Free Republic

The Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) filed an emergency rulemaking package last week extending emergency powers to Democrat Governor Jay Inslee. This package, which is an extension of current mandates, grants Inslee the ability to enforce COVID vaccine mandates on all private businesses in the state of Washington, according to elected officials.Washington state house representatives Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) and Jesse Young (R-Gig Harbor) released a statement on Monday condemning the actions of L&I."This mandate from L&I demonstrates a complete lack of transparency, which dilutes public trust in our government and fails to show the agency's good faith in...

Well, I did not see this coming. The BBC reports that Cuba is about to open up most of its economy to private ownership.Cuba!Cuba has announced it will allow private businesses to operate in most sectors, in what is a major reform to its state-controlled economy.“…major reform…”? It’s the communists admitting defeat. Because:The communist country’s economy has been hit hard by the pandemic and US sanctions introduced by the Trump administration.Last year its economy shrank by 11% – its worst decline in almost three decades – and Cubans have been facing shortages of basic goods.Well, we did have toilet paper...

Chaos erupted in Minneapolis Wednesday night, with people looting and rioting following the death of George Lloyd, a black man who was killed by a white police officer. Two men decided to utilize their Second Amendment rights to prevent people from looting nearby stores. "Basically, you've seen the records the cops keep and the cops are a lot less likely to tread on people's rights when there's other armed Americans with them. So we figured it's about damn time – or at least I figure it's about damn time – for some heavily armed rednecks stood with fellow citizens," the...

Are you about to post a tweet containing “harmful” language? Don’t worry — Twitter is experimenting with a feature that will warn you ahead of time, so you don’t accidentally infect any users with your wrongthink. “When things get heated, you may say things you don’t mean,” wrote Twitter’s official support account in a tweet yesterday. “To let you rethink a reply, we’re running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful.” It’s a bit like “precrime” in the 2002...

Should First Amendment rights be extended to Big Tech corporations to publish and censor as they please?  This is a question that has agitated the discussion on whether antitrust legislation should be applied to infogiants such as Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Amazon, Pinterest and many others that have cornered the market on a public resource, information, and an essential human activity, the consumption of information. A solution to the problem of data sequestration and restricted access practiced by these companies is to rebadge them either as publishers or, alternatively, as public utilities. These entities are protected by Section...

The Texas Enterprise Fund and Texas Major Events Trust Fund have both been around since 2003. The Enterprise Fund has given out more than $600 million to companies bringing jobs and business to the state. The Major Events Trust Fund has paid out more than $275 million. As a grassroots activist, Sen. Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, railed against ‘corporate welfare.’ Now she wants to scrap the taxpayer funds used to lure business to Texas. “All we’re doing is taking more money from the taxpayer and giving it to private industry,” Sen. Burton said.

Like the good people of Arizona, I despise speed cameras. But not because I want reckless driving. Instead, my disdain is based on the fact that governments set up cameras where speed limits are preposterously low in order to generate revenue. And I speak from personal experience.Like the good people of Houston, I also despise red-light cameras.But once again, this isn’t because I want jerks racing through red lights and endangering innocent people. Instead, my opposition is based on the fact that greedy governments – operating recklessly – use such cameras as tools to fleece drivers.Holman Jenkins has a column...

The City Council moved Wednesday to cut off the pipeline of puppies purchased in Chicago that come from for-profit breeders condemned as puppy mills. With downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) casting the only dissenting vote, aldermen approved a somewhat watered-down anti-cruelty ordinance championed by City Clerk Susana Mendoza. It would limit the retail sale of dogs, cats and rabbits at Chicago's 16 pet stores to those animals that come from shelters and humane adoption centers. ... "As a person who grew up with three dogs, I think it's the right thing to do. And I'm proud of the city and...

Gay activists protest the Masterpiece Cakeshop in 2012. Owner Jack Phillips now faces charges for not baking a cake for the gay couple. (Free Republic)Gay marriage was banned by the Colorado constitution in 2006. But this didn’t stop the Colorado Attorney General’s office from filing a discrimination complaint against Masterpiece Cakeshop for not baking a cake for a gay couple. The Advocate reported: A Denver bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple is about to face the legal heat. The Colorado Attorney General’s office last week filed a discrimination complaint against the owners of Masterpiece...

A family-owned restaurant in Pennsylvania is under a state discrimination investigation for offering a ten percent discount for diners who present a church bulletin on Sundays. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission confirmed there is an investigation against Prudhomme’s Lost Cajun Kitchen in the town of Columbia. The complaint was filed by John Wolff, a retired electrical engineer. “I did this not out of spite, but out of a feeling against the prevailing self-righteousness that stems from religion, particular in Lancaster County,” Wolff told the York Daily Record. “I don’t consider it an earth-shaking affair, but in this area in particular,...

