Free Republic

Snip: But something remarkable has happened with these occupants of the White House: Neither President Obama nor first lady Michelle appear to give a damn about perception. They won the White House and, by God, they’re going to enjoy their time there, no matter the cost. And who cares what you think, anyway? How else to explain the nonstop vacations the pair keep taking during what Mr. Obama calls the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression”? In 2013, the First Family has already enjoyed three vacations — that’s one a month. (Sorry, Joe America, you might have to forget...

Will President Obama really nominate billionaire Chicago gal pal Penny Pritzker to head his Commerce Department? "It's a done deal," according to a White House source close to the Chicago Tribune. As further confirmation, Pritzker resigned abruptly from the Windy City's school board late last week. The crony fix seems to be in. Taxpayers, beware. Pritzker is a deep-pocketed doyenne with a family history of dodging taxes -- or siphoning them away from the public for her own family's gargantuan private gain. If you want to see how she'll oversee a $10 billion government agency, look at her own...

As a senator and presidential candidate, Barack Obama said that he detested budget deficits. In 2006, when the aggregate national debt was almost $8 trillion less than today, he blasted George W. Bush's chronic borrowing and refused to vote for upping the debt ceiling: "Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.'" In 2008, Obama further blasted Bush's continued Keynesian borrowing: "The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of...

Kerry Has Investments in Companies Accused of Violating Iran Sanctions Daniel Halper December 21, 2012 12:59 PM John Kerry, who will be nominated later today to be the next secretary of state, is the richest member of the U.S. Senate. His estimated net worth is, at minimum, $198.65 million, according to disclosure forms. Kerry's disclosure forms also reveal that he has invested in companies accused of doing business with Iran. One of the companies Kerry is invested in is called Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (Petrobras), it's a Brazilian-based oil and gas corporation. Disclosure forms reveal that Kerry has between $150,000...

Google avoided about $2 billion in global income taxes last year by shifting $9.8 billion in revenue into a Bermuda shell company, Bloomberg reported. That level is almost double the total from three years ago, Bloomberg said, citing a Nov. 21 regulatory filing by a Google subsidiary in the Netherlands. And it allowed Google to cut its overall tax rate almost in half. Google's action -- moving about 80 percent of its total pretax profit from 2011 to tax-free Bermuda -- isn't illegal. On the contrary, many companies have taken similar steps in recent years to avoid paying steep taxes....

The most striking proof that the Arab anti-Israel cause is a common meeting ground for both Nazis and Communists --and that the Arabs welcomed supporters of both ilks-- lies in the friendship of Carlos, the notorious master terrorist who served the PLO, with Fran*ois Genoud, an old Nazi, one of the leading Nazis in pre-War Switzerland, later a financier who provided funds for Habash's faction of the PLO. "Carlos" (his nom de guerre) was what is called a "red diaper baby." His fabulously rich father, a Venezuelan lawyer and owner of estates, gave "Carlos" the name Ilich, Lenin's patronymic, as...

The Blog Michelle Obama: 'On Nov. 7 We're Going to Party Hard' 2:00 PM, Oct 17, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER Single Page Print Larger Text Smaller Text Alerts At a fundraiser today in New York, First Lady Michelle Obama expressed confidence in her husband's chances for reelection. "On Nov. 7 we're going to party hard," she said. Election Day this year is November 6. From the pool report: "After hearing my husband talk about his values and his vision at the debate last night, I'm pretty fired up," she said. "Let me tell you, I am so glad last...

Actor Johnny Depp has moved out of France and returned to America because he didn’t want to become a permanent French resident and pay income tax there. …Depp has now moved his family out of France after government officials asked him to become a permanent resident, as he feared he would end up paying tax in both countries. He tells Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, “…France wanted a piece of me. They wanted me to become a permanent resident. Permanent residency status – which changes everything. They just want… Dough. Money… ” Depp goes on to explain that if he spends...

If you listen to America's political hacks, mainstream media talking heads and their socialist allies, you can't help but reach the conclusion that the nation's tax burden is borne by the poor and middleclass while the rich get off scot-free. Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal, and I'm proud to say former GMU economics student, wrote "The U.S. Tax System: Who Really Pays?" in the Manhattan Institute's Issue 2012 (8/12). Let's see whether the rich are paying their "fair" share. According to IRS 2007 data, the richest 1 percent of Americans earned 22 percent of national...

Glenn Reynolds makes an amazingly good suggestion. There's an old joke about a boy who complains to his mother that his little sister keeps pulling his hair. "Oh," responds the mother, "she doesn't know that it hurts." A few minutes later, the mother hears the girl scream and runs into the other room. "She knows now," the boy explains. There's a lesson for Republicans in that old joke, if they're smart enough to absorb it. Here are a few for starters: Restore the 20 percent excise tax on motion picture theater gross revenues (and end the accounting practices that allow...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Facebook's stock opened at an all-time low, after its first earnings report failed to ease worries over slowing sales growth and its plan for mobile advertising. Shares of Facebook (FB) tumbled nearly 15% to below $23 on Friday, 40% below the company's initial offering price from May. Facebook earnings matched analysts' expectations when it reported its earnings after the bell on Thursday. The company also delivered a 32% gain in second-quarter revenue, to $1.18 billion. That slightly topped forecasts. But investors are not sure how the company will bring in more revenue from its 955 million...

According to the report, those in the top one percent had an average pre-tax income of $1,219,700 in 2009. Of this, they paid $353,000 federal taxes. Despite having earned 13.4 percent of the nation’s income, these individuals paid 38.7 percent of federal income taxes that year. To put it more starkly, this group makes less than 16 times as much as the average household but pays more than 40 times as much in federal income taxes.

