Free Republic

As a civilized person, you know in your mind that you should not derive pleasure from the pain of others. But periodically it is simply appropriate to do so. That is why the word “schadenfreude” exists. That is what some of us feel about the spectacle of Obamacare unfolding before our eyes. So you don’t have to go running to a dictionary, scha•den•freu•de is a delicious word of German derivation. It technically means a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people. But in reality it means so much more. And though some...

We already know that premiums will not fall, that we cannot keep our doctor or health care plan, that there will be thirty million uninsured after a decade of Obama Care, that it will raise the national debt, and that it robs Medicare to pay for it. Of the vaunted beneficiaries of Obama Care only those with pre-existing conditions may eventually come out ahead. Does this make sense? Seven to ten million Americans have or will shortly suffer cancellation of policies they themselves like. Millions of individuals and companies will pay fines. Obama should answer a simple question: Why is...

5 Unexpected Benefits for America From the Natural Gas Boom By Tyler Crowe November 2, 2013 |Guess what, America? Natural gas is cheap and abundant. The ability to access shale gas through new extraction techniques has opened up reserves we didn't think possible, and proven reserves of gas are 60% higher than what they were a decade ago and growing by the day. This has also led to natural gas prices that have seen historical lows. When adjusted for inflation, today's gas prices are where they were in the 1990s.The most obvious result many of us think about when we...

On October 22, 2013, Angelo Appi (DOB 1-3-1967) turned himself into the East Haven Police Department on an arrest warrant charging him with Breach of Peace in the Second Degree. The arrest warrant originated from an incident that took place the previous day in which Appi allegedly posted on Facebook the following message “Maybe I have to walk in with Toy guns just to prove a point!” The comments were regarding Joseph Melillo Middle School in which Appi has previously pointed out what he believes are lapses in security at the school He wasn’t threatening to attack anyone. He wasn’t...

Hi people. Its been a while since I posted, but I feel the man who REALLY deserves the credit for making Obama and the other Democrats look like fools is not getting the credit he deserves - and that is Joe Lieberman. As some of you may remember, Senator Lieberman would not support the "Public Option", which was a fairly-cleverly designed plan to have a government-run policy show up when you went to the Obamacare website. The public option, of course, would be priced at the level the government chooses, and would not have to be accountable to anyone as...

Boredom is becoming an insidious problem.Here is a re-post of an article I wrote back in 2001 or 2002 while sitting on our sailboat. She was lying at anchor and I was trying to overcome boredom. It pertains mainly to foreign places but, since the United States are coming increasingly to resemble foreign places, many of the suggestions are applicable there as well. In many places in the United States, it is necessary to learn enough of the local foreign language to get by and the article explains how to do so with ease. That will permit intimate exploration of...

New York poised to usher in de Blasio as new mayor AFP - Left-wing progressive Bill de Blasio is poised to secure a landslide victory in New York's mayoral elections next week after executing a near-flawless campaign. De Blasio, whose public sector background and policies sit uneasily with the gigantic wealth of the establishment, appears certain of election victory, possibly by a historic margin on Tuesday. By placing his black, former lesbian wife and teenage children center stage, he appears to have connected to ordinary middle-class families and a vastly diverse electorate, if his mammoth poll leads are anything to...

Assuming you actually could buy health insurance coverage on the state and federal government-run Obamacare exchanges, how much would you have to pay before you could actually benefit from having the insurance? That's an important question to answer, given the high premiums and even higher deductibles that apply for even the most affordable health insurance options being sold through the government-run marketplaces. In addition to paying your monthly premiums, you will also have to burn through your policy's deductible before your health insurance will begin covering a significant portion of your health care expenses. That creates something that we'll call...

-excerpt- Whether we were feared or loved, America was always the outsized standard by which all others were compared. -- excerpt- Well, today, to many people, we look like the definition of a drunken driver — like a lifelong mentor who has gone on a binge and is no longer predictable. And, as for defining the future, the country that showed the world how to pull together to put a man on the moon and defeat Nazism and Communism, today broadcasts a politics dominated by three phrases: “You can’t do that,” “It’s off the table” and “The president didn’t know.”

