Free Republic

The FCC has attempted to regulate the internet twice in the past. On both occasions Federal courts ruled that the FCC didn’t have the authority to regulate the internet. That of course won’t stop the Obama administration from attempting to do just that via so-called net neutrality regulations. The FCC is considering a 332 page plan to regulate the internet. They’re expected to vote on it later this month. Only after the vote will they release to the public their plans to regulate the internet. The most open and transparent administration in history is set to regulate the internet without...

I'm sure, as all good Americans, you too have been pouring over every little detail of the President's latest budget proposal. I’ve basically been doing nothing but that for 4 straight days. Unfortunately, given the current Congressional makeup of selfish bigoted haters Republicans, it has very little chance of becoming law like every other budget he's proposed. Even so, there's one thing that stands out: Climate Resilience Toolkits.. I did a little video to emphasize its most important points. It was originally over three hours long as I found it impossible to winnow the important points down to less than...

If you’re like most Americans, you’re enjoying the fact that it costs a lot less to fill up your car’s gas tank these days. If you’re a fan of big government, you may feel a bit ambivalent, though. Why? Because one of the biggest drivers behind the drop in gas prices is the rise in directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) here at home. While the government is busy micromanaging the energy industry — trying to saddle it with more regulations while showering favors on so-called “green” companies — the free market is showing how to actually get things done....

Two New Jersey teens got a lesson in government regulations this week then they decided to go door to door offering snow shoveling services ahead of the Blizzard of 2015. The blizzard ended up being a bit underwhelming in N.J., but forecasts ahead of time predicted it would be a whopper. High school seniors Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18, decided to go door to door Monday evening handing out flyers offering snow shoveling services for the next morning, NJ.com reported. Unfortunately they didn't know about their town's ordinance related to soliciting, which prohibits people from selling services door-to-door...

Better go out and buy a gas fireplace and stove soon before federal regulations make them more expensive. Federal officials are looking to regulate the energy usage of fake fireplaces as part of the Obama administration’s effort to fight global warming.The Energy Department has proposed new regulations that would mandate that “gas-fired hearth products” like decorative fireplaces and stoves be more energy efficient and produce fewer carbon dioxide emissions. DOE says its rule would save $165 over the lifespan of the average hearth and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 11.1 million metric tons through 2030.The major change DOE demands is...

Last week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced major new regulations on the emissions of methane into the air from oil and gas production. It calls methane a “potent” pollutant and its new rules would require a 45 percent reduction by 2025 from 2012 levels. Most Americans support these new rules, according to polling from environmental groups. This isn’t surprising. Methane sounds like a dirty and dangerous pollutant and even deadly if leaked into water or the air. However, methane is just another term for the main component of natural gas. Drillers have a powerful motive to stop leakage on...

The house at 27 Crocus Place is listed on property tax statements for $1.06 million, but neighbors consider it priceless. Built in 1902, the yellow, two-story Victorian sits on a bluff, overlooking Pleasant Avenue and Interstate 35E. In November, trial attorney Fred Pritzker and his wife, Renee, bought the 4,200-square-foot home from his brother and sister-in-law with a singular goal: to tear it down and replace it with one that is more accessible to the disabled. At 64, Pritzker said he is slowly losing function on the left side of his body; at some point soon, he'll need a walker...

It’s not commonly known because it is rarely covered in the media, but each year, there are literally thousands of suggestions made to the various agencies of the massive federal bureaucracy – the Administrative Branch, if you will – to improve efficiency, cut down on waste, fraud and abuse, and generally become better stewards of the taxpayer’s money while bolstering faith in government. If President Obama and the new Republican majority really wanted to “work together” to “get things done,” they could start by requiring the various Executive Branch bureaucracies to act on them.

ATHENS, Greece — In these disastrous economic times, opening a store on tony Voukourestiou Street next to global luxury brands such as Dior and Prada is a goal many Greek fashion designers can only dream about. But despite the crippling financial crisis that has been plaguing Greece for the past six years, 35-year-old Penny Vomva opened a storefront for her designer clothing and accessories company, RIEN, on the boutique-lined thoroughfare last month. Ms. Vomva is delighted, but she also is concerned about the shifting fortunes of the Greek economy. “My line of handmade leather bags costs 180 euros to 450...

Our dishwasher broke just after Christmas. The timer stopped working, and a new one costs about $100. My wife suggested that since the dishwasher is nineteen years old, we should buy a new one. Up until now it was working very quietly and efficiently, washing and drying a full load in about an hour. We visited the appliance shop where we had recently purchased a new clothes washing machine a few months earlier. I mentioned to the salesman that our new washer was very slow, taking nearly two hours to finish a large load compared to our old one, which...

