Free Republic

A bi-partisan bill working its way through Congress could drastically change how copyright claims are processed, and would create a system to impose up to $30,000 in fines on anyone who shares protected material online. In other words, the Congress wants to make it easier to sue people who send a meme or post images that they didn’t create themselves, essentially a giveaway to lawyers who sue unsuspecting suckers for a living. The Senate Judiciary Committee last week approved the “Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019,” which “creates a voluntary small claims board within the Copyright Office that...

Women taking drugs known as calcium channel blockers (CCBs) for high blood pressure and other health conditions may be at higher risk for breast cancer if the drug is used long-term, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The finding is particularly important because so many people take drugs to lower blood pressure. It’s also important because studies about risk of breast cancer from the drugs that are the most commonly prescribed medication in the U.S. have yielded inconsistent results. Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle...

Japanese news is all awash this morning in every news agency with the bulletins that "President Obama announced that the debt ceiling agreement has been reached." They appear to be following CNN's international news lead and are leaving out critical facts. For example, this erroneous "flash alert" is typical and is seen also in Asahi, Sankei, Yomiuri, Nikkei, NHK and others: "米債務問題：上限引き上げで与野党合意 　【北米総局】オバマ米大統領は７月３１日、ホワイトハウスで会見し、米債務上限引き上げで与野党が合意に達したと発表した。"

When you write a constitutional amendment, the devil is in the details. “Cut, Cap, and Balance” prescribed some details for a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA). But those details were poorly thought-out, and might have given America a devil of a problem. Fortunately, Senate liberals—too short-term greedy to recognize their own long-term political interest—defeated Cut, Cap, and Balance. As a result, we dodged a bullet we had unwittingly fired at ourselves. Let me make it clear that I believe in balanced budgets, and would like to see a balanced budget requirement in the U.S. Constitution. And I’ve proved my bona fides:...

Fellow Conservatives: I have troubling news. I’m very careful about criticizing my party’s leaders, but what is happening in Washington right now cannot be ignored. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has abandoned the Cut-Cap-Balance Act and is now pushing a new plan that is nearly identical to the one proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The Boehner-Reid plan gives the President an immediate increase in the debt limit and only promises to cut spending in the future. It violates all three principles of the Cut-Cap-Balance Pledge because it does not substantially cut current spending, it does not truly...

"Republicans like the "cut, cap, and balance" approach to the debt ceiling, as do Democrats and independents. Most Americans support a balanced budget amendment, and most, but not as many, think an amendment is necessary to get federal spending under control. A balanced budget amendment passed the House earlier this week, but a vote in the Senate is expected to fail."

Just a headline so far. Anyone know about anything Rep. Jordan? Is he a conservative?

The Democratic-controlled Senate on Friday narrowly voted to block a Republican measure that would force Congress to pass a stringent balanced budget amendment and cap spending before increasing the debt ceiling. The legislation, a conservative priority, never had a chance of passing, but the strictly partisan 51-46 vote to table the “Cut, Cap and Balance” bill highlighted the partisan divide in Washington over how to tackle spending and raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit.

Report Video Issue Other A group of Republican House members and senators spoke to reporters about their support for the "Cut, Cap, and Balance" bill, urging the Senate to approve the plan. It would allow a debt ceiling increase but tie it with .. Read More A group of Republican House members and senators spoke to reporters about their support for the "Cut, Cap, and Balance" bill, urging the Senate to approve the plan. It would allow a debt ceiling increase but tie it with immediate spending cuts and a balanced budget constitutional amendment.

Bank of America sells $2.8 billion China bank stake By Tony Munroe Wed Jan 7, 12:55 am ET HONG KONG (Reuters) – Top U.S. lender Bank of America (BAC.N), raising cash to weather a dismal market at home, sold a $2.83 billion chunk of its holding in China Construction Bank (0939.HK) on Wednesday, dragging the Chinese bank's stock 6 percent lower. China's three largest banks attracted big strategic investments from western financial giants at the time of their initial public offerings. Those investors are now under pressure to shed their stakes as the global financial crisis ravages the banking industry,...