Free Republic

Falling circulations and shrinking advertising revenues have forced dozens of newspapers to close down their presses over the last three years. Among that many, a brave few -- eleven since 2007, by Erica Smith of Paper Cut's count -- have decided to go where the readership and advertising is moving - online We decided to check in on them to see how they're faring. With a few notable exceptions, it wasn't pretty.

The coup in Honduras -- the first in Latin America in 16 years -- is being condemned by practically everyone, especially leaders of neighbouring countries who don't want the same thing happening to them. That includes Venezuela's nasty Hugo Chavez. Until relatively recently, coups d'etat were almost a traditional way of changing governments in some countries. After all, President Manuel Zelaya was guilty of only wanting to stay in office longer than the Constitution allows, and sought to have a referendum to change the Constitution to permit him to seek another term. A true democrat. When the Honduras Supreme Court,...

Anchorage, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin will ceremonially sign House Bill 172 in Anchorage Wednesday afternoon. HB 172, sponsored by the governor, allows the Department of Revenue to enter into a bond purchase agreement and letter of credit with the Alaska Student Loan Corp to finance student loans. Without this action, the state would have been unable to make student loans for the upcoming school year.

Milan (AsiaNews) – Four weeks have passed since American bonds were confiscated from two Japanese who were travelling on a direct train to Chiasso, Switzerland, and while there has been clarification of some points, very few, Italian authorities have remained silent on the rest of the episode. In addition, a strange coincidence in the timing of the arrest of a director of an internet radio who had made revelations regarding the incident increases the already strong oddities surrounding the case. This added to the revaluation of the fact that among the evidence seized there were "Kennedy Bond" all points toward...

Documents Detail Case for Walpin's Dismissal Documents delivered to lawmakers this week expose a frequently confrontational and petty relationship over the past several years between officials at the Corporation for National and Community Service and the group's inspector general, Gerald Walpin. President Obama fired the Bush appointee last month, citing a lack of confidence. Former Corporation for National and Community Service Inspector General Gerald Walpin. (AP)Lawmakers almost immediately raised concerns with the dismissal, suggesting the White House failed to follow proper procedure in removing the Bush appointee and did not provide adequate reasons for the dismissal. The White House outlined...

Each Sunday afternoon in May, Gov. Mark Sanford and his wife hosted five other couples at the executive mansion for a spiritual "boot camp." Topics discussed during the hour-and-a-half-long sessions included forgiveness and "not loving your wife as Christ loved the church." The Culbertsons have a waiting list for their boot camps, which they’ve held for about four years. They often hold the Bible study groups at their spacious colonial house overlooking Lake Katherine. The Sanfords asked to take part and even offered the governor’s mansion as a meeting place. Culbertson said the course is "pretty intense." He quizzes prospective...

Autographed photo of Smith and Andylenny, abroad. In airport. I want to thank all of the eBay community for their support in my last five auctions. Thank you for taking the time to write to me (I still haven't had time to answer everyone) and for your bids. I also want to thank everyone at WorldNetDaily for their continued coverage of my five previous auctions. I want to thank freerepublic.com, as well. I want to thank everyone that forwarded news of my auctions to others, digitally or by spoken word. I want to thank all the attorneys as well as...

Meet the "wonder weapon" that could have won the war for Hitler. Called the Horten 229, the radical "flying wing" fighter-bomber looked and acted a lot like the U.S. Air Force's current B-2 — right down to the "stealth" radar-evading characteristics. Fortunately for the world, the Ho 229 wasn't put into mass production before Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945. But American researchers boxed up and shipped home the prototypes and partially-built planes that existed — and now the same company that builds the B-2 has rebuilt one.

The Woodlands (Tx) Tea Party event is scheduled for Thursday, July 2nd from 5:00PM to 9:00PM, to be held at the Longhorn Convention Center in Conroe, TX. Thats out by the Fairgrounds on the northeast side of town. I was proud to attend the first Woodlands Tea Party on April 15th. Like everyone else, I was so impressed by the turnout. We were expecting 600-800 people, and 7,000 showed up! For those Freepers out there who live north of Houston, come join us! More information can be found at www.thewoodlandsteaparty.com and for those of you who Facebook, look for the...

There has been some curious confusion, even among some conservatives, about whether Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be pro-abortion. Judge Sotomayor is President Obama’s pick to replace pro-abortion Justice David Souter. There should be no confusion. If Ben Franklin were around today, he would have to amend his famous saying on death and taxes to say: “Nothing is certain except death, taxes, and that Judge Sotomayor is pro-abortion.”Although most non-lawyers cannot name possible Supreme Court nominees, there is a long vetting process that begins years before nominations are made. There are groups of legal advocates, both liberal and conservative, that thoroughly...