21,000 new regulations have been enacted under Obama, and 2,375 are scheduled so far for 2015. Congress does not have the power to stop this avalanche, and can do very little to slow it down. The sad and frustrating part of this “government gone wild” scenario is that it is highly doubtful any of these regulations can be rescinded or fixed before they potentially cause significant permanent damage to our individual freedoms, to say nothing of how they will negatively impact our day-to-day lives. This is how Obama’s “fundamental change” of America is accomplished.

With President Obama determined to leave his mark through regulations, administration officials are trying to finalize as many health and consumer safety protections as possible before his term runs out. Agencies such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration have a host of final rules on deck for what could be a burst of rulemaking in Obama’s final two years in office. Rules that agencies are expected to finalize in the next year include safety standards for ATVs and electronic reporting of workplace injuries. Here's a look at what the...

Tobacco and Firearms. Gifts that keep on giving to the left. (Vanity/Opinion) Let’s use the historic fight against Big Tobacco as a backdrop for the Eric Garner case. Many of us are familiar with the history of the left’s crusade against Big Tobacco. There were epic Congressional and Judicial battles to prove that Big Tobacco lied about the effects of cigarettes. Then followed lawsuits against Big Tobacco which extorted vast transfers of wealth from Big Tobacco to the Government. The hatred of the left to Big Tobacco compared only to the hatred of Kahn to Captain Kirk.

The pace of agencies issuing new rules and regulations has hit a record high under resident Obama, whose administration’s rules have filled 468,500 pages in the Federal Register. And, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the president is poised to unleash another 2,375 new rules on American businesses without first giving Congress an up or down vote. ... Crews put the incoming Congress on notice about Obama’s pending 2,375 proposed rules were issued in 2014 and are under consideration. He pointed out a report that said the administration isn’t supplying the required reports on new rules and said that Congress...

Hide your Santa’s, hide your reindeer, and take down your wreaths …because big government is regulating everything! That’s right, the government is now turning all its nanny state hate towards the holiday season – and in a move that would make even the Grinch blush, President Obama’s bureaucracy is proposing new regulations on the use of traditional Christmas lights and other holiday decorations. This month the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) un-wrapped new proposed federal regulations that if enacted, would categorize certain Christmas lights and other “seasonal decorative lighting products” as posing a “substantial product hazard” to the public at...

An article in the book The Abortion Controversy has a disturbing quote by a pro-choice activist: In 1989, the Miami Herald ran a story about a local abortion clinic whose conditions were so heinous that one woman died and another was maimed. Abortion proponents admitted that they had known about the clinic conditions but had remained silent for political reasons. According to pro-choice advocate Janis Compton–Carr: “In my gut, I am completely aghast at what goes on at that place. But I staunchly oppose anything that would correct this situation in law.” — Misty Mealey “Abortion Is a Social Failure”...

Say transgender kids should choose which sex to live with Health and Human Services released long overdue guidelines Friday ordering facilities that house illegal immigrant children to set up sexual abuse prevention programs, and to be prepared to deal with tricky cases such as transgender or intersex children. The rules, which congressional Democrats had demanded earlier this week, govern everything from pat-downs to evaluating each child for their likely risk of being targeted for sexual abuse or harassment, and govern how the children should be housed while at the private facilities, which operate under a government contract.

“Lack of transparency was really critical to getting it passed,” former Obamacare consultant Jonathan Gruber explained. The Democrats cleverly exploited the American voters’ “lack of economic understanding.” Now President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is using secretive, duplicitous science, and exploiting people’s lack of scientific understanding, to impose punitive regulations cleverly labeled the “clean power plan.” The agency claims the clean power plan will prevent “dangerous manmade climate change” by reducing carbon dioxide and “encouraging” greater use of renewable energy. Its real goal is forcing coal-fired power plants to reduce operations significantly or shut down entirely. The EPA also claims that...

After weeks of promising bipartisanship and refusing to make policy announcements that might rile Democratic lawmakers, Maryland Gov.-elect Larry Hogan has picked his first political fight, coming out swinging against environmentalists and their powerful allies in the General Assembly. Mr. Hogan vowed Monday to roll back proposed new regulations that would limit phosphorus runoff from farms, siding with Eastern Shore farmers who rely on phosphorus-rich chicken manure for fertilizer and against environmentalists who blame it for choking the life out of the Chesapeake Bay. The regulation, known as the “phosphorus management tool,” or PMT, has been hotly debated in the...

AirBnB.Com, Uber.Com: If you own a house or car, should you be free to do what you want with it? If your plans for your personal property include making money, then you may find out the hard way that, no, you can’t do as you wish. That’s the harsh lesson being learned by many Americans as they participate in the new, burgeoning freelance services industries. Consider Raleigh, North Carolina resident Gregg Stebben. He and his wife Jodi are registered as service providers with AirBnB.Com, the new online venture that matches travelers in search of lodging with private homes, extra bedrooms...