Free Republic

“How do you think we … Health care is not free. Now, we pay for health care in a variety of ways, pretty complicated. About half of health care dollars, more or less, comes from taxes.” Quick — who said that? None other than Sen. Bernie Sanders, Congress’ original and most enduring Socialist. The 2020 Democratic presidential contender admitted in a recent interview with the Washington Post that yes, every American will have to be taxed in order to afford a socialism-style, one-size-fits-all, government-run healthcare system. What Bernie isn’t honest about is just how much such a system will cost....

Have the present-day progressives who say they admire him ever read him? The American Left has an abiding attachment to Theodore Roosevelt. Everyone from MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews to former Harvard University Press editor-in-chief Aida D. Donald keeps Roosevelt on hand as a stand-in example of a “good Republican” — invoked, perhaps, when the name of Abraham Lincoln has been outworn, and a new exemplar of “acceptable” Republicanism is needed. A “trans-partisan” figure and an original “progressive,” Roosevelt represents what the GOP could have been. But on the social issues that loom so large in the liberal Democratic mind, just...

Empty wallets might finally do to the crowd of Democrat 2020 presidential challengers what national disinterest could not. New financial disclosures show that 11 liberal contenders for the Oval Office are operating their campaigns at a deficit, having spent more money than campaign donations could support. Eight more have less than $1 million on hand. More than five months from 2020, only the front-runners have the financial means to go much further. “This is the doomsday scenario for a lot of campaigns, where they’re grasping for air to keep their campaigns alive and to live another day,” said Washington Democrat...

CHARLOTTE — A new mobile ultrasound unit was vandalized July 11 as it was parked near Planned Parenthood’s new location in Charlotte. The mobile ultrasound unit, operated by the Human Coalition and its Women’s Clinic of Charlotte, was parked overnight outside the Women’s Clinic, just a few blocks away from Planned Parenthood’s new abortion facility in uptown Charlotte. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is moving its Charlotte Health Center from Albemarle Road to 700 South Torrence St., located in the historically black Cherry neighborhood. The 10,626-square-foot building will double the space Planned Parenthood has for its reproductive health services and education...

A California poll of Democrat primary voters in the state has Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) surging past favorite daughter Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and former Vice President Joe Biden in the Golden State ahead of the second debates upcoming at the end of July. The tracking survey of 4,050 respondents, conducted by Capitol Weekly, has Warren at 24.8 percent in California, while Harris is at 20.3 percent and Biden is at 19.6 percent. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is at 15.6 percent and South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg is down at 7.7 percent. The only other candidate to break...

Former Vice President Joe Biden has a narrow lead over the field of Democratic contenders in New Hampshire, but Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have surged into contention for the top spot in the first-in-the-nation primary state, according to a new poll released Monday. The latest survey from Saint Anselm College finds Biden at 20.8 percent support among likely Democratic voters in New Hampshire, a 2-point drop from April. Biden is followed closely by Harris at 17.5 percent support and Warren at 16.7 percent. The figures mark a 10-point jump for Harris and an 8-point jump for...

The cancer research nonprofit founded by former Vice President Joe Biden is shutting down amid his White House run, its director announced. The Biden Cancer Initiative was launched in 2017 as an offshoot of the Obama White House’s Cancer Moonshot program. According to a statement on its website, the initiative suspended all operations effective July 11. Greg Simon, president of the Biden Cancer Initiative, said the organization is “suspending activities given our unique circumstances.” Simon added that “we remain personally committed to the cause, but at this time will have to pause efforts. We thank the community for their incredible...

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden unveiled a plan on Monday to bolster ObamaCare by protecting people with pre-existing conditions, ​adding a “public option” like Medicare and using tax credits to lower premiums. With the announcement, the former vice president set himself apart from other Democratic candidates who supported “Medicare for all,” including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. ​”I understand the appeal of Medicare for All,” Biden said in a video posted ​Monday. “But folks supporting it should be clear that it means getting rid of Obamacare. And I’m not for that.”

Planned Parenthood abortion business CEO Leanna Wen has been fired after just 10 months on the job. The abortion corporation wants a more aggressively pro-abortion activist as its leader as it heads into the crucial 2020 presidential election. According to the New York Times, the Planned Parenthood board engaged in “hours of negotiations”and ultimately canned Wen, citing the need for a “more aggressive political leader.” Alexis McGill Johnson has been named as interim president of its political arm Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “I am proud to step in to serve as acting president and facilitate a smooth leadership transition in...

In the new nation that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota seeks to create, the "capitalist system" will be left behind in pursuit of a "fair and just economy" where the federal government guarantees everybody jobs, housing, health care and free abortions. How can we know this? She has declared it in writing. Omar's campaign website includes a section called "Ilhan's Vision." The agenda it presents contradicts foundational American principles -- particularly the rights to life and property -- that were spelt out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The declaration says that "all men are created equal"...

