Free Republic

President Obama hasn’t given much credence to the idea that America is suffering from overregulation, and his policies have proven that. Late last year, he debuted a new EPA rule that has been called “the most expensive regulation ever.” “Economically significant” regulations have exploded in the Obama era. The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Wayne Crews has done exhaustive work cataloging regulation in America, and his new report on regulation for 2015, Tip of the Costberg, is an eye-opener.Crews estimates that regulation will cost the American economy $1.882 trillion in 2015. This is a staggering figure and, as you might have...

An excerpt from the article: Can the claim of the Catholic magisterium to formulate and impose obligatory laws on God's people be supported by the Scriptures? For the sake of argument, let's concede that church leaders have the authority to impose new obligatory rules. In that case, though we would not expect these rules to be written in the Bible, we would expect that they do not contradict the teaching of the inspired Scriptures. We open the Bible to investigate. First we find this passage... So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival...

If you've ever stood on a cold street late at night wishing desperately and hopelessly for a cab, Uber is the answer to your prayers. Its pricing model, which includes higher fares at times when demand peaks, is designed to make sure you get a ride whenever you need it. But instead of seeing this option as heaven-sent, some riders damn the company as Satan's spawn. On New Year's Eve, Uber boosted its New York City fares nearly eightfold to ensure the supply of drivers needed to meet high demand. Some partygoers accepted the offer rather than take the subway,...

Federal regulators looking to place restrictions on Internet providers will introduce and vote on new proposed net neutrality rules in February, Federal Communications Commission officials said Friday. President Obama's top telecom regulator, Tom Wheeler, told fellow FCC commissioners before the Christmas holiday that he intends to circulate a draft proposal internally next month with an eye toward approving the measure weeks later, said one official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agency's deliberations are ongoing. The rules are meant to keep broadband providers such as Verizon and Comcast from speeding up or slowing down some Web sites...

The governor of New York recently approved a new policy that will allow the state's tax dollars to fund sex change operations for indigent New Yorkers who identify as transgender and have been medically diagnosed with gender identity disorder. The new regulation will permit the state's $55 billion Medicaid program, which is already the largest in the nation, to fund gender reassignment surgeries as well as other medical treatments, such as hormone therapy for transgenders enrolled in the program. Officials in the state estimate that the new provision in the Medicaid policy will expand the program by nearly $6.7 million...

Though the amount of trans fats in the sprinkles that are used to adorn donuts and ice cream cones is extremely low, the Food and Drug Administration is determined to eliminate these items from the food chain. “There is no good reason why anyone should consume these non-nutritional pollutants in our food supply,” said FDA nutrition expert Harley Sain. “The donuts and ice cream cones where sprinkles are usually found are bad enough on their own without this worthless addition.” Sain admitted that “if it were totally up to me, we’d be banning the donuts and ice cream, too. No...

No matter how many common sense pro-life bills Ken Cuccinelli introduced in the Virginia State Senate, he found absolutely no compromise from his Democratic colleagues. Year after year, liberal legislators routinely rejected bills that would have ensured necessary regulations in the state’s abortion clinics. Now, they are left with what they call an ‘extreme’ law named TRAP, the Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. I spoke to former Attorney General and 2013 Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA) about his experience in the Virginia State Senate, where he says Democrats have no right to cry foul over the current law, when...

TORONTO – More than 60 organizations and agencies from across the country are calling for the non-enforcement and repeal of new prostitution laws that came into force on Saturday. The groups – which include the Canadian AIDS Society, John Howard Society, and Native Women’s Resource Centre – want the new law repealed and the full decriminalization of sex work in Canada. The sweeping new changes to the way prostitution is regulated in Canada follow a Supreme Court decision last year that found the old laws violated the rights of prostitutes. The groups say the law will recriminalize sex work while...

Does Missaukee County, Michigan, really have a dangerous air pollution problem? The 574-square-mile region, nestled in the northwestern part of the state's lower peninsula, is home to all of 15,000 people. Its economy consists mainly of Christmas tree, dairy and livestock farms, and summer vacationers. The nearest "cities" are Cadillac to the west (population 10,281), and Grayling to the northeast (population 1,863). Yet new smog rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday would treat this little county like Los Angeles...

