Free Republic

Two years ago, Zero Hedge first made the observation that the bulk of Fed reserves (also known simply as "cash created out of thin air" because money is first and foremost fungible no matter what textbook theoreticians may claim, and the only cash allocation preference is the capital allocation IRR analysis) had been parked not with US banks, but with foreign banks with US-based operations. We followed that with more analyses, showing explicitly how the Fed was providing a constant cash injection to foreign banks courtesy of the rate on overnight reserves which is the amount Fed pays to banks...

Was told he won $1 million and made to pay Dh850,000A Gulf Arab man who was told by a presumed beverage company in Dubai that he had won $1 million paid nearly Dh850,000 in fees to receive the sum before he realized he was a victim of a major embezzlement operation. The unnamed man, who was deceived six times in less than five months, had not known that the man who had contacted him many times was a Nigerian impostor before the thief and his accomplices were arrested by Dubai police and made to pay back all the funds they...

<p>EARLIER THIS YEAR, thousands of people checked their e-mail and found a surprise: An American soldier needed help, and there was something in it for them. Their correspondent was a sergeant stationed in Iraq, he explained. He had accumulated millions in hundred-dollar bills—the older ones being phased out by the Treasury—from the cash brought into the country by the American occupation. The soldier needed to launder this money, fast, and needed a stateside bank account to do it. In return for a cut of the total, could he use yours?</p>

Nearly four months ago, Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe both voted against H.R.152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act that eventually sent $50.5 billion in relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And in the flurry of last night's devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. it was impossible not to forget that fact, knowing the federal government would soon rally to the cause. Part of that reason was because of the social media aspect to the storm—like the Boston Bombings and like Hurricane Sand —information on Monday's storm was quickly dispensed through mediums like Twitter and Facebook. But with that came tweets...

<p>Eminem, the prolific and profane rapper, is suing fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO whose idea of irreverence is adding tickers to your Facebook wall. According to the Detroit Free Press, Eminem claims Facebook stole the beats, melody, etc. from his 2000 "Under the Influence." The Bay Area social media giant ran an ad for its new Facebook Home app on April 4, featuring a song with beats eerily similar to Eminem's dirty ditty about popping pills and sucking his dick.</p>

Kenya said Tuesday it was "fine" with US President Barack Obama avoiding the country on an Africa tour next month, rejecting reports it was due to upcoming crimes against humanity trials of its leaders. Obama will leave on a first African tour in late June, visiting Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa, but his itinerary bypasses Kenya, where his father was born. "America, just like Kenya, is an independent country and its president has the democratic right to visit wherever he wants," Kenyan government spokesman Muthui Kariuki told AFP. "Kenya is moving on with its development agenda and we continue to...

The incident took place in Kruger National Park A shocking video showing an intoxicated man charging at an African elephant has been posted online. Filmed in Kruger National Park in the North-East of South Africa, the man is shown running at the wild elephant which appears to advance momentarily before fleeing. The man is reported to be an off-duty park ranger. Weighing in at 12,000 pounds, African elephants are considered highly dangerous animals as they can be extremely aggressive when provoked. The tusks are potentially lethal but in most cases, human deaths occur by trampling.

The woman who claims she is too pretty to take a job: Graduate 'hounded by sex pests and jealous females'*Laura Fernee says her good looks are so powerful they are ruining her life *The 33-year-old says she attracted unwanted attention from male colleagues *She said that she is 'not lazy and I’m no bimbo' *Her parents pay for her £2,000 a month in rent and bills for her flat in Notting Hill, credit cards, and designer clothes and handbags Beauty is usually seen as a blessing. But for some, it would seem, it can be a curse. Laura Fernee says...

Babs is heading to the Holy Land next month for two major events in her long and legendary career: On June 17, she will receive an honorary doctorate from Hebrew University and, during the same visit, she is expected to perform publicly in Israel for the very first time. According to a press release, the university will present Streisand with the award in recognition of her humanitarianism and dedication to Israel and the Jewish people. In a statement, Hebrew University president Menahem Ben-Sasson commended Streisand's "transcendent talent," "passionate concern for equality" and "love of Israel and her Jewish heritage." Streisand...

