Free Republic

One of several stories at the link: It’s called the Second Amendment, lady So I work as an armed guard for armed truck service. For those of you who don’t know, we are responsible for picking up money and checks from other businesses. (i.e. banks, stores, restaurants, etc.) As part of my job is handling large amounts of cash, I carry a side arm or handgun for those not into guns in order to protect myself and the money. Where I live you have to have what’s called a concealed carry permit to have such firearm outside of work hours,...

Saudi Arabia is opening its economic doors about trading in currencies other than the US dollar, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan sounded off at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the US dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the Saudi riyal,” Al-Jadaan said in an interview with Bloomberg. “I don’t think we are waving away or ruling out any discussion that will help improve the trade around the world.” (snip) The term petrodollar refers to the US dollar’s position as the...

A federal jury convicted a Lawrence man Thursday for threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner. Chase Neill faces up to 10 years in federal prison for one felony count of threatening a public official. The charge stems from voicemails he left in June for LaTurner, a second term Republican congressman who represents much of eastern Kansas, including part of Wyandotte County.... ...In the June voicemails, Neill threatened to kill LaTurner and all other members of congress but said it would happen by an “act of God.” In the voicemail, left on June 6, Neill declared himself “son of God,”...

Boston — The U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile said Thursday that an unidentified malicious intruder breached its network in late November and stole data on 37 million customers, including addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth. T-Mobile said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the breach was discovered Jan. 5. It said the data exposed to theft - based on its investigation to date - didn't include passwords or PINs, bank account or credit card information, Social Security numbers or other government IDs. "Our investigation is still ongoing, but the malicious activity appears to be fully...

There are an unending number of interesting facts about the SR-71 Blackbird, probably the coolest aircraft ever produced by any Air Force, anywhere in the world. It’s the only airframe that’s made of 85% titanium, titanium that was purchased by the CIA from the Soviet Union – the country the aircraft was built to spy on. It’s capable of cruising at more than three times the speed of sound at 85,000 feet – and that speed and altitude are its only defenses. **SNIP** It’s also the only Air Force aircraft ever made with the “SR” designation. The reason for that...

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Confidence among U.S. single-family home builders rose in January for the first time in a year, ending a 12-month stretch of declines and potentially signaling a turning point in the housing market. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo's gauge of builder sentiment increased 4 points this month to 35, figures released Wednesday showed. Still, any figure below 50 is considered negative. "Probably past the worst, but a sustained improvement will have to wait," Kieran Clancy, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote following the release. Sentiment had fallen every month in 2022, representing the longest span since the mid-1980s....

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, suggesting the labor market remains tight despite higher interest rates. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 190,000 for the week ended Jan. 14, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 214,000 claims for the latest week. Part of the surprise drop in claims likely reflected continuing challenges adjusting the data for seasonal fluctuations at the start of the year. [snip] The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book on Wednesday reported that “many firms hesitated to lay off...

Retail sales in the UK unexpectedly fell by 1% in December, the second month of decline, as cost-conscious shoppers curbed spending over Christmas. The drop in sales last month was driven by non food sales as "consumers cut back on spending because of increased prices and affordability concerns," according to the according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). "After last month's boost as shoppers stocked up early, food sales fell back again in December with supermarkets reporting this was due to increase food prices and the rising cost of living," said Heather Bovill, deputy director for surveys and economic...

Classified documents were being held at a residence where Hunter Biden would reportedly black out from drinking and drug use during a time when he was working with a Chinese businessman with intelligence connections. The president's son was staying at one of President Joe Biden's residences where classified documents were recently found. While there, during the worst of his alcoholism and drug addiction, Hunter Biden would be near classified documents while receiving millions of dollars from a top Chinese businessman connected to the Chinese Communist Party, according to author Michael Shellenberger. “There’s no evidence that Hunter Biden accessed the documents,...

