Free Republic

A mere 2,100 migrants in the Big Apple’s care have applied for work permits — with not a single one yet to receive federal approval, city officials admitted Wednesday. City Hall also still has no solid figure for how many of the more than 40,000 adult asylum seekers it is housing are even eligible to legally work here, officials conceded at a city council hearing. The revelation frustrated even Mayor Adams’ fellow Democrats on the council. “This migrant strategy is going nowhere fast: We have to secure the border,” Council Member Robert Holden (D-Queens) said. So far, the city’s migrant...

Workers allege the action is retaliatory, but the chain says closures are "a regular part of our operations." With thousands of locations nationwide, a single Starbucks closing typically isn't national news. But at a time when the coffee chain is dealing with a major unionization push from employees — and being accused of potentially illegal anti-union behavior in the process — the announcement that Starbucks is shuttering a unionized store in Ithaca, New York, is grabbing a lot of attention. Starbucks Workers United, the national group behind Starbucks employees' unionization efforts, said they would once again be filing an Unfair...

They’re slob goblins. With employees prepping to flock back to the office amid easing COVID restrictions, many are faced with the same dilemma — how to switch off “goblin mode” now that they’re around other people.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell — who split with the Republican Party to endorse President Barack Obama two times — said Sunday there are some clearly racial elements within the GOP. “There’s also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities.” While not mentioning former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin or former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu by name, Powell referenced past comments from each about Obama as evidence of...

Black Americans voted with their feet in the 2010 midterm elections: they stayed home in record numbers and were one of the biggest reasons Democrats lost a record number of seats. Nor should anyone be surprised why so many Blacks decided to sit this one out. Black American voters may be becoming increasingly disillusioned with government, disillusioned with President Obama and his promises of job creation, disillusioned with his promises of change. And so they stayed home, a statistic supported by a recent CBS News report that cites lower turnout in most minority segments of the U.S. population than in...

Brad Cain was in a bad mood. On Friday, his fifth day at Haven for Hope, he was scheduled for three hours of mandatory motivational classes, a requirement that caused him to lament the loss of his time not spent at a job off campus moving furniture. “This whole deal, getting in here, has cost me 100 bucks,” Cain said. “How can I be working if I'm doing workshops?” Later, he said, “My biggest problem right now is I've already got this locked in my mind, and you're wasting my frickin' time.” Cain had other complaints, bemoaning an uncomfortable bunk...

Going back to work to start the year was no different than working last week; most Venezuelans are certainly not working and will likely not go to work for at least another week, a phenomenon that I have always marveled at. It is in fact pretty amazing that a country with such low productivity practically shuts down for three weeks every year at Christmas. And let’s not talk about Easter week and carnival week when similar slowdowns take place. But maybe I should lighten up. The slowdown is general. The best part is that politicians also disappear from view for...

It's an amazing irony that Bill Clinton, of all people, should be the first American up to the microphone to snipe at President Bush's tsunami response, less than four days after the catastrophe. Of course, nobody could outrace a United Nations bureaucrat for the honors, but Clinton’s effort still wins him "progressive" style points in this informal branch of the Olympic Games. ... Investor's Business Daily has one of the best editorials scorning the ex-president's disgusting performance, but many other media organs are muted on the subject. Using the cocktail chatter language of the Davos and United Nations VIP lounge...

With slogans of "Workers of the world--Relax!!!" and "Alarm clocks kill dreams", the Work Less Party is set to field at least three candidates in the next British Columbia election. It should come as no surprise that a political party that advocates working less should first take hold in B.C., the Canadian equivalent of La-La land that is often referred to as British California. The major plank of the WL (perhaps they should be called "willies") is to bring in a 4-day, 32 hour work week. The party wants to go back to the heady days of the 1950s when...

6/7/04: AWB renewal now on Senate calendar. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has once again introduced legislation to renew the so-called "assault weapons" ban. S.2498 was introduced last week, and, by using a "nuclear option" referred to as Rule XIV, has gotten the bill placed on the Senate calendar. As a Senate educational article on the subject puts it, "Most bills are routinely referred to the committee with appropriate jurisdiction as soon as they are introduced. But if a Senator plans to introduce a bill and believes that the committee to which it would be referred will be unsympathetic, Rule XIV...