Free Republic

It's finally official. The Affordable Care Act is a public-policy flop of epic proportions. That's the only possible conclusion from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City announcement last week that it will drop out of many markets in Kansas and Missouri. The firm lost $100 million under the Obamacare insurance exchanges from 2014 to 2016. This is another body blow to the government-insurance system Barack Obama created in 2010. Blue Cross is one of the biggest health insurers in the nation, and now 25 more counties in these states will have no insurer left. Nearly every news...

A "shameful" abstention by the U.S. in a United Nations Security Council vote Friday allowed passage of a resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. The resolution was put forward by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal after Egypt withdrew it Thursday under pressure from Israel and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. It was adopted with 14 votes in favor, to a round of applause, after U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power abstained. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years. Reaction from U.S. Republicans and Jewish leaders around...

Obama finally did something with his phone and his pen besides take a selfie and sign an autograph. He has instructed the carbon police to cut carbon emissions in United States by 30%. That means the death of coal-fired electricity. “The EPA will launch the most dramatic anti-pollution regulation in a generation early next month,” says Politico, “a sweeping crackdown on carbon that offers President Barack Obama his last real shot at a legacy on climate change — while causing significant political peril for red-state Democrats.” That means utility bills are going to go up for everyone: rich, poor,...

CAIRO (SANA): Egypt’s two main Islamist parties have scored a crushing victory in the seats declared so far. Egyptians were voting on Tuesday in second-round run-offs for the third and final phase of staggered elections to choose the first parliament since mass protests ousted Hosni Mubarak in February last year. Egypt’s two main Islamist parties have scored a crushing victory in the seats declared so far, reflecting a regional trend since Arab Spring uprisings overthrew authoritarian secular regimes. Under the complex electoral system, voters have been asked to cast three ballots — two for individual candidates and one for a...