Free Republic

So this is what socialism looks like: Private companies competing for people's business in an open marketplace. Californians got their first glimpse Thursday of what insurers plan to charge for coverage to be offered next year to about 5 million state residents who don’t receive health insurance from employers. In southern Los Angeles County, for example, Health Net is charging $242 a month for one of its plans. Blue Shield is charging $287 and Kaiser Permanente $325 for the same coverage. … Critics of Obamacare have long warned of the dire consequences of reforming the U.S. healthcare system. The federal...

Here’s another reason to be annoyed at hipsters: They’re driving up the price of beer. A recent study has found that the price of low- and mid-range beers has been climbing at U.S. bars and restaurants. And the guy who oversaw the study for Massachusetts-based research firm Restaurant Sciences said he thinks the popularity of Pabst Blue Ribbon could be the cause. “While all the attention has been on craft beers, the price of mainstay brands in the mid-price tier have risen more dramatically,” Research Sciences President Chuck Ellis said. …

A California bill that would have required manufacturers to figure out how to keep the most common plastic junk out of state waterways died in the state Assembly without a vote Friday. Assembly Bill 521 was before the chamber’s Appropriations Committee, and the panel failed to act on it, effectively killing the legislation for the session. It had previously passed the Assembly Natural Resource Committee. State Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Monterey Bay, one of the proposal’s sponsors, was disappointed by the outcome. … AB521 would have required manufacturers to figure out how to reduce 95 percent of plastic pollution along the...

Some labor unions that enthusiastically backed President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are now frustrated and angry, fearful that it will jeopardize benefits for millions of their members. Union leaders warn that unless the problem is fixed, there could be consequences for Democrats facing re-election next year. "It makes an untruth out of what the president said _ that if you like your insurance, you could keep it," said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. "That is not going to be true for millions of workers now."

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict, breaking a week of silence over reports of a video purportedly showing him using the drug. Critics were not appeased, with one city councilor questioning whether the mayor told “the whole truth” and another calling on him to resign. The mayor of Canada’s largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack. He did not take questions from reporters at a news conference at City Hall, held after close allies released a letter urging him to address the reports of the...

As North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a special envoy to China and made an awkward proposal for talks, an international conference was held in Washington D.C. on Thursday on the sensitive issue of the settlement of the past of the North’s dictatorship after its collapse. The Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a South Korean independent think tank, hosted the conference under the theme “Transitional Justice in a Reunified Korea: Peace-Building & Reconciliation” at Stimson Center in the U.S. capital. About 100 experts on the Korean Peninsula attended the conference. The “transition” refers to a regime change in...

North Korea's hawkish Gen. Kim Kyok-sik has been named army chief, while his predecessor Hyon Yong-chol has apparently been moved to the 5th Corps in the central region. The equally hawkish Kim Yong-chol, the director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, has apparently been appointed vice army chief. Kim Kyok-sik was in charge of troops on the western coast during a naval skirmish in November 2009, in March 2010 when the North sank the Navy corvette Cheonan, and when it shelled Yeonpyeong Island later that year. Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was fond of the general's belligerent ways and described...

ZURICH, Switzerland - Media reports claiming that China's State Council has rejected a 40-trillion yuan ($6.5 trillion) urbanization plan are untrue, the chief of China's top planning agency said Friday. Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters that his agency has been finalizing the drafting work of the urbanization plan with other relevant departments, and has not yet handed in the plan to the State Council. "How can it be possible that the State Council rejected a proposal that we have not yet submitted?" he said.

ZURICH, Switzerland - Media reports claiming that China's State Council has rejected a 40-trillion yuan ($6.5 trillion) urbanization plan are untrue, the chief of China's top planning agency said Friday. Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters that his agency has been finalizing the drafting work of the urbanization plan with other relevant departments, and has not yet handed in the plan to the State Council. "How can it be possible that the State Council rejected a proposal that we have not yet submitted?" he said.

