Free Republic

This spring, rumors were swirling that HERBL, one of California’s largest cannabis distribution companies, was on the verge of collapse. So Mike Beaudry, the company’s CEO, sent out an email on May 18 declaring that “these rumors are categorically not true. HERBL continues to be fully operational.” Less than a month later, HERBL had completely collapsed. HERBL’s failure left a trail of damage that hurt small pot brands and shorted the state some $17 million in unpaid taxes. HERBL is only the latest high-flying California pot startup to crumble, following companies like Flow Kana, which raised $175 million in capital...

Is the pandemic kaput? Clearly, not for some. And if it isn’t over yet, when might it ever be? COVID-19 isn’t going away — it’s part of the planet now. Apropos of its endurance, there’s news at the University of Notre Dame. These days, we’ve gleaned a couple of facts concerning the COVID vaccine: It doesn’t prevent COVID infection. It doesn’t prevent COVID transmission. Hence, contrary to claims by plenty of politicians, the pricks do not protect “other people.” ... Yet, on Tuesday, Notre Dame’s University Health Services reportedly made an injection-requiring announcement. Per an email posted by post-graduate fellow...

GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush has returned to Florida to recharge his struggling campaign. He spoke and took selfies with supporters at an outdoor rally Friday night before attending a high school football game in southwest Florida. ...

Economists from the Swiss bank Credit Suisse wrote on Monday that “it seems that we’ve entered the last days of the euro as we know it” and that “extraordinary things must happen for the currency and the European Union to survive.” In a statement they released in light of the financial problems in Europe, the economists added that “in the short term, the ECB cannot handle the crisis and the new governments in Greece, Italy and Spain cannot do so either.”

Will Romney’s Lawn Workers Sink His Candidacy? Alec MacGillisOctober 19, 2011Well, this much is clear: Rick Perry's campaign takes its cues from this blog, which just a few days ago asked in a headline, "Time for Perry to Bring up Mitt's lawn care?" Apparently, it was time. The question that came to my mind as that remarkable fracas last night was occurring was: could this turn into Mitt Romney's driver's license moment? Hillary Clinton was sailing along on an aura of inevitability in the fall of 2007, acing the debates much as Romney has done, when she found herself ganged up in a Philadelphia debate over her ambiguous...

European debt markets remain under high stress on persistent reports that Spain is in secret talks with EU officials and the International Monetary Fund for a support package of up to €250bn (£208bn), the largest rescue in history. Spain's finance minister Elena Salgado reacted angrily to reports in a Spanish newspaper that the plans were well advanced The spreads on 10-year Spanish bonds jumped to a post-EMU high of 224 basis points above German Bunds as traders brace for a crucial auction by Madrid on Thursday. The relentless rise in bond yields replicates the pattern seen in Greece at the...

Map of Diyala province [PDF]. Click to view. More than 375 insurgents and al Qaeda operatives have been captured during the first week of Operation Omens of Prosperity in Diyala province. Six senior al Qaeda in Iraqi leaders in the province have been captured during the province-wide operation. The Iraqi military announced it captured 265 suspected al Qaeda fighters during operations from July 29 through Aug. 2. Five members of al Qaeda's provincial shura, or executive council, were captured during this timeframe. Iraqi troops captured Qussai Ali Khalaf, the leader of al Qaeda's Islamic State in Iraq in Diyala...

Newt Gingrich's attempted phoenix-like rise from his own political ashes to a presidential candidacy will run next week into a harsh assessment by his former House Republican colleague Tom DeLay. The former majority leader's forthcoming memoir assails Gingrich as an "ineffective" House speaker with a flawed moral compass. Gingrich is not the only erstwhile political ally to feel DeLay's wrath. In "No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight," DeLay is even more critical of his predecessor as majority leader, Dick Armey, and assails George W. Bush as being more compassionate than conservative. Even the man DeLay handpicked to succeed Gingrich...

he Portland-area housing market has decisively cooled, resulting in a July median home price decline that bucks the three-year trend of relentlessly rising values. The area's median home price dropped to $274,700 in July, from $280,000 in June, according to data released Tuesday by the Regional Multiple Listing Service. Coming during the seasonally strong summer housing market, last month's decline marked the first time since 2002 that the June-to-July period recorded a median price decrease. Adding to the changing housing picture, the inventory of houses for sale rose in July to 3.5 months' supply, up from 2.6 months in June....

