Free Republic

A judge has ordered federal regulators to quickly evaluate how many power plant and coal mining jobs are lost because of air pollution regulations. U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in Wheeling made the ruling after reviewing a response from outgoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy. McCarthy had responded to the judge’s previous order in a lawsuit brought against her by Murray Energy Corp. that the EPA must start doing an analysis that it hadn’t done in decades. […] The judge said the EPA is required by law to analyze the economic impact on a continuing basis when...

EU legislators today (12 January) called for a universal basic income to combat the looming risk of job loss by the onward march of robots, as well as concerns about European welfare systems. Technological progress is no longer seen as safe path toward prosperity. A new generation of robots and the development of artificial intelligence may improve how we manufacture goods or how we spend our leisure time. But this new wave of intelligent gadgets and autonomous robots could also destroy thousands of jobs without creating new ones in the same proportion, warned a non-legislative report adopted by the European...

After five years, is the drought over? The feds seem to think so, at least as far as Sacramento and most of Northern California are concerned. Thanks to an unusually wet winter, the closely watched U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that 42 percent of California now is considered free of drought. That includes Northern California from the Bay Area to the Oregon border. When the “water year” began in October, only 17 percent of the state was drought free, and a year ago the figure was 3 percent. Several other experts agreed that considerable progress has been made in alleviating...

Trump Hits CNN Again On Tuesday millions of Americans cheered when they watched President-Elect Donald Trump slam CNN when he told obnoxious and rude CNN reporter James Acosta: “YOU ARE FAKE NEWS.”This was after CNN promoted an outrageous smear of Donald Trump with alleged hookers in Russia – a fake story 4Chan users planted in the media.On Wednesday President-Elect Trump doubled down on his criticisms of dishonest CNN, this time over Twitter.Trump Tweeted: “@CNN is in a total meltdown with their FAKE NEWS because their ratings are tanking since election and their credibility will soon be gone!” .@CNN is in a total...

A radio station that covers the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area stopped running a pro-life ad this week after the abortion lobby complained. WTOP pulled an ad from the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), a political group that elects and supports pro-life women, after "abortion activists demanded [they] take it off the air," SBA List wrote in an email to supporters. SBA List Press Secretary Nicole Stacy confirmed to LifeSiteNews that WTOP removed the ad "saying they received complaints." "It's a fact: Planned Parenthood is America's largest abortion business," a female voice says in the 31-second ad. "Nearly a...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday accused Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV of illegally using hidden software to allow excess diesel emissions to go undetected, the result of a probe that stemmed from regulators' investigation of rival Volkswagen AG. FCA shares plummeted as the maximum fine is about $4.6 billion. The EPA action affects 104,000 U.S. trucks and SUVs sold since 2014, about one-sixth the vehicles in the Volkswagen case. The EPA and California Air Resources Board told Fiat Chrysler it believes its undeclared auxiliary emissions control software allowed vehicles to generate excess pollution in violation of the law and...

John and Ken speak to Marc Joffe of the California Policy Center (http://californiapolicycenter.org/) in regard to these recent articles on the subject of California's fiscal emergency: ➤ California’s Total State and Local Debt Totals $1.3 Trillion (http://tinyurl.com/hh8qbss) ➤ Can California’s Economy Withstand $1.3 Trillion of Government Debt? (http://tinyurl.com/znjpu9b) One aspect Marc Joffe mentioned would be a way to overcome this "debt" is to increase California's population... however, we see through some recent stories... ★ California Won't Fall Into The Sea -- It's Moving To Texas Instead (http://tinyurl.com/ztyrxae) ★ The Exodus of People Moving Away From California Is Becoming an Avalanche...

Financial expert Lior Gantz says there is good news and bad news for the economy with the election of Donald Trump. Gantz explains, “If he changes the equation, it could cause a lot of inflation in the U.S. U.S. banks are so liquid and have so much excess cash because of TARP programs and QE programs that this could prompt them to start lending, and lend to the wrong people. It could prompt the government to start issuing increased food stamps, universal unemployment checks and all kinds of stuff that can create large inflation in the U.S. So, that is...

Hungarian MP announced proposal to "sweep away" non-governmental organizations linked to Hungarian-born financier billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundations. Szilárd Németh, Vice President Hungarian Prime Minister [EXCERPTED] "the activities of Soros-affiliated groups were linked to the promotion of mass migration." Németh will introduce legislation to effectively ban their activities in Hungary. "FAKE civil organizations of the Soros empire are paid to spread political correctness and GLOBAL CAPITAL overcoming national governments," Németh said, "Every means must be employed to hold back such organizations. I believe they should be cleaned out of here. And to this end, this international opportunity...

