Free Republic

Libor rates are calculated for different currencies each day under the auspices of the British Bankers' Association, using quotes that are submitted by banks on a panel, based on the banks' estimated borrowing costs. More than $800 trillion in securities and loans are linked to Libor, including $350 trillion in swaps and $10 trillion in loans, including auto and home loans, according to the CFTC. No other banks or individuals have been charged with wrongdoing. Banks that have disclosed they are being investigated include Citigroup Inc., C +3.72% Deutsche Bank AG, DBK.XE +2.02% HSBC Holdings HBC +1.00% PLC, J.P. Morgan...

Look who jumped on the Miami Heat bandwagon! Oprah Winfrey got to hold the NBA Finals trophy yesterday at the Triple A when she sat down with the Heat’s Big Three for a locker room chat about their winning ways.

I will not address the scientific grounds for circumcision (which among other things drastically reduces the transmission of infections including AIDS), because your decree has nothing to do with science. Rather, as Heinrich Heine wrote in 1844 of your city of Cologne, Dummheit und Bosheitbuhltenhier GleichHunden auf freierGasse; Die Enkelbruterkennt man nochheut An ihremJudenhasse. (Stupidity and evil mated here / Like dogs in the open gutter / You still can recognize their descendants today / By their Jew-hatred).

SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE: THE COMMUNIST DREAM AND THE SOVIET REALITY 19 December 2008 The utopian ideal of equality of circumstances has captured people’s imagination since ancient times. If only everybody could have the same of everything the world would be different. There would be no envy, no crime, no poverty, no greed, and no unhappiness. From Plato to Karl Marx, many thinkers looked to the state for the creation of that heaven on earth. In our own times, this dream has remained alive in the form of the welfare state, and today it shows itself most distinctly in the appeal...

Together with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol, we announced on June 20 passage of the Crime Gun Identification Act of 2012 that would require all new semiautomatic handguns sold in New York State, by 2014, to be microstamped with a unique code which is transferred to shell casings when the gun is fired. “Microstamping is a technological advancement that will not only help law enforcement officials investigate gun-related crimes, but will also act as a prevention tool to combat gun trafficking and reduce gun violence across New York,” said Silver. “Gun violence has caused great...

Pixar just released its 13th number one opening movie in a row, Brave . Most people associate Pixar with blockbuster animations. Most people don’t realize, however, that two of the secrets behind Pixar’s success are capitalism and clean fun. Capitalism Capitalism is the foundation that allows Pixar films to come into existence. Without a free market—where small film studios can compete with global giants—we would still be watching ho-hum Disney films. Because of capitalism, Pixar (a startup with loads of talent) was able to compete with Disney (a giant resting on its laurels) as an equal. Steve Jobs (the late...

UPDATE: A 20-year-old suspect who was shot Friday night while trying to hold up a Katy-area restaurant is expected to be charged with aggravated robbery, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said. The suspect was taken to an area hospital in stable condition after being shot by the manager at Cici’s Pizza, 3154 N. Fry Road, Deputy Thomas Gilliland said. The 20-year-old, whose name was not immediately released, and another man entered the restaurant’s back door about 10:35 p.m. Friday as an employee was taking out trash at the end of the night, Gilliland said. The would-be robbers...

Senator Charles Grassley got furious fast over the Justice Department’s dismissive attitude about the House of Representatives’ criminal contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder, and his call for independent action by the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. will likely earn accolades from western gun rights activists. Grassley will be far more popular than a Kent man who was sentenced in federal court in Seattle Friday for selling a gun via the internet later used in a murder, and probably more popular than the judge who handed down the sentence, for something he said in court, according to the Seattle...

New York’s biggest investment houses are shifting jobs out of the area and expanding in cheaper locales in the United States, threatening the vast middle tier of positions that form the backbone of employment on Wall Street. The shift comes even as banks consider deeper staff cuts here, which could undermine the state and city tax base long term. “Places like New York or London will remain financial centers, but most of the players are taking a much harder look and asking whether they can move large numbers of jobs,” said James Malick, a partner at the Boston Consulting Group...

The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision upholding the Obama administration's health care legislation was a victory for the president, his administration and his party. Their most ambitious legislative achievement has not been nullified, and they are not left in obvious disarray. But it is only a partial victory and in some ways not a victory at all, both in the short run electorally and in the long run in terms of the constitutional order. Politically Obamacare, as its critics call it, remains highly unpopular. It's possible that the court decision will boost its support, but unlikely. Most voters want this law...

