DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
PROTESTS STARTING TO HAVE IMPACT ON POLICE AND CITY BUDGETS
Charles Payne: There are a lot of different ironies here on that part; the police have to be paid double overtime, the protesters hate the police; they are being paid double overtime that come from the city coffers. The money may have gone to a free lunch program. You are draining the system; you are rewarding the people you have animosity against and making an entire town and city financially more vulnerable. How crazy is this?
Dagen McDowell: Incredibly disturbing the direction some of the protests have taken. I have no problem with peaceful protest and paying the police forces to basically ensure they are indeed peaceful. How disgusting is it when you have people like those in New York City chanting, what do we want dead cops. When do we want them? Now. Police officers being attacked and they are paid to protect the protesters. That's got to stop, period.
Charlie Gasparino: These are violent protests. The gentleman, I use that term sort of broadly, that was arrested recently, and that gentleman works for the SEIU, the labor union.
Ben Stein: It's necessary. We have to protect the right of them. We have to appreciate the cops. The cops are our main line of defense between a decent society and anarchy. We are waging a war against criminals. In some cities, not all, some cities, there's an insurgency among inner city African-Americans and to a smaller extent among Hispanics. We love them; they are god's children like we are. We want them to not attack us.
Adam Lashinsky: Well, the point we should belabor, ben made it for a moment. This is the bedrock of American democracy, the right to protest. We not only -- we not only want to support that right, but celebrate that right
MA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CANCELS SANTA FROM CONCERT AFTER RECEIVING 1 COMPLAINT; REPORT: UNIV OF MAINE OFFICIAL DISCOURAGES HOLIDAY DECORATIONS TO AVOID COMPLAINTS
Ben Stein: Pure insanity. This is a country built on faith and cultural conditions. Christmas is one of them. Christmas is a great, great holiday. I'm a Jew, a thorough, full-on Jew. I have no problem with people gathering. I think this idea is extremely -- we have to eliminate all reference to Christmas.
Adam Lashinsky: I actually agree with Ben completely. I think, again, as a 100%, full of on Jew, we have gone too far in this country in being afraid to use the word Christmas. Christmas is a great holiday. That's basically what people are celebrating.
Dagen McDowell: They are weak and cowardly and fear the lawyers with the Maryland school district removed all of those religious holidays because of a Muslim group. We are not going to bother we are removing them from the schedule. There is room in one Supreme Court decision in 1989 that allowed for the display on public property, a Christmas tree, menorah and sign of liberty. It celebrates the season. It was allowed.
Charlie Gasparino: I think these governments are acting rationally because they are afraid of being sued. I would say this, the attacks on Christians celebrating their time of year has backfired incredibly on the left. Right now, there was a point in time where people said happy holidays. Not anymore. I hear merry Christmas all the time.
Charles Payne: I think this is a serious issue and goes beyond this. The atheists are winning. Young Americans, fewer and fewer young Americans don't believe in god. We stop, it's over. I don't care who you are, this is a country based on god. The atheists are winning. This is a battle worth getting a lawyer. So what? Sue me! Sue me!
REPORT: VERMONT DITCHING ITS "SINGLE-PAYER" HEALTH CARE PLAN OVER SOARING COSTS
Charles Payne Here's the thing. D.C. Won't get the message. Really won't. Because D.C. has unlimited powers to tax us to death and $18 trillion into debt. Ideology trumps common sense, does not matter. This did not register at all in Washington.
Dagen McDowell: It did register, because the democrats knew how expensive single payer would be at the national level, and I think ultimately that's one of the reasons they didn't push Obamacare as Medicare for all because they see Medicare going broke, supposed to bow broke in about 2030. They knew they couldn't get away with single payer and the cost of it.
Charlie Gasparino: I'm surprised more states aren't going this way. Obamacare is a disaster, and you know, I think if a Republican gets elected President one of the first things that is going to go is Obamacare. If it doesn't go by then through legislative remedy I think the Supreme Court will strike it down. I really do. I think John Roberts will not allow this type of confusion this time to go on. He's got to make up for the past.
Ben Stein: Single payer doesn't work. Single payer is too expensive. Single pay is too bureaucratically unwieldy, trying to back down, first state by state. Never that plan. We in the Nixon days had a great plan, just pay for the health insures for private companies for poor people.
Adam Lashinsky: We don't know if single parent would have worked. Never a political will to do single parent nationally where it had the scale. We don't know.
CHARLES PAYNE'S WINNERS FOR 2015
IBM (IBM)
Chipotle (CMG)
H&E (HEES)
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox