Free Republic

Some low-wage employers are moving toward hiring part-time workers instead of full-time ones to mitigate the health-care overhaul's requirement that large companies provide health insurance for full-time workers or pay a fee.Several restaurants, hotels and retailers have started or are preparing to limit schedules of hourly workers to below 30 hours a week. That is the threshold at which large employers in 2014 would have to offer workers a minimum level of insurance or pay a penalty starting at $2,000 for each worker. Pillar Hotels & Resorts this summer began to focus more on hiring part-time workers among its 5,500...

Ronald Kessler of Newsmax has more details on the Petraeus affair. They are rather sordid, and raise more questions about the timing of his resignation: [A]n FBI source says the investigation began when American intelligence mistook an email Petraeus had sent to his girlfriend as a reference to corruption. Petraeus was commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan from July 4, 2010 until July 18, 2011. The investigation began last spring, but the FBI then pored over his emails when he was stationed in Afghanistan. … Given his top secret clearance and the fact that Petraeus is married, the FBI continued...

Even by the standards of the friday afternoon news dump tradition, yesterday's news that Gen. David Petraeus had resigned from the CIA was a stunner. The most heralded military officer of his generation fell from grace after it was revealed he'd had an affair with his biographer. The affair was discovered earlier this year soon after the FBI began monitoring his email. This raises a very serious question. Who authorized the FBI to monitor the e-mail of the Director of the CIA?

Weekend Edition Why I don't vote… and you shouldn't either Saturday, November 10, 2012 My good friend and intellectual mentor, Doug Casey, recently shared the five reasons why he doesn't vote. He typically re-publishes these thoughts every four years. Perhaps you've seen them before. While I agree with Doug in principle… I have a wholly different rationale for not voting. Given this week's election, I thought I'd tell you about it. The reason I don't vote (and you shouldn't either) is… Our current system of governance is nothing more than tyranny, and it's on track to destroy our country. Like...

rally was scheduled on Long Island Saturday for fed-up utility customers to voice their frustration about still being without power nearly two weeks after superstorm Sandy struck, CBS Station WCBS reports. Many residents will spend their 13th day in the dark and cold Saturday, and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel

Well, that was fast. Just two days after President Barack Obama won a second term, boosted by more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, some Republicans are striking a new tone on illegal immigration. Conservative Fox News and radio host Sean Hannity said Thursday that his views on immigration have "evolved."

Two to go and this week it's PHoenix.. To the victor the spoils and a likely leg up in the Chase for the Cup.. to the rest of the pack, it's just one more race to go after Sunday. Who has the stuff to finish ahead of the pack? Place your bets!

Across Philadelphia, GOP poll inspectors were forcibly (and illegally) removed from polling locations. Coincidentally (or not), Mr. Obama received "astronomical" numbers in those very same regions, including locations where he received "over 99%" of the vote.

EL CAJON — The husband of an Iraqi woman who was found beaten to death in March in their El Cajon home has been arrested in connection with her death, El Cajon police said Friday. Kassim Alhimidi, 48, was booked into jail Thursday evening on one count of first degree murder in the death of Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old mother of five. He was arrested at the El Cajon police station, authorities said. Alhimidi is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. “After months of hard work, we determined this homicide was the result of domestic...

Clear Channel Liberal Talk 620 KPOJ Portland will flip to Sports “Fox Sports 620“. KPOJ garnered a 1.0 share in the October ratings, up from a 0.8 in September. It will join a Portland Sports battle that includes Alpha Broadcasting’s “750 The Game” KXTG and Entercom’s “1080 The Fan” KFXX. 620 will remain the co-flagship of Oregon State University play-by-play along with sister Talk 1190/102.3 KEX. Willamette Week has more details including a statement from KPOJ morning host Carl Wolfson.

Nearly two-thirds of employers expect to see a cost hike in their health plans when the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014, according to new data from the consulting firm Mercer. Employers in the restaurant and retail industries -- those with a large number of hourly wage workers who traditionally had minimal or no health insurance -- are more likely than other companies to drop their health plans or cut worker's hours in order to maintain their already slim profit margins. According to a Mercer survey of 1,203 employers, nearly half of retail and hospitality employers expect the...

An American flag flown upside-down and at half staff the day after the election at a McDonald's in West Virginia has raised questions and concerns. The flipped flag—which can be considered a call for help or a sign of distress—was taken down at about 11:30 p.m. at the restaurant along Route 2 in Follansbee, reports WTOV. Karen Mezan, the owner of the local fast-food franchise, told WTOV a mechanical issue caused the mishap. However, before the flag was removed, the station had received hundreds of calls expressing disappointment. Some callers had also questioned the timing of the display as a...

As I’ll not be around a PC this weekend (going duck hunting), I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of the veterans here on FR and elsewhere who fought and served for this great country. If there are any heroes in this country, it is you. You all are the best and I can’t thank you enough. God bless this great country.

A jittery U.S. senator-elect Elizabeth Warren gave one-sentence answers, ducked questions and even passed one on to Gov. Deval Patrick in an awkward first press conference since the election. Warren spoke for a total of less than four minutes during the 11-minute press conference — the rest was taken up by Patrick and reporters’ questions After being asked her first question — how she’d protect defense spending — Warren was silent as she turned to Patrick. “Defense spending is you,” Patrick prodded Warren.

He’s the Tony Soprano of the horse-and-buggy set. His name is Lebanon Levi, and he’s the chief enforcer and focal point of “Amish Mafia,” a new docu-series premiering next month on Discovery. The series, which follows on the heels of sister network TLC’s top-rated (and extremely controversial) “Breaking Amish,” centers around tough-guy Levi and his henchmen Alvin, Jolin and John — who quietly enforce justice and protect the Amish community in Lancaster, Pa., while church elders look the other way and no one asks questions.

A 30-year-old Russian man has shot dead six of his colleagues at a pharmaceutical company in Moscow. Dmitry Vinogradov was granted access to the building as he worked at the firm as a lawyer. He changed into camouflage gear and armed himself with two semi-automatic rifles, before shooting dead four men and two women at their desks. Another woman was wounded. Following the rampage, Vinogradov gave himself up to security guards. It is believed the lawyer had gone on a five-day drinking binge after being jilted by an ex-girlfriend - a pharmacist at the company. At a court hearing for...

As the national vote total began to solidify last night, one question on the minds of Republicans was: Where are the missing voters? Last night it looked like Mitt Romney had received something like 10 to 15 percent fewer votes than John McCain had in 2008, even though his percentage of the overall vote was at least two points higher. What did this mean? Where did the voters go? They didn’t go to Barack Obama, because exit polls suggested he had basically turned out the same demographic support he had four years ago. So where are they? Did this suggest...

Seven members of SEAL Team Six have been punished for supporting development of a video game released last month, according to a U.S. military official. The SEALs worked as paid consultants for Electronic Arts, the company that made "Medal of Honor Warfighter." They received letters of reprimand and forfeited half of their pay for two months. The SEALs do not face jail time. The official did not say what, if any, information the SEALs revealed by participating in the video game's development. However, a written statement from Deputy Commander of Naval Special Warfare, Rear Admiral Garry Bonelli, indicates this is...

I'm feeling rather pessimistic today. Call it sour grapes. So pessimistic, in fact, that you might just call it out right doom and gloom. With an outlook on life and politics and the prospects for our country that usually I just laugh at. Not apocalyptic, per se, but something approaching that. 100 years after the Roman Empire fell there was still something lingering around calling itself the "Roman Empire". 500 years after Rome fell, there was something still calling itself the "Roman Empire". Over a thousand years after Rome fell, there were still people around speaking as if their country...