Free Republic

TOPEKA, Kan. — Four years ago, Joan Wagnon was a 70-year-old grandmother preparing to retire after decades of public service. A centrist Democrat long credited as blazing the way for women in politics in Kansas, she spent 12 years in the state Legislature and four years as mayor of Topeka — the first and only woman to hold the job. After eight years as state secretary of revenue, Wagnon was preparing to hang it up when "the massacre" happened. On Election Day 2010, Sam Brownback, a two-term, hard-line conservative U.S. senator and a 2008 candidate for the Republican presidential nomination,...

As expected, pro-abortion opponents of Amendment 1 continue to draw nearly all their support and funding from the abortion industry itself. Based on disclosures filed through October 25, the 'Vote No' campaign shows just 198 individual donors statewide contributing more than $100 each. In contrast, 16 abortion facilities in Tennessee and across the country contributed a total $3.5 million dollars of $4.0 million reported raised. Additionally, ACLU of Tennessee and New York contributed $200,000. $854,240 Planned Parenthood of Memphis $800,000 Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest $749,500 Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee $275,000 Planned Parenthood of Orange &...

Medicaid chiefs from red and blue states are urging Congress to stem the cost of revolutionary new drugs for hepatitis C, cancer, and other diseases. In a letter Tuesday to key congressional committees, the National Association of Medicaid Directors said lawmakers should consider everything from outright price controls on manufacturers to federal help for states trying to pay for the new medications. The bipartisan group did not endorse any particular course of action. …

The short-attention span generation has birthed the shiny-object election. The theme of the 2014 midterms — to whatever extent one is discernable — has been an explosion of one crisis after another, each of which demands an enormous amount of media attention before fading for the next one. From the Secret Service to ISIS, Ebola to immigration, mistreated veterans to Ferguson and race relations, candidates and the president have been forced to react to the controversy du jour. Strategists and experts say the result has been bad news for Democrats, who have had a tougher time underscoring their preferred campaign...

HealthCare.gov’s new EZ application for coverage can’t be used by legal immigrants or naturalized U.S. citizens, prompting concern that many Hispanics and Asians will go right back into long enrollment queues this year. The Obama administration has placed a high priority on signing up more Latinos under the health care law for 2015. As the nation’s largest minority group, Hispanics tend to be younger and more likely to be uninsured. An administration official says there have been significant improvements in the application process for immigrants, and more are expected in the future. But advocates are unimpressed. “The whole idea was...

Projection is a powerful phenomenon, and the American people have been subject to a perfectly cynical display of psychological projection from Democrats this week as the increasing likelihood that the party in power is going to endure a stinging censure from the voters on November 4. Democrats have spent the better part of the week insisting that Republicans who have urged the president to take stronger measures to contain Ebola in the United States, which he did on Friday with the creation of a federal Ebola response coordinator, are stoking unwarranted fears among the public. At the same time, liberals...

California’s health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency's executive director. Covered California’s no-bid contracts were for a variety of services, ranging from public relations to paying for ergonomic adjustments to work stations, according to an Associated Press review of contracting records obtained through the state Public Records Act. Several of those contracts worth a total of $4.2 million went to a consulting firm, The Tori Group, whose...

In the last few months of 2013, Obamacare suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks dealing with everything from a clunky website to plan cancellations tothe White House feeling compelled to arbitrarily ignore the law.Since that time, though, people seem to have adapted to this new burden.But adaptation doesn’t mean approval. There are still serious problems with Obamacare, as evidenced by the fact that the Obama Administration has postponed implementation of various provisions 38 times!However, the White House wants us to believe the law is a success, even if that requires statistical contortions.So let’s look at the record.My Cato colleague Mike Tanner argues...

Leadership: The former president on whose watch Americans were taken hostage and the mullahs rose to power in Iran gets it right in condemning the current president's failed handling of Syria and the Islamic State. We've often referred to Jimmy Carter as our worst president. But considering the recent IBD/TIPP poll showed 53% of Americans labeling Barack Obama's presidency a failure in just its sixth year, the incumbent may soon claim the title. It's one thing to make mistakes out of gullibility, quite another to foul up the world out of gross incompetence. It is said that Carter's presidency literally...

Thousands of Iowans are now facing double-digit health insurance premium hikes due to Obamacare. On Wednesday, the Des Moines Register reported that the state's insurance commissioner has approved Des Moines-based Wellmark to hike its rates between 11.9% and 14.5%. The premium spike will affect 19,000 Iowans. "That increase is for individual policyholders who have Affordable Care Act-compliant plans," reports the Register. CoOportunity, one of the main companies offering health insurance on the Obamacare exchange, will increase its rates 19%.

