Free Republic

Hanover, Germany — Shiny black solar panels are as common a sight as baroque church spires in this industrial hub, thanks to government subsidies that have helped make Germany a world leader in solar technology. Now, sudden subsidy cuts here and elsewhere in Europe have thrown the industry into crisis just short of its ultimate goal: a price to generate solar energy that is no higher than fossil-fuel counterparts. Across Europe, governments are slashing public spending to cut their deficits, and green-energy subsidies are a target, too, even as solar power accelerates in the United States, helped by sympathetic federal...

About this video A leak discovered earlier this year in a steam generator pipe at the San Onofre nuclear plant has lead to two unanimous City Council decisions to send letters of concern to the NRC. Fairewind's Arnie Gundersen presented at both council meetings. In this video Gundersen talks with KPBS's Peggy Pico about the steam generator leak, the city council decisions and the licensing status of San Onofre.

Largest International Money Laundering Network in History Formed During Obama Administration; U.S. Banks' Theft of Home Owners' Money Laundered Through Cayman Islands, Isle of Man and Numerous Offshore-Based Affiliates NEW YORK, NY, Apr 23, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- In a lawsuit alleged to involve the largest money laundering network in United States history, Spire Law Group, LLP -- on behalf of home owners across the Country -- has filed a mass tort action in the Supreme Court of New York, County of Kings. Home owners across the country have sued every major bank servicer and their subsidiaries -- formed...

larmed by widespread reports of visibly sick, deformed seafood coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, state officials have closed area waters to shrimping this morning (April 23). The waters will be closed indefinitely as scientists run tests in an effort to get a handle on a situation that is fast becoming a full-blown crisis on the Gulf Coast. The closures – including all waters in the Mississippi Sound, Mobile Bay, areas of Bon Secour, Wolf Bay and Little Lagoon – mark the first official step in responding to increasingly urgent reports from fishermen and scientists of grotesquely disfigured seafood...

WASHINGTON – An internal audit has confirmed observers’ concerns that many of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s radiation monitors were out of service at the height of the 2011 Fukushima power plant meltdown in Japan, a finding one critic said raises “serious questions” about the federal government’s ability to respond to nuclear emergencies and to alert the public of their consequences (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2011). The April 19 report by the EPA Inspector General’s Office also casts further doubt on the agency’s already controversial claims that radiation from Fukushima did not pose any public health threat on U.S. soil,...

I was speaking with some people on Capitol Hill who are becoming alarmed at what is starting to appear to be a hidden oligarchy behind eliminating all constitutional rights and converting the United States into the new East Germany. The authority to indefinitely detain American citizens without any trial, lawyers, charges, or anything as they did to me until the Supreme Court told the government to respond, passed with flying colors. Obama said of he would never use it against Americans. Then why sign it? Several states are now taking matters into their own hands. Virginia has become the first...

I have been warning that as we approach 2016, government are so desperate for cash, they will destroy everything we once cherished about Democracy and Freedom. There is a secret bill winding its way through Congress. The way Congress operates is so corrupt it is just off the charts. Senator Barbara Boxer introduced the "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act" (or "MAP-21" as it's now called), to reauthorize funds for federal highway and transportation programs. Then all sort of tiny provisions are inserted so the press only talks about the headline, not all the countless provisions inside...

A competition to develop next-generation robots capable of saving lives in disaster zones has been unveiled by the Pentagon's advanced research laboratory. Darpa says it wants "adaptable robots with the ability to use human tools - from hand tools to vehicles". It plans to hold a series of emergency response physical challenges. A $2m (£1.3m) prize is being offered to the team with the best technology. The competition begins in October. The agency says it hopes software engineers, video game developers and other experts from fields outside robotics will take part "to increase the diversity of innovative solutions". Radiation-resistant

The US Military is currently seeking a large amount of potassium iodide, this according to a listing on the FBO.gov website by the Defense Logistics Agency. In the listing it is made clear that they want to be ready in the event of nuclear fallout which has lead many to speculate that this could be in response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster or perhaps in anticipation for an attack on an active Iranian nuclear facility. The DLA is apparently looking for upwards of 400,000 dollars worth of the thyroid protecting tablets at a time when many government officials have openly...

One of the fascinating aspects of all the controversy about paper money v hard money, has been the lack of knowledge of just how did it come about? Oh we can go back to paper money being a receipt from bullion dealers offering money storage, and we can go the American Colonial Period and point to the drastic shortage of coin that necessitated paper money issues. But those stories are fairly common knowledge. What isn’t talked about even in school is the manipulation of the Supreme Court AFTER it declared that PAPER MONEY WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL!... ...The recordings of the debates...

