Free Republic

The Treasury may have made some silly paper "profit" on its bailout of Citigroup (C) but the taxpayer may not get much of anything. The Washington Post reports that as part of the bank's TARP payback agreement, it's quietly been given a $38 billion tax break by the IRS. Seriously. The Internal Revenue Service on Friday issued an exception to long-standing tax rules for the benefit of Citigroup and a few other companies partially owned by the government. As a result, Citigroup will be allowed to retain billions of dollars worth of tax breaks that otherwise would decline in value...

The stretch of U.S. 65 between Ozark and Branson has some of the Ozarks’ most impressive scenery. There are lush, rolling hills, distant horizons and, if you look east, one of the biggest homes in the United States. A house currently under construction near Highlandville spans almost a full acre from wall to wall, on a 500-acre site. The ambitious project, nearly three years in and barely at the first floor, totals 72,000 square feet. Putting that figure in perspective might require a few comparisons. According to the Census Bureau, the average new home size over the last five years...

NEW YORK (AFP) – US computer chip giant Intel posted a quarterly net profit of nearly three billion dollars on Tuesday and record revenue of more than 11 billion dollars. The Santa Clara, California-based technology bellwether reported third-quarter revenue of 2.95 billion dollars, up from 1.85 billion dollars during the same period a year ago. Earnings per share of 52 cents were slightly better than the 50 cents expected by Wall Street analysts.

STOCKHOLM – An island of ice more than four times the size of Manhattan is drifting across the Arctic Ocean after breaking off from a glacier in Greenland. Potentially in the path of this unstoppable giant are oil platforms and shipping lanes — and any collision could do untold damage. In a worst case scenario, large chunks could reach the heavily trafficked waters where another Greenland iceberg sank the Titanic in 1912. It's been a summer of near biblical climatic havoc across the planet, with wildfires, heat and smog in Russia and killer floods in Asia. But the moment the...

Target has now apologized for contributing to a pro-business, pro-Tom Emmer for Governor in Minnesota group, which gives me a second reason not to shop in the store that banned the Salvation Army at Christmas a few years back. Would it have been that hard for the CEO to say that the company believes in free enterprise and especially in these times the home to its headquarters needs a competent governor committed to economic growth? Emmer deserves all the support that timid business execs won't give him, so please stop by his website and contribute. I will try and get...

Posted April 1st, 2010 by Javier Manjarres The Shark Tank has just received word from a very reliable source that U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio will receive an endorsement from one of the most prominent names in politics, and that it will be announced on Monday April 5th. The Rubio for Senate campaign will hold a press conference to make the formal announcement at: The Renaissance Ballrooms located at 2340 SW 32 Avenue in Coral Gables, Florida at 10:30 AM. All are invited to attend. As for who the mystery endorser is, ‘mum’ is the word for now. The editors...

Thousands of people filling the sidewalks and spilling onto Tully Road had arrived early Saturday morning to receive one of 5,500 doses of coveted swine flu vaccine. "There's no way there's enough," said George Reis, who was helping with crowd control. "They keep coming."

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis told Fox News' Chris Wallace on Sunday that her group "absolutely pays its taxes." Not true: The IRS and Louisiana's taxmen have imposed nearly $2 million in liens against ACORN for failing to fork over taxes at its New Orleans national headquarters. The IRS recently filed a $548,000 lien against the group, and Louisiana state tax officials have slapped $334,000 in liens on ACORN since last October. Evidence that ACORN ignored its tax obligations may be less exciting than its branch offices' eagerness to help a self-professed pimp break multiple laws, or the voter-registration fraud for...

The huge “9/12” protest in Washington was the latest expression of discontent over President Obama’s leftward policy thrust. The discord is evident from the “Tea Party” movement to the chaotic “townhalls” on “healthcare reform.” The mainstream media and American left are thrown off by this, clearly wanting to dismiss it as a giant, petulant right-wing rant. Some “journalists,” as well as Democratic members of Congress, have described these genuinely concerned citizens in very demeaning terms, from “racists” to “Nazis.” I know why the left is dismissive: First off, it’s difficult to know if the protesters are mostly people who didn’t...

