Free Republic

Zombie aficionados debate whether the living dead should be fast- or slow-moving. But there's no denying that the Zombie Apocalypse Stock Portfolio — companies that should do well in a zombie outbreak — has been lightning-fast. The zombie portfolio of seven stocks — SolarCity (SCTY), Generac (GNRC), Sturm Ruger (RGR), Smith & Wesson (SWHC), Cabela's (CAB), GNC (GNC) and Pall Corp. (PLL) — has soared by 230% since "The Walking Dead" premiered on Oct. 31, 2010. That compares to 50% for the S&P 500 index. So far this year, the Zombie Apocalypse Stock Portfolio has jumped 63% vs. the S&P...

Four days before Halloween, on Sunday morning, October 27, 2013, terrorists in Mexico's Michoacan state blacked out the electric grid, leaving some 420,000 powerless and thirteen dead. That same Sunday night, National Geographic aired the docudrama American Blackout. This fictionalized account of a cyber attack on the electric grid depicts some of the horrific consequences of a nationwide blackout lasting 10 days.

For some investors, it feels a lot more like 1999 than 2013. Third-quarter earnings have not been spectacular. The U.S. isn't expected to grow at anything close to breakneck speed next year. And there are few industries experiencing huge profit expansions. Despite all that, a number of high-profile—mostly technology—stocks are soaring. The heady advances are making shareholders of these companies big money, but they're also raising serious questions among some analysts about whether the unusual trading is a troublesome sign for the overall market. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record on Tuesday, but closed up just...

WASHINGTON — Inflation is widely reviled as a kind of tax on modern life, but as Federal Reserve policy makers prepare to meet this week, there is growing concern inside and outside the Fed that inflation is not rising fast enough. Some economists say more inflation is just what the American economy needs to escape from a half-decade of sluggish growth and high unemployment. The Fed has worked for decades to suppress inflation, but economists, including Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Fed starting next year, have long argued that a little inflation is particularly valuable when the...

EXCLUSIVE: Terry McAuliffe has promised voters he is committed to transparency, but in the final days of a Virginia governor’s race he leads, the Democrat has steadfastly refused to explain a complicated financial arrangement involving several family trusts and a union-owned insurance and investment company. For the arrangement... Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/24/mcauliffe-silent-on-union-connected-loan/#ixzz2ijYL0ikj Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

"The question is not tapering. The question is at what point will they increase the asset purchases to say $150 [billion] , $200 [billion], a trillion dollars a month," Faber said in a " Squawk Box " interview. The Fed-which is currently buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month-will hold its October meeting next week to deliberate the future of its asset purchases known as quantitative easing . (Read more: Treasury yields will still spike to 5%: Societe Generale ) Faber has been predicting so-called "QE infinity" because "every government program that is introduced under urgency and as a...

The barriers to urban farming don't end at zoning ordinances and neighborhood politics. Not everyone has rooftop access, and arable lots can be far and few between. City soil often contains chemicals and contaminants, like lead. Sometimes the air is just as dirty as the dirt. And like traditional farming, there are seasons to deal with. You simply can't grow tomatoes in an outdoor garden in the middle of winter. Those aren't reasons to stop outdoor urban farming, but they do make it difficult to scale the model up. But what if you didn't need dirt? Or much water? Or...

If you ever wondered why we recommend prepping, and stockpiling food and emergency supplies, one look at what happened this weekend Springhill and Mansfield, LA should tell you everything you need to know – and will give you a glimpse at what this country will look like during a nationwide crisis. Over the weekend, the debit system that allows people on government assistance to buy food, temporarily went down. The resulting chaos is a small glimpse at what I believe will happen, should the government plunge this country into some sort of economic collapse. A couple of Walmarts in Louisiana...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)MONTEBELLO, Calif. - There's nothing new about predictions that the end of the world is upon us. But there's plenty new about how some people are preparing for it. What began as a pipe dream for Ron Hubbard has become big business...underground "We call this the backyard bunker," Hubbard said as he showed us one of his survival shelters. These days, the fear market is booming. "I can't build them fast enough right now," he said. "It's better to have a shelter 10 years early than five minutes late." But unlike those Cold War-era concrete bunkers with just the basics,...

Mimicking the 'bump fire' technique that can be utilized to fire a semi-auto rifle nonstop (from the hip), a new $6000 rifle from Slide-Fire keeps the stock (and your trigger finger) steady while the rest of the gun moves with the recoil, pulling the trigger against your stationary finger and producing the desired hail of gunfire...  The weapon utilizes loopholes in federal firearms law, whereas the stock of such a gun is simply not regulated as to it's movement/or lack of, nor how this is now being utilized to produce a full-auto effect... just the traditional mechanical elements of...

