Free Republic

**SNIP** In addition, there’s the hidden surprise waiting for those who are enjoying subsidies to help them pay for the insurance. If they have a “major life event” like getting married, or getting a raise or a promotion with a higher salary, not only could the subsidy disappear but any subsidy they enjoyed prior will have to be paid back. **SNIP** The clock is ticking as the November elections draw ever closer. Senate Democrats up for reelection who voted for the ACA are finding themselves facing unhappy constituents and newly energized challengers along with critical TV ads from conservative groups...

Vice President Biden’s national security adviser met with Iranian officials as far back as the summer of 2012, a new report reveals. Jake Sullivan secretly traveled to Oman in July 2012 to meet with Iranian officials, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. This would mark one of the earliest in-person meetings the U.S. held with Iran in recent years. Sullivan joined the State Department in 2009 and served under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as deputy chief of staff for policy. Although he moved to the White House in February, he continued to partake in backchannel discussions with Iran. The AP...

People hoping to gain health insurance through the new health care law by Jan. 1 now have an extra 24 hours to enroll, due to a quiet move by the Obama administration. Government officials and contractors tweaked some software to make sure that anyone who enrolled by 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Eve still would still obtain coverage by the dawn of the new year, and insisted the deadline — at least on paper — is still today. “We recognize that many have chosen to make their final decisions on today’s deadline and we are committed to making sure they can...

A confidential training manual for Obamacare navigators that threatens prosecution for unauthorized dissemination is on the Internet for the world to see. The 217-page manual reads like a primer for Amway or novice car salesmen, offering sales advice on how to disarm potential customers who could be lured into purchasing insurance through exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act. Section headers include “Smile: Maintain a Positive Demeanor,” “Make the Customers Feel Welcome,” “Listen” and — in what must now seem ironic given Barack Obama’s troubles with over-promising — “Build Trust: Be True to Your Word.”

The US Air Force has secretly developed a new stealth drone for long-range reconnaissance missions that could be operational by 2015, according to a report Friday in an industry magazine. The unmanned drone, dubbed RQ-180, is currently in the testing phase at the top secret Groom Lake air base in Nevada -- the infamous "Area 51" where the Air Force tested the U2 spy planes in the late 1950s, Aviation Week said. The Air Force refused to comment when contacted by AFP. The new aircraft was reportedly built by Northrop Grumann, the company behind the Global Hawk and the X-47B...

  Hezb'allah and the nazi saluteThe news goes from terrible to ........ horrible. First Iran, now this. Is there any murderous jihadi that Obama won't sanction? Hezb'allah is a designated terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans.Obama is friend to the global jihad, enemy of American interests, an enemy in the White House, no less. Devastating.In April 1983, Hezb'Allah (party of Allah) allegedly blew up a van filled with explosives in front of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 58 Americans and Lebanese. In October 1983, Iranian proxy Hezb'allah bombed our Marine barracks in Beirut, taking the...

Highly secretive trade agreement have been published on the WikiLeaks website with 95 pages that were taken from the recent TPP or better known as Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. The main aim of the TPP is to unite nations such as the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei that combine with itself about 40% of gross domestic product. Barack Obama and other leaders of the outstanding 11 states were keeping the TPP in secrecy for a lot of years. According to the officials, the agreement would stir up the economies of those...

The Obama administration is secretly negotiating a treaty that could have significant effects on domestic law. Officially, it's a "free trade" treaty among Pacific rim countries, but a section of the draft agreement leaked in 2011 suggested that it will require signers, including the United States, to make significant changes to copyright law and enforcement measures. **SNIP** Now, as Maira Sutton at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, the New York Times editorial board has endorsed the TPP. While the editorial acknowledges that some are "worried about provisions on intellectual property that could restrict the availability of generic medicines and...

It is the secret ingredient of many a homemade meal. But the precise contents of this tangy relish itself have remained a mystery. Until now. After more than 170 years, the original recipe for Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce has been revealed. It was found in notes dating from the mid-1800s that were dumped in a skip by the sauce factory. Brian Keogh, a former Lea and Perrins accountant, discovered the notes, which were neatly written in sepia ink in two leather-bound folios, and rescued them. Today, the label on bottles of the sauce lists vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, anchovies,...

