Free Republic

Patel’s warning echoes The Bureau’s exclusive reporting on a criminal convergence linking CCP-backed chemical suppliers, Iranian proxies, and Mexican cartels operating through Vancouver superlabs. WASHINGTON — In an explosive Sunday interview that will place tremendous pressure on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Liberal government, FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that Mexican cartels, Chinese Communist Party operatives, and Iranian threat actors have forged a new axis of criminal cooperation, using Canada’s porous northern border and the Port of Vancouver—not the southern Mexican border—as their preferred entry point to flood fentanyl and terror suspects into the United States. “In the first two,...

July arabica coffee (KCN25) Friday closed down -9.35 (-2.49%), and July ICE robusta coffee (RMN25) closed down -106 (-2.13%). Coffee prices on Friday fell sharply, with robusta posting a 5-week low. Signs of bigger coffee supplies are weighing on prices after Safras Mercado on Friday reported that Brazil's 2024/25 coffee sales were 97% done as of May 13, above the 94% from the same time last year. An increase in current coffee inventories is also pressuring coffee prices. ICE-monitored robusta coffee inventories rose to a 7-1/2 month high Friday of 4,890 lots. Also, ICE-monitored arabica coffee inventories rose to a...

Import prices ticked up slightly in April, driven by higher costs for nonfuel goods even as fuel prices continued to slide, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Import Price Index rose 0.1 percent in April, following a 0.4 percent decline in March. Over the past year, import prices were up just 0.1 percent. But excluding fuel, prices for imported goods rose 0.4 percent in April and were up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, suggesting continued resilience in U.S. demand for foreign goods despite the implementation of new tariffs in early April. The Trump...

President Donald Trump on Saturday signed two executive orders that call for immediately expanding American lumber production and addressing lumber imports' threat to national security. The orders aim to update guidance on production, streamline permitting, and assess possible risks that imports pose to national security. A White House official told Fox News the president identified a crisis in both supply and demand in an industry the U.S. should be entirely self-sufficient in. The executive order notes that the production of timber, lumber, paper, bioenergy, and other wood products is crucial for Americans in construction and energy production. Recent disasters, the...

East and Gulf Coast dockworkers could resume their strike on Jan. 15 if a deal isn't reached.. The union representing dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports walked away from the negotiating table with port employers this week over concerns about automation as the two sides face a mid-January deadline to finalize a deal and prevent the resumption of a strike.. The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port employers, were on their second day of talks this week when the ILA union left negotiations ... the ILA union is refusing to agree to...

The United States and Mexico have an opportunity to totally change the supply chain dynamic as it pertains to the US economy staring them in the face. We share a 1,924 mile border between one nation wealthy enough to buy things and another nation hungry enough to produce things. What would happen if both governments worked together to create an economic development zone along both sides of the border by creating tax incentives to companies wishing to locate there? The minimum wage could be eliminated along this zone or a wage established that encourages business development. The possibilities are endless...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of New York’s Power 105.1’s “The Breakfast Club,” 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris argued that her proposed down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers won’t “have an unintended effect, because that increases the demand for home ownership, which is going to have an impact, also, on supply.” And talked about parts of her plan to boost housing supply. Harris said, “$25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, let me tell you why that’s not going to have an unintended effect, because that increases the demand for home ownership, which is going to have an impact,...

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” CNN International host Christiane Amanpour discussed Israel’s strikes on Iran and the fact that the strikes did not hit Iran’s oil facilities and said that “the United States did not want, potentially, the global oil supply, and, therefore, the global economy to be shaken” by Israel hitting Iran’s oil facilities. Host Anderson Cooper said, “[A] number of those oil facilities are actually quite vulnerable. It could be — in terms of, certainly, compared to the nuclear facilities, could be relatively easily hit and a lot of economic damage done. But Israel is saying that...

At this time, an estimated 50 to 150 people or more are actively looting and breaking into a cargo train on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. Police have been dispatched to the scene to address the ongoing incident, with reports of individuals stealing boxes of items, possibly including TVs, from the train's containers. Witnesses describe the situation as chaotic, with looters working quickly to empty the cargo. This is still a developing story. VIDEO AT LINK......................

