Free Republic

A worrisome trend is emerging among some Californians who thought they were safe and secure under Covered California: Their plans are being canceled without consent and sometimes without notice. Take Ricki Manahan, who lives in Truckee near Lake Tahoe. Manahan and her husband signed up for an Anthem Blue Cross plan from Covered California early this year. They paid their premiums but out of nowhere last month, the couple received new insurance cards in the mail for Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, which provides publicly funded insurance to low-income residents. A growing number of Californians with Covered California plans are...

Constitutional conservative Mississippi Senate Candidate Chris McDaniel told Tim Constantine on TPNN’s Capitol Hill Show on Wednesday, that Republican establishment-backed, 76-year-old Senator Thad Cochran’s campaign stole the recent runoff election in Mississippi, that he had proof, and hoped his current court challenge will not only overturn the election, but will allow people to see the “ugly, ugly under belly of some element of the Republican Party.” McDaniel, who defeated Cochran, nicknamed the “King of Pork” in the prior Mississippi Senate primary, but failed to avoid a forced runoff vote because neither he nor Cochran passed the fifty percent threshold. “They...

Fresh off the release of his latest film “We Ride to DC,” grassroots filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch kicked off his Fighting for America Tour this month, which will bring him to more than 20 cities across the United States. Addressing tea party, Republican, and veterans groups, Lynch met more than 1,000 Americans throughout Florida last week, and spoke about a wide range of topics affecting the country. His focus, however, was on immigration—the subject of his first two documentaries, “They Come to America” and “They Come to America II.” The former businessman has two goals in mind for the three-month tour: educate...

President Obama’s plan to schmooze Wall Street honchos at a Westchester fund-raiser Friday is grounding wealthy weekenders who planned to fly to the Hamptons or Nantucket for the Labor Day holiday. The FAA has issued a no-fly warning that extends for most of Friday and all day Saturday through Sunday, grounding seaplanes to East Hampton, Montauk, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. On Friday, Obama will be feted at the home of one of his top bundlers, 32 Advisors’ Robert Wolf, in the aptly-named Purchase, NY, with 250 high-rollers paying up to $32,000 each to bend Obama’s ear. Obama will then fly...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have agreed to stop pressuring undocumented immigrants in Southern California to sign off on their own deportations under a legal settlement that may later allow some deportees to return from Mexico to seek U.S. legal residency, advocacy groups said on Wednesday. The deal reached between the American Civil Liberties Union and federal officials stems from a lawsuit brought last year on behalf of other immigration rights groups and about 10 immigrants who accepted so-called "voluntary returns" to Mexico. All of the immigrants had strong grounds for being allowed to remain in the United States...

The target was Hillary Clinton. Calling the famously liberal former Secretary of State “a war hawk,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) added in a recent Meet the Press appearance: “You know what? We are tired of war.… We’re worried that Hillary Clinton will get us involved in another Middle Eastern war, because she’s so gung-ho.” ADVERTISEMENT One has to wonder. Was Rand Paul’s real target Hillary Clinton? Whom he correctly blames for the Benghazi fiasco? Or was it, as it strikes… Ronald Reagan? Not to mention conservatism and the timeless idea of what Reagan termed “peace through strength.” Reagan’s formulation long...

Tory MP Douglas Carswell has defected to the UK Independence Party saying he wants to "shake-up" the cosy Westminster "clique". The maverick Eurosceptic backbencher unveiled his surprise announcement at a press conference in central London. More to follow.

“War” is too strong a word to use in regard to race relations. Despite continuing income inequality or how often the justice system seems to lack fairness when applied to nonwhites, few Americans would say that whites are waging a war on people of color. Even as Ferguson, Missouri, smolders after the shooting of a black teenager in a majority African-American town overseen by an almost all-white political leadership, “war” is too hyperbolic a statement. Bias, discrimination and neglect, certainly — but not war. This obvious fact is why, in the days before Ferguson erupted, the contention of a member...

A bill allowing family members to ask a judge to order firearms removed from people likely to commit gun violence advanced in California on Wednesday, one of several gun control measures up for votes in the last week of the state's legislative session. The measure was introduced after police near Santa Barbara said they were unable to confiscate weapons from a man who later went on a rampage and killed six people, despite concern from his family that he was in poor mental health and might become violent. The bill passed the senate 23-8. It passed the assembly once, but...

Governor Jay Nixon appointed a new state public safety director Wednesday, giving his administration its only black Cabinet member nearly three weeks after the shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer led to violent protests in a St. Louis suburb. The governor said former St. Louis police chief Daniel Isom II will take over as director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety on Sept. 1. He will replace Jerry Lee, who resigned after almost three years as director. The appointment comes after Nixon faced criticism both for the lack of racial diversity among his department leaders...

