Free Republic

Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news A number of people have talked about such a thread. Lets see how it goes. This is where you can impart some investment wisdom to your fellow freepers. You can vent about the big one that got away. You can chime in how Obama is out to wreck American capitalism. If you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please do Post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite precious metals blogs and sites Apmex.com is a solid...

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – Oakland’s crime problems have gotten so bad that some people aren’t even bothering to call the cops anymore; instead, they’re trying to solve and prevent crimes themselves. KPIX 5 cameras caught up with a half dozen neighbors in East Oakland’s Arcadia Park neighborhood Monday as they walked the streets on the lookout for crime. The vigilance has never seemed more necessary than now; 25 homes in the neighborhood have been burglarized over the last two months alone. In a neighborhood that has started to feel like the wild west, people have even started posting “wanted” signs.

J.P. Morgan Chase JPM -0.21% & Co. stepped up the pace of bank cost cutting, setting plans to eliminate 17,000 jobs by the end of next year and reduce expenses by at least $1 billion annually. The move announced Tuesday by the New York company, the nation's most profitable bank in 2012 and the biggest U.S. lender by assets, will reduce its staff by 6.5% in one of the most aggressive reductions to date amid widespread financial-industry cutbacks.

DENVER (CBS4) – Gov. John Hickenlooper says he will support Rep. Rhonda Fields’ bill limiting rounds in gun magazines. The governor spoke with CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd about the gun control issue on Tuesday. Some felt the governor had been going back and forth on this issue. He admitted to Boyd it’s been a hard decision and he has waffled, but now he says if the legislature passes the bill he will sign it — even if it means losing 200 jobs. Hickenlooper says he does not think the magazine manufacturer Magpul is bluffing when it says it will...

Beer drinkers in the US have filed a $5m lawsuit accusing Anheuser-Busch of watering down its beer. The lawsuits, filed in Pennsylvania, California and other states, claim consumers have been cheated out of the alcohol content stated on beer labels. The suit involves 10 Anheuser-Busch beers including Budweiser and Michelob. Anheuser-Busch InBev have called the claims "completely false", and said in a statement "our beers are in full compliance with labelling laws". The lawsuits are based on information from former employees at breweries owned by the multinational. "Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that,...

February 27, 2013   Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent   Reading 1 Jer 18:18-20 The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem said,“Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah.It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests,nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets.And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue;let us carefully note his every word.” Heed me, O LORD,and listen to what my adversaries say.Must good be repaid with evilthat they should dig a pit to take my life?Remember that I stood before youto speak...

SANTA CRUZ -- Two Santa Cruz police officers and one suspect are dead after a shootout in Santa Cruz Tuesday afternoon, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel said, "Our department is in mourning. This is a horrific day. We lost two exceptionally fine officers today." Santa Cruz has never lost an officer in the line of duty. "It's a horrible, horrible day for the Santa Cruz Police Department and the community of Santa Cruz," Vogel said. "We need to figure out a way to bring out department together as we work through this,"...

Received from a fellow submariner. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Eo6INrPW4

FNN Exclusive: The President, aka His Arrogance, has announced that sequestration will affect the Executive Branch, including the White House. Although His Arrogance is exempt from sequestration, Slow Joe is not. Although Slow Joe is a valued member of the White House team, Slow Joe (aka bucket of warm spit) is going to be laid off. Slow Joe said that he was disappointed, but like John Kerry-Heinz, his wife has a job and can take care of him. With all the free time, he is going to work on his hobby of being a circus clown. With his past experience...

There is a groundswell of support for the Second Amendment across America, yet the media has given it almost no coverage. In California the Board of Supervisors in El Dorado county and in Siskiyou county passed resolutions in defense of the Second Amendment. Even the local papers in Siskyou and El Dorado counties refused to carry the story when their own Boards of Supervisors passed these resolutions. The media is spiking the story. Perhaps they hope they can stop the groundswell of support for the Second Amendment by censorship.

