Free Republic

Some 1.6 million Americans have registered for Obamacare, but more than nine-out-of-10 of them actually signed up for Medicaid, a trend that could end up slamming federal and state government budgets. Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security already account for 48 percent of federal spending, writes economist Michael Tanner, a senior fellow for the Cato Institute, in an article for The New York Post. But with Obamacare adding to the Medicaid costs, "we are picking up speed on the road to insolvency," Tanner writes. The Medicaid program is already the third-largest government program in the United States, coming in only behind...

Senators, representatives, and their top aides will be able to stay under the current subsidized health care system. That means they will continue to get a taxpayer-funded contribution to help pay for their health care premiums. A last-minute deal worked out before Congress went on their five-week summer vacation gets lawmakers out of the original language of Obamacare, which said members and their aides had to use its health care plans. Republicans like Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana slammed the move, calling it a "behind-closed-doors deal, announced right after Congress is safely away from the crime scene." "This is exactly...

President Barack Obama on Thursday praised the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage as a "victory for American democracy" but clashed with his African host over gay rights in a sign of how far the movement has to go internationally. Obama said recognition of gay unions in the United States should cross state lines and that equal rights should be recognized universally. It was his first chance to expand on his thoughts about the ruling, which was issued Wednesday as he flew to Senegal, one of many African countries that outlaw homosexuality. *snip* Papi Nbodj, a 19-year-old student who stood...

With healthcare costs continually on the rise — a situation compounded by ObamaCare’s new taxes and regulations — employers are looking for every means possible to keep those costs down. The healthcare law requires them to offer coverage to all full-time employees and their dependent children aged 25 and younger. The one person whose coverage it does not mandate, however, is the employee’s spouse; spousal coverage, therefore, is increasingly on employers’ chopping blocks. According to MarketWatch, since the passage of ObamaCare, companies have instituted various measures designed to discourage, if not outright exclude, individuals from obtaining health coverage via their...

There Are Economic Storm Clouds Ahead Robert Reich, Contributor Jun. 1, 2013, 9:43 AM Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good. But the recent jubilance is enough to make even weather forecasters blush. “Just look at the bull market! Look at home prices! Look at consumer confidence!” Please. I can understand the jubilation in the narrow sense that we’ve been down so long everything looks up. Plus, professional economists tend to cheerlead because they believe that if consumers and businesses think the future will be great, they’ll buy and invest more – leading to a self-fulfilling prophesy. But prophesies...

Feds suggest anti-Muslim speech can be punished By BYRON TAU | 5/31/13 5:26 PM EDT A U.S. attorney in Tennessee is reportedly vowing to use federal civil rights statutes to clamp down on offensive and inflammatory speech about Islam. Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, was quoted by the Tullahoma News this week suggesting that some inflammatory material on Islam might run afoul of federal civil rights laws. "We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected," Killian told the newspaper. Killian, along...

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius controls a $54 million slush fund to hire thousands of "navigators," "in-person assisters" and counselors who will propagandize and enroll Obamacare recipients in government-run health insurance exchanges. This nanny-state navigator corps is the Mother of all Community Organizing Boondoggles. It's also yet another Obama threat to Americans' privacy. A reminder about Secretary Sebelius' sordid snooping history is in order here. In August 2009, HHS and the White House Office of Health Reform called on their ground troops to report on fellow citizens who dared to criticize their federal health care takeover. Team...

Just as the Obama administration continues to reel from three major scandals, Republicans are zeroing in on yet one more — this one involving Obamacare as it nears implementation. GOP legislators are targeting Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the solicitations she made to some of the nation’s top insurance companies and other groups for donations to Enroll America, the nonprofit group charged with selling Obamacare to the public. “Our guys on the Hill think this is the fourth scandal,” Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak told Reuters this week. “It fits into that narrative Republicans are building not only about incompetence...

Currently on the front burner of scandals in the Obama administration are Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeting of conservative groups, and the AP scandal. Of course, Fast and Furious is also still very much alive. However, over the past week, two more scandals are coming to light and may be just as big as the others. One of those involves the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Congressional Republicans are accusing the agency of giving unfair preference to environmental groups when it comes to information requests. They are comparing the behavior to that of the IRS in giving additional scrutiny...

