Free Republic

One of the baleful dimensions of our times is the way that the conversation about what constitutes the good society is framed by the rich and their interests. A conception of the common good withers; instead it is replaced by the existential importance of private wealth, private interests and private ownership to societal health. Nowhere is this more exposed than in the debate over taxation, and in particular the taxation of inherited wealth – as the debate over the past fortnight has dramatised. Half a million people die every year. Under the reforms to inheritance tax relief on agricultural land...

Harris and this article state that the rich don't pay their fair share? Really? First, who determines what a fair share is? Fact is, there is no objective measure of fair share. Perhaps the fairest measure is that everyone pays the same rate as a percentage of income. Friedman suggested 17%, so if you make $100000/yr, you pay $17,000. If you make a million dollars a year, you pay $170,000. But, that's not how it works.The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (38.8 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (29.2 percent).The top 50 percent...

WASHINGTON — Ron Wyden, Oregon's senior U.S. senator, introduced legislation Thursday that would overhaul the U.S. Supreme Court and "restore public trust" in the institution, his office said in a statement. The "Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act" would make a number of significant changes to the highest court and the federal circuit courts beneath it, including an overall expansion of the court itself. "The Supreme Court is in crisis and bold solutions are necessary to restore the public trust," Wyden said.

More documents have surfaced indicating just how much Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) adored Chinese communism, claiming that it offered a society where "everyone shares" and the state provides free clothing and food to its citizens. Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken of “equality of outcomes” or “equal outcomes," and has toted an economic plan that includes price controls which have led people to label her plan "Kamunism." Christopher F. Rufo posted on X: “Wow: The Free Beacon dug up this old news article in which Tim Walz defines 'communism' as a system in...

When then-President Obama awarded California labor leader Dolores Huerta the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — one person was notably absent from the ceremony in the White House’s East Room: Julie Chavez Rodriguez. Huerta has known Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of the legendary Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Huerta, since she was an infant. Chavez Rodriguez was working in the Obama administration at the time, but those who know her said her absence from the ceremony was not the least bit surprising. “I couldn’t find Julie because she was busy...

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) defended Vice President Harris’s newly unveiled economic agenda, saying it will help ensure the economy is working properly. “I do because I’ve been an attorney general, just like the Vice President, I pursued price gouging statutes and their violations when it comes to the price of gas in Kentucky, and we won and ultimately returned millions of dollars to our people. This isn’t about trying to price fix. It’s just making sure that the economy is operating the way it should, that this is really supply and demand, which we all respect,” he said on...

I know some of you don't care for BOR but in this interview with Chris Cuomo, BOR really gets to the heart of the race between Harris and Trump. To summarize, BOR said, in part, regarding for whom to vote: "Harris is a Socialist. If YOU want to be a socialist, if you want the federal government controlling your entire life, telling you what to drive, what to eat, whether you can have a gun, how much money you can have, 80% income tax at the the highest level...or do you want Trump, who is a capitalist down to his...

Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey is renewing his push to expand the U.S. Supreme Court by adding four seats, less than a day after President Biden announced his support for reforming the high court. Speaking in front of the Court building Thursday, the Democratic senator urged Congress to pass the Judiciary Act, a proposal that would create a 13-justice bench...

In 2019, then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), a Democrat presidential candidate, bragged that she had “always” supported the single-payer Medicare for All program. “I have always supported Medicare for All, I was very happy to sign onto Bernie [Sanders’] bill, and I give Bernie, frankly, a lot of credit for moving the conversation to where it is now,” Harris said in 2019 when running for the Democrat nomination for president. However, she said her version of Medicare for All, wherein Americans would still have the option to receive a private insurance plan, was similar to Medicare, where seniors can choose traditional...

President Joe Biden will propose on Tuesday a nationwide cap on rent hikes of 5% per year, according to The Washington Post, which cites “three people familiar with the matter.” The proposal will rescind unspecified tax breaks to landlords who raise rents by more than 5%, although it would only apply to landlords who own more than 50 rental units. This would cover roughly half of all rental units in the country, according to Post sources. It would not apply to units that haven’t been built yet so as to not discourage construction of new housing, which the Biden administration...