There's Something Fishy About The White House's $433 Million Investment In A Smallpox Vaccine Becket Adams, The Blaze Nov. 15, 2011, 12:21[Editor's note: smallpox is indeed a horrifying and terrible disease; this cannot be overstated. It is not the intent of this article to mitigate the very real and terrible nature of the disease. The point of this article is to question the White Houses’ intentions in this deal.] Several critics believe that the Obama administration’s $433 million investment in the new ST-246 smallpox vaccine reeks of scandal. How could a multimillion dollar investment in an antiviral pill that could...

Either Michael Moore movies aren’t that profitable for him, or he’s having a real identity crisis. During a live made-for-cable-television town hall event on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” Tuesday, Moore discussed the plight of those hurt by the current economy. When asked by host Piers Morgan to admit that he was a part of the so-called “1 percent,” the enormously successful liberal filmmaker and author flatly denied it. The IRS reports that the top 1 percent of income-earners make a minimum of $343,927 in annual adjusted gross income. “Of course I’m not,” Moore said. “How can I be in the...

Occupy’s busting out on a new path … So Adbusters is asking people all around the world to march on Oct. 29. “We want to send a clear message that we the people want to slow down this global casino.” And Adbusters does have one specific demand, a 1 percent tax on financial-sector transactions. Some form of that idea, known as the “Robin Hood” tax. Dominant Social Theme: We want justice for the world and the UN will give it to us. Free-Market Analysis: Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters magazine, based in Vancouver, B.C. – the magazine that issued the...

Barack Obama, US president, offered more support for protesters against the global financial system after a weekend of demonstrations in cities around the world, but called on them not to “demonise” those who worked on Wall Street. On Sunday, Mr Obama honoured Martin Luther King at a dedication to a new memorial on National Mall in Washington. Referring to protests that have spread from Wall Street to London, Rome and elsewhere, Mr Obama said: “Dr King would want us to challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonising those who work there.” Mr Obama had previously said the protests “express...

Fed set for big rate cut amid market turmoil Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:55am EDT By Mark Felsenthal and Christian Plumb WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to slash interest rates by as much as a whole percentage point at its policy meeting on Tuesday as investors warily await investment bank results that could aggravate fears of a full-blown markets crisis. Traders expect the Fed to cut rates by a full percentage point in an effort to stop hemorrhaging in financial markets and boost the flagging economy. The Fed is expected to announce its decision around...

Calls for 1-point rate reduction grow louder Bear Stearns shocker triggers forecasts for whopper cut to 2% By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch Last Update: 7:52 PM ET Mar 14, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (Menafn - MarketWatch) -- Expectations that Federal Reserve next week will cut rates by a full percentage point, to 2%, gained traction among economists and traders Friday after a bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. revealed more fault lines in the U.S. financial system. Citigroup economists said they anticipate Fed policy-makers will lower the federal funds rate by a point to 2% next week from the current 3%, "and more...

For the second time in five years, Denver Police have apologized to the Hells Angels motorcycle club for possibly violating the group's Constitutional rights. In a settlement released Thursday, attorney David Lane said Denver and Mountain View Police agreed to pay a total of $14,000 to the group, and apologize for a Sept. 2, 2005 traffic stop in Mountain View

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul began running television campaign ads Tuesday in Iowa. The spots for the Texas congressman began just days before a straw poll in the first presidential nominating state. The 30-second ads will be in rotation in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City. Campaign spokesman Jesse Benton declined to reveal the cost. The ad features Paul speaking to a crowd of supporters while an announcer repeats the Texan's fiscally conservative campaign themes. Various statements flash across the screen, including "Stop the national I.D. Card." Benton said the ad, the first of two for TV, will be...

Bloomberg's secret White House bid By Toby Harnden, US Editor, in Washington  Last Updated: 9:25pm BST 11/05/2007 Toby Harnden's blog: President Bloomberg's plan Profile: Michael BloombergMichael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and mayor of New York, is secretly building the financial and organisational foundations of an audacious third-party presidential candidacy that would transform the 2008 race for the White House.   A recent poll gave Mr Bloomberg a 73 per cent approval rating among New Yorkers “He wants to do this, he thinks he could win it and he thinks he could be a great president,” said a source closely connected...

http://conservativepresident2008.blogspot.com/2006/12/constitution-party-to-select-candidate.html The Constitution Party, a conservative third party founded in 1992 to serve as a possible ticket for Pat Buchanan to run on, plans to have nominated its candidate for President by July 2007, World Net Daily reports. The party held a national committee meeting last weekend where Howard Phillips, who is the party's founder and three time Presidential candidate (1992, 1996 and 2000), told World Net Daily "The time has never been better for a third party dark horse candidate to grab the White House." Phillips said that the party will nominate candidate next year and among the possibilities...

“As Rome passed away, so, the West is passing away, from the same causes and in much the same way. What the Danube and Rhine were to Rome, the Rio Grande and Mediterranean are to America and Europe, the frontiers of a civilization no longer defended.” So begins a new work of warning from Pat Buchanan. And this time Buchanan goes all the way. STATE OF EMERGENCY: THIRD WORLD INVASION AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA hit the streets this week and it's designed to jolt readers with stats and analysis of illegal immigration gone dangerously wild. Buchanan warns: “The children born...

A new Gallup survey released today finds that four decades after the "God Is Dead" controversy was first noted, Americans retain a strong belief in a higher power. Some 94% think God exists. Only 5% feel God "does not exist" -- and even most of them "are not sure" of that. Exactly 1% are certain there is no God. But how strongly do the believers believe? Nearly 8 in 10, in fact, say they are "convinced" God exists, although Gallup does not ask them why that is. Conservatives are more likely to be convinced than liberals (87% vs. 61%), women...