Free Republic

On Sunday the people of Austria will vote one again for the new President of the country and the choice has come down to an anti-mass migration populist and a left wing globalist. This year’s Austrian presidential election has been the longest in the history of Austria’s second republic and is finally coming to an end on Sunday after controversy and scandal. The Austrian voters have two choices for their new head of state, the anti-mass migration populist Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party or the Left wing pro-European Union candidate Alexander Van der Bellen. The first round of the...

Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, only 41, once seemed to have solved the riddle of how to survive Europe’s populist, anti-establishment tempest. But with a critical national referendum on Sunday, the populist wave is now threatening to crush him and plunge Italy into a political crisis when the European Union is already reeling. From Washington to Brussels to Berlin, fears are rising that Italy may be stumbling into its own “Brexit” moment. What should be an inward-looking referendum on whether to overhaul Italy’s ossified political and electoral system has taken on much broader import. Financial analysts warn of a potential...

The November jobs report looked pretty good on the surface except for one number that popped off the page: 95 million. That's the number of Americans now counted as not in the labor force, a historic high that has confounded economists and policymakers. The total — 95.06 million to be more exact — has been rising consistently but surged by a gaudy 446,000 last month. The jump occurred as the U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs and the headline unemployment rate dropped sharply. Explaining the consistent increase in those leaving the labor force is complicated, with factors divided between an aging...

   ***** ~ Canteen Music Dedication ~ The Fabulous 50s *****~ Support The Artists ~   Support the artists you hear throughout the Canteen! Click on the links below! Keep the music going! ArtistDirect l  Internet Radio l  AOL Music l  Sonique (Lycos) l  Real Radio Live365 l  971TheRiver  l  GotRadio  l  Wherehouse  l  Target  l Shoutcast AFRTS l  VH1 l XM Radio l  BET l  audiophile l  Virgin Radio l  Soma (Alternative) Acaza l AudioRealm l VH1 l  Yahoo! Launch Music l  Radio Disney l  Live-Radio Net ITunes l Amazon l Salsa Radio l MTV l CMT l...

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — One by one, the political operatives sitting around the table at Harvard’s campaign managers conference Wednesday afternoon explained why they thought their candidate could win — even though he or she ended up losing. And then came Corey Lewandowski. Lewandowski explained how he joined Donald Trump’s team in January 2015, and helped run “the most unconventional race in the history of the presidency” before his eventual firing 18 months later. “Embracing Mr. Trump’s wealth and not running from it,” Lewandowski said, “was a strategic decision that we made early on.” He continued: “The reason we did that...

Some snapped pictures, others watched intently as an official recount of 75 Philadelphia voting divisions took place Friday afternoon at the city's massive voting machine warehouse in Nicetown. The recount of 4 percent of the city's 1,686 voting divisions was the result of a recount campaign launched by Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein in various counties and states throughout the country. Philadelphia City Commissioners, who make up the Board of Elections, agreed to recount ballots in 75 divisions in which there were at least three affidavits for each division from voters asking for a recount. They rejected the request...

Bravo for the forward-looking team at Commentary. Unburdened by illusion that Donald Trump can or will “turn this thing around,” they have proceeded straightaway to the next important conversation: What comes next for America’s battered Republican Party? Noah Rothman writes: “Reunification and a recapitulation of something resembling a national governing coalition must be the foremost priority.” That’s clearly true! How to do it? Rothman’s answer is to try to reconstitute conservatism as it used to be, refined by the famous “autopsy” of 2013. The problem is that pro-Trump Republicans may not agree that Trumpism failed. They may not be amenable...

Two Muslim businessmen who ran a Halal chicken slaughterhouse were arrested and charged by federal authorities for alleged human trafficking and harboring illegal immigrants for exploitation and monetary gain.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the telephone on Friday with Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte and invited him to the White House next year during a "very engaging, animated" talk, an aide to Duterte said. The call lasted just over seven minutes, Duterte's special advisor, Christopher Go, said in a text message to media. The conversation came amid tension and uncertainty between the United States and the Philippines after months of anti-American rhetoric from Duterte, fueled by his anger over the Obama administration's concerns about his deadly war on drugs. Though Duterte has spoken of his optimism for better ties...

So much for that much anticipated rebound in the participation rate. After it had managed to post a modest increase in the early part of the year, hitting the highest level in one year in March at 63%, the disenchantment with working has returned, and the labor force participation rate had flatlined for the next few month, ultimately dropping in November to 62.7%, just shy of its 35 year low of 62.4% hit last October. This can be seen in the surge of Americans who are no longer in the labor force, who spiked by 446,000 in November, hitting an...