Unreal. In an explosive new bombshell report, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza claims that the Obama administration deliberately kept Fox News reporter James Rosen in the dark about the warrant to search through his personal emails. Some new info in the leak case that targeted Fox's James Rosen coming shortly...— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 24, 2013

Here is a strong indicator that the Obama Administration’s crusade to appease Islam has gone too far; a new U.S. military handbook for troops deployed to the Middle East orders soldiers not to make derogatory comments about the Taliban or criticize pedophilia, among other outrageous things. It gets better; the new manual, which is around 75 pages, suggests that Western ignorance of Afghan culture— not Taliban infiltration—is responsible for the increase in deadly attacks by Afghan soldiers against the coalition forces. The soon-to-be-released Army handbook is still being drafted, but a mainstream newspaper got a sneak preview and published an...

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) stole a march on the Obama Administration this morning by filing a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court appealing the 11th Circuit’s Obamacare decision. The Department of Justice (DOJ) had announced on Monday that it was not going to ask all 11 judges of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to review en banc the August 12 decision of a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit that found the individual mandate unconstitutional. This opened up a path to an appeal by DOJ to the Supremes. However, with this petition, the NFIB jumped ahead...

Not content with going after the nation's children, its grocery stores, the food pyramid and McDonalds, Michelle Obama is now going after the country's most beloved restaurant chains Olive Garden, Red Lobster and its sister restaurants have pledged to serve healthier meals by cutting calories and sodium in its meals by 20 per cent over a decade. And if the little ones desire some French fries they will only be able to do so with adult supervision. Among promised changes for children, Darden Restaurants Inc said a fruit or vegetable side and low-fat milk will become standard with kids' meals...

“We can’t just leave it up to the parents," Michelle Obama We live in a golden age. A wondrous era where the government compels us to buy health insurance, whether we need it or not. And whether we want to or not. Where the First Lady is no longer in charge of the White House's meals, but of our meals. Where wise and generous czars in the nation's capital ponder day and night how to stop the flow of free information that's rotting our minds and filling our heads with critical thoughts about the government. Previous generations had to do...

I love the smell of bloodlust in the evening. Not every evening. Just the evenings that have Republican presidential debates. There have been five such debates so far, but only the last two of them have been considered major because they have featured Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is leading in the polls. Except the debates haven’t really featured him. They have featured the audience. If you have ever asked yourself how crowds could have gathered to cheer public burnings and beheadings in times past, tune in to one of these debates, and you will stop asking. At a Politico/NBC...

In the thick of the debate over President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill, administration officials ignored warnings that one of its most controversial provisions was financially unsustainable and could leave taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars. According to a report released Thursday by a working group of congressional investigators, officials inside the Department of Health and Human Services ignored numerous red flags about the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program (CLASS) — and in some cases the officials went to work figuring out how to hide them. Now, those same officials are scrambling to come up...

A new woman has come forward with what she claims are photographs, chats, and emails with Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). These appear to undermine severely Rep. Weiner’s explanations that he was the victim of a “prank” or a “hack.” The detailed new information suggests that the Brooklyn- and Queens-based representative and the young woman in question were involved in an online, consensual relationship involving the mutual exchange of intimate photographs. BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com were approached regarding this information more than a week prior to the separate, independent event of Friday, May 27, 2011, when a link to the now-infamous “gray...

Communist Goals (1963) Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963 Current Communist Goals EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, January 10, 1963   Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America. At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an...

ACTION NEEDED NOW - CALL, EMAIL, FAX LEGISLATORS TO STOP THE CT “BATHROOM BILL” HB 6599 ON FACEBOOK, PLEASE JOIN THIS PAGE FOR INFO AND UPDATESURGENT: BILL IS ON THE CALENDAR AND MAY BE VOTED ON AT ANY TIMEEven if you do not live in Connecticut, you should be concerned about this bill. It may be coming to your state very soon, as millions from Tim Gill ('Sec. of State Project') and George Soros' 'Open Society Institute' are behind this effort.SUMMARY: The Connecticut Legislature is about to vote on HB6599, the "Bathroom Bill", which gives broad and needless special privileges...