Free Republic

Republican gubernatorial candidate Frank Wagner visited Roanoke Friday to pitch his campaign message of improving transportation infrastructure in order to create more jobs across Virginia.At a Roanoke County Republican Committee luncheon, Wagner, a GOP state senator from Virginia Beach, discussed his proposal to raise the gas tax for projects like widening Interstate 81 and building Interstate 73 and the Coalfields Expressway.Yes, he’s a rare Republican calling for a tax increase. He understands the irony. Building up major pathways in and out of Southwest Virginia will improve the business climate, he said.In the economically depressed Southside region , adding broadband and...

Over the past eight decades, Congress has gradually relinquished its lawmaking role and left it to the administrative state, said a conservative senator at a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday. “Many Americans now feel that they are not in control of their own government,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said during an event hosted at the Federalist Society’s fifth annual Executive Branch Review Conference. “The administrative state is designed to be insulated from the will of the people.” The Utah senator said that one way he is working to combat this phenomenon is through an initiative he has started called Article...

Have you noticed that free checking accounts are now nearly nonexistent, and locally owned stores are increasing the $5 minimum charge on debit cards? These are not the result of some financial conspiracy. They are a direct result of Dodd-Frank regulations. After the financial crash of 2008, President Barack Obama decided to increase the role of the federal government in the economy and impose massive new regulations on banks. As one might assume, this hasn’t worked out so well. Included in the over 3,500-page Dodd-Frank bill are rules restricting access to credit for investors and homebuyers, raising lending costs for...

The EU foreign policy chief says Europe does “not see eye to eye” with the Trump administration on major issues such as trade, climate change and funding of U.N. agencies, but can “easily” work with the U.S. on Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Federica Mogherini spoke Saturday during a regional gathering of the World Economic Forum. Mogherini warned that threatened U.S. cuts in funding U.N. agencies “would create a major security issue worldwide, including in Europe.” …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (CBSMiami/AP) — President Donald Trump called the first day of his maiden international trip “tremendous.” The president was largely kept away from reporters during a busy day of meetings and ceremonies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But late in the day, he said deals the U.S. government and private sector reached would lead to “tremendous investments” in the United States. He says the deals will also create “jobs, jobs, jobs.” Trump and Saudi King Salman also signed a series of agreements cementing their countries’ military partnerships, including tanks, combat ships, missile defense systems, radar and communications, and cybersecurity...

“The cultural and economic and the spiritual loss to this city for having those statues up that have run people out of the city,” Landrieu claimed. “The great migration that sent some of our best and brightest to places across the country that we don’t have the benefit of has been incredible.”

The War Against President Trump!

A senior White House official told Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent in Washington on Thursday that US President Donald Trump wants to set up a NATO-style security organization in the Middle East. The official, who spoke with a small group of journalists and did not want to make his name public, said Trump is going to announce the formation of the regional security organization during his visit to Saudi Arabia. The framework and structure of this organization will be established after eliminating ISIS to bring stability and security to the region through a joint security coalition that includes many of...

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Russia-gate has focused attention on requirements for U.S. citizens acting as “foreign agents” to register with the Justice Department, but these rules have been sporadically or selectively enforced for decades. The alleged hacking of the Hillary Clinton campaign’s emails and the numerous contacts of Donald Trump’s circle with Russian officials, oligarchs and mobsters have triggered any number of investigations into Moscow’s alleged efforts to influence the 2016 election and the new administration. With U.S.-Russian relations at their lowest point since the Cold War, however, it would be tough to argue that Moscow has achieved any leverage in Washington. In contrast,...

The oil industry in Canada’s resource-rich Alberta will be on the hook for a $235 million government loan to clean up a rising number of oil wells abandoned by owners who have gone bankrupt, the province said on Thursday. The loan, repayable over 10 years, will go to the government-run, industry-funded Orphan Well Association (OWA), which cleans up wells for which no party is legally responsible, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said at a news conference. The number of so-called orphan wells in Canada spiked after the 2014 oil price crash as layoffs swept the oil patch and companies went bankrupt....