1). Don't go to stupid places with stupid people to do stupid things. Simple but often ignored. Listen, we do not live in a fair world where everyone respects everyone else. Nor where everyone gets along. You may in fact be totally color-blind in a socio-ethnic sort of way, but not everyone is. So even if your liberal sociology professor thinks it is a cool thing to take a stroll at midnight through a ethnically homogenous part of town (different ethnicity that you), it is still a stupid idea. 2). Always have a method to defend yourself. Even if it...

For nearly 35 years I've lived in Montgomery County, MD, about 25 miles outside of DC. It's a beautiful place and in some ways I will always love it, but as most Freepers know, Maryland has been dominated by Democrats and has become almost uninhabitably liberal and expensive. Taxes, regulation, overzealous penetration into one's private life, crime, crowding, and traffic have made life here very difficult for a conservative. For many years I have told myself that as soon as my children were grown and I was free to do so, I'd sell my suburban house and move to rural...

Knowledge is something that takes time to develop, so we need to start teaching the next generation now. In case God forbid, our children are left to fend for themselves or we are injured or even just to make your family more apt to survive, every child must learn these survival skills so they can pull their own weight and contribute as much as they can. If yourfamily learns now to be a well oiled machine, you will be more likely to survive any type of collapse. Grow vegetables from seedsHave local edible and medicinal plant foraging skillsKnowledge of dietary...

When it hits the fan America’s population centers will explode in violence, looting, and total breakdown of law and order. It’s a theory put forth by numerous survival and relocation specialists, and one that makes complete sense if you consider what happens in a truly serious collapse-like scenario. Survival Blog founder James Rawles calls them the golden horde: Because of the urbanization of the U.S. population, if the entire eastern or western power grid goes down for more than a week, the cities will rapidly become unlivable. I foresee that there will be an almost unstoppable chain of events: Power...

Some special operations medics in Afghanistan now have a new device that helps save soldiers with the most common cause of preventable death in combat: a traumatic pelvic wound. Unlike a hemorrhage in the arm or leg where a tourniquet can be used to shut off bleeding, there was no way until recently to do the same for wounds in the lower torso, which can kill a person in a matter of minutes. It was “a noted capability gap on the battlefield: How do we treat bleeding where we can’t use tourniquets?” said John Croushorn, a former Army doctor. After...

Walmart (WMT) reported earnings of $1.24 a share this morning on revenues of $116.2 billion. Analysts had been expecting $1.25 on $118.5 billion. Sales in stores open more than a year declined 0.3%. Walmart also guided lower for the full year citing a "challenging sales and operating environment." The stock is off sharply and at risk of going negative for the last 52 weeks. Those are the numbers, but not the whole story. Walmart is the thermometer of the American economy. Disregard the government data. Jobs and GDP and all the rest are at best inaccurate measures of the economy...

When I was channel surfing, I came across this show and it looked and sounded ridiculous. But once you give it a chance, it really draws you in. Contestants (1 named mand and 1 naked woman as a team) are dropped off in a remote and harsh location and are given nothing except 1 item which they can bring along. They must surviive using nothing but those items and their cunning for 21 days. Give it a chance. I am hooked.

Campers and preppers : I'm finding these chafing heaters at 99 cent stores. They will burn for 2 hours with enough heat to cook a small meal.

Though most Americans go through their day thinking everything is now returning to normal, the fact of the matter is the situation is anything but stable. With crime rates skyrocketing, home prices dropping to under $500 for a house, and the local government out of solutions, the city of Detroit is the latest to join the likes of Stockton, California, having just defaulted on its loans from creditors. Despite promises to the contrary, it should come as no surprise that the city is unable to meet its obligations. And it won’t be the last. City and state governments all over...

FReepers, want to know how you can prepare? Start rucking. But 101stAirborneVet, I was never in the military! What is "rucking"? Explained here, it is essentially walking quickly, over rough terrain, with a load on your back. But 101stAirborneVet, why in the world would I want to do that? How is that helping me to "prepare"? One of the basic tasks (if not the basic task) of a person who finds themselves in a combat situation is to move. That means getting from point A to point B, usually with supplies/ammo/weapons/correspondence/food/water, as quickly as possible. If you can’t get yourself...