Free Republic

The current political debate over Medicaid has centered on the idea of putting patients to work so they can earn their government benefits. Yet some experts say the country would be better served by asking this question instead: Are insurance companies — which receive hundreds of billions in public money — earning their Medicaid checks? More than two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are enrolled in such programs, a type of public-private arrangement that has grown rapidly since 2014, boosted by the influx of new beneficiaries under the Affordable Care Act. States have eagerly tapped into the services of insurers as one...

Europe and Asia should use their combined economic clout “to tackle global challenges such as trade tensions that put millions of jobs at risk” and the threat of climate change, a top European official said Thursday. European Council President Donald Tusk spoke in Brussels as he opened the Asia-Europe summit, which brought together 30 European leaders with their counterparts or top officials from 21 Asian nations. The gathering accounts for 55 percent of global trade and 60 percent of the world’s population. […] The meeting is taking place amid a trade war between the United States and China and ongoing...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey claimed in an interview this week that it was a “joke” when the social network described itself as the “free-speech wing of the free-speech party.” Former Twitter vice president Tony Wang made the statement in 2012, declaring, “Generally, we remain neutral as to the content because our general counsel and CEO like to say that we are the free speech wing of the free speech party.” In an interview with Wired this week, however, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey reversed on Wang’s old statement, claiming it had been a “joke.” “I think Vijaya [Gadde]’s op-ed in the...

Company executives often steer clear of any appearance of partisanship, in large part because they don’t want to alienate customers and investors who back the other side. About 100 CEOs whose companies are components of the S&P 500 have been willing to fly a markedly Democratic or Republican flag in their political giving as individuals during the current election cycle, however. MarketWatch gathered data on political contributions by those chief executives between Jan. 1, 2017, and Aug. 31, 2018, and has compiled a searchable database that shows the total money spent and the partisan breakdown, listing every contribution made by...

"North Korea is a historical relic, destabilizing force, and human rights abomination. The Korean people and the world will be far better off without it." The good news is that this collapse has the potential to be a win-win for nearly everyone. The North Korean people will end their terrible suffering, North and South Korea will be reunified under South Korean law, potentially following a UN-administered transitional period and referendum, the specter of a rogue nuclear nation at the heart of Asia will be removed, and China will gain a valuable trading partner in a unified Korea and access to...

The wrestling event was set to be another highlight for Vince McMahon - but has been cancelled after ongoing issues in the Middle East WWE Crown Jewel was set to be another blockbuster event in Saudi Arabia - following the Greatest Royal Rumble in April. That show was as part of a new 10-year deal with the Middle Eastern nation, only for their very next event to be cancelled. Has WWE Crown Jewel been axed? According to reports, the event is set to be cancelled - in Saudi Arabia at least anyway. The Middle Eastern country has been embroiled in...

Courtney’s Restaurant and Catering owner Tom Courtney said he’s experienced a strong social media backlash because he rented the event room at his Mt. Juliet business to U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Saturday. Courtney said he’s been called a Nazi, an abuser, had his life threatened and said his staff has been verbally attacked. Hundreds of posters on social media said they would boycott his restaurant because it was a local venue to Blackburn, who is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate against former Democratic Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen. “People have posted they love our food,...

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2018 World Competitiveness Report ranks the United States No. 1 in global competitiveness, up from No. 3 in the past few years and its first top ranking in a decade. A high ranking matters. As the WEF reports: “Global competitiveness is determined by the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country … And productivity leads to growth ... and improved well-being. The U.S.’s top ranking therefore suggests a lot of growth and prosperity to come." According to the Davos elite (who are no fans of Donald Trump),...

No one benefits from her latest venture back onto the political scene. We’re three weeks out from the 2018 midterm election, and Hillary Clinton is popping up again like a Halloween ghoul who keeps rising from the grave to terrorize the American public; only this time accompanied by the increasingly #MeToo burdened uber-villain, Bubba. The Clintons, it seems, can’t seem to call it quits, even if it means leaving members of their own party cringing and many more voters ready to “headdesk” themselves into a coma. This time, it’s happening courtesy of a pay-through-the-nose-to-see-them rehab tour. Because if there’s one...

President Donald Trump plans to withdraw from a postal treaty that has allowed Chinese companies to ship small packages to the U.S. at a steeply discounted rate...~SNIP~ Under the Universal Postal Union treaty, China and other developing countries have since 1969 been assessed lower rates than wealthier nations. The Times says the decision to withdraw was made at the urging of Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro. The National Association of Manufacturers said Trump deserved credit for his focus on eliminating what it called "the anti-U.S. manufacturer subsidy China receives from the U.S. Postal Service."

