Free Republic

Bob Lewis, the Associated Press political reporter who last week published an erroneous report about Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, has been temporarily suspended, POLITICO has learned.Lewis, a highly respected veteran on the Richmond political scene, will no longer cover the race between McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli, and may be suspended through the election. His last story on the race was published Oct. 14.Lewis did not respond to a request for comment regarding the suspension. The Associated Press declined to comment on personnel matters.On Oct. 9, Lewis published an exclusive report for the AP alleging that McAuliffe had lied to...

An Associated Press reporter became a symbol Wednesday of journalists' impatience with the Obama administration's course in making a case for military strikes in Syria, asking the State Department's chief spokeswoman whether the White House had undergone a 'group spine removal procedure.' Longtime AP foreign affairs correspondent Matt Lee was invited to ask the first question in a State Department briefing, and asked spokeswoman Jen Psaki why Secretary of State John Kerry called President Obama 'courageous' for seeking congressional approval before taking military action. 'I don’t understand what is courageous,' Lee said, 'about asking permission for something that you say...

After being sentenced to 35 years at Leavenworth for betraying his country, Pvt. Bradley Manning said he wants to live as a woman. This reality show drama would normally be an asterisk in an embarrassing case for the American military. The absurd request, however, will get mainstream recognition now that the Associated Press (AP) announced that all media who follow its vaulted guide should refer to the Wikileaks source as “her” and Bradley as “Chelsea.” The political correctness in journalism has hit an all-time low.

Associated Press reporter Matt Lee poked a little fun at Secretary Kerry's apparent infinite "focus" on major current events of the day during the State Department press briefing on Tuesday. Lee pointed out that, according to the State Department, Secretary Kerry is apparently "fully focused" on the tense situation in Egypt, the hostile Syrian regime, and Israel-Palestine peace talks. "How about the Arctic?" "Whales?" "Botswana?" State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf assured Lee that Secretary Kerry had broad interests "and is able to focus on a number of things at the same time." "He is an extraordinary man," Lee remarked. "You...

n a rare diplomatic snub, President Obama is canceling plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month. The decision reflects both U.S. anger over Russia's harboring of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and growing frustration within the Obama administration over what it sees as Moscow's stubbornness on other key issues, including missile defense and human rights. Obama will still attend the Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, but a top White House official said the president had no plans to hold one-on-one talks with Putin while there. Instead of visiting Putin in...

The Associated Press (AP) is refusing to comment on why it requested that the Montana Department of Justice (MDOJ) give it a list of the names and personal information of every concealed weapons permit (CWP) holder in the state... Montana’s Republican Attorney General Tim Fox had denied requests by the AP and a Boston media outfit called MuckRock News for all information pertaining to the state’s CWP holders. Fox cited concerns that the width and breadth of the requests violated CWP holders’ “reasonable expectation of privacy” guaranteed by the Montana Constitution... AP reporter Matt Gouras formally requested the information on...

HELENA - The Associated Press isn't giving reasons for requesting the personal information of all conceal carry permit holders in Montana. On March 18, 2013, the AP requested a comprehensive list of information from the office of Montana Attorney General Tim Fox (R). "Everything from their date of birth to their driver's license to their address, every piece of information without limitation," Fox explained in an interview with MTN News. The request came just five days after the Montana Legislature passed a bill which makes all this information confidential. The bill was signed by Governor Steve Bullock (D) ten days...

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he is nominating former first daughter Caroline Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Japan, offering the most famous living member of a prominent American family a new role of service to country. Kennedy, an attorney and bestselling book editor, is being rewarded for helping put Obama in the White House where her father served until his assassination 50 years ago. If confirmed, she would be the first woman in a post where many other prominent Americans have served to strengthen a vital Asian tie. … Kennedy, 55, doesn’t have any obvious ties to Japan, a...

NEW YORK, Jan. 14. (AP) - Announcement was made today that the board of directors of the Associated Press at a recent meeting held "that government can not engage in newscasting without creating the fear of propaganda which necessarily would reflect upon the objectivity of the news services from which such newscasts are prepared." The text: "The Associated Press stands committed to the principle of freedom of access to the news and to the free flow of news throughtout the world. It holds that news thus disseminated by nongovernmental news agencies is essential to the highest development of mankind and...

