Free Republic

The National Mediation Board (NMB) on June 14 set in motion a ticking time bomb toward an economy-jolting national railroad shutdown within 90 days, its two Democratic members agreeing with rail labor—and over the remonstrance of carriers and the NMB’s lone Republican—that a voluntary agreement to amend unionized rail worker wages, benefits and work rules is not within reach. Negotiations, dating to January 2020, involve 12 rail craft unions (bargaining in two coalitions collectively representing some 115,000 rail workers), most Class I freight railroads and many smaller ones. Management is represented by the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC). CSX is...

The largest city in the state of Montana faced running out of fresh water within 36 hours after Billings' only local treatment plant was overwhelmed by the devastating flood waters that have closed Yellowstone National Park. Billings had a just a 24-to 36-hour supply of water and officials asked its 110,000 residents to conserve after water levels became too high for it to function. The water is shown clearly destroying a red gantry that allows treatment plant employees to access the main building. Officials insisted that the water is still safe to drink, but is in low supply. Heavy weekend...

Ukraine has made significant advances close to Kherson to the point of controlling the water supply in Crimea. Professor Michael Clarke, who specialises in defence studies, explained Ukraine is within striking distance of the supply. Speaking to Sky News, he said: "The Ukrainians are conducting quite a big offensive to take back Kherson. "They've opened up a 50-mile front to the northeast of Kherson and there are reports over the last 24 hours that the Ukrainians may have got as far as Kiselivka which is quite close to Kherson. "They may be within striking distance of Nova Kakhovk which is...

Elon Musk’s revelation that he voted Republican for the first time on Tuesday angered Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and other prominent liberals on Twitter Wednesday. Celebrating the news that Republican candidate Mayra Flores won the special election for Texas’s 34th Congressional District – a district that’s been under Democrat control for decades – Musk revealed to the Twitterverse that he voted for her. On Wednesday morning, Musk tweeted, "I voted for Mayra Flores – first time I ever voted Republican." The world’s richest man also cheered for GOP victories in the midterm elections, adding, "Massive red wave in 2022." -----...

Major corporations that made a show out of cutting checks to the national Black Lives Matter group in the aftermath of George Floyd's police killing in May 2020 now have nothing to say about the charity's alleged self-dealing. Seventeen corporations that publicly committed at least $100,000 to Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in the days following Floyd's killing either declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries from the Washington Examiner asking if they approved of the charity's use of their donations to purchase a $6 million mansion in Los Angeles secretly and award lucrative contracts to the...

Less than 24 hours after the GOP flipped a congressional district in South Texas, several Latino Democrats cornered their campaign chief on the House floor with a fervent plea: It’s time for the party to make a crucial course correction. Republicans blew up more than a century of almost uninterrupted Democratic control in that region Tuesday night, earning a special election win in a heavily Latino border district they had rarely even contested since its creation in 2012 - but where the GOP has made rapid gains in the last few years. That trend has been on Democrats’ minds since...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the recent actions of New York City Council speaker Adrienne Adams “movie-villain type of decisionmaking” in a social media post on Tuesday. Ocasio-Cortez posted an Instagram story to discuss “what it actually looks like when politics gets dirty,” accusing the speaker of taking funding away from children’s after-school programs. “The mayor and the city council speaker decided that they wanted their budget right now. The budget had absolutely unconscionable cuts to education, housing services and a lot more,” Ocasio-Cortez explained. “How do you actually get that? Well, you create a psychological environment and a political...

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Dozens of protesters shut down an intersection near Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's home Saturday, demanding she take action to stop residents from being displaced by the future Obama Presidential Center. Protesters say they are being priced out of their homes as developers snatch up property near Jackson Park. They say the mayor promised to set aside lots for affordable housing, but so far she has not made good on that bargain.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler took a swipe Wednesday at his Democratic primary opponent, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, accusing his fellow veteran New York lawmaker of being an “anti-vaxxer” and exaggerating her record as a progressive. “Carolyn and I both present ourselves as progressive, but I think as more people find out about our votes, she voted for the Iraq war. She voted against the Iran [nuclear] deal. She voted to repeal Glass Steagall and she was an anti-vaxxer for a long time,” Mr. Nadler told The Washington Times. “I think people will see the difference.” Four other Democratic opponents have entered...

