Free Republic

Oops! So Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is a "bigot," eh? That's the word from Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who has banned state-funded travel to Indiana because the latter just passed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act - just like 19 other states. In a minute, I'll tell you what one of those states is, but first, here is more about what Malloy said: “The governor’s not a stupid man, but he’s done stupid things,” said Malloy to Mika Brzezinski, “and signing this law, and, quite frankly, promoting this law, knowing exactly what it was going to do, was an incredibly stupid...

WHY A FAKE ARTICLE TITLED "CUCKOO FOR COCOA PUFFS?" WAS ACCEPTED BY 17 MEDICAL JOURNALS A HARVARD SCIENTIST WANTED TO SEE EXACTLY HOW EASY IT IS TO GET MEDICAL RESEARCH PUBLISHED. IN SOME CASES, $500 IS PRETTY MUCH ALL IT TAKES. BY ELIZABETH SEGRAN As a medical researcher at Harvard, Mark Shrime gets a very special kind of spam in his inbox: every day, he receives at least one request from an open-access medical journal promising to publish his research if he would only pay $500. "You block one of them with your spam filter and immediately another one pops...

Forest fires are judged to be nasty, especially when one’s own house or life is threatened, or when grave harm is being done to tourist attractions. The popular conviction that fires are an unqualified evil reached its zenith after a third of Yellowstone Park in the US was destroyed by fire in 1988. Nevertheless, conventional wisdom among forest managers remains that it is best to let natural forest fires burn themselves out, unless particularly dangerous conditions apply. Burning appears to be part of a natural process of forest rejuvenation. Moreover, intermittent fires burn away the undergrowth that might accumulate and...

<p>With everyone (well, almost everyone - I am one of the lonely skeptics) convinced that we have stepped back from the "edge of the abyss", the title of this article may be viewed as laughable. When you connect the dots, as I will in this article, you will at least stop laughing, and, maybe, realize that we still have a big problem.</p>

A banking system loaded down with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of unrecognized bad debt — Japan in the 1990s? No, it’s the United States today. And where are American banks hiding their losses? In loan portfolios.(Click table to enlarge in new window)Banks have written down billions in toxic securities, but many toxic loans are still carried at close to full value. According to data published by the Federal Reserve late last year, banks are carrying $3 trillion of residential real estate loans and $1.7 trillion of commercial real estate loans on their books for a total of $4.7...

When analyzing the recovery prospects before the U.S. economy, no analysis is complete without a detailed look at the capacity of the U.S. consumer, that dynamo that has always managed to pull the economy out of whatever hole it managed to find itself over the past 80 years. However, permanent structural changes to the economy and the first credit-based recession in decades, could mean the proverbial "this time it may be different" is applicable.Furthermore, the non-homogeneous nature of the concept known as the "U.S. consumer" implies there are many different forces that will shape consumer behavior both now and for...

The facts as reported by the American Bankruptcy Institute: consumer bankruptcy filings reached 126,434 in July, a 34.3% increase year over year, and a 8.7% increase sequentially (116,365 in June). July's number is the highest monthly bankruptcy total since the October 2005 bankruptcy reform aka the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. Today's bankruptcy filing number reflects the sustained and growing financial stress on U.S. households," said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. "Rising unemployment on top of high pre-existing debt burdens is a formula for higher bankruptcies through the end of this year." In short, the main driver...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission plans to ban so-called "flash trading," where high-frequency traders can get information just before it becomes public.

Just heard on the radio that a heavily republican precinct in NM district 1 (Wilson / Madrid race) had only 150 printed ballots this morining. As of 7 AM, there were over 200 people in line to vote. This is a mostly GOP-favorable precinct. The poll workers were actucally turning people away, telling them they'll call them (yeah, right) when new ballots are available. Heather Wilson was interviewed and she said it is criminal to have so few ballots (150 for over 2000 registered voters) for this polling location (this problem wasn't reported for Dem-leaning locations, of course). Lawyers for...