President Barack Obama told graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Friday that they—and he—must “constantly strive to remain worthy of the public trust.” “You will lead this country, and if we want to restore the trust that the American people deserve to have in their institutions, all of us have to do our part, and those of us in leadership—myself included—have to constantly strive to remain worthy of the public trust,” said Obama. … The president urged them to “carry forth the values” that they learned at the Naval Academy, “because our nation needs them now more...

ORLANDO, May 24, 2013 – Online social networks can reveal alot. Including information about the relationshps of Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter and Chechen, that was fatally shot at his Orlando townhouse. During a meeting with FBI agents during which Todashev was allegedly being questioned about a triple murder that Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev is a suspect in, Todasheve was shot and killed, raising numerous questions in the minds of neighbors and revealing an interesting daisy chain of online links. Todashev lived, and was killed, in the Windhaven condominium complex located in Orlando, Florida, near the Universal...

The Ted Cruz vs. John McCain feud is on, so proclaimed the Washington Post on May 24, 2013. The two senators have already clashed on raising the debt ceiling, with Cruz proclaiming that he does not trust Republicans like McCain and then betting the older senator that he could not get a majority of the GOP senate caucus to sign on to a debt ceiling increase. McCain has more than once expressed irritation at Cruz and his uncompromising version of conservatism. But it an ironic way, the former maverick from Arizona has only himself to blame. In a fit of...

UK researchers have found that high doses B-vitamins – including folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 – can slow down brain tissue atrophy, a wasting process associated with Alzheimer’s disease.David Smith of the University of Oxford, and colleagues, used randomised controlled trials to test the long-term effects of B-vitamins on the brain health of elderly people with mild cognitive impairment, who were classed as having an increased risk of dementia. They found the brains of those treated with B-vitamins shrank less over a two year period than those given a placebo, and experienced less atrophy in regions of grey...

Experiments suggest that the carbon sheets can produce beams in broad range of colours. Graphene, hailed as one of the thinnest, strongest and most conductive materials ever found, seems to have bagged one more amazing property. Experiments suggest that it can be used to create ultrashort laser pulses of any colour, owing to an ability to absorb light over a broad range of wavelengths. The discovery could help researchers to build small, cheap and highly versatile ultrashort-pulse lasers, with potential applications ranging from micro-machinery to medicine. Conventional ultrashort-pulse lasers use a material that absorbs light like a sponge and then...

...Churches have been perhaps the biggest supporters of scouting groups. But today a few pastors in the Birmingham area predicted that the new policy will cause some churches to drop their sponsorship of scouting programs. The Rev. Harry Reeder, senior pastor of the 4,100-member Briarwood Presbyterian Church and outspoken critic of efforts to change Boy Scout policy on homosexuality, said evangelical churches are a bedrock of support for the Boy Scout tradition in Alabama. But that's now in danger, he said. "When a church holds to a biblical social ethic of sex only between a man and a woman in...

We were raised with a set of core values and beliefs, and today's society is ran by a bunch of unGodly maniacs and delusional fools that's trying to force their twisted values on the rest of us. I say reject all of that crap and push back against everything they send your way! PUSH BACK! PUSH BACK!

Yes, I realize that the ultimate goal is for the Coca-Cola Company to sell as many cans of dark, fizzy, flavored water as it can (I get that), but I found this ad for Coke quite touching and inspiring nevertheless. Bringing India & Pakistan Together With a Coke

279 Use � → keys to We’ve already seen a piglet adopted by sheep but the latest slice of cross-species love – a cat breastfeeding ducklings – could be the strangest example of inter-animal buddies yet. The video of the unusual occurrence was taken by the owners of the animals, Ronan and Emma Lally. The two-minute clip showed the feline feeding three ducklings she had adopted, along with her own newborn kittens. Mr and Mrs Lally, from County Offaly, Ireland, told RTÉ Radio’s The Mooney Show that they had originally thought the ducks were missing – but were astonished to...