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which maintains strong financial ties to the Kellogg Company, has provided at least $930,000 in support of the controversial work of the Black Lives Matter organization. The financing is listed on the Foundation’s website. It includes a June 1, 2016 grant to the International Development Exchange, which is in a contractual relationship with Black Lives Matter to process donations for the group. The Associated Press reported the International Development Exchange, also known as IDEX, “has been acting as a mostly unseen financial arm of Black Lives Matter, with the ability to receive grants and tax-deductible donations...

Last year, the Emanuel administration slipped through a tax on streaming video and cloud computing. Now, again without public hearings, City Hall is targeting bars and restaurants with a surcharge on satellite TV feeds. Earlier this month, the city served notice that its 9 percent amusement tax applies to businesses that subscribe to satellite TV services. The impact likely will be felt most by public spaces that buy premium subscriptions for NFL and college games that can easily run $5,000 to $10,000 a year, meaning their annual taxes would come to at least $450. "This is obviously a huge concern...

Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump have moved to block the vote recount in Pennsylvania, adding to complaints filed to stop similar proceedings in Michigan and Wisconsin. “Despite being no more than a blip on the electoral radar, Stein has now commandeered Pennsylvania’s electoral process, with an eye toward doing the same to the Electoral College,” the complaint filed Thursday states. “There is no evidence — or even an allegation — that any tampering with Pennsylvania’s voting systems actually occurred.” The filing comes on the heels of the Trump camp’s complaint reported earlier Thursday in Michigan dismissing Green Party candidate Jill...

The recently discovered element 117 has been officially named "tennessine" in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery, including the efforts of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its Tennessee collaborators at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee. "The presence of tennessine on the Periodic Table is an affirmation of our state's standing in the international scientific community, including the facilities ORNL provides to that community as well as the knowledge and expertise of the laboratory's scientists and technicians," ORNL Director Thom Mason said.

WELCOME TO THE TRUMP FAMILY TRAIN We are in the fourth week since the election until the Inauguration The first THANK YOU rally last night in Cinti revealed another packed house of enthusiastic Americans supporting Donald J. Trump as he reviewed the election, shared more of his vision and made on appointment announcement (that is a secret) of Mad Dog Mattis. We are all anticipating this week will reveal the new SOS plus other key announcements.

ANGRY migrants waiting to claim asylum in the promised land of Europe have bemoaned the lack of comforts at shelters in Angela Merkel’s Germany.With the showers and washing machines broken for weeks on end, desperate asylum seekers say they cannot continue to live in the “unworthy conditions”. Around 92 refugees live in a gymnasium in Wackenbergstrasse, in Pankow, Berlin, as they wait to claim asylum. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– But the unhappy migrants have complained an emergency light that is kept on all night keeps them awake. Some have even turned to drink and drugs to block out their living conditions,...

Limp-fisted Democratic Party opponents have not done it. Term limits he himself championed when first elected to Congress in 1988 have not done it. (He has been reelected every two years since.) And too-close associations with slimeballs like Mike Carona, Dave Garofalo, Jack Abramoff, Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, Joseph Medawar and even his felony fraudster wife Rhonda have not done it. No, the only way the Orange County congressional delegation is finally going to rid itself of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Havana) is if Donald Trump nominates him for Secretary of State. Years ago, working at a daily newspaper, it was revealed...

(CNN) — Four weeks after the election, tensions between top operatives at the Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns erupted during a Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics discussion that was intended to record history by drawing out the internal deliberations of both campaigns. Facing off at long tables on opposite sides of the room during a two-hour panel, raw emotions on both sides exploded as operatives debated how Trump had won the divisive campaign.

Fugitive Laron Campbell came out of the attic with pink insulation all over his body, a US Marshal said.The two inmates who broke out of the Santa Clara County Main Jail on Thanksgiving eve by cutting jail window bars and rappelling down with bedsheets now face additional charges after both were captured hiding in attics within 22 hours of each other. "They've left no stone unturned and have had many, many sleepless nights," Sheriff Laurie Smith said late Wednesday of all the agencies, including US Marshals and FBI agents, who helped bring the fugitives back into custody. Both captured fugitives...

Khalid Sheik Mohammed: George W. Bush's Shock and Awe Response to 9/11 Prevented Other Attacks Far from trying to draw us in, KSM said that al-Qaeda expected the United States to respond to 9/11 as we had the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut — when, KSM told Mitchell, the United States ‘turned tail and ran.’ ‘Then he looked at me and said, ‘How was I supposed to know that cowboy George Bush would announce he wanted us ‘dead or alive’ and then invade Afghanistan to hunt us down?’’ Mitchell writes. ‘KSM explained that if the United States...