Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy grew at an unexpectedly brisk 3.3% annual pace from October through December as Americans showed a continued willingness to spend freely despite high interest rates and price levels that have frustrated many households. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — decelerated from its sizzling 4.9% growth rate the previous quarter. But the latest figures still reflected the surprising durability of the world’s largest economy, marking the sixth straight quarter in which GDP has grown at an annual pace of 2%...

Social media grenade-launcher Matt Walsh recently posted the following on his FaceBook page: "Many people claim to know for a fact that the practice of psychotherapy has been deeply helpful to humanity. To those people, I ask: If therapy is generally so helpful, and more people than ever are doing it, then why are people less able to deal with hardship and cope with suffering than ever before? Is it because our lives are really so much more difficult?" It's a fair question. It's certainly hard to make the case that our lives are so much more difficult than, say,...

MasterClass is offering a Hillary Clinton-featured Cyber Monday deal as a stocking stuffer sure to please everyone from your eccentric socialist aunt to that special warmongering neocon in your life. “Hillary Clinton’s life-changing advice is the best holiday gift — on sale for a limited time at MasterClass!” reads a YahooLife! headline advertising the deal. In a feature even Donald Trump supporters might enjoy, the package includes “barrier-smashing leader Hillary Rodham Clinton” reading her 2016 acceptance speech, which was never given.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged citizens to be even more resilient and unified as “the enemy really hopes to use winter against us.” In his daily address on Sunday, Zelensky said winter will be a difficult due to Russia’s relentless shelling of the country’s infrastructure, which has caused widespread power outages in parts of the country. “To get through this winter, we have to help each other more than ever and care for each other even more,” Zelensky said in his statement. “And please don’t ask if you can help, and how. Just help when you see you can.” “To...

The US overtook New Zealand in June to become the best place to be during a global pandemic.The latest ranking includes "reopening progress" as a factor, which helped the US rise 13 spots to number one.Several European countries are also in the top 10 thanks to effective vaccination rollouts that have allowed the region to open up to tourists.Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.As vaccination rates go up and masks come off, the US is now the best place to be during the pandemic, according to Bloomberg's monthly Covid Resilience Ranking.The index ranks 53 major economies each month on how...

SpaceX's Crew-1 Dragon spacecraft, called Resilience, is scheduled to undock from the space station at 8:35 p.m. EDT (0035 GMT) after delays due to bad weather at its splashdown site on Earth. The spacecraft will return NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi home after six months in space. You can watch SpaceX's Crew-1 Dragon undocking here and on the Space.com homepage, courtesy of NASA TV. NASA's livestream will begin at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) and will continue until splashdown, which is scheduled for Sunday at 2:57 a.m. EDT (0657...

NEW YORK, NY - From September 21 to September 24, President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will virtually convene members of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Action Network – leaders from business, government, and civil society – to drive action on resilience efforts in the Caribbean. The Action Network's efforts started in 2018 in direct response to Hurricanes Maria and Irma and have been revamped to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.

Review by B.W. Durham “Resilience,” the new book by former Navy Seal and Rhodes Scholar Eric Greitens, is an inspiring guidebook for anyone who has confronted personal loss, harsh challenges in their own life, the death of a loved one or emotional pain. That is to say… “Resilience” is a book for everyone. The sub-title of Greitens’ book is “Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life.” Indeed, “Resilience” offers earned wisdom and insights that can help people forge ahead in times of struggle, and become stronger. But this is not a “how-to” book. It acknowledges serious traumas that can change...

A year ago I received an invitation from the head of Counseling Services at a major university to join faculty and administrators for discussions about how to deal with the decline in resilience among students. At the first meeting, we learned that emergency calls to Counseling had more than doubled over the past five years. Students are increasingly seeking help for, and apparently having emotional crises over, problems of everyday life. Recent examples mentioned included a student who felt traumatized because her roommate had called her a “bitch” and two students who had sought counseling because they had seen a...

<p>Some economists warned last year that Texas could slide into a recession in 2015 as oil prices tanked.</p> <p>Last week, prices hit a 6-year low to $42, down from $100 a barrel a year ago.</p> <p>But Texas added jobs in five of the first six months this year. The state's 4.2% unemployment rate has actually ticked down a little this year, and it's well below the nation's 5.3% rate, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.</p>

On a chilly, January night in 1986, Elizabeth Ebaugh carried a bag of groceries across the quiet car park of a shopping plaza in the suburbs of Washington DC. She got into her car and tossed the bag onto the empty passenger seat. But as she tried to close the door, she found it blocked... --snip-- The most talked-about biological marker of resilience is neuropeptide Y (NPY), a hormone released in the brain during stress. Unlike the stress hormones that put the body on high alert in response to trauma, NPY acts at receptors in several parts of the brain...

MANNHEIM, Germany, June 11, 2010 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Stoner says resilience is "the ability to have a positive outcome from negative situations." He should know. With 25 years in the Army, the Georgia native is no stranger to change or to the ups and downs that often accompany military life. In fact, it's one of the reasons he agreed to take on his latest mission as the master resiliency trainer for the 18th Military Police Brigade here. In 2003, after returning from deployment, Stoner said he had some "major problems" readjusting, which were compounded by his marital...

Market Grand Opening Signifies Iraqi Resilience Iraqis, Coalition forces rebuild market that was destroyed by terrorists. By Staff Sgt. Angela McKinzie 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, Feb. 16, 2007 -- Last July, innocent women and children were killed here when terrorists attacked one of the only places that thrived with livelihood - the Mahmudiyah Marketplace. "The new market is something considered of great importance to me. It is a remembrance of people who lost their lives."Col. Ali, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division commander Since the attack, which killed more than 40 Iraqis...

<p>September 11, 2003 -- Two years ago this morning, New York and the nation got an object lesson in the price of complacency.</p> <p>The bill for 9/11 has yet to fully be paid.</p> <p>But the architects of the cowardly attack - emboldened by years of American denial and lassitude - discovered the folly of waking a sleeping giant.</p>