Free Republic

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — A new bill under consideration in the Illinois House would allow individual municipalities to impose their own, local motor fuel tax on top of the state’s gas tax. House Bill 1283 would create the Municipal Motor Fuel Tax Law, allowing cities, towns and villages to impose their own gas tax, at a rate not to exceed 3 cents per gallon. The bill was introduced by Rep. Anthony DeLuca (D-80th). Illinois residents currently pay the second-highest gas tax in the country besides California, at 66 cents per gallon.

Former White House chief adviser turned conservative commentator Steve Bannon blasted billionaire Elon Musk Elon Musk Musk’s xAI claims new Grok3 model performs better than rivals Live updates: US discusses Ukraine war with Russia; GOP stalemate mounts as shutdown deadline looms Trump, Musk say media trying to drive them apart More(Elon Musk) over his efforts to reduce the size of the federal government and gain more power in the U.S. “Musk is a parasitic illegal immigrant,” he said during an interview with the website UnHerd. “He wants to impose his freak experiment and play-act as God without any respect for...

With eggs in short supply, some retailers around the country are putting limits on the number of cartons customers can buy at one time. The discount grocery store Lidl told a New York news outlet that certain brands of eggs sold at its stores are limited to two dozen per customer. "Specialty egg brands, including cage-free, free-range and organic, do not have limitations at this time at Lidl US," Lidl told News 12. Some customers in parts of Massachusetts were also subject to a two-carton limit, as Reddit users shared on a message board in late January. The egg shortages...

AFP) — New Zealand announced Monday a sweeping “no jab, no job” policy for most healthcare workers and teachers to prevent the spread of Covid-19. “We can’t leave anything to chance so that’s why we are making it mandatory,” said Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, who is also the education minister.

The Arab League on Sunday announced during a special meeting in Cairo that it plans to press the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza amid an escalation in violence in the area, AFP reported. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said he plans to present the proposal to the UN Security Council, the report said. The announcement came as Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported on Sunday that UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Roberty Serry successfully brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip including Hamas.

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Europe must follow through on its pledge to impose sanctions on Iran's energy sector in order to coax Tehran back to the negotiating table over its nuclear activities, a top US diplomat said Tuesday. Robert Einhorn, the US coordinator for Iran sanctions, said he held meetings in Brussels with European Union officials to discuss the measures being drafted after EU leaders agreed this month to impose new sanctions. "What we hope is that stronger measures on the pressure side, on the sanctions side will give leaders in Iran strong incentives to come to the negotiating table and...

WASHINGTON (AP) - While President Barack Obama is proposing to cut some taxes for companies that hire workers, his budget would raise a host of other taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals. Obama's budget would extend his signature Making Work Pay tax credit—$400 for individuals, $800 for a couple filing jointly—through 2011. The administration released the budget Monday. But it would also impose nearly $1 trillion in higher taxes on couples making more than $250,000 and individuals making more than $200,000 by not renewing Bush-era tax cuts for them. Obama would extend tax cuts enacted under former President George W....

At the behest of Muslim bigots and multiculturalist fanatics the Bracks Government suspended free speech in Victoria by imposing a blasphemy law dressed up as an anti-vilification law. This has given Islamo-fascists a freehand to attack critics of Islam. In a ruthless attempt to intimidate critics Muslim fanatics reported two pastors to Diane Sisely, the Equal Opportunity Commission boss, for criticising the Koran. This enemy of free speech and her fellow Stalinoids on the commission then launched proceedings against the pastors for exercising their fundamental and inalienable right to free speech. So far these pastors have had to pony up...

FRESNO, Calif. - Napa and Sonoma may attract wine connoisseurs and tourists to their bucolic settings to taste well-known wines, but the San Joaquin Valley has long been the industry workhorse, producing most of the nation's wine. Now environmental regulators say the same process that gives the region's affordable reds, whites and blushes their pleasant punch is also producing a share of the smog that makes the valley one of the nation's dirtiest air basins — and they aim to do something about it. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is considering imposing the nation's first air quality...

NARATHIWAT, Thailand (AP) - Thai authorities prepared Monday to impose a state of emergency for insurgency-hit areas of the country's Muslim south, as violence continued unabated with two slayings and a bombing that wounded seven security personnel. A raid on the southern city of Yala by militants last week that left two policemen dead and 22 people injured prompted the Cabinet to adopt a decree Friday giving Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sweeping new emergency powers. The decree expands the government's authority to impose curfews, ban public gatherings, censor news, close publications, limit travel, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and...

I am struggling to understand the "don't impose your values" argument. According to this popular belief, it is wrong, and perhaps dangerous, to vote your moral convictions unless everybody else already shares them. Of course if everybody already shares them, no imposition would be necessary. John Leo Nobody ever explains exactly what constitutes an offense in voting one's values, but the complaints appear to be aimed almost solely at conservative Christians, who are viewed as divisive when they try to "force their religious opinions on us." But as UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh writes, "That's what most lawmaking is --...

Islamists impose Taliban-type morals monitors By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore (Filed: 03/06/2003) The Islamist ruling parties in Pakistan's sensitive North West Frontier Province have ordered compulsory prayers for the population and will create a Taliban-style Department of Vice and Virtue to enforce their ruling. The move is part of a campaign by fundamentalists to turn the whole of Pakistan into a Taliban-style state and is only one of several crises that has paralysed the country and the nine-month-old civilian government. The six-party Alliance of Islamic parties, the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which rules the province, said all offices, shops and schools...