Free Republic

Five people were shot along the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Thursday afternoon during a mini heat wave that had packed the city’s beaches. Two of the victims are badly wounded, the authorities said. The shooting took place around 5:20 p.m. on the boardwalk near Brighton Sixth Street, the Fire Department said. The shooting unfolded on a day when a mini-heat wave and a school holiday sent hordes of people to Coney Island and Brighton Beaches, which were teeming with beachgoers — many of them teenagers — trying to escape temperatures approaching 100 degrees.

About a year ago Zero Hedge posted an article titled: "Record Number Of Americans Using Retirement Funds As Source Of Immediate Cash" after a report by Fidelity uncovered that "plan participants with loans outstanding against their 401(k) accounts had reached 22 percent versus 20 percent a year earlier." It is now time to revisit this very important topic because if recent press reports are true, last year's record number has just increased by another 50%. "On "The Early Show" Thursday, financial journalist and Newsweek columnist Joanne Lipman said, "Right now we have 30 percent of people who have 401(k)s have...

In perhaps the ultimate sugar high, nearly two dozen young people allegedly mobbed a Dunkin' Donuts in an historic district of New York City, 'terrorizing' employees and making off with sweets and drinks. The 'swarm mob' rampage was caught on video, with highlights posted online. According to local news site DNAinfo.com, the mob descended on the shop just after 8 p.m. on May 16, at 75 Christopher Street in New York's Greenwich Village neighbourhood.

When you talk about Unions, Big labor, they are called Commies, Demos etc. But regardless of what the union leader affiliates themselves with, we are talking about American's! People live here, grow here, and thrive here. And if it is a union that Keeps American Labor moving then so be it! I read something,that the poor business owners cannot stay competitive."What"! They moved out because they wanted to widen there pockets and not pay good American what they are worth.I see the argument about the people that unions back politically but look what happens when you vote for the others...

What one has to endure these days  just to save a few bucks... And why is there a Capybara in there, anyway? Apparently -with the advent of ObamaCare- we all now must replenishour own medical supplies for hospital stays over 24 hrs... So that's what ZZ Top have been up to Whatever happened to No Shirt/No Shoes... blech  Monster Ghetto Smurfette I don't see this... can't be happening Grandma and Grandpa... all rolled into one! Double scoop... nice! At least it's unlikely she'll get run-over in the parking lot... What happens when your ChiaPet makes it to full maturity Ladies, your...

MADISON, Wis. – Authorities say an estimated 25,000 people are protesting anti-union legislation at the Wisconsin state Capitol, and nine demonstrators have been arrested. On the third day of protests, the Statehouse was completely jammed with protesters opposed to a bill that would strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. The crowd filled the building's hallways, sat cross-legged across the floor and chanted slogans. For the moment, a group of Democratic senators have blocked the bill by refusing to attend a midday vote and leaving the Capitol. The sergeant at arms was looking for them. One member of the...

Should Black People Walk Away from Valentine's Day Spending?By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Feb 14th 2011 10:56AM Most men know how expensive Valentine's Day can get. Someone decided that spending money is somehow a translation to showing love, which is an interesting, misguided relationship philosophy. Valentine's Day is one of the most over-hyped holidays known to man, with advertising starting almost right after Christmas. Any man in a serious relationship is well-aware of the pending doom of his social life if he doesn't flex his wallet at least a little bit on that special day. According to the National Federation's...

Holocaust survivors often refer to the "banality of evil" when describing how remarkably ordinary even the highest-ranking Nazis seemed after their capture for aiding the mass murder of more than 6 million Jews during World War II.

A Charles Manson follower has been ordered to remain in prison after parole board officials rejected her claim she was a changed woman. The two-member panel said the viciousness and notoriety of Patricia Krenwinkel's crimes outweighed her efforts at rehabilitation behind bars. Krenwinkel, now 63, wept and apologised during the hearing, but officials said the deaths of seven people in the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders 'remained relevant'.