The Obama administration unveiled a new version of HealthCare.gov on Wednesday, with some improvements as well as at least one early mistake and a new challenge. Officials also said that HealthCare.gov won’t display premiums for 2015 until the second week of November. Open enrollment season runs Nov. 15 through Feb. 15. Coverage can start as early as Jan. 1. […] The goof is a mistranslation in large type on the home page of the Spanish-language version of the site. It’s the very first word on the page. Trying to translate “get ready,” someone came up with the wrong word in...

<p>Two years ago this week, the nation’s unemployment dipped below 8% for the first time since the start of the Great Recession. Almost immediately, Republicans were outraged – the good news couldn’t be real, they said, but rather must be the result of an elaborate conspiracy.</p>

Walmart doesn’t settle for second place: The nation’s #1 retailer just said it wants to be the #1 health care provider in the retail industry, too. The company’s statement came on Monday, alongside an announcement about Walmart’s new health insurance initiative. Under Walmart’s new partnership with DirectHealth.com, about half of 4,300 Walmart’s stores will feature DirectHealth.com licensed agents, who will help consumers shop for health insurance and navigate Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. The program, known as Healthcare Begins Here, begins on Friday Oct. 10 and will run for two months. Not coincidentally, the Medicare open enrollment period begins next week,...

Once again I am here to sing the praises of Walmart. Over the years I have done so on many occasions. Many misguided souls take the other side. They blame Walmart for ruining mom and pop grocery stores, mom and pop hardware stores, etc. Not me, I praise cheaper prices. Moreover, it's what consumers voted for with there hard-earned dollars. If anyone wants to pay more for stuff, all they have to do is shop at a mom and pop hardware store, grocery store, or pharmacy. Most don't because they want a bargain. Today, I have good news. Walmart-style competition...

Wal-Mart is taking one-stop shopping to another area: health insurance. The world’s largest retailer plans to work with DirectHealth.com, an online health insurance comparison site and agency, to allow shoppers to compare coverage options and enroll in Medicare plans or the public exchange plans created under the Affordable Care Act. The strategy is another step into insurance marketing as the retailer tries to use its mammoth size to expand beyond food and other basics at a time of sluggish traffic and sales. It also could help Wal-Mart compete with drugstore chains such as Walgreen and CVS, which are rapidly adding...

President Obama held a town hall yesterday in Indiana, and faced a question from a steel plant manager about rising health care costs. And Obama told him he might not be “shopping effectively enough.” The man said, “One of the questions I had is about the health care costs. We are seeing almost a double-digit increase in health care costs every year. So do you think that trends will go down and what can we do to control that trend?” Obama answered, “The question is whether you guys are shopping effectively enough, because it turns out that this year, and...

Politico’s David Nather cast the most mentioned Republican presidential contenders as un-presidential on Friday in a story headlined “GOP 2016ers on Ebola: Panic.” Only Rick Perry was the responsible one, he implied: For once, President Barack Obama and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are on the same page. At separate briefings on the Ebola crisis, Obama administration officials and Perry have delivered the same message: Don’t panic — the health authorities know what they’re doing. But for other Republicans — and conservative media outlets — it’s time for panic. The likely 2016 Republican presidential candidates — except for Perry — are...

Last month, parents were shocked to see the sex education guidelines being considered in Clark County, Nevada, schools. In a closed-door deliberation with some parents, the Las Vegas school district considered curriculum that recommends children as young as five be taught about abortion and masturbation– with pro-abortion propaganda scheduled to continue through every single grade level. The district’s proposed curriculum could be potentially crafted based on the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, a guide produced with the aid of members of Planned Parenthood. The SIECUS guideline is among materials that the school district could largely model its new sex-education program...

Some 13 abortion clinics in Texas will reportedly close after a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the state Thursday to fully enforce a new law that requires abortion facilities to meet the same health and safety standards as ambulatory surgical centers. In a 38-page decision published Thursday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, granted in part, a motion filed by the state of Texas to stay a district court's injunction against the law, and finds that the law is constitutional and does not place an undue burden...

Health care is a hot topic on the campaign trial for both parties, but 37 percent of Democrats running for Congress don’t even bring up the subject of Obamacare, President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law, a Brookings Institution analysis has found. The study of 1,662 candidates running in House and Senate primaries also found just 25.5 percent of Democratic candidates were willing to offer even lukewarm support of the Affordable Care Act.Republican candidates, on the other hand, were adamantly opposed, with 73.8 percent favoring repeal of Obamacare, the study found. …