Free Republic

There is immense confusion surrounding July’s Federal Reserve meeting and the rather insane aftermath that has been spurred on in the trade war. The Fed’s latest rate decision of a mere .25 bps cut was seen as “disappointing”, this was then followed by Jerome Powell’s public statements making it clear that this was only a mid-year “adjustment”, and that it was not the beginning of a rate cutting cycle and certainly not the beginning of renewed QE. This shocked the investment world, which was expecting far more accommodation from the Fed after 7 months of built up expectations that the...

BROOKLINE, MA — Talia Glass admits she was apprehensive about hitting the off switch on the public wireless service in Allium Market and Café. The Coolidge Corner shop's owner said she wants to make as many of her customers happy as possible, and that there were sleepless nights and much anxiety in advance of Friday's termination of the Wi-Fi that had turned her friendly boutique restaurant into tables full of computer screens and silence.

The Obamas are back on the Vineyard.

RUSH: Well, the actress Rosanna Arquette tweeted that she’s ashamed to be white, and the singer Taylor Swift is explaining why she didn’t endorse Hillary. Celebrity news ’cause it’s wacko, coming up. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Okay, let’s look at some of the craziness that is out there. (muttering) And what did I do with…? Have you seen this tweet from Tommy Lee, the drummer for Motley Crue? I got it here. The Rosanna Arquette stuff that I just talked about and something from the HuffPo here. Hang on. Okay, here we go. Now, the headline (this is from PJ Media):...

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- NASA shared an image, recently captured by Hubble, of the galactic duo UGC 2369 on Friday. The image showcases the pair caught in a playful dance. Long, long ago, the galaxies were separate, but today, they are in the midst of colliding. Slowly, their mutual gravitational attraction is pulling them closer and closer. As they've become entwined, gravity has distorted their features, altering their appearances. "A tenuous bridge of gas, dust and stars can be seen connecting the two galaxies, created when they pulled material out into space across the diminishing divide between them," NASA...

A travel guide written for American businessmen contemplating travel to Asia and the Far East in the 1920's.

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Pell: ‘Amazon Or No Amazon, The Church Cannot Allow Any Confusion’ MELBOURNE, Australia — Cardinal George Pell has written a letter thanking supporters for their prayers, and saying he is “disturbed” by the preparations for the forthcoming synod on the Amazon. The text of the two-page, handwritten letter - images of which were shared with CNA and confirmed by sources close to Pell - has been circulated amongst a group of Pell’s closest supporters in Australia. In the letter, dated from Melbourne Assessment Prison on August 1, the cardinal also says that he has been sustained in his incarceration...

<p>A woman in Florida got a rude awakening on Monday when she went to go check on a fire alarm and ended up in a fight for her life.</p> <p>Alice Coleman said she woke up to a fire alarm going off and opened the front door of her Fort Lauderdale apartment to see what was happening. But that's when Fort Lauderdale police said 34-year-old Fitzroy Morton confronted her.</p>

OTAY MESA (KUSI) – Crews at the US-Mexico border placed the final panel in the primary border wall project Friday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reversed course late Friday, agreeing to key union demands as nearly two-thirds of its research staff will leave the agency rather than move to new headquarters in the Kansas City area. The announcement follows a tumultuous few weeks at the USDA where employees were given a month to decide if they would uproot from D.C. by Sept. 30 or lose their jobs that same day. Employees at both the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) — two of the major research wings within USDA — unionized in...

Navy Considering More Advanced Burke Destroyers as Large Surface Combatant Timeline Slips By: Megan Eckstein August 8, 2019 5:34 PM The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) launches a Standard Missile (SM) 2 Block IIIA on Nov. 18, 2018. Bainbridge is underway with Norfolk-based cruiser-destroyer (CRUDES) units from Carrier Strike Group 12 conducting a Live Fire With a Purpose (LFWAP) event. US Navy photo. SAN DIEGO – The Navy is looking at “something beyond even a Flight III” combat capability for its new-build destroyers, as its plans for transitioning from building the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to the future...