1,932,140 views Mar 19, 2024 As A Man Thinketh PODCAST - Making Sense of Agriculture and Society 0:08 Oregon enforces laws to shut down small farms in the name of water conservation, affecting many farmers. 4:26 Legal battle in Oregon impacting small farmers and agricultural practices. 8:50 Oregon implements restrictive water regulations impacting small farms, potentially labeling them as confined animal feeding operations. 12:51 Government crackdown on small farms in Oregon impacting market gardeners and farmers. 16:51 Government regulations impacting small farms and animal farmers despite sustainable practices.

A nationwide call to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases has been answered by more than 100 entities, including the University of California system which will be led by staff at the Center for Economic Justice and Action at UC-Santa Cruz. The recently announced program from the White House has received 141 commitments. The University of California would pave the way for advancing "current and new efforts" to help students with essential needs.

A New York judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud case has denied his legal team’s request to avoid paying a $355 million penalty in the case. Trump lawyers had asked Judge Arthur Engoron to delay enforcement of the payment by 30 days to allow time for an "orderly post-judgement process." James said Monday she was prepared to seize former President Donald Trump's assets if he is unable to pay the massive judgment handed down in his civil fraud case. Trump's promised appeal is likely to halt collection of his penalty while the process plays out.

The California legislature proposed a bill requiring gun owners to pay an annual tax and register each gun they own. The bill, SB 1160, was introduced by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) and would require the Department of Justice to register all firearms in the state annually.

A spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center signed a statement denouncing Israel as an "apartheid state" and "ethno-nationalist project," and blaming the Jewish state for provoking Hamas’s terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 Israelis. Michael Edison Hayden, a senior investigative reporter and spokesperson for the SPLC, and Hannah Gais, a senior researcher and journalist for the SPLC, both signed on to the open letter, which was published by a group called Writers Against the War on Gaza last Thursday. "Establishment media outlets continue to describe Hamas’s attack on Israel as ‘unprovoked,’" said the statement. "Writers Against the War on Gaza...

But just because an economic system generated wealth and innovation doesn’t mean it guarantees a good society," Obama said. "Because from the outset, market-based systems have been compatible with slavery, caste systems, colonialization, war, exploration, corruption, fraud, autocracy, the poisoning of our natural environment." As Obama listed, the audience applauded. The former president went on to credit Democratic governments for "moderating capitalism's excesses" with a "social safety net." According to him, it will take "young leaders to help us think and act anew" about "creating an economic system that supports and sustains our democratic values."

Comments made on 11/1/23.

The office for New York City Mayor Eric Adams says it supports the 'spirit' of a legislation that could trigger black New Yorkers to be paid reparations for slavery. Sideya Sherman, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Equity, said the controversial bill should be tweaked to avoid overlapping with two comparable state bills. The bill, which was created by Councilwoman Farah Louis to launch a task force to study the effects of racial discrimination on the city could potentially lead to payments being issued, The Post reports.

Chicago's mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing a 'mansion tax' on sales of homes of more than $1 million, as his administration continues to push higher tax on households earning over $100,000. The newly elected mayor, who took over from his disastrous predecessor Lori Lightfoot in May of this year, wants to push a hike in taxes in order to fight homelessness in the city. Allies of Mayor Johnson, 47, have also announced plans to push a $12-billion plan for the city titled 'First We Get the Money'. The plan, seemingly named after a quote from the 1983 film Scarface, aims...

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday announced a new public health order that, she said, will ban people from carrying firearms, either open or concealed, in Albuquerque and throughout Bernalillo County for the next 30 days, regardless of whether they have a permit. Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, issued an executive order Thursday evening declaring gun violence a public health emergency. During a news conference Friday, she said she expects legal challenges to the public health order and expressed uncertainty about whether the order would prevail in court. The order states "no person, other than a law enforcement officer or licensed...