Free Republic

On Friday the 13th (yes, really) of April 2029, Earth will avoid an apocalyptic event by an astronomical hair’s breadth as the asteroid Apophis, streaks by. It will come closer to Earth than the Moon — much closer in fact. It will come between us and the satellites that bring us radio, television and military intelligence. Apophis is named after an Egyptian god of chaos and evil. If it were to hit Earth, chaos would be the least of our trouble. It’s 1,000 feet across, the size of a football stadium, and it’s going 69,000 miles an hour. Apophis won’t...

(The Center Square) - Los Angeles City council voted to pass a $30 minimum wage for hotel and airport workers, along with an additional healthcare benefit starting at $8.35 per hour for employees of businesses that do not provide health insurance. Businesses say the large spike in wages will lead to closures, scaling back employees, and hotels backing out of agreements put in place for the 2028 Olympics — and could threaten the city budget.... Hotels say the new wage increase is unaffordable, especially with income for many hotels flat as other costs rise, and could leave some with no...

The late Prince Philip's equerry arranged for him to meet an alien, it has been claimed. A new documentary focused on the royal family's interest in the paranormal and UFOs tells the story of how the Duke of Edinburgh - who died in 2021 aged 99 - was due to discuss "saving the planet" with an alleged other-worldly being, but it is now believed he would have actually sat down with a Russian spy if the meeting had gone ahead. Information about The King Of UFOs states: "The film looks at the interest that the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince...

Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that government employees could not be forced to pay a union to keep their job. The top four public labor unions in the U.S. lost more than 200,000 members since the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that government employees could not be forced to pay a union to keep their job, a new report shows that. The Commonwealth Foundation released the report, which found that the top four public labor unions – AFT, AFSCME, NEA, and SEIU – lost nearly 219,000 members altogether since the Janus v. AFSCME ruling. “The Janus decision to end forced...

In a surprise to nearly no one, children’s reading and math scores have plummeted. National Assessment of Educational Progress, nicknamed “the nation’s report card,” results show the first-ever drop in math and the largest drop in reading in more than 30 years. Black children had an even bigger collapse in scores. Decades of educational progress undone. Poof. Horrific. Stupid. Unnecessary. We know the school closures did this. It wasn’t the COVID virus. It was the hyper-political reaction, from the left, on reopening schools during the pandemic. The orders came from the top. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued...

Suit seeks to overturn union-withdrawal windows.. A railway worker is petitioning the Supreme Court to stop unions from forcing members and nonmembers to fund union political lobbying against their will. The worker asks the Court to draw on its 2018 Janus decision, which barred public sector employers from mandatory union dues on First Amendment grounds. The petition, filed Tuesday, argues the 5-4 ruling did not go far enough in cracking down on union attempts to subvert right-to-work laws through mandatory dues deductions. "This case is an ideal vehicle to resolve the exceptionally important question whether the First Amendment or the...

A Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) worker is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the union dues he was forced to pay must be returned, thanks to the 2018 Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) decision. Benito Casanova was forced to pay dues to the local chapter of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) that represents CTA workers. He is represented by attorneys for the National Right to Work Legal Foundation (NRTWLF). The Court held in Janus that public sector employees who do not wish to join a union cannot...

The first weekend in July, the National Education Association (NEA) held its annual Representative Assembly in Houston, an assembly consisting of “nearly 7,000 delegates.” The National Education Association is a “progressive” political activist organization that masquerades—er, I mean, identifies as an educational organization. . . . . . . . Read these “New Business Items” just passed by the NEA, and see if you believe the NEA honors its Code of Ethics: •“The NEA vigorously opposes all attacks on the right to choose and stands on the fundamental right to abortion under Roe v. Wade.” •“The NEA will immediately call...

1. YOU HAVE THE POWER! Every once in a while I like to remind everyone of the power they hold to destroy the national news media and Hollywood. Simply put, there is a one-legged stool propping up both of these malevolent institutions, and it is called bundled cable and satellite television. And nothing is more damaging to either than you making the choice to cancel your television bundle. You see, ratings don't really matter much anymore. The television game has been so expertly rigged that eyeballs have almost nothing to do with revenue. CNN is an excellent example. Did you...

