Free Republic

The Manhattan apartment and Southampton mansion of a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin were raided by federal agents on Thursday, according to the FBI and a report. An FBI spokesperson confirmed agents “conducted law enforcement activity” at the Upper East Side high-rise and Long Island estate linked to billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, but declined to comment further. FBI officials and Homeland Security Investigation agents were seen carrying boxes out of Vekselberg’s 515 Park Ave. apartment building and his Southampton mansion at 19 Duck Pond Lane, according to NBC New York, which first reported the searches. The US...

They work for the government and even their closest relatives have no idea what they do. It’s not because they’re spies or nuclear scientists, but because their jobs are so arcane: trying to reinvent Medicare to improve it, and maybe save taxpayers money. In a sprawling, nondescript office park near Baltimore, some 360 people at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation are trying to change the health care system, using the government’s premier insurance program as leverage. If they prevail, the U.S. may no longer have the worst of both worlds: unsustainable spending and unenviable results. […] Because the...

May 16, 2012 Obamacare's Patient-Dumping, Privacy-Meddling Scheme Michelle Malkin The stench of Chicago cronyism over the White House just got fouler. Inhale this: A shadowy $10 billion Obamacare agency with zero oversight just awarded first lady Michelle Obama's pet patient-dumping scheme at the University of Chicago Medical Center a $5.9 million taxpayer-funded grant. It will enable Mrs. Obama's cronies to build a government-sponsored electronic medical record-sharing system. The Chicago program, known as the Urban Health Initiative, is run by one of President Obama's closest golfing buddies, scandal magnet Eric Whitaker, who has been entangled with Illinois corruption celebrities Rod Blagojevich...

Dmitry Medvedev dining in San Francisco tonight Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is on a friendly visit to the Bay Area before flying across the country to meet with President Barack Obama, and he comes in peace. Which must be why he brought along the flagship of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet, the nuclear-capable missile cruiser Varyag. Makes total sense. Medvedev will be dining with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State George Schultz Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he'll be visiting technology companies including Twitter, Apple, Google and Cisco Systems, in part to promote an "innovation center" modeled on Silicon...