Free Republic

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) did New York a huge favor earlier this month when he declared fantasy sports leagues a form of illegal gambling and ordered two of their principal organizers, DraftKings and FanDuel, to stop taking bets from state residents. Fantasy leagues are not games of skill, Schneiderman decreed, but rather games of chance, and therefore illegal under state law. And gambling is illegal for good reason: It can lead to addiction and all other sorts of social ills. What a relief. From now on, New Yorkers will not be tempted by the deceitful lure of...

“I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood,” joked Sen. Fred Thompson, the “Law & Order” star who recently died. A real-life prosecutor and Watergate counsel, Thompson formulated the famous question that hastened Richard Nixon’s downfall: “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” If you believe this question still delivers political accountability, Think Again. Alas, the Watergate era’s bipartisan commitment to equal and impartial justice has been rendered obsolete by lawmakers who often operate lawlessly. Capturing the hypocrisy, comedian Bill Murray tweeted: “So, if we lie to the government, it’s a felony. But if...

Last month, Colorado HealthOP, the state's largest non-profit health insurer, was removed from Colorado's Obamacare exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, because massive ongoing losses have rendered it financially unstable. As of next year, the co-op's 83,000 members will have to find new health coverage, while taxpayers are on the hook for more than $70 million in startup loans. The Denver Post reported earlier this year that Colorado HealthOP, which captured roughly 40 percent of all health insurance enrollments though the state exchange and was its largest carrier, garnered market share with an "aggressive price cut ... but analysts warn the...

As a giant marketplace of ideas, Facebook is an astonishing barometer, for better or worse. Its force-multiplying “likes” and “shares” can direct masses toward aspirational “Arab Spring”-type movements or incite mobs with false grievances, such as the “Hands up, don’t shoot” mythology that plagued Ferguson. Whether people of goodwill are swept toward virtue or delusion and chaos depends on their willingness to Think Again about unexamined facts and “likes” — “to follow truth wherever it may lead,” as Thomas Jefferson urged.

If only Pope Francis were in my Buenos Aires taxi last Christmas. I could have used his moral authority (and Argentine-accented Spanish) in negotiating with a driver who’d forgotten the Golden Rule. And in witnessing my struggle, the self-described “very allergic to economics” pontiff might have gleaned a moral lesson, helping him Think Again about the free-enterprise system he’s criticized.