Free Republic

Is It An Economic Rule Can America have her next recession before her current recession ends? Perhaps I should first ask if the recession ended in June 2009 as Obama reported.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry refused Tuesday to rule out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Syria, saying the president needs to retain the ability to send in forces in very select circumstances as the Obama administration officially began to make its case for retaliatory military strikes on the Assad regime. Testifying to the Senate, Mr. Kerry accused critics of “armchair isolationism” and said there are risks to acting, but that the risks of inaction are even worse. But asked whether President Obama would accept an authorization from Congress that specifically banned putting U.S. troops on the ground...

The Kansas Legislature continues to grind toward a tax agreement today. It’s tempting to snicker at the chambers’ inability to actually pass a budget after working at it for three months, but we should cut lawmakers some slack. Remaking an entire state takes time. Much has been made of the continuing gridlock in our national government, brought on largely by the polarized nature of our two major political parties. Divided national government, in our time, is a recipe for dysfunction. But a much different dynamic is playing out in state governments. There, one-party control is becoming the norm. According to...

The Constitutional rights of an entire town were violated Friday, April 19, 2013. The Constitution was put out of order, deactivated by an undeclared state of exception, -- complete with "papers please" searches and seizures and military hardware and weapons all over the streets.

The latest partisan slugfest to take place in the Democratic-held Colorado legislature is shaping up to be about election reform, with Democrats preparing to introduce a bill mandating that every registered voter be allowed to cast a ballot by mail and allowing new voters to register through Election Day. After a brief lull in partisan bickering that has dominated the legislative session — mostly over gun control — battle lines are again being drawn, with Republicans described by the Durango Herald as “livid” over the proposed legislation. Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler — who sued two Democratic-majority counties before...

The Buckley Rule has been much invoked in recent weeks, in this space and elsewhere, and on almost every occasion it has been both misquoted and misapplied. As one who was present at the formulation, I feel obliged to record the “originalist” intention. It was the winter of 1964 and the unresolved question at NR editorial meetings, week to week, was this: Whom should the magazine support for the Republican presidential nomination? To outsiders, the question would have seemed all but settled. Issue by issue, NR gave every appearance of being all in for Barry Goldwater. Heck, there were those...

Here's The Massachusetts Law License Rule Elizabeth Warren Probably BrokeErin Fuchs | 20 minutes ago **SNIP** So, what does the rule for lawyers in Massachusetts say? Well, like most laws, it's open to interpretation, but it appears Warren might have at least severely bent the rule. The rule says lawyers without a license in Massachusetts can practice there "on a temporary basis," especially if they're working on cases with attorneys who are licensed in the state. Still, it's not clear that Warren was practicing law on just a temporary basis since she was heavily involved in a number of cases...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delivered a blow to the petroleum industry Monday by denying a petition that would have exempted refiners from part of a biofuel blending mandate, according to documents obtained by The Hill. EPA shot down the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) challenge of the renewable fuel standard (RFS), according to Monday court filings with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. EPA determined that enough advanced biofuels – generally understood to be made from non-food products – existed to meet that portion of the RFS for 2012.

Looking for Cash, Congress Finds Some in a Corporate Pension Rule TweakBy MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Published: June 28, 2012 Lawmakers looking for money to finance low-cost student loans and fix aging highways have found about $20 billion in an unlikely place: company pension funds. Pension funds are not exactly brimming over with extra money. In 2006, Congress was concerned enough about bolstering them to pass legislation closing loopholes and making companies set money aside more quickly. But the highway bill that Congress is rushing to complete by Friday contains a measure that would let companies slow their pension contributions again....

Regulators have a July deadline to finish the rule, but officials have said it appears unlikely they will meet it. The October draft rule issued by the Fed, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators permits what is known as "portfolio hedging," or buying and selling in order to reduce the risk of a portfolio of securities held at the bank. Messrs. Merkley and Levin say regulators inserted a "loophole" into the rule's draft. The Dodd-Frank law says banks can conduct hedging activities related to "individual or aggregated positions." It is unclear whether that includes buying or selling to...

