Free Republic

The majority of New York City public libraries will be forced to cut their hours yet again and open just five days a week if Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed $58.3 million budget cuts go ahead, the presidents of the Big Apple’s three library systems warned Tuesday. Since November, the city’s more than 200 public library branches have already been shut every Sunday to offset the surging cost of the local migrant crisis. On Tuesday, the presidents of the New York, Brooklyn and Queens Public Library systems laid bare the possible further reduction in services as they testified during a City...

Nike is laying off 2% of its corporate workforce as it contends with weaker consumer spending. 'The actions that we’re taking put us in the position to right-size our organization to get after our biggest growth opportunities as interest in sport, health and wellness have never been stronger," Nike said in a statement to FOX Business. Starting Friday, more than 1,600 positions will be cut as the company tries to increase its investment in high-priority areas such as running, women's clothing and its Jordan brand, CEO John Donahoe told employees, according to a memo seen by The Wall Street Journal.

The debt-ceiling deal negotiated by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy will reduce the U.S. government’s debt by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday. In a letter to Rep. McCarthy (R-CA), CBO director Phillip Schwagel said the agency projected the deal’s caps on discretionary spending in 2024 and 2025 would reduce outlays by $1.3 trillion over the next 1o years. Mandatory spending would fall by $10 billion. Revenues are projected to fall by $2 billion due to cuts to funding for enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service. Interest on the public debt would decline...

DETROIT (AP) — Tesla says it will cut the cost of its next generation of vehicles in half, largely by using innovative manufacturing techniques and smaller factories. CEO Elon Musk and other executives outlined the goals during a 3 1/2-hour investor day presentation at Tesla’s Austin, Texas, headquarters Wednesday as they presented the company’s third master plan. The changes could bring the cost of a new generation of vehicles to around $25,000. Many investors were hoping to catch a glimpse of the next-generation vehicles, but Musk said they wouldn’t be shown until a proper product unveiling. “We’d be jumping the...

National Public Radio is cutting around 10 percent of its workforce amid falling ad revenue and economic uncertainty, its CEO John Lansing announced Wednesday. The nonprofit media organization’s financial outlook “has darkened considerably” in recent weeks, Lansing wrote in a memo to staff, shared with The Hill, as it faces a “sharp decline” in revenues from corporate sponsors in a weakened ad industry. “We had created a plan to address a $20M sponsorship revenue falloff for FY23 but we are now projecting at least a $30M shortfall. The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough,”...

Former President Trump on Friday urged Republicans in Congress not to cut “a single penny” from Medicare or Social Security, a notable warning as some GOP lawmakers prepare to use the debt ceiling debate as leverage to try to secure spending cuts. “Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security to help pay for Joe Biden’s reckless spending spree, which is more reckless than anybody’s ever done or had in the history of our country,” Trump said in a recorded video statement posted to Truth Social. The former president, who in November...

Fox News announced on Sunday it has cut ties with former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, a decision that comes as Donald Trump is gearing up for a 2024 presidential campaign. “We appreciate Lara’s valuable contributions across Fox News Media programming,” a Fox News spokesperson told the Washington Post. A Fox News source told the Post the decision to cut ties with Lara Trump was due to the network’s “ban on political activity.” Fox News apparently does not employ contributors who are running for office. But Lara Trump is not running for office. It appears Fox News has widened...

As it pertains to the American public, Ukraine’s response to the Russian invasion can be summed up with two words: "Zelensky demands."As of this writing, US aid for Ukraine has reached approximately $67.5 billion, a figure greater than Russia’s entire 2021 military budget. According to the State Department, this support includes $15.2 billion in direct military assistance. The support comes although 60-70 percent of lethal aid never reaches the front lines, according to a now-redacted CBS interview with on-the-ground activists.Not only is the American taxpayer supporting much of the Ukrainian military, it is also supporting the Ukrainian government. The same...

LONDON — The British government has dropped plans to cut income tax for top earners, part of a package of unfunded cuts that sparked turmoil on financial markets and sent the pound to record lows. Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng said Monday that he will not scrap the top 45% rate of income tax paid on earnings above 150,000 pounds ($167,000) a year. “We get it, and we have listened,” he said in a statement. The U-turn comes as more lawmakers from the governing Conservative Party turn on government tax plans announced 10 days ago. It also comes hours after the...

