Free Republic

France's historically unpopular President, François Hollande was handed another embarrassment this week when the top constitutional authority partially struck down another one of his laws. That strike-out left Hollande as the holder of a record he won't be proud of. France’s Constitutional Council ruled on Thursday that a reform that would have allowed the government to fine companies that shut down profitable factories was unconstitutional. The reform was deemed by the council - France's highest constitutional authority - to be a violation of “a freedom of undertaking and private property rights.” ... The council's ruling is the 13th law to...

“Onto the ballot – into the streets.” That’s the headline for the next big moment for 15 Now – a conference on April 26 to kick-off a mass campaign in Seattle to collect 50,000 signatures for a robust $15 minimum wage ballot initiative. Whether or not 15 Now will file those signatures in June, triggering a popular vote on November 4, depends on whether the City Council passes a real $15 minimum wage ordinance and will be decided by a democratic 15 Now conference in June. The credible threat of a winnable ballot initiative is the best tool – under...

A senatorial report proposes a junk-food tax on products that cause cardiovascular diseases. The tax aims specifically at soft drinks, which currently benefit from low taxes. EurActiv France reports. Similar to steps taken by other European countries, a new junk-food tax is doing the rounds in the French parliament. […] The senators who led the report, Yves Daudigny (socialist) and Catherine Deroche (UMP), encourage talk of “contribution to public health” and not the frequently used term “behavioral taxation”. …

I have 17 million reasons for wanting to increase the minimum wage. Yes, 17 million—the number of children whose lives would be a little more secure if their moms and dads earned at least $10.10 an hour. When I was in junior high, my daddy had a heart attack. He was home for a while, the medical bills piled up, and we lost our family station wagon. So my mother did what she had to do: She went to work answering the phones at Sears. The job paid only minimum wage, but it was enough to make sure we could...

First Lady Michelle Obama received an unscheduled greeting today from the President of China at the end of her first full day in the country, a place which President Obama has said he wants to “rebalance” US foreign policy. But the first lady is not engaging in any formal talks on issues such as human rights or global politics. Her trip to China is purely for cultural reasons. President Xi Jinping welcomed the first lady and disclosed he had spoken to President Obama by phone a few days ago and confirmed the two presidents are scheduled to hold a bilateral...

Kshama Sawant has held office less than three months, but the Seattle City Council socialist wants her newly unveiled $15-an-hour minimum wage plan to be “the main agenda item” as Mayor Ed Murray’s income advisory committee meets next week. **SNIP** She would implement a $15-an-hour minimum wage for “big business” on Jan. 1, 2015, with prescribed cost of living increases after that. There would be no credit for tips paid to restaurant and hotel workers, no teenage wage and no training wage. “Small business” would be allowed a three-year phase-in, starting with an $11-an-hour minimum wage next January. Full implementation...

SEATTLE — Kshama Sawant said she needs to see progress on a $15 per hour minimum wage soon, or she and her supporters will move ahead without the help of her fellow city council members and the mayor. She said if there is not significant progress soon she will start collecting signatures to put a minimum wage measure on the ballot. Sawant said signatures are due June 10. The socialist council member is holding a rally this coming Saturday where she will lay out her latest plan of action moving forward.

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, met Sunday with U.S. actor Sean Penn, and after taking the almost traditional selfie , asked him to be their spokesman to the U.S. authorities for dialogue and peace . "We spoke of the great interest that we have, I have asked Sean Penn to forward to where it can transmit more interest we have, that I have as president of the new ambassador Maximilien Arvelaiz in Washington move toward relationships first dialogue "Maduro said, quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE.

<p>Harvey Weinstein revealed on Saturday that he wasn't sure how he felt about Barack and Michelle Obama when Hillary Clinton -- a longtime friend -- was defeated by Obama in the Democratic primary.</p> <p>"I strongly support Hillary. When she lost, Michelle invited me back in ... but I thought I was going to sit that one out," Weinstein said during his keynote speech at the 38th annual UCLA Entertainment Symposium, hosted by the UCLA School of Law.</p>

This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. The radical Marxist-progressives (communists) took control of the democrat party some time ago. They’ve only become more emboldened with the election of Barack Obama, who was raised as a communist from birth. With their new found leader, Barack Obama, the Socialist Party of America felt secure enough to announce the names of 70 democrats in Congress that belong to their caucus. Other than Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who openly ran as a socialist, the rest of this lot ran as “moderate democrats.” I think it’s time we put the myth...

