Free Republic

There has been vigorous debate in the Free Republic Forums recently between the propel who think the TPP and TPA are good and that we need Free Trade, and the staunch protectionists out there, and the middle of the road variety like myself that don't want such things but still recognize that we need trade. We have learned many things about each other, but one of the things I have come to realize is that the "free trade" has a lot of issues. The way I see it, the only way Free Trade will EVER work properly, (especially with China_...

There has been a lot of talk lately about Tariffs and peopel wanting to implement larger Tariffs in order to boost domestic production and employment. But here is the sticking point, and that is the definition of the Word Tariff. A tariff is a tax on imports or exports IS A TAX. And like all taxes it does follow certain rules of thumb and behaviors and one of those is the "laffer curve", which means if you raise a Tariff too high it will have the opposite effect of what any other tax would have. Also if raised too high...

State farm has dusted them off and they are looking as cone-y as ever.

Why hasn't any congress critter there in Washington gone down with a gaggle of press in tow and actually demanded to be let into the room in the deep dark dungeon basement of Washington DC that the "super double dog top secret" Trans-Pacific Partnership full text is being housed and just DARE anyone to stop them. Walk into the damned room, pick up the multiple pages of this text and even use a damned hand truck if it fills several xerox boxes. Then walk the hell out of the room with the full text and release the full text to...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) said Sunday that the administration should name a "hostage czar" amid revelations that a U.S. drone strike killed two innocent hostages in Pakistan. “What we're calling for is the creation of effectively a hostage czar, which deals with a slightly different issue, which deals with finding these hostages,” Delaney said on ABC's "This Week." President Barack Obama on Thursday took full responsibility for the deaths of Warren Weinstein, an American hostage, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian national hostage. “In my experience with Warren's case, we do not do as good of a job,...

Is it just me or does it seem to me that inthe last 10 years maybe longer that the overwhelming pressure in society is to become a "rental" based economy vs. an "ownership" economy? We see this everywhere, from local businessees offering leasing options for people wanting to buy items like TV's, Furniture, and Appliances, to propsals being made in government to collect "taxes" on miles drven on cars. Over a hundred years ago, Property taxes were the first step to establishing the idea that one doesn't even truly own the land under thier own feet that they may have...

Here is a Joke I though of! Two Congress Critters walk into a Bar and sit down. The Bartender moves over to their place at the Bar and asks "good evening gentlemen, nice to see you again tonight, would you like the usual?" One of the congress critters looks at the Bartender and says "It's been a hell of day on the hill, we'll take the usual and leave the bottles!" The Bartender says "two glasses, One bottle of whiskey and a bottle of rum coming right up!" The one congress critter grabs the wild turkey by the neck and...

Reading all these sotries about people whining how fast food jobs should be paying 15 bucks an hour got me thinking about all the people we hire from other countries when we have all these well educated native born people struggling to find work... What does H1B really mean? H1B = Hire 1 Barista So for every foreign worker we bring in on a H1B, we end up having to "Hire One Barista" down the street at starbucks... The H1B program is directly tied to the number of colleg students having to take a lower paying job handing out coffee...

Since Hillary has unveiled her new "Logo" for her "Hurl Forward" Campaign, here is the new DNC Logo for the 2016 Campaign season. We start with the Democrat Symbol, followed by their idealogy as the inportant apostrophe, then we follow with the Obama Messaih logo, followed by hillary's Hillarious H since it is her term... The End result is D'OH!

Every-time some schmuck seminar caller calls into a conservative talk show whining about "Citizens United" and whines about how ' Businesses and Corporations are not "people" and shouldn't be able to contribute to political campaigns.' I really want to tell the moron that neither are Unions by their twisted criteria and that if they want to remove that right of Businesses to have a say in politics they should also remove the rights unions have in political contributions as well.

