Free Republic

Why a conservative economist says Trump could make America ‘the North Korea of economics’ By Jim Tankersley May 6 In his run for the White House, Donald Trump has threatened to slap tariffs on imports from China, in almost-certain violation of international rules. He has threatened to confiscate money that immigrants from Mexico wire home to their families, in order to force the Mexican government to pay for a border wall. This week, he suggested that, in an economic crisis, the government might repay only some of the money it owes to certain holders of its debt. Those threats reflect...

The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) voted 11-9 to divest from companies affiliated with the IDF on Thursday, the Daily Californian reported. ASUC is made up of the elected representatives of the UC Berkeley student body. … SB 160, authored by Student Action Senator George Kadifa, calls the UC system a “complicit third party” in what is called Israel’s “illegal occupation and ensuing human rights abuses” and seeks the divestment of more than $14 million in ASUC and UC assets from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Cement Roadstone Holdings. According to the bill, these companies provide equipment, materials and...

California’s dislike of business, and willingness to tax it into oblivion, is storied. As State Senator Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) is quoted saying in Crazifornia: I am tired of my constituents and other business owners here being treated like pinatas by regulators and politicians who smack them around until some fine or penalty falls out. Or some newly created tax liability – like the new retroactive (to 2008) tax that’s going to smack the Golden State’s golden goose upside the head. Henry Blodget explains in Business Insider: As a way of encouraging entrepreneurs and investors to start companies in California, the...

Gov. Jerry Brown is thrusting himself into the federal fight over creating a "pathway to citizenship" for millions of undocumented immigrants who entered the United States illegally. "I expect to play a role in the national effort for comprehensive reform," Brown said in a statement released by his office Thursday. "I'll be directing some efforts on national reform."

Since when is honoring Veterans Day with the display of the American flag disruptive? That's a question facing school officials at Denair (Calif.) Middle School who reportedly prohibited a 13-year-old student from attaching an American flag on the back of his bicycle. According to a story by Monterey TV station KSBW, officials at the school near Modesto forced Cody Alicea to remove his flag because some other students complained. School superintendent Edward Parraz told KSBW that students who didn’t like the flag might cause a disruption. Under the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School...

The Obama administration Monday unveiled new policy for managing the nation's oceans, seeking to strengthen protection of coastal waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the Monterey Bay. The policy, which secures a longtime vision of local Congressman Sam Farr, calls for creation of a National Ocean Council to coordinate the many layers of state and federal regulation on such matters as offshore drilling, fishing and shipping. The policy creates no new law, but is expected to sharpen attention to existing regulations. The announcement comes three months after the BP oil spill, which continues to blacken the Gulf, though a...

Singer Melissa Etheridge rails against the passage of the gay-marriage ban in California—and she won't be paying the state a dime. Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I...