Free Republic

If we keep talking about it, one day we might actually jinx Hormel's (HRL) stock -- but we're not there yet. Shares of the Austin, Minn., food company were up 1.6% Thursday to $36.74, a level that, if it holds, would be an all-time closing high. This came after the maker of Spam, bacon and canned chili raised its full-year profit forecast following a first quarter in which it met estimates of 48 cents a share. Sales of $2.12 billion were slightly under the $2.14 billion consensus.

BlackRock: It's Way Too Early To Worry About Inflation Sam RoFebruary 10, 2013, 8:20 AMThere's no shortage of people who are freaking out about inflation, thanks to the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy. However, convincing evidence of inflation has yet to appear in the economic data. Russ Koesterich, Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock, has a new post on the iShares blog titled When to Worry About Inflation. He says concerns of inflation are premature for at least two reasons (verbatim): 1.There is no wage inflation. Overall wage growth in the United States remains sluggish. The reason: The labor market is healing...

Prepare For The Coming Cyber Wars: US Government To Launch Pre-Emptive Cyber Strikes Robert Richardson February 5th, 2013 Off Grid Survival For years we have warned our readers about the dangers that a full scale cyber-attack could have on our infrastructure; now those dangers are even higher as the Federal Government prepares to launch Pre-emptive cyber strikes against rogue nations. According to the New York Times, President Barack Obama has just concluded a secret legal review of the administration’s new cyber war guidelines. The guidelines give President Obama the power to order pre-emptive cyber strikes to protect national security interests....

1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator. 2. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier. 3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste... and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have. 4. Yes, I really do look...

The coming new year brings intensified shipping difficulties for barge operators on the stretch of the Mississippi River just south of St. Louis. With ice on the river's northernmost stretch reducing water levels already seriously affected by the drought, traffic on the nation's largest waterway could come to a halt by Friday of next week. "While the drought is at the core of the current issues on the Mississippi, this situation also highlights the dire need for infrastructure improvements," said National Corn Growers Association Chairman Garry Niemeyer, a grower from Auburn, Ill. "At NCGA, we have been pushing for upgrades...

What Does It Mean To “Prepare For The Economic Collapse”? Daisy Luther December 24th, 2012 The Organic PrepperLast week I wrote an article in response to the media’s vilification of preppers in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. The article was quoted in an article on Yahoo.com, to my great astonishment, and that is when I saw how little most people understand about prepping. You can see in most of the 4492 comments the article received that many folks just don’t “get it”. My inbox was filled with a barrage of hate mail and a number of...

As believers across the globe prepare for the forecast Mayan apocalypse, a Chinese villager says he’s going to save humanity with his giant tsunami proof survival pods. The pods are made using a fiberglass casing over a steel frame, cost $48,000 each to make and are equipped with oxygen tanks, food and water supplies. They also come with seat belts – essential for surviving in storms. “The pod won’t have any problems even if there are 1,000 meter high waves, its like a ping pong ball, its skin may be thin but it can withstand a lot of pressure,” the...

The Coming Derivatives Panic That Will Destroy Global Financial Markets Stock-Markets / Financial CrashDec 05, 2012 - 04:24 AM By: John Rolls John Rolls Submits, Michael Snyder writes: When financial markets in the United States crash, so does the U.S. economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. The financial markets crashed, the credit markets froze up, and suddenly the economy went into cardiac arrest. Well, there are very few things that could cause the financial markets to crash harder or farther than a derivatives panic. Sadly, most Americans don't even understand what derivatives are. Unlike stocks and bonds, a...

Most preppers should be familiar with the ‘rule of three’ – this means having one main method of an important function and a backup for it and a backup of the backup. It doesn’t necessarily entail 3 versions of the same thing but distinctly different ways of accomplishing a priority task. In the case of personal security arrangements, the main or level 1 version would be firearms within easy reach within a structure. These would be the primary weapons used for hunting and defence. And while it’s been said that the time to hide weapons is the time to bring...

The Dallas Observer published a report1 recently that Texas has worst electric grid in the nation. This was based on a North American Electric Reliability Corp report2. That’s not very encouraging. They are also reporting that there is the possibility of rolling blackouts in 2013. For a couple of years I have had the interest in setting up a backup power system for home use. There is a mobile system that provides power for work a couple of times per month, and is a backup system when at home. It provided power for 2 freezers, a refrigerator and a fan...