April 2015 – YELLOWSTONE - Russian geopolitical analyst says the best way to attack the United States is to detonate nuclear weapons to trigger a supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park or along the San Andreas fault-line on California’s coast. The president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems based in Moscow, Konstantin Sivkov said in an article for a Russian trade newspaper on Wednesday, VPK News, that Russia needed to increase its military weapons and strategies against the “West’ which was “moving to the borders or Russia.” He has a conspiracy theory that NATO – a political and military alliance which...

I did some checking and we all know that Ted Cruz was Born in Calgary Alberta Canada. But do you know who ELSE has ties to Calgary? Current Conservative Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper! He was educated in Calgary! So I thought it was interesting!

Now hear me out fellow freepers, before you start spam hate posting me. I think that these poor illegal aliens, ermmm, illegal immigrants, err.. Undocumented Workers, errr.... citizens of the world that apparently lost their documents in tragic paper shredding accident. Where was I? Oh yes they deserve a LOT MORE benefits than any old dumb legal born here citizen from flyover country. We should hire some radical Islamist (who need jobs, obviously) to hand out SNAP and EBT cards at the border to these "folks" so they can get a head start on the "glorious socialist American communist dependency...

A friend told me to tune into Alex Jones as he has Bill Ayers on today and it was not disappointing to the extent this man can lie. In the same segment, he said that Obama was "Just some guy" to "Someone he has known for many years".... He also said he is for anarchy in government but wants socialism, how is socialism NOT going to work without a giant top down structure to force it upon the people.

I was thinking about the Duke case of them wanting to "broadcast" out their screeching bellowing "call to prayer" that they feel has to pollute the air every 5 times a day. Then i thought of this. Apparently it is NOT "haram" or forbidden to use technology to send out their screeches, otherwise they wouldn't be allowed to use loudspeakers and pre-recorded mooselimb bellowing. So if Tech is not an issue, why not use tech to solve the problem? Low power and LEGAL FM transmitters can be bought that can send out a signal over about a mile radius and...

It annoys me to no end when someone says that Christianity was just as bad as Islam in the past by some "supposedly" well meaning but totally ignorant Atheist Liberal. What these fools all ignore was the Major differences in HOW the religions spread and WHEN they became misbehaving. So let's look at this and stare and compare as they say: Christianity: Started very peaceful, spread mainly by word of mouth and voluntary conversions, took several hundred years to spread across the world and then never did it by the sword. Many early Christians were heavily persecuted. Most all powerful...

I think the vote for speaker demonstrates a clear need for having a well thought out process for choosing who is the leader concerning the house and senate and also a process that will remove the obvious blackmailing using campaign funds and committee assignments and committee chairmanships. Right now it is damned shame that is is ran almost like a Mafia family selecting it's leadership or union Boss "Card Check" election. Here is what needs to be done: Selecting the Speaker of the House, House Minority leader, Senate Majority/minority leader. 1. Once the House/Senate members are seated a member may...

PLAINS, Mont., Dec. 11 (UPI) -- A dead coyote hung from a tree with a Christmas bow along a Montana school bus route is outraging residents, but police said the display is not illegal. Plains resident Mary Ellen Siegford, who posted a picture of the less-than-cheerful holiday display on Facebook, said her daughter burst into tears when she saw the dead animal. "A lot of people were just like, 'Well, be glad it's dead. You don't have to worry about it eating your pets,'" Siegford told KECI-TV. "But I don't know. To me, it's morbid, it rings of animal cruelty....

Radio Interview on Andrea Shea King's show of the incomparable Ann Barnhardt. Link here: http://www.barnhardt.biz/2014/12/12/one-hour-interview-with-andrea-shea-king/ Direct MP3 link here: http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/7/174/show_7174343.mp3

They really really act like it, don't they? What could possibly explain their very whimpering like a abused dog all the time capitulation to both the DNC and the US Chamber or other cronies while blatantly and outright declaring war on a majority of their constituents. I bring this up because over the years I have heard a number of "innuendo remarks" and "open secret among DC Circles" comments concerning Mitch McConnell's personal relationship status and/or personal preferences so to speak. Then there is John Bohner, whose open secret seems to be his propensity to imbibing alcohol in liberal, pardon...