Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, struggling to convince Americans that he's improved their lives as he runs for reelection, hailed his administration's Tuesday announcement that several drugs would be targeted for Medicare's first-ever price negotiations. The drugs include the blood thinner Eliquis, diabetes treatment Jardiance and eight other medications. The negotiation process was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed last year, capping decades of debate over whether the federal government should be allowed to haggle with pharmaceutical companies. Any lower prices won't take effect for three years, and the path forward could be further complicated by...

On this day in history, July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), one of the most sweeping affirmation of rights for the disabled in American history, according to History.com. President Bush signed the act into law on the South Lawn of the White House South Lawn in front of an audience of 3,000 people, according to the White House's website. "On that day, America became the first country to adopt a comprehensive civil rights declaration for people with disabilities," the same source cited.

In 2021, the Equal Justice Institute celebrated a settlement with the University of California in which the system agreed to stop using SAT and ACT test scores, objective merit-based metrics, in college admissions, until 2025. The racialist lawsuit claimed that test scores violate the California Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause as “indicators” of race. The “SAT is a barrier to equal opportunity”, Lisa Holder, a counsel with the Equal Opportunity Institute, claimed. Like a lot of destructive leftist activists, Lisa Holder received a Soros Justice Fellowship from the radical billionaire’s Open Society Foundation.

A group of Republican House members led by Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) put forth legislation Wednesday to repeal the National Firearms Act (1934), thereby stripping the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) of the ability to turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals. The legislation is called the Repeal the NFA Act. Burlison tweeted: “The Repeal the NFA Act will strip the ATF of its authority to criminalize lawful gun owners and undo nearly 90 years of assault on our fundamental freedoms. I’m proud to stand with Americans nationwide as we take this issue head-on.”

Pride is the original sin – born from self-awareness in the mind of every created being of the higher orders – perverted by the lust for self-aggrandizement in defiance of the Creator. Pride was the poison that toppled Lucifer, the Guardian Cherub who had walked in Eden and among the fire stones but who presumed to covet God's throne (Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14). And pride is the defining crime of the end-times Satanic army, which has presumed to covet God's rainbow as both a parade banner beneath which it mocks Him and a cloak within which it wraps the ultimate...

The flu season is off to an alarming start. Hospitalizations from influenza are at their highest levels in the last decade, and case counts are rising across the country. Meanwhile, vaccination rates have fallen well below historical trends. This, plus a surge of other respiratory viruses, has contributed to what some are calling a pediatric care crisis in many parts of the country. Thankfully, some members of Congress are taking long-overdue action to improve the way our country prepares for and responds to seasonal and pandemic flu. Public health experts typically look to the Southern Hemisphere for a signal of...

Former President Clinton called on Congress to take further action on gun violence on Wednesday, particularly pushing for the revival of a federal assault weapons ban. “We must act now,” Clinton says in a video with the media company ATTN:. “Enough is enough.” The former president’s message echoed similar calls from the White House on Wednesday. Following a spate of recent shootings, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Biden will “continue to do everything in his power” to reduce gun violence, also using the line “enough is enough.” Clinton emphasizes the effectiveness and broad...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that while many of the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act don’t kick in until next year, “the thing that we are doing right now is showing that we are listening to the American people.” Jean-Pierre said that the Inflation Reduction Act is “going to deal with health care, lower premiums, making sure that Medicare can actually negotiate to lower costs for seniors. The first thing that they [Republicans] have said they want to do is get rid of it.”

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Inflation Reduction Act has not reduced inflation because it has not “kicked in.” Anchor Dana Bash said, “It’s been two months since Democrats passed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which you called a victory for the American people. Core inflation is still at its highest level in four decades. Polls show, as you know, that the economy is a top issue for Colorado voters. So why isn’t the Inflation Reduction Act reducing inflation?”