Freedom Outpost has previously reported on the fact that gun sales represent at least one booming sector of the American economy since the re-election of Barak Obama. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to interpret that piece of data in terms of sociology: What must people be thinking? That’s a legitimate question, and it’s easy to think of an answer. Horror icon, Stephen King, has a theory that the same sort of “weather vane” indication of the public mood can be discerned from the popularity, or lack thereof, of current scary movies. In his nonfiction book about creating horror fiction, Danse...

Mississippi River barge operators and shipping groups on Tuesday asked U.S. President Barack Obama to declare a state of emergency on the river and direct the Army Corps of Engineers to keep the drought-lowered waterway open to commercial traffic to avert an "economic catastrophe." Water on the Mississippi River along the busy stretch from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois was expected to recede to record-low levels by mid-December, effectively halting the flow of barges that carry billions of dollars worth of grain, coal, steel, fuel and other products. In a letter to the White House and the Federal Emergency Management...

‘Gang fight’ at Black Friday sale… Man Punched in Face Pulls Gun On Line-Cutting Shopper…Shots fired outside WALMART…Shoppers smash through door at URBAN OUTFITTERS…Customers run over in parking lot… [Scroll down -TSR]Woman busted after throwing merchandise…Thousands storm VICTORIA’S SECRET…VIDEO: Insane battle over phones… [Theme from "Superjail" started to run through my head as I watched this -TSR]Mayhem at Nebraska mall where 9 murdered in 2007…Shoplifter tries to mace security guards… [Scroll down -TSR]Men Steal Boy’s Shopping Bag Outside BED, BATH & BEYOND…

What's in your bug out bag? My eldest calls them Good bags, Get out of Dodge. My second daughter (see home page) calls it her apocalypse crate, a rubber maid container filled with all the stuff she'll need, and has it in her car. It has all her old army stuff that couldn't be returned. For example, gas masks, mre's etc. Ours has the normal stuff, blankets, food, flashlights, water, clothes, fire, ammo, etc. It might be a good thread to have input, suggestions, what's good, what's frivolous.

[Note: This editorial published on Nov 10, 2012] We are now rushing down a course that is going to create incredible economic hardships for millions of Americans. The increase in the amount of debt that has been added to our economy is astronomical. And there is no end in sight. We now have over $16 trillion of debt, and with Obama’s policies it will be almost impossible to reverse that course. Debt is the problem. Big debt is a big problem. There are only four ways to tackle it: increase taxes to bring in more dollars, reduce spending to save...

On a clear morning in May, Ron Douglas left his home in exurban Denver, eased into his Toyota pickup truck and drove to a business meeting at a Starbucks. Douglas, a bearded bear of a man, ordered a venti double-chocolate-chip Frappuccino — “the girliest drink ever,” he called it — and then sat down to discuss the future of the growing survivalist industry. The fact that Douglas not only told me where he lives but also invited me to visit him would be considered a huge mistake by many in the prepping world. Revealing your location runs the risk of...

Just saw this in breitbart.com. You may want to check your gas can supply.

I am considering picking up a slingshot, or wrist rocket for plinking and possibly hunting small game. I thought I would solicit the advice and commentary of my esteemed fellow FReepers on the subject. I am especially interested in your thoughts on the type of device to purchase and on ammo. I am thinking of something a bit more sophisticated than a forked stick, old bike inner tube and rocks.

How do you know when government is broken and rife with incompetence? A good indicator could be when Federally managed workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are lining up for food handed out by an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy Sandy. Last week, FEMA shut down its New York centers set up to respond the devastation caused by superstorm Sandy because of… bad weather. This left a disaster aid void that was filled by independent volunteer groups, including Occupy Sandy. Many residents in the region reported feeling abandoned by the Federal helpers sent to aid them....

The Ebola virus can spread through the air from pigs to macaques, a new study suggests. Transmission of the virus — which causes an often fatal hemorrhagic fever in people and primates — was thought to require direct contact with body fluids from an infected animal or person. But in the new study, published online November 15 in Scientific Reports, piglets infected with Ebola passed the virus to macaques housed in the same room even though the animals never touched. “The evidence that the virus got from a pig to a monkey through a respiratory route is good,” says Glenn...