Free Republic 2nd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $6,116
7%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 7%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Articles Posted by Straight Vermonter

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Swedes buy insurance to skip long health queues (Bernie's model for healthcare)

    02/23/2016 11:50:22 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 16 replies
    The Local ^ | 1/17/16
    More than half a million Swedes now have private health insurance, showed a new review from industry organization Swedish Insurance (Svensk Försäkring). In eight out of ten cases, the person's employer had offered them the private insurance deal. "It's quicker to get a colleague back to work if you have an operation in two weeks' time rather than having to wait for a year," privately insured Anna Norlander told Sveriges Radio on Friday. "It's terrible that I, as a young person, don't feel I can trust the health care system to take care of me." The insurance plan guarantees that...
  • Dutch Intelligence Report Exposes Horrors of Daily Life Under ISIS

    02/04/2016 11:08:01 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 21 replies
    The Investigative Project on Terrorism ^ | 2/4/15 | Abigail R. Esman
    When the leaders of ISIS declared the caliphate of the Islamic State in June 2014, the world already had a strong idea of who they were: a jihadist group so violent, so barbaric, so extreme, that even al-Qaida, with whom they had once been affiliated, wanted nothing more to do with them. But as the world soon learned, it would get even worse. The founding of the Islamic State brought some of the most inhumane violence of modern civilization: captives held in cages and burned alive; beheadings captured on video and broadcast on the Internet; mass enslavement and rape of...
  • We know how to reform Islam – it's time to actually do it, Muslims say

    12/05/2015 2:56:17 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 150 replies
    CNA ^ | Dec 4, 2015
    Islam needs a "reformation" that can only be achieved by Muslims speaking out against extremism and promoting human rights, said a panel of Muslim public figures on Thursday. "If Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries are to be protected, we must demand the protection of non-Muslims within Muslim-majority countries," said Farahnaz Ispahani, former member of the Pakistani Parliament, at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. Ispahani was part of a panel of Muslims speaking out against ISIS and Islamist extremism. The panel agreed that Muslims and Western democratic countries must not deny that Islamist extremism is behind acts of...
  • Plane Evacuated – Two Middle East Looking Young Men Led Away by Police at DC’s Reagan National

    11/15/2015 2:56:57 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 43 replies
    Gateway Pundit ^ | 11/15/15 | Kristinn Taylor
    Talk radio host Laura Ingraham live-tweeted a security incident early Sunday evening about an American Airlines plane as it was preparing to depart for Boston from Reagan National Airport, which is just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.Ingraham reported that Flight 2124 was evacuated at the departure gate with police and bomb sniffing dogs searching the plane.Eventually two men ‘Middle Eastern looking men’, bearing ‘green passports’ were led away by police. Ingraham noted neither man had carry-on luggage and that they did not ‘protest’ being removed from the flight.Passengers were then allowed to reboard the plane reported Ingraham.Ingraham said...
  • Iraq warned US-led coalition countries of imminent assault before Paris attacks

    11/15/2015 10:06:35 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 9 replies
    CTV ^ | November 15, 2015 | Qassim Abdul-Zahra
    <p>An Iraqi intelligence dispatch sent to coalition countries warned of imminent assaults by the Islamic State group just one day before last week's deadly attacks in Paris killed 129 people.</p> <p>Iraqi intelligence said the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ordered an attack on coalition countries fighting against them in Iraq and Syria, as well as on Iran and Russia, "through bombings or assassinations or hostage taking in the coming days."</p>
  • Authorities clear Paris' Republique plaza, which was filled with mourners, no reason given

    11/15/2015 9:55:14 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 12 replies
    Currently just an alert from AP
  • Medieval skeleton bursts out of the ground after centuries-old tree is ripped up by storm

    09/14/2015 4:51:36 PM PDT · by Straight Vermonter · 45 replies
    Irish Times ^ | 9-13-15 | Sam Webb
    Archaeologists were stunned when the thousand-year-old skeleton of a young man was found among the roots of a tree ripped from the ground. Storms blew over a 215-year old beech tree outside Collooney, Sligo, Ireland, unearthing a human skeleton. The National Monuments Service commissioned Sligo-Leitrim archaeological consultancy Archaeological Services (SLAS) to excavate and retrieve the badly disturbed remains. The burial was that of a young man (17-20 years old) and it id believed he suffered a violent death during the early medieval period. Radiocarbon dating puts the man's death at 1030-1200 AD. Several injuries were visible to the ribs and...
  • Many global warming studies may be wrong as carbon dating found to be highly unreliable (trunc)