Secret deal made with iran

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to deep-six a stealth City Council account that some aldermen used to put family members, campaign operatives and those with political baggage on the public payroll without detection until the Tribune exposed the practice. The $1.3 million secret fund, which dates back decades at City Hall, is zeroed out in the 2014 budget proposal the mayor unveiled Wednesday. The change, however, will save only about $6,000. That's because the money is being spent to create a council office of financial analysis and to beef up regular aldermanic expense accounts — which some aldermen also have used...

The Air Force removed Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, a 35-year veteran, from his command of 20th Air Force, responsible for all 450 of the service's intercontinental ballistic missiles. Carey, who took his post in Wyoming in June 2012, will be reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation into personal misbehavior, the service said. The Air Force would not specify what Carey is alleged to have done wrong, but two officials with knowledge of the investigation indicated that it was linked to alcohol use.

The Justice Department has seized a New York City office tower after claiming it was secretly owned by the Iranian government, who was using it to launder their money. One Wednesday, the DOJ received a summary judgement from a U.S. District Court, ruling that building's owners were actually a front for the Iranian government, placing them in violation of economic sanctions that prevent them doing business in the United States. Now the U.S. government says the building could be sold to compensate victims of "Iranian-sponsored terrorism." U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who has made a name for himself by going after...

Aaron Alexis, the 34-year-old suspect in Monday's shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, had "secret" clearance and was assigned to start working there as a civilian contractor with a military-issued ID card, his firm's CEO told Reuters. "He did have a secret clearance. And he did have a CAC (common access card)," said Thomas Hoshko, CEO of "The Experts," which was helping service the Navy, Marine Corps intranet as a subcontractor for a Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services contract.

NEW YORK – On the eve of a critical Capitol Hill discussion on Syria and two days before his address to the nation, President Obama has offered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a way out of any U.S. bombing campaign. Informed Middle Eastern intelligence officials tell WND the U.S. passed a message to Assad through Russia offering a deal that would ensure against U.S. military action if the Syrian leader agrees to the following terms: Serious political reforms that will result in free and fair presidential elections. Assad will not be allowed to run in future presidential elections and agrees to...

The owner of the encrypted email service used by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden says he could face criminal charges for refusing to comply with a secret federal court order issued last week. Ladar Levison abruptly shut down his company, Lavabit LLC, last week to avoid being forced to hand over customers’ personal information and communications. James Trump, a senior litigation counsel at the US attorney’s office in Alexandria, Virginia, contacted Levinson’s lawyer on August 8 - the day Levinson ended Lavabit’s services, NBC News reported. The attorney was told that Levison had “violated the court order,” leading to speculation...

In a report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, the Obama administration unequivocally denies the existence of secret detention facilities operated by any part of the U.S. government. The document is a response to "55 questions prepared by the Committee and transmitted to the United States on January 10, 2010," ranging from CIA rendition to allegations of torture by Chicago police in the 1980s. Among those questions were several regarding the detention of suspected terrorists and combatants. Question 5(a) reads, in part: Please provide information on: (a) Whether the State party has adopted a policy that ensures that no...

The US government has paid at least £100m to the UK spy agency GCHQ over the last three years to secure access to and influence over Britain's intelligence gathering programmes. The top secret payments are set out in documents which make clear that the Americans expect a return on the investment, and that GCHQ has to work hard to meet their demands. "GCHQ must pull its weight and be seen to pull its weight," a GCHQ strategy briefing said. The funding underlines the closeness of the relationship between GCHQ and its US equivalent, the National Security Agency. But it will...

Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday was steadfast in his insistence that he did the right thing by keeping the target of his economic development trip last week a mystery. "I went because I am trying to get jobs for Minnesota and part of that is meeting with businesses who don’t share my willingness to be put in the public limelight," he told reporters on Tuesday, the first day he met with the media since his mystery mission. "If I am going to have to disclose where I went in that kind of situation, it is going to cost me the...

“Logic may indeed be unshakeable, but it cannot withstand a man who is determined to live. Where was the judge he had never seen? Where was the High Court he had never reached? He raised his hands and spread out all his fingers. But the hands of one of the men closed round his throat, just as the other drove the knife deep into his heart and turned it twice.” – Franz Kafka, The Trial In a bizarre and ludicrous attempt at “transparency,” the Obama administration has announced that it asked a secret court to approve a secret order to...