Free Republic

Economy, other factors have put pressure on consumers People seem to be buying less food from quick-service restaurants (QSR). That appears to be the case after companies such as Yum! Brands, Starbucks and McDonald’s offered their latest quarterly updates on their businesses. In the first quarter, the corporate parent of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut said its overall same-store sales narrowed by 3%, which was "expected," said Yum! Brands CEO David Gibbs in the company’s press release Wednesday. CFO Chris Turner told analysts and investors who tuned into the earnings call that Yum! Brands had expected the first quarter...

For more than a decade, it’s been obvious that voters won’t support any proposal to give NFL owners taxpayer money for stadium construction or renovation. It’s becoming more clear that the elected officials are becoming less inclined to burn political capital by giving public funds to privately-owned football teams. That could be where the puck is moving. No more free cash for multi-billionaires. Currently, the Bears, Chiefs, Bengals, and Browns are facing resistance in their local markets. The Jaguars supposedly will have a public-private deal for a massive renovation to EverBank Stadium soon; until it’s done, however, it’s not. There’s...

WASHINGTON — President Biden’s administration on Friday formalized a new policy of opening Obamacare health insurance exchanges to people who arrived illegally in the US as children who have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. The change, pending since last year, is projected to ease access to insurance and federal subsidies for roughly 100,000 uninsured DACA status holders and could soften the blow to pro-immigration advocates if Biden tries to curb record-high illegal immigration before the Nov. 5 election. “This landmark final rule will make DACA recipients eligible for the Affordable Care Act coverage for the first time. It...

On Thursday's broadcast of MSNBC's "Alex Wagner Tonight," Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) stated that the encampment on Columbia was "completely peaceful" and "Some of the images that we saw from UCLA and other places made it look like a bunch of disorder. But the majority of these protests are peaceful. When you send in hundreds of military-dressed law enforcement officers into a college, that brings the disorder and that brings the chaos."Bowman said, "We want the protests to be peaceful. We do not want violent protests. I visited the Columbia encampment last week, and they were completely peaceful. There was...

(Epic Economist)—Over the past four years, many of us have had the unpleasant surprise of learning that our go-to restaurant, coffee shop, or fast food joint was closing doors for good. Thousands of well-established companies have gone out of business since the pandemic accelerated the descent of the U.S. economy, and conditions have been particularly tough in the restaurant industry. Even during the best of times, managing a restaurant comes with plenty of uncertainty. Though a brand can be incredibly popular amongst consumers, there’s a variety of factors that can result in mass closings, and in some cases, bankruptcy. We...

Baby boomers are refusing to downsize in their golden years, according to a Redfin study, which found that the generation born between 1946 and 1964 owns nearly three in 10 (28.2 percent) large homes in the nation—nearly twice as many as millennial households with kids (14 percent). This is happening despite boomers' kids having long left the nest and their households having shrunk to one or two people. Instead of selling their large properties and moving to a smaller place, boomers are turning the extra bedrooms into hobby rooms and guest rooms for visiting family members. Read more: What Is...

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., posted a video on Thursday of a former prosecutor who investigated former President Trump pleading the fifth under questioning about his actions.The video was recorded during a closed session of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in May 2023, according to a congressional source.Mark Pomerantz, former special assistant to the New York County District Attorney, can be seen in the video declining to answer several questions, such as, "Did you knowingly break any laws when investigating President Trump?" and "Did you misuse any federal funds when investigating President Trump?"His counsel appeared to...

Turkey on Thursday suspended all export and import operations with Israel due to what it described as its "aggression against Palestine in violation of international law and human rights," the Turkish Trade Ministry announced, according to the Anadolu news agency. "Since the first day, our country has rushed to the aid of the people of Gaza, delivered tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid to the region by ships and planes, especially food, health and medical aid materials, evacuated thousands of patients and stood by our Palestinian brothers and sisters in these difficult days," the ministry said. "However, the...

Hundreds of University of California of Los Angeles (UCLA) students converted to Islam and participated in a massive group prayer to Allah on Wednesday night. Just before police officers moved in and dismantled defiant pro-terrorism protest encampments at UCLA, students said Muslim prayers as the sun set over the campus. The pro-terrorism students chanted "Allahu akbar" during the prayer and chanted "Allah is the greatest" of all gods. This is not a university in some Islamic country.This prayer was held at UCLA in California.Perhaps some think this is a harmless prayer, something that we can understand as freedom of religion.And...

Former President Donald Trump was back in New York City Thursday for his criminal trial, and it's been a pretty good day for him. During Thursday's proceedings, Keith Davidson, the lawyer representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels, gave revealing testimony that completely undermines Bragg's charges against Trump. For starters, Davidson argued that the $130,000 payment to Daniels should not be construed as "hush money" but rather as a legitimate "consideration" payment. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Johsua Steinglass pressed Davidson on the witness stand about Daniels’ statement in January 2018, which Davidson prepared for his client, that denied any relationship with...