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson warned that he will hold off on many of his company's capital investment plans if uncertainty persists over how the US government will regulate the Internet. "It's prudent to pause," he said at an investor conference Wednesday. "We want to make sure we have line of sight on this process and where these rules could land, and then re-evaluate." The comments come two days after President Obama threw his support behind the idea that broadband services providers should be regulated under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which would treat Internet service providers more like utilities...

Whatever the FCC's charter might be, and whatever its intentions, its rules and regulations over the past 70 years have often stifled competition, thwarted innovation and curtailed investment in the nation's communications networks. Here are five prime examples:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota cities have circled the wagons in a controversial property rights case that pits municipal authorities against homeowners who are challenging the constitutionality of Winona’s rental ban before the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is turning to actor Woody Harrelson and director Darren Aronofsky in a new ad urging voters to “take the fight against climate change to the ballot box.” The 30-second ad buy, narrated by Harrelson, and directed by Aronofsky, declares the climate fight is one people “will win,” but voting on Election Day is key. “They told us the world was flat and insisted it was the center of the universe,” Harrelson states in the ad as images of the earth in black and white flicker on the screen. “[They] said that cigarettes were harmless.” “Now they...

Environmental groups are on track to spend more than $85 million on key races this year, more than ever before, according to an internal memo. The record spending comes as green groups are worried about the fate of the Senate and the future of President Obama’s climate agenda, which they say is crucial to helping the U.S. and other nations curb greenhouse gas emissions and stave off disastrous climate impacts. A memo circulated among five of the nation’s top environmental organizations, and provided to The Hill, summarizes in detail the plan hatched by the groups to put climate change on...

Dealing with federal, state and local taxes and regulations is already an incredibly burdensome task on startups and small businesses. But beyond complying with onerous regulations from the jurisdiction where businesses operate, there is a little talked about potential tax change that could make it much more difficult for small businesses to expand into the online marketplace. This complication is known as the Marketplace Fairness Act or MFA. Right now, traditional “brick-and-mortar” stores are required by states and localities to collect sales taxes from customers and remit those back to the states. This is because they have a physical presence...

The Environmental Protection Agency took the first step toward regulating a chemical in the country’s drinking water on Monday. The EPA issued a preliminary determination to regulate the chemical called strontium, which is a naturally occurring element. At elevated levels strontium can impact bone strength in people who don’t consume enough calcium, the EPA said. Strontium has been found in roughly 99 percent of the public water systems in the U.S..

One of the chief concerns about the EPA’s recently proposed Clean Power Plan is the effect that the regulation would have on electric grid reliability. We’ve written before about the roughly 50 gigawatts of installed baseload capacity that the EPA itself acknowledges will be retired by 2020 directly as a result of the proposed rule, as well as the 70 gigawatts slated for retirement as a result of other EPA regulations. Stakeholders and policymakers can see for themselves which generating stations in their state the EPA includes in their estimates by using the interactive map on our website. Altogether, these...

"You'll never meet anyone who says, 'I want to be a millionaire. I think I'll start a winery,'" owner Bill Smyth tells me from his small office over the tasting room of Westover Vineyards, nestled in Palomares Canyon. Smyth has worked in a number of fields. He made some money. He bought the vineyard property when he was young. His ex-wife bought him a kit to make wine, and his labor of love turned into a small business. Now, thanks to heavy-handed California regulators, he's selling off his ports and boutique wines and turning his winery back into a home....

Tyler Durden 09/05/2014 Just weeks after defaulting (yet again) on its debt (whether technically or not), and shortly after raising the minimum wage by 31% (to $523 a month) amid runaway inflation, it appears Argentina has gone full-Venezuela. As WSJ reports, the great minds that 'run' Argentina have decided to pass legislation (dubbed "the supply law") letting the government regulate private-sector prices, profit margins and production levels. The opposition is up in arms, "this is absolutely ridiculous. It's part of a very primitive ideology that says government officials should decide what people should make, how much they should make and...

On August 29, ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson and twenty state legislators sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). They called on the FCC to respect principles of constitutional federalism regarding states’ authority over their local governments. State constitutions or state legislatures create and define the powers of county, city and public utility districts. But the FCC is now weighing whether to eliminate the laws of some twenty states that restrict their respective local governments from going into the business of providing broadband Internet services. As a matter of public policy, ALEC believes that private sector investment, innovation and...