Free Republic

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D, Massachusetts) and Josh Hawley (R, Missouri) introduced the Break Up Big Medicine Act, legislation aimed at prohibiting the joint ownership of health insurers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), providers, and wholesalers to reduce health care costs and restore competition... The legislation comes amid growing concerns about consolidation in the health care industry. In the US, 3 PBMs currently manage 80% of prescription drug claims, 2 and 3 wholesalers control 98% of prescription drug distribution... These entities are often vertically integrated, meaning a single parent company can own every component of the health care supply chain, from the...

More Americans are choosing to walk away from difficult relationships instead of working through them, a new survey has revealed. Nearly two in five Americans — 38% — say they have gone "no contact" with a friend or family member in the past year, according to a survey of 2,000 adults conducted in March by Talker Research for the therapy platform Talkspace... Younger Americans were far more likely than older generations to report cutting someone off. The survey found that 60% of Gen Z respondents had gone "no contact," compared to 50% of millennials, 38% of Gen X and 20%...

A majority of U.S. Catholic voters supported Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential victory. Yet across the broad Catholic political spectrum – even among conservative-leaning bishops – there is dismay over Trump’s unprecedented verbal assault on Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead their church. Leo says he is sharing a Gospel message and not directly attacking Trump or anyone else with his appeals for peace and criticism of attitudes fueling the war. Criticism of Trump came from Archbishop Paul Coakley, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and from Minnesota-based Bishop Robert Barron, who only a few...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party has secured a slim majority in the House of Commons, solidifying its hold on power after being projected by Canadian media to win all three seats up for grabs during by-elections on Monday. The election gains come a year after Carney took office, and follow five defections by opposition members of parliament to the Liberals. Liberals would now hold 174 of the 343 seats in the House, giving Carney more latitude with his political agenda. His party will have the ability to pass legislation without relying on support from opposition benches and he...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party has secured a slim majority in the House of Commons, solidifying its hold on power after being projected by Canadian media to win at least two seats in by-elections on Monday. The election gains come a year after Carney took office, and follow five defections by opposition members of parliament to the Liberals. Liberals would now hold 173 of the 343 seats in the House, giving Carney more latitude with his political agenda. Results in a third special election are still unclear. His party will have the ability to pass legislation without relying...

In a similar vein, studies have repeatedly found that conservatives—both politicians and laymen—tend to be more conventionally attractive than liberals (and have better sex lives). Moreover, people who are healthier in childhood have been shown to be more likely to become conservative as adults. Meanwhile, people with high measured cognitive ability are also more likely to support economic conservatism (and cultural liberalism).

With the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, panicked liberals fearful of a Fascism that never seems to happen outside of their fervid imaginations are seeking an escape route via obtaining foreign citizenship. Also key to their escape from Orange Man Bad is getting foreign passports as chronicled on Monday in the New Yorker by Lauren Markham, "Seeking a Second Passport."The subtitle only adds to the hilarity of their inflated paranoia: "For some Americans, citizenship in a country their ancestors fled is now an insurance plan."

A left-wing activist group is teaching liberals in Washington, D.C., and "across the United States" how to increase their chances of serving as jurors on cases brought by the Trump Department of Justice so they can undermine its chances of securing convictions, training materials reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show. Freedom Trainers, whose fiscal sponsor is the George Soros-funded group Community Change, is working to make "jury nullification"—the practice of voting against a conviction even if the defendant broke the law—a go-to legal weapon for the Left. Its sessions and training materials, reviewed by the Free Beacon, show how...

Look to the moral foundations formed from the beginning.“They are programmed…,” Soviet defector and ex-KGB man Yuri Bezmenov warned decades ago about the ideologues we call “leftists.” “You cannot change their mind…. You are stuck with them.” It’s common for people to say today when contrasting our two major ideological groups, “Conservatives think leftists are misguided; leftists think conservatives are evil.” I, though, am different. I know leftists are evil. That is, practically speaking. Theologically speaking, I’m not judging their souls or inborn nature. Putting it plainly, however, and alluding to the reality that leftists have embraced evil, I will...