The White House is encouraging congressional Democrats to go on the offensive after the Supreme Court upheld the president's signature healthcare legislation Thursday, urging members on the campaign trail to "illustrate how the President and Democrats in Congress are standing up for the middle class." -snip Plouffe argues. "The President refuses to settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by."

Nightmare On Wall Street: This Secular Bear Has Only Just Begun By Ed Easterling of Crestmont Research July 2, 2012 Secular bull markets are great parties. Investors arrive from secular bears really wanting to take the edge off. As the bull proceeds, above-average returns become intoxicating. By the time it is over, the past decade or two has delivered bountiful returns. In contrast, secular bears seem like hangovers. They are awakenings that strip away the intoxication, leaving a sobering need for an understanding of what has happened. Conventional wisdom explains these periods as irrational or coincidental periods. In reality, secular...

Congress has inflicted frightful punishments on its members--now you know that. When they tried Mr. Fairoaks, and a cloud of witnesses proved him to be--well, you know what they proved him to be--and his own testimony and his own confessions gave him the same character, what did Congress do then?....Congress intimated plainly enough, that they considered him almost a stain upon their body; and without waiting ten days, hardly, to think the thing over, they rose up and hurled at him a resolution declaring that they disapproved of his conduct! Now you know that. –Colonel Beriah Sellers, The Gilded Age,...

Over Half of All Obamacare Waivers Given to Union Members Mark Hemingway May 16, 2011 9:20 AM In what is fast becoming a weekly event, the Obama administration granted 200 more companies waivers from the Democrats' sweeping health care law in the Friday night news dump. That brings the number of companies receiving waivers to 1,372. (You can get a full list of the companies exempted here.) Not surprisingly, it helps to be a Democratic ally when seeking a waiver. The Republican Policy Committee reports that over half of the workers that have been exempted so far belong to unions:...

(snip) So to the question: why did Roberts change his mind the apparent answer is that ABC’s sources don’t know. But pundits, no less than astronomers are always eager to find the unseen source of an action. Having observed an effect, they want to know the cause. This was famously the case with Planet X, and the search for it led to the discovery of Pluto. (snip) The mystery, like the actual cause of Robert’s change of heart, still awaits a definitive explanation. It may lie in a desire to put any future limitation of Congressional action on a sound...

The Roberts decision has unknowingly given conservatives the tool to destroy the abortion industry. Just impose a $10 million tax on every abortion provider for each abortion they perform. They will be forced to shut down in no time.

Two northern Ohio newspapers have recently published editorials on House Bill 495, which was passed out of the Ohio House on June 13 by a 59 - 28 margin. The contrast between editorials by The Lima News and The Cleveland Plain Dealer addressing passage of the bill, which seeks to reform Ohio concealed carry law to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and continue a trend toward making Ohio law similar to other states, could not be more stark. First, from The Lima News editorial entitled "Gun bill would align Ohio's law with other states": When Ohio passed a...

You would have thought that Chief Justice John Roberts had shouted "fire" in a crowded theater. In upholding Obamacare, he set off a headlong race for the exits by the same lobbying groups -- believe it or not -- that had cut deals with the administration to create the legislation. Back then, the lobbyists were telling each other: If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. Now the bodies are piling up in the doorway as those who pandered to the president trample over each other in their haste to get out of the blazing or crumbling structure...

School districts sometimes are referred to as a "local educational agency," but recently the one in Fruitport seemed more concerned with being a "local employment agency." MLive.com reports that the school board voted against saving $240,000 by contracting out for custodial services — money that could be redirected toward educating students. The president of the janitor’s local union said board members, "felt that people shouldn't lose their jobs right now" and, according to MLive.com, specifically praised those on the board who have "ties to labor." There are two misconceptions in this remark. First, contracting out does not automatically mean current...

The day the Supreme Court ruled in favor of ObamaCare, a friend called me. He's an extremely dedicated, much-loved surgeon, and he was frustrated and livid in equal measure. "I've actually had a lot of experience working in all different types of environments," he began. "I've worked in a government-run socialized medical care system, and I saw the waste and inefficiency. "The longer people worked in that system, the less work they wanted to do, because the more you wanted to do, the more they dumped on you. So after a while you stop doing it, because they're not paying...