Free Republic

October 27, 2013 Obama Care: It's Nixon's Fault! C. Edmund Wright Robert B. Reich, liberal commentator and Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, insists in today's Huffington Post that "the Democrat's version of Health Insurance would have been cheaper, simpler and more popular" and asks "so why did we enact the Republican version and why are they so upset?"Yes, he did. And no, there is nothing to indicate that his astonishing editorial is satire. Moreover, there is nothing to indicate in the comments sections that the Huffington Post readership manages to spot any irony in all of this either. This...

It's not news that newspapers are in huge trouble — victims of technological change and a mini-depression. What is news is the unadorned glee that is greeting the demise of newsprint. When auto or city workers lose their jobs, there's talk of bailouts and extra measures to cushion the trauma, and even mournful country songs written in tribute. And when newspapers close? The blogs are full of self-congratulations at the demise of the journalistic establishment. "Seeing newspapers fall apart brings me joy," writes an anonymous essayist in a broadside reprinted on the blog Reflections of a Newsosaur. Then there was...

In these days of 24-hour news cycles churning out forgettable headlines about interchangeable celebrities of no importance, it's nostalgic to be reminded of a time when sensational news spawned complicated conspiracy theories that could be followed for years. Arthur Bremer, an emotionally troubled young busboy from Milwaukee convicted 35 years ago of attempting to assassinate segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace, will be released from prison this year. Today's reporters probably only dimly remember Bremer or the serious speculation that he could have been a patsy at the center of a criminal conspiracy masterminded by former CIA operatives working for the...