Free Republic

Apparently, President Barack Obama was fibbing when he said in 2009 that under his Affordable Care Act, "if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period." On Wednesday, Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler rated that pledge as a four-Pinocchio whopper. On Monday, Peter Lee, the executive director of Covered California, the Golden State's Obamacare exchange, informed the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board that 800,000 to 900,000 Californians will lose their individual health care plans at the end of the year. Nationally, as many as half of the millions of consumers with...

... John Maginnis, vice president of corporate communications for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, said plans for 10,000 of its 130,000 individual market policy holders will be discontinued because they don’t meet the requirements of the new law. Meanwhile, another 75,000 — or about 60 percent of the company’s individual policy holders — are being grandfathered in, he said. In November, Humana is poised to notify 9,000 Louisiana policy holders — or about 18,000 people — that their individual health insurance plans will be affected by the implementation of the law. Despite the political and public relations fiasco that...

Reformation Day is a public holiday in Slovenia. It's dedicated to the Reformation and Protestant movement which gave the first printed book in Slovenian language. In 1550 Primož Trubar, a Protestant priest, published his Abecedarium spelling book and Catechism in Slovenian language. The day has been observed as a bank holiday since 1992. The main ceremony ahead of the event was held yesterday in Kranj. On the eve of the holiday another one of Trubar's most important works was revealed. The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts presented pictures of a preserved copy of Primož Trubar’s "Cerkovna ordninga". It was...

As former Anglicans accept the invitation of Anglicanorum Coetibus, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham grows with permanent facilities and thriving communities.The children from the Sunday School fill up the first couple of benches, and when the rector leads the singing of the Angelus, their young voices pipe up eagerly in the response: “The angel of the Lord brought tidings to Mary/And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.” As things finish, there is the usual crowded gathering in the big Parish Room for coffee and tea. There is lots of talk. The Harvest Thanksgiving produced a groaning table of...

Recently, alarms sounded when Infowars reported that the United Nations was going to take over the Alamo. Infowars also stated that the UN Flag could fly over the Alamo once it fell under UN control. We decided to investigate this, since the Alamo is the most historically significant symbol in Texas. We discovered Missions of San Antonio as the primary advocate of this movement. According to the Missions of San Antonio Facebook page, their email contact is a National Park Service email address, saan_worldheritage@nps.gov. We called Missions of San Antonio and they did confirm that they are, in fact, staffed...

The attorney who helped push for a criminal prosecution in Trayvon Martin's shooting said Thursday that he's joining the fight to reopen an investigation into the death of a Georgia teenager whose body was found inside a rolled-up wrestling mat at school. ... Johnson's family asked the Justice Department to get involved, arguing that authorities failed to investigate Johnson's death thoroughly because he's black. But the Justice Department found insufficient evidence to support an investigation. U.S. Attorney Michael Moore in Macon has been monitoring the case...

A few days ago an article the LA Times announced LA Times More legal trouble for Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act proposes to make health insurance affordable to millions of low-income Americans by offering them tax credits to help cover the cost. To receive the credit, the law twice says they must buy insurance "through an exchange established by the state." But 36 states have decided against opening exchanges for now. Although the law permits the federal government to open exchanges instead, it does not say tax credits may be given to those who buy insurance through a...

A civil settlement announced Wednesday requires tech giant Infosys Corp. to pay a record $34 million over allegations of systemic visa fraud and abuse of immigration processes. By circumventing the process, Infosys was able to use lower-paid workers to increase its profit and gain an unfair advantage over competitors, authorities said at a news conference in Plano. Infosys admitted no wrongdoing under the settlement. It agreed to the payment as well as greater oversight of practices that bring foreigners to the United States for work in American companies. The settlement is the largest payment levied in an immigration case, authorities...

Atheism and religious belief in America: interesting trends I always love a good survey, and the latest Yougov survey of the religious beliefs of Americans does not disappoint. The survey of 996 adults, conducted on 17-18 October 2013, contains quite a few interesting revelations about atheism and religious belief in America. Among the highlights:* Only 76% of Americans now claim to believe in God. (The question the survey participants were asked was, “Do you personally believe in the existence of God?”) 14% of Americans say they don’t believe in God, and an additional 10% are not sure.Who are the atheists,...

