Free Republic

National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter ordered Starbucks to reopen “within a reasonable period of time” two Ithaca locations that closed after employees formed a union, stating that its move to “chill unionism” violated the National Labor Relations Act. Carter ruled on Friday that the May 2023 permanent closures of the Ithaca Commons and Meadow Street Starbucks locations and failure to bargain with the union were unlawful, as the board found the stores were closed for “antiunion reasons” and in an effort to quell unionizations elsewhere. The NLRB similarly ordered on July 6, 2023, that the third...

Democrats can’t govern to save their own lives (or cities), but one thing they are very good at — with the help of billions and billions of dollars in corporate media propaganda — is fabricating an alternate reality. Reality-reality is this: Wherever Democrats go, chaos follows. We’ve seen it in Baltimore, Ferguson, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Oakland, etc., etc., And now that the entire Democrat elite and their palace guards in the fake media have landed in Chicago — a city already bucking under the horrors of decades of one-party rule (Democrats) — the Windy City is...

Chicago businesses are already boarding up their storefronts downtown ahead of Monday’s opening of the Democratic National Convention in anticipation of mass rioting and violence. Plywood shielding first began showing up Thursday morning as the city’s shopping district opened for business. “As we know, this city has a poor track record when it comes to protecting businesses,” Scott Shapiro, owner of Syd Jerome, told Chicago’s WLS-TV. “We felt it was more prudent to board up, since our customers and their employers have told them to stay home throughout the convention for their own safety,” Shapiro added. It makes perfect sense...

A Jordanian man living in Florida has been arrested for causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to a solar energy facility and damaging multiple businesses over their perceived support for Israel, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Middle District of Florida announced on Thursday. Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 43, is accused of breaking the front doors of multiple businesses in a rampage in June. He wore a mask while committing the vandalism and left behind warning letters stating his intention to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist...

He shut down a lot of the mom-and-pop shops, those folks that were just trying to make a living and provide a great product and a great service," Hanson told Fox News Digital. "In contrast, he allowed big box stores, etc. to stay open. Really incredible, an incredible use of tyranny against the people." Hanson eventually decided to re-open her business and defied Walz's renewed shutdown order for bars and restaurants six times between December 2020 and January 2021. She was convicted in December 2021 on misdemeanor charges and received the maximum sentence of 90 days and a $1,000 fine....

A former Minnesota bar owner who now commutes two hours a day to sling suds in neighboring Wisconsin said Gov. Tim Walz’s restrictive pandemic-era lockdowns in the state “decimated” local businesses — and caused financial ruin for those who stood up for their livelihoods. “I think he’s an evil man who overstepped his role as the governor. He took small businesses and ripped them up. He destroyed us,” Lisa Zarza, 52, told The Post. “I had to leave the state to be able to legally work and make a living.” She opened the Outpost Bar and Grill in Bay City,...

The family of a 76-year-old Kentucky man was awarded over $2 million for his death from second- and third-degree burns suffered in a scalding hot motel shower where water temperatures reached at least 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Court documents from the lawsuit alleged that Alex Chronis checked into the Econo Lodge in Erlanger, Kentucky, on Nov. 18, 2021. The next morning, he turned on the shower and was immediately struck by extremely hot water that knocked him to the floor while the water continued to burn him. The two people who were in the motel with Chronis heard his screams and...

Business groups are pushing back against a new Biden administration rule that would allow third-parties, including union representatives, to accompany federal inspectors of job sites. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the final rule earlier this year, but critics say the rule goes beyond safety needs and panders to unions and their recruitment efforts. The rule would apply even to job sites where workers have not unionized. The National Federation of Independent Businesses, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, are helping lead the charge against the new “walkaround” rule, which takes effect May 31...

On Wednesday, the country hit a sad milestone: Inflation under President Biden hit 20 percent. The dollar’s value has plummeted under his watch. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also confirmed that the consumer price index is resurgent and growing faster than average wages. Combined with weak GDP growth, this data shows the U.S. economy is reentering stagflation. Historic inflation is causing declining living standards and a cost-of-living crisis. Under Biden’s presidency, grocery prices have increased by nearly one-third and gas has risen by 50 percent. It feels like every daily convenience — from a turkey sandwich to some handyman help...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with low-level Chinese Communist Party officials, students, and businessmen in Shanghai on Thursday, promoting an “expansion of exchanges” with the rogue state in several fields. The most prominent of his meetings was with the head of the Communist Party in Shanghai, Secretary Chen Jining, who said in a press engagement prior to their meeting that he was pleased to hear that Blinken had attended a basketball game and visited Shanghai’s Yu Garden after landing on Wednesday: Met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining to discuss the importance of healthy economic competition and a level...

