Free Republic

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term “bloodbath” as a “major economic disaster,” a characterization used by former President Donald Trump to describe what he believes will happen to America’s auto industry without fierce tariffs on China. During a speech in Ohio last weekend, Trump said: Let me tell you something to China, if you’re listening President Xi — and you and I are friends but he understands the way I deal — those big, monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now, and you think you’re going to get that and you’re going to not hire Americans...

In 2022, Seattle's City Council passed an ordinance mandating a minimum earnings floor for app-based food delivery drivers in the city. The law finally went into effect in January 2024, but so far the main result has been customers deleting their delivery apps en masse, food orders plummeting, and driver pay cratering. The ordinance, part of a legislative package called "PayUp," was passed under the banner of protecting gig workers. By setting a compensation floor for app-based delivery drivers based on miles driven and amount of time worked, the ordinance operates as a (supremely complicated) minimum wage. The wage floor...

Ricardo Lopez was long reluctant to raise the prices at his Mission District restaurant La Vaca Birria, where he serves succulent beef braised in a red broth packed into burritos and tacos. But as of late, he simply has no other choice to remain afloat. “I wish there was something else that I could do,” he said. Just like seemingly every other restaurant in the Bay Area, prices have been increasing at La Vaca Birria, and customers aren’t always accepting of the change. So in a recent Instagram post, Lopez addressed a customer complaint about high prices and broke down...

......But this was not a State of the Union address, it was a fascistic campaign rally of the kind that he had been giving for years, most disturbingly while flanked by Marines at Independence Hall before the 2022 midterms, declaring war on Trump, Republicans and all political opponents. After accusing Republicans of being in thrall to Russia and then of being “insurrectionists”, he falsely claimed that they were preventing women from getting IVF procedures. (In reality, no one’s IVF procedures were threatened and Alabama rushed through a bill protecting IVF in record time .) That was then followed by attacking...

Trump released the following statement on Truth Social, responding to Joe Biden’s State of the Union: "“The Pandemic no longer controls our lives. The Vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat Cancer – Turning setback into comeback!” YOU’RE WELCOME, JOE, NINE MONTH APPROVAL TIME VS. 12 YEARS THAT IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YOU!" In the TruthSocial post above, Trump mentioned his nine-month approval time for Covid vaccines. I am frankly shocked by the stupidity of both statements. The vaccines did not “save us from the pandemic” - they made the pandemic worse. And being...

The controlled burn that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in February last year did not need to occur, as there was an alternative option, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy testified to the Senate."There was no justification to do a vent and burn," Homendy told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Wednesday. After the Norfolk Southern train derailed, the public was initially informed that a controlled burn was necessary because the alternative would be an uncontrolled explosion because the train cars filled with toxic chemicals were getting hotter.The decision...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CBS’s “Late Show,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that he worries that people don’t understand how bad a Trump presidency will be, and one example is that Trump “will work with the fossil fuel industry to increase oil production,” and that will say “that the fight against climate change has basically been lost.” Sanders said, “[W]hat I am concerned about is I think that many people don’t understand what a Trump presidency will look like, and it will be a disaster, not only for our country, but I think for the world. And if you…look at...

A Norfolk Southern train derailed along the Lehigh River in Lower Saucon Township on Saturday morning, sending part of two engines into the water. The derailment happened in the area of Riverside Drive, across the river from Nagy’s Landing in Bethlehem Township, around 7:15 a.m. Two other trains were involved in the incident that led to the derailment, though only one derailed, officials said at an 11 a.m. news conference. Photos from the scene showed the front edge of at least two engines sticking into the water, with multiple other cars off the track. Norfolk Southern is investigating, and the...

Eerie banging sounds that briefly gave rescue teams hope of saving the Titan submersible’s crew and passengers have been released. The Titan was destroyed a few hours into a dive to the Titanic shipwreck on 18 June, claiming the lives of OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

DARLINGTON, Penn.—Kim Nalesnik was shocked to receive a 1099-MISC tax form from Norfolk Southern railroad. She never worked there, but her household received $2,500 from the company in 2023. A Norfolk Southern train derailed in neighboring East Palestine, Ohio, in February last year, spilling 1.1 million pounds of toxic vinyl chloride. Adding to the disaster, officials started a controlled release and burn from overturned rail cars days later, creating a fireball and large plume of black smoke filled with chemicals that could be seen for miles. Locals say the smoke dropped poisons into their land and water and that they...

