Free Republic

Now that they're facing Washington's first serious push for new gun violence prevention laws since the Columbine massacre, gun lobbyists are grasping at straws — as in "straw" purchases. That's the slang for someone who legally buys a firearm from a licensed gun dealer, then sells it to someone whose criminal or mental health record prohibits them from making a legal purchase. The National Rifle Association's official position favors prosecuting straw purchasers, but defends allowing sales at gun shows without background checks from private dealers. In the 1990s, you may recall, Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, supported universal...

Etch A Sketch received an unexpected boost in sales during the 2012 presidential campaign, when a senior adviser to Mitt Romney, Eric Fehrnstrom, made an infamous gaffe in describing his boss's evolving campaign strategy. "Everything changes," Mr. Fehrnstrom said. "It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again." Romney's rivals framed the comment as a metaphor for Romney's shifting positions on a number of issues. "We had calls from politicians. We had calls from media, " Kilgallon recalled," so my brother and I answered phone calls, literally, for three or...

The current US tax code subsidizes more expensive homes at the expense of more business investment —in the process offering the biggest tax benefits to the wealthiest taxpayers. It’s costly policy in more ways than one. The tax break may actually impede middle-class homeownership by driving up prices. And the inefficient use of capital hurts economic growth. The housing tax benefit comes in two forms. First, it spares homeowners from any tax on imputed rent. If the income tax was neutral it would treat exactly the same both these situations: a) buying a house and renting it out and b)...

Gallup finds that only 11% of Mexicans said they would emigrate to America if given the chance. That’s down from 21% in 2007. Keying off those findings, Walter Russell Mead nicely sums up the case for being skeptical that immigration reform will mean millions more low-income workers heading to the US: Fears that America will be overrun by a mass of poor workers from Latin America are looking more and more like yesterday’s news. Birthrates in Mexico are falling, and the economic situation continues to improve. At 5 percent, Mexico’s unemployment rate is nearly three points below ours. In 2012,...

#SequesterThis

Larry Summers, Harvard University professor, weighs in on the economic implications of sequestration, and provides his thoughts on President Obama's game plan to find compromise in Congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke strongly defended the U.S. central bank's monetary stimulus before Congress on Tuesday, easing financial market worries over a possible early retreat from bond buys. The Fed chairman also urged lawmakers to avoid sharp spending cuts set to go into effect on Friday, which he warned could combine with earlier tax increases to create a "significant headwind" for the modest economic recovery. Bernanke said Fed policymakers are cognizant of potential risks from their extraordinary support for the economy, including the possibility that it might fuel unwanted inflation or stoke asset bubbles. But, in...

In a highly unusual move, federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from immigration detention centers around the country, an effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said Tuesday. The government has not dropped the deportation cases against the immigrants, however. The detainees have been freed on supervised release while their cases continue in court, officials said. But the move angered some Republicans, including Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who said the releases were a political gambit by the Obama administration that undermined the continuing negotiations over...

Sequester Looming: On Tuesday, with just days left until a set of deep, across-the-board budget cuts are set to take effect, President Obama discussed what’s at stake for our country’s economy, security and future and pushed lawmakers to work out a deal for the American people. “So these cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls,” said President Obama, as emergency respondents stood behind him. “This is not an abstraction -- people will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again.”...

It’s an iPad and smartphone world. Yet we’re stuck with an immigration system formed in the age of black-and-white TVs. Whereas the success of yesterday’s Fortune 500 companies — like U.S. Steel and Amoco — once depended on resources, today’s Fortune 500 companies — like Google and eBay — depend on access to talent. Even so, there’s been no substantive reform of our immigration laws for nearly 50 years. It’s now more difficult than ever for foreign-born workers to come, contribute, and thrive in the United States. For the time being, America remains the destination of choice in the global...

President Barack Obama approaches Friday's budget deadline with a far stronger reputation than Republicans for seeking bipartisan unity, a new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll has found. The survey shows that 48 percent of Americans credit Obama with emphasizing unifying themes, compared with 43 percent who sayhe takes a partisan approach "that does not unify the country." By contrast, Americans by 3-1 say the Republican Party takes a partisan approach (64 percent) rather than a unifying one (22 percent). A 49 percent plurality of Americans said the Democratic Party takes a partisan approach, outpacing the 37 percent who said Democrats...

