Free Republic

Government’s involvement in healthcare has been such a rousing success, Obama is now thinking about getting more involved in regulating the retirement of Middle Class America. Hooray… Proposing new executive regulatory rules (because going through Congress is too cumbersome and democratic), the President has claimed that he is riding to the rescue of average American investors with the heavy hand of government oversight. According to theState.com:The proposed rule, which Obama can put in place without congressional approval, would impose a requirement on some financial advisers to act as what the law calls “fiduciaries” for their clients, meaning that when they recommend...

A short paper recently released by the Heritage Foundation takes a look at the expected manufacturing job losses as a result of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. Predictably, they are significant. Using a social cost of carbon (SCC) equal to $37 per ton, the Heritage Energy Model (HEM) was used to determine the economic impact such climate regulations would have on the U.S. economy down to the state and, most interestingly, even to a congressional district level. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Rust Belt, home to what remains of the country’s once dominant industrial sector, can expect to see the largest losses...

The Internet has made all of our lives better, in part because there’s been an accidental policy of benign neglect from Washington.But that’s about to change.Even though our economy already is burdened by record amounts of regulation and red tape, the FCC is pushing forward with a plan to turn the Internet into a moss-covered public utility.This almost leaves me at a loss for words. It’s truly remarkable – in a bad way – that the bureaucrats at the Federal Communications Commission think that the Internet can be improved by a big dose of 1930s-era regulation and control.My Cato colleague,...

A newly leaked document by the Federal Aviation Administration may offer a first look at upcoming regulations for drones, and the laws discussed appear to be somewhat favorable for photographers who fly camera drones.

The Federal Election Commission is considering expanding their regulatory power to include political speech online… Yeah, let’s regulate the internet. I mean, free speech can’t just be expected to run wild or anything, right? The FEC held an open hearing yesterday to determine if they will move forward on clamping down on political content online (such as blogs, YouTube videos, and other “free” messaging). According to CNS News:Last October, FEC Chairwoman Ann Ravel issued a statement in which she complained that the agency was not doing enough to monitor activity on the Internet.Right… Because I know I’m terrified that the feds...

Whose Internet is it anyway? Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, says he’s keeping that question in mind as he pitches the biggest regulatory shake-up to the telecommunications industry since 1996, when people still used noisy modems and referred to the “information superhighway” as a fun way to buy books or check the weather. Wheeler has not publicly released his plan yet, and might not for a few weeks. But he has suggested that Internet service has become as critical to people in the United States as water, electricity or phone service and should be regulated like any...

25,000 adult film stars, distributors, and fans descended on Las Vegas this week for the 15th annual Adult Entertainment Expo and AVN Award Show, the industry’s equivalent of the Academy Awards. Porn stars showed off for the cameras, toy manufacturers hawked their wares, and 1,000 journalists from hundreds of outlets chronicled the extravaganza. However, this year’s convention comes at a pivotal moment for the industry’s presence in California, which has long been the pornography capital of the world.

....researchers looked at the diets of children ages 2 to 11 and teens aged 12 to 19 from 2003-2010. They found that pizza makes up about 20% of kids’ daily calories on days when they eat pizza—and despite the insistence of some politicians that pizza should be considered a vegetable for its ample tomato sauce, those calories aren’t coming from an onslaught of veggies.....

Republicans in Congress are doing a 180 on net neutrality as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to issue new rules within weeks. For years, GOP lawmakers have adamantly opposed any rules requiring Internet service providers to treat all Web traffic equally, calling them unnecessary and an example of Washington overreach. But now that the FCC is moving toward issuing a tough net neutrality order that would subject broadband to utility-style regulation — an approach endorsed by President Barack Obama — top Republicans in both chambers are making plans to legislate their own rules to ensure the agency doesn’t go too...

Energy Policy: In spite of dramatically lower methane emissions from fracking, according to the EPA's own data, the agency wants to impose draconian regulations on the oil and gas industry similar to those on coal. The new rules that the White House announced on Wednesday aim to cut oil emissions of methane, a target of environmental groups, by 45% below 2012 levels, despite the fact that the emissions already show a sharp decline even as shale oil and gas production has skyrocketed. This war-on-shale action mirrors the administration's war on coal, with EPA rules impossible to meet economically and sometimes...

Taking direct aim at the oil-and-gas industry, President Obama on Wednesday put forth long-awaited regulations on methane emissions, setting an ambitious goal of reducing those emissions by 45 percent over the next decade. The move comes just days before the State of the Union address and underscores that, in the final two years of presidency, Mr. Obama is looking to cement his legacy on climate-change and environmental issues...

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...