Free Republic

Drug trafficking, gang wars, political instability, corruption, and poverty have combined to make Latin America by far the most homicidal region of the world. The region has 40% of the world's murders, despite having only 8 percent of the population, according to the U.N. The highest murder rate of all is in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with 169 homicides per 100,000 people, according to a study published earlier this year by Mexico's Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. The ranking is based on 2012 data, except for San Pedro Sula and Distrito Central in Honduras, where authorities would...

The World Economic Forum has issued its annual report on the gender gap worldwide, and it has received respectful notice from the usual places (PBS, CNN, The Washington Post). But any report that places the United States below Cuba, the Philippines and South Africa deserves a little skepticism. In fact, the WEF places the U.S. 23rd in the world, below the Scandinavian countries, and those just named, but also below Lesotho. What the heck are they measuring? Well, for one thing, the report examines the difference between men and women within countries, not the absolute welfare of women in one...

<p>In a recent study of U.S. presidents' personality traits, Lyndon Johnson ranked highest in grandiose narcissism.</p> <p>While it frequently gets a bad rap, grandiose narcissism may predict both positive and negative leadership behaviors, according to a group of researchers who published a paper in October in Psychological Science.</p>

What is the tallest building in America? It's One World Trade Center, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's Height Committee announced Tuesday, settling a debate between New York and Chicago over the tallest-building mantle. Critics had said the 408-foot spire atop the 1,776-foot One World Trade is an antennae and should not be counted. Without it, the building would measure 1,368 feet, or 83 feet shorter than Chicago's 1,451-foot Willis Tower. But architects for the yet-to-be-opened One World Trade Center say the spire is part of the building’s overall aesthetic appeal. The council agreed. "That crowning structure is...

One of the Democratic Party’s most accomplished operatives and ally of Hillary Clinton beat conservative Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia, ushering in two new post-election certainties. First, we will hear from Democrats how this means the repudiation of the anti-Obamacare efforts by Republicans and the endorsement of the President’s “stay the course” message. Second, the victory of Democrat Terry McAuliffe means that Republicans had better nominate candidates far more moderate in the 2014 election season, now begun. To be more specific. We conservatives – and this writer is certainly one – made two major mistakes and we had better learn our...

PolicyMic has a very interesting chart that shows how 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy. click on chart for huge image The chart was posted on Reddit as illusion of choice. I could not locate the original source. PolicyMic explains ... Ten mega corporations control the output of almost everything you buy; from household products to batteries. These corporations create the chain of supplies that flow from one another. Each chain begins at one of the 10 super companies. Here's just one example: Yum Brands owns KFC and Taco Bell. The company was a spin-off of Pepsi. All Yum...

Kelly first topped heavyweight Bill O’Reilly on the second night of her show on October 8 with 623,000 in the demo to The Factor’s 578,000. The spread wasn’t so big last night with O’Reilly drawing 433,000 among the 25-54s. Kelly won again with 376,000 to O’Reilly’s 343,000 on October 10 before settling into second place ever since. In total viewers, O’Reilly remained first last night with 2.96 million watching to Kelly’s 2.350 million. The Jeff Zucker-run cable network hit its lowest primetime time result among adults 25-54 in over a year Wednesday despite all the cable newers being up double...

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN TOPS FORBES’ 2013 RANKING OF THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE

Hard-line conservatives are rising out of the ashes of a weekslong government shutdown, emboldened by the possibility of adding to their ranks in the Senate next year — whether by picking up Democrat-held seats or taking out Republican incumbents.Just two Republican senators have lost in primaries in the last two election cycles, but that’s not stopping a growing number of intraparty challengers this cycle. Conservative third-party groups and candidates hope to give more backup to folks like Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, who led an effort to defund the health care law.The GOP brand overall...

