Free Republic

Last year, while writing about the sleazy and self-serving behavior at the IRS, I came up with a Theorem that explains day-to-day behavior in Washington. It might not be as pithy as Mitchell’s Law, and it doesn’t contain an important policy prescription like Mitchell’s Golden Rule, but it could be the motto of the federal government. Simply stated, government is a racket that benefits the DC political elite by taking money from average people in America I realize this is an unhappy topic to be discussing during the Christmas season, but the American people need to realize that they are...

A Washington institution closed up shop Saturday night for good. Famous Luigi's on 19th Street, Northwest served its last meal. The classic Italian restaurant was started by immigrant Luigi Calvi back in 1943.

NBC News boss Deborah Turness is spending the last few days of the year eyeing cuts — moves that could include axing some senior on-air talent, The Post has learned. Turness, brought on in August to shake up the moribund news division — where “Meet the Press” and “Today” had stumbled — is in the midst of a host of end-of -year buyouts and cost reductions, sources said. The current moves are not the first time Turness has irked journalists under her command.

The District of Columbia will do anything to stop law-abiding people from owning firearms to defend themselves. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that D.C.’s 30-year handgun ban was unconstitutional in the landmark District of Columbia v. Heller decision. In response, Washington’s city council put in place the most onerous gun registration requirement in the country. So Dick Heller is taking D.C. to court again in a case known as “Heller II.” --snip-- Meanwhile, the police recovered 12,000 unregistered firearms from 2007 to 2013. Officers only found 36 registered guns in that same six-year period. Even then, only 17 of...

Federal law enforcement authorities have charged nearly 50 past or present Russian diplomats and their spouses in a $1.5 million Medicaid fraud scheme, an unusual twist in what has become a familiar criminal story line in New York. An F.B.I. investigation revealed “the systemic fraudulent submission of falsified applications for Medicaid benefits” by the diplomats and their spouses, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday in United States District Court in Manhattan. The diplomats and their spouses obtained the benefits for pregnancies, births and first-year-of-life medical needs, generally applying at the same New York hospital, which was not identified,...

The 1,800 or so criminals who have killed, robbed or assaulted innocent people with guns in the District of Columbia so far this year were hauled into the police station to be fingerprinted, photographed and to undergo a criminal-background check. Now, legal gun owners who have committed no crime are getting the exact same treatment. That is neither constitutional, nor fair. The latest gun-control scheme that starts on Jan. 1 will force every legal firearm owner in the nation’s capital to go in person to police headquarters to renew their registration certificates. The Metropolitan Police Department filed proposed rules last...

Multiple individual plans available on the D.C. health insurance exchange specifically cover elective abortion but not hearing aids, routine foot-care, and routine eye-care. One such plan, Healthy Blue PPO $1500 (you can check it out on the DC Healthlink website here), has a summary on the D.C. exchange’s website titled “Excluded Services & Other Covered Services.” It says enrollees can receive coverage for abortions performed for a non-medical reasons, but not for a number of other services that could seem medically necessary. The plan also excludes coverage for some other procedures, including cosmetic surgery, bariatric surgery, and infertility treatment. Per...

DC abruptly fired its insurance commissioner because he questioned Obama's announced "fix." ...What had White done? When President Obama announced his "administrative fix" for Obamacare causing millions of old policies to be cancelled, White had quickly pointed to a very skeptical statement about the fix issued by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and expressed agreement. He also joined a handful of other state insurance commissioners (nearly all of them liberal Democrats, by the way) in openly rejecting this ad hoc approach as unworkable...

"...........The signs of the new Washington are everywhere — from the Tiffany & Co. store that Fairfax County development officials boast is the most profitable in the country to the new Tesla dealership in Tysons Corner. Every morning on the Beltway, contractors, lobbyists and some of the country’s highest-paid lawyers sit in the nation’s worst traffic. Sports talk radio crackles with rants about the Redskins and the latest ads from Deltek, a firm that advises companies on “capture strategies” for winning government contracts. The radio signal doesn’t extend much beyond the Washington commute. It doesn’t have to. The ad barely...

