Free Republic

The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage "fake people" on social media sites and create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues. The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was discussed in recently leaked emails from the private security firm HBGary after an attack by internet activist last week.Click here to view the government contract (PDF)According to the contract, the software would "protect the identity of government agencies" by employing a number...

The Federal Reserve has been a nightmare for the American people. It inflates the money supply, thereby devaluing already-existing money and placing a massive hidden tax on the people via rising prices. It also uses its monopoly power to cause interest rates to go up or down, usurping the rightful place of the market and causing massive malinvestment and generally an improper and unproductive allocation of resources.The Fed also causes the boom-and-bust cycle through its manipulations of the currency and credit supply. It serves as the government’s partner in perpetually expanding the “welfare-warfare state,” allowing the state to spend far...

A captivating and faithful word-for-word film retelling the Gospel of John. The movie is conveniently divided into parts to watch each day if you do not have the time to view it all at once.

"Gold and other commodities rose along with stocks as investors returned from the long holiday weekend willing to add some risk to their portfolios. Silver and copper hit new highs for the year as gold futures topped $1,000 during the day for the first time since February. Oil futures were up 4.5%."

As a practicing Christian, a political conservative and a professional journalist, I often find myself explaining how newsrooms work to my fellow believers, and trying to disabuse them of the notion that reporters and editors begin their days thinking, "How can we trash Christianity and/or conservatism today?" Even at this late date, over a year into the Catholic sex-abuse scandal, it is possible to find stalwart Roman Catholics—not only bishops, believe it or not—who are convinced that the whole thing is a put-up job by the Godless Liberal Media. Look, I say, of course the media are prejudiced against political...

DR. KIM R. HOLMES: It is an honor to be here with all of you this morning to introduce today's spe­cial guest and speaker, who will deliver the third of the Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lectures. These lectures are part of a series that we kicked off last year, the purpose of which was to bring greater clarity and attention to the values, principles, and pol­icies that undergird freedom. The first lecture was given by Natan Sharansky, who explored a question at the heart of the debate on the future of the Middle East, "Is Freedom for Every­one?" He looked mainly...

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With no meaningful catalysts in 2007 to reverse the operational pressure and secular uncertainty facing newspaper and TV broadcasting industries, Fitch expects the event risk environment to remain heightened for bondholders. Historically newspapers and broadcasting affiliates wielded significant control over access to the audiences in their markets and used this influence to significantly raise prices on advertisers. Now, emerging mediums have granted advertisers alternatives for reaching their fragmenting audience base through less expensive and more measurable means that were previously not as prevalent. Newspapers will continue to face intense secular issues on the revenue side. Fitch expects national...

Education is a subject I find hard to contemplate without losing my temper. In the present-day U.S.A., education is basically a series of rent-seeking rackets. There is the public school racket, in which homeowners and taxpayers fork out stupendous sums of money to feed a socialistic extravaganza in which, when its employees can spare time from administration, “professional development” sabbaticals, and fund-raising for the Democratic Party, boys are pressed to act like girls, and dosed with calming drugs if they refuse so to act; girls are encouraged to act like boys by taking up advanced science, math, and strenuous sports,...