Free Republic

Jonathan Gruber is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) health economist who was one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare) in America, modelled on the UK's NHS. Not once, but twice he has been caught on tape saying that the "stupidity of the American voter" made a certain amount of duplicity necessary to the passage of Obamacare. The first time was during the panel sessions at the 2013 Annual Health Economics Conference, the video of which you can see by clicking on the "Enza Ferreri Blog" link above. (The relevant remarks are at 20:25.)...

He is Not Limited by Your Limitations Today's Scripture "Is anything too hard for the LORD? …" Genesis 18:14, NIV Today's Word from Joel and Victoria If you could see what God has stored up for you, the people you’re going to meet, the places you’re going to go, the good breaks that are going to find you, you would be amazed. It’s going to be the surpassing greatness of God's favor. But too often, we make excuses. We come up with reasons why this is not going to happen for us. “Well, that sounds good, but I don’t...

In an interview on Sunday, NBC's Chuck Todd asked former Vice President Dick Cheney whether he is "OK" with the fact that a quarter of the suspected terrorists held in secret CIA prisons during the Bush administration "turned out to be innocent." Todd noted that one of those mistakenly detained men died of hypothermia after being doused with water and left chained to a concrete wall, naked from the waist down, in a cell as cold as a meat locker. Cheney replied that the end -- to "get the guys who did 9/11" and "avoid another attack against the United...

Redemption— Creating the Need it Satisfies " The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him… —1 Corinthians 2:14 " The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe…” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have...

An Oregon woman who called in fake bomb threats to elementary schools asked for a higher prison sentence so she could take advantage of programs behind bars Tuesday. Jenelle Robyn Pinkston, 47, persuaded a Eugene judge to tack an extra year onto the two-year sentence prosecutors had recommended, according to the Register-Guard. She said she wanted more time for treatment in prison medical and mental health programs. "My biggest concern is that I get better," she said, referring to her post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood incidents. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken complied with Pinkston's request, calling her "unheard of" demand...

--snip-- Joanne Chesimard was convicted of murdering Trooper Werner Foerster during a gunfight after being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. But she escaped from but escaped from prison and eventually ended up in Cuba, where she was granted asylum by Fidel Castro and has been living under the name Assata Shakur. "We view any changes in relations with Cuba as an opportunity to bring her back to the United States to finish her sentence for the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973," State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said in a statement posted Wednesday...

The liberal news media has gleefully been reporting the GOP's political quarrels for many years. But that exaggerated story line all but vanished last week in the aftermath of the Democrats' humiliating defeat in the midterm elections. Democratic leaders and their rank and file were deeply divided over the budget that was worked out in a deal with House Republicans. Not only among themselves but with President Obama, too, whom they bitterly blamed for their deep losses in Congress. Democratic Party discipline has been eroding fast as a result of Obama's growing unpopularity, but last week the Democrats were deserting...

Several senators returning in 2015, among them Diane Feinstein, John McCain and Joe Manchin, have already announced that they support President Barack Obama's nomination of Dr. Ashton Carter for secretary of defense. Sen. Feinstein welcomed "Dr. Ash Carter's nomination" and urged her colleagues to "move his nomination" expeditiously. Sen. Manchin, noting he "enjoys credibility" with Congress, added a caveat: Carter "will face hard questions ... about the military and security policies our government should pursue." "Should pursue" suggests to me that Manchin may harbor doubts regarding the wisdom of current Obama administration policies. Sen. McCain, who in January becomes chairman...

Where in the New Testament are "priests" mentioned? Full QuestionThe New Testament mentions three categories of Church leaders: bishops, presbyters, and deacons. So how can the Catholic Church justify its office of "priest"? The New Testament writers seem to understand "bishop" and "presbyter" to be synonymous terms for the same office (Acts 20:17-38). AnswerThe English word "priest" is derived from the Greek word presbuteros, which is commonly rendered into Bible English as "elder" or "presbyter." The ministry of Catholic priests is that of the presbyters mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 15:6, 23). The Bible says little about the duties...

all it The Obama Rule. When will our president do something he wants to do that the Constitution or morality prohibits? When he can get away with it. President Barack Obama did not move forward with his unilateral action on immigration before the midterm elections, because he was worried he would pay too high a price. Additional congressional Democrats might have lost, and more Democrats would have blamed him for the losses. He moved forward with his unconstitutional action after the elections because he calculated — correctly — that Republican congressional leaders would let him get away with it. One...