(Reuters) - The U.S. government sued a small Minneapolis suburb on Wednesday, accusing it of religious discrimination after local leaders denied a Muslim group the right to open a center in the municipality. The Justice Department filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis against St. Anthony Village, where council members voted 4-1 in 2012 to deny a request by the Abu Huraira Islamic Center to create a place of worship in the basement of the St. Anthony Business Center. "Religious freedom is one of our most cherished rights, and there are few aspects of that right more central...

A recording of Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell talking strategy and policy with a group of wealthy conservatives has Democrats claiming the remarks prove the senator is only looking out for millionaires and billionaires and not the needs of Kentucky families. In an article from http://www.thenation.com/article/181363/caught-tape-what-mitch-mcconnell-complained-about-roomful-billionaires-exclusive## , a recording of McConnell speaking at a conservative strategy conference hosted by the Koch Brothers on June 15 about issues like the minimum wage, unemployment insurance and other topics. According to the recording, McConnell tells the group about what he believes his chamber is doing wrong and how he would like to see...

IMPORTANT: This information should not be downloaded using government equipment, read during duty time, sent to others using government equipment, or sent to anyone while in a government building because it involves election related activity.The outcome of this November’s election could hit government employees in the pocketbook. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we Stand Up and vote this November.Look at the evidence: For three of the past four years, Congress denied us a cost-of-living increase. This year, we received a whopping 1 percent across-the-board raise – and we’re likely to see the same paltry increase next year...

DES MOINES, Iowa — A former state lawmaker accused of accepting payments to change his support to a different presidential candidate in the 2012 election cycle has pleaded guilty to two federal charges. The Department of Justice says Kent Sorenson, a former Republican state senator, admitted to receiving “under-the-table” payments from Ron Paul’s campaign committee in return for switching his support and services from candidate Michele Bachmann. The payments totaled about $73,000 and were made monthly in the amount of around $8,000. They were concealed by first sending the money to a film production company, then through another company —...

CNN has been transformed from a sober and respected news network into a shrill and biased mouthpiece for liberals, according to actor, author and economist Ben Stein. Stein, a speechwriter for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, said the dramatic change is particularly noticeable in CNN's coverage of the racial strife in Ferguson, Mo., following the fatal shooting of a black teen by a white police officer. "They've flipped out. I don't know what happened to CNN because CNN used to really be great and I can remember when it was great," Stein said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show"...

There’s been so much talk of late about the transformation of the Republican Party over the course of the last few decades that it is easy to become inured to reports of ideologically extreme new arrivals in the party’s ranks. After a while, the latest pronouncements of Michele Bachmann or Steve King fail to impress. But what is going on right now in Wisconsin’s Sixth Congressional District is truly historic, and demands more attention. The district, northwest of Milwaukee, has been represented for nearly half a century by only two men, both of whom were standard bearers for a brand...

A shadowy network of wealthy liberal donors bankrolled an operation to pack one of America’s most powerful courts with progressive judges, according to documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.Now the effort could prevent an Obamacare challenge from reaching the Supreme Court, legal experts say.The strategy to fill the D.C. Court of Appeals with left-leaning judges was aided by the American Constitution Society, a non-profit group that “promotes a progressive vision of the law.” The ACS is funded in part by the Democracy Alliance, a liberal donor network that funnels millions to a web of dark-money member groups.During a fundraising presentation...

Fresh numbers from Marquette University Law School’s respected pollster confirms that Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race remains extremely tight. The head-to-head match up sits within the margin of error, but this split is unusual: New Marquette Law School Poll finds Walker at 47.5%, Burke at 44.1% among registered voters. #mulawpoll— MULawPoll (@MULawPoll) August 27, 2014 Among likely voters, Burke has 48.6% and Walker 46.5%, new Marquette Law School Poll shows. #mulawpoll— MULawPoll (@MULawPoll) August 27, 2014 Walker has improved his standing with registered voters since MU Law’s May and July surveys, but has fallen among respondents who are likely to vote....

Few questioned the role that talk radio played in turning out Republicans to vote for Sheriff Clarke in this month' primary election. But talk radio also played a role in the 6th Congressional District primary. According to Jason Smathers' report in the Fond Du Lac Reporter, 620 WTMJ talk show host and Editor in Chief of RightWisconsin Charlie Sykes may have tipped the scales for Glenn Grothman's narrow victory. "Mark Graul, a GOP operative who runs Arena Strategy Group in Green Bay, said two reasons Leibham narrowly lost to state Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-Campbellsport, were money and talk radio." (SNIP)...

I communicate regularly with a number of elected officials at the state and local levels across North Carolina. The drive-bys have been speculating about WHO among the Democrat candidates would welcome Barry Obama swinging by for some campaign help. I decided to pose a similar question to some GOP incumbents and candidates who will be on the ballot in 2014: Who would you like to have campaign with you? I asked one Republican legislator if he would like to have Gov. Pat McCrory campaign with him. “Pardon my French,” the legislator responded. “But, Hell No!” I asked the same thing...