Free Republic

Nearly half of the 17 insurance marketplaces set up by the states and the District under President Obama’s health law are struggling financially, presenting state officials with an unexpected and serious challenge five years after the passage of the landmark Affordable Care Act. Many of the online exchanges are wrestling with surging costs, especially for balky technology and expensive customer-call centers — and tepid enrollment numbers. To ease the fiscal distress, officials are considering raising fees on insurers, sharing costs with other states and pressing state lawmakers for cash infusions. Some are weighing turning over part or all of their...

The Australian discovery of a strange exoplanet orbiting a small cool star 500 light years away is challenging ideas about how planets form. "We have found a small star, with a giant planet the size of Jupiter, orbiting very closely," said researcher George Zhou from the Research School of Astrophysics and Astronomy. "It must have formed further out and migrated in, but our theories can't explain how this happened." In the past two decades more than 1,800 extrasolar planets (or exoplanets) have been discovered outside our solar system orbiting around other stars. The host star of the latest exoplanet, HATS-6,...

Holding global warming to a 2-degree Celsius temperature rise will fail to prevent many of climate change's worst impacts, a group of $cientists and other expert$ warned Friday. With a 2-degree temperature hike, small islands in the Pacific may become uninhabitable, weather-related disasters will become more frequent, workers in many parts of the world will face sweltering conditions and large numbers of people will be displaced, particularly in coastal cities, the expert$ warned. The 2-degree goal is "inadequate, posing serious threats for fundamental human rights, labor and migration and displacement" the expert$ said in a series of reports commissioned by...

Iran would have enough enriched uranium within three months to be able to make up to eight nuclear weapons if negotiations with the international community blow up, Vice President Joe Biden said late Thursday, noting that "the path has already been paved" for that outcome. Biden's remarks at a dinner for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy played off concerns by critics, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the Obama administration is negotiating an agreement that paves the path for Iran to get a nuclear weapon. "Let's get something straight so we don't kid each other," Biden said....

Can cars run on formic acid? They just might one day, after what physical chemist Georgy Filonenko discovered in his dissertation. He developed a catalyst in which hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2) can form formic acid in no time, faster than had ever been measured before. And the reverse reaction is just as quick. It seems to be the start of a hydrogen battery for use in hydrogen cars of the future, for example. He received his PhD degree yesterday, cum laude. Hydrogen is one of the foremost candidates in the running towards becoming the energy carrier of the future....

Paula White just got married to New Zealand rocker Jonathan Cain. He is perhaps best known for his days with the band Journey and Bad English. He sang the classic Journey ballad "Faithfully" and was part of over a dozen other Journey albums. "What a weekend—Blessed beyond description," she tweeted. White, a controversial pastor was divorced from her last husband, Randy White, in 2007. White married her first husband, Dean Knight, when she was a teenager. Together, they had a son named Bradley. She divorced Knight after she got saved. White stirred controversy in 2011 after she was appointed senior...

Her campaign barely three weeks old, Hillary Clinton already has been attacked by Republicans on everything from donations to her family's charitable foundation, to her tenure as secretary of state and her ties to Wall Street. But her rivals, and the political action committees that support them, are treading more carefully on one incendiary subject: her age. If elected in November 2016, Clinton would be, at 69, the second-oldest person to take the presidential oath for the first time, behind only Ronald Reagan, who turned 70 weeks after being sworn into office in 1981. "It’s unwise to attack a political...

Call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon & 3PM Eastern Time, at: 1-800-282-2882 E-mail Rush: ElRushbo@eibnet.com or Fax Rush at: 212-445-3963 Write a letter to Rush and mail it to: The Rush Limbaugh Show, 1270 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Join This Ping List Now! E-mail Rush: ElRushbo@eibnet.com Fax Rush at: 212-445-3963, Write a letter to Rush and mail it to: The Rush Limbaugh Show, 1270 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.< Join This Ping List Now! Click Here To Join This Ping List! < AND NOW... amidst billowing clouds of...

