Free Republic

Companies can no longer offer severance agreements that prevent employees from making disparaging remarks about their former employer, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday. The big picture: The federal agency said these agreements require employees to waive their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, and that such policies are a violation of the act. According to the NLRB, "the employer’s offer is itself an attempt to deter employees from exercising their statutory rights, at a time when employees may feel they must give up their rights in order to get the benefits provided in the agreement." Employees also...

National Public Radio is cutting around 10 percent of its workforce amid falling ad revenue and economic uncertainty, its CEO John Lansing announced Wednesday. The nonprofit media organization’s financial outlook “has darkened considerably” in recent weeks, Lansing wrote in a memo to staff, shared with The Hill, as it faces a “sharp decline” in revenues from corporate sponsors in a weakened ad industry. “We had created a plan to address a $20M sponsorship revenue falloff for FY23 but we are now projecting at least a $30M shortfall. The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough,”...

Three days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a huge 10-mile (15.5km) line of armoured vehicles was spotted by a satellite in the north of the country. The very same morning in Bucha, just outside Kyiv, 67-year-old Volodymyr Scherbynyn was standing outside his local supermarket when more than a hundred Russian military vehicles rolled into town. Both Volodymyr and the satellite were witnesses to a key part of President Vladimir Putin's plan for a quick and overwhelming victory. They were also witnesses to its failure. The western media called it a convoy. In reality, it was a traffic jam and a...

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/02/21/how-wall-street-bought-single-family-homes-and-put-them-up-for-rent.html KEY POINTS • Corporations backed by private equity groups such as Blackstone and Pretium Partners bought tens of thousands of homes across the U.S. Sun Belt. • Prices for detached homes have increased faster in key Sun Belt states than the national average. • Institutional investors do not yet control a large market share in housing, but analysts writing at MetLife Investment Management suggest they could by 2030. Institutional investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes by 2030, according to MetLife Investment Management. And a group of Washington, D.C., lawmakers say Wall Street needs to back...

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell said Wednesday on her show “Andrea Mitchell Reports” she was “imprecise” to claim Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) does not want slavery taught in Florida schools. Friday, while interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris, Mitchell asked, “Let me ask you, what does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren?” Harris responded, “I don’t know what he knows and what he doesn’t know, but I know this, any push to censor America’s teachers and tell them what...

Just started speaking.......

Malcolm X’s family announced on Tuesday — the 58th anniversary of his assassination on February 21, 1965 — their plan to sue the CIA, FBI, New York Police Department (NYPD), and other institutions “for their handling” of his murder. Benjamin Crump — an attorney known for his involvement with deaths focused on by news media, such as those of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and George Floyd — joined two of Malcolm X’s daughters for a livestreamed announcement of the family’s planned lawsuit.

NEW VIDEO of Ray Epps Hurling GIANT Trump Sign at Police on Jan. 6 But Was Never Arrested Like Several Trump Supporters Who Touched that Same Sign (VIDEO)Charles Bradford (Brad) Smith was a 24-year-old young patriotic American when the FBI raided his family’s home in September 2021. Brad has been held in the FCI Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison for touching a sign and for several made-up charges by the DOJ-FBI. On January 6, 2021, Brad Smith stood outside the US Capitol. At one point a giant Trump sign passed...

“The Ten Commandments: Curb, Mirror, and Guide” Today we begin a series called “A Catechetical Lent.” In our six Wednesday services we will be looking at the six chief parts of the Small Catechism: the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Confession, and the Sacrament of the Altar. These are the basics of Christian faith and life. Whether you’re learning the catechism to become a communicant member--and we have catechumens right now at both congregations, St. Matthew and Grace--or whether you are a lifelong Lutheran, it’s always good to come back to the basics....

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Moscow, just days after the U.S. warned that Beijing may increase support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. “We are expecting the President of the People’s Republic of China in Russia,” Putin said during a visit from China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on Wednesday. On Saturday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China of “strongly considering” providing Russia with “lethal assistance” for its war in Ukraine, which is set to reach the one-year mark on Friday. Blinken reportedly warned Wang against such a move when the two...

Trump in Ohio!

More than 60 percent of young men are single, nearly twice the rate of unattached young women, signaling a larger breakdown in the social, romantic and sexual life of the American male. Men in their 20s are more likely than women in their 20s to be romantically uninvolved, sexually dormant, friendless and lonely. They stand at the vanguard of an epidemic of declining marriage, sexuality and relationships that afflicts all of young America.

(Last Updated On: February 17, 2023) NATIONAL COOK A SWEET POTATO DAY Across the United States, National Cook A Sweet Potato Day on February 22nd celebrates a root vegetable packed with flavor and a bit of history, too. The sweet potato is eaten and loved, each day, by millions of people across the nation. #CookASweetPotatoDay Either Central America or South America is thought to be the center of origin and domestication of sweet potatoes. In Central America, sweet potatoes were domesticated at least 5,000 years ago. Peruvian sweet potato remnants dating as far back as 8,000 BC have been found...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Officials with Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge said there were no injuries nor any indication of a release of radioactivity after a fire involving uranium occurred early Wednesday. According to a release from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the fire occurred at 9:14 a.m. Steven Wyatt with NNSA said that there was a hood fire in Building 9212, a uranium procession facility. The building and some nearby areas were evacuated. Tony Boser, a technical adviser, said that the fire was in a processing area and it was contained to that...

Environmental advocates are celebrating in Laguna Beach — but it won’t be with balloons. The hilly seaside city known for stunning ocean views and rolling bluffs is banning the sale and public use of balloons to curtail the risk of devastating wildfires and eliminate a major source of trash floating near the community’s scenic shores. The Laguna Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to ban in public the popular mainstay of birthday and graduation parties, whether inflated with helium or not. Beginning in 2024, the balloons cannot be used on public property or at city events. The move in the...

Rhode Island Democratic Rep. David Cicilline is leaving Congress in June, according to a statement from his office. (snip) He also served as an impeachment manager during the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, in the wake of Jan. 6.

Mark Middleton, Bill Clinton’s special advisor from Little Rock, Arkansas who connected the former president to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein died at the age of 59 last May. At first, no details of Middleton’s death were disclosed, however, the case was blown wide open after a FOIA request by Radar Online revealed the former advisor was found hanging from a tree with a shotgun blast to his chest. Mr. Middleton was found hanging from a tree with a shotgun blast to his chest and an extension cord wrapped around his neck 30 miles from his Arkansas ranch. The investigation into...

Jury Foreman Trying To Indict Trump Tweaks Like a Meth Head on CNN

A North Carolina woman has accused a Chick-Fil-A employee of putting a racial slur on her receipt when she stopped by at her favorite place to eat. Nyiashia Jackson, 19, pulled up last week at the drive-thru in Charlotte, where she was shocked to see what was written on her receipt. To her dismay, her name appeared to have been turned into a racial slur with a minor typo – the N-word spelled with one G, WCCB Charlotte reported. “I was just in shock. I literally parked right there, I couldn’t eat the food,” Jackson told the news outlet. She...

NEW YORK, Ny. - Former U.S. Senator Patrick Toomey (R) has been appointed to the board of directors of Apollo Global Management Inc., a firm that controls about $548 BILLION in assets. Toomey, R-Pennsylvania and a Lehigh County resident, served two terms in the Senate from 2011 to 2023. He served three terms in the U.S. House earlier. While in the Senate, he served on the Banking, Budget, Finance and other committees. He also served on a committee on deficit reduction, although the national deficit increased by trillions of dollars. "After 18 years in the public sector, I am excited...