Free Republic

It is well known that Chicago's pension liabilities have completely decimated the city's finances and currently stand at close to $20 billion. Faced with a significant challenge of meeting funding obligations as a result of a 2010 state law, Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently won a slight reprieve in the amount of money the city would have to contribute to fund the liabilities over the next few years, as recently Illinois lawmakers overrode Governor Bruce Rauner's veto and will now change the legislation in order to allow the city to defer payments to fund pensions. Under the prior legislation, Chicago was...

"Dance Moms" star Abby Lee Miller pleaded guilty Monday to bankruptcy fraud and failing to report thousands of dollars in Australian currency she brought into the country. She was charged last fall with illegally trying to hide $775,000 worth of income from the Lifetime network reality show and spinoff projects during her Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Authorities later accused her of dividing more than $120,000 into plastic bags and having others in her group put the bags in their luggage in August 2014, violating a law requiring people to report bringing more than $10,000 worth of foreign currency into the country.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage may have considered a proposal to prohibit food stamp recipients from using their benefits to buy candy and sodas to be a sweet one, but the Obama administration disagrees. The friction between the Republican governor and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reignited a debate after the Obama administration denied LePage’s request to put restrictions on what can be purchased with food stamps. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, LePage said: “It’s time for the federal government to wake up and smell the energy drinks.” In an interview with The Daily Signal, LePage’s health...

Just as you would expect, the 2016 BET (Black Entertainment Television) Awards were full of Black Lives Matter references and reminders to register to vote and then get out the vote for Hillary Clinton. After the opening of the award ceremony featured Beyoncé and her back-up dancers marching into the auditorium to a Martin Luther King, Jr. speech, actor and producer Terence J went on to say, “Your vote is your voice,” and reminded everyone to register and “vote smart” as he introduced the show hosts, ABC’s Blackish stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. Isn’t it interesting that these...

Large majorities across Europe now want their own referendums on the EU. Graph taken from Zero Hedge: The writer from Zero Hedge notes: "over 40% of Swedes, Poles, and Belgians are in the same boat." And also predicts that if Le Pen and her National Front is victorious next year, France may be the next country to hold a referendum for leaving the EU.  Meanwhile, stocks are down across Europe, and American futures are slightly down across the board. China, which is in a perpetual condition of collapse, is using the opportunity to blame BREXIT for the latest phase of...

The foreign ministers of Germany and France on Monday called for ambitious steps to strengthen the European Union after Britain’s shock vote to leave the bloc. “We will… take further steps toward a political union in Europe, and we invite the other European states to join us in this endeavor,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault wrote in a joint position paper. The top diplomats of the two core EU founding members and biggest economies said that “Germany and France have a responsibility to strengthen solidarity and cohesion within the European Union”. But they also signaled a willingness to accept a...

A petition to nullify the UK’s EU referendum and hold another appear to be riddled with fraudulent data. Raw data examined reveals that many of the participants come from outside the UK, or use IP addresses outside the UK. ... “The sight of educated men and women trying to overturn a national referendum with an online petition is pathetic beyond belief,” wrote Chris Snowdon of the Institute for Economic Affairs. “Many of the arguments made by the Remain camp were fundamentally anti-democratic; they prefer to have an elite in charge with whom they agree [rather] than have a demos in...

United Way affiliates provide almost $3 million a year to Planned Parenthood, according to a money-tracking website that examines consumer and political causes. 2nd Vote, a conservative, nonprofit watchdog that tracks corporate spending, conducted what it calls “exhaustive” research of United Way affiliates and their giving to Planned Parenthood. “Last year, 2nd Vote compiled an exhaustive list of United Way affiliates that helped fund the world’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood,” 2nd Vote spokesman Robert Kuykendall said in a formal statement. “The latest available financial documentation for each of these affiliates indicates that United Way funnels almost $3 million to...

British politicians, including strong advocates of the Leave campaign, say there’s no rush in starting the process to exit the European Union. The people had their say Thursday, voting 52 percent to 48 per cent in favor of parting ways with the EU, giving the British government the green light to begin ‘divorce’ proceedings. However, there is a sense of reluctance on the part of many, including Brexit-backer Boris Johnson, even to consider invoking Article 50 for some time yet. Johnson, who was vocal on what he called the “anti-democratic absurdities of the EU” during the campaign, says there’s no rush...

