Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Ben Nelson has found gainful employment. The former Nebraska senator, a Democrat, is taking over as CEO of the National Association of Insurance Executives and joining the public affairs firm Agenda as a senior adviser. The insurance association said Nelson will act as the group's primary advocate and chief spokesperson, including outreach to the federal government and international organizations.

BOSTON — Among the many changes that Christopher M. Mayer wanted to make when he became publisher of The Boston Globe in 2010 was to transform a particularly unattractive section of the newsroom. Mr. Mayer wanted to fill in what he called “the center of the doughnut” on the second floor — acres of abandoned desks once occupied by more than 100 workers in the payroll, classified and advertising departments. Those jobs have largely disappeared in recent years from The Globe, which is owned by The New York Times Company, and Mr. Mayer faces a situation familiar to many publishers...

Obama’s speech: Very long on gaseous generalities; exiguous with details. “Par for the course,” you say. Yes and no. Yes, an inaugural speech is intended to set the tone for an administration rather than spell out in detail a policy program. I appreciated, as must every American of good will, his promise that his oath of office was before “God and country, not party or faction.” I wish I could believe it. Most leftist commentators I’ve checked in on have regarded the speech as they regard Barack Obama, as a consummate example of “pragmatism.” I find it curious that...

President Obama began his Inauguration Day by attending worship services at St. John’s Episcopal Church in the Nation’s Capital along with his wife Michelle and their daughters Sasha and Malia. It was a rare church appearance for the First Family. During, during their first four years residing in the White House, they found time for the Lord not even half as many times as they managed to get away for family vacays. After services yesterday at St. Johns, during which the president stood to receive a blessing from Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the First Family’s next stop was the U.S. Capitol,...

The Worldwide Demographic Cliff Is Going To Be Brutal The EconomistJan. 22, 2013, 8:56 AMTHE post-war generation of baby boomers - those born between 1946 and 1964 - have had a huge appetite on the world, creating "youth culture", changing social attitudes from the sixties onwards, boosting economic growth as they entered the workforce and so on. Now they are starting to retire and this blog had banged on about the effect this will have on issues like pensions, asset markets and economic growth. not to worry, say some folk, since although we may have more elderly to look after,...

It's being reported on KXAN.com noon news that multiple people shot at on Lone Star College in Houston, TX. It's a tech school.

Yes - 39% No - 61%

A week ago John Boehner insisted he was ready to do battle against Obama and his Democrat allies over the debt limit: “The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “The consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling are real, but so too are the consequences of allowing our spending problem to go unresolved. “Without meaningful action, the debt will continue to act as an anchor on our economy, costing American jobs and endangering our children’s...

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), speaking on “MSNBC Live” on Jan. 16 said that “some of the southern areas have cultures that we have to overcome” when it comes to gun control. Rangel was asked by anchor Thomas Roberts whether new gun control measures passed in New York State should serve as models for other states: “If you’re proud of what New York has done, obviously there is not going to be any perfect policy or perfect law that everybody is going to agree on from both sides saying that this is key perfection but do you think that New York,...

I am asking for personal philosophies regarding when life begins. I believe a strong case can be made scientifically that life begins at conception. However, I've had conversations with the culture of death and they insist that a fertilized egg isn't alive; that a child growing in the womb is a parasite on the mother's body (which, a thought just occurred to me - parasites are living beings as well!); that it's not alive until it's viable (which means my four year old isn't alive!); that because it's attached to its mother's body, mother can decide whether she wants to...

SEGOU, Mali (AP) — American planes transported French troops and equipment to Mali, a U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday, as Malian and French forces pushed into the Islamist-held north. Douentza had been held by Islamist rebels for four months, located 190 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Mopti, the previous line-of-control held by the Malian military in Mali's narrow central belt. The Islamist fighters have controlled the vast desert stretches of northern Mali, with the weak government clinging to the south, since a military coup in the capital in March last year unleashed chaos. French and Malian troops arrived in Douentza...

