Free Republic

Progressives used to pressure U.S. corporations to cut back on outsourcing and on the tactic of building their products abroad to take advantage of inexpensive foreign workers. During the 2012 election, President Obama attacked Mitt Romney as a potential illiberal “outsourcer in chief” for investing in companies that went overseas in search of cheap labor. Yet most of the computers and smartphones sold by Silicon Valley companies are still being built abroad — to mostly silence from progressive watchdogs. In the case of the cobalt mining that is necessary for the production of lithium-ion batteries in electric cars, thousands of...

You are my children so come spend time with me for now as you enter into worship welcoming in My Spirit of Grace truly Heaven shall open and my angelic army abound around you for you are My holy place as I live in and with you as one abiding together . Allow me to show, yes reveal to you that which are mysteries to others yet make I it known to you for you are my Gideons and we are about to take on a great victory over darkness and this is why my presence in you is expanding...

MONTGOMERY, Alabama, October 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has labeled Liberty Counsel, the law firm representing and supporting Christian Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who famously went to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a "hate group." Pointing to evidence that Liberty Counsel supports Christian beliefs on homosexuality, SPLC placed the group on a list of "hate groups" alongside other organizations such the Ku Klux Klan, the ultra-violent New Black Panther Party, and neo-Nazi white supremacist groups. On a page explaining the "hate" designation, the SPLC include quotes by Liberty Counsel founder...

Apple will analyze the recovered iPhone that may hold the key to what happened last summer when two Florida teens disappeared on a boating trip, according to an agreement reached by the teens' parents in court today. The recovered iPhone belonged to 14-year-old Austin Stephanos, who went missing while on a boat trip with Perry Cohen, also 14, in July. The Coast Guard led an eight-day search in the Atlantic, covering 50,000 nautical miles. The boys' bodies were never found. But Austin's iPhone was on board when the boys' boat was recovered last month about 100 miles off the coast...

Climate change could put Bermuda at risk of greater economic damage and dent its sovereign credit rating more than many countries and islands. That is the finding of a speculative report by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. Using direct damage data from Swiss Re, the agency estimated the possible adverse effect of climate change on 38 countries. It based its measurements on the expectation of a once-in-250-year natural catastrophe event striking, and the impact being exacerbated a further 20 per cent to represent the magnified additional damage expected to be inflicted due to climate change. Projected out 35 years to...

The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that nearly three-quarters of the firms on the Fortune 500 list of biggest American companies by gross revenue operate tax haven subsidiaries in countries like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The conglomerate General Electric has booked $119 billion offshore in 18 tax havens, software firm Microsoft is holding $108.3 billion...

The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that nearly three-quarters of the firms on the Fortune 500 list of biggest American companies by gross revenue operate tax haven subsidiaries in countries like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund used the companies' own financial filings with...

A cruise ship that originated in Boston has run aground in Bermuda, according to the United States Coast Guard. Coast Guard officials said the Norwegian Dawn ran aground after leaving Bermuda on Tuesday evening. There are 2,675 passengers and 1,062 crew members on board. Coast Guard officials said the situation is being assessed and the ship was stable.

Executives at a Bermudan firm funneling money to U.S. environmentalists run investment funds with Russian tycoons. A shadowy Bermudan company that has funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States is run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. One of those executives, Nicholas Hoskins, is a director at a hedge fund management firm that has invested heavily in Russian oil and gas. He is also senior counsel at the Bermudan law firm Wakefield Quin and the vice president...

France has decided to remove Jersey and Bermuda from its tax haven blacklist as they have been cooperative in sharing fiscal information. EurActiv France reports. According to a letter from the French finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, and the budget minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, to the rapporteur of the finance committee of the French parliament, Christian Eckert, the two island states gave positive responses to the requests for fiscal cooperation that France had demanded after they were added to the blacklist last August. The blacklist consists of non EU member countries that do not have an administrative assistance convention with France, which...

