Free Republic

If you're considering going to Wall Street, you should really know what you're getting into. Yes, you will get paid better than average people all over the world. Yes, you will get to learn new things constantly, and yes, you will be involved in important transactions (well, hopefully) and meet interesting clients. However, there is a downside, and it's generally all in your head. A Wall Street veteran, who will remain anonymous, gave us a laundry list of ways working on the Street can actually ruin your life. Wall Streeters have to deal with a distorted sense of money, questions...

The Senate did something this past weekend it hasn't done in four years: passed a budget. The law requires the Senate to pass a budget, but Congress often ignores its own laws. For most of Barack Obama's presidency, a series of continuing resolutions kept the money -- your money -- flowing. Now the Senate wants to add a trillion dollars of new taxes, even more than President Obama seeks. Despite our growing debt, the Senate wants to fund things like the Senate barbershop, which loses a third of a million dollars every year. It's like they live in a...

Wall-Street Craziness Is Back Wolf Richter, Testosterone PitMarch 29, 2013 The craziness on Wall Street, the reckless for-the-moment-only behavior that led to the Financial Crisis, is back. This time it’s Citigroup that is once again concocting “synthetic” securities, like those that had wreaked havoc five years ago. And once again, it’s using them to shuffle off risks through the filters of Wall Street to people who might never know. What bubbled to the surface is that Citigroup is selling synthetic securities that yield 13% to 15% annually—synthetic because they’re based on credit derivatives. Apparently, Citi has a bunch of shipping...

Screen grab.Noted hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, 59, on Friday warned that the U.S. economy is headed for a “storm” that could prove to be far worse than the financial meltdown of 2008.But first, if you’re not familiar with his name, here’s what you need to know: He’s one of the most respected and successful hedge fund managers in the past 30 years.Obviously, you don’t achieve that type of success (or notoriety) on Wall Street by running your mouth. That being said, if Druckenmiller, a former partner of billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros, is predicting serious economic trouble for the...

Here is an interview with Mark Tapscott, Executive Editor of The Washington Examiner. Mark goes into the detail and mechanisms of this incredible and shocking expose of President Obama in a discussion with Michael Savage.

<p>Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in "The Green Mile" and such other box office hits as "Armageddon," "Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu Panda," is dead at age 54.</p>

If an award were given out for the individual who the hardest to kill himself, that award would be given to Kenneth Michael Trentadue. In his cell at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, he patiently tore his sheets into dozens of strips tied them together, attached to a vent grate, and, before hanging himself, like a nice little boy, made his bed. He then proceded to hang himself. Unfortunately his handiwork wasn't up to par and the noose broke, whereby he first hit the sink, "richocheted" to the metal desk, hitting his head, bouncing again, hitting his head on...

Moscow police have detained a Canadian national named Michael Jackson on charges of attempting to steal a wallet from a woman in the capital’s underground, the police reported on its website. The 50-year-old was caught red-handed at an underground station in southeastern Moscow on Monday as he pulled the wallet from the woman’s pocket, the report said. An investigation is under way. If found guilty, Jackson faces a fine of up to 200,000 rubles ($6,500) and a prison term of up to five years.

The hospital refused to say why the star was moved but it is believed it was decided that the singer's condition was so acute that it would be better if he was moved to the AKH - the biggest in Europe and where many of the continent's top medical experts are based because of the advanced facilities it offers for research as well as treatment. The hospital has two skyscrapers, identified for navigating around the huge complex as the red tower and the green tower. He is currently in intensive care on the 13th floor of the red tower as...

A chance meeting with an actor from The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, The Hills Have Eyes, and Weird Science. I originally posted this in the "Religion" section, as i deal with religion in this post. BUT, I also deal with political aspects of the all too often mantras heard from the left. Since the first posting I have responded to fixing the post via suggestions of FR readers. One suggested to break up the post for easy viewing... one said I used too many "I's" in the post ~ a bit narcissistic he pointed out -- like...