At least 50 thieves descended on a freight train in Chicago's West Side to ransack whatever items they could get their hands on. The group of wayward opportunists swarmed the Union Pacific train on Friday to steal multiple boxes before officers arrived. The robbery occurred just before 4pm in the 400 block of North Lamon Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood. The massive heist forced the train to suspend its operations. In a statement on X.com, Metra said that 'train service is temporarily suspended due to ongoing police activity near Kedzie.' The statement continued: 'Metra encourages customers to seek alternate...

“No automation means no automation,” says the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the union representing 85,000 dock and maritime workers.ILA officials reached a tentative wage agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on Oct. 3. This move effectively suspended the three-day job action and extended the existing Master Contract until Jan. 15. The new deal allows both sides about 100 days to negotiate a new agreement, with automation being the primary sticking point.While ILA confirmed that USMX agreed to raise pay for thousands of port workers, they are now focusing their discussions on using technology to complete tasks with less...

This strike isn’t over. It’s just delayed until after the election, so it doesn’t hurt the Democratic party at the polls. We have been told many things about the longshoremen’s strike over the past week. Most of the reporting has been in half-truths, at best – possibly because the press doesn’t know any better (the operations of our seaports are an admittedly obscure area of specialization), or possibly because the press doesn’t want to share information so damning to the side they instinctively favor. Here are just a few of the misleading statements thrown at us in the past week:...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that he has ordered the Florida National Guard and Florida State Guard deploy to ports affected by the Longshoremen strike to maintain order and potentially resume operations. During a press conference in Manatee County, DeSantis discussed three executive actions he’s taken amid the ongoing hurricane recovery efforts in Florida. The first action he announced was the lifting of time restrictions on rentals, so residents who need a place to stay while they repair their homes are not limited. The governor said he also authorized supervisors of elections in the hardest-hit counties to make appropriate...

Growing lines of container ships continued to line up outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly 50 years entered its third day. The choke points are threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts and are anticipated to grow in coming days if no resolution is forthcoming. Reuters reports no negotiations were scheduled between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and employers, but the port owners, under pressure from the White House to hike their pay offer to land a deal, signaled they were open to new talks.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Harris-Walz Surrogate Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) argued that there will be fewer strikes if 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is elected and that the head of the dockworkers union is “a Trump guy” who might want to cripple the economy for political purposes.

Vice President Kamala Harris sided Wednesday with dockworkers who launched a massive strike this week that threatens to cripple the economy. “This strike is about fairness,” Harris said. “Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown. The Longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits.” Harris also threw in a barb at her opponent, accusing former President Donald Trump of making “empty promises” to workers and promising that she will “have workers’ backs” and fight for an “opportunity economy.” “Donald Trump, on the other hand,...

Unionized dockworkers at 36 East and Gulf Coast ports went on strike early Tuesday amid an impasse in negotiations over a new contract with a group representing port employers

As thousands of dockworkers are preparing to strike should a deal not be reached by the end of Monday, one business leader is questioning the union’s demand for a total ban on automation. International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) on Sunday said its 85,000 members, along with "tens of thousands of dockworkers and maritime workers around the world," will hit the picket lines Tuesday "and strike at all Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports from Maine to Texas." The union is demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation at ports regarding cranes, gates and moving containers in the loading and...

A looming strike by dockworkers at ports from Massachusetts to Texas could snarl supply chains and raise prices on a wide array of consumer goods—just as the holiday shipping season approaches. Members of the International Longshoremen's Association, a union representing 85,000 dockworkers, plan to strike Tuesday if they can't reach agreement on a new contract with the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents large shipping lines. A walkout would be the first East Coast dock strike in the U.S. since 1977. A strike would shut down container facilities at 14 ports stretching from Boston to Houston. Those ports handled more...

Ten of thousands of dockworkers could go on strike on Oct. 1 in a move that experts say could wreak havoc on American supply chains and reignite the rapid inflation seen in the early years of the Biden-Harris administration. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) — which represents more than 85,000 workers at three dozen U.S. ports along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico and whose members collectively handle about half of the U.S.’ maritime imports — has threatened to go on strike for the first time since 1977 if their wage and automation protection demands are not met by...