Free Republic

Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy detailed his vision for the administrative state at a New Hampshire town hall on July 20.Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference in Washington on June 23, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)Mr. Ramaswamy appeared on stage at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics to the strains of Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town.”The music video for Mr. Aldean’s song was pulled from the air by Country Music Television over accusations of racism. The country singer has strenuously denied those allegations. Former President Donald J....

President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are vowing to press forward after Republicans blocked Democrats’ sweeping elections bill, which was largely seen as a symbolic base-rallying gesture designed to show pushback on GOP state election reforms. In a statement after the upper chamber of Congress failed to bring the For the People Act up for debate, Biden pledged that the fight to expand voting rights was “far from over.”

The initiatives Trump is scheduled to outline include five new payment models to encourage doctors to treat patients earlier and encourage home peritoneal dialysis; a crackdown on some of the 58 non-profit organizations that do a poor job of collecting organs for transplant; and a public awareness campaign aimed at patients. About 40 percent of people with kidney disease do not know they have it, officials said. In the United States, most people receive hemodialysis, a treatment that requires a device to filter waste and toxins from their blood. Most receive it in clinics or private facilities that serve dozens...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced Thursday that the U.S. has secured an agreement with Mexico so that immigrants claiming asylum will be returned to Mexico as their cases are processed -- a bid to end the practice known as “catch-and-release.” Nielsen made the announcement Thursday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, telling the committee that the goal is to crack down on migrants falsely claiming asylum, only to be released into the U.S. and escape the radar of immigration officials. “But by the time the courts have issued their orders, most of these illegal aliens have vanished...

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly called for a “true redefinition” of the Canadian media industry Friday, as the Liberal government continues to study ways to support the beleaguered news business in the digital age. A range of options remains on the table, from tax changes to the creation of a fund for media projects, but Joly said it’s too early to say what Ottawa will do to help Canadian news outlets, which have seen huge drops in profits and also job cuts in recent years. She said that government action must include players in the media industry as well as corporate...

First Lady Michelle Obama has unveiled plans for the most sweeping overhaul of nutrition labels on US food packages in more than two decades. Calorie counts will appear in larger, bolder type, and consumers will know for the first time whether foods have added sugars. Under the Obama administration's plan, labels will also feature more realistic descriptions of a serving. It is not clear whether the food industry will support the proposals. 'Families deserve better' "You as a parent and a consumer should be able to walk into your local grocery store, pick up an item off the shelf and...

The Republican Party is violating time-tested, basic principles of sales and marketing. That's why the GOP is failing to communicate its messages. On Monday, the Republican National Committee released a massive reform strategy, whimsically labeled an "autopsy" or "reboot," to completely overhaul the GOP. Like Democrats in 1992, Republicans are growing hungry to win in 2014 and 2016. Here is what is wrong with the Republican Party. This author taught in a sales training seminar firm in Eastern Europe, International Trendsetters. The solutions are overwhelmingly time-tested and proven in real life. This is not theory. Republicans are chronically making classic...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The Obama administration is buying into an ambitious health care initiative in Oregon, announcing Thursday it has tentatively agreed to chip in $1.9 billion over five years to help get the program off the ground. Oregon hopes to prove that states can save billions on Medicaid without sacrificing the quality of health care. Gov. John Kitzhaber's plan would invest in preventive care to keep patients healthy so they don't need expensive hospitalizations. "If this works, I think other states are going to be looking at this as a way to manage that patient population," said Kitzhaber,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will hold talks Tuesday with former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on US immigration reform, the White House said. The meeting comes as legislative efforts to enact an overhaul stalled in the polarized US Congress, amid worries about violence along the US border with Mexico and concerns over stubbornly high US unemployment. Obama "will meet with a broad group of business, law enforcement, faith, and leaders from across the political spectrum on the importance of fixing our nation's broken immigration system," said spokesman Nick Shapiro. The president, who recently...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A government official says the financial overhaul enacted last summer won't deliver on its promise to end bailouts. .. in a report released Tuesday that recent comments by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other top regulators suggest the government would rescue banks if one of them threatened the broader financial system. ... But Barofsky notes that the bailout solidified the view among investors and bankers that the government will continue to save banks whose failures threaten to upend the financial system. The handful of largest banks got bigger during the crisis by absorbing weaker rivals. A single...

