Free Republic

David Eckert–the man who was stopped by police, suspected of drug possession, driven to a hospital, driven to a second hospital, forced to undergo multiple invasive surgeries, and billed for the abuse after no drugs were found–has obtained a $1.6 million settlement with New Mexico local authorities.

The FBI is not planning to file criminal charges involving the Internal Revenue Service's extra scrutiny of the Tea Party and other conservative groups, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing law enforcement officials. The newspaper quoted officials as saying that investigators probing the IRS actions, which unleashed a political furor in Washington, did not uncover the type of political bias or "enemy hunting" that would constitute a criminal violation. The evidence showed a mismanaged agency enforcing rules it did not understand on applications for tax exemptions, the Journal reported. The case is still under investigation, but criminal charges...

Both the same kind of unprincipled, vengeful,  mafioso-mentality thug that should never  be allowed anywhere near the levers of power... If we as constitutional conservatives somehow allow a Chris Christie nomination to become reality in 2016 after this latest scandal, then shame on us- the GOP Establishment golden boy's aides have been caught red-handed ordering bridge lanes closed for four days, creating traffic snarls  -and causing at least one death via ambulance delay- for no other reason than retaliation against a whole town (Fort Lee, NJ) because their Dem mayor (who Christie staffers referred to as 'that little Serbian') refused to endorse his...

Michelle Obama doesn't want jewelry or chocolates for her 50th birthday later this month. She wants to be alone. President Barack Obama returned to Washington Saturday after two weeks of vacationing with his family in Hawaii. He left with daughters Sasha and Malia. Michelle stayed behind. 'As part of her birthday gift from the president, the first lady will remain in Hawaii to spend time with friends ahead of her upcoming 50th birthday,' the White House explained in a statement. The First Lady turns the big 5 - 0 on January 17. The White House did not say how much...

John Dodson, the federal agent who blew the lid off the Justice Department’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking scandal, claims the FBI had ties to the men who killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 near Nogales, Ariz. In fact, Dodson says the Mexican bandits who gunned down Terry were working for FBI operatives and had been sent to the border to do a “drug rip-off” using intelligence gathered by the DEA. Dodson, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said he doesn’t think the FBI was part of the rip-off crew, but the...

Sen. Ted Cruz plans to argue Monday in a legal memo that Obamacare is unconstitutional and an abuse of federal authority, according to The Daily Caller. His memorandum, "The Legal Limit: The Obama Administration's Attempts to Expand Federal Power," will reportedly include legal citations and argues that the Obama administration's implementation of its signature healthcare legislation demonstrates an "abusive view of federal power." According to the Daily Caller, the Texas Republican and tea party favorite uses the memo to question the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding the law by noting that parts of it were found not to meet the...

Microsoft is moving toward a major new effort to encrypt its Internet traffic amid fears that the National Security Agency may have broken into its global communications links, said people familiar with the emerging plans. Suspicions at Microsoft, while building for several months, sharpened in October when it was reported that the NSA was intercepting traffic inside the private networks of Google and Yahoo, two industry rivals with similar global infrastructures, said people with direct knowledge of the company’s deliberations. They said top Microsoft executives are meeting this week to decide what encryption initiatives to deploy and how quickly.

Oh my gosh — This is really bad— James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released video tonight showing an Obamacare navigator conspiring to release private data for political purposes. Busted! Do you know where your personal data is going? After meeting with several Obamacare Navigators who openly encouraged our undercover reporters to lie about income status, health history and more, it became clear that personal data was also being “cross-pollinated.” Enter Enroll America, a Sebelius-linked group dedicated to signing people up for Obamacare and Chris Tarango, Texas Enroll America Communications Director who Project Veritas caught on tape agreeing to help obtain a...

Annie Dookhan, who was a state chemist for Massachusetts, pleaded guilty Friday and will serve three to five years in prison. As many as 350 people have already been released from jail as a result of her wrongdoing. The Boston Globe suggested that a humble background left Dookhan with a big need to prove herself. "A petite 4 feet 11 inches and a native of Trinidad, Dookhan appeared determined even as a young immigrant girl to outrun expectations and the perceived anonymity of her circumstances," the Globe wrote in February. "Notably intelligent, 'Little Annie' Dookhan was going to make sure...