When asked about his ultimate goal, a union president reportedly offered a simple answer: “More.” Public-sector unions always are pushing for higher pay and benefits and more protections for members. Getting more is a journey. There is no end game. Therefore, it has been enlightening seeing how these unions react when faced with the prospect of having “less.” Not surprisingly, they — and their allies — are accepting the new reality with the same graciousness that a pit bull shows when you try to yank a steak bone out of its mouth. The possibility of “less” comes from the U.S....

The government releases statistics each year showing how many workers are members of unions, and the trend is undeniable: Big Labor continues to lose importance in the American workforce. This year’s results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) follow the long-term trend. In the private sector, union density—the labor-nerd term for the proportion of the workforce who are union members—tied an all-time low of 6.4 percent. Meanwhile, the overall union density fell to an all-time low of 10.5 percent, with public-sector union density falling by 0.5 percent—a possible harbinger of consequences from the Janus v. AFSCME decision which ended...

President Trump should rescind EO 10988, decertify the federal employee unions, and drain more swamp. ... While any federal workplace reform is appreciated, President Trump missed an opportunity (“Fresh Air in the Swamp,” Review & Outlook, June 1.) He could have, and should have, simply rescinded President Kennedy’s Executive Order 10988 that recognizes the right of federal workers to bargain collectively. A strong case for its revocation can be made to the American public. Why should 2.2 million federal workers enjoy both robust civil-service job protection and union representation? No wonder why, according to the CBO, federal salaries are 16%...

Labor unions are collecting dues from public employees without their “affirmative consent” in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling that state laws requiring nonunion government workers to make such payments are unconstitutional, a new lawsuit alleges. The Freedom Foundation, a free market think tank based in Washington state, joined with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to sue on behalf of 10 government employees in Oregon who argue that union dues or fees should not be deducted from their paychecks after they officially resigned from their union. “This is one of the biggest scandals I’ve ever witnessed from...

Govt. healthcare employees in Penn. & Conn. allege coercive payments. A pair of healthcare workers in the Northeast have filed lawsuits alleging that labor leaders have blocked them from resigning even after the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory public sector membership is unconstitutional. William Neely, a Pennsylvania-based psychiatric aide, has accused American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 13 of refusing to honor his resignation. Neely was a dues paying member of the organization for 15 years before requesting to cut ties in July, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that government agencies could no longer require paying...

In California, new lawsuits aim to make unions respect the Supreme Court's authority. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision from June in Janus v. the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was clear: Public employees no longer are required to pay union dues, even for collective-bargaining purposes. This was no technical or ambiguous point. The court declared it an infringement of the First Amendment when the government forces workers to financially support organizations that they don't want to support. Case settled, right? Not entirely. Public-sector unions, especially in California, aren't used to finding themselves on the losing end of...

Several Washington state employees are suing for the right to break ties with their union, claiming the Supreme Court's landmark Janus decision should allow them to cancel their membership immediately. That June ruling said state government workers could not be forced to pay so-called “fair share” fees to support collective bargaining and other union activities. The decision delivered a blow to public-employee unions. But the lawsuit filed Thursday, if successful, could point to further repercussions. The six plaintiffs have all attempted to leave the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) since the Supreme Court decision, but say they've been told...

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court took a significant step toward restoring individual liberty for all government employees, including faculty in public universities and colleges, with its decision in Janus v. AFSCME. Faculty members will no longer be forced to pay any labor union any fee for any purpose as a condition of continued government employment. Janus overturned the Court’s 1977 decision in Abood v. Board of Education against which I and thousands of fellow liberty-loving public higher education faculty have long struggled. Abood prohibited unions from charging faculty for their explicit political advocacy but permitted them to charge faculty...

The National Right to Work Foundation (NRTWF) is demanding the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) refund up to $100 million in union fees to California state workers. The move follows the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision banning unions from automatically deducting fees from non-members’ paychecks. The NRTWF announced that the Janus decision strengthens its class-action suit, titled Hamidi et al. v. Service Employees Union International, Local 1000, filed on behalf of 40,000 California state employees. The lawsuit seeks refunds for non-union workers whose pay was seized by SEIU officials who have claimed since 2012 that only public workers who...

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Janus v. AFSCME case has heartened conservatives throughout the nation, especially in non-right-to-work states such as California that require public employees to pay dues to their respective unions. Janus will, over time, reduce the power of these unions as they are forced to spend more time wooing members — and they will have less disposable cash to control state legislatures and city councils.