By Marlene Romero’s count, her son has had just one effective teacher in his five years at McKinley Elementary School here. Most of the time, she said, he has merely shuffled through classrooms, struggling in math without ever getting extra help. So when an organizer came knocking at her door promising that if she signed a petition, her son’s school could radically improve, Ms. Romero immediately pledged her support. Now, she is one of more than 250 parents in Compton who are using a new state law to force the failing school to be taken over by a charter school...

WASHINGTON— Fifty years after the pill, another birth control revolution may be on the horizon: free contraception for women in the U.S., thanks to the new health care law.That could start a shift toward more reliable — and expensive — forms of birth control that are gaining acceptance in other developed countries.But first, look for a fight over social mores.A panel of experts advising the government meets in November to begin considering what kind of preventive care for women should be covered at no cost to the patient, as required under President Barack Obama's overhaul.Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., author

"The federal risk pool has definitely provided critical access, in some cases lifesaving access, to health insurance," said Amie Goldman, chair of a national association of state high-risk insurance pools. "That said, enrollment so far is lower than we would have expected." California, which has money for about 20,000 people, has received fewer than 450 applications, according to a state official. The program in Texas had enrolled about 200 by early September, an official in that state said. Goldman, who runs the pool in Wisconsin, said they've received fewer than 300 applications so far, with room for about 8,000 people...

"Tim was organized and low-key, although given to occasional bursts of profanity and odd fits of giggling." —Ex-car czar Steven Rattner dishes on the Obama administration's views of Detroit during the bailouts in his upcoming book, Overhaul. No one was spared. According to Rattner, Obama asked, "Why can't [GM and Chrysler] make a Corolla?"

Yesterday, President Obama delivered a major speech on education in an effort to garner support for his Race to the Top grant program and his push for national education standards and tests. The President’s remarks came on the heels of a speech delivered by Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday at the National Press Club, during which Duncan attempted to paint the Administration’s policies as part of a “quiet revolution.” Duncan certainly got the quiet part right. Since his Administration came into office, President Obama has quietly been reworking the country’s education system, doing an end-run around normal legislative procedure....

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said Tuesday that he would oppose the Wall Street overhaul bill as it stands because of the $19 billion in fees it would place on big financial firms. In a letter to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Brown expressed "strong opposition" to the fees that were added in the conference process between House and Senate lawmakers last week. "If the final version of the bill contains these higher taxes, I will not support it," he said. The letter is the strongest indication yet that Brown will vote against the Wall Street overhaul...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The toughest financial regulations since the Great Depression are headed for final votes in Congress next week, covering everything from debit card swipes at Starbucks to the most complex securities, in an election-year salve for public anger over the Wall Street risk-taking that cost millions their jobs, homes and nest eggs.

Among the first to feel the effects of the nation’s health-care system overhaul are insurance salespeople, whose commissions for selling policies are themselves getting overhauled. The new law requires that insurers use at least 80% of the premiums to pay for medical care for patients rather than administrative costs and profit-taking. But many companies that sell health insurance to individuals and small businesses maintain a lower “medical loss ratio” because they use more of the premium to cover administrative expenses, including sales commissions.

WASHINGTON — Assessing the battle to overhaul the nation’s financial regulations recently, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, left no doubt about the consequences if Congress cracked down on his bank’s immense business in derivatives. “It will be negative,” he said. “Depending on the real detail, it could be $700 million or a couple billion dollars.”

The health-care overhaul that President Barack Obama signed into law will mean big changes for many small businesses. Through a combination of penalties, tax credits and purchasing pools, lawmakers aim to boost insurance coverage for U.S. workers. How this legislation will affect businesses depends in large part on their size. Beginning in 2014, organizations with more than 50 employees that don't offer affordable coverage will pay a penalty starting at $750 a year per full-time worker under the bill approved by the Senate and House of Representatives. A proposal approved separately by the House, which still requires Senate approval, would...