A near-schizophrenic bifurcation has informed Chinese-style reform as implemented by the six-month old administration of General Secretary Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. On the one hand, the preserving stability (weiwen) apparatus has pulled out all the stops to shackle dissidents and stymie other "destabilizing elements" in society. With the same strong-armed efficacy with which he has consolidated his hold over the military and police forces, supremo Xi is imposing a quasi-Maoist straitjacket on the ideological arena.

Let’s begin this week with a simple statement of fact. America’s Catholic bishops started pressing for adequate health-care coverage for all of our nation’s people decades before the current administration took office. In the Christian tradition, basic medical care is a matter of social justice and human dignity. Even now, even with the financial and structural flaws that critics believe undermine the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the bishops continue to share the goal of real health-care reform and affordable medical care for all Americans. But health care has now morphed into a religious-liberty issue provoked entirely — and needlessly —...

Dan Brown's description of Manila as "the gates of hell" in his new novel Inferno has provoked anger in the Philippines. The plot of his latest work includes a character who is visiting the capital, and while doing so is shocked by the poverty, crime and sex trade. Brown's vivid description of the city has incurred an angry response from the Philippines, where the book is also on sale. The chairman of metropolitan Manila, Francis Tolentino, wrote an open letter to Brown, saying while Inferno is fiction "we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis".

May 25, 2013   Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Sir 17:1-15 God from the earth created man,and in his own image he made him.He makes man return to earth again,and endows him with a strength of his own.Limited days of life he gives him,with power over all things else on earth.He puts the fear of him in all flesh,and gives him rule over beasts and birds.He created for them counsel, and a tongue and eyes and ears, and an inventive heart,and filled them with the discipline of understanding.He created in them knowledge of...

For decades, when U.S. policymakers contemplated conflict with China, their fears focused on Taiwan. Today, by contrast, Sino-American tensions seem to be on the rise everywhere but Taiwan, where relations between this island and the mainland have significantly improved. Since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, the government in Taipei has inked 18 agreements with China, unleashing a surge of commerce and tourism. With trade barriers falling and direct flights proliferating — there are more than 600 a week, up from none five years ago — the Taiwan Strait is the only flash point in Asia where globalization...

MUMBAI: Relying excessively on central banks to bring real growth back is "illusory" as low interest rates would not help overcome the structural imbalances plaguing global economies, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tarman Shanmugaratnam today said. "It is the fiscal imbalances arising out of negative real interest rates and lack of investments in infrastructure that are holding back the global economy. "Relying too much and too long on central banks, as has been the case since the 2008 crisis, to bring growth back is an illusory measure," Shanmugaratnam, who is also the finance minister of Singapore, said in...

MUMBAI: Relying excessively on central banks to bring real growth back is "illusory" as low interest rates would not help overcome the structural imbalances plaguing global economies, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tarman Shanmugaratnam today said. "It is the fiscal imbalances arising out of negative real interest rates and lack of investments in infrastructure that are holding back the global economy. "Relying too much and too long on central banks, as has been the case since the 2008 crisis, to bring growth back is an illusory measure," Shanmugaratnam, who is also the finance minister of Singapore, said in...

So, I get on my PC and read in the breaking news that a school VERY close to me is in lockdown because someone said they saw a firearm nearby. I'm on the local news site reading someone's commentary: ShakingMyHead: "Please keep us informed as much as possible. This is my daughter's school and they're not answering their phone. Not even a damn courtesy call." So, I decide to start listening to the scanner feed online and updating the commentary page to help out the parents of any kid involved. Sure enough... Some anti-gun LOSER chooses this time to chime...

