Free Republic

Crony Capitalism: The New York Times this week reports that ObamaCare has made strange bedfellows between the insurance industry and the federal government. Who could have imagined that?

Johnathan Gruber is a fascist. He’s willing to put up with a little bit of private ownership but only if the government dictates private transactions. He’s more than willing to help Congress manipulate laws in order to achieve government control. Much of the hubbub over Gruber’s comments on Obamacare manipulations put the blame on him. Make no mistake, calling the American people stupid is on Gruber. However, Gruber isn’t a politician and it’s hardly surprising when an academic with no political experience doesn’t know how to play the game. Academics aren’t nearly as smart as they or the left think...

WASHINGTON — As Americans shop in the health insurance marketplace for a second year, President Obama is depending more than ever on the insurance companies that five years ago he accused of padding profits and canceling coverage for the sick. Those same insurers have long viewed government as an unreliable business partner that imposed taxes, fees and countless regulations and had the power to cut payment rates and cap profit margins. But since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, the relationship between the Obama administration and insurers has evolved into a powerful, mutually beneficial partnership that has been...

Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday left Brisbane citing a need to "catch up on sleep", after the Kremlin played down reports that he was leaving due to the cold reception given to him by other world leaders over Ukraine....The Russian leader said he explained...Despite Abbott's shirtfront threat setting the scene for the two leader's encounter in Australia, President Putin departed praising him...conservative world leaders, including Britain's David Cameron, Canada's Stephen Harper and Germany's Angela Merkel delivered stern words to the Russian leader over Ukraine.

I was close to beginning this article by saying only in New York. Sadly, that’s not true. There are a number of states today with some truly horrible gun laws and attitudes toward Second Amendment rights. But the Empire State is still right up near the top of that list and this story won’t do much to improve our reputation. Buffalo, New York police are now visiting the homes of those recently departed in search of firearms as part of a new plan to help keep tabs on local guns. The move, put into effect by Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda,...

Many parents prefer to send their children off to school with a packed lunch, believing that the food they have given them is far healthier than school lunches. But a new study, published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, claims this may not be the case. The research team, led by Alisha R. Farris of the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise at Virginia Tech, found that school lunches had better average nutritional quality than packed lunches. "We found that both packed and school lunches almost entirely met nutrition standards, except school lunches were below energy and...

If someone was trying to limit or suppress your First Amendment rights in America today, what would that Tyrant look like? A dictator in a military uniform? Or a soccer mom in a corner office?

* * * SPIEGEL ONLINE: You constantly speak of fighting. Do Muslims not constantly speak of Islam being a religion of peace? Abu Sattar: It is when people submit to Allah. Allah is merciful and forgives those who follow him.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones as they are often called, have had a good press recently: from humanitarian rescues to the promotion of free trade, these remote-controlled, pilotless robots are the heroes of the moment. Still, their biggest use continues to be for military purposes. And although the deployment of drones in military operations is nowhere near as morally objectionable as some critics allege, the inevitable proliferation of UAVs does raise some serious security questions. The real challenge is not to prevent nations or corporations from acquiring them but, rather, to adopt international safeguards on how independent such drones...

A British pensioner who quipped "I'm not a Muslim" when asked to remove his shoes at airport security spent more than six months with a criminal charge of racism hanging over him, before the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case just one day before it was due in court. Paul Griffith, who was flying from Stansted Airport in Essex, has described the experience as "incredibly stressful", the Daily Mail has reported. Griffith, 75, was on his way to Malaga, Spain, for a week’s holiday when he set off the scanners on his way through security at Stansted Airport earlier this...

Since the story broke about the Human Rights Campaign's slanderous persecution of the very people their group was designed to protect – bisexuals and children of same-sex couples – I have received a great deal of support from people.  While it was nerve-wracking to have the truth about the 26 months of harassment by GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, Scott Rosenzweig, Jeremy Hooper, and a host of other totalitarians circulate at my job, it has been healthy.  My colleagues and students had no idea about the extent of this campaign of suppression, censorship, and harassment.  Now they know the...