The problem-plagued ObamaCare website was shut down Saturday night for “extended” repairs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Technicians have shut down HealthCare.gov during weekends since the site launched Oct. 1 but just for a few overnight hours. The site went offline this weekend from 9 p.m. Saturday until 9 a.m. Sunday.

San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener will always have a special place in my heart. Braving an onslaught of puns in a wiseacre nation, Wiener sponsored legislation to require that naked guys place a barrier between their butts and park seats. Later, he pushed for and won a ban on public nudity on city streets (except at events where people have grown to expect some exhibitionism). It was a gutsy move in a city where political correctness too often trumps common sense. Thanks to Wiener, I haven't seen a naked guy's privates in public for months. Thus, it is in sorrow...

...leaving behind five magazines of ammunition that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said "could have literally killed everyone in that terminal"?

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.

A national effort to unify education standards across America and help American children compete more effectively with students in better-performing nations is actually a dumbing-down of America’s schools, takes away local control, handcuffs good teachers and opens the door for ideological manipulation of our kids. Common Core was developed in recent years as a means of establishing nationwide learning standards, and the vast majority of states signed on, even before the standards were spelled out. And critics of the plan say the emerging reality of Common Core is far different from what was promised.

A Lockport man who found himself at the center of controversy two weeks ago when he was charged under an unpopular section of the SAFE Act, limiting ammunition in a magazine, has been ordered by a Niagara County judge to hand over his pistol permit and all his handguns. Paul A. Wojdan, 26, of Parkwood Drive, was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over by Lockport police Oct. 12, when he was charged after surrendering a loaded semiautomatic handgun in a holster retrieved from the glove compartment. Although the gun was legal, the ammunition wasn’t. He had 10 rounds of...

**SNIP** While raising money for House Democrats in Boston Wednesday night, the president said the minority leader from California “has just constantly surprised me by just how good, how tough, how visionary and how committed she is, and dedicated to the well-being of not just her own constituents but the American people.” Less publicly he’s described Pelosi as “tough as nails,” confiding his respect for her ability to corral votes in her conference, even when some of her Democratic members initially feel less than united.

A distinguished writer and friend whom we greatly admire writes with timely thoughts based on painful experience, submitted for your consideration: "I’m always searching for a unified field theory of liberalism that reconciles its craziness, destructiveness and sanctimony. I thought the “liberalism is a mental disorder” meme came close, but in the end was too easy. It’s like having a madman as a villain in a story–you don’t have to explain, motivate or justify his behavior. It’s the difference between “Friday the 13th” and “Crime and Punishment.” A recent sad experience with a friend undergoing rehab has left me with...

Denver Broncos coach John Fox needs heart surgery and will miss several weeks, team spokesman Patrick Smyth confirmed Saturday night. The 58-year-old Fox will undergo aortic valve replacement surgery early next week at a hospital in Charlotte, N.C. The Broncos did not immediately name an interim head coach. Fox had been told earlier about his heart condition and was hoping to put off the operation until February. As part of his trip to North Carolina over the Broncos' bye week, he met with his cardiologist and was told to seek medical attention immediately if he felt any discomfort.

Explanation: A spectacular geocentric celestial event of 2005 was a rare hybrid eclipse of the Sun -- a total or an annular eclipse could be seen depending on the observer's location. For Fred Espenak, aboard a gently swaying ship within the middle of the Moon's shadow track about 2,200 kilometers west of the Galapagos, the eclipse was total, the lunar silhouette exactly covering the bright solar disk for a few brief moments. His camera captured a picture of totality revealing the extensive solar corona and prominences rising above the Sun's edge. But for Stephan Heinsius, near the end of the...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas is defending a decision that has more than 9400 Kansans looking for new health insurance policies by the first of the year. BCBS spokesperson Mary Beth Chambers confirms that about 35 percent of the company's approximately 27,000 individual contracts - or around 9450 customers - did not meet requirements to be grandfathered under the Affordable Care Act. The ACA requires that all plans sold after January 1, 2014 include essential health benefits and no-cost preventative care.