Free Republic

The U.S. Senate late Tuesday evening passed legislation containing a permanent ‘doc fix’ for calculating physician reimbursements under Medicare. By doing away with a decades old formula, the bill staves off an automatic 21 percent cut in payments that would have gone into effect at midnight. While much of the focus has been on Congress and the impact of the legislation on the federal Medicare program, the measure raises three important issues for the states. First, the measure also includes a two year extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the federal-state program extending coverage to low-income children...

High school students in Wisconsin were asked to pretend that they were Muslims for a 10th grade World History writing assignment. Union Grove High School teacher Beth Urban asked students to write a five paragraph essay in which they pretend they are a Muslim male or female in the U.S. "Give three examples of what you do daily for your religion and any struggles you face," Urban instructed. The assignment has some questioning why this is part of a World History class and also if similar assignments were given for other religions. "I wonder if any of the kids who...

Somebody call the X-Men. A 40-pound wolverine escaped from its metal carrier at Newark Airport and had to be shot with a tranquilizer dart, officials said Wednesday. The male European wolverine broke out of the carrier around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday inside a transport van. The wolverine was en route from Norway to Alaska through Newark, officials said. A veterinarian from the Bronx Zoo tranquilized the animal so he could be safely moved to a secure carrier. Wolverines are part of the weasel family. The wolverine is owed by the Alaska State Zoo, which had a representative traveling with the wolverine....

It seems iPads hold their value pretty well, especially if they have papal connections One that Pope Francis once owned just sold for $30,500, according to Castells, an auction house in Uruguay. The Apple tablet had all the personal touches. "His Holiness Francisco" and "Vatican Internet Service, March 2013" were engraved on the back in Spanish and Italian. It also came with a keyboard and a certificate signed by the Pope's personal secretary.

'While the horrors of the Holocaust are well documented, it doesn’t stop any new images from within the Nazi’s concentration camps from being any less shocking. Never-before-seen photos have emerged depicting the liberation of Bergen-Belsen by British troops, and may even show the grave of Anne Frank who perished in the camp. Tomorrow sees the 70th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation, during which British Reverend Charles Martin King Parsons was on hand with his camera to document the end of one of humanity’s darkest moments. Around 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war are thought to have been killed in the...

For 2015, American taxpayers will have to work nearly a third of the year before they’ve made enough money to pay their taxes, a new report from the Tax Foundation finds. Every year the Tax Foundation studies tax data to calculate how long Americans work to pay federal, state and local taxes. The result is Tax Freedom Day, which is the day taxpayers finally begin working for themselves instead of the government. As the Tax Foundation explains, “Tax Freedom Day is the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for...

Members of a group of Jewish supporters of the Democratic Party who met with President Barack Obama this week urged him to remove the long-standing American veto protection of Israel at the United Nations. The group, affiliated with the left-wing lobby group J Street, pledged to support the president within the Jewish community in the event of a Security Council resolution calling for the creation of a Palestinian State. The exchange took place in the second of two meetings Obama held with American Jewish leaders to discuss the current negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, as well as other...

At least one Girl Scout Troop in Salt Lake City is now accepting boys. The troop meets every Monday at the Utah Pride Center and is open to boys who identify as girls. Their first meeting yesterday included five girls between the ages of six and ten, but no boys yet. Shiela Raboy with the Pride Center says she’s proud to host the first Girl Scout Troop in Utah that welcomes anyone grappling with gender identity.

[SNIP]...Republican candidates get grilled, sometimes impertinently, and pressed, sometimes brusquely. And it isn’t true that they’re only questioned in this way once they announce, Scott Walker has been treated like this also, and he has yet to announce. Republicans see this, and then they see that Mrs. Clinton isn’t grilled, is never forced to submit to anyone’s morning-show impertinence, is never the object of the snotty question or the sharp demand for information. She gets the glide. She waves at the crowds and the press and glides by. No one pushes. No one shouts the rude question or rolls out...

Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, whose district includes all of Flagler County, said Tuesday he is considering a bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio, who is running for president, and that a decision will be made soon. DeSantis’s quick rise after his election to the House in 2012, his frequent presence on conservative talk shows and relentless criticism of the Obama administration has made him a favorite of tea party conservatives and some further to the right. “Marco Rubio has done a great job in the U.S. Senate,” DeSantis said in a statement. “His 2010 campaign...

Former Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann stated that President Barack Obama’s handling of the Iranian nuclear deal is a symbol of the coming of the end of times and the “imminent” return of Jesus Christ, during a recent radio interview. Bachmann explained that if Obama and the United States turn their back on Israel, this would bring severe “curses” upon the United States, similar to those seen in the end of days. But, Bachmann is not afraid of the end of days, rather she says that “these are the most exciting days in history” because nothing is more important than the...

A student leader at Stanford University, was asked by a campus group about how her Jewish faith would impact her actions regarding Israel in the Student Senate, prompting allegations of antisemitism and an Anti-Defamation League inquiry, a campus publication reported. As part of her campaign for student senate, Molly Horwitz applied for as many student group endorsements as possible, since an endorsement from each group would effectively secure their members’ votes for her candidacy. The Students of Color Coalition (SOCC) endorsement is the most-sought after, due to its large size and vast influence, as well as the fact that it...

Just Wondering.

'It's going to be the new little wave' For decades, if not centuries, the Amazon dwellers of southern Colombia didn’t make too much of the cacay nut. They fed it to their livestock, used it to treat wounds and chopped down its trees for firewood. But then, a few years ago, the global jet-setting crowd found out what the yellow-ish oil from the protein-rich nut could do for their skin. And suddenly, the cacay (pronounced kahk-ai) has become a red-hot commodity, providing the key ingredient to anti-aging facial creams that can fetch $200 an ounce in beauty shops in Los...

Risks to the global financial system are rising, as emerging markets face a squeeze from the strong U.S. dollar and weak commodity prices, the IMF said. While the strengthening greenback and lower oil prices are boosting the world recovery, the changing landscape is putting pressure on countries and firms that export crude and other commodities, the International Monetary Fund said in its semiannual Global Financial Stability Report released Wednesday. "Further rapid dollar appreciation and an abrupt rise in U.S. interest rates, coupled with a rise in geopolitical risks, could put added pressure on emerging-market currencies and asset markets," the IMF...

WASHINGTON (WJLA) -- A small helicopter has landed on the Capitol's West Front in D.C. and the pilot was taken into custody. The Capitol building and the White House are currently under lockdown. More details to come...

John Wilkes Booth was the man who pulled the trigger, capping off a coordinated plot to murder President Abraham Lincoln. But historian Terry Alford, an expert on all things Booth, says that there's much more to Booth's life. His new biography, Fortune's Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth, delves deep into his life — before Booth went down in history as the man who assassinated a president. Booth was born into a prominent family of actors. According to Alford, he had good looks and an exceptional acting range, playing both dark roles as bad guys and softer roles such...

Greetings, The Center for California Studies is advertising for applications for our Visiting Scholar Program. This program provides a selected scholar or researcher administrative and organizational support to further their research as it relates to California democracy, politics, and governance. The Visiting Scholar is a non-paying, non-benefit one year position. Applications are due by Friday April 17, 2015. To learn more about our program please visit http://www.csus.edu/calst/visiting_scholar.html. Please see the attached description and application for more information, and fax or scan and email completed application to: 916-278-5199 or brian.aguilar@csus.edu. Claire A. Bunch Coordinator, Fellows Outreach and Special Projects Capital Fellows...

Audio in link- Sen Cruz talks about a number of important issues, 1:00 Foreign issues- Iran, terror, 8:10 Economic growth and Ted's tax plan to be released.

On April 11, 7-Eleven held a Bring Your Own Cup Day, inviting all its customers to fill up almost any size cup from home with any Slurpee flavor for just $1.49. If there’s one thing we can all learn from this Slurpee sale, it’s some people will stop at literally nothing when it comes to scoring a sweet deal. Therefore, it should be no surprise most people saw this as the perfect opportunity to get the most bang for their brain-freezing buck and decided to make BYO Cup Day their b*tch. They hit up 7-Eleven with the most ridiculous drink vessels you could...