In an age of rage, it is often difficult to stand out in the mob as so many pander to the perpetually irate. However, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie has found a way to win the race to the bottom. In a posting on Bluesky, Bouie mocked the account of the addiction of the mother of Vice President J.D. Vance, saying that she should have sold her son for drugs. Bouie used Bluesky (the digital safe zone for the viewpoint intolerant on the left) to post one of the most reprehensible attacks on Vance. Bouie wrote that “this is...

New York City hasn’t had a trash pickup for 1/3rd of Mamdani’s term. New York City would smell worse than it does if it weren’t so cold. And if it weren’t so cold.&br>

Few things better exemplify the inability of the left to tolerate contrary viewpoints than the recent struggle session framed as an "Internal Town Hall" when CNN CEO Mark Thompson was confronted by leftist staffers who claimed they were offended by the existence on their network of conservative commentator Scott Jennings.It seems they agreed with recent NewsNight guest Cameron Kasky, who arrogantly declared to Jennings that he was somehow not permitted to use the term "illegal alien" despite the fact it is a legal term written into immigration law.

[Catholic Caucus] Dutch Bishop Mutsaerts condemns liberal theology as ‘danger from within’ the ChurchReferencing Hilaire Belloc, Bishop Mutsaerts warns the Church is being undermined by theologians who no longer believe in conversion or sin.Dutch Bishop Robert Mutsaerts has criticized liberal theology as a great “danger that comes from within” to the Catholic Church.In an article on his blog published in early January, the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of ‘s-Hertogenbosch cited Catholic author Hilaire Belloc, who wrote that he did not fear “’the barbarians at the gates,’ but rather the danger that comes from within.”“I would now like to address...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinals’ letter against Trump’s foreign policy is a blatant political attackCardinals Cupich, McElroy, and Tobin speak of their concern for ‘religious liberty’ and ‘the right to life’ after years of silence under the Biden administration, even when it spied on Catholics and locked up pro-lifers.By now it shouldn’t be surprising when Catholic clergy counter-signal President Trump. It happened first when Pope Francis attacked him for wanting to build a border wall in 2016. It happened in December of last year when Leo indirectly rebuked him for his peace plan in Ukraine, which he said would “break apart” the...

As usual the local Kommunists in our sainted "town" are promulgating this nonsense "protest".

Some celebrities donned anti-ICE pins at the Golden Globes on Sunday in tribute to Renee Good, who was shot and killed in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer this week in Minneapolis. The black-and-white pins displayed slogans like “BE GOOD” and “ICE OUT,” introducing a political angle into the awards show after last year’s relatively apolitical ceremony. Mark Ruffalo wore one such pin on the red carpet, and other celebrities were expected to have them on display as well.

Finland's prime minister apologised on Wednesday to citizens of Japan, China and South Korea after MPs sparked outrage by posting pictures of themselves making derogatory squinting gestures. The parliamentarians from the populist Finns Party, which is part of the right-wing coalition government, posted images on social media where they pulled back the corners of their eyes -- widely seen as a racist gesture targeting East Asian people. They claimed to have shared the pictures in support of the 2025 Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, who was stripped of her title last week for posting a similar picture on social media in...

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been heckled and booed on his return to Bondi Beach for a vigil, the first time he has visited since a brief visit on Monday morning. A National Day of Reflection is being held today to honor the victims of the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, on a night that should have been the final night of Hanukkah.

Canada’s governing Liberals were one seat short of a simple majority in Parliament after a Conservative lawmaker defected and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney’s party Thursday. Michael Ma was the second Canadian Conservative opposition lawmaker to join the Liberals in just over a month. Ma, who represents Markham–Unionville, said he entered politics “to focus on solutions, not division.” “I have concluded that Prime Minister Mark Carney is offering the steady, practical approach we need to deliver on the priorities I hear every day while door knocking in Markham–Unionville,” Ma said in his statement. His move puts the Liberals one seat...

VIDEOThe reactions of liberals to the White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani are HILARIOUS. Apparently they are completely unaware of two books: "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu or "The Art of the Deal" by You-Know-Who. As a result, as you can see, they believe that Mamdani has the supernatural power to bewitch Trump into completely flipping a supposedly weak minded Trump into believing that Socialism as proposed by Mamdani is a great thing. As the cameo commentary by Michael Corleone in this video reveals, the poor shmoes were laughably unable to see what was...