Free Republic

HB 1708 has been introduced in Missouri to restore Second Amendment rights. The bill does this by incrementally removing infringements on the carry of firearms while on public transportation, in churches, and for people between the ages of 18 and 19. The bill has evolved over the past few years. Last year, it passed the House of Representatives but was killed in the Senate by not being brought to a vote. In 2022, the bill again passed the House 101 to 40. It was killed in the Senate by not being brought to a vote. In 2024, the bill is...

Three years ago, the P.E.I. government rolled out its new electric school buses with much fanfare. Now some drivers say the buses are plagued with problems, with 16 to 18 of the vehicles in the shop at a time on occasions, out of a total of just over 100. Robert Geiss, president of CUPE Local 1145, which represents school bus drivers on the Island, says he believes the provincial government rushed into buying the new buses — and now students and drivers are paying the price. He said the biggest problems are with the heating systems, leaving some buses icy...

The American economy can’t catch a break. In addition to the massive price inflation of food, cars, housing, energy, and so many other elements, international companies are now suffering from a near-doubling of ocean transportation costs in just the past three months, due to simultaneous crises in Central America and the Red Sea that have restricted international shipping through the Panama and Suez Canals. This is adding to the cost of goods all over the world, along with damaging lead times, as longer transits cause disruptions to both factory schedules and retail offerings. For thousands of years, ocean carriers moved...

As a result of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order, gas-powered vehicles will be banned by 2035. This refers to new vehicles and existing gas-powered cars and trucks that will be allowed on California roads for the moment.Other states are following California. But with electric vehicles (EVs) comes an investment. What are the economic ramifications of banning gas-powered vehicles? Can California afford it? Can America afford it?(Shutterstock)California Banns New Gas-Powered Vehicles 2035Gov. Newsom’s executive order was announced in 2020 and was followed by the California Air Resources Board’s approval in August 2022. Automakers and car dealers will be restricted to...

“The electric things have their life too. Paltry as those lives are.” – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just as President Joe Biden starts showering hundreds of billions more of taxpayers’ money to “electrify” the nation’s fleet of automobiles, the bottom is falling out of the EV market. The latest indication is the sharp drop in prices for used EVs. A report from iSeeCars.com, a search engine for auto buyers, found that the average price for all cars declined 5% in 2023 compared with 2022. But the resale price EVs plunged 33%. While a used EV sold for...

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Thursday touted the achievements his department has made over the last year and gave Americans pointers on air travel before they take off for the holiday season. “This year we have seen some of the busiest air traffic days in U.S. history. And so far, this year, our aviation system has been handling the increased volume well,” Buttigieg said in a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “In fact, cancelations are lower than they were before the pandemic, and we’re pushing hard to keep it that way.”

The Biden-Harris regime has announced a new “White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience.” This new council is charged with preventing such problems as we experienced in the famous “supply chain crisis” of 2021 and early 2022 that preceded, and contributed to creating the current economic downturn. Granted, the Biden-Harris regime had already created a “Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force” in the first months of 2021, virtually as soon as they changed the names and dress sizes on the White House letterhead, and that didn’t seem to help. Maybe they’re hoping we forgot about that one. But then again, maybe...

Proterra, which President Joe Biden once said was "making me look good," sold hundreds of electric buses to municipalities across North America. Every transit district Just The News spoke with, except one, has inoperable buses awaiting repairs. Across the country, towns and cities of various sizes envisioned an electrified public transit system that could shuttle residents with vehicles that produced no carbon-filled exhaust. Many of those communities purchased buses from Silicon Valley-based Proterra, which was able to produce 550 buses over its 19-year existence before it went bankrupt in August. The company announced last month it had concluded auctions as...

A federal agency is calling for a nationwide mandate requiring new vehicles to have software surveilling American drivers for adherence to local speed limits. On November 14, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published a news release advocating “intelligent speed assistance technology and countermeasures including interlock program for repeat speeding offenders” in “all new cars.” The agency cited an investigation it conducted into “a multivehicle collision in North Las Vegas, Nevada, last year that resulted in nine fatalities” — finding it was “caused by excessive speed, drug-impaired driving and Nevada’s failure to deter the driver’s speeding recidivism due to systemic...

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Wednesday after a train derailed in Livingston and spilled chemicals that caught on fire, sending plumes of smoke into the air. At least 16 cars of a southbound CSX train were involved in the derailment which happened at about 2:23 p.m. just north of the tiny town of 400 residents in Rockcastle County, CSX said. Two of those train cars were carrying molten sulfur which leaked out during the derailment and ignited, according to the company. When molten sulfur burns, it often releases sulfur dioxide, which can be toxic. Residents of...

