Free Republic

Why is the government so bad at healthcare? They’ve been at it for seventy-five years and still can’t get it right. It’s expensive. Access is spotty. It’s mired in bureaucracy. And it’s fraught with waste. Obamacare was supposed to fix all this, but instead, like every other government healthcare program before it, it just made things worse. Why? Because the government is a third-party payer. Let me explain. Suppose you are going to buy something for yourself. You have two priorities: price and quality. You want the highest quality for the lowest possible price. Say you’re buying a television. You...

Ron Hosko, former deputy director of the FBI, said these changes could result in prosecution of members of Congress and Hill staffers. In the past, he said the FBI identified members of Congress who leaked classified information, who the Justice Department then declined to prosecute. Agents were often frustrated by this, Hosko added. Given the attorney general’s announcement, he said, members of Congress and Hill staffers may be more likely to face prosecution.

I received this email message from a long-time, trusted friend. The individual who sent it to him admitted there was no way to vet the document or its authenticity as a message from President Trump. One thing, however, is certain—it’s the sort of fix Donald Trump would propose and heartily endorse. Ed. Please scroll down to read this important message about NO TENURE and NO Pension for Congressman under the Congressional Reform Act of 2017. URGENT that all read and this is circulated. I'm asking everyone to forward this email to a min of 20 people, & to ask each...

A student painting that depicts the Statue of Liberty wearing a Muslim hijab, displayed in congressman Lou Correa’s Santa Ana office, is being attacked as an unpatriotic violation of the separation of church and state by members of We the People Rising, a Claremont-based activist group that advocates stricter enforcement of immigration laws. The group, including several Orange County participants, has asked without success that Correa remove the painting hanging with other finalists from the Democratic congressman’s student art competition. Because of the complaint, Correa said he asked the House Office of Legislative Counsel for advice and was told there...

There's nothing like the sight of Republicans and Democrats working together and scrambling to save big time government aid to super-rich corporations. Whether it's a bailout for major banks, tax credits for Big Oil, or big subsidies for large agriculture businesses, this kind of crony capitalism seems to anger almost everyone but nobody really does anything about it. Now, we're about to witness another scramble to provide our hard-earned taxpayer money into the pockets of an industry that's already raking in the big bucks. The Senate Health Committee is going to hold hearings in September to find ways to keep...

More than 50 House Democrats are urging the Pentagon not to comply with President Trump’s “unconstitutional” ban on transgender troops. “As members of Congress with an abiding interest in our nation’s military and its policies towards the LGBTQ community, we write to not only express our strong opposition to President Trump’s recent tweets seeking to ban transgender individuals from the military, but to remind you not to comply with any unconstitutional directive which may ultimately be issued,” the 53 lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford in a letter...

The Senate unanimously agreed to block President Trump from making appointments during their August break amid concerns that he’ll replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions during the recess. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who Trump blasted on Twitter after she voted against the party on health care last month, locked in nine “pro forma” sessions over the next four weeks, The Hill reported.

The Pig TrapPosted: 14th April 2014 by Taxi Hack in Uncategorized Tags: Politics192 America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.Claire Wolfe, 101 Things to Do ‘Til the Revolution (1996) I had a very memorable and thought-provoking passenger a while back that I never wrote about because while I found him fascinating, he seemed a little too political for what was always intended to be a fun blog to read and some cheap therapy for your humble driver and writer. But in light of all the scandals...

Sen. John Cornyn took to the Senate floor Wednesday to talk about the backlog of President Trump’s executive nominations, saying he’s “never seen anything quite like it.” As Cortney reported last month, if the current pace continues, it would take 11 years for all of the president’s nominees to be confirmed—long after he’d be out of office even if he did get a second term. "We had an election on November 8, but for many of our colleagues, the election remains undecided. They don't accept the verdict of the American people, the Electoral College, that President Trump won the election....

If this is true than it changes everything! An alleged former CNN employee is claiming that CNN along with Time Warner and the CBO manipulated the CBO report to paint President Trump's healthcare bill in a bad light....

