Free Republic

Extreme Concentration of Ownership in the United States The Oligarch Take over of Healthcare and Big Pharma A close-knit oligarchy controls all major corporations. Institutional investors like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity, and JP Morgan, now own 80% of all stock in S&P 500 listed companies. The Big Three investors – BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street – alone constitute the largest shareholder in 88% of S&P 500 firms, which roughly correspond to America’s 500 largest corporations. (*3). (source “Extreme”) Blackrock and Vanguard would then alone own more than one-third of all US publicly listed shares. The consolidation of ownership of...

[Note: The following comment was submitted to a post on Saturday by Gregg W. Updike, a Navy veteran who served from 1983 to 1987. Gregg was on the USS America CV-66 when Ronald Reagan bombed Libya. This posting is a day late, given that Pearl Harbor Day was yesterday, but Gregg shared many thoughts that Americans should ponder these 78 years later.] Don’t forget to “Remember Pearl Harbor” 78 years ago today; which resulted in our last formerly declared war a day later. The results of that attack was paid back in less than four years with the total defeat...

Be careful what you write on the internet: it turns out it’s not just Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google that is judging you.If your offenses are within an acceptable range you will get an Oxford English Language Dictionary .  But if you’ve  offended beyond that level you get the special Ikea dictionary. Ikea dictionary: some assembly required But hey, according to the IMT (infinite monkey theory) all you need do is select letters at random and pretty soon you’ll have a great post without any grammar errors or misspelled words.  Good luck. Posted from: MOTUS A.D. 

Birmingham, Alabama has 53 times the National Average of Justifiable Homicides – Image courtesy Dean Weingarten In 2019, Birmingham, Alabama has reported a justifiable homicide rate 53 times the national average, as reported in the FBI Uniform Crime Reports.From bhamwiki.com: 11 of the reported homicides were ruled justifiable as self-defense by investigators or prosecutors and 3 resulted from reckless driving. The suspect in another murder was shot to death on the scene and another killed himself. One death resulted from a violent act committed the previous year. One other homicide took place at the Jefferson County Jail outside the city's...

When Joe Biden brought out the story of his confrontation with a gang member named "Corn Pop" during his time as a lifeguard at a Wilmington, Delaware, pool, it's interesting how quickly Democrat leaders knew to come to his defense. There was a gang member in Baltimore with the moniker Corn Pop, they pointed out! The local NAACP chairman backed up his story! There was an obituary for a notorious dude who had that nickname! See, Biden’s not lying! There was a reason behind the decided quickness with which everyone rushed to Biden’s side: People don't trust his version of...

US-IRAN EXCHANGE PRISONERS Chinese-American Xiyue Wang is freed from an Iranian prison and Iranian Massoud Soleimani is freed from a US prison. That happening in this week's "Newsdump Period" the Friday-Saturday window...... The BBC reports......LINK And the story of the Iranian scientist returning home from "Press TV" in Iran.....LINK Good news in the midst of the all the sabre rattling about some Iranian threat to the US military in Iraq leaked out of the Pentagon this week. This week there was also word of planning to send more members of our military to the Middle East to counter Iran. But...

Clips tagged #Swamp A SECOND Jeffrey Epstein victim claims she was ordered to have sex with Prince AndrewA SECOND woman allegedly abused by paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein has claimed she had sex with Prince Andrew. The fresh allegations come after Epstein's "sex slave" Virginia Roberts went on TV to claim she was ordered to have sex with … Devin Nunes on phone record release: 'We're definitely going to take legal action'House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Saturday that he would be pursuing legal action after his phone records were exposed in the release of the Committee's impeachment...

House Speaker @SpeakerPelosi initiated the House impeachment inquiry against @realDonaldTrump on Sept 24, 2019. Since then, National Democratic Voter approval of the job @realDonaldTrump is doing has - risen slightly - from 23% to 25%. Perhaps "do it now" is - prudent advice? pic.twitter.com/YLzT67QWbA— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) December 6, 2019

If these people didn’t exist, you couldn’t make them up in a million years. – I kid you not, the hacks at Business Insider are now attacking President Donald Trump for his choice of … wait for it … SALT AND PEPPER SHAKERS. I swear I do not make this stuff up – who could? Some genius who writes for BI named James Pasley posted a photo-essay detailing the fact that President Trump has pair of rather large, um, salt and pepper shakers. As with most other things, including key parts of his anatomy, the Presidents shakers are substantially larger...

Rates of firearm ownership and gun sales are on the rise despite calls for gun control, according to a report released Wednesday by the Firearms Industry Trade Association (FITA). Using the most recent data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Reports (AFMER) to draw its conclusions, FITA’s report stated there are 422.9 million firearms in civilian possession from 1986 to 2018, along with an estimated 8.1 billion rounds of various firearms calibers and gauges. The report also noted that in a 25 year period between 1993 and 2017, the violent crime...

