Free Republic

Like many Americans, I find it distressing to see multi-millionaire athletes kneeling during the playing of our national anthem before professional football games. In my lifetime, football has been a big part of our image as Americans. In my working-class Cleveland, Ohio family, Sunday football was always a big event. One of my cousins was married to Lenny Dawson who would become a Hall of Fame quarterback. It was a rare Sunday during football season when we weren’t gathered around our TV or radio for the Cleveland Browns or the Kansas City Chiefs game (both if possible). As we watched...

Andy Puzder, President Donald Trump's former Secretary of Labor pick, stepped down as CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of fast food chains Hardee's and Carl's Jr. Puzder held the position of CKE CEO since September 2000, but will be replaced by former KFC president Jason Marker, according to a press release on Tuesday. Marker is expected to start in his new position as CEO in April. (snip) Puzder had drawn scrutiny after Trump picked him over his opposition to federal minimum wage increases, alleged wage violations at CKE fast food restaurants and decades-old abuse allegations from his ex-wife....

Corruption: Is it a coincidence that the two Trump Cabinet picks Democrats mounted their fiercest campaigns against happen to be the two that labor unions most wanted to go down in flames? Hardly. Senate Democrats were so determined to do the bidding of the teachers unions and block Betsy DeVos as Education secretary that they held an all-night session in which they railed against her, in the hopes that this would convince one more Republican to oppose her nomination. Having failed to achieve that goal, Democrats immediately turned their ire to the other Big Union target, President Trump's pick to...

President Trump’s choice to head the Labor Department, Andrew Puzder, is expected to withdraw his name from consideration, several media reported Wednesday. NBC News and Fox Business News reported that Puzder was likely to withdraw, after CNN reported earlier Wednesday that senior Senate Republicans had asked the White House to remove his nomination because not enough of the party’s senators planned to vote for his confirmation.

The ex-wife of Labor Secretary nominee Andy Puzder is privately telling senators that she made a mistake decades ago in leveling domestic abuse charges against him and appearing in disguise on Oprah Winfrey's TV show to talk about her situation. In a deeply personal and emotional letter to senators and obtained by CNN, Puzder's ex-wife Lisa Fierstein said she regrets the decisions she made decades ago as the two struggled with their marriage. She contended that she received bad advice from an attorney with a political "vendetta" when she pressed charges in the 1980s -- and that she was a...

Just saw this on Fox News. No details yet.

Top Senate Republicans are calling for President Trump to withdraw Andrew Puzder's nomination for Labor secretary, CNN reported Wednesday. There are four Republican senators planning to vote against Puzder, and could be as many as 12, the report said, citing a GOP source. The GOP has a 52-seat majority in the Senate, so Puzder's nomination would fail if three or more Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing him.

President Trump’s Labor Department nominee, Andy Puzder, is facing old accusations of domestic abuse against his ex-wife Lisa Fierstein. As Ed pointed out yesterday, those accusations have been denied by Fierstein since the early 1990s. She claims she was encouraged to make the accusations by her attorney at the time. Today, Fox News reports Fierstein is lashing out at efforts to dredge up the old accusations: Fierstein, though, is now speaking out against efforts by an activist group to get her divorce documents released, calling it an “unfair invasion” of her personal life and saying, “None of the events...

Four Republican senators have withdrawn their support for Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder after he admitted to hiring an undocumented immigrant as his housekeeper, Law Newz reported. Per sources, Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Tim Scott, and Johnny Isakson have all said they will not support Puzder, a chief executive of Hardee's parent company, because of all the hiccups ahead of his confirmation hearing. Puzder said in a statement Feb. 6 he and his wife had employed a housekeeper for three years but didn't know she was in the U.S. illegally. "When I learned of her status, we immediately ended...

U.S. President Donald Trump's choice to lead the Labor Department admitted to employing an undocumented immigrant as a house cleaner, the kind of revelation that derailed Cabinet nominees in previous administrations. Andrew Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc, is one of several Trump nominees who face strong opposition from Senate Democrats and progressive groups. In a statement late on Monday, Puzder said he and his wife had employed a housekeeper for a few years without being aware that she was not legally permitted to work in the United States. "When I learned of her status, we immediately ended...

While President Donald Trump is making his way through his first weeks in office, his cabinet nominees are undergoing another week of grueling confirmation hearings. Proponents hope that they can quickly be confirmed and get started bringing reforms to increase American prosperity and security. At the top of the list of nominees who can help reinvigorate the small business community, which drives the nation's job and economic growth, is labor secretary nominee Andy Puzder. Puzder knows how to create jobs and finally raise wages for working Americans. This is evidenced not only by his copious writing on the subject but...

Donald Trump’s selection of CKE CEO Andy Puzder to lead his Labor Department has incited a tantrum on the left, which is a good sign. The burger maven once told us that he often picked up litter around his restaurants, and departing chief Tom Perez is leaving plenty to clean up. Mr. Puzder, who often writes for these pages, has expertise in labor law and business. Prior to becoming CEO at CKE, he was the company’s general counsel and helped save the business from bankruptcy. CKE restaurants (Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.) employ 75,000 workers in the U.S., and it’s not...

(Washington, D.C.) — Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the reported nomination of Andrew Puzder for Secretary of Labor.“With the nomination of Andrew Puzder, President-elect Trump has sent another clear signal that he has no intention of fulfilling his campaign promise to put workers and retirees first—instead, he’s bent on building an Administration made up of billionaires and the staunchest allies for big business, special interests, and Wall Street that he can find. “The Department of Labor has significant and broad reach—from workers’ and...

President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to name as his Labor Secretary fast food executive Andy Puzder, who stands diametrically opposed to Trump’s signature issues on trade and immigration — which won him the election. Puzder is the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which includes Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. Advocates for American wage-earners say that Puzder as Secretary of Labor is alarming because he will be in charge of enacting policies that directly impact American workers, whom Puzder believes are “unwilling” to do certain jobs. Puzder has suggested that available U.S. jobs should instead be filled by imported foreign labor....

Why Donald Trump, and American Workers, Need Andrew Puzder as Secretary of Labor… In order to tackle the U.S. Illegal Immigration issues, even broadly, a person must first change their paradigm and understand the root issue which creates the crisis. The problem was created by the UniParty, and the problem continues specifically because the UniParty desire it to continue. Before you can reasonably present a solution to the illegal immigration problem, you must first understand the economic problem. Understanding how illegal aliens work in the U.S. is step one toward understanding what proposed solutions would/could work, and which are mere...

Fight for 15 looks down for the count. Andy Puzder understands what almost no liberals have even the slightest clue about: Businesses exist to maximize profit. If an employee enjoys prosperity as a result of providing value to the business and being commensurately rewarded, that’s a good thing that makes everyone happy. But the purpose of the business is not to make employees rich just for the sake of it. It’s to make the shareholders rich. So when dopes take to the streets demanding a minimum wage of $15 with their mindless #FightFor15, Puzder understand exactly what that will mean....

Per Stuart Varney on Fox Business. Will add links when it hits the news.