Free Republic

A new book about President Obama alleges he once used the vulgar term "tea-bagger" to refer to the Tea Party movement. Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter, in his book "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," to be released May 18, quotes the president as saying that Republican opposition to the economic stimulus package "helped create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party where it now controls the agenda for the Republicans," according to a Washington Post report on the book. White House spokesman Bill Burton responded Wednesday evening by saying he had no reason to dispute the...

The 149 air traffic control towers that were slated to close this summer because of the federal sequestration will remain open until at least September, federal officials said Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration said legislation approved by Congress last month lets it transfer funds from other accounts to keep the towers open until the end of the fiscal year.

We’ve heard the official line of Obama administration officials. Benghazi happened “a long time ago.” Benghazi has been thoroughly investigated—all the questions have been asked and answered, all the key officials have given their on-the-record testimony. The media have had their chances to ask their questions. If all that is true, then why did the testimony of Gregory Hicks before a House committee today provide such a riveting and enlightening picture of the events of Sept. 11, 2012? Hicks was the State Department’s deputy chief of mission in Libya that night. He would become the chief before the night was...

Eight months after four Americans died in a terrorist attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, a House committee held another hearing on Wednesday to examine whether the Obama administration mishandled the tragic events. What follows is an update on what is known about the Benghazi episode and why it has become such a political flash point: Q. Why is the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holding a new hearing on Benghazi? A. Committee investigators found two State Department officials who previously had not spoken publicly and who are scathingly critical of the administration’s response to...

Louisiana’s highest court ruled Tuesday that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s hallmark school voucher plan violates the state’s constitution. The state Supreme Court found that the school voucher plan is illegal because it diverts tax dollars to private schools from Louisiana’s “minimum foundation program,” which was created under the state constitution to pay for public schools.

In another blow to the nation's dwindling labor unions, an appeals court on Tuesday struck down a federal rule that would have required millions of businesses to put up posters informing workers of their right to form a union.

Earlier today the President heard from key national security principals on our preparedness and security posture on the eve of the eleventh anniversary of September 11th. Over the past month, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan has convened numerous meetings to review security measures in place. During the briefing today, the President and the Principals discussed specific measures we are taking in the Homeland to prevent 9/11 related attacks as well as the steps taken to protect U.S. persons and facilities abroad, as well as force protection. The President reiterated that Departments and agencies must...

An Air Force officer was arrested for sexual assault. The remarkable thing is the accused man was the chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention unit. The mug shot of Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski shows signs of struggle on his face. The police report alleges that a drunken Krusinski "approached a female victim in a parking lot and grabbed her breasts and buttocks." The victim fought the suspect off as he attempted to touch her again and alerted police. News of the incident in the Virginia suburbs of Washington broke the day before the Pentagon is scheduled to release...

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the Pennsylvania city of Harrisburg, the state's beleaguered capital, with securities fraud on Monday for allegedly releasing misleading public statements and financial information. Harrisburg, which is under state receivership after its finances became mired by a scheme to upgrade a trash incinerator, agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying the findings, the SEC said.

NEW DELHI: Sartorial inequality between the genders is a cause for climate change. When it comes to formal dressing, women tend to cover themselves lightly, if not minimally, while men feel obliged to wear a jacket and a tie, even in the summer warmth of tropical India. When they share the same air-conditioned room, another sort of gender inequality ensures the temperature is kept at a level that makes suited men comfortable, even if it leaves the fairer sex covered with goosebumps. If the men were to shed a few layers of clothing, the room temperature could be raised by...

Their identities have been a well-guarded secret, known only to their high-powered lawyers and a handful of House lawmakers and staff. But now Fox News has learned the names of the self-described Benghazi “whistleblowers” who are set to testify before a widely anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday. Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be three career State Department officials: Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the...

LISBON - Portugal's prime minister laid out a three-year plan Friday to reduce the country's budget deficit that would shrink the number of public employees, add more working hours and raise the retirement age by a year, to 66. The plan, which aims to save €4.8 billion ($6.1 billion) through 2015, is certain to face resistance from the Socialist-led opposition and trade unions. They accuse the conservative government of trying harder to satisfy Portugal's international creditors than to spare the country - the poorest in Western Europe - from further hardship. Portugal, entering the third year of a recession with...

Starting production of the all-electric Leaf in Tennessee helped Nissan sell more Leafs in the US in March 2013 than in any other month. April wasn't quite as sunny, but the 1,937 Leafs sold last month were still good enough for second place. Ever. April also marked the second month in a row that the Leaf beat the Chevrolet Volt. It's not that General Motors had a bad month. The 1,306 Volts sold last month were roughly in line with March and February (but it's a downward trending line, with 1,626 sold in February and 1,478 in March).