The unexpected U.K. vote to leave the European Union has predictably set off a flight to safety, sinking global equity markets and Treasury yields, while boosting the value of the dollar. The immediate consequences are the opposite of what the weak global economy... ...the U.K. only accounts for about 2.4% of global GDP... ...Brexit vote will provoke "a crisis of confidence... ...For now, though, uncertainty about the future of Europe and concern about the disruption of trade are likely to weigh on investment and growth. IHS Global Insight, which had been forecasting 1.5% GDP growth in Germany in 2017, now...

Nations around the world reject its eco-terrorism tactics. Governments and courts around the world are finally cracking down on the eco-terrorist organization Greenpeace. The crackdown, which is long overdue, couldn’t happen to a more misguided bunch of people. In early December 2014, more than 20 Greenpeace activists damaged a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a publicity stunt meant to motivate greater government support for renewable-energy sources they think are necessary to battle supposed human-caused climate change. The activists walked into a “strictly prohibited” area where the Nazca Lines are located in Peru and laid big, yellow cloth letters...

Critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, such as Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, were convinced months ago that it would harm the United States... ...International Trade Commission (ITC) was mandated to deliver its verdict... ...the findings landed with a thud. That was only partly because the document was 792 pages long; it also foretold of modest results. It predicted that, by 2032, U.S. real income would be 0.23% higher with the agreement than without and employment would be .07% higher (128,000 full time jobs). Hardly earth-shattering... ...There are limitations to these workhorse trade models... ...Few -- if any --...

The People’s Bank of China have set the USD/CNY fixing for Monday at 6.6375, some 0.9% weaker than Friday’s fixing level of 6.5776. The figure, well above Friday’s close of 6.6150, was the weakest fixing level seen since December 2010.

The mayor of Paris this week issued a stern warning to Amazon over its express delivery service, raising concerns over its impact on local businesses and criticizing the US company for informing authorities "only a few days" before it launched. In a press release published Sunday, the office of Mayor Anne Hidalgo called on Amazon to guarantee that its Prime Now delivery service will not add to the city's pollution problems and that it will preserve the "diversity" of Paris' economy.

As one special relationship falters, another may beckon. The British vote to leave the EU could hasten a changing of the guard among Washington’s European allies, with Germany replacing the UK as its most important partner. In the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote, the White House has gone out of its way to emphasise the enduring links that will remain between the US and the UK. “One thing that will not change is the special relationship that exists between our two nations,” US President Barack Obama said on Friday. But Mr Obama has less than seven months left in...

OBERLIN, Ohio - Oberlin College, in an effort to save several million dollars a year, has offered buyouts to 323 faculty and staff. Buyout offers at colleges are rare but have become a way to encourage professors, whose positions are protected by tenure, to retire. Oberlin offered the Voluntary Separation Incentive Plan to employees, including 100 faculty, in April. The college expects about 85 individuals to accept the offer ... The board of trustees agreed to slow the rate of tuition increase from 3.9 percent to 2.8 percent in the 2016 fiscal year, which will result in $2.1 million in...

Switzerland will propose in talks with Brussels that it should be allowed to protect economic sectors in specific regions against immigration from the European Union, its president told a Sunday newspaper. Switzerland only has until February to implement a binding 2014 referendum demanding limits on the influx of foreigners to a country whose population is already a quarter foreign. But a blanket curb on immigration would torpedo a set of interlinked bilateral economic accords under which Switzerland agreed to allow free movement of people. "Not much can be obtained with a bare figure," Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann told the SonntagsZeitung...

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday blasted a planned EU-US trade treaty, saying the ambitious deal was against “EU interests”. “No free trade agreement should be concluded if it does not respect EU interests. Europe should be firm,” Valls told members of the governing Socialist Party, adding “France will be vigilant about this.”p> “I can tell you frankly, there cannot be a transatlantic treaty agreement. This agreement is not on track,” Valls said. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aims to topple regulatory and tariff barriers and establish the largest free-trade and investment area in the world. The...

The European Union must stop being nit-picky and intrusive, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday as the bloc scrambled to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave. The Brexit vote to leave the EU has deepened fears among mainstream politicians across Europe about the rise of eurosceptic, anti-establishment parties, particularly in France, where the far-right National Front is increasingly popular. That concern has also prompted mainstream French politicians on the left and right to call for an overhaul of Europe, in a country where surveys show disillusionment with Brussels is growing. "We must put an end to...

Some of the web's biggest destinations for watching videos have quietly started using automation to remove extremist content from their sites, according to two people familiar with the process. The move is a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States.