An old story from Albany is unforgettable. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller was a skilled arm-twister, but one legislator, a fellow Republican, resisted demands to vote a certain way, even rejecting offers of pork-barrel spending in his district. Feeling triumphant, the legislator looked at Rocky and declared, “There’s nothing you can give me I don’t have.” “Yes there is,” the governor ­responded cooly. “A primary opponent.” With that threat, so the story goes, Rocky got his man. The anecdote has always been a favorite for what it says about power and how successful pols use it. Rockefeller, like Lyndon Johnson, believed every...

recruitment program, ‘infiltration’ feared James Rosen By James Rosen Published August 01, 2017 Fox News NOW PLAYING VP Pence assures Eastern Europe's NATO partners Close EXCLUSIVE: Defense Department investigators have discovered “potential security risks” in a Pentagon program that has enrolled more than 10,000 foreign-born individuals into the U.S. armed forces since 2009, Fox News has learned exclusively, with sources on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon expressing alarm over “foreign infiltration” and enrollees now unaccounted for. After more than a year of investigation, the Pentagon’s inspector general recently issued a report – its contents still classified but its existence...

What do we take away, then, from the earthquake on the Senate floor last week, with wisps of smoke still rising from the ruins of Republican efforts to do something -- anything -- likely to rationalize the health care mess? We take away, or should, the lesson that government can't do everything, and when it tries to, you get something approximating Obamacare: too big and complex to succeed, unless you redefine success to mean: "We're getting there, OK?" Well, no. It's not OK at all. At the center of national attention, currently, are the Republicans' busted plays. Repeal and replace?...

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore says Americans still support President Trump despite issues with his administration because Democrats haven’t offered them an alternative. Speaking on "Morning Joe" on Monday, Moore slammed Democrats for not “running the right people” in local elections and the upcoming 2018 midterms. “The Democrats have yet to offer what the alternative is,” Moore said. “Like, ‘we’re going to take the House back’ — and really? Where are all of those great candidates for next year?” The filmmaker, whose one-man show about Trump is in previews on Broadway, said that the U.S. is in line with the liberal...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) its July 2017 Porker of the Month for advocating for taxpayer-funded housing for members of Congress.During an interview with The Hill on June 26, 2017, then-Rep. Chaffetz said, “I really do believe Congress would be much better served if there was a housing allowance for members of Congress.” He admitted that the current political climate made such a proposal legislatively arduous, but claimed that, “A $2,500 housing allowance would be appropriate and a real help to have at least a decent quality of life in...

Simple: Both Republican, Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell & Republican, House Speaker, Paul Ryan should cancel any Congressional recesses for the rest of this year, immediately. These lazy, good for nothing, non-productive, low life Senators & House members, both Democrats & Republicans are on recess far too much, living the life of rich, elite, scum & vermin...period. Bottom line...there was plenty and ample time to pass Obamacare Repeal & Replacement, Massive Tax Reform & Infrastructure Renewal, since January 3, 2017. Nothing has happened. Please vote "YAY or NAY" on this critical issue. And.....McConnell and Ryan must go.

Politicians on Capitol Hill are learning what businessmen around this country already know: don’t cross Donald Trump. This is the kind of President the American people have hungered for. When a group of Republican senators joined Democrats in defeating Trump’s goal to repeal Obamacare, they messed up royally. Now they are dealing with the wrath of President Trump. You’re talking about a president who doesn’t care about political or mainstream media wars, as long as he gets the job done. Trump is not playing the typical game of politics, at least not by the same rules as the Republican and...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Friday called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the return to senators selected by state legislatures after the Senate GOP's effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare died in a late-night vote. The 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913 and established the popular election of senators. Previously, senators were elected by state legislatures. @GovMikeHuckabee Time to repeal 17th Amendment. Founders had it right-Senators chosen by state legislatures. Will work for their states and respect 10th amid The Senate's "skinny repeal" of ObamaCare failed late Thursday night by a vote of 51-49. The...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Sunday again dismissed assertions that she should resign her long-held leadership post, saying "I am a master legislator." Pelosi, who has been the House’s top Democrat since 2007, has faced repeated suggestion that she step down since 2010, when Republicans took control of the chamber in a wave election. "Self-promotion is a terrible thing, but somebody has to do it," the California lawmaker told Fox News Sunday. "I am a master legislator. I know the budget to the nth degree ... I feel very confident about the support I have in my caucus."

As Obamacare was winding its way through the Senate in 2009, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) slipped in an amendment requiring that members of Congress, and their staff, enroll in Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. The idea was simple: that if Congress was going to impose Obamacare upon the country, it should have to experience what it is imposing firsthand. But now, word comes that Congress is quietly seeking to rescind that provision of the law, because members fear that staffers who face higher insurance costs will leave the Hill. The news has sparked outrage from the right and left. Here’s...