In the annals of political correctness run amok in American schools, this story — if true — is easily an all-timer. A junior-high school Spanish teacher has filed a lawsuit alleging that she was fired from P.S. 211 in the Bronx in March 2012 because of a misunderstanding over the word “negro.” The non-tenured teacher, 65-year-old Petrona Smith, maintains that she was instructing her class about how to say the various basic colors in Spanish, reports the New York Post. The word “negro” naturally came up because “negro” is the Spanish word for “black.”A seventh-grade student in the class took...

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The 25,000 people at the soccer stadium and the millions more watching at home waited 90 minutes before the Australian evangelical preacher got to the message he had come to Communist-ruled Vietnam to deliver. “Do you know why I love God?” Nick Vujicic asked a young girl on stage who, like him, was born without arms and legs. “Because heaven is real. And one day when we get to heaven, we are going to have arms and legs. And we are going to run, and we are going play, and we are going to race.” The...

Explanation: This bat-like apparition does not shine on clouds passing over Gotham city. Instead, the cloud bank in silhouette against a colorful lunar corona was spotted on the evening of May 18 over Cochem, Germany from the banks of the river Mossele. The lunar corona is formed as bright moonlight is diffracted by water droplets in thin clouds drifting in front of the lunar disk. Below it lies the region's historic Cochem Castle dating from the 11th century, and not Wayne Manor. Still, regardless of your location on planet Earth it is well worth scanning the evening skies this weekend,...

DAMASCUS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A total of 12 fighters from Chechnya were killed Friday in Syria's central Hama province, activists said. The fighters were killed when two rockets landed in the al- Hamra village in the eastern countryside of Hama, the Britain- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. ...

With a belligerent, nuclear-armed neighbor led by a messianic millennial on its border, you’d think that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would rank low on South Korea’s to-do list. Yet the country plans to launch the world’s most ambitious carbon-trading market in a bid to cut its planet-warming spew 30% by 2020. The world will be watching not only to see if South Korea can fix the flaws that have plagued the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme but also avoid hurting the industrial conglomerates, or chaebols, that supply the planet with computer chips, flat-screens and smartphones. (Samsung, for instance, is responsible...

A group of Chinese students are upset with American vice president Joe Biden, a man known for his verbal blunders, over remarks at the University of Pennsylvania's commencement ceremony on May 13. The students have since drafted a petition and sent it to Penn president Amy Gutmann's office on May 22, asking for their letter to be delivered to the vice president. "We have collected over 300 signatures in the past few days even without mass publicity," Zhang Tianpu, who just graduated from Penn and wrote a viral post on Renren about the issue, told us in an email. "The...

A group of Chinese students are upset with American vice president Joe Biden, a man known for his verbal blunders, over remarks at the University of Pennsylvania's commencement ceremony on May 13. The students have since drafted a petition and sent it to Penn president Amy Gutmann's office on May 22, asking for their letter to be delivered to the vice president. "We have collected over 300 signatures in the past few days even without mass publicity," Zhang Tianpu, who just graduated from Penn and wrote a viral post on Renren about the issue, told us in an email. "The...

The top commander of foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government says the militants have received a 35-ton arms shipment from Saudi Arabia. Brigadier General Salim Idris, the chief of staff of the so-called Free Syrian Army, said on Thursday that the consignment will help armed men in their battles against the Syrian Army. He added, however, that the munitions are not advanced and sophisticated enough to enable the militants defeat Syrian government forces. The general noted, in particular, that the weapons will not be able to overpower tanks and planes in the strategic town of al-Qusayr, which is situated...

The recent attack on a British soldier by assassins wielding meat cleavers while bystanders looked on raises the question: “Why didn’t anyone try to help the victim?” Because British citizens are prohibited from carrying objects that could be used as “offensive weapons.” While it is well known that Brits cannot carry guns, a lesser known law prohibits any subject of the Queen from carrying a knife of consequence, pepper spray or a stun gun. According to the United Kingdom government website, the online storehouse of British government regulations, it is illegal to: sell a knife of any kind (including cutlery...

