Free Republic

Imagine a short person spending his days cursing the “strong” inch for it “robbing” him of impressive height? Better yet, please contemplate a compulsive eater who blames his substantial weight on a pound that is too “weak.” Wise minds would mock the unhinged individuals who would rage at the foot ruler, inch, pound, and scale for revealing reality. Such people would logically be the object of our ridicule and scorn, or maybe just pity. Scales, rulers, inches and pounds are measures. Nothing else. They don’t weaken or strengthen us. They just are. What’s important about them is that if the...

Health Reform: Over the weekend, Donald Trump said he's nearly finished with an ObamaCare replacement plan. Based on the sketchy outline he provided, Trump's vision of health care reform is troubling. In a phone interview with the Washington Post on Saturday, Trump said the replacement plan is "very much formulated down to the final strokes." No problem there. Trump has the right political instincts about how to get rid of ObamaCare. Rather than repeal a portion of it through the reconciliation process — as Republican congressional leaders propose — then delay even that until a replacement plan gets hammered out,...

The Copyright Industry, especially the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) have suppressed every form of innovation, and technology to protect their questionable rights. In the 80s, they sued to stop video recorders, but were thankfully held back by the Supreme Court in the famous Betamax case. The Media Industry forced manufacturers of blank cassettes, tapes, and CDs to pay a royalty... ...1998, the RIAA sued to stop the first portable Mp3 player, Diamond Rio, from being sold. In 1999, they took down Napster... ...In 2014, the RIAA considered suing Google for even...

The mainstream press loves to tell readers that it can be trusted because it employs professional journalists backed by layers of editors. Oh, and they're all unbiased. So how to explain a recent Washington Post headline, which manages both to misrepresent its own poll and expose the ridiculous extent to which its reporters and editors will go to bash President-elect Donald Trump? The story is about a Washington Post/ABC News poll that asks, among other things, whether Trump should sell his business to avoid any possible conflicts of interest while president. Trump has taken steps to avoid these conflicts, although...

US retailer woes continued this morning, a trend the began well prior to the poor holiday spending season, when retail giant Target not only announced ahead of its Feb 28 Q4 earnigns result that comparable sales during the combined November/December period decreased 1.3%, but that "as a result of this softer-than-expected sales performance, the Company updated its fourth quarter and full-year 2016 guidance." [Snip] Target shares tumbled as much as 4.9% on the news, which has dragged Wal-Mart as much as 1.5% lower.

NATO: With just a few days before he becomes president, Donald Trump has set off tremors with scathing criticisms of NATO. Many EU leaders, especially in Germany, are in a near-panic. Is Trump serious? The Times of London stated it succinctly in a not-understated headline: "Trump broadside stuns Europe." The broadside in question was one in which Trump openly called the postwar American military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, obsolete. He also applauded Britain's move to leave the European Union, and predicted that others would leave too. The response across official Europe was one of alarm. "We Europeans have...

In politics they say that no good deed goes unpunished. That is never truer than on the issue of school choice.  President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be the Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, has committed an unpardonable sin. Yes, she has tried to help millions of disadvantaged families have the ability to send their kids to better schools. This is of course reprehensible behavior on her part that must not be rewarded. Oh, and there is one more thing, she has spent millions of dollars of her own money in order to try to help these kids be able to...

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's decision to again take for other uses state gas tax money intended to help cities and counties build and repair roads is getting a cold reception from some in the Legislature. The Republican governor's budget proposal for the year starting July 1 eliminates $86.5 million in highway spending in the current year, a decision likely to spur a fight with lawmakers from both parties who have been seeking a permanent stop to shifts of cash for road work to other uses. Legislation that would bar the practice and require gas tax money only...

President-elect Donald Trump's views on a range of issues, from immigration to climate change, alienated many left-leaning tech employees in Silicon Valley, but none more so than those working at Alphabet. During the presidential campaign, 33 employees at the tech giant donated $20,000 to Trump, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That was a tiny fraction of the 1,400 employees who donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign, for a total of $1.6 million. And it wasn't just political donations. The revolving door between the Obama administration and the company swung hard and frequently during the past eight years: 22 former...

Gov. Cuomo kept his new budget hush-hush all Tuesday, and one reason is obvious: His call to extend the millionaires tax (again) shows his rank hypocrisy. Again. “No new taxes. Period,” Cuomo declared in 2011, nixing any extension of the “millionaires tax.”: “You are kidding yourself if you think you can be one of the highest-taxed states in the nation, have a reputation for being anti-business and have a rosy economic future.”