French researchers have found a way to save Windows files encrypted by the WannaCry virus, racing against a deadline as the ransomware threatens to start locking up victims' computers first infected a week ago. WannaCry, which started to sweep round the globe last Friday and has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 nations, threatens to lock out victims who have not paid a sum of $300 to $600 (£230 to £460) within one week of infection. A loose-knit team of security researchers scattered across the globe have revealed they have collaborated to develop a workaround to unlock the encryption...

California Governor Jerry Brown referred to taxpayers as “freeloaders” last week for objecting to his new gas tax and car fee hikes. “The freeloaders — I’ve had enough of them … They have a president that doesn’t tell the truth and they’re following suit,” he said. Brown was speaking in Orange County, defending State Assembly newcomer Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who is facing a recall effort after voting for Brown’s new transportation taxes in April. The new tax raises existing gas taxes — already among the highest in the nation — by 12 cents per gallon, with higher taxes on diesel,...

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Reclaim NY hosted the event leading up to the release of a fully-fledged report on the affordability crisis and its detailed effect on Tompkins County. The report accredits a general economic decline in the Southern Tier to a loss of manufacturing sectors while other regions in the state continue to develop and therefore put Albany’s spending one step ahead. “Unlike Long Island or the Lower Hudson Valley that have higher incomes and larger tax bases, unfunded mandates are bankrupting county and town governments in the Southern Tier to the point where some can’t even afford a paint job on public...

Workers at McLane drive forklifts and load hefty boxes into trucks. The grocery supplier, which runs a warehouse in Colorado, needs people who will stay alert — but prospective hires keep failing drug screens. “Some weeks this year, 90 percent of applicants would test positive for something,” ruling them out for the job, said Laura Stephens, a human resources manager for the company in Denver. The state’s unemployment rate is already low — 3 percent, compared to 4.7 percent for the entire nation. Failed drug tests, which are rising locally and nationally, further drain the pool of eligible job candidates....

Governors of all 50 states on Wednesday signed a pledge to reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, reports JTA. Organized by the American Jewish Committee, the Governors United Against BDS statement declares that “the goals of the BDS movement are antithetical to our values and the values of our respective states, our support for Israel as a vital U.S. ally, important economic partner and champion of freedom.” The statement does not commit the governors to specific actions, although signers “reaffirm our support for Israel as a vital U.S. ally, important economic partner and champion of freedom.”...

President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner personally called the CEO of Lockheed Martin during a meeting with a Saudi delegation earlier this month to ask her to cut the price of a missile defense system, The New York Times reported Thursday. The call was part of Kushner's effort to secure a roughly $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia before Trump's scheduled trip to the kingdom on Friday.  During the meeting with the delegation, Kushner determined that cost could prohibit the Saudis from purchasing a THAAD missile defense system, which is designed to shoot down intermediate-range ballistic missiles. 

By 2030, you probably won’t own a car, but you may get a free trip with your morning coffee. Transport-As-A-Service will use only electric vehicles and will upend two trillion-dollar industries. It’s the death spiral for cars. A major new report predicts that by 2030, the overwhelming majority of consumers will no longer own a car – instead they will use on-demand electric autonomous vehicles. By 2030, within 10 years of regulatory approval of autonomous electric vehicles (A-EVs), the report says, 95 per cent of all US passenger miles traveled will be served by on-demand, autonomous, electric vehicles that will...

A new Miss USA was crowned on Sunday night on FOX, but it wasn’t without some political controversy. Miss District of Columbia Kara McCullough won the title, much to the chagrin of liberals who didn’t like her conservative answers in the question rounds. Her thought crimes? Saying health care is a privilege, not a right, and rejecting man-hating feminism in favor of equal opportunity. The Miss USA pageant was hosted by Julianne Hough and Terrence J, and Julianne served up the question about affordable health care to Miss DC, who is a scientist at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Julianne: District...