Antonio Gramsci is a figure of high importance to the development of the left, both in Britain and the United states. While looking into Gramsci, I came across James Joll's book, a clear exposition of Gramsci’s ideas by a fan of the Italian Marxist. Thus it can be said that the text is a fair account of Gramsci's ideas. And if there is any bias in the texts I've chosen, it's bias in favor -- rather than against – Antonio Gramsci.

In a surprise move late Friday, a key Democrat on the Federal Election Commission called for burdensome new rules on internet-based campaigning, prompting the Republican chairman to warn that the left wants to regulate conservative political sites and even news outlets like the Drudge Report. Democratic FEC Vice Chair Ann M. Ravel announced plans to begin the process to win regulations on internet-based campaigns and videos, currently free from most of the FEC’s rules. “A reexamination of the commission’s approach to the internet and other emerging technologies is long over due,” she said. The powerplay followed a deadlocked 3-3 vote...

The New Haven SWAT team must have been pretty amped up: It was midnight, and they were getting ready to bust down the door of a man wanted on charges involving weapons violations, robbery — and murder. They were not sure how many people were in the house, or how they’d react. After a volley of flash grenades that set fire to the carpet and a sofa, they moved in, guns drawn. A minute later, they had their man zip-tied on the floor. If only they’d double-checked the address first. Bobby Griffin Jr. was wanted on murder charges. His next-door...

CNN reporter Sarah Sidener’s on air stand up in Ferguson, Missouri was disrupted on Monday night when supporters of Michael Brown surrounded Sidener and her cameraman and demanded that they leave the area. The video at Ferguson, shot by Bassem Masri a local activist, includes Masri and others accusing CNN of lying about the Michael Brown case and supporting “Zionists.”

The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution is crystal clear in meaning. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. FBI Director, James Comey, an Obama appointment, does not give a damn what the Constitution says. In a recent speech, Comey warns If Apple and Google Won't Decrypt Phones, We'll Force Them To Everyone...

90 Percent of Checkout Food Options Unhealthy; 60 Percent of Drink Options Sugar-Sweetened A study of checkout aisles at a wide variety of supermarket and non-food retailers found that 90 percent of food options for sale were for candy, energy bars, chips, cookies, and other junk foods, and 60 percent of the beverage options were for soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. Researchers at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public characterized only eight percent of food items as "healthier," and just two percent of foods as actually "healthy," such as nuts and fruit. Their assessment of drinks for sale...

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Amber Vinson, the second Dallas health care worker with Ebola, had flown from Cleveland to Dallas on the day before she reported symptoms. Vinson apparently showed no symptoms while on the return flight to Dallas, meaning fellow passengers are at extremely low risk. Still, CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a press conference, "she should not have been on that plane." It's unclear if the CDC or officials ever instructed the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital workers caring for Thomas Duncan to avoid crowded areas and not to fly. Vinson,...

Houston Mayor Annise Parker has backed down from the subpoenas the City of Houston issued to several area pastors, Breitbart Texas has learned. Breitbart Texas reported earlier about the controversy, stemming from litigation challenging the city's anti-discrimination ordinance and subpoenas asking the pastors for the content of their sermons, speeches and communications with church members. Texas Senator Ted Cruz weighed in, firmly supporting the pastors in their efforts to fight the subpoenas, while Mayor Parker initially remained adamant that the city had the right to request those records. Despite posting comments on Twitter just hours before that seemed to indicate...

The Green movement was the last segment of German Society to admit its complicity with National Socialism and the horrors of the holocaust. While countless historical books have decried the industrial nature of the holocaust, such works fail to explain the motive behind the greatest crime of the 20th century. The Nazi economy and its industry were merely the means by which the holocaust was implemented and paid for. “Nazi Oaks” describes the anti-Semitic historical background of the early German green movement in the 1800’s that was later absorbed by National Socialism under the biological umbrella of ‘scientific’ Social Darwinism....