Free Republic

A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction and ruled President Trump’s tariffs are unlawful under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). US District Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee said Trump’s tariffs are “unlawful.” Contreras said his preliminary injunction only applies to the two companies that filed suit, however, his ruling could open the door to more widespread injunctions. Contreras’ injunction is separate from the permanent injunction issued by a three-judge panel on the Court of International Trade. The Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday said President Trump exceeded his authority to impose tariffs...

Victoria's Secret took its US website offline and shut down its online customer service operations on Wednesday after what it called a security incident. It's the latest in a string of cyber attacks that have hit retailers around the world. As of Thursday afternoon, the clothing and lingerie seller's US website was replaced with a note to customers saying it was aware of the incident and dealing with it, adding the website and some services were temporarily shut down as a precaution. It did not offer details about what kind of security incident occurred, but said its brick-and-mortar Victoria's Secret...

It's well known that San Francisco is a urban disaster area, what with malls moving out, hotels shutting doors, conventions moving to other cities, thieves looting retailers with impunity, little shops fleeing, and entire districts full of homeless drug addicts looking like Dante's seventh circle of Hell.But has anyone asked what's going on at Fisherman's Wharf, the city's most famous tourist destination?Sure, it's known as a tourist trap. But everyone likes to try its famous Italian and seafood restaurants at least once.Now it's a ghost town:Fisherman’s wharf destroyed … go woke go broke So sad what “progressives” have done to...

I was under the illusion that, with Donald Trump back in charge and the wind at his back, Washington Republicans might actually take off the gloves, say eff-it, and take on the swamp. With the failures inherent in the Big Beautiful Bill, it appears I was wrong. I don’t blame Trump. This abysmal betrayal of the American people was written in the halls of Congress.The Republicans in Congress talk a good game, but when it comes to actually doing what they say they’re going to do, it turns out they’re really snake oil salesmen. Not that this is new. Remember...

A series of devastating wolf attacks occurred over Memorial Day weekend at the Lost Marbles Ranch, Crystal River Ranch and McCabe Ranch, leaving two calves dead and others injured. A broad daylight attack at the Lost Marbles Ranch, carried out by three wolves from the notorious Copper Creek pack, took place in the heart of the calving grounds, a large meadow where ranchers actively monitor mothers and newborns during the critical calving season. The wolves separated a cow and a calf from the main herd, severely injuring the calf. While many in the public romanticize the idea of seeing a...

General Motors is investing $888 million in its Tonawanda Propulsion plant in Buffalo, New York, "to support the production of the sixth generation of GM’s V-8 engines," the automaker announced Tuesday. The investment is a shift from a previously announced $300 million commitment to make electric-vehicle drive units at the plant, as the V-8 engines are used in GM's full-sized trucks and SUVs. GM says the newer engines will provide drivers better fuel economy and reduce emissions by utilizing "new combustion and thermal management innovations." "Our significant investments in GM’s Tonawanda Propulsion plant show our commitment to strengthening American manufacturing...

The movie The Big Short—dramatizing the reckless behavior in the banking and mortgage industries that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis—captures much of Wall Street's misconduct but overlooks a central player in the collapse: the federal government, specifically through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two government-created and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) encouraged lenders to issue risky home loans by effectively making taxpayers cosign the mortgages. This setup incentivized dangerous lending practices that inflated the housing bubble, eventually leading to catastrophic economic consequences. Another critical but overlooked factor in the collapse was the Community Reinvestment Act. This federal statute was intended...

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” that a federal court’s decision to halt President Donald Trump’s tariffs showed he was not a “king.” Host Lawrence O’Donnell said, “I know this is a big a big night for Minnesota with Canada as your your biggest trading partner next door. You were up in Canada last week. You have a whole new discussion now to be had with Canada. None of Donald Trump’s tariffs apply anymore.” Klobuchar said, “We do and I will say, number one, you and I have been nerding out on this over and...

Why did the court strike down some tariffs? The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump didn’t have the authority to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or IEEPA. What tariffs are covered by the ruling? The ruling voids many of the Trump's administration’s moves on trade. That includes fentanyl-related tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and the reciprocal tariffs—some of which were already on hold—that affect virtually every U.S. trading partner. What tariffs aren’t affected? Those that weren't justified under IEEPA. For instance, levies on autos, steel and aluminum aren't covered....