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye's staff contacted federal regulators last fall to ask about the bailout application of an ailing Hawaii bank that he had helped to establish and where he has invested the bulk of his personal wealth. The bank, Central Pacific Financial, was an unlikely candidate for a program designed by the Treasury Department to bolster healthy banks. The firm's losses were depleting its capital reserves. Its primary regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., already had decided that it didn't meet the criteria for receiving a favorable recommendation and had forwarded the application to a council that reviewed marginal...

Officially, there is no proof of voter fraud in Iran. But an analysis of the election results tells a different story. As far as the Iranian regime is concerned, the controversy over the presidential election result is over. The Guardian Council announced Monday that a recount of 10 percent of the vote offered no proof of voter fraud. The three defeated candidates had protested what they said was massive fraud; their claim was supported by hundreds of thousands of citizens who took to the streets in an unprecedented anti-government protest. All in vain, it turns out. Even after the partial...

Barack Obama will lobby for nuclear disarmament and a fresh start in relations with Russia during his first visit to Moscow as president next week. But little concrete progress is expected -- the hosts fear America's overtures are a trap aimed at further reducing Russia's global influence. John Beyrle, Washington's man in Moscow, would never have seen the light of day if it hadn't been for a group of decent Red Army soldiers. "My father always saw the Russians as a people that saved his life," the US ambassador recalls. "They could simply have shot him dead." Beyrle's father had...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Iranians that U.S. President Barack Obama has “removed his mask” and has revealed “the real face of the American people.” He charged that President Obama offered to negotiate with Iran but has not kept true to his word.

Watchdogs are an endangered species in the Age of Obama. The latest government ombudsman to get the muzzle: Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold. The longtime veteran employee was abruptly "retired" this month -- just as the government-subsidized rail service faces mounting complaints about its meddling in financial audits and probes. Question the timing? Hell, yes. On June 18, Weiderhold met with Amtrak officials to discuss the results of an independent report by the Washington, D.C., law firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher. The 94-page report has been made publicly available through the office of whistleblower advocate Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. It...

Reuters) – Citigroup Inc has increased interest rates on up to 15 million U.S. credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises come into effect, the Financial Times reported citing people close to the situation. Citigroup had upped rates on 13 million to 15 million credit cards it co-brands with retailers such as Sears, the paper said.

# CONFERENZA STAMPA DI MARTEDÌ 7 LUGLIO 2009 Si informano i giornalisti accreditati che martedì 7 luglio 2009, alle ore 11.30, nell’Aula Giovanni Paolo II della Sala Stampa della Santa Sede, avrà luogo la Conferenza Stampa di presentazione dell’Enciclica del Santo Padre Benedetto XVI dal titolo: "Caritas in veritate". Interverranno: Em.mo Card. Renato Raffaele Martino, Presidente del Pontificio Consiglio della Giustizia e della Pace; Em.mo Card. Paul Josef Cordes, Presidente del Pontificio Consiglio "Cor Unum"; S.E. Mons. Giampaolo Crepaldi, Segretario del Pontificio Consiglio della Giustizia e della Pace; Prof. Stefano Zamagni, Professore ordinario di Economia Politica all’Università di Bologna, Consultore...

Only the Senate and House Republicans can save Barack Obama now by compromising and lending his extremist legislation the veneer of bipartisanship in order to remove it as a political issue. If the likes of Sens. Olympia Snow, Susan Collins, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and others refuse to go along with Obama on health care and on cap and trade, they will force him to pass both programs as one-party bills. Not only is it possible that, as public support runs out on these measures, he will fail even to get 50 votes to approve them, it is likely that...

The Nebraska man who abandoned his nine children under the state's Safe Haven law last year is expecting to become the father of twins, FOXNews.com has learned. > Kathie Osterman, a spokeswoman for Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services, said the Staton family had received more than $995,000 in government aid as of last fall, including an estimated $600,000 in food stamps and more than $100,000 in Medicaid. >

The 1,400-page cap-and-trade legislation pushed through by House Democrats contains a new federal policy that residential, commercial, and government buildings be retrofitted to increase energy efficiency, leaving it up to the states to figure out exactly how to do that. This means that homeowners, for example, could be required to retrofit their homes to meet federal “green” guidelines in order to sell their homes, if the cap-and-trade bill becomes law. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, directs the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement a national policy for residential and commercial buildings. The...