Name calling is the last refuge for one losing an argument. Much like a roundhouse punch that hits nothing but air, it’s a final effort in a losing fight. But it’s also been the one reliable punch for Democrats, playing the race card against opponents. Not so much now, however. Shouting, “You’re a racist!” has been the preferred comeback for Democrats on the losing side of an argument. Alternatives to the word racist include Nazi, bigot, fascist, homophobe, sexist, and so on, but racist has the best quick jab-like sting. Sometimes name calling can fall flat, as in calling Supreme...

The End of Prudence and the Triumph of Ideology in the Democratic Party Clifford Humphrey July 16, 2019 Commentary Steve Bullock, John Delaney, and Tim Ryan have two things in common. Of all the Democratic presidential candidates, they alone oppose providing government-funded health care to illegal immigrants. They also stand virtually no chance of winning the Democratic primary election. There’s plenty of space in which to disagree on issues. The problem is that Democratic candidates aren’t using that space at all. With only a few rather insignificant exceptions, they’re all huddled together in the furthest left corner of the stage....

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep it." That familiar pledge, made repeatedly over several years by former President Barack Obama, was named the 2013 "Lie of the Year" by fact-checking website Politifact, as millions of individuals lost their private insurance -- and had to switch to costlier options -- due to changes mandated by the Affordable Care Act. On Monday, Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden unveiled his own health care plan, and issued a similar-sounding promise while speaking at a presidential forum sponsored by AARP in Des Moines, Iowa. "I give people the option," Biden said,...

Why did Nancy Pelosi reverse her earlier approach to her noisy first-term progressives and start taking them to the public woodshed? An internal poll conducted in May by Democrats might explain why Pelosi decided to start cracking down on the frosh “Squad.” Axios got its hands on the survey, which showed that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had succeeded in making herself the “definitional face” of Democrats among swing voters.And that’s not a good thing for most other Democrats. When it comes to “white, non-college voters” that Democrats wooed away from Donald Trump in the midterms, AOC is box-office poison: Ocasio-Cortez was...

A woman was caught on video assaulting a pro-life activist, as well as spray painting one of his signs, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The assailant later admitted to police that she had premeditated the act of vandalism after becoming angry over the pro-life signage. An individual at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — later identified by police as Sasha Timofeeva — is facing two charges after shoving a pro-life activist and spray painting his sign, according to the group Created Equal, which describes itself as “a social action movement seeking to end the greatest human rights injustice of our time...

FULL TITLE: Abortion activist uses watermelon to glorify 'easy' abortion procedure: 'Thank you for watching our abortion' In an act solely meant to glorify abortion, an abortion activist participating at the Netroots Nation conference on Friday used a watermelon to demonstrate how abortion clinicians abort unborn children 11 to 12 weeks old. Abortion clinic consultant Jen Moore Conrow provided attendees with the step-by-step early pregnancy abortion process, according to the Washington Times. Conrow claimed the procedure takes 3-5 minutes and leaves women feeling "OK afterward." Ironically, she did not perform the abortion process herself, but rather left that task to...

About a dozen Christian, Jewish and other religious clergy gathered at an abortion care center in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday to bless the clinic and the work that takes place inside it. The blessing ceremony at Whole Woman’s Health of Austin was for patients as well as for the clinic’s staff, according to Rev. Amelia Fulbright, a campus minister in Austin. “The first and foremost goal was to say that we support you and the work that you’re doing, especially in a state where you’re constantly having to meet new regulations or deal with critics and protesters,” she said. Bolstered...

The media are reporting that one Frenchman's case represented a “right to die” fight. But, in their language, they’re overlooking that his story stood for something else: the right to live.On July 11, outlets broke the news that 42-year-old Vincent Lambert had passed away after being denied food and water for nine days. Left a quadriplegic with serious brain damage after a traffic accident more than 10 years ago, Lambert needed a feeding tube, but could breathe on his own. He was heavily sedated by French doctors as he died, in a move that divided not only France but also...

The endless fight between Republicans and Democrats seemed to pause last week. The cause: former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's announcement on "60 Minutes" on Jan. 27 that he is seriously considering a 2020 run for president as a centrist independent. Social media and partisan opinion writers lost their collective minds on that possibility, one of the parties seemingly deploying an activist to disrupt his first public outing, a New York City book event. "Don't help elect Trump, you egotistical billionaire a--hole," the heckler yelled. "Go back to getting ratio'ed on Twitter. Go back to Davos with the other billionaire elites...

In a June 21 press release, Vermont governor Phil Scott announced his decision to hire Xusana Davis, a thirty-year-old from New York City, as "the state's first executive director of racial disparity." Ms. Davis has been commissioned "to identify and address systemic racial disparities and support the state's efforts to expand and bring diversity to Vermont's overall population[.]" But it is far from clear that there are any "systemic racial disparities" to address. Governor Scott and Vermont attorney general T.J. Donovan have vocally condemned the Green Mountain State and its inhabitants as racist, based on statistics that show that blacks...