Free Republic

**SNIP** The website remains unfinished. Politico reported last week that the back end of Healthcare.gov “still isn’t properly wired to the health insurance companies.” Problems persist with subsidy payments, and information verification, resulting in roughly 800,000 enrollees receiving inaccurate subsidy information. “Even though consumers had a largely smooth enrollment experience this year, the fact that these gaps persist behind the scenes 18 months after HealthCare.gov launched shows that the system is still not working as intended,” Politico said. “Instead of a swift process, health plans use clunky workarounds and manual spreadsheets. It takes time and it costs money.” Kevin Counihan,...

By now, you’ve probably heard about cannabis-gate. DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz allegedly put a deal forward where she would switch positions on medicinal marijuana if a Democratic donor withdrew criticism of her for not backing a related statewide initiative last year; it was defeated by a narrow margin. John Morgan, the donor who slammed Schultz for not backing the measure, contributed heavily to the pro-medical marijuana campaign. Of course, Schultz has denied the consideration of any deal regarding this debacle. Yet, there’s more; Democrats don’t want Debbie to run either. She’s turned off many within Democratic circles, with...

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced on Thursday night that hundreds of former IRS official Lois Lerner’s previously “lost” backup tapes have been recovered, which could result in the recovery of a new trove of her emails. IRS Deputy Inspector General Timothy P. Camus told Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Thursday that it took investigators just two weeks to recover 424 backup tapes that were previously said to be unretrievable. “

On Friday, C.J. Pearson, a 12-year-old conservative from Georgia who posted a viral video supporting Rudy Giuliani, discovered that his personal Facebook page was locked. In an exclusive interview with Examiner.com on Saturday, Pearson said he received a message from someone about 6 a.m. Friday. That's when he learned his account and page had been locked for "suspicious activity." He jumped through all of Facebook's hoops, but wasn't able to recover his account. So he created a new profile to take its place. His public page was not affected, he said, however, he can no longer administer the page....

The Panthers opposed not only police brutality but also the economic injustice of everyday life.Protests over police killings of unarmed African-Americans continue to erupt across the nation, largely thanks to the organizing efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement. As Black History Month draws to a close, it’s worth asking what the movement can learn from earlier organizing efforts — in particular, the Black Panther Party. Nearly 50 years ago, activists were demanding not only the recognition that black lives matter but also the right to black power. In October 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther...

SEATAC, Wash. — Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant told a SeaTac municipal court judge Thursday that she will represent herself in an upcoming trial for disorderly conduct prompted by her arrest in November during a protest. On Nov. 19, Sawant and three others were arrested for not leaving a roadway during a protest against big airlines for not paying their workers a living wage. Of those arrested, Sawant, Socrates Bravo and John Helmiere appeared together before a judge for a pretrial hearing. A judge exonerated their bail amounts.

Allen also said media companies add insult to injury by throwing money at Sharpton, "the least expensive negro," to "cover" up their track record of "blatant" discrimination. "Instead of spending real money with real, 100 percent African American-owned media, it is easier to give [Sharpton] $50,000 to give them a cover," he said.

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A dispute over who leaked an affidavit detailing a corruption probe involving a state senator is heading to federal court in Los Angeles after a judge's action on Friday. Ron Calderon, then a Democratic state senator from Montebello, filed a complaint in November 2013 contending that federal authorities tried to ruin his reputation by raiding his offices and leaking an FBI affidavit alleging he took money in return for promoting bills. He was later indicted and faces trial in federal court in Los Angeles beginning Aug. 11 on charges that he accepted $100,000 in bribes, lavish trips...

Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Saturday celebrated his 91st birthday with a lavish million dollar bash that was slammed by the opposition as "obscene" in a country wracked by poverty.Thousands of supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF, many wearing party regalia emblazoned with the president's image, sang and danced as he arrived for the jamboree at a luxury hotel in the famed Victoria Falls resort.

Leaders of ISIS are now calling on followers to assassinate an American college professor in the group’s propaganda magazine.The professor is Yasir Qadhi, reports Memphis NBC affiliate WMC-TV. Qadhi, born in Houston, Texas, is a professor of religious studies at Rhodes College, a private bastion of the liberal arts in Memphis. He is also a Muslim cleric and the resident scholar at the Memphis Islamic Center.ISIS — also called the Islamic State — and its adherents don’t like Qadhi because he stands athwart the radical Muslim entity, yelling stop.“Contrary to popular opinion, ISIS does not have support in the American Muslim...