The president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., Chip Bergh, has announced that the iconic company, "a pioneer of the American West," will donate more than $1 million to gun-control groups to help end "America's gun violence epidemic," a step the NRA denounced as a "particularly sad episode in the current surge in corporate virtue-signaling." In his announcement, through a commentary in Fortune magazine, CEO Bergh stated that Levi's is "known the world over as a pioneer of the American West and one of the great symbols of American freedom." Nonetheless, "as business leaders with power in the public...

Abstract: On September 30, 2018, California became the first US state to mandate women directors on corporate boards. The passage of this law resulted in a significant decline in shareholder value for firms headquartered in California. The decline in shareholder value is directly related to the number of female directors that firms are required to add to the board. We argue that supply-side constraints contribute to the costs imposed by the mandate. The expected costs of additional female directors are higher for firms that face a more limited director pool and for those with weak corporate governance. Our findings indicate...

Tens of thousands workers laid off when Toys R Us went bust last year have a politically powerful new ally in their fight to win severance from the bankrupt retailer: Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts Democrat, who is rumored to be weighing a run for the White House in 2020, is pressing the financial firms behind the decision to liquidate Toys R Us to contribute to a fund for affected employees. "The liquidation of Toys R Us -- reportedly at the urging of your firm -- caused more than 30,000 American workers to lose their jobs without the severance they...

MOSCOW — It would be one of the world’s more unusual direct flights. But bringing Syrian soldiers and civilians to a Black Sea resort is exactly what was on offer Tuesday, when a delegation from Crimea visited Damascus, the Syrian capital. “We understand that restrictions related to trade, money transfers and tourism are similar to what we have in Crimea,” said Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, Russia’s top official there. Both Syria and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine four years ago, have been hit by Western sanctions, and their economies are struggling. “We should turn our minuses into our advantages,”...

More than 300 bridges in Connecticut — carrying 4.3 million vehicles daily — are considered structurally deficient. Highways in the Bridgeport-Stamford area are so congested motorists waste 49 hours a year in bumper-to-bumper traffic. And 62 percent of Connecticut’s major roads are in such poor condition they cost motorists $681 annually in vehicle repairs, according to TRIP, a national transportation think tank. Given those challenges, the three men seeking to replace Gov. Dannel P. Malloy could be making transportation the centerpiece of their campaigns. But instead, these candidates for governor are offering mostly modest plans to fix the state’s infrastructure...

"We're going to be asking for a 5 percent cut from every secretary today," Trump told reporters at the White House in advance of a meeting with those secretaries. The proposal comes days after the Trump administration announced a $779 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2018 — a six-year high and a 17 percent jump from the prior period. "He's asking them to cut the fraud, the waste, the abuse," White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox Business News. "Cut the fat, not the essentials." Trump had said in an earlier interview on the network that "We're...

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.7 percent from 2016 levels, according to the EPA. Emissions on a per-capita basis hit a 67-year low last year, federal data shows, and supporters are touting EPA’s data as proof Trump’s agenda is working. EPA’s new data comes on news that, globally, greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise to historic highs by the end of the year, despite nearly 200 countries signing the Paris climate accord.

he Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could determine whether users can challenge social media companies on free speech grounds. The case, Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, No. 17-702, centers on whether a private operator of a public access television network is considered a state actor, which can be sued for First Amendment violations. The case could have broader implications for social media and other media outlets. In particular, a broad ruling from the high court could open the country's largest technology companies up to First Amendment lawsuits. That could shape the ability of companies like...

A Treasury Department employee has been charged with leaking confidential banking reports of suspects charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Federal prosecutors say Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards is set to appear in court Wednesday in Virginia. The 40-year-old Edwards is a senior official at the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. She’s accused of leaking the material to a journalist — who’s not named in court papers. Prosecutors say reports on Paul Manafort, Richard Gates and Maria Butina were among those leaked. …

Maryland voters narrowly oppose adding express toll lanes to widen three of the state’s most congested highways, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds, highlighting public skepticism about one of Gov. Larry Hogan’s signature transportation plans. The centerpiece of the Republican governor’s proposal — a $9 billion project to add four lanes apiece to the Capital Beltway, Interstate 270 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway — is even opposed by voters in the Washington suburbs, whom the plan is supposed to help. More than half of voters in the D.C. suburbs prefer to invest in public transit rather than building more roads....