From N.C. Bar & Tavern Ass'n v. Cooper, decided yesterday by the N.C. Court of Appeals, in an opinion by Judge April Wood, joined by Judges Donna Stroud and Jefferson Griffin: Plaintiffs appeal from the trial court's order granting summary judgment for Defendant and dismissing all their claims arising out of Defendant's Executive Order No. 141 issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 March 2020, Defendant issued Executive Order No. 118 closing all bars including those in restaurants. On 20 May 2020, Defendant issued Executive Order No. 141 letting some types of bars reopen with specific safety precautions...

On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Heather Boushey responded to a question on whether the higher corporate taxes pushed by President Joe Biden will harm hiring by saying that “We need to make sure that the federal government has the resources that it needs to be able to do the things that it needs to do.” And that”businesses have a lot of resources, we’ve also given them a lot of subsidies and supports to go out there and invest.” Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, [relevant exchange begins around 7:15] “[H]e talked about...

In his opening statement to House impeachment investigators, former Hunter Biden business partner, Jason Galanis, said Joe Biden planned to join the board of his son’s firm which was being backed by a Chinese businessman and state-owned enterprises. Galanis delivered his opening statement on Friday morning to congressional investigators from inside a federal prison in Alabama where he is serving a prison sentence for engaging in an illegal scheme to enrich Burnham Asset Management. Galanis also unequivocally told investigators his firm originally partnered with Hunter Biden because of his family name. “The entire value-add of Hunter Biden to our business...

After years of Russiagate conspiracy theories about how the Russians had somehow rigged the 2016 presidential election using Facebook ads, the Senate Intelligence report awkwardly revealed that the Russian operation had focused most of its attention on black nationalists. The Senate report revealed that "most of the videos" put out by the Russian IRA troll factory on YouTube "pertained to police brutality and the activist efforts of the Black Lives Matter organization" and found that "no single group of Americans was targeted... more than African-Americans" around "race and related issues". But that was an understatement. The Russians had created their...

Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson recently touted his efforts to bestow $18 million exclusively to “black and brown” businesses to feed the thousands of illegal border crossers the city is housing. Johnson’s administration partnered with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, BJ’s Market, and other nonprofits by diverting the huge sum to minority-owned businesses, according to WFLD-TV. During a press conference on the partnership, the “sanctuary city” mayor celebrated the program, applauding “black and brown businesses” as the “soul” of Chicago.

Gov. Kathy Hochul will pledge to crack down on retail theft as part of her 2024 policy agenda, The Post has learned — as fed-up New York business owners continue to plead for help with the shoplifting scourge. Merchants are turning up the heat on Hochul and the Democratic-led state Legislature, calling for stiffer penalties against serial offenders wreaking havoc in their stores. “We’re going to continue living this nightmare if legislators don’t fix this mess,” said Nelson Eusabio of the National Supermarket Association and part of the coalition Collective Action to Protect Our Stores (CAP). Lawmakers representing 213 districts...

Major retailers have experienced a wave of store closures in 2023, an 80% surge from the year prior, Coresight Research reports. The top reasons include bankruptcy of one major chain and some stores just not performing well in certain areas. The continued growth of online shopping is another factor, and other retailers said that theft is a major reason for their decision to close some stores, according to CBS News. When Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy in April, it led to the closure of 866 stores, a Coresight report finds. The second largest number of closed stores was...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Several stores at the location where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 have sued the city, accusing it of neglecting the area and hurting business. The lawsuit, filed in mid-November in state court, also names Mayor Jacob Frey and other officials and accuses the city of not properly policing the area since Floyd’s death. It also accuses the city of blocking the intersection that is now known as George Floyd Square with concrete barriers for more than a year after Floyd's death, keeping customers from entering. The combination has turned the area into a...

A couple years ago, I wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal lamenting how companies I patronize have turned increasingly political and woke. Many speciously echoed Democratic Party claims that Georgia’s recent voting law is racist without specifying how so. Others have been woke for a long time and are becoming more political by the day. I received many dozens of messages—more than I’ve ever received about anything I’ve ever written—and the piece generated nearly 2,000 comments on the WSJ website

A federal judge refused on Tuesday to certify the ongoing lawsuit alleging President Donald Trump defrauded individuals in his promotion of a multi-level marketing venture as a class action. Filed in 2018, the complaint focused on ACN, which sold telecommunications products, and two other companies. The plaintiffs are represented by Roberta Kaplan, the same attorney who represented E. Jean Carroll in her successful sexual battery and defamation suit against Mr. Trump. U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield ruled that putative class members lacked certain common elements in bringing the case. "Here there is no common evidence showing that putative class...