Free Republic

When the newly-formed Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, April 1861, they ignited the Civil War. They, at least, had a clearcut goal: to maintain an economy (and society) based on slavery. It was patently evil, but it was firmly established and it was their engine for daily life, and they didn’t want it to end. When Charlie Kirk was murdered in 2025, Civil War 2.0 kicked off. The enemy this time are not Confederates with a coherent command structure and a goal. They are an army of nihilists like the gang in The Big Lebowski, who, for one...

I'm trying to compile a list of history's greatest con artists -- people who cheated nations out of prime land, famous people out of their money, or who even faked their own death. So far I've got: *'Count' Victor Lustig who sold the Eiffel tower to greedy steel dealers -- twice. *Joseph 'Yellow Kid' Weil, who once set up a fake bank in Muncie, Ind., staffed by prostitutes, and conned a rich man into depositing $50,000. *Elmyr de Hory- art forger extraordinaire, whose bio was authored by Clifford Irving, who faked a biography of Howard Hughes. Some think Hory faked...