Free Republic

AMESBURY, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) – An Amesbury man says someone sprayed offensive graffiti near his home on a beam that is part of a construction project, which was brought to a screeching halt due to the vandalism. Scott Taylor lives just feet from where a massive bridge project is happening on Interstate 95, and he says construction workers have been scattering debris all over his yard for almost a year. He woke up to the graffiti this week and that sent him over the edge. The message? “Welcome to Fallujah, baby.” "I think it's pathetic. I think it's cowardly. And I...

A "goon-squad" group named The Helpful Union Guys (THUG), members of Ironworkers Local 401 set fires, started riots, and took crowbars to the competition in an effort to protect union jobs. THUGs stalked women, took baseball bats to a Toys R Us site, and even torched a Quaker meetinghouse that dared to use non-union labor. Philly.Com reports 10 leaders of Ironworkers Local 401 charged in racketeering indictment. They called themselves "the Helpful Union Guys" - "THUGS" for short - and woe awaited any contractor who dared cross them by hiring non-organized workers. For, federal authorities alleged Tuesday, this "goon squad"...

HOUSTON, TX – The nation’s leading labor union will plan to spend $300 million in 2014 trying to unseat Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and four other Republican Governors. More: AFL-CIO to Target Walker, Other Governors People’s World reported that the AFL-CIO announced on Thursday morning during a press conference in Houston that they would spend money trying to unseat Governor Walker. Other Governors that the labor organization is targeting are John Kasich (R-Ohio), Tom Corbett (R-Pennsylvania), Rick Snyder (R-Michigan), and Rick Scott (R-Florida). The American Federation of Teachers backed the AFL-CIO’s plan. President Randi Weingarten said: “In many ways it...

Not satisfied with President Obama for appointing record numbers of gay, female and minority judges, liberal groups and labor unions are now pressuring the president to nominate more jurists who have backgrounds working for unions and public-interest organizations. The Alliance for Justice, a coalition of more than 100 liberal groups, is lobbying the White House to “broaden the bench” with more judicial nominees who represent what it calls “professional diversity” — judges who are more likely to be aligned with the coalition’s liberal agenda. “We face a federal bench that has a striking lack of diversity,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts...

Bill Dal Cerro of the Italic Institute of America [Free for All, Dec. 28] took Dana Milbank to task for allegedly stereotyping Italians in his Dec. 22 Sunday Opinion column, “Godfathers of the Capitol.” But Milbank never used the word “Italian.” He did write “mafia” twice, and he used the phrase “going to the mattresses” once. He also used the term “mob boss.” In my opinion, it takes more effort than it is worth to be offended, no matter what one’s origins, by any of these words. It seems to me that even in “today’s enlightened era,” to use Dal...

Congress has itself to blame for its low ratings among the American people. Policymaking is all about choices; it is the calculus of weighing costs and benefits and the distribution of those costs and benefits. In theory, there are lots of policies that can make everyone better off, but they can only be accomplished by redistributing the gains of the policy.

If you have Obama rent-a-mob demonstrators in your area today, here's your sign. Print it out. Show up. Spend money. Fight back.

DETROIT, MI -- More than 200 protesters waved signs, bounced and shouted chants passionately in unison outside a McDonald's on and other nearby fast food restaurants on Seven Mile near the Lodge Freeway in Detroit Thursday. Their demands: A $15 per hour minimum wage for fast food employees. "Hold the pickles, hold the fries, make our wages super-sized," "We fired up, can't take it no more," and "What do we want? $15. When do we want it? Now," were among the chants.

Dozens of people gathered outside Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's locations Downtown on Thursday morning to protest low wages as part of a national campaign energizing fast-food workers. Carrying placards and shouting slogans such as “No justice, no doughnuts,” about 75 people rallied in front of the Dunkin Donuts in Market Square and the nearby McDonald's on Stanwix Street. The actions are part of push by labor unions, worker advocacy groups and Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25. President Obama says he would back a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, and on Wednesday addressed income equality in...

According to CNBC, some of the 400,000 government workers drew on unemployment benefits during the shutdown, and it’s likely that only some of them will have to give it back — adding a few million to the price of the shutdown, already up in the billions due to lost worker productivity and revenue. The U.S. economy was damaged as well, and that cost may tally up near $24 billion between October and December, if economists are to be believed.

