Free Republic

English MP (Member of Parliament) Daniel Hannan, famous for his speech “the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government,” is no stranger to controversy. As a member of the European Conservatives and Reformist Group, he often says things that runs against the grain of prevailing sentiment in elitist circles. In this speech, posted on December 9th of this year, Hannan sets out to prove how the infamous German fuhrer Adolf Hitler was not a man of the right, but a different type of socialist. Mr Hannan opens, “Ladies and gentleman, who said this? ‘I am a socialist. And a very...

In 1825 Welsh industrialist, Robert Owen, purchased a religious community on the frontier in Indiana, named Harmony. He renamed the village, New Harmony, and implemented a wide range of social experiments that seemed to hark of John Lennon’s 1971 song, “Imagine.” Things did not go as planned. The popular understanding of communism among North Americans is that its concept began with the writings of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx then appeared in an extreme form with the advent of 1918 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In fact, while living in England, Engels attended a Socialist “church” founded by Robert Owen. and...

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” - Aldous Huxley I like quotes. Quotes are wisdom for those with short attention spans. They are disregarded by many as irrelevant platitudes or obsolete; however, they are knowledge, often hard-earned and considered by their authors to be important enough to be passed on. I’ve chosen the above quote for today, not only because it is always relevant, but because we bear witness to a time where the political left of this country is trying...

California's health insurance exchange said 144,178 people have newly enrolled in Obamacare coverage during the first month of sign ups. Officials also reported that 216,423 people have joined Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program for low-income people, since Nov. 15. That's in addition to the 2.2 million who had already enrolled in 2014 as part of the health-law expansion.

Gov. John Kasich’s Obamacare expansion has put 450,941 Ohioans on Medicaid, outpacing his administration’s projections by 24 percent. Instead of tempering leftist support for the expansion, budget-busting enrollment is portrayed as good news for Ohio; Obamacare sticks federal taxpayers with 100 percent of Medicaid expansion benefit costs through 2016. Kasich — who expanded Medicaid over the General Assembly’s express disapproval — told attendees at a Dec. 4 infant mortality summit to march in favor of more Obamacare expansion spending, but critics are encouraging legislative opponents to stand their ground. “Kasich is threatening to organize protests to ensure the state continues...

Americans visiting Healthcare.gov to purchase 2015 health-insurance plans are finding a nice surprise: Average premiums for the cheap “bronze” plans have increased only by 3.4% and premiums for the middle-of-the-road “silver” plans are rising by 5.8%, according to the American Action Forum. Where are the double-digit premium increases that so many predicted? Check back around this time in 2016. That’s when you’ll see the real spikes. The Affordable Care Act includes two temporary programs that make compliant health-care plans temporarily appear far cheaper than they are: Risk corridors and reinsurance. Both programs will expire on Jan. 1, 2017. By November...

For two decades Atlanta restaurant owner Jim Dunn offered a group health plan to his managers and helped pay for it. That ended Dec. 1, after the Affordable Care Act made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Health-law subsidies for workers to buy their own coverage combined with years of rising costs in the company plan made dropping the plan an obvious – though not easy – choice. Companies like Dunn’s — those with fewer than 50 workers — provide medical coverage to roughly 20 million people. Unlike larger employers, they have no obligation under the health law to offer...

<p>Demonstrators protesting killings by police in New York and Missouri were arrested Monday after they chained themselves to doors and a flagpole at the Oakland Police Department headquarters.</p> <p>A live-stream video via Blackout Collective shows demonstrators blocking a doorway outside the headquarters and singing, “Calling out the violence of the racist police” as they were taken into custody by officers.</p>

Belgium risks coming to a virtual standstill Monday as the biggest national strike for years grounds all flights, halts public transport and severs international train links in protest at the new government's austerity policies. The strike, which is the climax of a union movement that began last month with a huge march and violent protests in Brussels, will also likely close schools, businesses, factories and government offices. Unions say there is "no choice" but to go ahead with the strike after the right-of-centre government of Prime Minister Charles Michel pushed ahead with plans to save 11 billion euros ($13.7 billion)...

Climate talks in Lima ran into extra time amid rising frustration from developing countries at the “ridiculously low” commitments from rich countries to help pay for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The talks were designed to draft a blueprint for a global deal to fight climate change, due to be adopted in Paris late next year. But developing countries argued that before signing on they needed to see greater commitments that the industrialised countries would keep to their end of a bargain to provide the money needed to fight climate change. Countries are also divided over the initial commitments countries...

New York Citi Bike riders are at risk according to a new audit exposing spotty maintenance checks, poor cleanliness and defective docking stations. Comptroller Scott Stringer released his report Thursday looking at if New York City Bike Share, which manages the scheme, is in compliance with its Department of Transport contract. According to maintenance data, only 28per cent of the 6,000 two-wheelers in Manhattan and Brooklyn were inspected in November 2013, 34per cent in December 2013 and 38per cent in January 2014.