The number of older Americans taking on student debt on behalf of their children and grandchildren has quadrupled in the past decade, with consumers over 60 now holding $66.7 billion in student loan debt, according to a new report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The skyrocketing cost of college has placed a particular burden on older Americans, many of whom are struggling to pay back growing debts in their retirement years, according to the report. Nearly 40 percent of federal student loan borrowers over age 65 are in default, the highest rate for any age group, the data show....

China’s President Xi Jinping warned on Tuesday against scapegoating globalization for the world’s ills or retreating behind protectionist walls, staking out an alternative vision for the international economy days before Donald Trump takes office. The global economic order has been led for decades by the United States, but the president-elect is threatening to tear up the rule book, and Xi used his debut appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos to insist that globalization was irreversible. “Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. Wind and rain may be kept outside, but so is light and air,”...

A 4-mile section of Highway 89 on either side of Emerald Bay remains closed, with some sections buried in up to 30 feet of snow, according to the California Department of Transportation. Caltrans maintenance crews are working to clear the highway, but with more storms expected this week, the highway won’t reopen until an extended period of dry weather allows workers to safely clear the area of snow and debris, according to a Caltrans news release. Motorists traveling between the south shore of Lake Tahoe and the north or west shore will have to use Highway 50 and Highway 28....

SAN JOSE – Around the world, people are demanding change. Recent electoral outcomes – perhaps most notably, the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States – have highlighted rising economic uncertainty. In this environment, it is imperative that leaders articulate and deliver on a clear vision for inclusive economic growth, one that accounts not only for tax and trade policy – the focus of many of today’s debates – but also for digitization. Representing $19 trillion in potential economic value over the next decade, digitization has the power to enable countries to kick-start...

General Motors today announced that it will invest an additional $1 billion in U.S. manufacturing operations. These investments follow $2.9 billion announced in 2016 and more than $21 billion GM has invested in its U.S. operations since 2009. Investing Additional $1 Billion in U.S. ManufacturingMoves Axle Jobs to U.S. from MexicoMore than 5,000 New Jobs in Key Growth Areas    DETROIT – General Motors today announced that it will invest an additional $1 billion in U.S. manufacturing operations. These investments follow $2.9 billion announced in 2016 and more than $21 billion GM has invested in its U.S. operations since 2009.The...

Could Bayer-Monsanto deal be good for U.S. jobs? FBN's Charlie Gasparino on reports Bayer may pledge U.S. investments and new jobs if the Bayer-Monsanto deal wins approval. German chemical giant Bayer AG is promising President-elect Donald Trump billions of dollars in research and development spending in the U.S., as well as what it is saying will be a significant commitment to create jobs, if its planned merger with Monsanto Co. (MON) receives the necessary regulatory approvals to proceed, a Trump transition team spokesman confirmed on Tuesday. The news was first reported earlier Tuesday by the FOX Business Network. “After [Trump’s]...

German-based Bayer AG has committed to President-elect Donald Trump that it will invest $8 billion in American research and development as part of its deal to acquire Monsanto, Trump's transition team said Tuesday. Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that Bayer will also protect all of Monsanto's 9,000 American jobs while creating an additional 3,000 high-tech positions in the country. That agreement, he added, came after Trump met with CEOs from both companies last week.

A week before President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office, the U.S. Transportation Department issued new “guidance” for airline flight crews on how to avoid discriminating against Muslim and Sikh passengers. DOT said it recognizes the very important and difficult job of the airlines to provide a safe and secure travel environment. “At the same time, it is important that this function be carried out in a non-discriminatory manner.” The guidance says airline personnel must not be swayed by a passenger’s appearance alone: “In other words, airline personnel should ask themselves, but for the passenger’s perceived race, color, national...

Donald Trump may have a point about paid protesters: Job ads running in more than 20 cities offer $2,500 per month for agitators to demonstrate at this week’s presidential inauguration events. Demand Protest, a San Francisco company that bills itself as the “largest private grassroots support organization in the United States,” posted identical ads Jan. 12 in multiple cities on Backpage.com seeking “operatives.” “Get paid fighting against Trump!” says the ad.

Making good on a promise to slash government, President-elect Trump has asked his incoming team to pursue spending and staffing cuts. Insiders said that the spending reductions in some departments could go as high as 10 percent and staff cuts to 20 percent, numbers that would rock Washington if he follows through. At least two so-called "landing teams" in Cabinet agencies have relayed the call for cuts as part of their marching orders to shrink the flab in government. The cuts would target discretionary spending, not mandated programs such as Medicare or Social Security, the sources said. The spending reductions...