Free Republic

Kicking pension problems into the future is popular with politicians, enabling them to make promises and let voters worry later about borrowing costs. But large, unfunded state pension liabilities are a costly problem—and the cost is already reflected in current bond prices, research by Chicago Booth PhD candidate Chuck Boyer suggests. “The public pension funding crisis is not merely about future insolvency,” he writes. “Future obligations are having an effect on debt spreads right now.” To many Americans, it may seem unimaginable that states would fail to fully pay pensions promised to teachers, firefighters, and other public-service workers. It has...

Barely a week old, these lovable lambs are already worth a small fortune. Thanks to their rarity – and adorable looks – they are in demand as pets. The Valais blacknose breed, seldom seen outside their native Switzerland and often called the world’s cutest sheep, are worth up to £10,000 each – 40 times the value of an ordinary lamb. These three are the latest additions to the flock on a farm in north Devon, where the lambing season is in full swing.

Joe Biden's campaign manager, Greg Schultz, expressed confidence overnight that the Iowa caucuses showed "a tight race with bunched up candidates," adding it was “a great night for us.” "We are thrilled with our performance across the state," he said. "We have known for months that this contest was going to be extremely close — and that is confirmed by tonight’s caucuses," Schultz added. "There is no official Iowa Democratic Party data at this time — and any data being shared are from campaign internal metrics or head counts. The campaign's own model showed Biden "overperformed in key districts we...

DES MOINES — The app that the Iowa Democratic Party commissioned to tabulate and report results from the caucuses on Monday was not properly tested at a statewide scale, said people who were briefed on the app by the state party. It was quickly put together in just the past two months, said the people, some of whom asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly. And the party decided to use the app only after another proposal for reporting votes — which entailed having caucus participants call in their votes over the phone — was...

The Iowa caucuses reveal not only a Democratic Party deliriously incompetent at handling a vote tally — this from the folks who have been screaming about voting fraud and irregularities for years — but at war with itself in a way that could lead to political disorder that will make the counting disaster look like a garden party. What little we can glean from entrance polls reveals the way in which the schematics of the intra-Democratic conflict in 2020 are very stark.

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many” (Proverbs 4:7, 10 KJV).

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Former Vice President Joe Biden has picked up the endorsement of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late John F. Kennedy. As the Democratic presidential hopefuls turn to New Hampshire, Kennedy called Biden the party’s “best bet to win the White House, keep the gains we made in the House, and put the Senate in play.” The former ambassador to Japan announced her decision to endorse Biden in an opinion article Tuesday in the Boston Globe. The endorsement comes the day after Iowa’s caucuses, which ran into technical problems that resulted in delays in results being released.

The Shadow Party By Gerard NiemiraJanuary 17, 2019No Comments In recent years there has been an explosion in new technology offerings on the market across the campaign landscape, in hopes that one will be a silver bullet to help campaigns better organize, reach voters, or turn out the vote. Spoiler alert: there is no silver bullet. But the development of dozens of new technologies has enabled us to think beyond traditional campaign models. It’s enabled us to meet voters where they’re spending their time – which is increasingly online, and marry that with the offline strategies campaigns have employed for...

In recent months, the premature passing of two titans of Islamic jihad - a Sunni scholar and a Shiite soldier - has raised interesting questions about extremism (not least of all media extremism). The left's perspective on the untimely departures - due to President Trump - of al-Baghdadi and Soleimani has been hagiographic in every respect short of mentioning the 72 virgins (exhausted by preceding martyrs as they must be). Trump's precisely targeted approach to waging war on terror at a leadership level has been arguably more popular with Muslims in the Middle East than with "liberals" in the West....

MOSCOW - Russia will set up a quarantine area in Siberia’s Tyumen region for Russians being evacuated from the epicentre of China’s coronavirus outbreak, the Interfax news agency cited Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova as saying. She said that the Russians would be held in quarantine for 14 days, but that they are thought to be healthy.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Psalm 107 BOOK V Psalms 107–150 Psalm 107 1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;     his love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—     those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands,     from east and west, from north and south.[a] 4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,     finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty,     and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,     and...

If you want to understand a human being or the human condition, what is the single most important question you should ask? Most religious people would probably ask, "Do you believe in God?" The most important question most secular people, especially progressives, could imagine asking is probably a policy question. Today it would be "Do you support Donald Trump?" Otherwise it might be "Do you support abortion rights?" or "Do you support gay marriage?" As important as all of these questions are, in attempting to understand human beings, especially large groups of human beings -- i.e., their society -- the...

If you’re the type of person who thinks the Democratic party is a creaking, incompetent entity whose leadership needs overthrowing, the Iowa caucuses certainly validated your point of view. None of us knew who would win, but we had at least expected a result. We didn’t get one, at least not on caucus night. State Democratic party officials announced that due to “quality control” issues, release of the result would be indefinitely delayed. On a conference call with representatives of the candidates, party officials hung up the phone when asked when the totals would be released. So what do we...

Former Republican Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh didn’t get the answer he was hoping for when he asked an Iowa caucus crowd if they wanted “four more years of the Trump show.” Democrats snagged all the headlines, but Walsh and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld were at Northview Middle School in Ankeny, IA on Monday to make their case against President Donald Trump in the GOP primary. It soon became clear, however, that the crowd was all-in for another candidate. Daily Caller opinion columnist Alex Plitsas captured several clips of the action and posted them to Twitter.

Morning "The love of the Lord." Hosea 3:1 Believer, look back through all thine experience, and think of the way whereby the Lord thy God has led thee in the wilderness, and how he hath fed and clothed thee every day--how he hath borne with thine ill manners--how he hath put up with all thy murmurings, and all thy longings after the flesh-pots of Egypt--how he has opened the rock to supply thee, and fed thee with manna that came down from heaven. Think of how his grace has been sufficient for thee in all thy troubles--how his blood has...

Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, warned on Monday that if President Trump's dealings with Ukraine are not impeachable offenses, then nothing would stand in his way from attempting bolder power grabs -- going so far to claim Trump could use Alaska as a bargaining chip with "the Russians" for support in 2020. (((SNIP))) "If abuse of power is not impeachable ... Trump could offer Alaska to the Russians in exchange for support in the next election or decide to move to Mar-a-Lago permanently and let Jared Kushner run the country, delegating to him the decision whether to...

What happens in America when a black intellectual who was born into the crushing poverty of the Jim Crow South dares stand up to challenge white liberal Democratic orthodoxy? He is marginalized, socially hamstrung, ridiculed in ugly racist terms and compared by a leading liberal journalist to "chicken eating preachers" taking "crumbs from the white man's table." He is depicted in racist cartoons as a smiling lawn jockey, and a grinning shoeshine boy polishing a white man's boots. This is how American politics revealed itself to conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Jr. "License is given to others to attack...

The poll just before the Iowa caucus was suppressed. Then the Iowa caucus results were suppressed. This is not a coincidence.

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HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania -- The first time Mee Cee Baker went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show, she was a 12-year-old 4-H member whose pig got loose during the market show and took off into the center of the massive complex. A chaotic scene emerged as the frightened animal ran haphazardly among the large equipment, tractors and people. Everyone in attendance, at least in Baker's 12-year-old eyes, seemingly chased it down or ran away. The next year, Baker, who later worked in education and outreach in former Gov. Ed Rendell's state agriculture department, said she found herself traumatized again but in a...