Free Republic

This week, the Supreme Court continued to deliberate over what to do with the growing number of national or universal injunctions issued by federal district courts against the Trump Administration. The court has long failed to address the problem, and what I call “chronic injunctivitis” is now raging across the court system. Justices have only worsened the condition with conflicting and at times incomprehensible opinions. Both Democratic and Republican presidents have long argued that federal judges are out of control in issuing national injunctions that freeze the entire executive branch for years on a given policy. For presidents, you have...

More than a million migrants benefited from the universal credit welfare scheme in Britain at a cost to the taxpayer of £7.6 billion in 2023 alone, an analysis of official data has found. Projections based on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data conducted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) have estimated that around 1,158,000 foreign nationals received universal credit, a monthly welfare subsidy paid to working-age households with low incomes, to mitigate the cost of housing, childcare, and other expenses. Migrants are eligible for the same benefits as native Britons once they are granted either refugee status or...

Peacock finished the June quarter with 24 million subscribers, up from 22 million at the end of March — but the streamer lost $651 million over the same three months. Sadly, those losses have pretty much become par for the course. The NBCUniversal streaming platform lost $704 million in the prior quarter (and $467 million in Q2 2022). The company expects to post “peak” losses from streaming — to the tune of $3 billion — in 2023. Good thing Comcast is soon to come into about $9 billion in streaming bucks through the sale of its Hulu stake to Disney....

Friends say victim knew Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev ORLANDO, Fla. - The FBI confirms a special agent was involved in a deadly shooting early Wednesday near Universal Orlando, and two friends of the victim say he was from Chechnya and knew one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. The fatal shooting happened just after midnight at 6022 Peregrine Avenue in Orlando. "We are currently responding to a shooting incident involving an FBI special agent," FBI Special Agent Dave Couvertier told Local 6. "The incident occurred in Orlando, Florida. The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties. The...

For three years running, Universal animated movies for families have trounced Disney movies targeting the same demographic. In fact, Universal has grossed double what Disney has. Here's a breakdown of the numbers from the Wrap: From Pixar's "Onward," which opened to a disappointing $39 million in March 2020 to Walt Disney Animation's "Strange World," which barely cracked $25.5 million in its first 12 days of domestic release, Disney's theatrically released animated films have grossed just over $1 billion worldwide. Meanwhile, in that same period, with the same burdens of COVID and on much lower production budgets, Universal's combined theatrical output...

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, federal policymakers acted quickly and decisively to make school meals available to all children at no charge. This policy remained in effect for two and a half years. It was a game-changer. Across the country, school nutrition staff reported numerous benefits in the Food Research & Action Center’s (FRAC) Large School District Report, including removing the stigma from program participation and eliminating school meal debt to the benefit of both families and school districts. The policy also helped address household food insecurity, which rose significantly due to COVID-19 and allowed an additional...

The chair of a legislative task force presented a plan to a panel of Oregon lawmakers Thursday at the state Capitol that would fundamentally change health care insurance in Oregon and create a public system that would provide coverage for every person in the state. Dr. Bruce Goldberg told the members of the Senate Interim Committee on Health Care that the proposed new program would cost less than the current health insurance system and would eliminate deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, and other out-of-pocket costs for those covered by the state program. “This plan removes obstacles that currently exists for equitable care....

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on Tuesday touted the bipartisan group of senators, led by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), working to achieve gun control legislation in the wake of the Uvalde, TX shooting. Scarborough cited polling showing 85% of Americans support universal background checks and red flag laws and said that “maybe, just maybe” now was an “opportunity” to pass such legislation.

What is the difference between Universal Studios Florida and/or Universal Orlando?

Alex Jones of Infowars made a special broadcast on Monday night regarding an explosive video of Fauci with HHS officials and other health experts discussing how to enforce Universal Flu Vaccination in a summit organized by Milken Institute in Washington, DC last October 2019.Alex Jones highlighted three clips from the hour-long video of the summit from C-SPAN which proved the COVID-19 pandemic was planned and the Big Pharma worked with the UN and other corrupt government officials to develop and release the COVID-19 virus ahead of ‘Great Reset’.The first clip featured Michael Specter, a journalist from The New Yorker...