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wants the world to know he’s no “chicken” just because he’s repeatedly backed off high tariff threats.The U.S. Republican president’s tendency to levy extremely high import taxes and then retreat has created what’s known as the “TACO” trade, an acronym coined by The Financial Times’ Robert Armstrong that stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Markets generally sell off when Trump makes his tariff threats and then recover after he backs down.Trump was visibly offended when asked about the phrase Wednesday and rejected the idea that he’s “chickening out,” saying that the reporter’s inquiry was...

A federal court has determined that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs, dealing a sweeping blow to the president's main weapon in his ongoing global trade war. A panel of judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade found the tariffs were unlawful and permanently vacated them.

The promise of allowing China to enter “most favored nation status” in 1980 and entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 was predicated on the notion that insurgent free markets would revolutionize and liberate the largest communist nation in the world. The economic reality of 2025 is that this project has largely failed. Dictator Xi of China embodies one of the most hardline manifestations of Communist Party power in a generation. Previous reforms are now repealed and a pattern of internal and global human rights abuses are better funded than ever and rationalized in a growing technological network of...

Canadians should prepare for a steep decline in living standards over the next five years, warns a new federal report that forecasts a grim future for the country's middle class. Blacklock's Reporter says the report, compiled by the Privy Council’s think tank Policy Horizons Canada, paints a picture of widespread financial insecurity, eroded trust in institutions, and looming mental health challenges tied to economic despair. “Downward social mobility is the norm,” stated Disruptions On The Horizon, which placed the collapse of the middle class among the top 10 most probable national disruptions in the near future. The report, dated 2024...

The Trump administration will send Congress a package to claw back $9.4 billion in funding next week, an Office of Management and Budget spokesperson confirmed to The Hill, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pledges to “act quickly” on codifying cuts spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The package will in part target the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS, and USAID, which was largely dismantled by the administration earlier this year. Plans for the roughly $9 billion recissions package were forecasted weeks ago and originally projected to be transmitted from the White House by the...

A team from the Department of Government Efficiency can now access a sensitive Treasury Department system that controls trillions of dollars in federal payments, a judge ruled late Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas gave permission for four DOGE employees to access the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which essentially serves as the checkbook for the federal government. Vargas said she would no longer require the Trump administration to get permission from the court before expanding access to other DOGE representatives.

The Trump administration has told US companies that offer software used to design semiconductors to stop selling their services to Chinese groups, in the latest attempt to make it harder for China to develop advanced chips. Several people familiar with the move said the US Department of Commerce had told so-called electronic design automation groups — which include Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens EDA — to stop supplying their technology to China.

If you think the price of tariffs is high, consider the cost of no tariffs.Liberal and libertarian opponents of President Trump’s tariffs argue that Americans pay for tariffs and that those tariffs are a form of taxation. Tariffs were how the American government was funded before Democrats were able to successfully implement the otherwise unconstitutional income tax through the Sixteenth Amendment. Democrats preferred tariffs to taxes. Why? Because they believed tariffs were regressive while taxes were progressive. Tariffs kept the poor from buying the cheapest products while taxes were weighed against the wealthy. That’s still the thrust of their current...

Recently, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy. Let’s just say there was no shortage of spirited debate between Kennedy and my Democratic colleagues. Kennedy is leading a bold effort across his agency and others in the healthcare sphere of the administration — what he calls "MAHA" short for "Make America Healthy Again." I am a strong supporter of Kennedy and his MAHA efforts. So are a vast majority of Americans. Why? Because Kennedy, like myself, has seen the problem plainly: our federal health agencies — the...

Foreign aid and NPR/CPB on the chopping block. I have not seen the bill yet, but I’m just passing on what they told me. Personally I want to pass DOGE cuts every single week until the bloated out of control government is reigned back in. As a country, we cannot survive our national debt and honestly, we may be past the point of return. We should be aggressively attacking our debt and aggressively, cutting all waste fraud, and abuse and unnecessary programs. Our future literally is in peril.

Has any American company run away from a public commitment faster than Target?In an Aug. 19, 2020, conference call, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell forthrightly put his company in the forefront of the quest for racial and ethnic justice. George Floyd had been murdered by Police Officer Derek Chauvin, abetted by several other officers in Minneapolis, Target’s home city, only about three months earlier. Calls for recognition of the racism exposed by the killing were still reverberating nationwide.“Our team is passionately demanding equity and justice for our Black colleagues and guests,” Cornell said. “We are united in that passion and...