Seldom do I ever use anything in my post that originates from an e-mail, and I do mean its is rare. However I came across an e-mail I had previously read.This particular e-mail has around in cypher-space since 2006 and the essay has found its way back to my inbox once again. The e-mail essay was written by a squared away Retired Marine, Sgt Major J. D. Pendry.Snopes indicates that the essay was properly attributed to, and the content is authentic. After much consideration I decided to post the essay. In view of the upcoming sequestration, I felt the essay...

And there it is: The ultimate panic-inducing cherry on top of the sequester-scaremongering sundae. Apart from the devastating, eviscerating, meat-cleaving threats of flight delays, park closures, and whooping cough, the existential threat that is the dreaded sequesteration is going to make it much more difficult for the Department of Homeland Security to perform one of its primary functions: Thwarting terrorism. Via WaPo: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Monday that her agency would be forced to furlough 5,000 border control agents under mandatory spending cuts, likely allowing more illegal immigrants into the country and potentially compromising national security. Napolitano said...

Liberals may often accuse conservatives of being racist for making particular criticisms of Obama, but at least one liberal group appears to be more than willing to delve into actual racism when it comes to opposing a prominent Republican. The hitch? They’re not attacking the politician himself in this case. They’re attacking his wife. The politician in question is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who happens to be married to former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. Chao, who is ethnically Chinese, but was born in Thaiwan, has been a fairly quiet figure relative to McConnell and hasn’t been known...

HANNITY: When you look at demographics, probably we spend too much time breaking things down demographically, we're all Americans, but, you look at the African-American community voted for him 95 plus percent, huge numbers. When you look and breakdown demographics, it's the young people in this country that voted for him in a majority of numbers. African-Americans, minorities, [seem] to be hurt the most by his policies. Why then would they vote for him? ALFORD: And they even know it. Ben Jealous of the NAACP admitted it on Meet the Press. We all know this misery, but it's something like,...

Fresh on the heels of his delusional claim that a tax hike isn't actually a tax hike, Schultz on his radio show yesterday insisted that sequestration due to start March 1 will gut federal spending by "damn near a third" when in fact the impact is around ... 2 percent.

PHOENIX - A bill in front of the city council would change the non-discrimination law in Phoenix, protecting Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual and Transgender people. Essentially, the proposal prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, such as restaurants and hotels. But, opponents have dubbed it, the "Bathroom Bill", because, if approved, a man could follow a woman into the bathroom by claiming to be transgender. Supporters say they despise the nickname, claiming it's a fear-mongering lie created by critics of the bill. “They can swing this, that's why they do this because they know if they can get people to...

A compulsive liar made almost a dozen false claims that she was raped in nearly a decade after making her first complaint at the age of 13, a court has heard. Elizabeth Jones, 22, admitted she lied about the latest rape allegation because she “did not like” the man she accused of attacking her, Southampton Crown Court was told. Her latest victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested and questioned for nine hours before being released without charge. After a judge jailed her for 16 months, it emerged today that she made her first complaint in 2004...

#SequesterThis

Hard to argue with that assessment today of all days, but … Mitt Romney’s also been invited this year. The future doesn’t get any more limited than that. Also, since when is one’s prospects in the GOP a litmus test for whether you’re CPAC-worthy or not? Every time someone objects to GOPround’s exclusion, the rejoinder inevitably comes that it’s the “Conservative Political Action Conference,” not the “Republican Political Action Conference.” Okay, in that case, who cares about Christie’s future in the GOP? Either his ideas are conservative enough or they aren’t. Verdict: They aren’t. Or rather, one isn’t. New Jersey...

Hunger is a force to be reckoned with; it is a motion that cannot be stopped unless it is quenched. But once hunger is sated, it comes again, often more urgently than before. This applies to hunger, in the typical sense, but also the hunger for life, money, faith and power. Once a taste is in your mouth, more is needed to fulfill you the following round. Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has such a hunger. He has a complex need for power that doesn’t ever seem to be sated. This power hunger has reared it’s ugly head...