Free Republic

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) will step aside from his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his indictment on bribery charges, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Friday, as New Jersey’s governor called for the long-serving lawmaker’s resignation. “Bob Menendez has been a dedicated public servant and is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey. He has a right to due process and a fair trial,” Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement. “Senator Menendez has rightly decided to step down temporarily from his position as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee until the matter has been resolved.”...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis toughened his stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling Putin a “war criminal” who should be “held accountable” for the invasion of Ukraine, just days after he claimed the Ukraine war is not a “vital national interest.” DeSantis angered Republican hawks, Never Trumpers, and neocons less than two weeks ago when he characterized the Ukraine-Russia conflict as a “territorial dispute” that is not a “vital” U.S. interests. DeSantis told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson: While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our border, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security...

(Salt Lake Tribune) – The $2 million cashier’s check was drawn at a St. George bank Nov. 5, 2010. From there, it was sent by FedEx to a Los Angeles attorney who represented Ireland-based Full Tilt Poker. Made out to “Mail Media LTD” — a Full Tilt-owned entity used to launder online-gambling funds — the millions then were deposited at Basler Kantonalbank in Switzerland, where Mail Media had an account. And from there, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings is investigating whether it went into a Marshall Islands account in the name of Searchlight Holding Inc. to benefit, or even bribe,...

The Democratic Party often warns us that mixing big money and politics will corrupt democracy. They must have nominated Hillary Clinton to prove it. The Clinton Foundation was ostensibly set up to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Though it’s done some fine work, its most fruitful program has been leveraging Clinton’s position in the State Department to enrich her family, friends and cronies. It’s against federal law for charities to act in the interests of private business or individuals. Yet the Clinton Foundation secured high-paying gigs for its namesakes and helped for-profit corporations with family ties set up lucrative...

Cops shut down a lane in the Lincoln Tunnel so a visiting businessman could be escorted through it at the behest of a major de Blasio fundraiser, federal prosecutors charged Monday. Modal Trigger Jeremy ReichbergPhoto: Reuters The outrageous move was revealed as part of damning criminal indictments unveiled Monday against four NYPD officers and the shady “fixer’’ who allegedly arranged it. The stunning arrests marked the first time cops have been charged in the sweeping 3½-year corruption investigation rocking the department and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, which is being probed for its fundraising. Federal prosecutors allege that the civilian...

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin joined the Today show to talk about her endorsement of Donald Trump as Iowans go to caucus tonight for the Republican presidential primary. is was probably a tough call for you, between Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% and Donald Trump, began Savannah Guthrie during the interview. t wasn’t tough,” Palin interrupted. Really, Guthrie replied. No, it wasn’t tough, she repeated. Palin explained that she was happy to endorse Ted Cruz in his Senate race, because he was a fighter for the American people but that she wanted him to stay in Washington D.C. want to keep...

Senator Mike Lee has been collecting signatures to a letter pledging to defund Obamacare. Senator John Cornyn was an original signer of the letter. This has been confirmed by multiple outlets, including the Blaze, and confirmed by multiple Senate sources. But, after pressure from Senator McConnell’s office and others, Senator John Cornyn has yanked his name from Senator Lee’s letter. Senator Lee today publicly revealed the existing signatures on his letter. They are: Senators Rubio (R-FL), Cruz (R-TX), Risch (R-ID), Paul (R-KY), Inhofe (R-OK), Vitter (R-LA), Thune (R-SD), Chiesa (R-NJ), Enzi (R-WY), Fischer (R-NE), and Grassley (R-IA). Senator Cornyn had...

This Salon headline will bring agreement from many anti-Semites who believe the Jews (or Zionists) control the world. Zbig: Israelis “bought influence”and outmaneuvered Obama By Zbig, the author is talking about, Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser for Jimmy Carter, famous for helping to create the Taliban, inventing anti-Israel conspiracy theories, and spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric. Salon did a phone interview with the former national security adviser from his office at The Center for Strategic and International Studies, The George Soros-created progressive foreign policy think tank. The purpose of the interview was for Brzezinski to “pimp” his new book

House, Senate leaders finalize details of sweeping financial overhaul By Brady Dennis Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 25, 2010; 12:26 PM Key House and Senate lawmakers approved far-reaching new financial rules early Friday after weeks of division, delay and frantic last-minute dealmaking. The dawn compromise set up a potential vote in both houses of Congress next week that could send the landmark legislation to President Obama by July 4. The final and most arduous compromise began to fall into place just after midnight. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) agreed to scale back a controversial provision that would have forced the...

It is legal for lawyers, like anyone else, to give campaign money to politicians. But questions arise when the politicians are local officials with influence over the selection of legal counsel for shareholder lawsuits filed by public pension funds, a role that can be lucrative. A Wall Street Journal analysis documented the extent of campaign giving by plaintiffs' law firms specializing in shareholder litigation. It found that 25 leading firms, their lawyers and family members contributed a total of more than $21 million in the past decade to state-level candidates and party funds, as well as to national-party groups that...

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal urged his party Tuesday to shift to offering health care solutions instead of just rejecting what [Alleged] President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress are proposing. “I think now is the perfect time to pivot and to say, not only here’s what we’re against, and not only here’s how we’re going to contrast ourselves, but here’s what we’re for,” Jindal said in an interview with POLITICO. Jindal acknowledged that the Republican Party for years had been too slow to stake out positions on the health care debate “to our peril and the nation’s...

It would be a mistake for incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi to set aside fellow Californian Jane Harmon and give the House Intelligence Committee chairmanship to Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings. Harmon has been the ranking Democrat on the committee and an effective spokeswoman for her party's interests. But Pelosi believes she has been insufficiently partisan and has made it clear Harmon won't be chairman. Instead, Pelosi is considering appointing Hastings, who as a federal judge in 1989 was impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate after Congress concluded he conspired to solicit a $150,000 bribe, lied under oath and...

Last month, as chilly November winds hinted at the winter to come, Massachusetts received a warm gift from Venezuela via CITGO Petroleum Corporation. It could not have come at a more critical moment as those on fuel assistance faced heating price increases of up to 50 percent. Many low-income families looked ahead to a winter of unbearable options: choosing between heat and food or medication. As a result of the Venezuelan oil program, more than 12 million gallons of heavily discounted heating oil will flow to needy households and social service institutions across the state. Together with local nonprofits Citizens...

http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/20687439.html John Kerry 3/8/2003- "The greatest position of strength is by exercising the best judgement in the pursuit of diplomacy," he said, "not in some trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted, but in a genuine coalition."

Did anyone see the ad on FNC this a.m.? It said Ritter to "come clean" on the Factor tonight. However there's no mention of it on his or fox's web-sites. Should be quite bogus if true!

Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, has compared the invasion of Iraq to Hitler's invasion of Poland. He told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that 130 Americans had died "for a lie", adding: "I see no difference between the invasion of Iraq and the invasion of Poland in 1939." Both invasions were based on what he said was an artificial argument of self defence. President George W Bush had used the September 11 attacks as Hitler used the 1933 burning of the Reichstag to repress domestic dissidents. Mr Ritter, who resigned as an inspector in 1998 saying Saddam Hussein's...