Mayday at the Baraq Obama Middle School

Latest trailer from the new Mad Max movie. In theaters May 15th. http://www.madmaxmovie.com/?utm_source=semgoogle&utm_medium=Mad%20Max_Pre-O_Brand%20Related_Title%20Related%20&utm_term=mad%20max%20trailer&utm_campaign=resolutionmedia

Two Russian nuclear-capable bombers intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week in the latest saber rattling by Moscow, defense officials said. The Tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the Alaska zone on April 22. But unlike most earlier incursions, no U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow them, said defense officials familiar with the latest U.S.-Russian aerial encounter. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), declined to confirm the incursion. But he said no jets were dispatched last week to intercept intruding aircraft. The incident...

The most effective way to ensure women get paid as much as men is for women to be prepared to “work harder” and seize any opportunities that may come their way, actress Stacey Dash told TV host Meredith Vieira on Wednesday. One tactic that is not useful, Dash said, is complaining and making excuses. “I feel like it’s an excuse. It’s the same thing with race. It’s an excuse. Stop making excuses. If there are opportunities, be prepared for them — and be the best if that’s what it takes. If you have be extraordinary, then be extraordinary.”

The head of the Islamic State is still incapacitated from a spinal injury, and the new leader of the terrorist group is intent on "fighting back" against Europe, according to a new report by Martin Chulov in The Guardian. Kareem Shaheen at The Guardian had previously reported that the "caliph" was injured so badly he could barely move. He was reportedly wounded in an airstrike by the US-led coalition in March. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who last year declared himself caliph of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), is reportedly now being treated by two doctors who...

Interest in the Apple Watch is "tepid," says UBS analyst Steven Milunovich. Milunovich is lowering his estimates for Apple Watch sales in fiscal year 2016 based on "global search activity." He is predicting Apple sells 31 million Apple Watches, down from a previous estimate of 41 million. Apple's fiscal year starts in October. So, calendar Q4 is fiscal Q1 for Apple. Here's Milunovich explaining his thinking: Our latest Apple Watch Monitor continues to find lackluster interest as measured by global search activity. Watch supply has been limited, but our change is based on demand. We look for 11mn Watches to...

Featured Term selected at random: THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS Also called Fioretti. A collection of stories about the life of St. Francis of Assisi and his companions. It cannot be traced to a single author, but one part at least has been attributed to a provincial of the Friars Minor, Fra. Ugolino Brunforte. The earliest manuscript dated 1390 is in Berlin. First printed at Vicenza in 1476, the vernacular translation was widely circulated and is considered a masterpiece of Italian literature. There are several English versions. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic...

The sad scenes playing out in Baltimore are made sadder by the fact that more such incidents are likely over the coming years. That's because the problems in Baltimore did not begin with the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Tensions have been building for a very long time. Other cities from coast to coast have similar tensions ready to boil over. Some tensions are common to all cities -- pockets of economic devastation, laws that are enforced more strictly in some parts of town than others, bad apples among the police, thugs in the community and more. Some are...

Six Baltimore police officers face murder, other charges in death of black man BALTIMORE | By Scott Malone and Ian Simpson

1.) ACLU sues feds in bid to make Catholic groups provide abortion to illegal immigrants Providing food and shelter to illegal immigrants isn’t enough for federally-funded Catholic organizations according to the American Civil Liberties Union which is suing the federal government to help ensure the religious organizations provide abortion and contraception to them as well. The suit aims to obtain government records related to reproductive healthcare policy for unaccompanied immigrant children in the care of federally funded Catholic agencies, which do not believe in abortion. “We have heard reports that Catholic bishops are prohibiting Catholic charities from allowing teens in...

Faced with the daunting task of a follow-up to his critically-lauded 2012 box office sensation “The Avengers,” writer/director Joss Whedon faced a lift as heavy as Thor’s hammer. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), are all stars in their own right. You need to do more than just give them moments, you need to treat them like stars. In order to accomplish this, six character must be portrayed as heroic. Six characters must have their characters and mythologies deepened. Six characters must have...

All six Baltimore Police officers have been charged in Freddie Gray's police-custody death. State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said Gray's death in police custody was a homicide during a long-awaited news conference Friday morning. Gray's arrest was illegal, said Mosby. The charges include manslaughter, assault and misconduct. One officer, Caesar Goodson, who was the driver of the van carrying Gray, will face a second-degree murder charge.