Free Republic

You can rightly complain about the things which go on inside the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department or the EPA and all of the headline grabbing controversies which erupt from them. None of them, however, may be up to nearly as much mischief as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) though it doesn’t seem to catch the attention of the media nearly as much. This week they were at it again and while a bit on the wonky side, a new wrinkle in the rules could spell big trouble for America’s employers and many, many workers....

recently discussed George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin’s excellent book on the infamous Kelo case and the abuse of eminent domain generally, The Grasping Hand. The Wall Street Journal also ran a favorable review of Somin’s book by Harvard professor Edward Glaeser, which promptly drew a negative response from a professor who defended the use of eminent domain for “economic development.” I’m an ardent opponent of governmental seizures of private property and maintain that the professor’s case is a complete failure – but see what you think. In his August 5 letter to the editor, Wayne State University professor...

HOV is good; HOT is even better. As we saw during the Pan-Am Games, High Occupancy Vehicle lanes were great for cars with three or more people and other designated vehicles. The trouble was that they went largely unused. High Occupancy Toll lanes solve that problem by opening up the designated space to cars that don’t have the numbers but whose drivers are willing to pay for the convenience. Premier Kathleen Wynne has hinted that she’s willing to implement HOT lanes, but has not been specific about where and when. If the U.S. experience is anything to go by, however,...

Since Wednesday's horrific double murder of journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward in Roanoke, Virginia, anti-gun activists have pounced at the opportunity to call for more gun control and exploited the tragedy within hours of its occurrence. Keep in mind the following statements were made before the facts were in about how the killer obtained his firearm.

The Great Fall of China Fear about China’s economy can be overdone. But investors are right to be nervous Aug 29th 2015 | From the print edition ONCE the soundtrack to a financial meltdown was the yelling of traders on the floor of a financial exchange. Now it is more likely to be the wordless hum of servers in data centres, as algorithms try to match buyers with sellers. But every big sell-off is gripped by the same rampant, visceral fear. The urge to sell overwhelms the advice to stand firm. Stomachs are churning again after China’s stockmarket endured its...

It’s the final chapter for Barnes & Noble in Queens, as the bookstore is shuttering its remaining location in The Bay Terrace shopping center in Bayside. A representative from Barnes & Noble declined to reveal the official closing date or who is expected to take over the property but did admit that the property owner declined to renew the company’s lease. “With Bayside, when our lease came back up for renewal the property owner notified us that they chose a tenant who was willing to pay rents far in excess of what we were willing to pay,” said David Deason, vice president of Barnes...

When insurers requested huge rate hikes for their 2016 ObamaCare plans, we were told not to worry because state regulators would force them down. But that's not happening. Death spiral, anyone?

On Wednesday, the Nevada Health Co-Op announced that it will go out of business at the end of the year. This is the third out of the 23 ObamaCare-created nonprofit health plans to fail, but it isn't likely to be the last.

President Barack Obama is highlighting good economic news during a period of wildly erratic stock markets to make the case the United States remains an anchor of global strength. […] Obama is warning lawmakers not to keep the economy hostage over what he describes as ideological demands. He also says Congress will eventually pass the budget, so “let’s just do it without too much drama.” …

A federal judge in North Dakota on Thursday blocked a new Obama administration rule that would give the federal government jurisdiction over some smaller waterways just hours before it was set to go into effect. U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson in Fargo issued a temporary injunction requested by North Dakota and 12 other states halting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers from regulating some small streams, tributaries and wetlands under the Clean Water Act. The rule, which has prompted fierce criticism from farmers among others, was scheduled to take effect Friday. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne...

Vester Lee Flanagan, II, known by his on-air name Bryce Williams, was a Black journalist who fatally shot a white TV anchor and a cameraman during a live interview in Roanoake, Va. on Wednesday. Flanagan shot WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, and wounded Vicki Gardner, the woman the journalists were interviewing. Later, Flanagan, who had been fired from the station in 2013, reportedly died Wednesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His firearm was reportedly purchased legally from a Virginia gun store. ABC News provides an account of Flanagan‘s 23-page manifesto and suicide letter, which Bryce had faxed...

