Free Republic

When President Barack Obama arrives in Milwaukee on Tuesday, his task will be to help mobilize African-Americans and other key Democratic voting groups who still give him positive ratings despite his lackluster standing nationwide. The president will be visiting North Division High School in an overwhelmingly African-American ward that he carried with 99% of the vote in 2012, outpolling Republican Mitt Romney 843 to 5. Anything Obama can do to boost turnout in the city of Milwaukee and among-African Americans puts more votes in Democrat Mary Burke’s column in her neck-and-neck battle with GOP Gov. Scott Walker.

The Star Tribune reported yesterday that the Minnesota Department of Commerce “asked” PreferredOne to lower insurance rates in the MNsure exchange last year. The July 2013 letter referenced in the story reveals the company lowered rates twice in response to Commerce “objections.” PreferredOne ultimately agreed to lower rates by 37 percent from its initial proposal, which resulted in the company offering the lowest rates in the nation. Governor Dayton’s administration celebrated these low rates throughout the year, all of which helped dial down the political heat from MNsure’s botched rollout. “Now,” according to the Star Tribune, “those subscribers face an...

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Please be seated. I want to thank Dr. Frieden and everybody here at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for welcoming me here today. Tom and his team just gave me an update on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, our efforts to help mobilize the international community to fight it, and the steps that we’re taking to keep people here at home safe. First and foremost, I want the American people to know that our experts, here at the CDC and across our government, agree that the chances of an Ebola outbreak here...

Pushed Thursday night on whether she would want President Barack Obama to campaign with her as she seeks a second term, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said it doesn’t make sense and Obama is “exactly where he needs to be” — in Washington. “We have a lot going on,” Shaheen said during an hourlong debate with Republican Scott Brown at NH1’s studio in Concord, which was broadcast live on WBIN-TV and was co-sponsored by CNN. “I don’t think it makes sense for the president to come to New Hampshire right now.” Shaheen doesn’t have a shortage of star power coming to...

For about the past week or so, health insurance broker Stephen Hunt has been getting phone calls from unhappy clients. “They just keep building up and up and up and up and up," Hunt said. The calls are coming from clients who have been notified by their insurer that their policy expires at year’s end and most will have to purchase plans with much higher premiums and much higher deductibles, he said. “We’re not talking about a minor difference in premium. We're talking about a mortgage payment difference in premium for a lot of people," Hunt said. Anne Melissa Dowling,...

After the worst transition to Obamacare in the country, Massachusetts is still without a functional exchange website and just 769 people have enrolled in Obamacare-subsidized plans. To avoid accountability and political repercussions, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is about to cut two special deals with the federal government: the “Commonwealth Kickback” which grants Massachusetts the most generous taxpayer-funded premium subsidies in the entire country, while the “Bay State Bailout” gives 300,000+ MA residents “temporary” Medicaid coverage in 2014, without any verification of their eligibility.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, the race for Illinois governor is a dead heat as Republican challenger Bruce Rauner has made significant inroads among suburban voters, especially women, a new Chicago Tribune poll shows. The survey found Rauner with 45 percent support and Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn with 43 percent. But the latest poll found Obama's job approval numbers slipping in his home state. Only 46 percent approve — that's down from 52 percent last month and represents a low-water mark for the president since the Tribune began tracking views on his tenure in the White House....

In the wake of the shootings in Canada, the president said that “it emphasizes the degree to which we have to remain vigilant when it comes to dealing with these kinds of acts of senseless violence or terrorism.” The president has said we must be vigilant many times, but does he follow his own advice? He is among the least vigilant presidents in memory, always learning about scandals in the newspaper and surprised when aggressors act like aggressors. If he is being vigilant, he’s looking out for the wrong things. He should have been paying attention to the geographic spread...

They appear to be shrinking in size as they react to changes in climate, according to new research from Durham University. The researchers studied the impacts of changes in temperature on the body size of Alpine Chamois, a species of mountain goat, over the past 30 years. To their surprise, they discovered that young Chamois now weigh about 25 per cent less than animals of the same age in the 1980s. In recent years, decreases in body size have been identified in a variety of animal species, and have frequently been linked to the changing climate. However, the researchers say...

Time to inject another set of data points into the "Obamacare is working well in the real world" debate. The president and his loyalists insist that their signature law is working as intended. The general public -- yet again -- disagrees, according to a new poll from Politico. A plurality believes the quality of their care will deteriorate under Obamacare (perhaps due to access shock, doctor shortages, and government rationing decisions), while less than one-in-five expect improved care. On costs, a pitiful seven percent believe the 'Affordable' Care Act will reduce the amount of money they'll personally pay will decrease...