It appears that the Obama administration is violating the First Rule of Holes. Yesterday the administration looked awful when it “closed” and barricaded the World War II memorial on the Mall. The memorial is, by its nature, open. There is nothing to close. --SNIP-- ...these protesters were marching towards the press gaggle and I was asking them to show their federal IDs to prove they were in fact federal workers. No one wore their federal ID and none would provide it to prove their claim. Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which...

After about an hour, about 20 SEIU protesters arrived on the scene chanting “Boehner, get us back to work” and claiming they were federal employees furloughed because of the shutdown. In the video below these protesters were marching towards the press gaggle and I was asking them to show their federal IDs to prove they were in fact federal workers. No one wore their federal ID and none would provide it to prove their claim. Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which I noted. I then began asking them how much they...

Obama, IG Report refuse to touch powerful Treasury Employees Union headed by ex-IRS agent. “My question is who is going to jail?” — House Speaker John Boehner on the IRS Scandal The President couldn’t even bring himself to breathe a word of the truth. He could fire some hapless Acting Commissioner, but last night Mr. Obama never came close to discussing that which must never be discussed. The IRS? It’s about a union: the National Treasury Employees Union. The NTEU. A left-wing union representing 150,000 employees in 31 separate government agencies, including the IRS. A union that not only endorsed...

Long security lines, ever changing rules about what is and is not allowed, manhandling pat-downs... Thanks to the TSA, air travel is unpleasant enough as it is and now we have to worry about TSA agents stealing from us? And there's no way to NOT have them go through your luggage.They go through your checked baggage and rifle through your carry-on. You have no choice but to submit to this if you want to be able to board your flight.So what is a law abiding air traveler to do in order to protect his or her belongings from the very...

HERE WE GO. The game's afoot. In 2007, a critical factor which torpedoed illegal alien amnesty was the failure of labor unions and the business lobby to reach a deal on a "guest worker" program. Now, the New York Times is reporting that the sinister cabal of the AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have reached a "deal". That's right, just what America's 20 million unemployed and underemployed need - MORE foreign workers to take MORE jobs and undercut wages even further. The Chamber could not give a damn if illegal aliens destroy American jobs and bankrupt schools, hospitals and...

Travelers at Miami International Airport weren’t too happy this weekend after being caught in delays for hours due to cutbacks by the Transportation Security Adminstration. Passengers said they faced major frustration as they stood in long lines, desperate to get through customs. “Which is ridiculous for people to suffer like this,” said Sal Tricamo, a passenger who missed his flight...

There’s nothing more embarrassing for union bosses than their own unionized staff striking against them or, in this case, threatening to strike. In San Francisco, SEIU staff, represented by the left-wing Communications Workers of America, has been without a contract since their contract expired last September. SEIU boss Roxanne Sanchez, according to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, is trying to get her union staff to give concessions on their pensions and health care. Last week, after months without a contract, 94% of the SEIU’s own union staff voted to strike.

School Reform Commission Votes To Save Four Schools, 23 To CloseBy Chelsea KarnashPHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The School Reform Commission has voted to save four public schools from closure in Philadelphia. The four schools are Roosevelt Middle School, Taylor Elementary, Pierce Elementary and Robeson High School. Twenty-three other schools on the chopping block will close. "This was a difficult vote, but it focused on our goal to provide safe, high-quality seats while being fiscally responsible," said Pedro Ramos, Chairman of the School Reform Commission, in a release from the district. "By not taking action now, we would continue the deterioration...

No halftime show at Super Bowl 2014? That’s the word, according to planners who say the weather may prevent appearances at matchup XLVIII, set for New Jersey. “It’s because of the cold weather,” said one involved with next year’s Super Bowl planning, in a New York Post report. “It’s not only the acts and the singers, but also the crews that have to put the stage together. … You just can’t assemble the stage and break it down fast enough in the cold.”

The site where Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting is building a new meetinghouse was damaged by arsonists during Christmas week, and police are now "absolutely" sure the attack was the result of a dispute between members of a Philadelphia construction union and the project's nonunion contractor.