    09/09/2015 4:47:32 PM PDT · by Straight Vermonter · 11 replies
    South China Morning Post ^ | 9/9/15 | Stephen Chen
    Full title: Many global warming studies may be wrong as carbon dating found to be highly unreliable for organic matter over 30,000 years old Radiocarbon dating, which is used to calculate the age of certain organic materials, has been found to be unreliable, and sometimes wildly so - a discovery that could upset previous studies on climate change, scientists from China and Germany said in a new paper. Their recent analysis of sediment from the largest freshwater lake in northeast China showed that its carbon clock stopped ticking as early as 30,000 years ago, or nearly half as long as...
  • Audit casts deep shadow over Vermont Health Connect (Shumlincare on verge of collapse)

    04/16/2015 6:53:47 AM PDT · by Straight Vermonter · 20 replies
    WCAX TV ^ | Apr 16, 2015
    An audit released today casts a deep shadow of doubt over Vermont's ability to create a fully functioning health exchange. The report details the Green Mountain State's ongoing struggles with billing and website development for Vermont Health Connect. Vermont has spent millions creating and patching the system. According to Auditor Doug Hoffer, long-term sustainability hinges on two upgrade releases scheduled for the end of May and fall respectively. The audit indicates both are at high risk of failure. The governor has pledged to scrap the exchange and begin planning to transition to the federal exchange if either deadline is missed.
  • In the Obama Economy, a Decline in Teen Workers (only 9% of kids working)

    04/11/2015 2:48:38 PM PDT · by Straight Vermonter · 58 replies
    Daily Signal ^ | Salim Furth
    Teenagers who work enjoy numerous benefits. As Ron Lieber argues in his new book, “The Opposite of Spoiled,” they learn how to appropriately handle bosses, co-workers, and money, and they might learn something about what they’re good at. Lieber’s message is timely, because working teenagers are rapidly disappearing. Data from the Current Population Survey show that the share of 16- to 19-year-olds who were neither working nor looking for work each March has risen around 15 percent since the late 1990s. Part of that is due to lower demand for their labor, but the trend was strong even before the...
  • Cop who berated Uber driver is stripped of badge and gun

    04/02/2015 5:57:20 AM PDT · by Straight Vermonter · 68 replies
    NY Post ^ | April 1 | Shawn Cohen
    The NYPD detective who was caught on video chewing out an Uber driver has been stripped of his shield and gun, and will be placed on modified duty, Police officials said. Detective Patrick Cherry has been removed from the department’s elite Joint Terrorism Task Force and will be doing desk duty until he is officially transferred out of the prestigious division. “No good cop should watch that video without a wince,” Commissioner Bill Bratton said at a Wednesday press conference. “Because all good cops know that officer just made their jobs a little bit harder.” “In that kind of...
  • (Vermont) Auditor: Gruber may have padded bills

    02/23/2015 1:00:01 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 25 replies
    WCAX ^ | Feb 23, 2015
    A top aide to Gov. Peter Shumlin is defending the administration's handling of a contract with Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist Jonathan Gruber, after criticisms were lodged by the state auditor. Administration Secretary Justin Johnson made public his reply to Auditor Doug Hoffer, in which Johnson says officials in the state office of health care reform kept a close eye on work done by Gruber. Hoffer says the evidence suggests that Gruber overstated the hours worked by a $100-per-hour research assistant, and that top state health care officials ignored the obvious signs that something was amiss. The state rewrote...
  • ISIS Chemical Weapons Expert, Abu Malik, Killed in Iraq Airstrike: U.S. (Saddam's expert)

    01/31/2015 10:53:08 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 11 replies
    NBC ^ | 1/31/15
    An ISIS chemical weapons expert was killed in an airstrike on Saturday near Mosul, Iraq, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Friday. Abu Malik worked in a chemical weapons production facility under Saddam Hussein before joining al Qaeda in Iraq in 2005, Central Command said. He then joined ISIS, allowing the terrorist group to make use of his experience in chemical weapons capabilities, according to Central Command. "His death is expected to temporarily degrade and disrupt the terrorist network and diminish ISIL's (ISIS') ability to potentially produce and use chemical weapons against innocent people," the statement said. The...
  • The meteoric rise of the Houthis in Yemen (good background on what's happening)

    01/19/2015 3:45:28 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 4 replies
    http://www.middleeasteye.net/ ^ | 19 January 2015 | Tom Finn
    On a cold night in January 2012, I attended a celebration marking the birth of Prophet Muhammad in Yemen’s capital Sana’a. Gathered in a square in the city’s old quarter beneath fairy lights strung from lampposts were a group of middle-aged men in white robes. Some of the men, Zaydi Shiites - a branch of Islam adhered to by around a third of Yemen’s population - were chanting hymns and handing out sweets to children. Others were holding hands and spinning in a circle with their heads tilted back, as a cleric recited Quranic verses into a microphone. The gathering,...
  • This Map Shows America’s Most Armed Counties. #1 Might Surprise You.

