Free Republic

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a radical pro-abortion bill (S.1696) sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.) and promoted by major pro-abortion advocacy groups.If enacted, the law would nullify virtually all limits on abortion nationwide, including protective measures that enjoy broad public support, including informed consent laws, waiting periods and laws that protect pain-capable unborn children from excruciating abortions late in pregnancy.The bill, which has been characterized as the “Abortion Without Limits Until Birth” Act, currently has 35 co-sponsors, all Democrats.With nearly two thirds of Senate Democrats on board with Blumenthal’s plan to expand abortion, the...

International monitors, who only recently gained access to the site, discovered the cockpit of the plane apparently cut in half with diesel-powered saws. Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the group of international monitors from the Organize for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told USA Today: 'The rear part of the aircraft, one of the biggest intact pieces, has definitely been hacked into'. The cockpit was found on land which was immediately cordoned off by Russian-backed separatists during the two days after the plane was blown out of the sky. However, both the separatists and Russia have denied any involvement in...

There’s a lot of talk about optics in politics, and generally speaking, I am wildly opposed to the notion of optics. Optics refers to how one is viewed by the general public, how one’s actions are perceived. Optics are, in essence, a manipulation of perception. In my opinion, the top priority on a politician’s mind should not be optics, but actions. Actions–if they are driven by noble intent–should speak for themselves. Action should not require extra manufacturing. However, there is something to be said about making sure one’s actions are not perceived negatively, thus undermining one’s entire political philosophy.We have...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was asked Monday if Democrats will move a carbon tax bill after the midterm election. “I sure hope so,” he told a “clean energy” conference call. […] A carbon tax bill won’t advance unless Democrats retake the House and retain control of the Senate in November. With that goal in mind, President Obama was heading west on Tuesday to raise money for his party. …

Liberal megadonor Tom Steyer, failing to raise any significant outside money for his global warming Super PAC, turned to one of his San Francisco neighbors for a million dollar check. It was Herb Sandler, the subprime mortgage lender at the heart of the housing crisis, and like Steyer a huge hypocrite. Tom Steyer made his fortune as an international coal financier while enticing investors with a tax-avoidance strategy featuring offshore shelters in the Caymans, Mauritius, and Singapore. Now he's using that fortune to support liberal Democrats who want to hike taxes and deny hardworking Americans access to the same...

Mail is being delivered after 5 p.m. almost 70 percent of the time to residents and businesses in the District and the Maryland suburbs in violation of U.S. Postal Service policy, an investigation released Tuesday found. The number of letter carriers who are still on their routes after 5 p.m., even in the winter darkness, and the delayed delivery of letters and packages has grown so dramatically in recent years that the Capital District now ranks as the worst area in the country for late mail service, a report by Postal Service Inspector General David Williams concluded. Northern Virginia also...

The number of cops killed nationwide in the line of duty was up 31 percent during the first six months of this year. A new report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund shows California leading all states with eight police officer deaths, followed by New York, Florida, Texas and Virginia with four each. Fund Chairman Craig Floyd says there's been a 37-percent increase in traffic-related incidents and a 56-percent increase in officers killed by gunfire, five of them in ambush-style attacks. Craig blames those attacks, including the one earlier this month on Jersey City police officer Melvin Santiago...

It takes courage to speak out against the threatening presence of Islam in todayÂ’s world. And it takes courage to defend those who have the courage to speak out.Eight years ago, after Benedict XVI gave his controversial Regensburg address, most European commentators were shamefully timid in their response. Most refused to raise their heads above the parapet, preferring the cowardÂ’s option of not making any response at all. In the light of this continuing cowardly silence, it is timely to remind ourselves of the ugly face of Islamic fundamentalism.At the darkened heart of radical Islam is what Bishop Nazir-Ali,...

Less than an hour after an appeals court in Washington ordered the Obama administration to turn off the spigot of federal subsidies to consumers through U.S.-run health-care exchanges, an appeals court in Virginia ruled that the subsidies should be allowed to keep on flowing. With the future of Obamacare hanging in the balance, the back-to-back opinions raise the likelihood of another Supreme Court showdown over the the president’s marquee law. The two circuits split over an issue fundamental to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. That is, whether the Internal Revenue Service had the authority under the statute passed...

Well, this is awkward.Unlike the D.C. Circuit, which split 2-1, the majority here was 3-0. Even so, the most noteworthy thing about the opinion is how tormented the court seems in trying to determine what Congress intended when it said that subsidies should be available only on “an exchange established by the State.” From page 20:Page 24:Page 28:If they can’t decide what the key phrase was designed to do, why don’t they follow the D.C. Circuit’s lead and stick with the plain text? In the first excerpt above, the court frankly admits that the language of the law seems...