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) was established to assist the nation’s underwater borrowers get out from under their massive mortgage debt. In a Congressional Budget Office report, both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been found to be responsible for nearly 13 percent of underwater borrowers. The report, “Modifying Mortgages Involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Options for Principal Forgiveness,” finds that, in order for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to use principal forgiveness for borrowers in an effort to provide assistance for those to benefit from HAMP: + Result in small savings to the government, + Slightly reduce mortgage...

The last large-scale legalization of undocumented immigrants, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), is often called "the 1986 amnesty." The law created a relatively straightforward pathway to citizenship, and 2.7 million undocumented immigrants eventually got green cards through the program. But amnesty in the context of immigration is more than a way to describe legalization. It's become a dirty word in the debate -- immigration's equivalent of Obamacare. That's no accident. Since 1986, restrictionist groups have hammered home the message that the last legalization program didn't stop illegal immigration, and that the "amnesty" failed. Buzzwords have their limits, however,...

WASHINGTON -- A NASA-led modeling study provides new evidence that global warming may increase the risk for extreme rainfall and drought. The study shows for the first time how rising carbon dioxide concentrations could affect the entire range of rainfall types on Earth. Analysis of computer simulations from 14 climate models indicates wet regions of the world, such as the equatorial Pacific Ocean and Asian monsoon regions, will see increases in heavy precipitation because of warming resulting from projected increases in carbon dioxide levels. Arid land areas outside the tropics and many regions with moderate rainfall could become drier. The...

Soon after federal prosecutors disclosed last month that a state assemblyman in Albany had been secretly making audio and video recordings for law enforcement, other legislators began nervously joking that they could never be sure who else was taping them. Little did they know. On Friday, it was disclosed that Shirley L. Huntley, when she was a Democratic state senator from Queens, had secretly recorded conversations with seven elected officials and two associates while she was being investigated for corruption. The revelation suggested a widening dragnet in Albany.

The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday it will use a type of “dynamic scoring” to evaluate the new Senate immigration bill, dealing a major victory to the legislation’s backers. While wrapped in the dry world of economics, the decision helps the eight bipartisan authors of the Senate immigration bill because it will likely show economic growth and higher tax revenues offsetting any new spending included in the bill. CBO generally shies away from dynamic scoring, which includes knock-on effects of economic growth when calculating costs and benefits.

The nation's largest health insurers are far from leaping at the chance to join new state health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's reform law, making it likely that some markets will have little or no competition next year. A key principle of Obama's health reform is that individuals will have a robust offering of insurance plans to choose from, and that competition for new customers in each state will help keep prices down for consumers. But health insurers, some of whom fought the law before it was passed and continue to lobby to reverse parts of it, are wary....

NEW YORK — Small business owners may be experiencing sticker shock now that insurers are revealing the rates they want to charge under the new health care law.

Unemployment rates fell in nearly 90 percent of large U.S. cities in March, though most of the declines likely occurred because more Americans stopped looking for work, rather than found jobs.

It’s not the Air Force holding a bake sale to buy a bomber, but the USO is holding a fundraiser to keep Fleet Week afloat after it was torpedoed by sequester cuts. The United Service Organizations sent out its fundraising pitch email this week. “Will we allow this opportunity to demonstrate America’s support of our men and women in uniform pass us by?” retired Col. Jack Jacobs asked readers in the email for the USO. “Not on our watch!”

The lawyers defending Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are dealing with federal budget cuts that will force them to take three unpaid weeks off even as they prepare to defend one of the most complicated criminal cases in the nation.

Setting the stage for a constitutional showdown, the Obama administration on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to rule that presidents have broad authority to make certain appointments without Senate approval. In January the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that three appointments to the panel, which normally has five members, were invalid. In the brief filed on Thursday, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli defended the recess appointment powers of the president, disputing the court's conclusion that it can only be used in the period between formal sessions of the Senate. If the appeals court ruling was...

Allergy sufferers know it's spring when they start sneezing, getting itchy eyes and other symptoms. Now experts say that climate change is only making things worse. The changing climate has brought early spring, late-ending fall and large amounts of rain and snow, which are some of the contributing factors that prolong pollen seasons, according to allergists. “The planet is getting warmer,” said Melrose Park allergist and immunologist Dr. Rachna Shah. “Allergy season has been longer than usual, as plants are stronger and are able to produce more pollen. It’s a trend that we can’t deny.” “Due to tree season starting...

Our democracy has been hacked. The operating system has been taken over." That was the message former Vice President Al Gore brought to Stanford Tuesday night. The 65-year-old paced the stage as he rattled off a litany of dark news from climate change-related superstorms and droughts to the U.S. Senate's failure to pass meaningful gun safety legislation. He offered blunt assessments of the Iraq War, saying it was about "a country that just happens to have a lot of oil." He spoke of the interest in energy-intensive Canadian tar sands oil extraction, the driving force behind plans for the controversial...