    01/18/2015 1:15:05 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 88 replies
    WideOpenSpaces ^ | September 10, 2014 | Matt Alpert
    The most heavily armed county in the US is (drum roll, please) – Faribanks North Star Borough, Alaska. Second place goes to Tooele County, Utah and third is Nez Perce County, Arizona. City-Data.com compiled the list (We should note there’s no source posted for the city-data list) and Reddit user Ramsesses_Deux created the map. Texas, one of the most gun friendly states in America, is surprisingly not one of the top 10 most armed counties. The Lone Star State’s first entry is Harris County at no. 73. 1. Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK, pop. 82,840: 59.1% 2. Tooele County, UT...
  • Suspected Plotter of U.S. Embassy Attacks Abu Anas Al-Libi Dies in New York

    01/03/2015 5:40:45 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 33 replies
    NBC ^ | 1/3/15 | Jonathan Dienst and Robert Windrem
    A one-time associate of Osama Bin Laden died in New York on Friday while awaiting trial for allegedly plotting the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Abu Anas al-Libi, 50, was captured in Libya by U.S. commandos in Oct. 2013 and brought to New York where he was due to stand trial. He had been wanted for more than a decade and there was a $5 million reward for his arrest. Al-Libi had pleaded not guilty. The al Qaeda terror suspect has been in poor health and suffered liver disease as a result of hepatitis C, according...
  • Would-be papal assassin Mehmet Ali Agca expelled from Italy (visited Pope's grave)

    12/29/2014 1:51:48 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 14 replies
    religionnews.com ^ | December 29, 2014 | Josephine McKenna
    Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who tried to assassinate St. John Paul II in 1981, was expelled from Italy on Monday (Dec. 29) after paying a visit to the tomb of the Polish pontiff. An Italian judge on Monday approved the expulsion of the former terrorist; he was scheduled to be sent back to Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight from Rome Monday night, police sources told the Italian news agency, ANSA. Agca’s expulsion came two days after he placed flowers on the late pope’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday. Agca, 56, served 19 years for his...
  • POPE FRANCIS NAMES BISHOP CHRISTOPHER J. COYNE TO LEAD VERMONT’S CATHOLICS

    12/22/2014 5:58:25 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 4 replies
    BURLINGTON – At 6 a.m. Vermont time today – 12 p.m. Noon at the Vatican – Pope Francis appointed The Most Reverend Christopher James Coyne (@bishopcoyne), until now Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis, as Tenth Bishop of Burlington. A Boston native, Bishop Coyne will formally be installed as pastor of Vermont’s 118,000 Catholics on Thursday, January 29, 2015, at 2:00 PM, with a Solemn Mass of Installation in Saint Joseph Co-Cathedral. The Pope’s ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, will be in attendance as the Holy Father’s personal representative. “I am grateful to Pope Francis for his confidence...
  • Breaking: Oklahoma City Abortionist Dr Nareshkumar Patel Arrested

    12/09/2014 11:22:32 AM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 20 replies
    patheos.com ^ | 12-9-14 | Rebecca Hamilton
    Dr Nareshkumar Patel was arrested this morning at his abortion clinic in Oklahoma City.Dr Patel has had previous brushes with the law because he disposed of the bodies of babies he had aborted by putting them in a garbage bag and burning them in an open field. He also has been accused of raping his patients.He was arrested this morning as a result of an undercover operation by the office of Oklahoma’s Attorney General Scot Pruitt.I have participated in a Forty Days for Life vigil outside Dr Patel’s clinic. It’s on a nice street in a quiet neighborhood. The surroundings...
  • Milne (R) to continue fight for governor's seat (Vermont-legislature to decide)

    12/08/2014 3:23:58 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 2 replies
    WCAX ^ | 12/8/14 | Kyle Midura
    MONTPELIER, Vt. - Republican Candidate for Governor Scott Milne used a Monday press conference to announce he's not giving up on becoming the state's next Commander in Chief. "I think I'll be a better governor for Vermont than Peter Shumlin," Scott Milne told reporters. That selection is up to 180 Vermonters -- the men and women who hold seats in the House and Senate. The vast majority are Democrats like the Governor. "It's their choice. If they choose him, the legislature must accept responsibility for the results," Milne said. Traditionally, when no candidate secures a majority, lawmakers vote for the...