Another round of layoffs for the coal industry – this one striking Wise County, Virginia. On Monday workers at both Cumberland River Coal’s Pine Branch Number One in Wise County, and a second mine in Letcher County, Kentucky, learned that the mines would be shutting down indefinitely. Derrick Saylor is one of the workers who learned that he would be losing his job. "Here in the mountains we are tight knit, like a family," said Saylor. "People we work with are like family cause we are with them as much as family at home" "It’s tough [and] it’s sad to...

John Paulson and George Soros Score Big Selling OneWest Bank For $3.4 Billion Comment Now Follow Comments A gang made up of some of Wall Street’s biggest names and formed by former Goldman Sachs partner Steve Mnuchin is set to realize a big score from the sale of OneWest Bank to CIT Group CIT +11.19% for $3.4 billion. Hedge fund billionaires John Paulson and George Soros were part of the group that together with buyout baron Christopher Flowers and billionaire Michael Dell bought the assets in 2009 of the former IndyMac, one of the nation’s largest bank failures ever, from...

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that ObamaCare subsidies issued through the federal exchanges are legal, contradicting a separate ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court on the same day. Fourth Circuit Judge Roger Gregory argued that because the statutory language of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is ambiguous, courts should defer to the interpretation of the Internal Revenue Service and allow the subsides to stand. "Applying deference to the IRS's determination … we uphold the rule as a permissible exercise of the agency's discretion," Gregory wrote. The decision came just hours after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals...

WASHINGTON—Two U.S. appeals courts issued conflicting rulings on whether consumers can receive subsidies for health coverage purchased on insurance exchanges established by the federal government, clouding implementation of a major component of the Obama administration's signature health care law. In a substantial blow to the administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, on a 2-1 vote, invalidated an Internal Revenue Service regulation that implemented a key piece of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The regulation said subsidies for health insurance were available to qualifying middle- and low-income consumers whether they bought coverage on a state...

DES MOINES, Iowa —A central Iowa Boy Scout troop just returned from a three-week trip they will likely never forget About 10 days into the trip, an innocent action by one of the nearly two dozen Scouts at the Canadian border into Alaska set off a chain of events that lead to a U.S. border official pointing a gun at a scout’s head. Boy Scout Troop 111 Leader Jim Fox spelled out what happened to him and the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111 as four van-loads of Scouts and adult volunteers tried to drive from Canada into Alaska. Fox said...

Former Republican Rep. Ron Paul said Sunday that the United States shares part of the blame in the attack on the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet in eastern Ukraine last week, and that theObama administration may try and use the tragedy as an excuse to attack Russia.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid a swirl of foreign and border challenges, President Barack Obama is embarking on the one mission that has regularly proved a winner for him — raising money for his fellow Democrats. Obama on Tuesday was starting a three-day West Coast trip, scheduled to attend at least five fundraising events in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles less than four months ahead of midterm elections that could change Washington's balance of power. The trip comes as Obama is dealing with a series of high-profile tests of his presidency, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East to the...

A federal appeals court on Tuesday dealt a setback to the Affordable Care Act, ruling that premium subsidies provided through the federal health exchange in 36 states are invalid under the writing of the law.Here's the practical effect of the ruling, if it withstands the rest of the legal process: More than 5 million, generally low-income Americans who received tax credits through the federal exchange to purchase health insurance would see their premiums explode.Avalere Health, an independent healthcare firm, released an analysis last week showing that individuals who received premium subsidies for health insurance would see a premium hike of about...

EXCERPT Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas were quick to pounce on the decision as one that reveals the Obama administration’s ongoing attempts to implement the law in a way that exceeds the parameters set in the law that Democrats themselves devised and passed. Cruz called the ruling a “repudiation of Obamacare and all the lawlessness that has come with it.” “The Obama administration, through the Internal Revenue Service, has attempted to dispense revenues to the states without proper congressional authorization, robbing Congress of its constitutionally-provided power of the purse,” Cruz said. “This decision restores power to Congress and...

The existence of gay Republicans is hardly a new phenomenon. The Log Cabin Republicans, an organization for gay men and women within the party, was founded back in 1977 in California. But every so often, the existence of gay conservatives gets media attention, particularly during election cycles. In more recent years, gay conservatives have been getting more attention as the Republican Party struggles with its identity. American opinion has shifted significantly to support top issues among gays and lesbians, particularly in support of marriage recognition. Support for gay marriage among evangelical Christians has doubled over the past decade, according to...