Free Republic

Don’t believe the hype that “Amazon killed the Seattle head tax,” the new levy that the city recently passed on businesses to fund an affordable-housing initiative. The truth behind the city council’s stunning reversal—repealing the tax by a 7-2 vote, just four weeks after passing it 9-0—is that Seattle citizens have erupted in frustration against the city’s tax-and-spend political class that has failed to address the homelessness crisis, despite record new revenues. As recently as a few years ago, it seemed as if Seattle voters largely viewed our hyper-progressive city council as a harmless oddity in an otherwise tolerant, thriving,...

Police in Arizona thought they were busting an ordinary case of a fraudulent return this week until some digging discovered the same 23-year-old man has perpetrated the scheme at thousands of Walmart stores across the country. Police in Yuma, Arizona, said they responded to a case of a fraudulent return on Wednesday afternoon in which a person bringing a computer back to Walmart had allegedly removed parts of the computer before putting it back in the box and taking it back to the store. Upon investigation, the Yuma Police Department found out the same man had pulled the same scheme...

A troubling trend has occurred for ranchers in NE Washington ... cattle are experiencing breeding issues since the migration of wolves to the area... the rate of female cows .. that didn’t become pregnant has increased from five percent to about 20 percent. A cow must raise a calf every summer for the rancher to recoup costs ... Diamond M also has a winter range to cut costs, but when wolves came into the area about a decade ago, they’ve seen their cattle attacked ... Texas A&M University agreed with the open cow side effect from wolves, and an Eastern...

The Illinois tollway contends its no-bid process that uses a selection committee to makes recommendations to the board on expensive engineering contracts is independent and transparent. But when asked to provide meeting minutes, the agency blacked out the names of committee members in a majority of cases, making it impossible to see who is voting -- a response criticized by attorney and public access expert Don Craven as improper under Illinois open records law. When the names did surface they included tollway board Director Corey Brooks, who like all directors is appointed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, countering claims the...

The Illinois Tollway board on Wednesday approved a deal with a Canadian railway to allow highway ramps over train tracks just west of O’Hare International Airport, which will make possible long-anticipated western highway access to and from the airport. By a 6-0 vote, the Tollway board approved a “letter of intent” with Canadian Pacific Railway at a special meeting. Under the terms of the letter, both parties agree to withdraw litigation against each other and to allow construction to go forward. The letter also permits negotiations to proceed on issues like air rights and right-of-way. “This is an agreement that’s...

MEMBERS OF a Bronx biker gang, one sporting a skull tattoo, kidnapped a friend and robbed him of nearly $2 million in cryptocurrency, Manhattan prosecutors charged Tuesday. Cesar (Fuego) Guzman, 38, a paraprofessional with the Department of Education, Allan (Joker) Nunez, 36, and Darrell (Bishop) Colon, 37, joined Louis Meza, 35, to lure the cyber-millionaire victim into a minivan posing as a livery car on Nov. 4, 2017. Nunez drove the victim around for two hours at gunpoint until he coughed up the location of his 24-word passphrase. Meza, who was caught on surveillance camera, and Guzman, whose head is...

With unemployment at 3.8 percent, its lowest level in many years, the labor market seems healthy. But that number hides a perplexing anomaly: The percentage of men who are neither working nor looking for work has risen substantially over the past several decades. The issue, in economist’s jargon, is labor force participation. When the Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys households, every adult is put into one of three categories. Those who have a job are employed. Those who are not working but are searching for a job are unemployed. Those who are neither working nor looking for work are counted...

To modernise North Korea’s economy, outside aid and investment – a great deal of it – will be needed from governments, multilateral agencies and private investors. . Will North Korea become the next big thing for investors now that the Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un summit has ended with handshakes and a “walkabout” (rather than a walkout) by the two leaders? The question is not premature, even if denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is some way off. The general verdict on the Singapore summit is that there is still a long way to go before we can say Trump’s “art...

Federal prosecutors indicted Elizabeth Holmes on criminal fraud charges for allegedly defrauding investors, doctors and the public as the head of the once-heralded blood-testing startup Theranos. Federal prosecutors also brought charges against the company's former second-in-command. Holmes, who was once considered a wunderkind of Silicon Valley, and her former Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Balwani, are charged with two counts conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud each, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said late Friday. If convicted, they could face prison sentences that would keep them behind bars for the rest...