Former President Donald Trump gave a substantially different answer when asked on May 2 whether he would testify in his own defense at trial. “Well I’m not allowed to testify, I’m under a gag order,” he told reporters before leaving court on Thursday afternoon. On several previous occasions, President Trump’s response was an emphatic “yes” when asked the same question. This change came the same day New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan held a second hearing over whether President Trump violated his gag order. “We’re going to be appealing the gag order. I'd love to answer that question, it’s...

Business groups are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration to delay regulations that would significantly restrict widely used coolant chemicals — a priority under the state’s sweeping climate law — that they say could wreak financial havoc on stakeholders ranging from grocery stores to hospitals. The mandates have stoked concerns from trade groups ranging from the Business Council to the New York Farm Bureau. A broad coalition of business interests sent a letter to Hochul and the state Department of Environmental Conservation on Wednesday arguing that the state’s timeline is not feasible. DEC’s proposed phaseout of chemical compounds known as “hydrofluorocarbons,”...

Multinational automaker Stellantis is making a big hiring push for low-wage engineers in Brazil, India, Mexico, and Morocco after laying off 400 Americans in its engineering, software, and technology departments in March. On March 22, Stellantis executives announced that 400 salaried engineering and software employees in Auburn Hills, Michigan, would be laid off to cut costs. An industry insider told Automotive News that Stellantis is making gradual layoffs in the United States to avoid WARN Act disclosures. Following layoffs of its American employees, Stellantis executives are looking to hire engineers for a fraction of the cost by hiring in Brazil,...

"Eastman’s motion fails to demonstrate that he no longer presents a threat to the public."I was privileged to listen to John Eastman speak twice and lay out his case at David Horowitz Freedom Center events, including at the Restoration Weekend in New Orleans and at an event in Los Angeles. Both times, Eastman spoke compellingly about what he had gone through in the lawfare campaign to destroy him for representing Trump.State Bar Judge Yvette Roland, a Kamala donor, who had specialized in employment law, as a president of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, had been appointed to...

An executive order signed by President Joe Biden has focused on registering convicts to vote and exclusively involved left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), an investigation from the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project revealed. In March 2021, Biden signed an executive order titled “Promoting Access to Voting,” which he billed as a “nonpartisan” government-wide effort to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process. Two months after the order was signed, the Biden administration held a “Listening Session” with several NGOs — all of which identified with the Democrat party or left-wing policy...

CNN — President Joe Biden on Wednesday called close US ally Japan “xenophobic” at a Washington, D.C., fundraiser, just weeks after lauding the US-Japan alliance at a state dinner. The president made the remark at the off-camera event while arguing that Japan, along with India, Russia and China, would perform better economically if the countries embraced immigration more.

American federalism is struggling. Federal rules are an overwhelming presence in every state government, and some states, due to their size or other leverage, can impose their own policies on much or all of the country. The problem has been made clearer by an under-the-radar plan to phase out diesel locomotives in California. If the federal government provides the state with a helping hand, it would bring nationwide repercussions for a vital, overlooked industry. Various industry and advocacy groups are lining up against California's costly measure, calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny a waiver needed to...

James O’Keefe’s OMG (O’Keefe Media Group) has recently released explosive undercover footage that purportedly shows a CIA contractor discussing how intelligence agencies conspired to withhold information from then-President Donald Trump. “I have evidence that exposes the CIA, and it’s on camera. I am working on releasing a story that I believe is the most important of my entire career,” O’Keefe said last week. O’Keefe Media Group on Wednesday released part one: Exposing the CIA: A project manager working in cyber operations told OMG’s undercover journalist that the Director of the CIA would keep information from Trump. The contractor, identified as...

The April pronouncements of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at Stanford University have sparked a crucial discourse about the ramifications of mass immigration on the American economy. Powell's observations emphasized the significant role of immigrants, particularly within lower-paying sectors of the labor market, prompting economists to hastily reconsider their projections. The forecasts presented by the Congressional Budget Office (C.B.O.) paint a stark panorama: an astounding 3.3 million individuals entered the United States in 2023 alone, with similar figures anticipated for 2024. While some champion these statistics as heralds of economic expansion, the underlying reality is bleak. The majority of this...

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Thursday on his show “Morning Joe” that viewers should change the channel if they were too stupid to realize that the protests on college campuses are hurting President Joe Biden’s chances of winning in November. Discussing the Vietnam War protests, Scarborough said, “I was young and remember my parents asking, what in the world is going on in this country? And, of course, you know, they were raised in the Great Depression and rural Georgia. It was kind of hard for them to hear rich kids on the campus of Harvard are taking over or...