How did the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania get along from the beginning of the Republic in 1787 until 1978 — 191 years — and yet manage to educate its kids without the existence of the U.S. Department of Education? And, being one who is a graduate of both a Pennsylvania public high school and a Pennsylvania private college (Franklin and Marshall College, as it happens, dates from 1787) — how did the Commonwealth manage to educate the bulk of those kids well? Kids from all economic backgrounds, all races and both genders? The response will surely come — as it does...

BEIJING—The head of Yum Brands Inc.'s China operations made a rare appearance to take aim at the country's food-safety issues and win back customers after allegations of quality oversights at the company's KFC restaurants caused consumer confidence and sales to tumble in its largest market. Yum is aiming to prevent food-safety problems by cutting its ties with suppliers that source their chicken from small farms that are hard to regulate, said Sam Su, the chairman and chief executive of Yum's China division, in a press briefing Monday. But the fundamental problems that sparked consumer concern over the quality of the...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke strongly defended the central bank's easy monetary policy before a Senate committee on Tuesday and said there's little risk of a spike in inflation in the near term. In criticizing the central bank's easy monetary policy, Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, called Bernanke the biggest dove since World War II. Bernanke was quick to push back. "You called me a dove, well maybe in some respects I am, but on the other hand my inflation record is the best of any Federal Reserve chairman in the postwar period –or at least one of...

BLOOMINGTON —Few voters have turned out for today’s primary election in Bloomington and Lincoln, with both cities reporting fewer than 1,000 votes cast. Elections today in City of Bloomington Township and the City of Lincoln will determine candidates for the consolidated election on April 9. In Bloomington, 707 ballots had been cast as of 11:24 a.m. Some 46,669 voters are eligible to vote. In Lincoln, 100 ballots had been cast as of 12:05 p.m. The cityhas 9,800 eligible voters. Voters in Bloomington Township are choosing Republican and Democrat nominees for township supervisor, and a Republican nominee for township assessor. Voters...

The Rev. David Olson speaks through a megaphone at a raising minimum wage rally near the Walmart in Catonsville Thursday. On a cold and blustery day, a group of more than 15 supporters of raising the minimum wage in Maryland gathered in front of Walmart’s entrance in Catonsville. There were more than 10 Baltimore County police cars waiting in the parking lot, which is private property. The group went in front of Walmart’s sign on U.S. 40 to raise their signs which read “Raise the minimum wage.” A proposal in the Maryland Senate would raise the minimum wage from the...

BERLIN –The buyout market is showing signs of the excesses that led to the financial crisis, leading private equity managers say. Speaking at an annual private equity conference in Berlin, Howard S. Marks, chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, said investors continued to pay high prices for companies and were tapping into growing amounts of cheap credit to finance takeovers. “We are seeing some elements of precrisis behavior,” Mr. Marks said on Tuesday at the SuperReturn International 2013 conference. “We are seeing people engaging in bullish behavior.” His comments come after a series of recent multibillion-dollar deals, which have raised expectations...

Echoing the frustration of lawmakers throughout Washington hoping for a last-minute swerve to avoid impending budget cuts, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, used some PG-13 phraseology Tuesday to urge the Senate to action. "We have moved a bill in the House twice," Boehner said at a press conference Tuesday. "We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something." The refrain of urging Senate action comes from Boehner just four days before the sequestration cuts are slated to kick in. President Barack Obama will travel to Newport News, Va....

Australia's most dangerous tropical cyclone of the season so far is Tropical Cyclone Rusty, which has intensified to Category 1 strength and is lumbering southeastwards towards the northwestern coast of Australia at 6 mph. Rusty is expected to intensify further into a powerful Category 3 storm, and is predicted to make landfall near the town of Port Hedland (population 15,000) on Tuesday near 18 UTC(1 pm EST in the U.S.) Rusty formed on Saturday evening when westerly winds blowing near the Equator combined with easterly winds blowing south of New Guinea to create an unusually large tropical storm with a...

The federal government helps low-income families in need of housing by way of a program named Section 8, which issues rental vouchers for qualifying recipients. The vouchers can be used to pay rent on any property that accepts Section 8 renters. Many factors determine what a monthly stipend rate will be, but household income and headcount are the primary factors. In general, to qualify for Section 8, the family's income may not exceed 50 percent of the median income for the county or metropolitan area in which the family chooses to live. Public housing agencies, or PHAs, collect information on...