You know things are getting rough for President Barack Obama when even The New Yorker, that bastion of liberal thought, starts ridiculing him. Reacting to how the president is distancing himself from his administration’s three emerging scandals — the mishandling of the embassy attack at Benghazi, the targeting of a right-wing group by the IRS and press snooping by the Department of Justice — the magazine’s resident humorist, Andy Borowitz, wrote a post on its Web site titled, “Obama Denies Role in Government.” To milk his point, as humorists are wont to do, Borowitz put words in Obama’s mouth: “Right...

This recollection was submitted to my Chocolate Chronicle--please submit your favorite chocolate recollections, especially if they may have Jewish connections. Dr. Marcus eats chocolate every day of his life and has reached the amazing age of 103. He remembers: 'I was the youngest of four children, the only boy. I had one Father and four Mothers. We owned one large Swiss chocolate bar. When World War I broke out in 1914, my Father showed us children the bar and said you can look at it, but you cannot eat it until the war is over, then each of you will...

Daughter married man knowing that he is her mother’s husbandA man in Sri Lanka has been found guilty of bigamy for being married to a woman and her daughter at the same time, the ‘Mirror’ reported on Friday. He was given a six- month suspended jail sentence with hard labour by the Avissawella magistrate. In the year 2009, a 44-year old woman was married to the suspect at the marriage registration office in Getaheththa. Later, he married her 20-year-old daughter at the marriage registration office in Deraniyagala. The suspect informed the court that he is ready to accept his second...

A skewer of farm-raised African lion meat being served at Mokatanya Yakitori Restaurant in Burlingame. (CBS) Filed Under Business, Local, News, Syndicated Local Related Tags Animals, Burlingame, Exotic Animals, Food, Lion, Lion Meat, Mokutanya Yakitori Restaurant, Restaurants, Threatened Species BURLINGAME (KPIX 5) — A restaurant on the Peninsula known for its exotic fare has caused a bit of an uproar over a new menu item. For foodies who are interested in the controversial dish, it does not come cheap. At Mokutanya Yakitori Restaurant in Burlingame, the mane course on Thursday was lion. “It was really good,” said Mike Manole of...

Getting caught eyeing the ads too closely in an alt-weekly publication can get you some odd stares on public transit. Well, fair enough. But an eye-catching spot of a different sort appeared in this and other publications this week: An impassioned plea from a serious record collector to return his prized possessions for a $1,000 no-questions-asked reward. We reached out to the aggrieved collector. He's upset and embarrassed about the whole thing, so we'll just call him Desmond. Either way, he's still happy to plunk down a grand in return for his rare, irreplaceable late 1960s Jamaican 45 RPM records....

On May 5, Milton Berle’s joke files—four cabinets holding thousands of 3x5 cards, indexed by subject—will be sold in Los Angeles. The comedian, who died in 2002, had a decades-long career in show biz, working in vaudeville, night clubs, films, radio, and finally and most famously on television. Berle’s live variety show “Texaco Star Theater” was the highest-rated program on TV in the late 1940s. The show was the first “appointment television”: Local businesses reported empty shops and restaurants during its airing, and cities experienced drops in water pressure in the five minutes after it was over, as everyone who...

Nicholas Winton rescued hundreds of young Jews from the Nazis and is a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. We meet some of the children he savedThe birthday party will be modest and understated, in keeping with the man. Sir Nicholas Winton is 104 tomorrow and naturally some of his children will be there to wish him well. Not only his blood offspring but those known as Winton’s Children – the ones he saved from near-certain death three-quarters of a century ago. Nicholas – Nicky – Winton hates to be thought of as a hero, hates being compared with Oskar...

When rationing was introduced in January 1940, the Ministry of Food distributed various leaflets to the public. They fell into different categories: some explained new ingredients such as dried eggs, while others offered helpful guides to making the most of the rations.