LIMA, Peru — Wilfredo Saavedra, a former Marxist rebel, led a convoy of some 300 activists from Peru’s northern sierra, wearing an anti-mining T-shirt and Cuban baseball cap. Jim Chomicz, 70, from Birmingham, Alabama, flew here with a church group to learn more about melting glaciers. But for many of their Latin American counterparts, it is all about toppling capitalism, which they blame for the environmental degradation. “Capitalism is the creator of all of these changes to the climate,” said Mr. Saavedra. At a march this week, Ibis Fernández, a Peruvian union leader and organizer of the People’s Climate Summit,...

The early 20th century sociologist Emile Durkheim’s theory about the divide between the greater society and some individuals still holds up. Durkheim called this condition “anomie” and described it as “a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals.” He saw anomie as a, “breakdown of social bonds between an individual and the community…..rejection of self-regulatory values.” As Durkheim saw those who had fallen into anomie, they were “deranged and had an insatiable will.” Were he alive today Durkheim would recognize the mismatch between societal standards and the non-existent standards of the “Ferguson/Occupy/Garner” protestors who are running through...

It has become a mainstay on supermarket shelves across the UK: fresh green asparagus, flown in to satisfy culinary desires well beyond the brief domestic growing season. But Britain's love of year-round asparagus could now be at risk - due to climate change. Of the 14,000 tonnes of asparagus imported to the UK last year, the majority - some 8,000 tonnes - came from Peru, the world's biggest exporter of the crop. Experts warn that Peruvian production of the vegetable, which has soared in the past decade, is likely to be hit by extreme weather that scientists say will become...

Pulling a worn, yellowed copy of the 1992 U.N. climate change convention from her handbag, Farhana Yamin points to the paragraph that states its goal: To stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous warming. It doesn't provide any guidance on how to do that. But Yamin does. And, in a historic first, dozens of governments now embrace her prescription. The global climate pact set for adoption in Paris next year should phase out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, says the London-based environmental lawyer. "In your lifetime, emissions have to go to zero. That's a message people...

The real part of the climate change negotiations started yesterday in Lima. Bolivian President Evo Morales took the spotlight at the United Nations summit as he pointed the finger at developed countries for their responsibility for climate change and suggested creating a world court to judge climate crimes. “Developing countries are the ones that struggle the most because of climate change even though they are the least responsible for it,” Evo Morales said, speaking alongside UN heads and several ministers. “After 30 years of negotiations, we haven’t reached any important climate change agreement. We have failed and now we are...

Packing potatoes at his vegetable stand on a sun-baked street in Caracas's hillside Catia slum, Jesus Jimenez fondly recounts voting for late president Hugo Chavez. Like millions in Venezuela's poor "barrios," the chatty father of 14 worshipped the larger-than-life Chavez and benefited from his welfare programs, especially Cuban-staffed free health centers and substantial pension rises. So after Chavez's death last year, Jimenez naturally voted for the leader's hand-picked protege Nicolas Maduro, a former union activist and bus driver who vowed to continue the idiosyncratic brand of socialism known as "Chavismo". Now, though, he struggles to make ends meet as inflation...

Jewish Issues: A Clarification to Christians about Their Perception on the Jews Beheadings, Crucifixions, the Inquisition, the Crusades, Pogroms, Spits and Socialism By Julio Severo Sometimes, I receive accusations from Christians, who say that I emphasize Muslim persecution against Christians in the Middle East, but I never mention how the Jews also persecute Christians. Actually, I have never published a single article on Jews in Israel beheading and crucifying Christians. On the other hand, I have already published many articles on Muslims committing such atrocities. The reason for it is not omission or some attempt to hide alleged beheadings...

WASHINGTON — Large numbers of doctors who are listed as serving Medicaid patients are not available to treat them, federal investigators said in a new report. “Half of providers could not offer appointments to enrollees,” the investigators said in the report, which will be issued on Tuesday. Many of the doctors were not accepting new Medicaid patients or could not be found at their last known addresses, according to the report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. The study raises questions about access to care for people gaining Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care...

Is Obama a socialist?If youÂ’re asking whether heÂ’s a big-spending interventionist, the answer is yes.But if youÂ’re asking whether the President believes in government ownership of the means of production (which is the defining issue in the socialist economic platform), the answer is no (though the White House surely wonÂ’t like how Thomas Sowell describes ObamaÂ’s ideology).But I generally donÂ’t care about these word fights. Big government is bad because it hurts people and relies on coercion, and thatÂ’s true whether weÂ’re talking about socialism, communism, Nazism, corporatism, or other forms of statism.But I do care for historical accuracy and...