Free Republic

Is your family ready to lose a mortgage payment or give up cellphone service for increased property and state taxes? Or would you rather see 33,000 public school teachers in Pennsylvania — nearly one out of every three — lose their jobs? With pension costs set to drive up the average family's taxes nearly $900 annually, those are the harsh choices Pennsylvanians face unless we demand reform now. The state's two pension systems, for state government workers (SERS) and public school employees (PSERS), have more than $47 billion in debt. It's a shortfall that taxpayers must cover. And the bill...

US Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged in a German newspaper on Thursday that “tensions” had arisen between the US and Germany over revelations of US espionage, but said relations would remain strong. The German government is studying the possibility of questioning US fugitive leaker Edward Snowden in Russia after admitting he could be in danger of extradition if he were to come to Germany. … Asked what needed to be done to repair US-German ties, Kerry said that Washington was talking with its German partners “about how we better coordinate our secret service efforts and, in doing so, can...

Aaron Rodgers might be out for a few weeks with a fractured collarbone, but that doesn't mean he can't get one of his fans really, really excited anyway. As you can see in the video -- which I assume was made before the Packers quarterback injured himself -- Rodgers helps make music with 13-year-old Kelly, who suffers from spina bifida.

Remember Medicaid? You know, the massive, costly federal healthcare program for America’s indigent? Within the last few months, it’s been (a) exposed as an empirical failure by the most comprehensive study ever done, and (b) expanded hugely by Obamacare, natch. Here’s how Medicaid is working in the Land of Lincoln: The early findings of an ongoing review of the Illinois Medicaid program revealed that half the people enrolled weren’t even eligible. The state insisted it’s not that bad but Medicaid is on the federal government’s own list of programs at high risk of waste and abuse. Now, a review of...

WASHINGTON — Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus recommended that the Medal of Honor nomination of former Army Capt. William Swenson be downgraded to a lower award, according to a Pentagon investigation that failed to resolve how Swenson’s papers then disappeared instead of being sent up the chain of command.

A 19-year-old has been shot dead by police after his father dialed 911 to report his truck stolen in order to teach his son a lesson for driving off to buy cigarettes. Father James Comstock has been left devastated after a police officer shot and killed his teenage son Tyler. Ames police say the teenager, from Boone, drove a stolen truck onto the Iowa State University campus on Monday, where student pedestrians dodged it to avoid being run over.

A private citizen armed with a gun for which he had a license, shot and killed two robbers in Reading, Pennsylvania this week. Sooooo… OF COURSE… the families of the two dead ROBBERS want the citizen who shot and killed them charged with a CRIME. I know, I know: The capitalized words bother me too, but I had to write it that way because, honestly, the story is just so retarded—read progressive-- that I feel compelled to use the liberal-needs font. What crime, you ask, do the families of the dead guys want the citizen charged with? They’re really not...

The Reformation isn’t over. But Protestantism is, or should be. When I studied at Cambridge, I discovered that English Evangelicals define themselves over against the Church of England. Whatever the C of E is, they ain’t. What I’m calling “Protestantism” does the same with Roman Catholicism. Protestantism is a negative theology; a Protestant is a not-Catholic. Whatever Catholics say or do, the Protestant does and says as close to the opposite as he can. Mainline churches are nearly bereft of “Protestants.” If you want to spot one these days, your best bet is to visit the local Baptist or Bible...

SALT LAKE CITY — Politico reported Wednesday night that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members are changing their views on gay rights. The church reacted Thursday evening by issuing a statement that indicated its doctrine about traditional marriage has not changed... ..."As the church has said before, elected officials who are Latter-day Saints make their own decisions and may not necessarily be in agreement with one another or even with a publicly stated church position..." "...On the question of same-sex marriage, the church has been consistent in...

Healthcare.gov 'is not firing effectively on all pistons,' White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Thursday, in what may be the understatement of the week. When MailOnline visited the website shortly after Carney's daily briefing, the Obamacare portal spewed a nonsensical mixture of computer code instead of a typical login screen. Gone were words like 'Username' and 'Password.' In their place were jumbled programming strings like '???ffe.ee.myAccount.login.username???' and '???ffe.ee.myAccount.login.password???'