They say you should write what you know, but the greatest writer of all completely ignored the world on his doorstep. William Shakespeare set plays in Venice, Rome, Scotland and other locations around the world. Some of his plays revolve around the British Court, but he set almost nothing in the rough-and-tumble of 16th-century London or sleepy Stratford upon Avon, where he spent most of his life. This is all the more puzzling when, as a new exhibition at the London Metropolitan Archive (LMA) proves, his life was so intimately bound up with the capital. The show commemorates the 400th...

An investigation by a division of the Maine State Police was unable to determine why a lieutenant’s firearm accidentally discharged during a computer training session. Lt. Shawn Currie, commander of the state police commercial vehicle enforcement division, was not disciplined after the Feb. 27 incident. Currie was attending the training at the agency’s former headquarters at 36 Hospital St. when his gun belt reportedly rode up, according to a synopsis of the incident that the Bangor Daily News obtained Friday after submitting a request under the Freedom of Access Act. The gun belt “was causing discomfort to his hip so...

Jamaican singer Derrick Morgan recorded the song "Conquering Ruler" in 1967, and it was no empty boast. He dominated his country's airwaves in the early '60s when he was barely out of his teens. Now 73 and performing regularly, Morgan is equally proud of his endurance. But Morgan never had much choice. He grew up near Kingston's Orange Street, which was lined with record stores and producers. Morgan studied bookkeeping at school and began singing for his classmates. An eye disease left him with poor vision and unable to ever crunch numbers professionally. Fortunately, Morgan's winning rendition of Little Richard's...

Want to know why you should always avoid big brown grizzly bears? Well this terrifying footage gives you an idea. Nature photographer Brad Josephs was filming for a BBC special in the Alaska peninsula when the hungry mammal decided he wanted a bit of privacy. The bear inspects the camera (Picture: YouTube / Brad Josephs) The filmmaker hoped to capture some close-up shots of the bear but got a little more than he bargained for when the animal attempted to swallow his expensive equipment. ‘When using a GoPro to capture unusually close footage of grizzly bears for the Great Bear...

A burglar learned never to stop off for a snack at the house you are stealing from after being identified via fingerprints found on a packet of Jaffa Cakes. Reece O’Callaghan, who was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison, was jailed in part because his DNA was discovered after he stopped to eat some biscuits and pasta. The 19-year-old had also pleaded guilty to two separate charges of burglary and aggravated burglary, which was taken into account during his sentencing. A burglar found a pack of Jaffa Cakes too irresistible (Picture: File) Mr O’Callaghan had managed to escape from the...

Albert Seedman, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives in the early 1970s who became something of a celebrity as the savvy, cigar-chomping personification of the tough-guy cop while modernizing a tradition-bound force, died on Friday in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 94. The cause was congestive heart failure, his granddaughter Alison Stiegler said. He lived in Boynton Beach, Fla. Mr. Seedman oversaw New York City’s 3,000 or so detectives for only 13 months, but he seemed to be everywhere during a tumultuous time. Three pairs of police officers were shot — four of the officers were killed and...

A cold beer after a long bike ride, gossip, and fighting over politics. Kyle McKinley Santa Cruz | Lecturer Waffles for dinner, drizzled in maple syrup. At least twice a week if not four times. Megan Vanderbeck Watsonville | Marketeer I'm a total sucker for an in-season, fresh, perfectly ripened avocado that’s unadulterated. I used to eat five a day, now probably five to 10 a week. Jeremy Lampel Santa Cruz | Business Owner I'm a total sucker for dancing to Jerry Garcia, with my Grateful Dead Tribe. And swimming in beautiful cold nature ponds and lakes and such in...

Cambodia was a pretty cool place to be in the 1960s and early Â’70s. Psychedelic rock music was introduced to the country by North American soldiers during the Vietnam War. But when the communist Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975, they killed all the singers and banned music (and books and dancing and poetry and pretty much anything fun or intellectually stimulating). Not surprisingly, many fled the country to avoid execution, but they still hold onto those rock songs as memories of better times. Like Bochan Huy and her family. Bochan, now 33 and a singer in Oakland,...

