destroying 300 homes. The fire is near FM 1441 and Highway 21. People in the areas of Wilderness Ridge, Cedar Creek and Alan Creek were evacuated. Four shelters have been set up in the Bastrop area for evacuees. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 acres of 6,500-acre Bastrop State Park have been burned in the ongoing Bastrop County wildfire. Another fire on Griffin League Ranch is moving south and forced the evacuation of...

how did you convince your spouse to be a prepper? (and not think you're nuts) Post your interesting , amusing , and/or somber antecdotes here. IE: I convinced her the money saved on growing food could be used for some killer pedicures.

Editor's Note: The writer is the author of "A Time to Betray," a book about his double life as a CIA agent in Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Iran is warning Israel that its citizens should flee the Middle East or face annihilation. The chief commander of Iran's Basiji forces, Brig. Gen. Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, recently stated that Iran has no option but to destroy Israel. Ratcheting up the war of words, Naghdi is now threatening Israelis in the "occupied lands" that they are surrounded by mujahedeen of Islam bent on their destruction. "I quote our supreme leader, Imam Khamenei, who clearly stated...

FULL TITLE: Moving on and out: Anthony Weiner and pregnant wife Huma finally sell Queens apartment as they prepare for first child As the Weiners try to put the year's events behind them, it was only natural their marital home - Anthony Weiner's former sexting headquarters - should be one of the first to go. Thankfully for the couple, after putting their Queen's two-bedroom apartment back on the market - after quietly taking it off during the scandal - they have finally found a buyer. Their 875-square-foot home on Ascan Avenue was listed at $449,000 in June.

NASA head Charles Bolden issued a weekend statement through the NASA Headquarters of Emergency Operations advising employees and their families to prepare for unforeseen emergency and/or disasters. Some key excerpts from the video statement follow: They've given me a few minutes just to talk to all of you in our NASA family about emergency preparedness. NASA recently participated in a FEMA exercise called Eagle Horizon that was a part of a continuity of operations of government exercise that we do annually, and I became aware of some things that concerned me about family preparedness... ... So, what I'm asking all...

In 2006, I examined a series of surveys we conducted nationwide and then predicted a collapse of the housing market. Plenty others followed with similar forecasts and postmortems over the following months and years. But my column was among the first. I've made predictions about other slowdowns in the American economy. I've been mostly correct, although in 2010, I suggested that the stock market ultimately would plunge. Turned out that it climbed instead of descending. The fact is that it's easier to predict the weather next month than to get an accurate read on the future of the stock market....

That birds fly and pigs don't is a consequence of laws of nature governing physics and biology. Nothing that transpires on physical planet Earth is any different: the laws of nature are inviolate. Always. [1] This is a truism, and should be readily apparent, as it indeed often is in indigenous cultures where people are entirely dependent on natural forces and what is close at hand. But this truism is rendered invisible by technological and bureaucratic power, the delusional quality of human exceptionalism, and the complexity of civilizations, especially but not exclusively of recent industrialized civilization. That is, we have...

Democrats are preparing a spirited defense of the healthcare law in the face of Republican efforts to dismantle it. Statements from lawmakers, advocates and the administration reveal a multi-pronged strategy as Democrats prepare to deal with a new Republican-controlled House that has made repealing the new law a top priority. Democrats say they'll use the repeal debate to detail what they call the law's benefits, while simultaneously attacking Republicans for wasting time — and money — refighting old battles and pushing back on court rulings against it. Ways and Means health subpanel Chairman Pete Stark (D-Calif.) unveiled

Those nagging whispers warning that the United States is heading for an Argentina-like currency crisis are getting louder. The prospect of a prolonged devaluation of the US dollar is just one more challenge in what has already been a difficult period for savers and investors. Have we really reached the point where the greenback is in danger of becoming an “also ran” currency? (Snip) This correction has already started as millions of unemployed Americans can attest. The Federal Reserve has conceded that unemployment will remain elevated through 2011.

Passengers aboard a British Airways flight were stricken with fear after hearing a false announcement warning them their flight to Hong Kong from London was going to crash. As the flight flew over the North Sea on August, 24 passengers heard this message echo through the cabin: “This is an emergency. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water.” Reports the Sun newspaper of London: Michelle Lord, 32, of Preston, Lancs, said: “People were terrified, we all thought we were going to die. They said the pilot hit the wrong button because they were so close together.”...

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del., March 9, 2010 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy Toro slides ribbons onto a rack, then clips the rack onto a brand-new dress uniform, the finishing touch on a lengthy process to ensure the proper medals and decorations are in place. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy Toro measures the distance between an insignia and ribbon rack while preparing a uniform at the uniform shop of the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Feb. 23, 2010. Toro prepares uniforms for fallen soldiers’ remains. DoD photo by Elaine Wilson  (Click photo for...

3/2/2010 - HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) -- Holloman Air Force Base Airmen began the movement of approximately 150 truckloads of assets that will directly support joint and coalition forces in Afghanistan Feb. 24 here. Members of the 49th Materiel Maintenance Group, the Air Force's only Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources base, have been working countless hours to prepare the equipment for movement since they were notified of the tasking in December 2009. BEAR base is supplying 480,000 square feet of AM-2 matting that will be used to expand the expeditionary aircraft operations throughout Afghanistan. The amount of AM-2 matting...

In 2008, as the U.S. economy teetered under the weight of years of reckless credit expansion, the Bush administration decided against proposals to sweep out the bad debts from the banking system and then fix the regulatory structure—an approach based on tried and tested models from the S&L crisis and other financial crises. We will pay the price for this decision in 2010. That's because the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are plowing forward with Plan B: Nationalize credit creation and "stimulate" the private sector by spending in its stead.