An attempt by Austin, Texas, officials to serve a search warrant and provide lawn care resulted in shots fired, an hourslong standoff, a house fire and a death, police said Wednesday. Police officers and code enforcement officers arrived at a home at 9:16 a.m. to serve a nuisance search warrant, but could not make contact with the resident, Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said at an evening news conference. The warrant was left at the door and contractors for the city's code enforcement began working on the lawn. About an hour later, the resident started shooting from inside the house,...

With new ‘elegant chemo,’ Israeli scientists edit genome to destroy cancer DNATel Aviv University team uses ‘microscopic scissors’ to pinpoint and eliminate cancerous cells; results of animal tests just published, trial in humans expected within 2 years Illustrative: Cancer cells inside the body (wildpixel; iStock by Getty Images)Israeli scientists say they have destroyed cancerous cells in mice with a method so pinpointed it’s as if “tiny scissors” were being used to target only affected cells, while leaving everything around them intact. “This is the first study in the world to prove that the CRISPR genome editing system, which works by...

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) spoke to Hispanic Americans at a campaign stop in McAllen, Texas, on Friday, telling them that she and former Vice President Joe Biden’s “first order of business” is to get rid of President Trump’s tax cuts. “I promise you this — as a first order of business, Joe Biden and I are about to work to get rid of that tax cut,” she said to cheers.

Four House Democrats have written to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on the United States to cut assistance to Israel should it proceed to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, JTA reported on Monday. The letter was initiated by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Betty McCollum of Minnesota. The letter to Pompeo is circulating among Democrats in a bid to add signatures. “Should the Israeli government move forward with the planned annexation with this administration’s acquiescence, we will work to ensure non-recognition as well as pursue conditions on...

The Trump administration is set to pare desk jobs at the top of the intelligence community, invoking the argument that its staffs are too large and duplicative, knowledgeable sources say. One of the first targets is the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany and a favorite of President Trump, arrived as acting director in February. Mr. Grenell has brought in Kash Patel, once a close aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, California Republican. Mr. Patel principally wrote the 2018 Nunes memo that exposed the FBI’s reliance on the discredited Christopher Steele...

Larry Tesler, a pioneer of personal computing credited with creating the cut, copy and paste as well as the search and replace functions, has died. He was 74. Tesler was not nearly as well known as computing giants such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. But he played an early, central role in making computers accessible to people without computer engineering degrees, i.e. most of us. Xerox, the company for whom he developed the functions, tweeted out news of his death. "Your workday is easier thanks to his revolutionary ideas," the company's tweet said. Cut, copy and paste and search...

Mitt Romney caught the notice of many folks in Washington when he signed onto a bill with his Democratic Senate colleague, Michael Bennet. Bennet is a serious lawmaker, and we’ve found some of his proposals appealing in the past, such as a lifetime ban on lobbying by former congressmen. Romney has a long history of bipartisanship, too. He was, after all, the governor of Massachusetts. But the latest Bennet-Romney proposal was startling because it represented almost a full reversal of where Romney stood in 2012, when he was the Republican nominee for president. Romney famously disparaged (or at least, that's...

President Donald Trump is calling on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by at least a full percentage point "over a fairly short period of time," saying that such an action would make the U.S. economy even better and would also "greatly and quickly" enhance the global economy. In two tweets Monday, Trump kept up his pressure on the Fed and its chairman Jerome Powell, saying the U.S. economy was strong "despite the horrendous lack of vision by Jay Powell and the Fed." Powell is Trump's hand-picked choice for the top Fed job. He said Democrats were trying to...

When Ryan Strasser, then an associate at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., got down on one knee and asked Sarah Jones Dickens to marry him, he knew one thing: She’d like the ring. It was 4.06 carats, a near-colorless, old European cut brilliant diamond, mounted in platinum with 14 diamond accents. And it fit what he says were her must-have requirements: 3.5 to 5 carats with an inclusion rating of no “worse” than VS2 and a color rating of no “worse” than G, and with no fluorescence. The price? $100,000. And then, 11 months later…they broke up. According to Strasser,...

PIERCE COUNTY, WIS. — A roofer used a circular saw to kill a co-worker Monday, police said. Maguel A. Nabarro, 24, used the saw and cut Israel Valles-Flores, 37, severely on the neck and face, according to WQOW. Police found Valles-Flores unconscious on a roof where the men were working around 4:30 p.m., the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. Nabarro, of St. Louis, was arrested and charged with suspicion of intentional homicide, the Pioneer Press reported.

I just got my first paycheck since the tax cut went into effect, my take home pay is increasing by $170 per month. Thank you, President Trump! How about you all? Are you starting to get paychecks with the new tax rates? Winning!!!!