Mother Sheehan jumps the shark, at (where else?) MichaelMoore.com. (Hat tip: protein wisdom.) I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way...

A year ago, the liberal group America Coming Together was on the cutting edge of national politics, spending tens of millions of dollars on a massive voter-mobilization project in every presidential battleground state. The dream was that ACT -- heavily funded by billionaire George Soros -- would play a decisive role in getting Democratic nominee John F. Kerry elected president and then remain in business as a permanent force in liberal politics. Steve Rosenthal, who launched America Coming Together to mobilize voters for Democrat John F. Kerry, said maintaining momentum after the election proved to be harder than expected. Billionaire...

Does anyone know if WorldNet Daily is down or not? I've been trying to get onto that site for a couple hours and no dice. Have they been hacked again?

Dan Rather's farewell... cartoon by FReeper IPWGOP (aka Linda Eddy) click here for really large version This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

BARSTOW, Calif. - A $1 million race across the Mojave Desert by driverless robots ended Saturday after all 15 entries either broke down or withdrew, a race official said. Two of the entries covered about seven miles of the roughly 150-mile course while eight failed to make it to the one-mile mark. Others crashed seconds after starting. The race ended after about four hours when the final competitors were disabled, said Col. Jose Negron, race program manager. Competitors suffered a variety of problems that included stuck brakes, broken axles, rollovers and malfunctioning satellite navigation equipment. One six-wheeled robot built by...

Guysen Israel News is running an unconfirmed report that Yasser Arafat has kicked the bucket!

KRLA 870 in Glendale, CA is giving away Disneyland tickets this week. The callers get 15 seconds to be creative and speak about a current issue. I almost won yesterday with a limerick, but today was the lucky day. The prize was four passes for four trips to Disneyland or California Adventure (which sucks big time). The murdering Uday and Quasay Liked torture and women and booze-ay But they ran out of luck When they didn't hear "duck!" They're taking their forever snooze-ay

This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows. To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33203 Saturday, June 21, 2003 OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOMDNA tests conductedon Saddam's remains?Convoy of luxury vehicles struck by missiles after satellite-phone conversation intercepted Posted: June 21, 20039:07 p.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com DNA tests are being conducted on human remains recovered after U.S. missiles launched last week destroyed a convoy of luxury vehicles believed to have been transporting Saddam Hussein and members of his family, according to a report in the London Observer. U.S. forces initiated the attack, involving an undisclosed number of Hellfire missiles,...

The United States declared Saddams Baath party dead late Sunday, with the war's commander telling Iraqis that the instrument of theior deposed dictator's power was dissolved and promising to purge its influence from the country it dominated for 35 years.General Tommy Franks message delivered in Arabic by an announcer on the coalitions information radio, broadcast a clear message over the AM radio waves across postwar Iraq:Any activity by Baath Party holdouts who opposed United States occupation would not be tolerated.'The Arab Baath Socialist Party is dissolved,' Franks said, but high difficulites remain in eliminating it.American Administrators are struggling to balance...

Saddam was said to have been 'mortally wounded and near death' by debris knocked loose by bunket busting ordinance ordered by the Allied forces.The damage to the bunker was so substantial, and Saddam's wounds so significant, that Saddam was taken away 'in a panic' for immediate surgery.The source indicated that Saddam Hussein succumbed to his injuries, some time within 2 hours of the suprise Allied attack. (at the beginning of the war)Saddam was taken away from the collapsed bunker with an oxygen mask over his face and and intravenous line, unconscious, bloody and unresponsive. He was conveyed onto an emergency...

WHO'S HOT.... 1. PHIL DONAHUE Based on the hype in the Post and Times, one would have thought it was prime-time TV's second coming. However, ordinary television viewers had a less enthusiastic response to the return of veteran talk-show host Phil Donahue to America's TV screens. The silver-haired talk-show retread was purported to be MSNBC's new secret weapon for grabbing away ratings from competitor Fox News in the heatedly-contested 8 PM time slot. But alas, despite all the desperate promotional efforts by Phil and his pals in the mainstream media, Mr. Marlo Thomas only managed to pull in 693,000 households...