Free Republic

Wall Street traders have developed a biting new acronym for a strategy that’s become surprisingly lucrative for President Donald Trump’s whiplash-inducing trade policy: TACO – “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Reportedly first coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong, the term has quickly gained traction among investors who are profiting from what they say is a predictable pattern: Trump threatens steep tariffs, the markets plunge, and days later he backs off in a way that prompts a rebound. The latest example came over the weekend. On Friday, Trump sent markets reeling by announcing sweeping 50% tariffs on European imports. But by...

A judge dismissed an indecent exposure charge against a woman accused of disrobing in front of a 14-year-old boy, saying the law only applies to men. Superior Court Judge Robert W. Armstrong said earlier in the week that the law only mentions someone who "exposes his person." "It's gender specific," Armstrong said. He dismissed a misdemeanor charge against Alexis Luz Garcia, 40, of Corona, who was cited in May after parents of a neighbor boy said she showed him full-frontal nudity as he played basketball. Prosecutor Alison N. Norton said the decision to throw out the case will be appealed...

One day at a time Relying on others part of paraplegic's daily struggle By JOHN DAVIS AVALANCHE-JOURNAL His world has shrunken from the oil fields of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, to the size of the two-bedroom house in which he lives. Nearly a year after a car accident rendered 25-year-old Robert Armstrong paralyzed, he said his perspective and goals have changed greatly. Once content to do dangerous work as a roughneck in the oil business, now his main goal is to get out of his electric wheelchair — maybe even walk — one day. Even if the bills...