Free Republic

Democrats are fuming mad over Republican proposals to scale back IRS funding and defund the agency’s new free online tax filing system. House Ways and Means Democrats called Republicans’ latest Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) funding bill “disastrous” in a Thursday statement, blasting the GOP for risking another fight over spending that led to the downgrading of U.S. creditworthiness by a major ratings agency last year. “It seems like Republicans’ 2023-2024 appropriations disaster wasn’t enough for their conference. … Just three months after Democrats once again governed from the minority and staved off the worst of Republicans’ chaos and...

One more police officer was shot to death this week, raising the number to 16 this year, and still President Obama hasn´t mentioned the slayings or reached out to the victims, according to law enforcement. Virginia State Trooper Chad Phillip Dermyer, 37, was killed Thursday at a Richmond bus station. Richmond is less than two hours from the White House. (Snip) There has been an outpouring of support and prayers for Dermyer, but no action by the White House, said law enforcement officials. The Secret Service and ATF tweeted notes of support and prayer. The lack of support is sure...

Outraged every time you fill your tank? Try filling 100 of them. High fuel prices - gasoline and diesel hit records Friday in California - are steadily eroding trucking executive Joe Antonini's bottom line. "It's definitely cutting our profit margin," said Antonini, whose Stockton-based Antonini Enterprises runs a 100-truck fleet that hauls fruit and other goods around California and Nevada. "It's one of the biggest expenses a trucking company has." True, the pain is manageable. Antonini can pass on some of the costs to customers. But not all. "We have to live with it," he said. "We have no choice."...

WASHINGTON - A corporate tax bill nearing passage leaves out Hollywood's top priority — and Democrats are fuming that the GOP is punishing movie studios for hiring a Democrat as their top lobbyist. The bill would repeal a tax break for American companies that has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) and replace it with more than $140 billion in tax breaks for numerous businesses. Under a Senate version of the bill, movie studios were in line for $1 billion or more in replacement tax credits. But congressional Republicans voted the credits out of...