Russian Missile Test Site Explosion Kills 2, Injures 8. By: Ben Werner August 8, 2019 12:49 PM An explosion at a Russian Arctic missile test site killed two and injured at least six others Thursday, according to Russian government officials. The first reports of an incident which occurred at a base in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region started appearing on the Russian news service Interfax just before noon local time. Initial reports were sketchy, but the incident reportedly occurred during the test of a liquid jet engine typically used on rockets, according to an account posted by the BBC. TASS news...

30 Killed in Yemen's Aden During Clashes in Presidential Palace Security Forces Camp MOSCOW (Sputnik) - At least 30 people were killed during clashes inside a camp of security forces of the presidential palace in Yemen's city of Aden, Al Arabiya reported, citing sources, on Saturday amid fighting between separatist and government forces there. The clashes erupted in the fourth brigade of the security forces, the reports added. The sources told Al Arabiya that the separatist Southern Transitional Council had taken control of the camp. Earlier, a source said that three people were killed and 13 others injured in artillery...

The count bangs away at making a crystal palace. This is a piece dedicated to that endeavor. If you like the music please subscribe to the channel.

The largest U.S. Lutheran denomination announced this week that it would become a "sanctuary church." The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said in a statement Wednesday that it is "committed to work toward just and humane policies affecting migrants in and outside the U.S." The ELCA is the first North American denomination to become a sanctuary church body, according to the statement. According to CNN, besides sheltering undocumented immigrants, the church will also respond to raids, fight deportation cases and give "radical hospitality" to immigrants. The ELCA will also work on resources for the denomination's more than 9,000 congregations...

A tweet that lists "companies supporting Trump's re-election" went viral on Thursday, causing chatter among the anti-President Donald Trump crowd on the internet. The list includes fast food stalwarts such as McDonald's, Wendy's, In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A, as well as chain restaurants like Olive Garden. The call to shun restaurants came after talk of a mass boycott of SoulCycle and Equinox after it was revealed their owner, billionaire Stephen Ross, was hosting a fundraising event for Trump on Friday.

**SNIP** Iowans treasure the national attention that shines on them every four years when presidential candidates descend on the state, whose caucuses mark the beginning of an election year. But as virtually every Democratic contender swings through Iowa this weekend to participate in the famed state fair, even some die-hard Democratic activists are getting restless. They're worried the historically massive field isn't shrinking fast enough and the debate stages - plural - are too crowded. The concern isn't limited to Iowa. Recent interviews with dozens of Democrats in other early-voting states registered a fresh anxiety among the most diligent deciders:...

Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of three California taxpayers to prevent the State from implementing Senate Bill 826. The 2018 law requires publicly-held corporations headquartered in California to have at least one director “who self-identifies her gender as a woman” on their boards by December 31, 2019 (Robin Crest et al. v. Alex Padilla (No.19ST-CV-27561)).Up to three such persons are required by December 31, 2021, depending on the size of the board. The lawsuit alleges that the mandate is an unconstitutional gender-based quota. There are currently 761 publicly-traded...

We want to express our deepest sympathies to the families and victims in El Paso and Dayton. As always, the NRA will work in good faith to pursue real solutions to the violence we witnessed this past weekend. Real solutions save lives – televised, choreographed spectacles don’t. In support of this goal, we appreciate the need for honest and open dialogue on how to stop these horrific murders. As a group that has advocated for Second Amendment freedoms for almost 150 years, we stand for only the safe and lawful use of firearms. Sadly, El Paso and Dayton were not...

The FBI is having trouble unlocking Dayton mass murderer Connor Betts’ primary smartphone — and it may take years before they crack it. Agency officials said during a congressional hearing this week that if Betts was using a six- to eight-digit PIN, it could take months or even years to crack the code, The Hill reported Friday. “We don’t know when we are going to get into the phone,” FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich told House Democrats during one of several briefings on the mass shooting this week, the report said. Agents unlocked one Samsung phone belonging to Betts, CBS...