The latest jobs reports for the United States showing that unemployment is at a 50-year low were cited by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in his contention that "not only has President Trump cruelly mistreated Ukraine. His economic policies have stolen jobs that might otherwise have gone to Canada. The two million new jobs added in 2019 under Trump's 'America first' obsession are making it hard on Canada—so much so that during this period only 26,000 new jobs have been created there. And the trend is getting worse. In November the US added 266,000 jobs, but Canada actually...

As we learned last week, the ever resourceful British deployed a narwhal whale tusk to dispatch a terrorist, and now I want one too! But I suspect before long, Michael Bloomberg and other Democrats will be calling for “common sense” narwhal tusk control, and you can’t really blame them, can you? Just imagine what Joe Biden would have done if he’d had one handy in Iowa this week. No doubt he would have confused the orotund gentleman who challenged him with a seagoing mammal, and responded inappropriately.

Abby and Brittany Hensel, 29, are one of only 12 sets of conjoined twins in the world and are fused together at the torso, with each controlling one side of their body. Each twin controls one arm and one leg. As infants, learning to crawl, walk, and clap required cooperation. They can eat and write separately and simultaneously. Activities such as running, swimming, hair brushing and driving a car require coordinated action

The Iranian authorities have acknowledged that the recent wave of uprisings included 29 of Iran’s 31 provinces and has resulted in heavy tolls for the regime. In FOX News reporter’s opinion, the regime has used excessive force to suppress the uprising. This could be translated as the weakening of this regime, “regime is scared”. A sharp and steep gas price hike was the reason many people exhibited their rage and dismay. According to Jim Phillips, Heritage Foundation senior Middle East analyst states: “The regime had to act swiftly and harshly because it has lost most of its credibility amongst its...

The Iranian authorities have acknowledged that the recent wave of uprisings included 29 of Iran’s 31 provinces and has resulted in heavy tolls for the regime. In FOX News reporter’s opinion, the regime has used excessive force to suppress the uprising. This could be translated as the weakening of this regime, “regime is scared”. A sharp and steep gas price hike was the reason many people exhibited their rage and dismay. According to Jim Phillips, Heritage Foundation senior Middle East analyst states: “The regime had to act swiftly and harshly because it has lost most of its credibility amongst its...

If you think a Senate acquittal of President Donald Trump will put Nancy Pelosi’s clown show to rest for good, think again. – The Democrats will get their dummied-up articles of impeachment voted out just before Christmas as a gift to their lunatic Perpetual Outrage Mob on Twitter, irrevocably staining our nation’s history as a result. Many people are thinking right now that that will mean they can breathe a sigh of relief, since the Senate trial will likely result in an acquittal of the President, meaning he and congress will then spend most of 2020 conducting the nation’s business....

America remembers: America will always have enemies. They hate us because of who we are. It’s a pity that now days half our enemies dwell right in our midst. It doesn’t help any that they are clowns.When you can call the outcome, unequivocally, before the battle-royale even begins you know it’s rigged. Just like VSGPDJT has been saying from the start. If you’re not in the club you will be the club-ee. And the clubbers are very good at it. I don’t think they’ve had to deal with a walrus yet however.I am the walrus, koo koo kachoo.Posted from: MOTUS...

Welcome to the first installment of the World War II Chronicle at Unto the Breach. Each day (except Sunday) we will publish clippings from the newspaper 78 years ago, transporting readers back in time so they can witness the second world war as it happened. Click below to continue reading about the early accounts of the Pearl Harbor attacks when reports — some accurate, some not — were still streaming in.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden predicted that governing the country once he is elected president "may be difficult. The runaway prosperity that Trump has embroiled the country in will be hard to undo. Business investment plans predicated on low taxes and looser regulations will see the handwriting on the wall after the votes are counted and I've won. They'll rush to move money outside our borders and start laying off workers before I can be inaugurated and stop them with an Executive Order." "Thankfully, there is a bright side to an economic recession," Biden argued. "There'll be less pollution, not only...

The New York Times reporting tonight that six Saudi nationals have been detained for questioning in Pensacola, Florida. This after a Saudi aviaton student..... 12 anti-government protesters killed and dozens of others wounded late Friday night in Baghdad..... The second day of the national strike in France.... The British Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn says that contrary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's assertion of no border withe Ireland in his Brexit plan, there will be a hard border...... White House counsel Pat Cipollone telling the House Judiciary Committee there will be no participation in impeachment proceedings next week..... The US...