Free Republic

(Snip) What’s going on? Economists point to a variety of explanations. The global economy has gotten weaker and the U.S. dollar stronger, making imports cheaper for Americans to buy and lessening the impact of tariffs. The cost of imports excluding foreign oil have fallen almost 1% in the past year. “We are importing deflation,” asserted chief U.S. economist Chris Low of FTN Financial.

“There is no way to get around the fact that the mainstream media misled the country for the last two years. Period,” Bret Easton Ellis said, according to The Wrap. “I’m not saying that as a conservative, or as a liberal. I’m saying it simply as a witness.” The 55-year-old author also ripped into the left for “mass psychosis” and said he wanted an apology from his “friends” who perpetuated Trump-Russia conspiracies. “From every one of my friends or acquaintances or anyone I encountered on social media or watched blather away on TV for the last two years who insisted...

As one of the world's richest men and most active philanthropists, Bill Gates usually has his hands full. Just not with poop.

Think a blue wave is coming in the midterm election that will sweep out Republicans and usher in a Democratically-controlled Congress?

HPD says the scene is still active as a bomb squad is searching a vehicle believed to be owned by the late suspect. One source tells Eyewitness News that the vehicle was found filled with weapons.

“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson Histories are generally written by academics. They, quite naturally, tend to focus on the main events: the wars and the struggles between leaders and their opponents (both external and internal). Whilst these are interesting stories to read, academics, by their very nature, often overlook the underlying causes for an empire’s decline. Today, as in any era, most people are primarily interested in the “news”—the daily information regarding the world’s political leaders...

This is one horror film plot that may be all too real: Billions of voracious ants are about to descend on the Houston area, destroying entire homes and anything else that gets in their way. Rasberry Crazy Ants, even more destructive and mobile than their angry cousins, fire ants, are just weeks away from descending on the largest city in Texas. Since 2008, the ants, which entomologists believe came to Texas from South America aboard a cargo ship in the 1930s, have expanded their presence to 27 counties from just eight. Once in a home, they zero in on electrical...

Liberal heads probably exploded all over the Beltway on Wednesday when Texas conservative Congressman Louie Gohmert took to the House floor to do something libs truly hate: Tell the truth about welfare checks and unwed mothers – and say he got into politics to do something about it. President Lyndon Johnson’s so-called War on Poverty led directly to an explosion of illegitimate births in the United States, Gohmert said, which led directly to Gohmert going into national politics. “If it weren’t for the policies in this War on Poverty declared 50 years ago, it may well be that I would...

Speaking of our coming congressional debates about food stamps and waste, I've been looking for a reason to share Kerry Drake's column about Utah's Housing First initiative. Eight years ago, under Gov. Jon Huntsman, Utah started an experiment in which chronically homeless people—first 17, then 2,000—were given apartments and full-time caseworkers. The goal: Instead of shrugging and cursing when the homeless showed up half-dead at emergency rooms, they'd try to get them into shelter and, hopefully, independent living. If that didn't work, they'd still keep the apartments. Data from other cities made the bureaucrats' argument for them. From the 10-year...

A research team from the University of Singapore has developed a device that can make objects invisible by bathing them in a beam of darkness. The system takes the conventional approach to optics -- which generally aims to make images as sharp and clear as possible -- and turns it completely on its head. Usually imaging systems focus light into a pattern known as a point spreading function, which consists of a spiked central region of high intensity (the main lobe) surrounded by a concentric region of lower intensity light and a higher intensity lobe after this. In order to...

On Friday, the Obama- and Clinton-allied Center for American Progress finally revealed its long-sought corporate donor list after heavy pressure arising from CAP’s quasi-lobbying history. That scrutiny ratcheted up following the announcement that CAP founder John Podesta would be formally joining the Obama administration. Both Politico and The New York Times called for the donor list to meet the public eye.

Can I get it to show up at the right time?

Rutland, Vt. On his way into town, Dana Gray wondered about the number of cars and pickups parked at a local health care clinic. It was Saturday morning, and normally the clinic would be closed. A little further down the road, he drove by the St. Johnsbury farmers’ market where the local organic gardeners and farmers set up Saturday mornings and do a nice weekend trade in vegetables, eggs, and cheese. There were a few vehicles parked nearby. Fewer, though, than there had been back up the road, at the clinic. At the office of the Caledonian-Record, St. Johnsbury’s daily,...

QE3 is on track to be its largest bond-buying program yet, if it follows the path predicted by Wall Street. The Fed was expected to wind down its third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3, at the end of this year. But most predictions are now well into 2014, with some as far out as June. Economists largely believe the government shutdown and debt ceiling debate have forced the Fed's hand, creating a weaker economic outlook and muddying the data the central bank relies on to make decisions. Given this environment and the leadership transition as Ben Bernanke's term...

Torture, or what our government calls “enhanced interrogation”, is not a tactic so much as a darkly artistic process. The subject of this process has something that the torturer wants; it might be information, or a forced confession to a crime the subject did not commit, but most often, torture is designed to gain nothing more than psychological compliance. The goal is to manipulate the subject into believing that submission is the only possible future, and that such submission is inevitable regardless of the will of the victim. The torturer often builds himself up as a kind of parent figure...

It's been clear to anyone paying attention that the October "rollout" of Obamacare has been a turbulent, confusing disaster. Sloppy IT systems and technological failures combined to cripple Obamacare's sign-up systems. Security flaws put Americans at risk for identity theft. In an almost comical understatement, President Obama summarized these massive failures as "a few glitches." I think that Luke Chung, IT expert and president of database solutions firm FMS, explained the situation much more accurately: "What should clearly be an enterprise quality, highly scalable software application felt like it wouldn't pass a basic code review. It appears the people who...

(snip) As we spoke about South Carolina's sign-up process, I realized I was explaining some unwelcome news: Yvonne is not eligible for any assistance toward buying health insurance. Let me try to explain: In a state that has chosen not to expand Medicaid, Yvonne is in the staggering position of now making too much money to qualify for Medicaid, and too little to obtain subsidies through the Affordable Care Act. This wasn't how it was supposed to go down for Yvonne and others like her all over the country. When you imagine the people likely to benefit the most from...

The dead bodies found every day in towns and villages across Syria bearing marks of execution style killing and torture are the grim evidence of mounting war crimes and other abuses being committed not just by government forces, but also by armed opposition groups – some but not all more or less loosely affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA)1 – in the context of the country’s bitter internal armed conflict. Such groups are summarily killing people with a chilling sense of impunity, and the death toll continues to rise as more towns and villages come under the control of...

Cairo: Top Egyptian politicians were left red- faced after they were caught on live TV hatching plots to sabotage a dam in neighbouring Ethiopia during talks with President Mohammed Mursi, leaving viewers stunned. The gaffe happened as an official failed to inform them that they were live on air during talks with Mursi. "It was initially planned that the national meeting would be recorded and aired the next day, as is usually the case, but due to the importance of the topic it was decided at the last minute to air the meeting live. I forgot to inform the attendees...

That $1.29 iTunes song or $9.99 e-book may be more expensive than you think. If you live in one of the nearly 25 states that charge sales tax on digital goods or services you likely pay more for everything from downloaded music, e-books and ringtones to streaming TV shows and video. And a growing number of states are finding ways to tax our digital diversions. While some states rely on existing sales tax laws, more than a dozen have enacted sales tax laws specifically targeting digital goods. In July, Minnesota's residents will be the latest consumers to pay tax on...