Free Republic

The New York City Police Department continues to see a massive wave of retirements and departures, shrinking the force to its smallest in decades, according to the New York Post. There have already been 2,516 departures from the NYPD this year and recruitment is so slow, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams' budget cuts are so deep, the next five police academy classes have been canceled, according to the report. The 2023 exodus is the fourth highest total thus far in the past decade and represents a 43% increase over the 2018 total, which is before massive crime influx...

19 months in a row! The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators has now fallen for 19 months in a row. When something happens for 19 consecutive months, that is definitely a trend. The economy is clearly in big trouble, and conditions are getting worse with each passing day. But the mainstream media continues to insist that the economy is doing just great. They tell us that inflation is low, but if it was still measured the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be well into double digit territory. And they tell...

Tucker Carlson, the far-right former Fox news host known for his incendiary takes, might have actually made himself the darling of liberal Gen Zers. During a recent appearance on comedian Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast, Carlson, 54, took an unexpected angle: Supporting young workers who are exasperated by thankless work. “I just so hate that culture that treats people like they're not people,” Carlson said. “And for what?" -snip- Carlson went on to reference a video posted by a recent college graduate that went viral on TikTok. The poster, struggling with time management and work-life balance, told viewers she...

Illegal Chinese marijuana grows have taken over much of rural Maine. The government is either incapable — or unwilling — to do anything about it. The Maine Wire has identified more than 100 properties that are part of a sprawling network of Chinese-owned sites operating as unlicensed, illicit cannabis growing operations in rural Maine. According to an unclassified memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained by the Maine Wire, the illicit grows are operated by Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). The properties cover Somerset County, Penobscot County, Kennebec County, Franklin County, Androscoggin County, and Oxford County. The...

Recruitment and retention challenges have led the U.S. Coast Guard into a system-wide service retreat. A 3500-person shortfall—a nearly 10% shortage in the enlisted ranks—is forcing the Coast Guard to take ten cutters out of service, transfer five tugs to seasonal activation, and shutter 29 boat stations. The moves, couched as a bland “AY 24 Force Alignment Initiative”, present an unprecedented loss of maritime capability at a time when the United States is facing an array of complex challenges at sea. But the Coast Guard simply “cannot maintain the same level of operations” going forward. Behind the scenes, the service...

Well, here I am minding my own business, working on a boring venture capital post, when here comes the Bureau of Labor Statistics announcement of October jobs data. The BLS has been working toward a Nobel prize for fiction writing all year, but you can only carry that so far. Maybe they figured that everyone is distracted by Ukraine and Israel or just the latest TikTok videos, but their house of cards can only be towered upward so far, and today’s announcement begins the downfall to reality. “Expectations” were for 180,000 new jobs, according to the survey of businesses. Reality...

*The US economy is lurching toward a recession, according to Jeff Gundlach. *The DoubleLine Capital chief pointed to a "de-inverted" bond-yield curve and the rising unemployment rate as signs of a looming slump. *Layoffs are coming," he warned. The US economy is clearly headed toward a recession, veteran bond investor Jeff Gundlach has warned. The DoubleLine Capital CEO said Wednesday that the yield curve – a bond-market gauge that measures the gap between 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields – is signaling that a downturn is coming. "The shape of the yield curve is extremely unstable at this time," Gundlach told...

Privacy Notice An Alaska Airlines passenger inside the cockpit attempted to seize control of a plane headed from a Seattle airport to San Francisco on Sunday, the airline said. A pilot told air traffic controllers a person riding in the cockpit of flight 2059 attempted to turn off the aircraft's engines in flight. An airline's pilots, or pilots at other airlines, will occasionally ride a cockpit "jump seat" when traveling in an official capacity or commuting to another airport. The passenger, who has not been named, was an off-duty pilot and has been arrested by Port of Portland Police Department,...

President Joe Biden will speak about the surprising September jobs report on Friday, October 6. As Breitbart News reported, America added 336,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate stayed the same at 3.8 percent: The much-better-than-expected surge in employment puts pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike again at its two meeting that starts on the final day of October. The Fed decided at its last meeting in September to hold rates steady to see how earlier rate increases are affecting the economy. Prior to today, the market was pricing in around a 20 percent chance of a hike...

The US is experencing a slow down. The massive Federal government and Federal Reserve Covid stimulus has worn out and we are left with a sagging jobs report and soaring credit card delinquencies. After ADP’s reports printed almost perfectly in line with BLS last month (+177k vs +187k), all eyes are on today’s print, which was expected to decline to +150k. Instead it plunged to just +89k – that is the lowest jobs addition since Jan 2021. Credit Card Delinquency rates at small banks have reached 7.51%, the highest level ever recorded.