President Obama announced his fiscal 2015 budget on Tuesday morning at Powell Elementary in the District’s Petworth neighborhood, highlighting the school’s early childhood education program as a model for the nation.

SEATTLE, Wash. — Seattle city councilmember Kshama Sawant advocates a bold idea for ending the dispute between taxi companies and rideshare businesses - she says the city should take over the taxi business. Taxi drivers feel they’ll be crushed by competiton, despite the limits on rideshare companies that city council members voted to approve last night. Because rideshare companies use high-tech service to lure customers away from taxis, councilmember Sawant says the city should step in. “The real solution to this problem is for the city to have the app, the smartphone app and the dispatch system and to employ...

Mayor de Blasio brought down the hammer Thursday on three charter schools operated by his nemesis Eva Moskowitz, leaving hundreds of kids without classrooms this fall. “This has to be the saddest day for the Success Academy’s children, family, teachers, school leaders,” Moskowitz said after meeting with stunned charter parents in Harlem. “Right now, our kids are being evicted. Evicted out of their school. It’s wrong and we need an explanation. You’re going to have to ask Mayor de Blasio what the motivations are for a decision that will hurt so many children now and, frankly, forever.”

So, I lurk on Free Republic quite a bit. Usually it's to read some of the outrageous comments some post here and some of it is to see what your opinions are on certain articles that also get posted elsewhere. So, a little bit about myself. I'm in my 20s and of Hispanic origin. I was born in New York but moved to Florida when I was three years old. I'm what you guys would consider a "socialist". I don't consider myself a socialist, I'm a supporter of the free market economy except I favor strong government regulations. While on...

A plan by the Federal Communications Commission to study how news organizations select stories has prompted about 10,000 people to sign a petition saying “no government monitors in newsrooms.” That’s according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which announced the petition Wednesday and said it reached that number within the first two hours. The agency announced a Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs last year, explaining that it wanted to understand the process of which stories are selected, station priorities, content production, populations served, perceived station bias, and perceived percent of news dedicated to each of the “critical...

I saw this headline this morning on my twitter feed. It is on Breitbart. O'Reilly says Obama is a patriot. I saw the Super Bowl interview. BOR asks a viewers question - why do you want to fundamentaly change this country that has provided so much opportunity for you? Obama says he did not say that. Flat out lied. Yet BOR says he is a patriot who wants the best for America. Are we as a nation truly lost now?

Violent clashes have erupted during anti-government protests in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, with at least nine people, including two policemen, dead. In the worst violence in weeks, police used rubber bullets and stun grenades as thousands of protesters marching on parliament. A deadline set by the security forces for the violence to end has passed with no immediate sign of police action. The clashes came as MPs were due to debate changes to the constitution. The proposals would curb the powers of President Viktor Yanukovych, but the opposition say they were blocked from submitting their draft, meaning no debate could take...

Appearing together in Church, Mayor de Blasio dialed down the temperature Sunday in his ongoing clash with Gov. Cuomo over how to fund universal prekindergarten. Speaking at a church service for attendees of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus in Albany, the mayor did not mention at all his plans to fund it with a tax on the wealthy while stressing the need for universal Pre-K. “We know the direction,” de Blasio said. “We all have to work together at it. And I know we will because the public is realizing, the public is realizing that if...

Seattle, Wash. — At an organizing event and rally for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, Councilmember Kshama Sawant emphasized the movement should not accept any watered-down version of the wage increase “I’m throwing down the gauntlet,” Sawant said, declaring herself the first politician to support a true $15-per-hour rate. She and other rally speakers cautioned against politicians and businesses who say they support a minimun wage increase but want loopholes and exemptions.

Lars Larson, substituting for KVI’s John Carlson, listens to a mildly contentious exchange between the two city council members during a Monday council hearing where council President Tim Burgess ordered councilwoman Sawant to stop talking when she went ‘off-topic’. Sawant was venting about her pet issues, employer wage theft. Also, Larson discusses the now interminable delay of the Seattle downtown tunnel dig because of damage to the drilling machine known as Big Bertha.