Report: Michael Vick most disliked Updated: November 7, 2011, 3:36 PM ET Michael Vick has come all the way back from prison to star in the NFL again. But he apparently still won't win a popularity contest among the league's fans. Vick Forbes.com reported Monday that Vick is the NFL's most disliked player, according to a poll by Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research. Forbes.com reports that 60 percent of those polled picked said they "dislike," "dislike somewhat," or "dislike a lot" the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback. Second on the list was New York Jets receiver Plaxico Burress at 56 percent, who...

....I love to go to Starbucks, grab a cup of coffee, and read/study my favorite topics in book form. Once and a while I will bump into people well known in pop-culture. Michael Berryman was recently one of those people. Of course, he is best known to me from an 80′s classic, Weird Science. But he has been in many others, as his bio shows, another being a favorite of mine, The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I at first mistook him for an officer that served in the SCV that looks — believe it or not —...

"Moore: "They're kleptomaniacs, is what they are. They're out of control. I think there is some sort of sociopathic illness and they know what us to life in a kleptocracy. Where the kleptomaniacs run the show. This is going to spread. I said this last week, I said it two weeks ago when I first spoke with you. And the mainstream media was trying to pooh-pooh this, 'oh it's just a feud down there, don't worry.' Well what happened Saturday, not just here, but as you said in Boston, LA, in Chicago and elsewhere."

His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, has authorized the public recitation of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel - originally composed by the Holy Father Pope Leo XIII in 1886 - following the dismissal at the end of Mass and before the recession. He announced this authorization to the priests of the Diocese at a dinner preceding the Chrism Mass Tuesday evening and to the people of the Diocese at the conclusion of the Chrism Mass. Prayer cards with the text of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel were distributed after every Mass with the newly...

ROCHESTER—A state appeals court has overturned sex abuse charges against an Ontario County man and ordered a new trial. In doing so, the court also admonished the Ontario County District Attorney’s office for improper comments made during trial. In a decision released Friday (April 1), the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, ruled that Richard M. Wildrick’s rights were violated when the Ontario County Court refused to issue subpoenas for the school records of one of his alleged victims, an underage boy. That refusal, the court held, denied Wildrick his right to a fair trial because the prosecution had...

Syracuse, NY -- A Watertown taxi driver is facing a felony after he was accused by Syracuse police of scamming soldiers trying to get from Syracuse Hancock International Airport to Fort Drum. Michael B. Lavery, 37, of 8417 Willow St., Evans Mills, a driver for Phenix Cab Co. of Watertown, was charged with grand larceny. On Jan. 3, several soldiers stationed at Fort Drum were waiting for a shuttle back to the base after flying into the airport. Because of the long wait, a soldier contacted Phenix Cab Co. to find out the fare to the base and was quoted...

September 29, Saints Michael and All Angels Angels Everywhere One of the most striking things about Rome’s churches -- and about Italian churches in general -- is that they are full of representations of the angels. American churches in contrast, especially those built in the last fifty years, are strangely devoid of angelic imagery. In Italian churches there are angels everywhere: all sorts of angels. There are majestic angels of graceful athletic appearance, angels in splendid apparel playing musical instruments, and playful little angels with fat cheeks and chubby legs. In Italian churches, one is always conscious of praising...

From Michael Yon's Facebook page:An American soldier emailed from Afghanistan saying that his unit has been ordered to patrol with no round in the chamber.http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage/posts/123097424378854

Washington -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi laid down the law this year: To prevent the appearance of Congress doing unethical favors for big campaign contributors, she told Democrats they could no longer steer federal money directly to corporations. The only "earmarks" members could seek in spending bills would be for nonprofits... But not everyone is obeying Pelosi’s tough talk... U.S. Reps. Dan Maffei and Michael Arcuri have found a way to work around the new orders: Simply pass the federal money to not-for-profit organizations and let them forward it to corporations.... Maffei and Arcuri accepted campaign contributions from the same...