What better time to buy than when the industry is in a slump? Remember the old saw "buy low, sell high".
The moment FR leaves a "non-commercial" status, it loses the fair use defense and leaves itself open to many legal and civil problems.
FreeRepublic ISP LLC. would be a completely separate legal entity from FreeRepublic.com LLC.
The donations are working. Why ruin a good thing?
More is better. If Jim and the Mrs. can put a few dollars in the bank, maybe take a cruise, and make donations to FreeRepublic.com from the ISP proceeds, so much the better.
I think you have to have MUCH bigger numbers to make a nationwide ISP financially viable.