In June 2011, Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates was featured in a podcast hosted by Chris Martenson. The show updated listeners as to some of the latest events surrounding Reactor 4 and groundwater monitoring concerns, I will only highlight a few of the details, the entire podcast can be found here. Chris Martenson: What can they really do beyond just keep trying to dump water in there and keep their fingers crossed? Arnie Gundersen: If you put too much water in these reactors they get heavy, and they are not designed to sway when there is heavy – tens of...

In the second half of the show, Max talks to Jim Rickards about a BRICS currency, gold and the fog of currency war.

Let’s play “guess the nonfarm payrolls.” After all, our guess is as good as the conomists’, whose forecasts nicely fit a random distribution of hits and misses month in and month out. My guess? The headline non farm payrolls number would be reported as a drop of 337,000 tomorrow if you believe the withholding tax data for the period covered by the survey. That would be a huge miss versus the consensus estimate of a gain of 201,000 according to Hizzoner the Mayor’s tout sheet. Rupert Hacker Murdoch’s rags are even more bullish, posting an expected gain of 210,000. The...

When the city manager of troubled Stockton, Calif., had to tell city council members why it was on track to become the biggest American city yet to go bankrupt, it took hours to get through the list. There was the free health care for retirees, the unpaid parking tickets, the revenue bonds without enough revenue to pay them. On it went, a grim drumbeat of practically every fiscal malady imaginable, except an obvious one: municipal pensions. Stockton is spending some $30 million a year to pay for them, but it has less than 70 cents set aside for every dollar...

The casting of actors not noted for their singing abilities led to some mixed reviews. Variety stated that "some stars, especially the bouncy and rejuvenated Streep, seem better suited for musical comedy than others, including Brosnan and Skarsgård."[21] Brosnan, especially, was savaged by many critics: his singing was compared to "a water buffalo" (New York Magazine),[22] "a donkey braying" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)[23] and "a wounded raccoon" (The Miami Herald),[24] and Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing Charlotte said he "looks physically pained choking out the lyrics, as if he's being subjected to a prostate exam just outside of the camera's eye."[25]

Speaking to about 5o people at the University of Chicago‘s Harris School of Public Policy, Rowe presented a series of slides comparing the economic viability of various energy portfolios, including the “King Coal” scenario favored by Republicans, the “Big Wind” scenario favored by Democrats, and a “Playing Favorites” scenario that shuffles and selects from various energy sources. All were trumped by a portfolio that relies heavily on America’s sudden abundance of natural gas, which has flooded the market since the boom in hydraulic fracturing of shale gas. Natural gas futures dropped to a 10-year low today—$2.15 for 1,000 cubic feet—on...

...HRN: Is there anything that policymakers can do to bring companies back to the U.S.? Martin Armstrong: One of the primary things is that the tax rate should be cast in stone and it should not change for every election. That is why corporate cash is at record highs. Why should a company start to hire people when all you hear is "we're going to get the rich", "we're going to get the corporations" and they're going to have to pay more. This is why corporate cash is at an all time high. Why should you start hiring people now...

“Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today,” writes the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik. “Over all, there are now more people under ‘correctional supervision’ in America - more than 6 million - than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.” Is this hyperbole? Here are the facts. The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. That’s not just many more than in most other developed countries but seven to 10 times as many. Japan has 63 per 100,000, Germany has 90, France has 96, South Korea has...

The troubled San Onofre nuclear plant in Southern California will remain shut down while investigators try to solve a mystery inside its massive generators _ the rapid decay of tubing that carries radioactive water, federal regulators said Tuesday. The announcement that formalized an agreement with operator Southern California Edison came on the same day that a report commissioned by an environmental group claimed the utility misled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about design changes that are the likely culprit in excessive tube wear. A four-page letter to Edison from NRC Regional Administrator Elmo E. Collins laid out a series of steps...

Moorhead, Minn. — Many Minnesota residents expect a bigger bill when their property tax statements arrive this month. But across the border, North Dakota residents are considering a proposal to make the state the first in the nation to abolish property taxes. Supporters gathered more than 28,000 signatures to put that question on the ballot next June. Backers of the measure say there's plenty of revenue to go around without property taxes. But local government officials say eliminating property tax would create chaos. That worries officials like Terry Traynor, assistant director of the North Dakota Association of Counties. "I'm fearful...