Three-month-old Elayna Nigrelli has redefined what it means to be a miracle baby. She was born while her mother was technically dead. In February, Erica Nigrelli was teaching at a high school in Missouri City, Texas, when she walked into a co-worker's classroom. Nigrelli said she felt faint, placed her hands on a table to steady herself and then passed out. Three teachers immediately grabbed a defibrillator and also began performing CPR. Kids in the classroom ran out, yelling for help. Nigrelli's husband, Nathan, also a teacher, was just two doors down. He rushed into the room. "Erica was lying...

Between the faction of gay Christians who are happy with their sexual identity and "ex-gays," who say they've removed their homosexual yearnings, is a third group that gets little attention. These so-called Side B Christians identify as gay and believe it's not sinful to do so. But because they see acting on their orientation as ungodly, they commit to a life of celibacy. Now, for the first time, a sociologist has taken an in-depth look at what makes Side Bs tick, particularly how they navigate their same-sex desires and their awkward position as stuck in the middle of ex-gay groups...

About two dozen lawmakers and Obama administration officials crowded into the Roosevelt Room at the White House on May 9 for an urgent meeting about sexual assaults in the military. The most striking thing about the group, given the male-dominated world of national security, was that 85 percent of those around the table were women. In contrast to other issues mired in gridlock, Congress is moving swiftly and on a bipartisan basis to force the Defense Department to crack down on sex crimes in the ranks. The push is being unmistakably led by female legislators, who constitute a critical mass...

http://www.fox19.com/story/22380127/reality-check-exclusive-cincinnati-agent-giving-orders-in-irs-scandal CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - The claim that the ongoing IRS scandal is limited to low level employees is falling apart. The six Cincinnati workers we have identified, who sent scrutinizing letters to conservative groups with words including "patriot, liberty, tea party or 9-12" in their names are Mitchel Steele, Carly Young, Joseph Herr, Stephen Seok, Liz Hofacre and a woman identified only as Ms. Richards. But was all of this done at the hands of a small group of Cincinnati employees working together? During Friday's congressional hearing, that appeared to be the theme. Now, that explanation just became less...

John Rich ✔ @johnrich Instead of paying taxes next year I'm going to not pay and #pleadthe5th then say "I don't recall what happened" just like they're doing. 3:18 PM - 23 May 2013 291 Retweets 131 favorites Of all the scandals the Obama administration is currently juggling, some theorize that the IRS’ targeting of its political enemies could do the most damage. After all, no other organization seems to have such unchecked power to intimidate and harass the average American, not to mention the arrogance to match. So if the IRS can plead ignorance and get away with it,...

Israeli electric car firm Better Place, which hoped to revolutionize driving habits in Israel and worldwide, will file for bankruptcy in the coming week. The trailblazing firm sought to accelerate a world motoring shift away from gas-guzzling cars to electric, battery-powered vehicles. But “the company was not well-served by having things it thought would happen over a decade happen within a year,” a source familiar with the company’s financial woes told Fortune on Friday. snip It also touted partnerships developing in France and the US, harboring particular hopes of an electric car revolution pushed by the Obama administration. snip

Rifle-building parties mix burgers and beer with a chance to sidestep gun laws by building your own weapon. What’s a party without some brewskies, a few burgers on the grill and a group of buddies just kicking back and assembling some of the world’s deadliest assault weapons from make-shift parts? That’s the premise of so-called rifle "build parties" that are spawning across the U.S. and in California in particular, where the gun laws are considered to be among the country’s most restrictive. Although gun ownership makes a person subject to having their firearms registered with the government, build parties provide...

Understanding Madmen: A DSM-IV Assessment of Adolf Hitler Frederick L. Coolidge*, Felicia L. Davis, & Daniel L. Segal University of Colorado at Colorado Springs ABSTRACT - Adolf Hitler’s personality was investigated posthumously through the use of an informant version of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory (CATI), which is designed for the assessment of personality, clinical, and neuropsychological disorders. Five academic Hitler historians completed the CATI. The overall mean inter-rater correlation was moderately high for all 38 CATI scales’ T scores (median r = .72). On Axis I, the highest mean T scores across raters were Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (76), Psychotic...