A better "Buffet, Soros, Weinstein, Spielberg, Reiner, Hanks Rule." They want one that applies to everyone else while they get "waivers" for being useful idiots. I say we "honor" them with one JUST FOR THEM.

USA today cannot be posted as per FR rules. Link only below

FCC might end sports blackout ruleBy Brendan Sasso - 01/13/12 03:19 PM ET The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday issued a formal request for public comment on a proposal to end its sports blackout rule. The rule, first adopted in 1975, prohibits cable and satellite providers from carrying a sports event if the game is blacked out on local broadcast television stations. Dropping the rule would have the most effect on the National Football League, which requires broadcasters to black out games if the local team does not sell out the stadium. The rule is meant to encourage fans...

Reporting from Washington— The Obama administration will announce Friday a proposed new regulation that would allow certain undocumented immigrants to remain in America while applying for legal status -- a step aimed at keeping families intact and one that may also shore up the president's support with Latino voters. As it stands, people living in the U.S. illegally who leave the country to apply for a green card face years of separation from family members. Depending on how long they've lived in America, once they leave they are barred from returning for up to 10 years.

Under fire from gun owners concerned about draft guidelines that could limit areas for target practice on western public lands, the Interior Department today said it would make sure shooters still have access to lands long available for firearms recreation. "Our goal is to leave lands open to shooting," said an Interior official for the Bureau of Land Management, which is drafting guidelines to deal with the growing clash between skittish urbanites moving to western wilderness areas and America's tradition of letting gun owners shoot targets on public lands. [Read: Obama Pushing Shooters Off Public Lands.] "We don't want to...

Ferry Building merchants and managers are fed up with the mayhem that has come with the nearby Occupy SF encampment. A spike in shoplifting, break-ins and reports of abandoned human waste — and a reported drop in foot traffic — has management fuming about the Justin Herman Plaza encampment. There even are reports of occupiers using the building’s restrooms as washrooms — with folks taking sponge baths from toilets. And last Monday, eight men were allegedly escorted out of the building after they attempted to use the bathrooms wearing nothing but their boxer shorts. Property manager Jane Connors has written...

A proposed revision to Freedom of Information Act rules would allow federal agencies to lie to citizens and reporters seeking certain records, telling them the records don’t exist. The Justice Department has proposed the change as part of a large revision of FOIA rules for federal agencies. Specifically, the rule would direct government agencies who are denying a request under an established FOIA exemption to “respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist,” rather than citing the relevant exemption. The proposed rule has alarmed government transparency advocates across the political spectrum, who’ve called it “Orwellian” and...

His name is Abdelhakim Belhaj. Some in the Middle East might have, but few in the West and across the world would have heard of him. Time to catch up. Because the story of how an al-Qaeda asset turned out to be the top Libyan military commander in still war-torn Tripoli is bound to shatter - once again - that wilderness of mirrors that is the "war on terror", as well as deeply compromising the carefully constructed propaganda of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) "humanitarian" intervention in Libya. Muammar Gaddafi's fortress of Bab-al-Aziziyah was essentially invaded and conquered last...

Senate Republicans ripped into the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for ignoring a new executive order from President Barack Obama regarding to “quickie” union elections. Obama’s most recent executive order asked all federal agencies, including independent ones like the NLRB, to refrain from making quick decisions without much public input. The new “quickie” election rules the NLRB just finalized make it easier for labor unions to organize. They allow unions to request a unionizing election date mere days after initiating an organization effort. Because unions got their way, many working men and women who are subjected to the NLRB’s new...

Question: What do the following have in common? Eckert Cold Storage Co., Kerly Homes of Yuma, Classic Party Rentals, West Coast Turf Inc., Ellenbecker Investment Group Inc., Only in San Francisco, Hotel Nikko, International Pacific Halibut Commission, City of Puyallup, Local 485 Health and Welfare Fund, Chicago Plastering Institute Health & Welfare Fund, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Teamsters Local 522 Fund Welfare Fund Roofers Division, StayWell Saipan Basic Plan, CIGNA, Caribbean Workers' Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Health and Welfare Plan. Answer: T Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/05/obama-skirts-rule-law-reward-pals-punish-foes#ixzz1NNIqd79w