As the Sydney siege unfolded in the Lindt cafe, a Channel Seven cameraman was watching it all through his camera lens and providing vital information and vision for police snipers. Veteran cameraman Greg Parker remained in the network's newsroom as his colleagues were all evacuated around him. He was accompanied by a member of the force's crack shooting squad, who asked him to keep filming as authorities assessed the movements of the crazed gunman and his treatment of the 18 hostages. The extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary measures. Usually, in any critical situation, the media would be ushered well away...

When KCRA 3 asked Ashby about using tax dollars to contribute to Planned Parenthood programs, she defended the contribution, took off the microphone and walked away.

A South Carolina federal judge has awarded more than $197,000 in attorney’s fees and costs to the head of Columbia Christians for Life after a free speech court battle that involved years of legal wrangling at all judicial levels. “It’s certain to send a message to law enforcement, that they shouldn’t trample the rights of pro-life protesters,” Stephen Fitschen, president of National Legal Foundation (NLF), which represented the pro-life group, told LifeSiteNews. “It’s going to impact pro-lifers across the country.” Fitschen said the final victory of legal costs should provide pro-life supporters leverage when standing up for free speech while...

There is a French City with 40% Muslim Population and it is the Most Dangerous City in Europe, Marseille. Islam in France 2014

A Texas plumber has been receiving threats after a photo emerged of Islamic extremists in Syria firing a high-powered gun from the bed of his old pickup, which still bears his company’s logo on the door. An extremist group, Ansar al-Deen Front, posted the photo of its fighters aboard the Ford F-250 sometime on Monday. That prompted a flood of calls to Mark Oberholtzer, who owns Mark-1 Plumbing in Texas City, and has nothing to do with Syria’s bloody civil war. “How it ended up in Syria, I’ll never know,” Oberholtzer told The Galveston Daily News. …

Adding creative insult to corporate injury in the wake of the massive hacking of Sony's computer files, the film that may have triggered the incident, The Interview, is an intensely sophomoric and rampantly uneven comic takedown of an easy but worrisomely unpredictable target, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In the relatively sparse annals of irreverent major studio comedies that pissed off foreign nations, for big laughs this one doesn't rate anywhere near Borat or Team America: World Police; the latter prominently included the present North Korean boss man's father, Kim Jong-il, among its many targets. Given the unique cloud under...

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:4-6)The Incarnation was the Father’s plan. There is one eternal God, eternally manifest in three persons; Father,Son and Holy Ghost. God has always been the Father, and by him Fatherhood derives its essence. Forever there has been in the Godhead, the...

Sony Cancels Theatrical Release for ‘The Interview’ on Christmas With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview.” In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks. “Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like,” the statement...

Anyone interested in either going as a voluntary soldier, or who is interested in garnering support for the ASsyrian and Iraqi Christian men who have volunteered for the new militia/military group forming to defend the Christians and other persecuted minority groups such as Yezidis) in Iraq against ISIS. This can mean financial support by individuals, church or social organisations who want to raise financial support on a one-time basis or on-going, or for people who want and/or can help gain support with through government in the U.S. or other countries. If anyone is interested in this issue and helping in...

A network of businesses, public officials and educators are partnering with the Trayvon Martin Foundation to present “Letters to Trayvon” a holistic campaign to address the plight of Black males and police brutality, next February. The campaign, initiated by the Germantown-based small business Mission Inc., has been in its planning stages for about a year and will include a social media component, youth outreach and a culminating fundraising reception, panel discussion, black art showcase and exhibit on Feb. 28. “Letters to Trayvon is a campaign to end the disrespect and racial profiling of black men and boys [and] it’s a...