Former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a tea party and libertarian hero, will campaign for Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II on Monday — a day before voters go to the polls to choose Virginia’s next governor. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, will also make appearances on behalf of Mr. Cuccinelli in the days leading up to Election Day. Mr. Walker is scheduled to campaign with Mr. Cuccinelli in Prince William and Spotsylvania counties Saturday, and Mr. Rubio is scheduled to appear in Warrenton and Culpeper Monday. News of the appearances was first reported by...

What made ObamaCare an exemplar of progressive politics and policy is precisely what has been on view this week in news stories and the Sebelius hearing. It's not that the health program was to be administered by the state or that it promised benefits to all. Liberalism did that for decades. What made it peculiarly progressive were the mandates. And not just the law's individual and business mandates to purchase their insurance. The essence of modern Democratic progressivism is: "You will participate in what we have created for you, and you will comply with the law's demands." Nothing could have...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Children and Families In The Bible 2 Samuel 15 New International Version (NIV) Absalom’s Conspiracy 15 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the...

It is late October, so Adrianne Flowers is out of money to buy food for her family. That is no surprise. Feeding five kids is expensive, and the roughly $600 in food stamps she gets from the federal government never lasts the whole month. "I'm barely making it," said the 31-year-old Washington, D.C., native and single mother. Starting Friday, the money is likely to run out even quicker. That is when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits are set to fall for more than 47 million lower-income people -- 1 in 7 Americans -- most of whom live in...

A Catholic priest shared his experiences with exorcisms and confronting the reality of evil during on the University of Illinois campus. The Vatican-trained exorcist said he has experienced some unusual behavior over the years.URBANA — The Rev. Vincent Lampert says he has literally stared evil in the face. Lampert, pastor of St. Francis & St. Clare Catholic Church in Greenwood, Ind., is one of about 50 exorcists in the United States. The priest shared his experiences with exorcisms and confronting the reality of evil during a talk Monday night at Foellinger Auditorium on the University of Illinois campus. Msgr. Gregory...

Another US/Canada tour draws to a close as we wend our way from Edmonton to Calgary. Miles of flat farmland with all the crops long since harvested as winter approaches. The leaf season is over. At least here. Back in Maine and New Hampshire, it was just beginning when we passed through from Portland ME to Montreal. But tourists (leaf-peepers) were thick on the road in their RVs and hotels full with jacked-up prices to boot. Only another nine TAAB shows to go before it is put to bed – probably for ever. I shall miss it after the best...

Food trucks are a growing part of the cuisine scene in Michigan and nationwide, but should the government be picking winners and losers among truck owners? A program from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. does just that. The MEDC's "Mobile Cuisine Start-Up Program" dished out $77,775 in grant money to different food truck businesses this summer. The agency selected eight winners out of 65 applicants from food trucks statewide. The grants of up to $10,000 each were awarded to new and existing food truck businesses that "offer easily accessible and unique food options to patrons in public spaces." The Concrete...

Keynesian economics is the perpetual motion machine of the left. You build a model that assumes government spending is good for the economy and you assume that there are zero costs when the government diverts money from the private sector. With that type of model, you then automatically generate predictions that bigger government will “stimulate’ growth and create jobs. Heck, sometimesyou even admit that you don’t look at real world numbers. Which perhaps explains why Keynesian economics has a long track record of failure. It didn’t work for Hoover and Roosevelt in the 1930s. It didn’t work for Nixon, Ford,...

More bizarre ordering courtesy of  DHS. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Approved ICE has a requirement to purchase Less Lethal Launcher Kits for Federal Protective Services (FPS). FPS agents will use the identified kits for training purposes as required by agency policy. This action will be a Firm Fixed-Price Contract with an estimated cost for this acquisition of $498,970.00.

With some polls showing the Virginia governor’s race tightening in its final days, Republicans and Democrats are looking to manipulate a bloc of libertarian voters who have withheld their support from the major parties but who could swing the hotly contested race if they return to the fold for Election Day. A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday showed Republican Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II trimming Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s lead in the Virginia governor’s race to 4 percentage points, suggesting the contest is much closer than some analysis has indicated. The survey gave Mr. McAuliffe a lead of 45 percent to 41 percent,...

"So far, no one," says the Obamacare navigator. "Thus far everybody has taken a look at the rates and they've walked out the door. There's sticker shock. They just can't afford it." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p62BtJwYdE