Free Republic

Trader Alessio Rastani has some grim predictions on the economy and world markets. His adviced to all is "get prepared". He thinks the savings of millions are going to vanish, so he says to act accordingly.

A corrupt U.S. border agent sitting in a federal prison cell is offering a chilling view of the Mexican drug cartels whose drug shipments he protected for years in return for hefty bribes. He is so terrified of the cartel's famous vicious streak that he fears for his own life -- and the lives of his family -- if he is identified as speaking to ABC News. He depicts a dangerously paranoid crime organization that has spies throughout U.S. law enforcement. To illustrate the cartel's pervasive reach, he said he got his introduction to them through an American cop. From...

There are times you just have to wonder. A hurricane that appears to be taking dead aim at both Washington DC and Wall Street? Gee, I wonder if there's an embedded message in there somewhere? After all, insurance companies do call these sorts of events "acts of God", right? So..... as we all prepare if we're in the to-be-impacted area, let's remember a few things: •Small changes in path matter. They're also unpredictable. I was ready to "bug out" for Ivan, and decided to stay literally at 5:00 PM the night it came in. Why? Because had the path been...

So this afternoon I'm going to the tag office to renew my vehicle tags, and I have Rush on the radio. I must have been touched by God or something, because just as I turned it on he started with a long monologue on how everything we've had for the last 20 years has been fake. Cars, houses, flatscreen TVs, unlimited medical care for the poor, Medicare, etc, you name it - all fake. Oh sure, the car, the TV and the doctor are real - you can touch them. But we never paid for them. We borrowed more and...

With the North Carolina General Assembly set to adjourn this Friday, the state Senate acted quickly and passed House Bill 650 yesterday, before time ran out. This legislation, introduced by pro-gun state Representative Mark Hilton (R-96), is an extensive reform of North Carolina gun laws. It contains Castle Doctrine language, Fraudulent Firearms Purchase language, allows Right-to-Carry (RTC) permit holders to store firearms in their vehicles when parked on the grounds of certain state properties and courthouses, removes the restriction on owning (but not possessing) firearms by those subject to certain orders of protection, allows for the purchase of rifles and...

Mexico's drug cartels are carving out new territory in Central America, in some of the poorest and most fragile countries in the hemisphere. Mexican gangs are cutting clandestine airstrips in the Guatemalan jungle, laundering money in El Salvador and unloading boatloads of cocaine on the coast of Honduras. (snip) The volume of drugs passing through Central American countries has risen in recent years. Shipments of cocaine and other drugs originate in Colombia and Venezuela, and travel by sea and air to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and other countries. Overland routes bring the drugs into Mexico and then to the United States....

FALFURRIAS — For years, Jose Maria Carbajal Jr. moved thousands of pounds of marijuana through his Brooks County ranch, authorities allege. Carbajal’s workers used all-terrain vehicles and other means to move loads around Falfurrias for the better part of a decade, according to court documents. All the while, informants inside Carbajal’s smuggling operation allowed federal investigators to unravel the inner workings of the network and build a case against its key players. Investigators finally brought the hammer down on Carbajal last month, when he told an informant two members of the Zetas drug cartel traveled to his ranch. Carbajal claimed...

Last Friday FBI agents raided the homes of far left activists in Chicago and Minneapolis who are linked to the Marxist FARC terrorists and Islamic radicals as part of a terrorism investigation. The home of radical Hatem Abudayyeh in Chicago was raided in the terror sweep. Radical Hatem Abudayyeh protested against Israel in Chicago in January 2009. Hatem Abudayyeh is the executive director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN). Hatem Abudayyeh has been with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) since 1999, and was appointed Executive Director in 2003. The Arab American Action Network was founded by former PLO...

... Earlier Friday, the Obamas were greeted by Gov. John Baldacci and U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-2nd District,... ...Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and the president's personal aide Reggie Love, who chatted with Baldacci. "We're ready. We're going to do it all," Love said with a big smile....

A senior Hamas figure said Friday that official and unofficial US sources have asked the Islamist group to refrain from making any statements regarding contacts with Washington, this following reports that a senior American official is due to arrive in an Arab country in the coming days to relay a telegram from the Obama Administration. The Hamas figure told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that the Americans fear discussing the talks publicly would "rouse the Jewish lobby and other pressure groups in the US and cause them to pressure the administration to suspend all talks with Hamas." The Hamas figure,...

