Free Republic

Federally mandated cooling-off period ends Friday, opening possibility of nationwide strike or lockoutA national railroad strike could derail critical deliveries of chlorine to wastewater treatment plants and coal to utility plants, among other potentially crippling disruptions, prompting senior White House aides on Tuesday to review contingency options for protecting the nation’s drinking water and energy supply.White House aides are looking at how to ensure essential products carried by rail — such as food, energy and key health products — could still reach their destinations, even in the event of a strike. Senior officials have looked at how highways, ports and...

A full-fledged Democratic trade war has broken out."I love Elizabeth. We're allies on a whole host of issues, but she's wrong on this," President Obama said Tuesday night in an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, referring to liberal Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.Warren and the progressive left, scarred by trade deals past like the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, have launched a vocal fight against granting the president so-called "fast-track" authority to negotiate a 12-country Pacific trade deal. "Are you ready to fight?" Warren said at a rally April 15 with labor leaders and Vermont liberal Sen....

The unofficial czar of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, told Congress last week that her organization is "the most constrained and the most accountable agency in government," and then repeated similar claims on CNBC Tuesday. If nothing else, you have to admire her nerve. Let's start with that "most accountable" howler. The bureau is part of the Federal Reserve System, but the Dodd-Frank law that created it explicitly says that Fed Governors can't "intervene" in the bureau's functioning, "appoint, direct or remove any officer or employee" or "merge or consolidate the bureau . . . with any...