A discussion thread on Amazon’s Kindle Community forum notes that Amazon has begun removing some previously-published books or stories from its store, and from the Kindle archives. Readers who have previously downloaded them to their Kindles can keep them there, but cannot re-download them (and will be refunded the price of purchase assuming Amazon can still find the purchase record). The story whose removal sparked the discussion was an erotica title called Wicked Lovely by author Jess C. Scott. The tale dealt with incest, and involved a love scene between a 17- and an 18-year-old. However, Amazon would not tell...

Private pay has SHRUNK to an all time low. This comes as now SURPRISE, as government aid has INCREASED. From the USA Today website:”Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds. At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.

A bill taken up by a Senate panel on Thursday would empower the federal government to collect the payroll information of private companies and analyze it in an effort to prevent gender-based pay discrimination, which has been illegal since 1963. The law would compel the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to begin mandatory collection of payroll data from private employers, under penalty of law. These data must be broken down by job type, race, and, gender. The government would then analyze the data to determine if companies are violating equal pay laws, which prohibit pay discrimination based on gender. Known...

The Philadelphia Commission of Human Relations will hold a public hearing Friday to address a controversial sign at the popular Geno's Steaks that has gained national attention. The hearing was scheduled after allegations were made accusing Geno's Steaks of discrimination for posting a sign that reads: "This is America. When ordering please speak English." Geno's owner Joey Vento said it is freedom of speech. "Since we have a little problem in the country with the language, it is also telling people at Geno's Steaks, all we speak is English," Vento said. Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) does not see...

Kim Jong Il Bans ‘Employment of Workers for Private Firm’ "Going to Work and Private Business Prohibited" By Park Young Cheon, Reporter [ 2006-04-18 14:47 ] ▲ Satellite Photograph of Night on the Korean Peninsula. Only Pyongyang Shines in North Korea Kim Jong Il ordered to ‘penalized ones who employ workers for private business accordingly, as it is illegal activity’ on 15 March. 「Today’s North Korea News」published in April by ‘Good Friends’ which sends aids to North Korea said, “If it was one person economy where individuals made goods and sold them for profit, division of labor is very...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has approved amendments to the Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA), clearing the way for NASA to pay for Russian launches and spacecraft to support the International Space Station. The bill was approved late Nov 8 by unanimous consent, meaning it was not subject to a floor vote because no senators objected to its passage. The House passed the same bill Oct. 26. "NASA appreciates the efforts of Congress to resolve restrictions placed on our partnership with Russia,” NASA chief Michael Griffin said in a statement. “Congress' action helps to ensure the continuous presence of U.S. astronauts...

At 4:31 a.m. Jan. 17, 1994, a major earthquake struck Los Angeles. It produced the strongest ground motions ever instrumentally recorded in an urban setting in North America. Sections of major freeways collapsed, as did many buildings and homes. Within minutes, tens of thousands of people were homeless. As the aftershocks continued, 30,000 or more people fled to city parks. Many of the newly homeless were families with young children. Stores were closed. Food and water were scarce. At 5:30 a.m., I received a call from then-Mayor Richard Riordan. He was already downtown at the city's emergency command center. I...

GMAC (formerly known as General Motors Acceptance Corporation) is worth about $15–20 billion according to one article. With GM trading at a market capitalization of $19 billion it might be time to break it up. At $420 per member, its health insurance plan alone is worth $450 million if it were sold. Overall, the top 18 carmakers sold $1.4 trillion worth of stuff last year, which is about two and a half percent of the world economy. Where is the money going to be in the new world of discount rocket flight? Financing would be a good bet. What about...

GALLUP, N.M. -- The Gallup City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday against an ordinance that would ban smoking in most public gathering places, including restaurants and sports venues, said Gallup Mayor Bob Rosebrough. Rosebrough said a referendum initiative will begin next, and the issue will be voted on by the general public. For this to happen, the ordinance will have to get 20 percent of the voters from the last governor's election who were registered in Gallup to sign a petition.

A civil lawsuit is now on file against the Tropicana bar. The lawsuit says the owners' disregard for the county wide smoking ban is: "...creating a public nuisance and health hazard for which the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health has received complaint."The bar is owned by Ohio County Delegate Chris Wakim. Wakim told News9 he would not comply with the smoking ban regulation. "Until and at such point as I feel that they work this out, I am not going to be in compliance, absolutely not, said Wakim.The county health officer says Wakim's public defiance is influencing other bars. A...