Home is where the POTUS is: Al Sharpton returns to White House 'for his 73RD visit' with Obama to discuss problems facing minorities Reverend Al Sharpton apparently cannot get enough of the White House. The prominent civil rights leader and MSNBC talk show host was invited Thursday to a meeting with President Obama and other African-American activists, making it his 73rd visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since 2009, according to some estimates. In a press release sent out ahead of the summit, White House officials described the occasion as an 'opportunity to have a dialogue with the leaders about the...

Sightings of former Gov. John Kitzhaber and fiancee Cylvia Hayes have been few and far between since Kitzhaber resigned last Wednesday and the two departed Salem. But there was such a sighting one week ago. And it raised quite a stink. The former governor and Hayes showed up at the Knott Landfill southeast of Bend in a pickup and an SUV about 2 p.m. last Friday and spent a few minutes dumping trash, according to Timm Schimke, the director of the Deschutes County Solid Waste Department.

When reporters asked former world chess champion and Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov who was behind the assassination of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, he dismissed the question as irrelevant. Whoever did the dirty work, he implied, would have done so only with President Vladimir Putin's blessing. "Who gave the order to kill Nemtsov? Who knows,” Kasparov said. ”But this was done not far from the Kremlin and it would have been done by Putin's cronies. Who ordered it? I don't care. Putin must be held responsible for the murder of Boris." Kasparov’s remark gets to the heart of the larger significance...

Boris Nemtsov: The political demands [for our march] are key: a quick end to the war with Ukraine. You know that Putin began aggression a year ago against Ukraine? Why do I say a year ago? Because on Feb 27 last year you know that armed men seized the parliament building of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Then 47 deputies without a quorum under the gaze of automatic weapons, voted for the referendum.

Follow the money. It all ends up in the hands of a very few. Pearson Foundation is getting the contracts because of its partnership with the Bill Gates Foundation. Greed, secrecy, deceptions, and lies …. and to think Democrats accuse Republicans of the very things, while Democrats are the ones using government to get richer. The deceptions run very deep. It’s time for exposure.(The saga begins...) on one summer day in 2008, when Gene Wilhoit, director of a national group of state school chiefs, and David Coleman (known as the architect of Common Core), knowing they needed tens of millions...

WASHINGTON — Democrats are losing some skirmishes over the Department of Homeland Security, but many feel they are winning a political war that will haunt Republicans in 2016 and beyond. Democrats lacked the votes Friday to force Republicans to fund the department for a year with no strings. Still, even some Republicans say party leaders are on a perilous path with a very public ideological struggle only highlighting the GOP's inability to pass contested legislation and possibly worsening its weak relationship with Hispanic voters. Worst of all, numerous lawmakers said, Republican leaders have offered no plausible scenario for a successful...

Preliminary autopsy results say 20-day-old Justice Rees, whose tiny body was found Wednesday at a remote slough near Knights Landing, may have drowned or died of hypothermia. In an interview Thursday, Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto said authorities have no evidence the infant was a victim of homicide.

France’s government is looking to adopt a tough new stance on online racism, anti-Semitism and other hate speech that would allow authorities to shut down offending websites amid a recent rise in hate crimes in the country. Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has said she will push for legal reforms that would help French authorities crack down on racism and anti-Semitism online in much the same way they do with paedophilia. The proposals include empowering French authorities to shut down websites hosting content that is deemed illicit without prior court approval. “Crimes recognised in public spaces must also be recognised as...

“Catch me if you can.” That’s what President Obama seems to be saying to the Republican-led Congress, to the Judicial Branch, and to every single American, regardless of political affiliation. He is daring all of us to try and stop him from implementing, on his own, the final act of his “fundamental transformation” of the country in the two years he has left in office. What’s worse is that we are letting him get away with it.

....Hollywood star Sharon Stone was scheduled to make a (paid) appearance in Ecuador last year to talk about the environment and generally say how bad Chevron was, etc. She was paid a significant sum of money for this “activism” but two small problems cropped up. First, she didn’t show up to do the appearance. And second, according the hosts of the event, she kept the money anyway.