Standardized tests have been attacked for being biased against some groups of students. Is that true? Should we stop using them? Exams like the American College Test (ACT) are supposed to assess how much information students learned in high school and, by implication, their preparedness for college. However, they’ve been criticized as being biased against female, minority, and low-income students. As a biological psychologist, I’ve taught mostly in the fields of neuroscience, brain function, learning theory, cognition, and the like. But I also spent 12 years teaching high-school science, math, and ACT prep courses for a large, nonprofit tutoring center...

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said that government spending is a cause of inflation, but it was needed to avoid a recession and that while the Inflation Reduction Act will bring inflation “down a bit,” in the immediate term, “I don’t think that the ultimate source of inflation is going to be this act that will bring it down. I think it’s going to be Fed policy.” Khanna said, “Obviously, inflation is an issue, people are still paying too much for food, for basic products, for their needs. But how do...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stated that the Inflation Reduction Act is “partly about bringing down utility costs, and it’s partly about bringing down healthcare costs.” But admitted it only does so in the long run and stated that “long-term is where, I think, everybody in America would like to see those prices come down.” Host Andrea Mitchell said, “[T]he Inflation Reduction Act, so named, doesn’t really reduce inflation. It brings the deficit down, less than one might have hoped because of Manchin and Sinema taking things out on the tax piece of...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) defended referring to the reconciliation package passed by Congressional Democrats and signed by Joe Biden as the Inflation Reduction Act in the wake of the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) report because “It’s the only thing that we have ever done that has a chance to really fight inflation.” Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 6:50] “For people at home, we’re talking about the inside politics about how to get these deals done. They look at what they’re seeing at the table. And inflation...

Standardized educational tests do not perfectly measure student aptitude or achievement, and no one argues that they do. But they can differ from all other available measures in two respects: their standardization and their independence of education insider control. To be truly standardized, the same content must be administered in the same manner to all students. To be independent of educator influence, they must be “externally” administered—that is test materials must be managed and tests administered by non-school personnel. External administration of a test systemwide to just one grade level of students requires both intensive and extensive logistical management. That...

After careful consideration, we have decided to reinstate our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions cycles. Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants.

After careful consideration, we have decided to reinstate our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions cycles. Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants, and also help us identify socioeconomically disadvantaged students who lack access to advanced coursework or other enrichment opportunities that would otherwise demonstrate their readiness for MIT. We believe a requirement is more equitable and transparent than a test-optional policy. In the post below — and in a separate conversation with MIT News today — I explain more⁠01 about how we think this decision helps us advance our mission.

California State University, the largest-four year university system in the country, is poised to eliminate SAT and ACT standardized tests from its undergraduate admissions process, following a trend in higher education over concerns that the exams are unfair to minority and low-income students. The Board of Trustees for the 23-campus CSU system will vote in March on recommendations to end the testing requirements, which were presented at a meeting Wednesday and met with widespread enthusiasm. “This issue of SAT and ACT testing has overwhelmed students and families for a long time,” said trustee Diego Arambula. “It feels so important to...

ACT leader David Seymour says he has spoken personally to some of his supporters to tell them to get vaccinated and "don't be a ****head". "I've had a few people saying I know someone who is a big admirer of ACT and isn't getting vaccinated and I've personally spoke to some of them," Seymour said. "And said mate get vaxxed...

Beginning in fall 2021, the University of Washington, Washington State University, Western Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Central Washington University, and Evergreen State College will be “test optional” going forward. Schools across the United States have recently been dropping the SAT and ACT tests as a requirement out of concern that the tests are not good indicators of college success, and because higher income students are more likely to have paid for extra SAT or ACT tutoring, which could put others at a disadvantage. “The decision, in terms of reducing further barriers and strengthening our engagement with students in the...

The nine campuses of the University of California system will no longer consider standardized testing scores as part of the admission process beginning in the fall of 2021.The change is the result of a legal settlement (pdf) of a lawsuit brought by groups that claimed that the traditional SAT and ACT tests are racist.Under the settlement, the university, which enrolls some 225,000 undergraduate students, said it won’t consider SAT or ACT scores sent along with admissions applications until 2025. The university further stated that it had no current plan to consider the scores after 2025.The settlement specifies that the university...