Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news. The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP....

After 10 days of deliberations and an announcement by the jury that they were deadlocked on two charges, a verdict has now been reached

Reports are coming out of Syria of multiple large explosions.

even U.S. soldiers and a member of the NATO-led coalition were killed on Saturday in one of the deadliest days for Americans and other foreign troops in Afghanistan in recent months, as the Taliban continued attacks as part of their spring offensive. The renewed violence came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged at a news conference that regular payments his government has received from the CIA for more than a decade would continue. Karzai also said that talks on a U.S.-Afghan bilateral security agreement to govern future American military presence in the country had been delayed because of conditions the...

The George W. Presidential Center is a state-of-the-art facility located on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Opening to the public on May 1, 2013, the Center will house the George W. Bush Institute and the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The Library and Museum is the 13th Presidential Library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, a Federal agency. I hope I am doing this right, and not stepping on toes, but did not see thread. http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of former White House chief of staff Jack Lew to be the next Treasury secretary, sending the nomination to the Senate floor for a vote. President Barack Obama nominated Lew last month to be Treasury chief. Lew is a veteran of Washington budget battles and did a stint at Citigroup. Nineteen senators voted to approve him, while five -- all Republicans -- voted against Lew.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- House Speaker John Boehner will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. Eastern to discuss the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester, his office said. Without a deal, $85 billion in gradual budget cuts will begin on Friday,

Live Report

The polarizing debate over whether Boy Scouts of America should allow gay members could culminate with a vote on a new policy Wednesday. But no matter which way the vote goes, activists on both sides aren't going to be satisfied. The controversy pits leaders of religious groups that sponsor about 1 million Boy Scouts against activists who want the organization to end its ban on openly gay Scouts and Scout leaders. Neither side is happy with BSA's proposal to let local troops decide if they want to allow gay members.

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down. Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed. Chu’s departure had been widely expected and follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that they are leaving.

A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [photo 2nd left] was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed when their C-12 Huron military passenger and transport aircraft crash landed nearly 3 weeks ago in the Iranian city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border.

A vote to report a state Obamacare exchange bill out of the Michigan House Health Policy Committee came up short yesterday, with only two Republicans supporting it (Committee Chair Rep. Gail Haines of Waterford and Rep. Mike Callton of Nashville). Following the vote, House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, declared the state-run exchange dead, saying: “…After due diligence, however, it is clear that there were too many unanswered questions for the committee to feel comfortable with a state-run exchange and we will not have one in Michigan… The committee apparently was not able to get the answers to key questions or...

Casper police say three are dead stemming from an attack at Casper College this morning. Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said there were two dead at the school's Wold Physical Science Center and one dead at another location in Casper, although he wouldn't identify the dead or the other location. No suspects are at large and nobody else was injured, Walsh said. Asked about speculation that a bow and arrow were used in the attack, Walsh wouldn't identify what weapon or weapons were involved, although he said no firearms were used. Walsh said he'll hold another press briefing at the...

.....The bill, introduced by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Jon Kyl (R-Texas) and dubbed the ACHIEVE Act, would offer a pathway to permanent residency to young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents who are seeking a higher education or military service. The bill stops short of providing a separate pathway to citizenship..... Kyl and Hutchison said, however, that they have been working on the bill for about one year, well before the contours of the election took shape in full.To be eligible for legal status under the ACHIEVE Act, an applicant must have lived in the...

Foster McCollum White Baydoun (FMW)B, a national public opinion polling and voter analytics consulting firm based in Michigan and representing the combined resources of Foster McCollum White & Associates (Troy Michigan) and Baydoun Consulting (Dearborn Michigan) conducted a telephone-automated polling random survey of Michigan registered and most likely November 2012 General election voters for Fox 2 News Detroit to determine their voting and issue preferences for the presidential election. An initial qualifying statement was read to respondents asking them to participate only if they were very likely to vote in the November General Election. Thirty five thousand (35,000) calls were...

"Yes we do want to raise taxes by trillion dollars" "Ohhh My heart breaks, come on man"

In an interview Monday night with Denver TV station KDVR, Romney said, "As an option you could say everybody's going to get up to a $17,000 deduction. And you could use your charitable deduction, your home mortgage deduction, or others — your health care deduction, and you can fill that bucket, if you will, that $17,000 bucket that way. And higher income people might have a lower number." A Romney adviser said changes in other areas — a taxpayer's personal exemption and the deduction or credit for health care — would also be taken into account if deductions were limited...

Sam Bacile has been named as the writer, director and producer of the two-hour film "Innocence of Muslims" which sparked protests which led to the death of the US Ambassador Chris Stevens in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Mr Bacile, who described himself as an Israeli Jew, is said to live in California where he works in real estate. He is either 52 or 56 according to various reports although there is no record of him being listed at an address in the US or of him having produced any other films. Indeed the mystery over his identity deepened further...