A core sample pulled from the concrete of the Cocoli Locks where cracks and leaks have appeared does not bode well for the Panama Canal expansion project, which is on a strict deadline for completion in April 2016.

In a letter to Congress intended to defend its practices and attack its hidden-video critics, Planned Parenthood wound up lending credence to accusations that it manipulates rules on selling fetal organs to maximize profit. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, admitted in an 11-page letter Thursday that its affiliates have accepted payments ranging from $45 to $60 “per tissue specimen” from abortions, but said that they were reimbursements to cover costs, which federal law allows. But she also said that “adjustments that facilitate fetal tissue donations rarely occur at our few clinics that offer women this...

Former Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher made sound remarks when discussing the current market meltdown with CNBC on Tuesday. Although he is incorrect in his assertion that the United States central bank will do what’s right for the national economy and avoid monitoring daily activity reports, he was right that investors are addicted to easy money from quantitative easing, otherwise known as QE. “I don’t think there is a single member of the FOMC that’s going to react to one day’s market activity,” Fisher told the business news outlet. “Nobody on that committee would like to see that continue,...

Eighty-one percent of healthcare executives say their organizations have been compromised by at least one malware, botnet or other kind of cyberattack during the past two years, according to a survey by KPMG.The KPMG report also states that only half of those executives feel that they are adequately prepared to prevent future attacks. The attacks place sensitive patient data at risk of exposure, KPMG said.The 2015 KPMG Healthcare Cybersecurity Survey polled 223 CIOs, CTOs, chief security officers and chief compliance officers at healthcare providers and health plans.Sixty-six percent of the IT executives at healthcare plans who were surveyed said they...

It was a sausage fest. Almost all of the Ashley Madison female profiles were faked. Only 12,000 of the 5.5 million women listed at the site were real. It was all faked.Gizmodo reported: When hacker group Impact Team released the Ashley Madison data, they asserted that “thousands” of the women’s profiles were fake. Later, this number got blown up in news storiesthat asserted “90-95%” of them were fake, though nobody put forth any evidence for such an enormous number. So I downloaded the data and analyzed it to find out how many actual women were using Ashley Madison, and who...

Planned Parenthood is launching a counterattack to defend itself in the wake of increased pressure on its public image and government funding sources due to a series of undercover videos exposing its abortion business. Since July 14, the Center for Medical Progress has released eight videos — edited versions accompanied by full footage and transcripts — centered on Planned Parenthood’s role in procuring fetal tissue and body parts from aborted children to companies that process them for scientific researchers. The videos feature frank discussions with Planned Parenthood officials about the abortion industry almost never seen in public discourse on abortion....

U.S. stocks rallied again Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at 16,654.77, up 369.26 points, as the Chinese government admitted intervening in foreign currency markets to prop up the value of the yuan. The communist government also admitted simultaneously intervening in the Chinese stock market to halt further declines. The average investor got a second breather this week as the Dow gained back Wednesday and Thursday the 1,000 points lost in opening trading Monday in a roller-coaster market that shows no signs of stabilizing. Market Watch reported the Treasury market, a comfortable haven for many nervous investors,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. economy staged a far bigger rebound last quarter than first thought, outpacing the rest of the developed world and bolstering confidence that it will remain sturdy in coming months despite global headwinds. The economy as measured by gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That's more than a percentage point greater than the initial 2.3 percent estimate and a sharp upgrade from the anemic 0.6 percent advance during the January-March quarter. President Barack Obama took note of the good GDP report, saying...

The billionaire Republican front-runner starts getting specific about economic policy proposals. Republican front-runner Donald Trump began to flesh out his economic vision for America, and it includes raising taxes on the wealthy. Trump said during a Wednesday interview on Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect that he would like to change the tax code. “I would change it. I would simplify it,” Trump told hosts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann from the lobby of Trump Tower on New York‘s 5th Ave. Specifically, Trump targeted hedge fund profits, which are currently taxed at a lower rate than regular income. “You’ve seen my...