It must just be the loveliest thing in the world, to be a Democrat. To be conscience-free and able to live in a reality you can manipulate and fashion to suit the moment and your needs at the snap of a finger.Here's the video with the Cardona clip in the middle fixed. If we let them get away with rewriting history, they won't hesitate to do the same thing again. pic.twitter.com/6Ul7hRwkH8— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) September 29, 2023Well…huh.I don’t remember it quite like that. In fact, no where, no way was it like that.POTATUS was up there – whispering, snarling, ranting...

White people were seemingly passed over for jobs following the civil unrest of 2020 as major corporations gave more than nine out of 10 available positions to non-white applicants, according to a new report. After the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day 2020, many of the nation’s cities were consumed by rioting and protests. Soon, major corporations and sports leagues got behind the Black Lives Matter movement. But according to Bloomberg, corporate America responded to the unrest with more than donations and statements in support of the neo-Marxist group.

In the face of recent intense pressures on fast-food workers, employees in the sector in California are about to get a boost with the creation of a body that will set wages and other standards for the industry. The move is a hard-fought win for the labor movement in the state and is expected to be signed into law – called the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act – by Gavin Newsom, the California governor, later on Thursday. It comes after a tumultuous period. Fast-food workers in California have held over 450 strikes since 2020, according to the labor...

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced Monday that she is assigning another 150 New York National Guard members to fast-track work permits for tens of thousands of illegals with an eye toward transitioning them out of state-run migrant shelters and into the state’s population. During her September 25 presser, Hochul noted that with the additional forces deployed, she would have put 2,200 soldiers to work for illegals, helping them gain legal status and protecting them in shelters. At least 250 of those soldiers are assigned solely to “case management” paperwork, the Times Union reported.

Threat of Expanded Strike: United Auto Workers (UAW) have issued a threat to expand their ongoing strike, which initially involved workers at Ford, Stellantis, and GM. Currently, around 13,000 out of 144,000 UAW workers are already on strike, but the situation is becoming increasingly volatile. Historic Strike: Notably, this marks the first time in history that all three major U.S. automakers are simultaneously facing strikes. Such widespread labor unrest is a cause for significant concern. Staggering Daily Costs: The financial impact of a potential expanded strike is staggering. A strike involving the entire UAW workforce could cost U.S. automakers nearly...

Excerpt from agenda of an upcoming webinar: An employee now living and working from home in Indiana would be subject to Indiana wage-hour laws even if the employee used to work in Illinois and the employer is still located in Illinois. Overtime rules, minimum wage rates, and permitted deductions from paychecks, even pay stub requirements are governed by where the employee is physically performing the work. The same applies to garnishments for child support and creditors.

Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead,” anchor Jake Tapper asked Ford CEO Jim Farley why, after CEOs got large raises, they can’t “share the profits” with the workers to avoid a strike. Tapper said, “I just interviewed Shawn, the head of the UAW, the other day, and I wanted to pass on a question based on something he’d told me the other day, which is over the last four years, each of the big three car manufacturer CEOs in addition to their multi-million dollar salaries, they received on average a 40% pay increase. So why are the auto workers wanting a...

Veteran Starbucks boss Howard Schultz is stepping down from the company's board after 40 years with the company, with sources saying he realized he has become a 'distraction' for the coffee giant. Schultz, 70, bought the company from co-founders Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker in the early 1980s, a decade after it was launched in Seattle. Schultz pushed the company to become the world's largest coffeehouse chain, serving three stints as chairman and CEO. He retired in 2000, then returned in 2008; stepped down in 2017, and came back as interim CEO from 2022 to March 2023. But...

As Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith struggled this summer to fill vacancies in his small department, he warned the town's City Council that unless pay and benefits improved, finding new officers would never happen. When nothing changed, Smith quit. So did his few remaining officers, leading the Minnesota town of 1,300 residents to shutter its police force in late August. America is in the midst of a police officer shortage that many in law enforcement blame on the two-fold morale hit of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic and criticism of police that boiled over with the murder of George Floyd...

Walmart is paying some new store workers less than it would have three months ago, a sign that employers are seeking to cut labor costs as the once-hot market for hourly staff cools. The country’s largest private employer changed its wage structure for hourly workers in mid-July. [Snip] The wage-structure change comes after Walmart and other large employers have for years steadily raised wages and added benefits to attract workers in a tight labor market. The retailer’s latest move suggests that the stresses companies are facing in trying to find employees are easing and that they need to find ways...