Free Republic

Regulation: While the media-driven scandals du jour roll on, President Trump quietly goes about reshaping the U.S. economy. Case in point: Last week, Trump directed the EPA to cut even more red tape for manufacturers. And he's not done yet. We've heard for years now that "nothing can be done" for manufacturing, it's a lost cause. While it's true automation is an ongoing part of manufacturing, that doesn't mean more jobs can't be created. Quite the contrary. Uniquely among recent presidents, Trump actually has experience running businesses that build and make things. Trump, more than any president since Ronald Reagan,...

FULL TITLE: Hope it's not too late! A staggering 66% of millennials have no clue their tax returns are due in just FOUR DAYS - and most are terrified that they will make mistakes when they do file More than half of millenials do not know their tax returns are due in four days—and might thus be in for a rude awakening when tax season ends on April 17. A study of 1,000 millennials sought to uncover just how much they know about filing taxes, and how they feel about the notoriously daunting process. Taxes are due on April 17...

The Senate voted 50-48 Wednesday to confirm business lawyer John Ring to fill the open seat on the National Labor Relations Board, the federal government's main labor law enforcement agency, "giving the five-member board a majority consisting of President Trump's appointees through at least 2020"..... The board achieved a reputation for pro-union activism during the Obama administration, which the Trump White House and congressional Republicans have been eager to reverse. "Mr. Ring will be a principled and objective voice on the NLRB, and not a rubber stamp to special interests that were in favor during the Obama administration. We commend...

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits is running at the lowest level in 44 years, the Department of Labor reported Thursday. Altogether, 1.88 million people were receiving jobless benefits at the end of March. That was low enough to sent the monthly average for such claims down to 1.85 million, the lowest such mark since January of 1974, when the total workforce was much smaller. Unemployment benefits are available for up to 26 weeks in most states. During the worst of the recession, as many as 6.5 million workers were getting unemployment insurance. As for new claims for unemployment...

Step one: Scream that the GOP tax reform bill would be a "massive attack" on the middle class.  Step two: Concede that actually yes, nearly all middle income earners would get a tax break under the bill.  Step three: Call for its repeal anyway, effectively demanding a tax increase -- a "massive attack," one might even say -- on middle class Americans and US businesses.  It sounds like Bernie Sanders has picked up the same tax hike hymnal from which Nancy Pelosi was singing last week: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called Monday for the Republican tax law to be repealed...

A shareholder sues Netflix board members with the allegation they "rigged the compensation process, guaranteeing Netflix officers huge cash payments while misleading investors into believing that these payments were justified by attainment of real performance goals."

Despite weekss of media hype about porn star Stormy Daniels, not only has President Trump’s job approval rating jumped in the latest Quinnipiac poll, but only 23 percent of Americans believe the alleged affair is an important issue. A massive majority of 73 percent say it is not. Even 51 percent of Democrats agree it is not an important issue, along with 79 percent of Independents. Moreover, there is also no notable gender gap on the question.In worse news for the media, although Trump denies the affair, by a margin of 58 – 14 percent they believe do not believe...

Oil prices soared on Wednesday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted earlier in the day that Russia would better “get ready” for U.S. missiles in Syria. At 08:33 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, WTI Crude was above $66 and Brent—above the $71 mark. WTI Crude was up 0.92 percent to $66.12, while Brent Crude had jumped 0.87 percent at $71.66. “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys...

When the Congressional Budget Office released its updated budget forecast, everyone focused on the deficit number. But buried in the report was the CBO's tacit admission that it vastly overestimated the cost of the Trump tax cuts, because it didn't account for the strong economic growth they would generate. Among the many details in the report, the one reporters focused on was the CBO's forecast that the federal deficit would top $1 trillion in 2020, two years earlier than the CBO had previously said. And, naturally, most news accounts blamed the tax cuts. "U.S. budget deficit to balloon on Republican...

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday for a government-wide review of welfare programs, with a goal of putting more people back to work, White House officials said. The order directs all federal agencies involved in providing more than $700 billion in low-income assistance annually to study programs that are “failing Americans,” and to report back in 90 days with recommendations, said White House domestic policy council director Andrew Bremberg. “Our country still struggles from nearly record-high welfare enrollments,” Mr. Bremberg said in a conference call with reporters. “President Trump endorses reforms that ensure those in need receive assistance, while...