"...more hilarious and quite questionable inventions that were sold to men. The funny thing about these products is that most are advertised with a money back guarantee. It makes me wonder how these companies ever made money...." .....; .....; .....;

Has Fox News Channel found the new queen of primetime cable news? In her second night on Fox News’ new primetime lineup, Megyn Kelly clocked the highest adults 25-54 rating across all of cable news, building on her Bill O’Reilly lead-in. Kelly averaged 623,000 demo viewers and 2.8 million viewers overall — and did it without Sen. Ted Cruz, her premiere-night big “get.” Compared to her maiden voyage in primetime the previous night Kelly’s show jumped 116% in the demo and 34% in overall audience. In so doing, she beat CNN’s Piers Morgan and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow combined — in...

Positive signs for first rejiggered Fox News primetime lineup in more than a decade Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File” handily beat rivals in total viewers, an auspicious start for the network’s first new primetime program in more than a decade, as well as its host, Megyn Kelly. According to early Nielsen totals, Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File” lured nearly 2.1 million viewers between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m,. Monday evening, compared with 997,466 for MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” and 529,946 for CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.” The figures could change slightly. MSNBC’s “Maddow” secured more viewers among audiences between...

1. Having a false sense of security. 2. Failing to get immediate family on board. 3. Ignoring the “boring” prepping areas. 4. Never actually using you preps. 5. Falling in love with your plan. 6. Telling acquaintances about your preps. 7. Buying large amounts of preps at once. 8. Ignoring OPSEC. 9. Completely depending on your preps. 10. Trying to do it all.

10) Only in America ... could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 a plate campaign fund-raising event. 9) Only in America ... could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population is black. 40+% of all federal entitlements goes to black Americans – 3X the rate that go to whites, 5X the rate that go to Hispanics! 8) Only in America ... could they have had the two...

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Note: Petroleum production includes crude oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, refinery processing gain, and other liquids, including biofuels. Barrels per day oil equivalent were calculated using a conversion factor of 1 barrel oil equivalent = 5.55 million British thermal units (Btu). The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States will be the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia. For the United States and Russia, total petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon production, in energy content terms, is almost evenly split between petroleum and natural...

Free Republic:October 6, 2013-U.S. Expected To Be Largest Producer of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hydrocarbons in 2013What are the ramifications of America's newly emergent status as the world's largest producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013?The conventional wisdom of America's preeminent status as global superpower being on the wane is a consensus difficult to deny even if one were to take the current wholly corrupt, dysfunctional, inept leadership out of the equation. It may very well be that the US economy has been irrevocably diminished, the reality of which would certainly take a toll on America's influence and...

Mormon is allegedly a prophet-historian who was the native American believed by Mormons to have written the Book of Mormon – the main religious text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism). Mormonism is a religion less than two centuries old, but in this short time it has managed to accrue a long list of embarrassments which the church leaders would prefer were kept silent. These embarrassments range from textual inaccuracies to scandals in the life of the founder, Joseph Smith. Of all religions, it’s difficult to believe this one has caught on given the long...

APPLE is the new most valuable brand in the world, according to a closely followed annual report. The report, to be released on Monday, is from Interbrand, a corporate identity and brand consulting company owned by the Omnicom Group that has been compiling what it calls the Best Global Brands report since 2000. The previous No. 1 brand, Coca-Cola, fell to No. 3. Not only has Apple replaced Coca-Cola as first among the 100 most valuable brands based on criteria that include financial performance, this is the first time that the soft drink known for slogans like “It’s the real...

2. “That just isn’t possible.” Always speak to your boss in terms of what can be done. For instance, rather than saying “We can’t get this done by Friday,” say “We could definitely get this done by Monday, or if we brought in some freelance help, we could meet the Friday deadline.” When you talk to your boss, think in terms of solving problems for her, not in terms of putting problems on her plate. 6. “It’s not my fault.” Are you a whiny 8-year-old or a take-charge professional? Assume responsibility and take steps to fix a problem that you...

Recently, Time magazine had an issue titled "The One Hundred Most Influential People Who Never Lived" where they ranked the most important fictional characters of all time such as Santa Claus, Kinta Kunta, Homer Simpson, etcetera. In your opinion, who are the five most influential fictional characters of all time?