Where’s Bloomy? While Gov. Cuomo, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly and FDNY commissioner Sal Cassano rushed to the deadly Metro-North crash in the Bronx, lame duck Mayor Bloomberg was nowhere to be found. It took five hours for Bloomberg’s office to tweet: “Thoughts and prayers with those impacted by today’s train derailment. If you are looking for a loved one who was onboard, call 311.” It’s not known where Bloomberg was on Sunday morning, and City Hall staffers declined to reveal their boss’ whereabouts.

A FORMER Google executive has blown the whistle on a massive and “immoral” tax avoidance scheme that has “cheated” British taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of pounds over the past decade. Barney Jones, 34, who worked for the internet search giant between 2002 and 2006, has lifted the lid on an elaborate structure which diverts British profits through Ireland to the Bermuda tax haven. Although Google’s London sales staff would negotiate and sign contracts with British customers, and cash was paid into a UK bank account, deals were technically booked through its Dublin office to minimise its liabilities here....

As most of you have read or seen by now, a journalist and NBC/MSNBC media consultant named William “Bill” Arkin has created quite a stir by viciously insulting American soldiers in Iraq. He wrote at his Washington Post blog, “Early Warning: William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security” column (1/30/07), that “… this NBC (Nightly News) report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer force that thinks it is doing the dirty work” re Iraq. The “report,” according to Arkin, featured “a number of soldiers (who) expressed frustration with...

On Obama Adviser’s Disclosure Form: ‘Bermuda’ A lot of attention has been focused lately on Mitt Romney’s offshore finances in places like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. But the word Bermuda pops up on the financial disclosure forms of one of President Obama’s top advisers too. Valerie Jarrett’s financial disclosure form filed May 4 lists a line of credit from a Bermuda insurance company valued between $100,000 and $250,000. We’ve asked the White House what exactly this mark is, and we’re waiting to hear back. In the meantime we’ve spoken to tax experts who have said that the filing could...

President Obama is all for demonizing large American corporations that avoid taxes through income shifting…except when those large American corporations are dumping money in his campaign coffers. Bloomberg is running a big story on Google’s lucrative use of the very loopholes Team Obama wants to eliminate: Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda. Google’s income shifting — involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” — helped reduce its overseas tax rate...

SNIPPET: "According to police, three baggage handlers were loading luggage on to a flight bound for Bermuda around 10:56 a.m. when two of the handlers noticed a third was not wearing an identification badge. When questioned about it, the third man took off and has yet to be found by police." SNIPPET: "Investigating agencies include the Philadelphia Police, the F.B.I. and Homeland Security."

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

Looks like the country's top diplomat and her headline-grabbing hubby have reached a détente while on a romantic Bermuda vacation yesterday. The laid-back Clintons looked like any other happily married couple outside the Cambridge Beaches resort, where they are staying for a brief vacation. The getaway comes less than two weeks after a feisty Secretary of State Hillary, during a visit to the Congo, lashed out at a university student who she thought had asked her Bill's opinion on an international issue. And on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows when she skipped a meeting between President Obama and Bill Clinton...

The Clintons are walking hand in hand in Bermuda this week. The Obamas will be vacationing in Martha's Vineyard starting this weekend. Sounds like a lot of R&R for Democratic leaders on the East Coast. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has other ideas. Hurricane Bill could cause plenty of havoc for Washington's power couples starting Saturday. Near-hurricane force winds are expected to ruin the Clintons' romantic walks on the pink sand beaches of an island where Chelsea was conceived 30 years ago. While the brunt of the storm is expected to pass 100 miles west of the Clintons' location, they still could...

Once, the idea of gangs and gang-related violence in Bermuda was dismissed by many, but today it is an accepted part of life. Minister Louis Farrakhan, who lived in Bermuda as a child, was driven to come to the Island last Saturday to use his influence to try and stem the tide of gang violence. Since arriving and out of the public eye, the Nation of Islam leader has reached out to gang members, visiting 42nd Street, Park Side and both gangs in St. George's, bringing conflict resolution and a measure of peace. "There are people that can't go from...