A Daly City woman who killed her ex-husband by throwing a pot of boiling water on him while he slept was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison Friday, according to prosecutors. Jesusa Ursula Tatad, 41, was sentenced Friday after pleading no contest on April 3 to a charge of second-degree murder with an enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon, according Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti. Tatad was divorced from Ronie Tatad at the time of the Nov. 26, 2011, attack, but the two still shared an apartment together, according to prosecutors. Jesusa Tatad, who prosecutors...

Nicknamed “Mister Show Business,” Sammy Davis Jr. (pictured throughout) occupies a significant portion of African-American experience in entertainment. Although the singer, dancer, and Rat Pack member was seen by many as an assimilating “uncle Tom,” Davis lived a complex life full of triumphs, failures, and everything in between before his passing in 1990 on this day. NewsOne takes a look back on the life of Sammy Davis Jr. Born Samuel George Davis on December 8, 1925, in Harlem, parents Samuel Sr. and his Cuban-American Mother Elvera Sanchez were both entertainers. Davis began his career early, performing in a vaudeville troop...

You've gotta love livin' baby, because dyin's a pain in the a**: Frank Sinatra remembered, 15 years on from his deathFifteen years today, The Voice fell silent. Lover, fighter, Oscar-winning actor and the most dapper of crooners (even though Frank himself was not over-keen on the term), one of the biggest popular music icons of passed away at the age of 82 from complications associated with dementia, heart and kidney disease and bladder cancer. But, as befitting one of the greatest-selling artists of all time, he will never fade out. Mirror Online pays tribute to The Chairman of the Board...

How the IRS could deny something that seems plainly true.SNIP In short, according to the IRS, if you're minding your own business and the agency decides to go after you or your group about your taxes -- for an examination or an audit -- you've been targeted. But if you apply for your group to be a tax-exempt one and your application gets sat on for more than a year or you receive a flurry of excessive and/or illegal information requests, that's not targeting. That's what former acting IRS commissioner Steve Miller, speaking at a new Ways & Means hearing,...

Fewer groups sought recognition as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations that year than in 2009, according to the Treasury Department.A number of people have sought to explain the IRS targeting of Tea Party, patriot, and 9/12 group applications -- as well as those from other conservative groups -- for "specialist team" treatment (mainly delays and excessive and inappropriate questions) in 2010 by pointing to the Citizens United decision that year allowing for unlimited, undisclosed fundraising by such groups. That's the explanation IRS official Lois Lerner gave a week ago when she first revealed that the agency had improperly handled a slew...

If you have been following the Internal Revenue Service scandal over the past 24 hours or so, you may be reeling, just a bit. And if you haven’t, you’ve missed an out-of-body experience in which the IRS, the administration and Democrats seem to think Americans are a bunch of dopes. 1. At his contentious hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee, Steven T. Miller, the IRS’s outgoing acting commissioner, denied anything illegal was done. He denied targeting groups. But yes, groups with “tea party” and other conservative flags got different treatment. It was bad, what they did, he allowed....

United States Army soldier Henry L. Johnson, also known as “Black Death,” earned his fearsome nickname in France during World War I. After being ambushed by German forces and taken captive, Johnson freed himself and other soldiers using just a rifle and a knife. His heroic act was rewarded by France officials and has been awarded posthumously several times over. NewsOne takes a look back at the riveting tale of Johnson’s run-in with the Germans as he fought his way to freedom and future glory. Details of Johnson’s early life are scattered, with some historians saying he was born in...

MOURNERS attending the funeral, last week, of a Gweru man were left stunned after he apparently “returned from the dead” as relatives and friends filed past his coffin, viewing his remains before he was taken to a local mortuary. Brighton Dama Zanthe, 34, said he had no recollection of what transpired at his Mkoba14 home in the Midlands city and only remembered waking up and finding himself on life support at Gweru Provincial Hospital. "This issue can be best told by people who came to my house to attend my funeral. I don’t know what happened and I only remember...