The Senate is already rolling back President Barack Obama’s legacy. It passed the continuing resolution, S. Con.Res. 3, that tears away the fees, taxes and subsidies from the 201o Patient Protection and Affordable Cart Act, Obamacare, shortly after 1:25 Thursday morning, 51-to-48. All Republicans, except for Sen. Rand Paul (R.-KY), voted for the resolution. Paul criticized the budget resolution for not addressing the federal debt and for not having a companion replacement bill. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.-CA), who is recovering from a scheduled medical procedure was absent from the chamber. As senators waited for their names to be called by...

Everyone knows of the giant storm that is burying the Sierras. This short video was taken on frozen Highway 80 near Donner Pass

ExxonMobil has lost a key battle in an investigation into whether the oil giant misled the public about the dangers of climate change. A Massachusetts judge ordered Exxon (XOM) on Wednesday to hand over more than four decades of the company's climate change research. The court rejected Exxon's emergency motion to kill the demand from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is investigating allegations the company ignored internal scientific research going back to the 1970s. The ruling came on the same day that longtime Exxon boss Rex Tillerson was being grilled by Congress about the company's climate change tactics at...

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees the Turkish lira collapsing before his eyes. So what does he do? That's right: the same thing he always does. Blames others (unnamed "terrorists") for his problems: [EMBEDDED TWEET] "Everyone already sees and knows the attacks that Turkey has been subjected to also have an economic aspect. There is no difference between a terrorist who has a weapon or bomb in his hand and a terrorist who has dollars, euros and interest in terms of aim," Erdogan said. Of course it's not clear which terrorists with dollars and euros he's referring to, but apparently,...

It is tough watching the candidate that you backed lose an election. But when you lose a billion bucks on the market rally that followed, it becomes even harder, even if you still have $29 billion left.  Still, this could rank as the biggest losing election bet in history.  Is there a bit of karma in this? Gregory Zuckerman and Juliet Chung report for the Wall Street Journal that George Soros, aka Dr. Evil, lost twice in the election of Donald Trump to the presidency: Billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros lost nearly $1 billion as a result of the stock-market rally...

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said on Thursday it would create more than 100,000 full-time jobs in the United States over the next 18 months. Seattle-based Amazon said it plans to increase its full-time U.S.-based workforce to more than 280,000 by mid-2018 from 180,000 in 2016. "These jobs are not just in our Seattle headquarters or in Silicon Valley - they're in our customer service network, fulfillment centers and other facilities in local communities throughout the country," CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. Amazon had about 230,800 full-time and part-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2015.

#CalExit just received a big boost from an unlikely source: Peter Thiel, billionaire tech buddy of President-elect Trump. In a “Confirm or Deny” interview with the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd, the 49 year-old Thiel confirmed that he believed California should secede. Maureen Dowd: California should secede. Peter Thiel: Confirm. I’d be fine with that. I think it would be good for California, good for the rest of the country. It would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign. Apparently Thiel’s comment that “…it would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign” was made rather tongue-in-cheek. But it does raise an interesting question. With...

US president-elect Donald Trump has thrown down a major challenge to Ireland by using his first press conference since winning the White House to target the pharma and medtech sectors. Hailing his recent success in persuading a number of major car manufacturers to route new investment into the United States rather than to Mexico under threat of substantial import tariffs, Mr. Trump turned his attention to drug manufacturers. “We’ve got to get our drug industry back,” the incoming US president said. “Our drug industry has been disastrous. They’re leaving left and right. They supply our drugs, but they don’t make...

As President Obama makes preparations to exit The White House, he leaves in his wake a legacy of debt, a broken healthcare system, and a regulatory burden that has crippled American business. Despite the obvious mess he's made as president, he continues to defend his actions. However, the numbers don't lie. Here's Obama's legacy of failure, by the numbers (h/t RNC): $19.9 Trillion: The Staggering Mountain Of Debt Obama Will Leave Behind On January 20, 2017. (“Daily History Of The Debt,” U.S. Department Of Treasury, Accessed 12/23/16) $9.2 Trillion: The Increase In The National Debt Since Obama Took Office. (“Daily...

In the wake of the potential repeal of Obamacare, South Florida residents who are dependent on the law are considering, what they are calling, the potential devastating effects of repealing the law. People who own local clinics where Obamacare is the norm are watching President-elect Trump very closely. Two thousand patients at one Wynwood clinic have Obamacare, and they are worried about what happens next....

Mayor Jim Kenney, who lead the charge for the passage of his city’s “soda tax,” is lashing out at the business community over higher prices, even accusing retailers of attempting to stir up resentment for the tax in the community . . . The 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks is implemented at the distribution level, meaning that retailers must choose how much of the cost to pass onto consumers at the shelves. . . . “From Jan. 1, it’s been completely dead,” Mohammad Alqtaishat, owner at Roxborough’s M&M Market, told Billy Penn. “I’m not making money at...