The Obama administration has funded a new study by top consulting firm RAND Health that startlingly finds that if taxpayer subsidies are eliminated, Obamacare exchanges will fall into a “death spiral.” The study comes in the wake of a number of lawsuits which are challenging the Obama administration’s implementation of Obamacare subsidies. Three lawsuits have made it to U.S. Circuit Courts, just one step from the Supreme Court, arguing that the text of the Affordable Care Act allows premium subsidies for state-run exchanges only. The report was sponsored by HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, which,...

It has been a stunning reversal of fortunes for Mr Obama, whose celebrity status helped get Democrats elected in several Republican states in 2008 – states which the party is now desperately struggling to defend. With less than two weeks to go until the November 4 polling day, we track the travails of the man who once walked on political water. Indeed, so toxic has Mr Obama’s name apparently become that when Ms Lundergan Grimes was asked if she had ever actually voted for Mr Obama, the 35-year-old lawyer declined to answer. The president’s sheen may have faded for the...

When presidents become unpopular, they are no longer welcome on the campaign trail. They're trapped in Washington, watching their party abandon them. Now, the same oppressive walls are closing in on President Barack Obama. He is welcome only in the palatial homes of Hollywood stars and hedge-fund billionaires or the well-kept fairways of Martha's Vineyard. The contrast with 2008 is striking and painful. Six years ago, his acolytes fainted as he read from the teleprompter. What went wrong? Ideology, say the true believers and their staunchest opponents. The left says he compromised too much, desperate to pass his agenda. The...

A devastating new Politico poll reveals voters believe America has spun off its axis and is "out of control." "An overwhelming majority of voters in the most competitive 2014 elections say it feels as if events in the United States are 'out of control' and expressed mounting alarm about terrorism, anxiety about Ebola and harsh skepticism of both political parties only three weeks before the Nov. 4 midterms," reports Politico. The poll, which surveyed states and districts in the most competitive congressional races, found that 64% of Americans believe "things in the U.S. feel like they are out of control...

Pete Spain knew he and his wife would have to find a new health plan for 2015 since their current policy is being discontinued at the end of the year. But the letter explaining it still contained a surprise: Buying a comparable plan next year would cost the Bridgeport couple nearly 58 percent more. “That’s just a bigger hit than we expected,” he said. The Spains are among more than 60,000 Connecticut residents with health plans that don’t meet the requirements of the federal health law. Many of them are receiving notices that their plans are being discontinued and that...

President Obama made a monumental mistake in appointing a political hack, Ron Klain, as the Ebola czar. He must undo his error now and give the job to someone of stature and genuine ability. In alphabetical order, here are three individuals the President should consider immediately for this crucial post: –Michael Bloomberg. He’s not a physician, but from his extensive work with (and donations to) the medical school and hospital at Johns Hopkins University and other medical institutions, he has gained an enormous amount of knowledge. –Ben Carson. A gifted neurosurgeon and former director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins...

President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on the campaign trail on Sunday with a rally to support the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, though the event was marred somewhat by early departures of crowd members and a yelling heckler. Some 8,000 people turned out for the event, held in a noisy school gymnasium. But a steady stream of people walked out while he spoke, and a heckler interrupted his remarks.

It must have pained the New York Times to publish its article about how many ObamaCare customers fear to make use of their taxpayer-subsidized, hyper-regulated benefits because the deductibles are so high.  It's a devastating indictment of the Affordable Care Act, cutting deep into the very small number of Americans who actually find the ACA somewhat useful.   Not only does ObamaCare have low approval ratings from the American public at large, it doesn't even score well among the group it was nominally intended to benefit most directly, the uninsured.     Patricia Wanderlich got insurance through the Affordable Care Act this...

SANTIAGO — Corruption and tax evasion are flagrant violations of human rights in Latin America, where they contribute to inequality and injustice in the countries of the region, according to studies and experts consulted by IPS. “Tax evasion means that those who are most vulnerable are denied the full enjoyment of their economic and social rights, including health and education,” said Rocío Noriega, an adviser on governance, ethics and transparency for the United Nations Development Programme. “Corruption has a negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights,” she added. It also constitutes “a threat to democracy, because it systematically violates...

After three weeks trapped inside their home, Natalie Pereira and her family made a final decision: they must leave Venezuela. "I could see clashes from my apartment window, tear gas, every day," Pereira said, recounting violent confrontations between anti-government protesters and security forces earlier this year. "The protests confirmed it - we had to go." Pereira, a 33-year-old dentist now living in Texas, is not alone in making that decision. As political strife drags on and an economic crisis brings soaring prices, tight currency controls and shortages of even basic goods, Venezuela's middle classes are increasingly seeing a future abroad....