Free Republic

Sixteen minor tremors (not a big deal for California, I know) in the past 24 hours. But all of them are on or very near the San Andreas fault-line system Between the San Mateo and King City areas. The southern area of the fault in California (Salton Sea vicinity) has its normal cluster of minor events. You need to select "1 day, All magnitudes US" from the settings icon to see this interesting pattern. If you select "7 days, All magnitudes US", the map displays a similar pattern. But activity at the northern end seems to have picked up a...

U.S.—In an open letter addressed to state officials, Walmart leadership expressed gratefulness to the government for inflating their sales and stock price while completely pulverizing their small business competition. "Yeah, we know 2020 has been tough for the little people," said one board member while shoveling piles of cash into his vault. "But it's been super great for us! No longer do we have to worry about the baker down the street or the family-owned hardware store next door taking away some of our business. The government just blew them up! We didn't even ask them to! Can you believe...

White House spokesman Josh Earnest rebuffed questions Oct. 1 about a possible federal ban on travel from Ebola-stricken countries, and said the president will rely instead on government medical professionals to contain imported epidemics.“These are the experts, they have a keen understanding of how to prevent the spread of this disease,” he said, adding “we can stop the spread of Ebola in its tracks.”“What are the conditions under which the President would order or want to see travel restrictions?” asked one reporter.“We are confident that the sophisticated medical infrastructure that exists here in the United States can prevent the wide...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) made a very strange decision last week to rule that McDonald's MCD -0.23% the corporation, was a joint employer of the staff in the franchised restaurants. It was, of course, at the urging of those labour activists who would like to union organise in the sector. Dealing with one national company is obviously going to be easier than dealing with thousands of independent business owners. There’s a number of problems with this decision ranging from the way that it overturns what has long thought to be settled law, to it obviating already signed contracts...

When it comes to the law of unintended consequences, the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance "reform" is rapidly becoming a legal phenomenon. The latest example comes courtesy of the Federal Election Commission, where officials are being asked to extend the law to the very people it is supposed to empower: individual citizens. snip The problem facing the FEC is that McCain-Feingold broadly restricts coordination with, and contributions to, political candidates. So what is the agency to do with all those people who use their Web sites to praise a candidate? Computers and Web access cost money, which could be construed as a financial...