Coming to you from the Department of Tolerance, Compromise and Open Discussion, we find an interesting story of Human Resources action in DC. After the President announced his “fix” to the “If You Like Your Plan” problem, William White, the DC insurance commissioner, echoed concerns that many people expressed, asking if this sort of change might not undermine the entire premise of the system and lead to even more people paying higher premiums or losing their plans. This was clearly an important question, so the Mayor of the District of Columbia called him into the office to discuss the policy...

The D.C. city government has named Chester A. McPherson as the new acting insurance commissioner, days after the former commissioner was fired following his statement against the White House’s administrative fix on cancelled insurance plans. McPherson, the acting commissioner, had been the deputy commissioner of market operations at the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking since August 2011. The city announced McPherson’s appointment in a press release and said he would begin immediately but made no mention of predecessor William A White’s departure.

The District of Columbia’s insurance commissioner says he was fired after questioning President Obama’s plan to fix ObamaCare and saying the city might not follow his suggestions. Commissioner William White told The Washington Post on Saturday that he was called into Mayor Vincent Gray’s office the prior day and told the Democratic mayor “wants to go in a different direction.” -snip- City officials have not commented on the situation, saying they cannot discuss personnel issues.

Earlier this week we learned Delaware has spent $4 million to enroll four people in Obamacare. That was nothing. New numbers from four different healthcare providers show Washington D.C. has spent $133,573,928 to enroll a grand total of five people in Obamacare. That's $26,714,785.60 per Obamacare enrollee. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield: two enrollees from Oct. 1, 2013, through Oct. 30, 2013. Kaiser Permanente: three enrollees from Oct. 1, 2013, through Oct. 31, 2013. UnitedHealthcare: no enrollment data from the exchange as of Nov. 4, 2013. Aetna: no enrollment data as of Oct. 24, 2013. American's for Tax Reform breaks down taxpayer...

WASHINGTON – While President Obama continues his cross country pitch on the merits of his landmark health care law, dismal new data shows only five people in the D.C. area have signed up for the Affordable Care Act – or ObamaCare. The enrollment data from the four health insurance companies participating the D.C. exchange was released Friday by Republicans Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah. “A lot of Americans are getting cancellation notices from their current health care plan but they haven’t been able to enroll in a new plan,” Grassley said in a written statement....

A covert game of hide and steal among the United Nations Agenda 21 Project, the U.S federal government, and Indian tribes will result in irreversible consequences that will let the feds control all national water rights. According to a press release by small ranchers and property owners in Montana, “Circuit Court Judge Cameron Wogan in Klamath Falls, Oregon, refused ranchers’ requests for a temporary restraining order to allow their cattle and horses access to drinking water.” Their main water tributaries were shut off in June of this year after tribal demands on rivers and streams feeding Klamath Lake turned 100,000...

<p>Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4.</p>

The nation’s capital is the only place in America where no one is allowed to exercise his right to bear arms. This is clearly unconstitutional, but the courts have thrown up repeated roadblocks to delay the law getting overturned for more than four years. The federal appeals court now will decide if this delay can continue. SEE ALSO: MILLER: D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing On Tuesday, attorney Alan Gura petitioned for a writ of mandamus to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on behalf of the plaintiffs to...

Perhaps it’s just bad timing, or a lack of perspective. To be fair, the Washington Post is a local newspaper, so its focus on the local economy shouldn’t surprise anyone. Even with that in mind, their story on how the sequestration has harmed the job market in the nation’s capital is rather tin-eared: The local economy saw only meager job growth in its most crucial industries during the one-year period ended in August, according to a recent Labor Department report that offered fresh evidence that federal spending cuts are taking a toll on the region’s job market.The professional services sector,...

In June 2013, the DC City Council passed legislation requiring carriers to sell all individual and small group products through DC Health Link, effectively dissolving the non-Marketplace individual and small group markets. Individual plans may only be offered through the Marketplace beginning on January 1, 2014, while small group plans have until January 1, 2015 to transition to DC Health Link.6 In addition, the SHOP and individual markets will be merged into a single risk pool.7

A graphic design company out of San Francisco, 99designs, challenged people to come up with a new name and logo for the Washington Redskins. Over 1,887 designs were submitted from 347 designers all over the country on their online contest.