We are writing to clearly state the ACLU’s position on whether or not the Department of Justice (DOJ) should consider bring ing federal civil rights or hate crimes charges as a result of the state court acquittal in the George Zimmerman case. Even though the Supreme Court permits a federal prosecution following a state prosecutio n, the ACLU believes the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution protects someone from being prosecuted in another court for charges arising from the same transaction. A jury found Zimmerman not guilty, and that should be the end of the criminal case.

<p>The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday afternoon appealed to civil rights groups and community leaders, nationally and in Sanford, for help investigating whether a federal criminal case might be brought against George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, one advocate said.</p>

ATWOOD, Mich. (AP) — For northern Michigan fruit grower Pat McGuire, the most potent symbol of the immigration debate isn't grainy television footage showing people slipping furtively across the U.S.-Mexican border. Instead, it's plump red cherries and crisp apples rotting on the ground because there aren't enough workers to pick them — a scenario that could become reality over the next couple of months.Across the state's orchard belt, cherry trees already sag under the weight of bright-red clusters, yet many trailers and wood-frame cottages that should be bustling with migrant families stand empty. McGuire is waiting to hear whether crews...

The decision of the Supreme Court in Shelby County v Holder, a case to determine the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, will be published by the end of the month. Posted on CiR in March, this piece offers a little background on the VRA and instructions which AG Eric Holder gave DOJ employees—instructions designed to deceive Supreme Court justices as they considered the Act and the Shelby County case. In yet another testament to the corrupt if inventive workings of the liberal mind, Attorney General Eric Holder recently decided to defraud the United States Supreme Court...

Under President Obama, the United States is “a nation governed by fear,” the American Civil Liberties Union says in an open letter that echoes the criticisms Obama has made of George W. Bush’s national security policies. “[W]e say as Americans that we are tired of seeing liberty sacrificed on the altar of security and having a handful of lawmakers decide what we should and should not know,” the ACLU writes in a statement circulated to grassroots supporters and addressed to Obama. “We are tired of living in a nation governed by fear instead of the principles of freedom and liberty...

Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information "inadvertently" collected from domestic US communications without a warrant. The Guardian is publishing in full two documents submitted to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (known as the Fisa court), signed by Attorney General Eric Holder and stamped 29 July 2009. They detail the procedures the NSA is required to follow to target "non-US persons" under its foreign intelligence powers and what the agency does to minimize data...

The House Republican effort to oust Attorney General Eric Holder has attracted a significant amount of momentum this month. Since the beginning of June, 66 Republicans have signed on to Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-Ariz.) legislation that calls for Holder’s immediate resignation. Gosar’s resolution now has 122 co-sponsors, more than half of the House GOP conference. In an interview with The Hill, Gosar attributed the burgeoning support to the Department of Justice’s controversial snooping of The Associated Press and Fox News. “Americans have lost faith in our chief law enforcement officer. He’s contradicted himself in front of Congress,” said Gosar, who...

Associated Press president Gary Pruitt on Wednesday slammed the Department of Justice for acting as “judge, jury and executioner” in the seizure of the news organization’s phone records and he said some of the wire service’s longtime sources have clammed up in fear.

The US government's secret seizure of Associated Press phone records had a "chilling effect" on newsgathering by the agency and other news organizations, AP's top executive said Wednesday. "Some longtime trusted sources have become nervous and anxious about talking with us," AP president and chief executive Gary Pruitt said in a speech to the National Press Club. "In some cases, government employees we once checked in with regularly will no longer speak to us by phone. Others are reluctant to meet in person ... This chilling effect on newsgathering is not just limited to AP. "Journalists from other news organizations...

Does it? Should we believe the OMB's numbers that legalizing 15 million illegals will add $179 billion dollars to the U.S. economy over the next 10 years, and $700 billion over the next 10 years after that? Should we believe Menendez? How accurate was the Office of Management and Budget on what OBAMACARE would cost? I would like to see how much faith Rubio, McCain, Graham and others - be they conservative hosts on television or on talk radio - put in the numbers that the OMB supplied concerning legalizing 15 million illegals. Should they believe Menendez? The New York...

WASHINGTON — The CEO of the Associated Press told an audience Wednesday that the Department of Justice has succeeded in muzzling government employees from talking to AP reporters in the weeks since the seizure of AP phone records was revealed. “What I learned from our journalists should alarm everyone in this room and I think should alarm everyone in this country. The actions of the DOJ against AP are already having an impact beyond the specifics of this particular case,” AP CEO Gary Pruitt told an audience at the National Press Club. “Some of our longtime trusted sources have become...