At least 40 percent of those surveyed in France and Germany see Islam as a threat to their national identity, according to a survey published by the French newspaper Le Monde on Tuesday. The survey conducted by pollster IFOP found that 42 percent of French respondents consider Muslims “a threat”; while 22 percent of French respondents say they see members of the Muslim faith as “a culturally enriching factor.” The same figures for German respondents were 40 percent and 24 percent, respectively. A strong majority of the respondents in both countries said they felt Muslims had failed

The Constitution frequently gets lip service in Congress, but House Republicans next year will make sure it gets a lot more than that - the new rules the incoming majority party proposed this week call for a full reading of the country's founding document on the floor of the House on Jan. 6. The goal, backers said, is to underscore the limited-government rules the Founders imposed on Congress - and to try to bring some of those principles back into everyday legislating. "It stems from the debate that we've had for the last two years about things like the exercise...

Over the last few years, with an economy in decline and the rise of certain developing nations, there have been murmurs of the end of American exceptionalism throughout the media. Don’t believe a word of it, says syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer. On the Christmas Eve edition of Fox News Channel’s “Happening Now,” Krauthammer was asked to reflect on the last two years. He explained there was similar rhetoric about the nation’s decline at the end of the 1970s. “Well, I think this is mostly a reflection of the recession,” Krauthammer said. “The mood of the country...

WikiLeaks not only has to fend off attacks from the outside, it also has dissension from within to grapple with, as former staffers have branched off to form their own whistleblower platform, Openleaks, expected to go live Monday. The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter published an account of the upcoming launch, using information from an unnamed source. It quotes that source: "Our long term goal is to build a strong, transparent platform to support whistleblowers — both in terms of technology and politics — while at the same time encouraging others to start similar projects."

Whether or not you are among many people, in a public setting, or if you deal directly with the public, dealing with people can be a real challenge. Of course, people have many different personalities, quirks, and ways of doing things. And yet all too often, one person’s ways will always conflict with another person’s ways, and that dynamic alone, depending on the personalities of the people involved, can cause problems. We who are Christians know full well what it feels like to deal with the people around us, in deeper ways than what we openly express. Sometimes we have...

THE secret of supermodel Cindy Crawford's ageless allure may be out as British scientists have discovered that people with lots of moles are genetically protected from many of the ravages of time. New research suggests they may not only develop fewer wrinkles in old age, but also have stronger bones and tauter muscles. Moles or beauty spots - for which Crawford is famous - are formed by rapidly dividing cells that start producing dots of dark pigment on children as young as four, but which usually vanish from about the age of 40. In some people, however, they continue to...

CNN) -- Eighteen people were killed in separate shootings throughout Mexico's Ciudad Juarez on Saturday, marking it as one of the bloodiest days this year in the nation's most violent city, officials said Sunday. In one incident, a family of seven was slaughtered while they were outside their home in the southeastern part of the city, Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said. "Among [the seven killed] were two brothers who we believe were targeted," Gonzalez said. Local newspaper El Diario de Juarez reported that five of the bodies were found inside a car and another two bodies...

Chancellor Angela Merkel called for calm Friday after riot police used what critics called "Rambo" tactics to disperse thousands of opponents of a contentious rail project. [snip] The seven-billion-euro (9.5-billion-dollar) Stuttgart 21 project aims to make the city and the surrounding region part of a 1,500-kilometre (930-mile), high-speed rail route across the continent. Opponents say most people are against the project, that it will go massively over budget and will ultimately fail to speed up rail traffic. They say that the money would be better spent on other parts of Germany's rail network. Locals in the wealthy city of Stuttgart...

Five years ago an archaeological team broke news of a major find that forever changed our views about the history of the Middle East. Researchers from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and the Department of Antiquities in Syria, announced in a press release that they had found the “earliest evidence for large scale organized warfare in the Mesopotamian world.” They had discovered that a city in Syria, named Hamoukar, had been destroyed in a battle that took place ca. 3500 BC by a hostile force. Using slings and clay bullets these troops took over the city, burning...

“Republicans: Enlist, but Avoid Speeches on the Constitution.” That’s the way the headline writer for the New York Times encapsulated the advice of one of its reporters, Kate Zernike, in a dispatch over the weekend. “The trick,” she writes, “is to take advantage of the Tea Party passion and stay away from its extremes. Celebrate the genius of the Constitution, but don’t get into the particulars.” Ms. Zernike goes on to quote the political sage Stuart Rothenberg as saying he reckons it’s “very clear” that “what’s best for the election” is to focus on President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, health care,...

Visualize a huge (7-12 foot) alligator coming to the top of the water thrashing and rolling. A man has a hold on the line that the hook and alligator are on. These alligators are ranging from 500- 1,000+ pounds. The fight between man and alligator is breathtaking to me.