Free Republic

According to C.S. Lewis, "We are what we believe we are." If he is correct, then it raises this question: Do our beliefs on where we fit in among the economic classes create a self-fulfilling prophecy, and, if so, can downgrading our beliefs change our economic outcomes? We all know from experience that beliefs and outcomes can be mutually reinforcing, in positive and negative ways. The trainer who helped me get into the best shape of my life about eight years ago had a mantra that he drilled into my head: "You can do it; you can do it --...

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer has a new mission — keeping oil from Canada’s tar sands out of California. Steyer’s NextGen Climate organization released a report Tuesday warning that an “invasion” of tankers and railcars carrying crude from the oil sands could soon hit West Coast refineries, which currently process very little Canadian oil. Steyer, a major Democratic donor who quit his hedge fund to focus on fighting climate change, has risen to prominence as a vocal opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline extension, which would link the oil sands to American refineries on the Gulf Coast. But Tuesday’s report, prepared...

Word For The Day, Thursday, April 30, 2015-- didactic ; In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". didactic [dahy-dak-tik]hear it pronounced adjective 1. intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry. 2. inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker. 3. teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson. 4. didactics, (used with a singular verb) the art or science of teaching. Origin: 1650s, from French didactique, from Greek didaktikos "apt at teaching," from didaktos "taught," past participle of...

At the end of October, IT employees at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts were called, one-by-one, into conference rooms to receive notice of their layoffs. --snip-- [Disney:] "H-1B workers complement - instead of displace - U.S. Workers." It explains that as employers use foreign workers to fill "more technical and low-level jobs, firms are able to expand" and allow U.S. workers "to assume managerial and leadership positions." --snip-- "Some of these folks were literally flown in the day before to take over the exact same job I was doing," said one of the IT workers who lost his job. He...

Oil prices hit the highest this year on Wednesday after the first crude stock draw in five months at the U.S. Cushing, Oklahoma hub suggested an oil glut may be starting to ease. Government data showing a smaller-than-expected rise last week in crude inventories throughout the United States also aided sentiment, although some traders felt the market was ignoring bearish elements like higher production. Oil has staged its strongest recovery this month since a selloff that began in June last year. U.S. crude futures are poised to end April up nearly 23 percent and Brent almost 20 percent higher, the...

As protestors and police officers clash on the streets of divided cities such as Baltimore, Maryland, and Ferguson, Missouri, some police departments are stockpiling a highly controversial weapon to control civil unrest. It’s called Skunk, a type of “malodorant,” or in plainer language, a foul-smelling liquid. Technically nontoxic but incredibly disgusting, it has been described as a cross between “dead animal and human excrement.” Untreated, the smell lingers for weeks. The Israeli Defense Forces developed Skunk in 2008 as a crowd-control weapon for use against Palestinians. Now Mistral, a company out of Bethesda, Maryland, is providing it to police departments...

Hillary has already lost one presidential campaign. This fact was stuffed down the memory hole so fast that it took a large number of political commentators along with it. How else do we explain how, in all the discussions of the upcoming elections, it has simply failed to come up? Nobody talks about it. It’s as if it didn’t happen. It’s a rule in American politics that a major figure who blows one presidential campaign has little hope for a second act. But like all other rules, this one goes by the board when the name “Clinton” is involved. This...

Chinese strategists see a window of strategic opportunity for China early in the 21st century, though they haven’t publicly outlined the basis for that view. But we can make a good stab at it. Firstly, an air of inevitability is important in winning battles. While China is perceived to have a strong, growing economy that is crushing all before it, that perception of inevitability rubs off on China’s military adventures. To use that perception, China has to attack before its economy contracts due to the bursting of its real estate bubble. This explains the current rush to build the bases...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Saul New International Version (NIV) 23 When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” 2 he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” 3 But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!” 4 Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for...

Watch this fantastic speech by Missouri State Senator Kurt Schaefer on why we need an Article V Convention of States to rein in federal bureaucracy, federal spending, and federal career politicians:

The rapid growth of the GOP presidential field is causing major headaches for party bosses ahead of a primary debate season that begins this summer. The dilemma for Reince Priebus, Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman, is stark: If the declared field grows to 18 or 20 candidates, as now looks plausible, how can those numbers be winnowed in a way that seems fair and reasonable rather than arbitrary and undemocratic? “You’ve got to prevent it from becoming a ‘WWE SmackDown’ event on national television,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. “You don’t want to bump everybody off the stage, but you...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Stand Firm Deuteronomy 31:8 “… It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

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CEDAR RAPIDS – Donald Trump does not hold politicians in high regard. “We’re being led by stupid people,” the global real estate tycoon said Wednesday in Cedar Rapids. “They didn’t read ‘The Art of the Deal.’ It was written by some guy named Trump.” The shameless self-promotion is part of his shtick as he points to the size of the crowds he attracts and the number of standing ovations he gets as evidence voters are taking his exploration of a presidential campaign seriously. “The only thing people want to know is if I’m going to run,” he said. “That’s the...

I was watching CNN International today and they showed the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra giving a free outdoor concert to allegedly calm the nerves of the citizenry. The conductor (I assume) was going on about how united Baltimore was. But as the camera panned the audience of listeners I did not see one person of color there. It did't look like a very united Baltimore to me.

Just heard it, fox news!

Explanation: A long solar filament stretches across the relatively calm surface of the Sun in this telescopic snap shot from April 27. The negative or inverted narrowband image was made in the light of ionized hydrogen atoms. Seen at the upper left, the magnificent curtain of magnetized plasma towers above surface and actually reaches beyond the Sun's edge. How long is the solar filament? About as long as the distance from Earth to Moon, illustrated by the scale insert at the left. Tracking toward the right across the solar disk a day later the long filament erupted, lifting away from...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke (D) blasted “failed liberal government policies” for miring people in cities like Baltimore in “generational poverty” and argued that change in Baltimore “needs to start in the politics, the failed liberal Democrat policies” on Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

When the 0.2% GDP growth number came out on Wednesday, economists were quick to emphasize that it was just a temporary blip. [snip] Such words would be comforting indeed if it weren't the fifth April out of the past six that economists made almost the exact same claim

A prisoner who shared a ride to jail with Freddie Gray claims the 25-year-old was trying to injure himself inside a police van before he died from unexplained spinal chord injuries, according to a leaked police report. The report was leaked to the Washington Post under the proviso that the prisoner remains anonymous - raising questions about its accuracy and the favorable light which it shines on the Baltimore police force