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, this morning expressed confidence in the prospects for a fully functioning government health-insurance website. What's more, the Iowa senator said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who oversaw the launch of the troubled site, HealthCare.gov, should retain her cabinet position. "I take a issue with it being a disaster," Harkin said during a conference call with The Daily Times Herald and other media. "It certainly is a setback, a bump in the road." Harkin said the hundreds of reported glitches with HealthCare.gov collectively amount to a "mechanical problem." The online marketplaces opened Oct. 1...

You could call him the storm after the storm. First there was Hurricane Sandy, and then, in the far reaches of the Republican Party, there was Hurricane Christie. The former was a devastating act of nature, the latter a desperate act of conservative frustration that came when the New Jersey governor embraced Barack Obama in the final days of the 2012 campaign. To hear the right wing tell it, the PDA between the Republican Chris Christie and the Democratic President should have been as lethal as a Michael Corleone kiss. Romney's campaign sulked. Talk-radio Republicans demanded blood. Tea Party leaders...

Is "If you like your health insurance, you can keep it" STILL on White House website, AFTER the Emperor's "apology"? I am too scared to go there, myself and find out. I don't want to be audited. (I'm already an IRS identity-theft victim).

The Bay State doc who once headed the federal agency behind the chaotic Obamacare rollout — and now running for governor — 
defended the beleaguered program on Boston Herald Radio yesterday and dodged questions about whether President Obama lied. “Obamacare is far from a complete disaster. It’s a real step forward for the country,” insisted Don Berwick, a pediatrician and Democratic candidate who in 2010 and 2011 headed the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He sparred with “Morning Meeting” hosts Hillary Chabot, Tom Shattuck and Jaclyn Cashman over Obama­care. “There are apparently people, I gather, who cannot keep...

To hear Richie Incognito’s teammates describe him, the embattled Dolphins offensive lineman accused of violent, racist bullying is actually a GD prince. Following the release of voicemails containing racially-charged language that he left teammate Jonathan Martin before Martin walked off the team, Incognito has been suspended by the Dolphins, hounded nonstop by reporters and made a poster man-child for ogreish intolerance in all its forms. But other players — even those on different teams — are coming forward not only to condemn Martin’s actions, but to defend Incognito’s. Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill told reporters yesterday, “If you asked Jonathan Martin...

FULL TITLE: Nudist father facing child porn charges says naked photos of his daughters were 'familyA South Florida nudist facing child porn charges has claimed photos of his three daughters, aged 8 to 12, are family portraits. Brian Martens, who lives at a Palm Beach nudist colony, claimed there was nothing sexual about the photos, which were taken by a neighbor who has since been convicted of child pornography. Martens admits he gave professional photographer Leslie Grey Vanaman permission to take pictures of his daughters, but at least one photo was a close up of a girl's genital area, investigators...

The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case examining whether sectarian prayer should be allowed at government meetings. The Supreme Court began the day’s session with its traditional opening, “God save the United States and this honorable court.” The irony of the high court hearing a public prayer complaint after its own mention of God was not lost on the justices. Atheists sued the town of Greece, N.Y. for its practice of opening its town council meetings with mostly Christian prayers, and asking everyone to rise for those prayers. A federal appeals court sided with the...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) sailed to re-election Tuesday by a whopping 22-point margin, further fueling the narrative that he has become the clear front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. By winning so handily in a deep blue state, the story goes, Christie proved to Republicans he's by far their strongest, most electable candidate. And though we're more than two years out from the first primary in the 2016 race, there have already been a torrent of stories gaming out his hypothetical path to the White House. Lost in all the breathless prognostication, though, is the fact that...

FULL TITLE: Two sisters, 20 and 19, are suing the makers of the HPV vaccine, claiming the drug caused them to lose their fertility Two Wisconsin sisters have filed a federal claim, saying they believe a cervical cancer vaccine caused their ovaries to stop producing eggs. Madelyne Meylor, 20, and Olivia Meylor, 19, both of Mount Horeb, claim their condition came from the Gardasil vaccine for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Their attorney, Mark Krueger, told the newspaper it is the first allegation of its kind to reach a hearing through the National Vaccine...

Even before Democrat Terry McAuliffe narrowly defeated Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor’s race, lobbyists representing the business community were rethinking their relationship with the GOP and planning to challenge conservative incumbents in next year’s primaries. Their goal: to replace principled conservatives with candidates who will be more protective of Big Business interests. As U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue put it, his group will get involved in primary races to produce a “more governable Republican party.” Which is why the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which says it’s strictly in “the wins business,” is threatening more electoral intervention....