Gimme (inexpensive) shelter! The good news is that The Federal Reserve finally cooled inflation. Well, at least core inflation cooled to 4%, twice The Fed’s target rate. At least The Fed is making progress. But on the housing front, shelter CPI is still up 6.7% YoY while transportation services are up 9.2% YoY. So, as long as you don’t have to rent or go anywhere, inflation looks good! Shelter CPI is over 3x The Fed’s inflation target rate, despite mortgage rates being up 169% under Biden. The 10-year Treasury yield cooled to 4.50% as investors see no further action from...

An American retired lawyer and university professor was caught on camera on Tuesday shooting dead two climate change protesters in Panama. Kenneth Darlington, 77, appeared before a judge in the town of La Espiga on Wednesday afternoon, and after a two-hour hearing was remanded in custody. Eliécer Plicett, a lawyer for the two victims, both of them teachers, said Darlington was being charged with murder and illegal possession of a gun, TVN Noticias reported. Darlington was seen on Tuesday, in front of a large number of photographers and television crews, walking up to a road block on a section of...

A Cleveland man has been arrested by police for allegedly trying to cause trains in the city to derail by jamming metal into tracks and rail lines. Joseph Findley, 43, has been arrested by the FBI on federal terrorist charges following a string of alleged attacks against railroad carriers on October 6. He is accused of placing railroad spikes onto the path of oncoming trains and wedging pieces of metal into a rail switch. During a test run for a CSX employee appreciation day, one train hit an obstruction on the track and temporarily derailed before the wheels dropped back...

Supply chains are not something most of us think about on a day-to-day basis. Or they weren't, until the last few years, when we've been exposed, at least on the right, to the fragility and susceptibility of said supply chains. This author works in the shipping industry and has a few thoughts. First and foremost, one needs a rudimentary understanding of how the supply chain actually works, so here is a summation. Let's call it Supply Chain 101: 1. A producer creates goods. 2. Goods need to get to market, which is handled by shippers. 3. Markets may be local,...

Gary Marbut and the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) have scored another victory in restoring the right to keep and bear arms in Montana. The Montana Urban Transportation District (MUTD) has removed its ban on the carry or transport of weapons on the vehicles of the Mountain Line in Missoula. Gary Marbut is the right to keep and bear arms guru in Montana. He is responsible for writing and passing most of the Montana gun laws. Those laws have done a great deal to restore the right to keep and bear arms (RKBA). In 2016, MSSA requested MUTD remove its...

9 Democrat-run states, California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington, have moved to ban cars by 2035. The Biden administration has exploited EPA emissions standards to accomplish the same thing. The green push to ban cars and force everyone to buy electric vehicles is a core part of the program and also highly unpopular with families struggling with high prices and inflation. Electric vehicles are far more expensive and much less reliable than cars and most can’t afford them. 59% of Americans oppose a ban on cars while only 40% support it. But, in...

Orbcomm, a major provider of ELDs to the trucking sector, is dealing with a ransomware attack that has limited the ability of its customers to use its Fleet Manager offering, which includes its Blue Tree ELD systems, the company has confirmed. Resolving the issue may take up to two weeks. (snip) In a notice to Orbcomm customers Wednesday, supplied to FreightWaves by an Orbcomm customer, the company said under the heading “Rebuild and Restore” that it is “targeting to restore full use of our BT product line and the supporting platforms as well as RCOM Reports by September 28.” The...

Transportation secretary's equity committee aims to bring 'diversity' and 'inclusion' to America's infrastructurTransportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is appointing a group of "leading experts" to advise him on "transportation equity," including several who argue that cars cause climate change and promote racism and therefore should be phased out.Buttigieg earlier this month appointed 24 new members to his Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity, an Obama-era body that Buttigieg is reviving after the Trump administration scrapped it. Included on the committee is Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, a "spatial policy scholar" who says "ALL CARS ARE BAD" given that they cause "a myriad of environmental issues...

The push to exchange gas for electric in transportation is an idea that has ironically placed the proverbial cart in front of the horse. While the problems of an inadequate power grid, too few charging stations, short range, high costs, long recharging times, and battery fires are real, there are two gigantic issues looming that rival them all. Current state and federal gas-tax regulations siphon off more than $53 billion a year in tax revenue; for reference, about 67 cents from every gallon of gasoline purchased in New York, and around $1.18-per-gallon in California. Those taxes account for more than...

An exclusive report revealed that the global ringmasters and their Democrat allies are embarking on an expedited Marxist scheme to ensure you will have no choice but to enjoy bugs and public transportation in less than a decade. The Federalist on Saturday dropped this explosive story. 14 prominent American cities are part of a far-left climate organization headed by billionaire globalist “Mini” Mike Bloomberg that aims to abolish private vehicle ownership and wean their constituents off meat and dairy by 2030. That is just SEVEN years away from now. The Federalist astutely notes that fully adopting these measures will lead...