New research indicates that more millennials are leaving the traditional 9-to-5 job in hopes of starting their own business. Young people have President Trump’s tax cuts to thank, as they are helping grow the American economy at levels not seen in decades. According to recent analysis by MetLife insurance, four in 10 millennials are planning to quit their current jobs within the next five years and seek out work as a freelancer in the labor market. According to one millennial entrepreneur, the idea of starting one’s own business and being your own boss is a major priority among young entrepreneurs

Jiamener’s owners incurred a debt of 500,000 yuan (S$104,924) as a result of paying other restaurants to divert excessive customer flow. The promo proved so popular that customers would line up from 8am. The last customer would often not leave until midnight. “We knew we would be losing money [by launching the discount promotion]. We wanted to accumulate more loyal clients through this strategy,” said one of the owners, according to the report. The owners also hoped to establish better business relationships with their suppliers. They thought the success of the promo could help them get better deals on supplies...

In brief, Antony Bourdain wore his “anti-corporate hipness” on his shirtsleeve, always smirking and snarking that “evil corporations” and “crass commercialism” repelled him. But he gleefully signed on as a shameless tourism agent for the Castro-Family-and-Military Crony-Crime Syndicate, a thieving, murdering criminal-corporate empire that makes the Mafia look like Boy Scouts of America. “I will never eat in his (Donald Trump’s) restaurant. I have utter contempt for him, utter and complete contempt… I’m not going. I’m not going.” (Anthony Bourdain, Eater.)

It seems Pope Francis has learned little since his 2015 encyclical calling on the world to fight climate change by limiting the use of modern technologies and fossil fuels. He called many of the world’s leading oil companies to the carpet last week in a meeting he “requested” (anyone who says no to a meeting with the pope risks alienating many of the world’s estimated 1.3 billion Catholics) with the companies’ top executives. Francis called on the oil companies to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, to save the Earth. In a column written when Francis issued his...

According to the indictment, Holmes and Balwani encouraged doctors and patients to use the company’s blood testing services even though the defendants knew Theranos was not capable of consistently producing accurate and reliable results for certain blood tests, the department said in a statement.

A new report shows Samantha Bee's late night show "Full Frontal" hasn't been able to regain its advertisers after the host attacked Ivanka Trump in May. The liberal comedian came under fire when she used an extreme vulgarity to slam Ivanka Trump in her monologue on May 30 over a photograph the first daughter shared on social media. "You know, Ivanka, that's a beautiful photo of you and your child...But let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad's immigration practices, you feckless c---. He listens to you," Bee said. Bee apologized on a June 6...

Google made almost all its money from ads. It was a booming business — until it wasn’t. Here’s how things looked right before the most spectacular crash the technology industry had ever seen.The crumbling of Google’s cornerstone Search was Google’s only unambiguous win, as well as its primary source of revenue, so when Amazon rapidly surpassed Google as the top product search destination, Google’s foundations began to falter. As many noted at the time, the online advertising industry experienced a major shift from search to discovery in the mid-2010s.While Google protected its monopoly on the dying search advertising market, Facebook — Google’s biggest...

She will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Discovery-backed cable network OWN. In the war for talent, Apple has just scored a major victory. The tech giant and eventual streamer has inked a multiple-year content partnership with Oprah Winfrey. Under the pact, terms of which were not immediately available, Winfrey and Apple will create original content that will be released as part of the latter's lineup of content. Sources say the pact includes everything from film, TV, applications, books and other content that could easily be distributed on Apple's all-encompassing platform. (The deal does not include podcasts, as...

China will impose an additional 25 percent tariff on 659 U.S. goods worth $50 billion, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Tariff Commission of the State Council. Tariffs on $34 billion of U.S. goods including agricultural products, autos and aquatic goods will take effect from July 6, Xinhua reported early on Saturday, citing the commission.

“Gotti” starring John Travolta is just as bad as you might imagine, and then some. I can’t say I blame director Kevin Connolly, who took over from a long series of unfortunate incidents that led to this production. Connolly was hamstrung by Travolta, by a really grossly bad script, and a series of producers some of whom had criminal records. Last night’s premiere of “Gotti” was entertaining more for the celebrities who showed up– Regis and Joy Philbin, Susan Lucci and husband Helmut Huber, former police commissioner Ray Kelly and his wife Veronica, and their broadcaster son Greg among them....

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants her fellow Democrats to take on what she calls the "billionaire class." Does Warren know that many, if not most, of this tiny group of people are liberal Democrats? On a recent podcast hosted by Mehdi Hasan of The Intercept, Hasan asked Warren if she thought Democrats lacked the "guts" to go after billionaires. Warren response was "Yeah." She's particularly upset at the handful of her fellow Democrats who voted for a bill that watered down the Dodd-Frank banking regulation behemoth. Warren went on to say: "Until we have all the Democrats who are willing to...