President Barack Obama is resisting a congressional subpoena for documents related to how the administration responded to the revelation of the failed operation known as "Fast and Furious" on the U.S.- Mexican border. Justice Department lawyer Ian Gershengorn told a hearing the matter was best left to the give-and-take of the U.S. government's two elected branches, the president and Congress, and should not be a matter for the courts. "That is how it has worked for 225 years," said Gershengorn, referring to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was skeptical and told...

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the brothers and suspects in last week's Boston Marathon bombing attack, may have financed their plot through drug sales, investigators believe.

The White House on Wednesday backed a proposal to temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while politicians in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the effects of the cuts started to be felt around the country. White House spokesman Carney on Wednesday blamed Republicans for underestimating the negative impact of the spending reductions. "Republicans in Congress made a political tactical decision to embrace the sequester," he said. Cuts proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would bite even more deeply than those under the sequester, he added. "We share the frustration and we warned about these very...

President Obama today said that while the information was there to disrupt the attempted Christmas Day attack, the intelligence community failed to connect the dots in a “potentially disastrous way.” The president used a version of the word “fail” 9 times in as many minutes — and he was talking about his government failing to adequately protect the American people. “I will not tolerate it,” he added, “when a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way. And it’s my responsibility to find out why and...

...Congressional officials familiar with the briefings told the Associated Press that Gen Petraeus testified that security at the consulate was so lax that the attackers walked in and set fire to the facility. Security at the CIA annex was much better, the AP reported, but the attackers had arms and broke in. Republicans were also critical of the Obama administration's handling of security situation. Florida Senator Marco Rubio said Gen Petraeus testimony showed that "clearly the security measures were inadequate despite an overwhelming and growing amount of information that showed the area in Benghazi was dangerous, particularly on the night...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union that it says is behind such actions. Wal-Mart filed an unfair labor practice charge against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt what the retailer says are unlawful attempts to disrupt its business. The move comes just a week before what is expected to be the largest organized action against the world's largest retailer, as a small group of Walmart workers prepare to strike on Black Friday,...

...Democratic senators who emerged from the hearing said Petraeus' testimony supported U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Rice was speaking from talking points prepared by the CIA and approved by the intelligence committee. "The key is that they were unclassified talking points at a very early stage. And I don't think she should be pilloried for this. She did what I would have done or anyone else would have done that was going on a weekend show," Feinstein said. "To say that she is unqualified to be Secretary of State I think is a...

Former CIA Director David Petraeus told Congress on Friday that he and the spy agency had sought to make clear from the outset that September's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, involved an al Qaeda affiliate, lawmakers said. Petraeus told the House of Representatives intelligence committee that "there were extremists in the group" that launched the initial attack on the diplomatic mission, describing them as affiliates of al Qaeda and other extremist groups, said Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the committee's top Democrat. "The fact is that he clarified it." Some Republicans have suggested that Obama and...

Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers during private hearings Friday that he believed all along that the deadly attack on the US consulate in Libya was a terrorist strike, even though that wasn't how the Obama administration initially described it publicly. Petraeus told lawmakers that the CIA's draft talking points named specific terrorist groups. But Petraeus said some federal agency changed it to "extremists."

Former CIA Director David Petraeus gave closed door briefings to Congress today. After the hearing, Democrats and Republicans disputed whether Petraeus has been consistent in his testimony, and whether the CIA talking points on the attack were altered. "The original talking points prepared by the CIA were different than the final ones put out," Reb. King [said]. Originally, he said, they were "much more specific on al Qaeda involvement." Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., didn't agree with King's recollection of the Sept. 14 briefing. Ruppersberger told reporters after the hearing, "My recollection was ... [Petraeus said] it was the result of...

Egyptian president sharpens his tone against Israel, threatening: 'If I see the homeland in danger, I won't hesitate to take unusual steps.' He vows that his country will 'stop this brutal aggression' After concluding the Friday prayer at a mosque in Cairo, Morsi warned Israel of the consequences of its strikes in Gaza. According to the al- Shorouk newspaper, Morsi tweeted on his Twitter page: "We have the power to uproot the aggressiveness just like it uprooted exploitation. "I don't want to take unusual steps," Morsi added, "but if I see that the homeland is in danger, I won't hesitate."...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority said Thursday that it was adding 12 months to the construction schedule for 130 miles of track in the Central Valley, easing what some outside experts have contended was an overly aggressive and risky timeline. Construction industry experts have said that the job of building the $6 billion of track through the Central Valley would require spending $3.5 million per day, one of the fastest rates of transportation project spending in history.

Susan Rice was not lying but put a “softer touch” on the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said Friday. "I'm not saying she lied, I'm just saying she didn't tell [the truth],” Chambliss said on MSNBC. “She put a softer touch on what the real facts were. That's not lying.”