Opera is having a 10-year online anniversary party. For today only, they are giving out free registration codes for the full-featured version of their browser. Opera 10-year online anniversary party

SANTA FE -- A lawyer in Santa Fe has been hired to represent a man who says he was involved in the beating. The man reportedly claims the attack has nothing to do with the fact that the victim is the Los Alamos National Labs whistleblower. Santa Fe investigators also have some new questions as they continue to investigate the details surrounding the beating of a Tommy Hook earlier this week. Hook says he was told to keep his mouth shut when he was getting hit by at least four men early Sunday morning. He is set to testify before...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Airline passengers, who already are prohibited from carrying torch-like butane lighters onto commercial aircraft, will be prohibited from carrying any type of lighter on planes and into secure areas of airports beginning April 14, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday. But the TSA is not prohibiting matches, at least not yet. The TSA says it is considering banning matches, but will seek public comment before making any change. The butane lighter ban was mandated by Congress as a provision in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which was signed into law by the president...

The presumed missing computer disks that forced the security shutdown and political uproar at Los Alamos National Lab, appear to not be missing at all. KRQE News 13 has learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has concluded the disks, thought to have contained nuclear weapon secrets, were never missing. In early July, lab officials announced that the disks were missing, prompting a massive and unprecedented security shutdown and consequent investigation. Nearly two dozen scientists and administrators were placed on leave and virtually all lab operations were suspended. Now, sources tell KRQE News 13’s Larry Barker that FBI investigators have...

Reynaldo Galeano Sanchez, 25, is on the ground after he lost both of his hands when about two kilograms (four pounds) of powder or fireworks he was handling went off in the stands in Esteli, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital Managua, Nicaragua Sunday, April 25, 2004. Two children were among 16 people injured in a fireworks explosion during celebrations for Real Esteli's national soccer championship, officials said on Monday April 26, 2004. (AP Photo/German Miranda, La Prensa) link

<p>Bogus news story earned a California man $350 on a stock trade but cost him $25,000 with regulators.</p> <p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A California man paid $25,000 to settle a civil complaint that he posted a fake news report to a Web site to profit by $350 on a stock trade, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday.</p>

Breathtaking Britney Spears just about bares it all for the September issue of British Elle, wearing nothing but the shortest shorts imaginable, unless you also count the jewels in her pierced belly button.Inside the pages, Britney's backside is revealed by photographer Mark Abrahams. Spears sports a little angel tattoo on her lower back and as beautiful as Britney looks in the spread, Elle admitted the photos were retouched. This not uncommon for magazine covers, what is uncommon is that the publication is not covering up that fact. In the article, Britney showed she's still upset with how Justin Timberlake...

<p>WASHINGTON -- In a surprise break with the Bush administration, the Republican-led House is moving to scale back an administration nuclear weapons development plan that includes research into new "bunker-busting" nuclear warheads.</p> <p>The Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill Tuesday that excluded $51 million the Energy Department has considered essential for the new nuclear weapons research programs for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.</p>

But NASA had planned to launch Columbia to the station on its next flight in November, a mission featuring the agency's first educator astronaut, Barbara Morgan. Morgan was the backup to the first "teacher in space," Christa McAuliffe, who died in the Challenger disaster.

<p>He warns of 'more bad news before there's good news'</p> <p>The new interim director of Los Alamos National Laboratory pledged Wednesday a shakeup at the lab that will feel as painful as "ripping off someone's skin" in order to end a rapidly unfolding financial and management scandal.</p>

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (October 2, 2002 7:05 a.m. EDT) - An inmate and former mental patient accused of butchering a 10-year-old boy and feeding him to neighbors likely won't face murder and kidnapping charges because the alleged victim's mother believes her son is alive. Zachary Ramsay's mother, Rachel Howard, said Tuesday she was prepared to testify she did not believe Nathaniel Bar-Jonah had killed her son in 1996, prompting prosecutors to drop their case. "I did not want Bar-Jonah to be convicted of a crime that I did not believe he did," Howard said. In an interview at her attorney's...