DAVID TEPPER: 'This Country Is On The Verge Of An Explosion Of Greatness' Julia La RocheJan. 22, 2013, 11:13 AMDavid Tepper, who runs $12 billion distressed debt hedge fund Appaloosa Management, was on Bloomberg TV "Market Makers" with Stephanie Ruhle moments ago. It was a tremendous interview and it showed a very relaxed and funny side of Tepper. Tepper, who has one of the best long-term track records, told Bloomberg TV that his fund was up 30% in 2012. He's said he's "going to come out of the closet" as being bullish in 2013. The reason, he explained, is there...

Gun Appreciation Day was a big success nationwide. There have been lots of stories on the event, including this one: Rallies across U.S. assail Obama’s proposed gun curbs (Reuters) - Pro-gun activists held “high noon” rallies across the United States on Saturday to defend the right to own firearms that they say is being threatened by President Barack Obama’s gun-control proposals. The U.S. debate over gun control erupted in mid-December after a man armed with an assault rifle killed 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut – the deadliest of a string of U.S. shooting...

Alexis de Tocqueville was a gentleman-scholar who emerged as one of the world’s great prophets. More than a century and a half ago, when most people were ruled by kings, he declared that the future belonged to democracy. He explained what was needed for democracy to work and how it could help protect human liberty. At the same time, he warned that a welfare state could seduce people into servitude. He saw why socialism must lead to slavery. Tocqueville staked his life on liberty. “I have a passionate love for liberty, law, and respect for rights,” he wrote. “I am...

Anyway you look at it, it was historic. Hey! Who invited the Tea Party? And if you don’t believe me, just ask Chrissy Matthews who thought it so historic he called it Big Guy’s “Gettysburg” Address. Others who shall remain known only to me said it sounded more  Petty-burg or Vendetti-burg than Gettysburg. I don’t see how phrases like “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together,” sound very Lincoln-esque, butt what do I know? Butt hey! Yesterday was so much fun, what do you say...

Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston and one of his top investigators said during a news conference this morning that 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego had been planning violence for “at least a week.” Investigators are still trying to determine who, if anyone, he told about his plans. Among those detectives are considering as someone who may have known is Griego’s 12-year-old girlfriend. ~~snip~~ Houston said that although he has numerous arrests in his past, it does not appear Greg Griego was a convicted felon. [Sheriff’s Lt. Sid] Covington said it appears some of the guns owned by Greg Griego — including possibly...

Politico reported this morning that "Henry R. Muñoz III of San Antonio -- an Obama bundler and a national chairman of the Futuro Fund, a group of Latino leaders who raised money for the president’s reelection -- is expected to be named DNC Finance Chair, the first Latino to hold the title." What's also interesting about Muñoz, though Politico omitted this fact, is that he at least once dined with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. "Muñoz’s clout has only expanded in the ensuing years — in politics, philanthropy and his profession," mysanantonio.com reported two years ago.

The gun control controversy is only the latest of many issues to be debated almost solely in terms of fixed preconceptions, with little or no examination of hard facts. Media discussions of gun control are dominated by two factors: the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment. But the over-riding factual question is whether gun control laws actually reduce gun crimes in general or murder rates in particular. If, as gun control advocates claim, gun control laws really do control guns and save lives, there is nothing to prevent repealing the Second Amendment, any more than there was anything to...

Oh, it’s fun to pick on celebrities who don’t know much about the issues on which they’re asked to pontificate — and at least James Taylor has the honesty to preface his answer to The Daily Caller’s Nicholas Ballasy with an admission of ignorance. In fact, he does so twice, when Nicholas asks him about Obama’s continuation of George Bush’s drone policy and on the “executive orders” Obama promised on gun control (actually executive actions, most or all of which don’t require actual EOs). At some point, it’s easy to feel a little sympathy for Taylor, who must be thinking...

Beyoncé did not sing the national anthem live at President Obama’s inauguration. Millions of viewers around the world were stunned by the singer’s spectacular rendition of the anthem but The Times has learnt that she was lip-syncing to a pre-recorded backing track. A spokeswoman for the Marine Corp Band Kristen DuBois said it was standard procedure to record a backing track and Beyoncé decided shortly before her performance to rely on the studio version rather