HUNTSVILLE -- Proclaiming his innocence to the end, a 46-year-old Houston man was executed Thursday for the fatal stabbing of a 3-year-old boy and the child's teenage cousin who told police his first name in her dying breaths 24 years ago. Preston Hughes III, 46, insisted that police planted evidence and coerced his confessions to the September 1988 slayings of Shandra Charles, 15, and her cousin Marcell Taylor. Hughes' mother and sister were among those witnessing his lethal injection.

WASHINGTON -- A congressional investigation viewed video Thursday that was recorded by security cameras the night of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The first video of the attack was captured by cell phones. But it took about 10 more days for the FBI to get its hands on video taken by security cameras at the consulate. That classified video, shown to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, answers some of the many questions surrounding the attack. There has been a lot of controversy about whether the Sept. 11 attack -- which killed four Americans, including the...

Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster is doubling down on his suggestion that there were "improprieties" at the Maine polls last week, insisting he received complaints from candidates in small towns across the state that "new people came to vote" and "I believe that that's questionable." Webster has been the source of some controversy after suggesting in an interview with WCSH-TV this week that "In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day." "Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in [these] towns knows anyone who's black,"...

The Dutch economy shrank by 1.1pc in the third quarter amid a deep housing slump, and even Austria has begun to succumb. Finland’s economy has shrunk by 1pc over the last year. “Recession comes as no surprise and it is going to get worse next year,” said Desmond Supple from Nomura. “Europe has imposed dusted-off policies from the 1930s and they are driving peripheral countries towards depression,” he said. “We are seeing a mix of pro-cyclical fiscal austerity, overly-tight monetary policy, and regulatory overkill under the Basel III bank rules that are forcing lenders to tighten credit. Europe is stuck...

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - The armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad on Thursday said it had fired an Iranian-built rocket at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. "The Quds Brigades hit the occupied city of Tel Rabea (Tel Aviv) with a Fajr 5 rocket causing a large explosion to shake the city," the group said in a brief statement, shortly after an AFP correspondent reported seeing a rocket land in the water south of the sprawling coastal city. "What comes next will be greater," the statement added. In a separate statement, posted on the group's website, spokesman...

The death of a journalist’s 11-month-old son in Gaza on Wednesday has prompted a flood of poignant messages online -- and a media backlash -- when pictures of Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic video editor, showed him carrying the body of his dead son. Mishrawi’s son, Omar, was killed after Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip fell on his Gaza home, according to the BBC. Omar is among 16 people killed in Gaza since Wednesday afternoon, including four children, according to Al Arabiya correspondents. Fighting began when Israel’s targeted killing of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari on Wednesday. Since then,...

Gaza City (CNN) -- A mix of explosions filled Gaza City's air late Thursday, but not all were blasts of war. A celebration erupted as a mosque loudspeaker chant proclaimed: "God is great. We have hit Tel Aviv." Rockets fired straight upward were not targeted at an enemy, but were aimed at raising spirits with claims that militant missiles launched from Gaza reached Israel's government center 45 miles (71 kilometers) away. One Gaza-launched rocket landing just south of Tel Aviv Thursday, in an open area near Rishon LeZion, the Israel Defense Forces said. Knowing that air sirens had sounded inside...

Two projectiles, which Stratfor believes to be Fajr-5 rockets due to their range, landed near Tel Aviv -- one just south of the municipal line and one in the water just outside of the southern suburb of Bat Yam. No injuries have been reported. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces denied that a rocket had landed in Tel Aviv, although this statement conflicts with eyewitness reports and may reflect the fact that projectiles have landed in areas just south of the actual Tel Aviv municipal boundary. This strike is the furthest Hamas has ever struck into Israeli territory and...

Palestinian militants barraged Israel with more than 200 rockets on Thursday, killing three people as Israel pressed a punishing campaign of airstrikes on militant targets across the Gaza Strip. Late in the day, Israel signaled a ground operation may be imminent as forces moved toward the border area with Gaza. At least 12 trucks were seen transporting tanks and armored personnel carriers, and a number of buses carrying soldiers arrived. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he had authorized the army to call-up additional reservists for possible action. The army said it was prepared to draft up to 30,000 additional...

(Reuters) - Superstorm Sandy drove a surge in new claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week and weighed on factory activity in November, providing early signs of how heavily the storm could hit the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 78,000 to a seasonally adjusted 439,000, the highest level since April 2011, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the biggest one-week jump since the spike caused by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.

CBS News has obtained the CIA talking points given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on Sept. 15 regarding the fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, four days earlier. CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan says the talking points, which were also given to members of the House intelligence committee, make no reference to terrorism being a likely factor in the assault, which left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead. "Available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault... There are indications...