Free Republic

Wildfires in Oregon, California, and Washington State this summer made for spectacular headlines. The media took their lead in press releases issued from the respective state capitals to blame drought—allegedly induced by man-caused climate change—for what they called the worst fires in history. But was climate change really the underlying cause? And were the fires really the worst in history? A bit of real history can be enlightening. Peshtigo is today a small city in northeastern Wisconsin, but 150 years ago it was the site of the largest and deadliest single wildfire in North American history. On October 8, 1871,...

There’s been much talk about how the Obamacare exchanges need to attract enough young and healthy people to survive. If a disproportionately old, sick and expensive crowd signs up in any given state, premiums will skyrocket for 2015. So as you can guess, this move by Oregon — whose exchange doesn’t work but has awesome, freaky television ads — is especially brilliant....