The last time Barack Obama was in Asheville, N.C., he complained he was too busy to play golf. The president plans to fix that this weekend. He and first lady Michelle Obama were set to leave the White House at midday Friday and fly to Asheville, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. On his previous visit, during the final month of his presidential campaign, Obama prepared for a debate and rallied supporters. "What a spectacular place," Obama said during the Oct. 5, 2008, stop in Asheville. "The only thing I don't like about it is that...

US President Barack Obama has shelved his plans to attend festivities marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will reportedly take his place at the Nov. 9 celebrations. Germany is going to have to wait longer than expected for US President Barack Obama's first official visit. Citing government sources in Berlin, Reuters reported on Friday that Obama will not attend the anniversary festivities marking two decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event will take place on Nov. 9 -- just two days before Obama embarks on a long-planned...

An illegal immigrant wanted for deportation led a Hendersonville police officer on a chase at speeds reaching more than 135 mph Tuesday night before wrecking his vehicle. Police also found several pounds of marijuana in the car... Sgt. McGaha followed the vehicle onto I-26 westbound and stopped Luis Zapata-Lara, who then sped off with McGaha in pursuit, reaching speeds exceeding 135 mph. The suspect tossed two packages out of the window. One was destroyed by a tractor-trailer, but the other was recovered by the N.C. Highway Patrol. (Zapata-Lara) took the U.S. 64 East ramp toward Bat Cave, ran through intersections...

As Nazareth’s Christians prepare to celebrate Christmas, they are playing down the appearance of a confrontational Islamic banner that challenges an elemental Christian belief. Journalists visiting the city saw two large banners--one in English, one in Arabic--hanging in the plaza in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation, with a verse from the Koran (112:1-4) contradicting the New Testament proclamation that Jesus is the “only begotten” of God. “In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful, Say (O Muhammad): He is Allah, (the) One and Only. Allah, the Eternal, the Absolute. He begetteth not, nor was begotten,...

As far back as the 1700s, the famed explorer Daniel Boone said that "All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife." Not my definition of happiness. In modern day New York City, guns are a part of our life. People shoot and are shot almost every day, and a disproportionate number of those people are people of color. How do you deal with that? I'm scared of guns, never played with guns, and jump whenever a firecracker pops. Gun violence is quick, devastating, and impersonal. Can't we human beings figure out another...

I'm not even sure where to start with this. National Review Online has broken a story in which they state: "National Review Online has obtained an internal Bank of America "discussion document" (pdf here ) on the subject of the FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention Act of 2008, a.k.a. the Dodd-Shelby mortgage-lender bailout bill . Yesterday, Tim Carney reported that the prevailing sentiment on Capitol Hill is that the Dodd-Shelby bill "is exactly what Bank of America and Countrywide wanted." BofA is in the process of acquiring Countrywide. Countrywide is currently embroiled in a scandal over its V.I.P. program,...

You're not going to believe this about Countrywide : "Senators Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota, chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, refinanced properties through Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program in 2003 and 2004, according to company documents and emails and a former employee familiar with the loans. Other participants in the V.I.P. program included former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. ambassador and assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke....

If the Fed thinks that recent commodity price moves have nothing to do with their own actions, perhaps they should think again. The yield on the 2-year Treasury fell yesterday to 1.5%. It's impossible to imagine that the average inflation rate over the next two years could be less than 2%, meaning that the real interest rate-- the nominal rate minus expected inflation-- has become unambiguously negative. Greg Mankiw is impressed that when you plot the implied real yield on the Treasury inflation indexed security maturing in 2010, you indeed get a graph of the real interest rate that has...

Can the U.S. financial crisis be contained within America's borders? Nouriel Roubini says no--and explains how the contagion will spread... For months, economists have debated whether the United States is headed toward a recession. Today, there is no doubt. The severe liquidity and credit crunch from the subprime mortgage bust is now spreading to broader credit markets, $100 barrels of oil are squeezing consumers and unemployment continues to climb. And with the housing market melting down, empty-pocketed Americans can no longer use their homes as ATMs to fund their shopping sprees. It's time to face the truth: The U.S. economy...

Stocks turned sharply lower Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said bank failures are likely as the housing crisis takes its toll. "I expect there will be some failures'' of small, regional banks invested in real estate, Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee in his second day of congressional testimony. "Among the largest banks, the capital ratios remain good and I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large, internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system.'' The comments came during the question-and-answer session with the Senate. "Investors are so...