A man who forced his way into a Union County home early Thursday was shot and killed by an occupant of the residence, according to the sheriff’s office. Calling the case a “home invasion,” detectives say the intruder tried to escape after being shot but never made it past the front yard of the house. The incident happened shortly before 1 a.m. at a home in the 3400 block of Lanesboro Road, off Ansonville Road. That is north of Marshville, in the northeastern part of Union County. Capt. Ronnie Whitaker says someone inside the home called 911 and said an...

The apparent home intruder who died Wednesday after being shot by the homeowner has been identified as Henry Thomas Johnson III, 37, of Helena. Lewis and Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson said Johnson died Wednesday from a single gunshot wound to the chest. Patrol Capt. Jason Grimmis of the Lewis and Clark Sheriff’s Office said dispatchers received a 911 call at about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday from the homeowner at 4276 Canyon Ferry Road, near the intersection with Ranger Drive. The homeowner reported arriving home to find a suspicious car at the residence, and then entered the residence and encountered the...

Barbara Wright, an Albany resident with a diabetic son, has been one of the lucky parents. From elementary school to high school, she has been able to count on a teacher, administrator or someone else to help her son Jonathan Mahmoud with his insulin shots when no school nurse was available -- the norm in California's budget-battered education system, where there's only one nurse for every 2,200 students. "It's the way it should work," said Wright, whose nearly 16-year-old son can now, for the most part, tend to his own insulin needs at Albany High School. But if the politically...

In an interview Friday, jury foreman William Zervakos provided a glimpse into the private deliberations, describing four women and eight men who struggled with the question: How heinous of a killing deserves a similar fate? "The system we think is flawed in that sense because this was not a case of a Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson," Zervakos told The Associated Press. "It was a brutal no-win situation. ... I think that's kind of unfair," the 69-year-old added. "We're not lawyers. We can't interpret the law. We're mere mortals. And I will tell you I've never felt more mere as...

--Perhaps not surprisingly, it has been guilt-plagued whites who have most eagerly leapt onto McIntosh’s theoretical bandwagon. In 2012, for example, an organization called Un-Fair Campaign, headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota (90 percent non-Hispanic white, according to the 2010 census), released a video in which Un-Fair members filmed themselves with such slogans as “I Am a White Man​—​That’s Unfair,” “We’re Lucky to Be White,” and “Society Was Set Up for Us” scrawled in black magic marker onto their milky foreheads, cheeks, and chins. It was hard not to laugh​—​as many conservatives did​—​and the University of Minnesota-Duluth, which had originally supported the...

A 19-year-old man has been identified as a suspect in an attempted burglary at a home Tuesday afternoon in suburban Delray Beach. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies alleged that Jephte Madeus tried to break into a house in the 5100 block of Palm Ridge Boulevard, just west of South Military Trail and south of Woolbright Road. The alleged burglary attempt happened just after 2 p.m. Tuesday. Madeus was armed with a stolen .380 Ruger semi-automatic handgun, sheriff’s office investigators said. A 15-year-old boy, and alleged accomplice to Madeus, was shot in the arm by a resident of the home....

Yesterday was a dark day for America. Delegates to a national Boy Scouts of America (BSA) meeting in Texas apparently voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to validate homosexuality among boys. We are outraged. This is a betrayal of the highest magnitude. It's a betrayal of the boys in the Scouts' care. It's a betrayal of trusting parents. It's a betrayal of a 103-year-old institution that has molded millions of boys into men. It's a betrayal of truth and honor. Finally, it's a betrayal of God, in Whose name the organization furthered the priceless worth of being morally straight. The immoral campaign...