Road signs warning drivers of "unexpected pedestrians" have gone up in El Paso, Texas amid a surge in migrant crossings at the southern border -- with risks posed to both drivers and migrants. Signs warning drivers to "watch for unexpected pedestrians" have gone up in recent months in El Paso along highways next to border barriers sealing off the border with Mexico. El Paso is one of the areas that saw some of the biggest spikes in migrants coming across the border in recent months, with the city declaring a state of emergency in December. There were more than 2.3...

The 44-year-old led seven soldiers in single file along the edge of a field in search of the casualties. A Wall Street Journal team followed behind. An explosion flashed, cracked and shook the ground. I ducked instinctively, even though it was little more impressive than a large firecracker. The echo of the blast faded to silence. Smoke drifted in from the trees to the right. Several soldiers had dropped to the sodden earth. Britanets lay motionless on his left side. Surely they will get up, I thought. The reality of war stunned them at first. On an early mission to...

Consumer spending slowed and household finances weakened across all income levels last month. But households earning $100,000 a year or more reported shaving more off their spending than less well-off households did, according to a report released this week by Morning Consult, a decision intelligence company. The report also found that real monthly spending among U.S. adults fell by 4.3% from November to December. Even so, 21.3% of U.S. adults said their monthly expenses exceeded their monthly income in December, up from 19.2% in November. On average, households earning $100,000 a year or more said they spent about 10% less...

More than a million people have joined a day of protests and strikes, according to France's interior ministry, against plans to push back the age of retirement from 62 to 64. Some 80,000 protesters took to the streets of Paris, with demonstrations in 200 more French cities. President Emmanuel Macron called the reforms "just and responsible" - but they are facing a make-or-break moment.... The head of the big CGT union, Philippe Martinez, put the total number of protesters at beyond two million... ...The prime minister invoked the principle of "inter-generational solidarity" to justify the decision to make people work...

resident Joe Biden was criticized Thursday after saying he has "no regrets" about his handling of classified documents and it "bugs" him to be asked about it. Biden was in California to tour storm damage in the state. At the end of his remarks at one stop, a reporter shouted a question about the classified docs. "You know what, quite frankly, bugs me is that we have a serious problem here we’re talking about. We’re talking about what’s going on," Biden said, referring to the damage. "And the American people don’t quite understand why you don’t ask me questions about...

California is reeling from a devastating series of powerful winter storms that pummeled the state, killing at least 21 people, and crumbled hillsides and damaged thousands of homes. Many media figures and officials were quick to blame global warming as the culprit... Some experts are saying the recent storms weren’t necessarily the result of global warming. The Los Angeles Times interviewed multiple climate researchers who suggested that the recent storms had more to do with the state’s well-documented historic drought-to-deluge cycles... California’s official climatologist, Mike Anderson, meanwhile, told The Times that "each of the recent atmospheric rivers were within the...

Emperor penguins need sea ice to breed and are located in areas that are very difficult to study because they are remote and often inaccessible and can experience temperatures as low as −76°F (−60°C). Previous discoveries of emperor penguin colonies show gaps between them, leading scientists to suspect that groups like to keep at least 60 miles (100km) between themselves. They spotted 11 new emperor penguin colonies, three of which were previously identified but never confirmed. At the time it was estimated the continent had between 265,500 and 278,500 breeding pairs.

Genesis owes over $3.5 billion to its top 50 creditors, among which include Crypto exchange Gemini, trading giant Cumberland, Mirana, MoonAlpha Finance and VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund, according to the bankruptcy filing published late Thursday. Shortly after FTX collapsed into its own bankruptcy case in November, Genesis Global Capital was forced to suspend customer withdrawals, which hurt customers of a yield product offered by the Winklevoss twins' crypto exchange, Gemini. Genesis had been scrambling to raise fresh capital or reach a deal with creditors. It – along with parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), which also owns CoinDesk –...

Anti-abortion activists will have multiple reasons to celebrate — and some reasons for unease — when they gather Friday in Washington for the annual March for Life. The march, which includes a rally drawing abortion opponents from across the nation, has been held annually since January 1974 — a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision established a nationwide right to abortion.

My latest song. Jeff Beck RIP.