A top manager from the Internal Revenue Service’s Cincinnati office was “furious” last May over allegations from Lois Lerner that “front-line” employees were responsible for the agency’s inappropriate actions toward conservative groups, according to e-mails from a former top official with the division. Lerner, who headed the exempt-organizations office in Washington, D.C., blamed rank-and-file workers for the agency’s behavior during a legal conference in which she apologized on behalf of the IRS. She said actions were misguided efforts by workers to deal with a flood of applications from tax-exemption applicants during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. Cynthia Thomas, a...

In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington. The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated. And the Census Bureau, which does the unemployment survey, knew it.

When New Mexico police stopped a local driver for committing a minor moving violation, they decided to check whether he was carrying drugs in his anus. So they procured a warrant, drove him to two different hospitals, forced him to endure eight medical procedures — including an invasive colonoscopy — and stuck him with the bill. No drugs were found. According to medical records, police reports and a federal lawsuit obtained by KOB-TV, police held Eckert until they were able to procure a warrant from a judge to search the man’s anal cavity. They then drove him to a nearby...

An off-duty, undercover police detective was arrested as fallout from a burst of motorcyclist mayhem reached a new level, with investigators saying the off-duty officer was shown on video hitting and kicking an SUV before bikers attacked its driver. Wojciech Braszczok, who was off-duty when he joined a motorcycle rally that spiraled into violence, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday. He surrendered Tuesday to face riot and criminal mischief charges, New York Police Department spokesman John McCarthy said. There was no response to phone messages left with Braszczok's attorney, Phil Karasyk. He had previously said the 10-year NYPD veteran only...

Snipped title: Fed-Up NY Man Sets Up Hidden Camera to Find Out Who Was Repeatedly Stealing His Pro-Gun Sign – What He Discovered Blew Him Away

The Texas Department of Public Safety reinstated a state trooper on Friday that it fired for conducting a roadside cavity search during a traffic stop for speeding. DPS Director Steve McCraw said he was rehiring Trooper Jennie Bui after a grand jury chose not to indict her for the incident in Brazoria County that has triggered a lawsuit by the two women involved. [Snip] McCraw said the she will be suspended for 60 days and undergo additional training. He added that he was requiring all state police officers to re-familiarize themselves with the department policy on strip searches and body...

The trial of George Zimmerman cost Seminole County government about $91,000, officials said in a statement Friday. Zimmerman's high-profile second-degree-murder trial in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin began June 10 and concluded July 13 with a not-guilty verdict. During the trial, Seminole County handled the "coordination of resources and planning," through its Emergency Operations Center, county spokesman Alan Harris said. According to Harris, the EOC's role included "public information, safety, liaison, logistics, planning, intelligence" and other operations. Its efforts were spearheaded by a team of fire-rescue, facility management, information technology, utilities, economic development and public works staff, as...

One big question raised by IRS political targeting is whether Obama officials or their bureaucratic allies unleashed the power of the administrative state for partisan ends. Now evidence is emerging that officials at another agency, the Federal Election Commission, used their enforcement power as an anti-conservative sword. The House Ways and Means Committee this week released emails showing that, in 2008 and 2009, the FEC's general counsel staff sought tax information about conservative political groups from Lois Lerner of the IRS. Ms. Lerner is the IRS official who took the Fifth before Congress rather than tell her side of the...

Please don't complain later that you didn't see it coming. As always, Mr. Obama states publicly what his intentions are. He is doing that now. Toward the end of his speech last week in Jacksonville, Fla., he said: "So where I can act on my own, I'm going to act on my own. I won't wait for Congress." (Applause.) The July 24 speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., has at least four references to his intent to act on his own authority, as he interprets it: "That means whatever executive authority I have to help the middle class, I'll...

Very bad boys! When Detroit citizens found themselves held up at gunpoint by officers who demanded their valuables, they thought they were impersonators. But they were wrong. Some Detroit police officers are being accused of robbing citizens at gun point, in uniform. So what do you do if you are pulled over and don’t believe the officer has good intentions? Local police have issued a statement saying that you have permission not to stop if you don’t believe a real police officer is trying to pull you over. They say to call 911 and ask a dispatcher for assistance. But...

FLORIDA, July 22, 2013 — During George Zimmerman’s trial for second-degree murder, and later manslaughter, computer analyst Richard Connor was called to testify for the defense. His testimony was eventually stricken from the record by Judge Debra Nelson, but has nonetheless allowed for some startling discoveries. Chief among these is that Trayvon Martin’s cellular phone belonged to an account owned by his mother, Sybrina Fulton. The Conservative Tree House, a popular blog which has provided detailed coverage of the Martin shooting’s aftermath, uncovered some troubling information related to this. Citing a video recording from the trial, blogger Sundance declares that...