I have been doing some research analyzing photos and crowd data to try and ascertain the crowd size of the 9/12/09 Tea Party protests (which I blogged on here). It seems the best, most recent reference point is President Obama’s inauguration, which was estimated at 1.8-2.0 million people. If you look at the pictures from last January’s Inauguration it looks at first glance like the Obama crowds dwarfed the Tea Party crowds. The Tea Party Crowds did not extend back the Washington Monument (there were other events on the Mall yesterday). On the flip side, the inauguration is a controlled,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that Congress could put together an economic stimulus package of several hundred billion dollars that should also contain tax cuts. In a recorded interview with CBS' "Face the Nation" that was aired on Sunday, Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the package should be aimed at creating jobs immediately and include investments for future growth. Pelosi said several economists have called for a package in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

New technology met ancient weaponry in Palo Alto this week when local park rangers used cell phone images and Wikipedia to identify an unexploded artillery shell discovered Wednesday in Foothills Park. The artillery shell is the latest in a long line of mysterious hazards that have periodically surfaced at Foothills Park since its official opening in 1965, offering another glimpse into its secretive history. Residents were alerted to the most recent episode Wednesday afternoon, when the city sent out a community notice warning that an unexploded World War I artillery shell had been discovered on the 3200 block of Alexis...

(New York - WABC, June 18, 2007) - A large steam explosion struck Midtown Manhattan on the east side Wednesday evening. Subway service through Grand Central is affected. There have been 12 confirmed injuries. It happened near 41st Street between 3rd and Lexington Avenue. The entire area from 41st Street to 47 Street in and around Third Avenue and Park Avenue has been evacuated and closed. The NYPD says a steam pipe exploded at 6:10 p.m. People were seen running from the scene, screaming and shouting amid an enormous roaring sound and a plume of steam and flying rubble. It...

A major dust storm has developed on the red planet, blocking sunlight and prompting Mars mission managers to keep a close eye on it, SPACE.com has learned. It is not known how large the storm might grow, but already it is thousands of miles across. If it balloons, as dust storms have done in the past, it could hamper operations of NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. For now, officials don't think the storm will threaten rover operations, however. In fact, the windy conditions on the planet have blown off large amounts of dust from the rovers' solar arrays, giving...

Huge mosque stirs protests in Cologne By Harry de Quetteville in Cologne Last Updated: 12:39am BST 25/06/2007 The construction of one of Europe's biggest mosques near to a globally famous Christian landmark has sparked a furious row in Germany. Immigration and integration are hugely sensitive questions in Germany, which is home to a Turkish community of several million. But almost within the shadow of Cologne Cathedral, political correctness has now been replaced by bitter confrontation as the city's Muslims begin to build a 2,000-capacity mosque with twin minarets that will reach 170ft. "Muslims have been here for 40 years, yet...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Filmmaker Michael Moore, facing a U.S. government probe into a recent trip to Cuba, lashed out at the Bush administration on Friday, declaring he did nothing illegal by visiting the communist-ruled island. "I have broken no laws, and I have nothing to hide," the maverick director wrote in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson posted at the Daily Kos Web site. A day earlier, Moore, whose 2004 documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" skewered U.S. President George W. Bush for his actions following the September 11 attacks, released a letter from the Treasury Department that warned Moore...

A Kenosha millionaire who had spearheaded a proposed $808 million Indian casino was charged Thursday with illegally funneling $100,000 in contributions through his children to the campaign of Gov. Jim Doyle and other political funds and then lying about it to the FBI. Dennis Troha, 60, who made his fortune in trucking, is charged in an eight-page federal indictment with fraud and making a materially false statement to investigators. If convicted of both charges, Troha could face up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, but under federal sentencing guidelines likely would get a much shorter sentence.

Huge Underground "Ocean" Found Beneath Asia Richard A. Lovett for National Geographic News February 27, 2007 A giant blob of water the size of the Arctic Ocean has been discovered hundreds of miles beneath eastern Asia, scientists report. Researchers found the underground "ocean" while scanning seismic waves as they passed through Earth's interior. But nobody will be exploring this sea by submarine. The water is locked in moisture-containing rocks 400 to 800 miles (700 to 1,400 kilometers) beneath the surface. "I've gotten all sorts of emails asking if this is the water that burst out in Noah's flood," said the...

Huge storms sweep northern Europe Huge waves pound the port of Wimereux, northern France At least 25 people have been killed as violent storms lashed northern Europe, causing travel chaos across the region. Britain was the worst hit with nine people killed as rain and gusts of up to 99mph (159km/h) swept the country. Hurricane-force winds battering Germany have claimed at least seven lives. The other deaths were reported in France, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The severe weather has forced hundreds of flight, rail and ferry cancellations and prompted road and school closures. Meteorologists at London's Met Office...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. - A giant wild hog boasted to be bigger than the near-mythical "Hogzilla" caught in southern Georgia a few years ago has been killed in a suburban Atlanta neighborhood. The hog hung snout down from a tree Friday in William Coursey's front yard, not far from where the avid hunter said he shot the beast. He said he hauled it to a truck weight station, which recorded the hairy hog at 1,100 pounds. The Department of Natural Resources did not know whether the hog was a record for the state. "We don't keep records on hogs," said Melissa...