Free Republic

And on Saturday, there was no golf. The President and First Lady, known recently in these parts, by the White House Press Pool at least, as POTUS and FLOTUS, went to a private beach on Martha’s Vineyard’s south shore. After rinsing the sand off, the President and First Lady attended a cocktail party at the home of Broderick Johnson, and his wife Michelle Johnson. Mr. Johnson was an advisor on the President’s 2012 reelection campaign. The press pool had a lovely dinner respite at the Homeport Restaurant in Menemsha, reported MV Times staff reporter Steve Myrick, where Chef Josh Aronie...

I have heard repeatedly....ad nauseam...that Mr. Brown was an UNARMED TEEN. Completely missing is the context. Be truthful, media. He was unarmed, according to reports, because he was unable to take the gun away from the police officer.

For most people, summer is a treasured time to cool your heels in a cottage by a lake or in a hammock in the backyard. It’s not so simple for politicians. For them, deciding when and where to vacation can be perilous. Repair to a beach on the East Coast and you’re an out-of-touch elitist; stay away too long and you'll be asked who’s minding the store. Take President Barack Obama. How dare he go away while he’s dropping bombs in Iraq, even though he can order them to be dropped from wherever he happens to be? He’s taking the...

While Congress is on recess and President Obama vacations in Martha's Vineyard, a coalition of free press groups is escalating an already-aggressive campaign against the Obama administration for allegedly freezing out the press and cracking down on reporters. Society of Professional Journalists President David Cuillier, in a statement earlier this week, blasted the administration for what he called "excessive message management and preventing journalists from getting information on behalf of citizens." SPJ is among the groups that's been leading the charge on the issue. Last month, more than three dozen groups, including SPJ, wrote to the White House about what...

In sending warplanes back into the skies over Iraq, President Obama on Thursday night found himself exactly where he did not want to be. Hoping to end the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama became the fourth president in a row to order military action in that graveyard of American ambition.... Obama made a point of reassuring a war-weary public that the president who pulled American forces out of Iraq at the end of 2011 had no intention of fighting another full-scale war there.

Well, it looks like the Progressive lapdog media has been colluding again. Media Trackers, a site that tracks media stories and works for transparency in government, uncovered a group with over 1,000 members that is literally a who’s who of the Progressive Left in media. And I would wager, it is only the tip of the iceberg out there — I am sure that the collaboration is widespread and well-organized.  The group is called Gamechanger Salon and boasts members that include a CNN commentator, the top two political reporters for The Huffington Post, a Reuters reporter, the editor of The Nation magazine,...

BRIDGEPORT -- Tom Foley, the Greenwich millionaire who is reprising his 2010 bid for governor, thinks the state spends too much on mass transit. He's critical of the 2013 firearms reforms following the Newtown school massacre. Red tape and regulations, he says, are stifling the business community; and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's "corporate welfare" is rewarding successful companies that don't need the help. But the Republican frontrunner, who faces a primary Tuesday against state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney for the gubernatorial nomination, offered few details in a meeting Wednesday with the editorial boards of Hearst Connecticut Media, including the...

A prominent CNN commentator, the top two political reporters for The Huffington Post, a Reuters reporter, the editor of The Nation magazine, a producer for Al Jazeera America television, a U.S. News & World Report columnist, and approximately two dozen Huffington Post contributors are among the more than 1,000 members of Gamechanger Salon. Founded by leftwing activist Billy Wimsatt, the group is a secretive digital gathering of writers, opinion leaders, activists and political hands who share information, ideas and strategy via a closed Google group. The group’s existence was discovered by Media Trackers through an open records request filed with...

Woman seeking dissolution of Vermont civil union not recognized in Fla. ....Because civil unions can only be dissolved when both individuals sign the requisite forms, Brassner sought to find Lade so that she can be married. .....

As if to say, "don't let the door hit you on your way out," President Obama -- on the eve of the August Congressional recess -- decided to take a big swat at Republican lawmakers today. It was clear the president was in the mood for a summer scolding. Here are seven ways the president basically called Republicans bums today: 1. 'They're Not Even Trying' 2. So Sue Me? 3. Diplomatic Delay 4. ‘A Little More Extreme' 5. They Can't Even Agree With Themselves 6. ‘Congress Is Failing' 7. Problem Solving? Not So Much

Surveillance drones that hunt drug smugglers along the Mexican border could soon be grounded. Installation of pole-top cameras and ground sensors to intercept illegal crossings might be delayed. About $44 million has already been diverted from the government's health-related accounts, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to pay for food, beds, clothing and medical care for the crush of unaccompanied minors who have crossed the Southwestern border. And that's just the beginning. With the expected failure of Congress to agree Thursday on emergency funds to cope with the border crisis, the Obama...

People are still buzzing about the presidential visit to Kansas City and that includes one family from Denver who took a selfie with the president at Arthur Bryant's Barbeque. After speaking with the Carrado family, it might now be known who's responsible for President Barack Obama not getting any coleslaw when he tried to order it at the restaurant....

A Republican congressional candidate fled her interview with a major election-forecasting group after being asked why she believed global warming was a hoax and whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States, according to a new report in The Washington Post. In the Post, David Wasserman, the House editor at the Cook Political Report, detailed his strange encounter with the "frightening" and "fact-averse" Louisiana State Rep. Lenar Whitney.

The Financial Times reports that a drop in ad sales at the New York Times caused the left-wing newspaper's profits to collapse 54% in the second quarter of this year. [Snip] A fall in advertising revenues and stepped-up investment in digital products outweighed rises in digital subscribers and circulation revenue at the New York Times, sending headline profit 54 per cent lower in the second quarter.

Attorneys familiar with the judge assigned to a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on gay marriages say she is perfectly suited for the controversial case challenging a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2008.... Attorney Michael Gongora, the first openly gay member of the Miami Beach City Commission, said six couples challenging the state law on constitutional grounds could do far worse than Zabel on this hot-button issue. "Judge Zabel is a good judge for this case," said Gongora, a partner with Becker & Poliakoff in Coral Gables.

Via Salon today comes one of the most truly bizarre pieces of revisionist history I have ever seen, even within the context of articles appearing at Salon.

As attorney general of Florida, it’s a vital part of Pam Bondi’s job to enforce state laws and defend them in court. She can’t pick and choose only those she likes. But she also has a duty to pay attention to changes in the law, and in the public attitudes that support those laws... ....it should be increasingly clear that Ms. Bondi and officials in Tallahassee are swimming against the legal tide on the issue of gay marriage. Laws similar to Florida’s have been swept away in a wave of decisions around the country, with the rulings upheld by federal...

No ethnic group in the U.S. matches Cuban-Americans in their rejection of the Democratic Party. This might explain why most of you, amigos, have probably never heard of this atrocity against “Hispanics” attempting to enter the U.S. The Democratic Party’s public relations department (i.e. mainstream media) saw no upside to publicizing this “border crisis.” But this week marks the 20th anniversary of the Communist massacre. You know it’s bad (or good, depending on your viewpoint) when a mainstream media luminary himself admits to mainstream media “negligence.” To wit: “In the summer of 1994, something terrible happened out there,” ABC’s Ted...

At some point on Thursday evening, just after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 blew apart over some wheat field in eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin had a chance to take stock of his options. There were essentially two....

Florida is leading the nation in job growth, adding more than 37,000 jobs this month. The Tampa Bay area has added over 25,000 jobs in the last 12 months, third among metro areas in Florida, according to state officials..