When two Swedish economists set out to examine whether economic freedom made people any more or less racist, they knew how they would gauge economic freedom, but they needed to find a way to measure a country’s level of racial tolerance. So they turned to something called the World Values Survey, which has been measuring global attitudes and opinions for decades. Among the dozens of questions that World Values asks, the Swedish economists found one that, they believe, could be a pretty good indicator of tolerance for other races. The survey asked respondents in more than 80 different countries to...

Man marries two women at same time - but honeymoon detail hazy By Staff Published Thursday, May 16, 2013 A Saudi man married two women at the same time, on the same day and at the same wedding hall. But it was not clear if he spent the start of the honeymoon with both. A big wedding party was held for the groom and his two brides at the main wedding hall in the western Saudi town of Makkah, Okaz daily said, adding that the move by the unnamed groom had triggered many “positive and negative” reactions. “Some of them...

The Toronto Star has seen the video in question. Much more to come on thestar.com

Of the many milestones in Barbara Walters’s career — her ascendance from NBC booker to on-camera powerhouse at the Today show, her soft-focus but hard-hitting 20/20 interviews on ABC, her creation of The View — perhaps the most notable is that she’s retiring of her own volition next year. But the funny thing is that, if she were interested in extending her career by a few years or decades, her sensibility would translate perfectly online. Only Diane Sawyer, sixteen years her junior, has had comparable staying power. Most of the prominent broadcast-news women of recent decades — Katie Couric, Elizabeth...

A homeless hitchhiker who achieved Internet celebrity by acting as a Good Samaritan with a hatchet was arrested at a Philadelphia bus depot Thursday in connection with the murder of a New Jersey attorney, authorities said. Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, 24, known on Facebook and YouTube as "Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker," is facing a murder charge in Union County, New Jersey, authorities said. McGillvary was arrested Thursday evening at the Greyhound terminal by Philadelphia police after New Jersey authorities issued a public call for help in finding him, said Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow. "I am grateful for the...

A young male mountain lion tranquilized and rescued after it was trapped for hours in an aqueduct near downtown Santa Cruz is being released into the wild today, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman said. The cat was first seen around 7 a.m. Later in the morning, it became trapped in the Branciforte Creek aqueduct near Water Street and May Avenue, police said. Wildlife rescue crews from the University of California at Santa Cruz Puma Project were able to tranquilize the animal and it was transported to the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center. Staff from Moss...

Girl was his last victim but she overpowered him with prayerA Saudi school teacher who had raped at least 10 girls aged between eight and 12 years was finally caught by police with the help of his last victim, a 10-year-old girl who led the detectives to where he lives when all other victims failed to locate the house. The girl, identified as Maha, was the only victim to escape rape by the 42-year-old man, who is married with four children, when she discovered his fear of prayers. When she recited some verses from the Quran before he was about...

Forget Afghanistan, Syria, and the war or terror. Barack Obama's administration now finds itself embroiled in a three-front domestic war that threatens to undermine public confidence in the U.S. president's ability to lead the nation. The first of these, which has yet to quiet down, is the enormous dispute over the timeline involving acknowledgment of al Qaeda's involvement in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The second involves the recent revelation that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) focused special scrutiny on applicants for tax-exempt status that sported Tea Party or other "small government" credentials....

Like airplanes and helicopters, witches on broomsticks must also obey the Swaziland's aviation laws.In Swaziland, the days when witches could enjoy the untethered freedom of flying high in the sky are, regrettably, over. According to the marketing and corporate affairs director of the Civil Aviation Authority, Sabelo Dlamini, “A witch on a broomstick should not fly above the [150-meter] limit.” So far no penalty exists for witches who fly below the firmly-defined 150-meter limit, though reports suggest that radio-controlled aircraft and kites are subject to the airspace regulation. Dlamini's statement was prompted by the arrest of a private detective, Hunter...