Biden, in a Friday speech, condemned what he described as corporate greed in light of 2023’s crash, and also pushed for railroads to implement more safeguards. “While there are acts of God, this was an act of greed that was 100 percent preventable,” Biden said. “We were pushing railroads to take more precautions, to deal with braking, to do a whole range of things that were not dealt with. Norfolk Southern failed its responsibility,” he added.

‘Will only increase the probability of failure’ If all of the existing headaches for those pushing expensive electric vehicles on resisting American consumers could vanish, there’s still a big one that may have no ready solution. Already, it appears the U.S. could end up dependent on unfriendly nations for materials for all those batteries. Then there’s the fact that the nation’s grid simply can’t support all that recharging – California already has been sending out advisories for owners not to charge. And then there’s the limited range, extended recharging times, both worsened by bad weather. But now a report in...

President Joe Biden will visit East Palestine, Ohio this Friday, finally making good on his promise to tour the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment that unleashed a brew of toxic chemicals into the environment more than a year ago. News of the Democrat’s visit came after he endured fierce criticism from Republicans for failing to visit the beleaguered community since the Feb. 3, 2023 environmental disaster. “The President will travel to East Palestine, Ohio to discuss how the Administration is continuing to work with state and local officials to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and support the community as...

From a political point of view, Thursday’s Special Counsel report is a perfect storm of bad news for His Fraudulency Joe Biden and an equally perfect storm of good news for former President Donald Trump. Trump could not have asked for a better outcome than the one delivered by Special Counsel Robert Hur. We’ll take these one by one: Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen. These materials included (1) marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and (2) notebooks containing...

President Joe Biden took to the microphone for an unannounced address on Thursday night, following the release of the politically devastating Special Counsel report that said he "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen." While the report stated that such actions "present serious risks to national security,” Biden will not face charges because he presents himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory” and it would be difficult to convince a jury he is guilty of a serious felony because to commit such a crime “requires a mental state of...

"Dioxin is the most toxic substance known to man"The EPA lied, people might have died, but it was for a good cause. The political cause of the Left.The non-profit group, Government Accountability Project (GAP), claims the EPA tested nearby soil and water much earlier than previously disclosed to the public.The group says the EPA found an elevated level of dioxins during those tests — but continued to tell residents they were safe from the chemicals spilled and burned after the train derailed…The GAP found documents that show the EPA, Norfolk Southern and its paid consultant Arcadis conducted dioxin and related...

The White House declined to say whether President Joe Biden would drink the water in East Palestine, Ohio, during his visit to the community one year after a train derailment resulted in an environmental disaster that had repercussions for residents’ water sources and air quality

Reactions from prominent Ohio political figures are pouring in after President Biden announced this week he will visit East Palestine, Ohio a year after the major train derailment that devastated the community and sparked calls for him to visit the town. "Biden visiting East Palestine at this point is pure politics," Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance posted on X. "What is he actually going to do for the people on the ground? That’s what matters, not political stunts." "Joe Biden refused to stand with the patriots of East Palestine when it really mattered. He could have united our country by...

President Joe Biden is only showing up to East Palestine, Ohio — one year after the devastating train derailment rocked the community — “because it is an election year,” DJ Yokley, a local business owner, pointed out. “I think it boils down to the American people have awakened to realize that the leader of our country did not show up to the greatest catastrophe of 2023,” he said during an appearance on Fox News. “And now he’s going to show up because it is an election year…President Trump came and supported us when he didn’t have to, and I think...

Congratulations, America — you’ve survived your third year of being bossed around by Joe “Big Guy” Dementia Biden. You might be poorer, more depressed, and more likely to end up drafted for a foreign war than you were when he hobbled into the White House three years ago last Saturday, but you’ve finally made it to the year you get to vote him out, if you’re smart enough. In January 2022, we brought you “A Scandal For Every Month: The Biggest Botches, Failures, And Mess-Ups Of Joe Biden’s First 12 Months In Office.” Last January, there was another year of...