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Physicists have solved a key problem of robotic locomotion by revising the usual rules of interaction between simple component parts. In cycling through a sequence of shapes, an odd wheel propels itself up steep and bumpy terrain. In a physics lab in Amsterdam, there’s a wheel that can spontaneously roll uphill by wiggling. This “odd wheel” looks simple: just six small motors linked together by plastic arms and rubber bands to form a ring about 6 inches in diameter. When the motors are powered on, it starts writhing, executing complicated squashing and stretching motions and occasionally flinging itself into the...

“Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:8-9).

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A dozen children and two adults were served floor sealant instead of milk at a day care summer program at an Alaska elementary school after containers were apparently mixed up, the school district superintendent said Wednesday. Several students complained of burning sensations in their mouth and throats, and at least one child was treated at a hospital after the Tuesday morning incident in Juneau, Superintendent Bridget Weiss said.

Mayra Flores, a Republican who won a special election to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, on Wednesday tweeted that she couldn't wait to work with tech billionaire Elon Musk's team. Musk said he voted for Flores, who flipped the House seat red. "I woke up this morning still feeling surreal from everything that's happened over the last 24 hours," Flores tweeted. "Earning Elon Musk's vote was just the icing on the cake and I can't wait to work with his team! The American Dream is worth fighting for." In an early Wednesday morning Twitter exchange, Musk...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg might have to start biking to work again like a total nerd. That's because the Mexican-made electric SUV he purchased last year for his security detail is being recalled due to a safety defect that "could result in a loss of power [while driving], which could cause a crash," according to Consumer Reports. Ford announced Tuesday that it was instructing car dealers to stop selling the Mustang Mach-E in response to the safety concern affecting nearly 49,000 of the 100,000 vehicles manufactured at the automaker's Cuautitlan plant in Mexico between 2020 and 2022. The company decided...

Kraken, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, will pay employees four months' worth of wages to leave if they disagree with its values, according to The New York Times. In a Wednesday report detailing internal cultural turmoil at the company, the publication cited interviews with Kraken employees who recounted "hurtful" comments around preferred pronouns and demeaning statements toward women, among other incendiary remarks, made by CEO Jesse Powell. The employees also said Powell held a companywide meeting on June 1 in which he unveiled the program, called "Jet Ski," designed to incentivize employees to leave if they don't believe...

The U.S., South Korea and Japan are rehearsing their ballistic missile defense this summer following a record number of demonstrations by North Korea this year of its missile capability. The three nations will hold missile detection and tracking drills sometime during or after this year’s Rim of the Pacific, the world’s largest maritime military exercise, South Korean Defense Ministry deputy spokesman Moon Hong Sik said during a press briefing Tuesday. Moon did not specify the dates for the missile drill, but South Korean news agencies reported Wednesday it would be held in August. The biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise,...

Ann Coulter panned 2000 Mules in a Substack post on Wednesday, stating that Dinesh D’Souza’s film about the 2020 presidential election amounts to a “conspiracy movie.” Coulter, who once bigly supported Donald Trump but turned on him during his presidency, had similarly harsh words for the former president. In a post simply titled “Dinesh’s Stupid Movie,” (subtitled, “And the grift goes on”) Coulter begins by slamming Trump for using his false claims about the 2020 election being stolen from him to bilk his supporters out of $250 million under the guise of “Stop the Steal.” She added, And let’s not...

The deceased suspect accused of killing two California police officers during a shootout was a gang member on probation for a weapons charge after receiving a lenient sentence under a plea deal. Justin William Flores is accused of killing two El Monte police officers Tuesday night. He had a previous strike conviction ad received two years probation for a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The sentence is in accordance with the policies of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, who was recently taken to task by a state appeals court over his refusal to...