As American troops were pulling out of Iraq in 2010, the U.S. effort to stabilize the country resembled the task of an exhausted man who had just pushed a huge boulder up a steep hill. Momentum had been painstakingly built up and the crest approached. Was it safe to stop pushing and hope that the momentum would take the boulder over the top? Or would the boulder grind to a halt and then slowly, frighteningly roll back toward us? Now we know -- and to be honest, the answer is hardly a surprise. Iraq is a basket case these days,...

When they needed political money – to make donations urged by Speaker John A. Pérez and to pay for their 2012 campaigns – Democrats in the California Assembly turned to interest groups with a big stake in state government decisions, a Center for Investigative Reporting analysis shows. For last year’s state elections, Assembly Democrats together raised about $43.2 million, according to state records. The lawmakers funneled $5.8 million of that total into key races Pérez had targeted. Assemblyman Chris Holden (L), D-Pasadena, talks to Speaker John A. Pérez. (Max Whittaker/Prime) Pérez, in turn, named the top fundraisers to powerful legislative...

Because of its spectacular scenery, Highway 1 is officially an All-American Road, but long before it got its official number in 1964, the trip north along Sonoma County’s coast was slow going. Rather than just one road, there were pieces that eventually joined together. Russians built the first leg from Fort Ross to Bodega Bay and Bodega. Spaniards added to it, forming a rough trail to Olema. In later days, a stagecoach traveled between Petaluma and Olema. That’s why seeing the historic sights along the Coast Road sometimes requires you to leave the highway. Starting at Sea Ranch and heading...

Santa Cruz police are keeping watch on a mountain lion that is trapped in an aqueduct off of May Avenue near Ocean Street in downtown Santa Cruz. The big cat was first spotted at about 7:30 this morning, behind a medical facility on Water Street. Police are awaiting the arrival of a University of California Santa Cruz wildlife expert to assess the situation. Read more: http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/santa-cruz/mountain-lion-trapped-in-downtown-santa-cruz-aqueduct/-/5738976/20174176/-/hahdkuz/-/index.html#ixzz2TTtZLeQJ

Big Sur survivalist Tyson Curtis will be ready. By Kera AbrahamThursday, May 9, 2013 To prevent zombies from devouring his flesh, Tyson Curtis eats things that can’t taste much better, like fox meat, foraged thistle and acorn flour.
 To survive in a world where the undead can smell humans a mile away, he’s holed up – just like in a classic zombie movie – in a cabin in the woods. The hunger and social isolation made for a depressing Christmas season.
 He has gotten good at following rules, though, like any wise zombie-attack survivor. Like, never eat meat unless you...

Schoolgirl re-discovers ‘first love’ – after marriage to another manIn a twisted tale of love and marriage, a schoolgirl from Gampola in Sri Lanka eloped with an attesting witness, just a couple of hour after her wedding with a schoolboy, several local media reported. According to the police, a bright Kandy girls’ school A/L student, who got nine As at the O/L examination, fell in love with a 19-year-old A/L student of another school in the same town. When the two youngsters decided to spend the night together at the house of the girl’s friend, the residents of the house...

On a map, the rambling 2,500-acre inlet known as Drakes Estero looks like a chicken foot, its bony fingers pointing north from the larger Drakes Bay. In person, the estuary is strikingly beautiful: calm water protected from ocean waves by sand spits at its mouth, flanked by headlands and low, grassy hills dotted with cattle and a few trees tough enough to withstand the wind. It's also an ecological jewel, a stopping point for dozens of species of migrating birds, host to a thriving eelgrass population, a favorite sunning spot and pupping ground for harbor seals. There are signs of...

California congressman Darrell Issa and Attorney General Eric Holder are not friends. Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has pestered Holder about the controversial Fast and Furious gun-walking program for years. His committee even voted to hold Holder in contempt for his refusal to turn over certain documents. During a hearing today, Holder's feelings for Issa burst out into the open when he called the congressman's behavior "unacceptable" and "shameful," and, getting more personal, "too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress."