Free Republic

The first month of the new health law’s rollout reveals an unexpected pattern in several states: a crush of people applying for an expansion of Medicaid and a trickle of sign-ups for private insurance. This early imbalance — in some places, nine out of 10 enrollees are in Medicaid — has taken some experts by surprise. The Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid to cover millions of the poorest Americans who couldn’t otherwise afford coverage, envisions a more even split with an expanded, robust private market. “When we first saw the numbers, everyone’s eyes kind of bugged out,” said Matt...

So the obvious question has been: if the administration knew the website wasn't ready, why did they roll it out anyway? An explosive new report confirms that the decision was political. Some staffers were so desperate to persuade the President to change course that, during a September 5 demonstration of the healthcare.gov website, they "secretly rooted for it to fail so that perhaps the White House would wait to open the exchange until it was ready." The White House even refused to share key information with Democratic allies in Congress. Key Congressional leaders were only notified a half-hour before the...

On Sunday, President Obama will travel to Northern Virginia to campaign for Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The Commonwealth Attorney for Loudon County, however, notes that the appearance may be a conflict of interest, given the federal investigations surrounding McAuliffe's business interests. "I’m amazed that President Obama will be campaigning for Mr. McAuliffe, both of whom have also been practicing attorneys," Commonwealth Attorney Jim Plowman said in an email. "It has been well publicized that Mr. McAuliffe and his business associates are currently embroiled in investigations by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Both of...

Metra union members in line for 20 percent pay hikes over 6 years By Richard Wronski, Chicago Tribune reporter 6:03 p.m. CDT, November 2, 2013 Members of one of Metra's biggest labor unions could get raises worth more than 20 percent over the next six years and a $3,000 "signing bonus", according to a proposed contract negotiated between the commuter rail agency and the union. The proposed pact, awaiting approval from about 337 clerical workers and ticket agents belonging to the Transportation Communications Union, was announced last week and comes as Metra continues to negotiate with 12 other unions, including...

PolicyMic has a very interesting chart that shows how 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy. click on chart for huge image The chart was posted on Reddit as illusion of choice. I could not locate the original source. PolicyMic explains ... Ten mega corporations control the output of almost everything you buy; from household products to batteries. These corporations create the chain of supplies that flow from one another. Each chain begins at one of the 10 super companies. Here's just one example: Yum Brands owns KFC and Taco Bell. The company was a spin-off of Pepsi. All Yum...

Memo: Administration bungled Obamacare long before GOP had power to obstruct BY BYRON YORK | NOVEMBER 3, 2013 AT 8:52 AM An emerging theme from Democrats struggling to explain the Obamacare fiasco is that stubborn Republican opposition has hobbled the administration's efforts to implement President Obama's complex national health care scheme. If you want the particulars, just glance at "The Obamacare sabotage campaign" by Politico's Todd Purdum. But a memo revealed in a new Washington Post examination of the rollout shows the administration was already on a disastrous path in May 2010, just two months after Obamacare was signed into...

Just seven years ago, if someone had told me that I'd be writing for Christianity Today magazine about how I came to believe in God, I would have laughed out loud. If there was one thing in which I was completely secure, it was that I would never adhere to any religion—especially to evangelical Christianity, which I held in particular contempt. I grew up in the Episcopal Church in Alaska, but my belief was superficial and flimsy. It was borrowed from my archaeologist father, who was so brilliant he taught himself to speak and read Russian. When I encountered doubt,...

I’m currently in the Faroe Islands, a relatively unknown and semi-autonomous part of Denmark located in the North Atlantic. Sort of like Greenland, but too small to appear on most maps. I’m in this chilly archipelago for a speech to the annual meeting of the Faroese People’s Party. According to Wikipedia, “the party is supportive of the economic liberalism.” But liberal in this context is classical liberal, so they’re my kind of people. I spoke on the economics of fiscal policy and talked about issues such as my Golden Rule and the Laffer Curve, but today’s post is about what...

The California Economic Summit wants to help re-create manufacturing in this State. How? “These regulations can become a competitive advantage if they support California manufacturers in developing stronger supply chains that meet internationally recognized standards, and increase the manufacturer’s rating on industry and customer scorecards. “We should look together at what the value of [complying with these regulations is],” says Harrington—energy consumption, for example, or pollution. “And where [California businesses] are competing on social responsibility and environmental standards, we should ask ourselves: Does this make those businesses more competitive than, say, a business in Texas?” Let me translate—they want other...

President Obama issued an executive order Friday directing a government-wide effort to boost preparation in states and local communities for the impact of global warming. The action orders federal agencies to work with states to build “resilience” against major storms and other weather extremes. For example, the president’s order directs that infrastructure projects like bridges and flood control take into consideration climate conditions of the future, which might require building structures larger or stronger — and likely at a higher price tag.

Rather than allow journalists to cover events as they happen at the White House, President Obama issues “propaganda” photos of himself to be used in all media stories, instead. And the Associated Press is not happy about it. According to American Overlook, Santiago Lyon, AP director of photography, said that no one has real access to President Obama. The only time photojournalists are allowed inside to cover an event is when “foreign dignitaries” are visiting Washington. Since he first took office in 2009, President Obama has been anything but open in regards to photographers taking his picture. Since then, the...

Justin Hadley logged on to HealthCare.gov to evaluate his insurance options after his health plan was canceled. What he discovered was an apparent security flaw that disclosed eligibility letters addressed to individuals from another state. “I was in complete shock,” said Hadley, who contacted Heritage after becoming alarmed at the breach of privacy.Hadley, a North Carolina father, buys his insurance on the individual market. His insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, directed him to HealthCare.gov in a cancellation letter he received in September.After multiple attempts to access the problem-plagued website, Hadley finally made it past the registration...

Friends, it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen LiveInfo*tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.

Mindful of the recent terrorist attack at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said that armed citizens in open societies need to be able to defend themselves and others against terrorist attacks. In the Sept. 21 shopping mall attack, considered to be a “soft target,” some 72 people were killed, including five of the attackers from the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab. While five of the dead were members of the Kenyan military, 61 were civilians. Noble said in a report on ABC the attack on the mall marks an “evolution in terrorism.” Instead of...

Remember when several states sought to defund Planned Parenthood because they didn’t want public money to go to an abortion provider? Oh, the screaming! These laws were so uncompassionate, PP’s defenders screamed, denying poor women basic health care! Yet, when Texas law required that abortionists have admitting privileges within 30 miles of an abortion clinic–which would not in any way prevent the clinics from providing poor women ”basic health care”– 12 Planned Parenthood clinics closed. From the CBS DFW story: "Planned Parenthood will close a dozen clinics on Friday after a federal appeals court reinstated most of the state’s controversial...

The recent mistrial in the case of U.S. Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham shows the lack of education of the Bell County jurors. The mistrial occurred because only one juror of the six understood his rights and responsibilities as a juror.    Initially, according to a member of the jury,  L. J. Cotterill, the jury agreed: “we all agreed that the charge itself and the case itself was garbage. This entire matter should have been resolved by two grown men acting like grown men apologizing for their part in a bad situation and buying each other a beer and then...

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his Republican colleagues won the shutdown drama in October. However, the effects are still gradually rippling through the electorate. And the full results will depend upon Republicans understanding the strategy (they don't) and continuing to implement conservatives' obvious plan consistently for maximum impact (unlikely). Approval has dropped five percent for President Barack Obama since the October government shutdown, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal opinion survey. Obama's disapproval rating has reached a toxic 51 percent -- as even Obama-worshiping NBC News admits. Over 50 percent of voters disapproving is considered fatal for an...

Click here to download a pdf of Guns & Ammo‘s column Let’s Talk Limits. Technical Editor Dick Metcalf [above] penned the editorial for the December issue. Metcalf, a writer whose technical knowledge (or lack thereof) has earned him brickbats before, bases his editorial on a distinction between “infringement” and “regulation.” “I bring this up,” Metcalf writes, “because way too many gun owners still believe that any regulation of the right to keep and bear arms is an infringement. The fact is that all Constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” That, dear reader, is a major...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spearheaded an effort Thursday to bring together retailers, suppliers and government officials so they can figure out how to bring more manufacturing jobs to the United States. (please see article at http://bigstory.ap.org/article/wal-mart-set-hold-made-america-meeting?utm_source=taboola)

Do any of you remember back in the day when, if you were a listless, visionless, slack-jawed, gum-smackin’ laggard, your parents and peers would look at you weirdly and they wouldn’t make excuses for you, or say you have some special disease like “lazyassotosis”, and that’s why you’re such a daft dasypygal? In addition, how many can hearken back to a bygone era when you actually would be held criminally liable, or at least looked at weirdly, by culture when you didn’t try to help, if able, to stop a crime or rescue a damsel in distress? Further, and...