Free Republic

It’s not just the Mets who entered the NL East with high hopes and have fallen flat. It’s July 5, and Washington has a losing record. The 42-43 Nationals are scrambling to collect themselves. After getting swept for the third time since the start of June and dropping their season-high fifth straight game Wednesday, the Nationals held a players-only meeting after a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox. According to the Washington Post’s account, Max Scherzer was the leader of the meeting, which wasn’t officially called by one person, as veterans made sure the younger players stuck around.

Alabama last elected a Democrat as governor 20 years ago. Former Gov. Robert Bentley received nearly twice the votes as Democrat Parker Griffith in the most recent gubernatorial contest four years ago. The Cook Political Report labels Alabama's governor's race as "solid Republican." The same label comes from the Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball, produced at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Barring some major developments in this race, it's difficult to see a path for a Democrat to win," said Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor with the Crystal Ball. Said Waymon Burke, a political science professor at Calhoun Community...

Dow Record in sight: We are 200 points from breaking a new high in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) which got me looking back at assets over the last 25 years in relation to the value of the US Dollar Index and the overall money supply. Some of the best performing assets are the stock market and gasoline with bonds and housing putting in steady gains. Of course with all assets you get a whole lot more bang for your buck if you happen to time the market correctly. And assets like Stocks, Housing and Gasoline all have crash...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Revolution in Iran appears to be a matter of time, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta predicted on Tuesday, saying the Iranian reform movement was learning from revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. Panetta, a former CIA director who took over the Pentagon's top job in July, was asked on the Charlie Rose television show whether the Arab Spring might spread to non-Arab Iran. Panetta responded: "Absolutely." "I think we saw in evidence of that in the last election in Iran that there was a movement within Iran that raised those very same concerns that we're seeing...