President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing federal agencies to strengthen existing work requirements and introduce new ones for low-income Americans receiving Medicaid, food stamps, public housing benefits and welfare as part of a broad overhaul of government assistance programs. The order directs federal agencies to review all policies related to current work requirements as well as exemptions and waivers and report back to the White House with recommendations within 90 days. “Welfare reform is necessary to prosperity and independence,” said Andrew Bremberg, assistant to the president and director of Trump’s domestic policy council.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to promote economic mobility, strong social networks, and accountability to American taxpayers, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Purpose. The United States and its Constitution were founded on the principles of freedom and equal opportunity for all. To ensure that all Americans would be able to realize the benefits of those principles, especially during hard times, the Government established programs to help families with basic unmet needs. Unfortunately, many of the programs designed to help families have...

The speech was written. A cast of relatable Americans with emotional stories was standing by to reinforce the message. But President Donald Trump was in no mood to play along. “The hell with it,” Trump said, recounting the scene with his aides to a West Virginia crowd last week, Trump tossed the staff-prepared remarks on tax cuts in the air and ducked as the paper fluttered to the floor. “I said, ‘This is boring, come on.’ Tell it like it is.” This president has never been one to stick to a script, but that abandoned speech illustrates a new phase...

At the Simmons College leadership conference in Boston on Thursday, former first lady Michelle Obama praised her husband’s presidency while taking a veiled swipe at the current occupant of the White House. She said that her husband’s administration was “like having the good parent at home.” In Michelle Obama’s warped view, her husband filled the national role of a “responsible parent, the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time.” This analogy is ridiculous as a “good parent” would not practically double the national debt, socialize healthcare, unconstitutionally grant amnesty to illegal aliens and...

Diplomacy is often considered the most Genteel and cultured of governmental pursuits. And that can work many times, when done right. But it can also fail miserably, as Winston Churchill clearly understood watching the ever-so-Genteel Neville Chamberlain botch what could have preempted World War II. And it has been failing America over multiple presidential administrations. Donald Trump is no Winston Churchill in eloquence or knowledge of history or philosophies or alcohol intake, but he has ChurchillÂ’s fiery love of country and willingness to speak bluntly outside the nicety circles while carrying a big stick to defend that beloved country. Refreshing...

Though there are numerous questions I could ask to determine if a fellow American gets his "news" from the DMIC (Democrat Media Industrial Complex), I usually lead with this one: "What political party is the party of the wealthy?" If the answer is "the Republican Party," I know that the individual is a regular consumer of DMIC propaganda. It's tempting to get angered at the individual, but I know that two of the ways the DMIC lies are by distorting and withholding. The Democratic Party is the party of the mega-, mega-wealthy. This is one of the dangerous cover-ups of...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., accidentally sent out a tweet Wednesday that appeared to be a draft. The tweet included a parenthetical reminder to “tag officials and tax march,” before sending the tweet where she said she would be participating in a march to call attention to the “GOP tax scam.”

Hillary Clinton blames misogyny, FBI, sexism, NRA, Russia for 2016 loss by Pete Kasperowicz | April 04, 2018 07:49 AM Hillary Clinton on Tuesday recited a list of several factors that contributed to her 2016 loss against Donald Trump, and said America is in a "really bad spot" with President Trump in the White House. "[E]very day that goes by there’s more evidence and more proof of Russia and fake news and Cambridge Analytica and misogyny and sexism," she said, according to Newsweek. "I mean it’s hard, it’s very hard." She said the "lock her up" chants that Trump led...

RUSH: I have for many, many moons now been informing everybody that the left, that the liberals, that the progressives, the Democrat Party cannot be open and honest about what it believes because if it were they would suffer tremendous defeats nationwide. Remember, I’ve always said that. They have to mask themselves. They have to camouflage themselves as centrists or other things. Obama was a master at it. Bill and Hillary Clinton were masters at it. But omething’s happening out there, and it’s gonna redound to our benefit, because the Democrats are now throwing off the masks. They are throwing...

Trump fans, of course, are ever-ready to remind us that the president wasn’t very popular when he won the presidency. That may bode well for his 2020 reelection prospects if he draws an opponent as unpopular as Hillary Clinton. But in midterms, poor presidential approval ratings invariably mean poor performance by the president’s party. The most important historical data point remains this: Presidents who go into the midterms with an approval rating under 50 percent have an average loss of 36 House seats. Democrats need 24 seats to take control. Trump and the GOP have a ways to go to...