Two families are suing Universal Orlando after an actor dressed as the “Despicable Me” character Gru flashed a white power symbol while posing for photos with biracial children. The lawsuit filed on the behalf of two girls, who were ages 5 and 6 years old at the time of the photos, alleges that they suffered humiliation and mental anguish from the separate episodes at the theme park in Orlando, news station WKMG reported. One of the incidents occurred when the 6-year-old girl met the movie character at a breakfast hosted at Universal’s Loews Royal Pacific Resort in March 2019, according...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is set to propose a “universal basic income” pilot program for some residents of his city when he unveils his new budget on Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. A year ago, the cash-strapped city was sending workers on furloughs due to anticipated budget shortfalls.

In coming weeks Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) reportedly plans to put forward the universal background check legislation President Biden wants to sign. The Hill reports Murphy reacted to Biden’s February 14, 2021, call for universal background checks by making clear he will put such legislation forward.

Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos (D) is hoping to make universal vote-by-mail a permanent fixture in the Green Mountain State, he announced on Wednesday. The state leader is actively supporting state lawmakers in their efforts to make universal vote-by-mail the new normal in the state following the 2020 presidential election, in which the state sent ballots to every registered voter.

Does anyone else have an “Am I being given crazy pills” moment when somebody trumpets some version of a universal basic income nowadays? On Tuesday the Parliamentary Budget Office published a response to a request by Independent Group Sen. Yuen Pau Woo; Sen. Woo had asked the PBO to estimate the costs of a federal guaranteed basic income for all Canadians between the ages of 18 and 64. The senator proposed that the income amount ought to be in line with Ontario’s aborted 2017 pilot project on basic income: $16,989 for individuals, $24,027 for couples. He wanted to know the...

Don't. You're an extremely privileged franchise normalizing a dangerous precedent which will endanger crew members who don't have the power you have

Comcast Corp. ’s NBCUniversal is reviewing operations across its portfolio of media and entertainment properties as part of a cost-cutting effort that could result in a significant reduction of staff, people familiar with the matter said. Discussions began this past week regarding cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, the people said. NBCUniversal’s holdings include the NBC broadcast network, the Universal Pictures movie studio, theme parks, NBC News and several entertainment cable channels. NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Shell alluded to the review during Comcast’s earnings call Thursday. Asked how NBCUniversal was positioned to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus, Mr. Shell...

AMC, the US’s largest cinema chain, has said it will refuse to show movies released by Hollywood studio Universal. The latter had just declared it would continue to release films simultaneously via cinemas and streaming, after the coronavirus pandemic restrictions are lifted. AMC’s move came in a letter from its CEO Adam Aron to Universal chair Donna Langley, published in Deadline, in which he wrote: “We want to be absolutely clear … AMC believes that with this proposed action to go to the home and theatres simultaneously, Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies.” Aron...

You’re not supposed to see them like this, their polyester prince costumes unbuttoned and backpacks hanging from the shoulders of their colonial period dresses. Flip flops on, lunch boxes in hand, legions of workers stream into an employee parking lot at Walt Disney World, weary from another shift of making magic at the world’s busiest theme park. This is the place where the pixie dust loses its sparkle. It’s where the low-wage workers who power Orlando’s tourism machine leave the attractions, hotels and eateries and fade into a community that doesn’t have enough affordable housing, public transportation or opportunities in...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) signaled that she is open to a universal basic income – an idea that has been championed by fellow presidential contender Andrew Yang (D). Warren expressed her willingness to consider a UBI, which quite literally amounts to the government handing individuals and families a “basic” income per month regardless of employment or income status, in a Washington Post survey that asked, “Should the federal government pay a universal basic income to every American adult?