Free Republic

'The London 2012 Olympics have ended with a spectacular musical closing ceremony and the official handover to the next host city, Rio de Janeiro. The three-hour show featured some of the biggest names of British pop from decades past, including the Spice Girls, George Michael and Elbow. Games chief Lord Coe said: "When our time came - Britain, we did it right." The official Games flag was handed to the mayor of Rio before the flame at the Olympic Stadium was extinguished. President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, who declared the Games of the 30th Olympiad closed just...

Talks over the UN Arms Trade Treaty fell apart today, effectively killing the agreement. The Arms Trade Treaty Legal Blog reports that the process seemed to be moving to completion when the United States requested an extension to the time to negotiate the agreement. This opened the door to other countries to begin registering objections, and it soon became clear that reaching agreement within the allowed timeframe would be impossible. The proposed treaty, which raised considerable domestic opposition from gun rights advocates in the United States, died before it had a chance to become a threat. As a delegate from...

Daffy's Inc., a staple of the New York shopping scene for 51 years, is closing its doors. The Secaucus, N.J.-based discount retailer, which had been rumored to be in financial turmoil, said Monday that all its stores will be shuttering over the next few months, as part of a company liquidation. In a statement, Daffy's said it "deeply regrets that this action was necessary due to the impact on its business of the uncertain economy and weak consumer spending and a lack of viable financial and business alternatives." The discounter employs 1,300 people and operates a total of 19 locations,...

The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multiculturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants to create a parallel society within the Netherlands. A new integration bill (covering letter and 15-page action plan), which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: "The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural...

The toll on public television would also be harsh, says a new revenue analysis from Booz & Company presented in Washington DC. Booz says 54 public TV stations would be at high risk of shutting down, without revenue support from CPB. The outside experts looked at five alternative scenarios, including allowing public stations to accept some advertising. It decided that “a shift from a non-commercial model to a commercial advertising model would have dramatically negative consequences for many of the communities that public broadcasters serve.” It observes that federal support has already shrunk by $50 million in the last two...

It's the end of the road for "Car Talk." After 35 years on the air, Click and Clack have run out of gas, and will stop taping new shows this fall. Tom and Ray Magliozzi have hosted NPR's most popular show for decades, but the brothers say it's "time to stop and smell the cappuccino." The mechanic brothers started their auto advice show in Boston in 1977, and have been dishing out car tips and jokes every Saturday morning on NPR since 1987. "We've managed to avoid getting thrown off NPR for 25 years, giving tens of thousands of wrong...

Pete Stark's days in Congress might be numbered The nearly four-decade reign of Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, is about to end. Stark finished first among three candidates in the 15th Congressional District, but the message of discontent with his boorish and increasingly erratic approach to his job as a public servant could not have been louder. Nearly 59 percent of voters in the freshly realigned district preferred someone other than Stark: 36 percent for Eric Swalwell, a 31-year-old prosecutor and Dublin City Council member, and 22 percent for Chris Pareja, an independent who ran a spirited low-budget campaign. In years...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told The Daily Caller in a video interview that he is dropping out of the Republican presidential race 'probably about Wednesday' May 2 and endorsing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Gingrich, alongside his wife Callista, said the GOP's message in the general election should be, "Can you afford four more years like this? Not complicated. Do you want this much unemployment, this high a gasoline price, this much deficit spending? You have a great president but if you don't want this, you better vote for somebody new."

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Central Florida supermarket chain is about to close almost all of its local stores. It's part of a move by Albertson's to end the majority of its operations in the state. For the last year or so, Albertson's has been shrinking the number of stores it operates in Florida. In Central Florida, six more stores are going to close in the next few weeks. Only a store in Altamonte Springs will remain open. Albertson's says the Florida market is not good for it, and with fuel and utility costs being what they are, it's closing all...

Fox Confirms: Rick Santorum to suspend Presidential Campaign. Will post link and source when it hits Fox News Website.

Alaska Airlines, America's seventh-largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic, said on Wednesday that it would end a decades-old tradition of handing out prayer cards with its in-flight meals. The prayer cards, which the Seattle-based airline began offering in the 1970s after an executive spotted them on another airline, were intended to serve as a marketing strategy and to put passengers at ease, a spokeswoman said. The airline sent an e-mail to its frequent flyers on Wednesday explaining the change, which takes effect February 1.

Waiting on Perry to take podium any moment! He will endorse Newt!

The United States was still a young nation when three major earthquakes rocked the central Mississippi River valley in the winter of 1811-1812. Chimneys fell, the earth heaved and church bells rang hundreds of miles away, set off by the powerful vibrations from what is now called the New Madrid Seismic Zone. As farmland rolled and shuddered, the shock waves spread as far as New York and the Carolinas. Now on the 200th anniversary of those devastating quakes, some seismologists are warning that the region should be on guard because of the risk that another "Big One" could strike the...

Mid-East Prophecy Update - December 11th 2011 Pastor JD's latest. Part 2 of 2. Topic: The rise of Islam, and the role of Islam, as it relates to the future of Islam which suggests, at best, that Islam plays a most prominent role, and at worst, Islam plays a dominant role in the Anti-Christ's one world religion.

After the news of Herman Cain, it appears to me that conservatives are lost. How can you abandoned a man on allegations yet flock over to support someone who has a history of doing worse. It reminds me of when Jesus was being betrayed by his own people instead they wanted the guy that use to rape their women an steal from them to go free.. America, you deserve what you get in 2012. You are constantly being played like sheep to a slaughter. We can now proceed with the plans for the New World Order for the next century...

(podcast ... a must listen) Was the collapse of MF Global an accident or the calculated move of a political insider? Ann passionately lays the whole scheme bare, explaining the massive implications this has for our legal and financial systems, not to mention how investors should prepare in the face of massive corruption.

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - S&P rating agency has just downgraded 37 global banks. Goldman, BofA, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, BNY Mellon are amongst the cuts based on a new methodology. Japanese and UK banks cut or outlook lowered as well.

THE first thing I would do if I was the benevolent dictator of planet Earth would be to fire all politicians — who are basically university lecturers in positions of power. They might be able to quote the existential philosophers but that doesn't mean they know how to run businesses. Countries are businesses — they have imports and exports and you want your exports to be higher than your imports so you can have a profit. You want to make sure that whatever money you give out to your population is money that you can afford to send out. Countries...

UPDATE - Nov. 9: The Associated Press is reporting that Joe Paterno has decided to retire at the end of the season. As the amount of alleged victims in the Jerry Sandusky case climbs rapidly, reports are emerging that Penn State head coach Joe Paterno's coaching career will soon come to an end. Official support for Paterno is reportedly "eroding," even as Nittany Lion fans rally in support of the longtime coach. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Paterno's 46 years as Nittany Lion head coach "will soon be over, perhaps within days or weeks." According to two sources...

The Best Places To Stay After The Zombie Apocalypse Andrew Shen Oct. 20, 2011, 9:00 PM Image: Wikimedia Commons The 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition has begun. When the zombie apocalypse happens, where will you live? See some of this year's new ideas for how to survive. Humans can go to the water, underground, above ground, or just fight back. We've gathered some of our favorite proposals here. Voting for the best safe house ends today.(Click to the site to see the choices)