Free Republic

When this story broke today that John Hynansky received a taxpayer funded $20 MILLION loan to build two luxury car dealerships and expand others in the Ukraine, Conservatives decried it and Media Matters bashed Conservatives. Media Matters says the loan by Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is not taxpayer funded. The truth is, it all depends on what the meaning of "self-funded" is. Photo: John Hynansky Hynansky is a close friend and contributor to Joe Biden's political adventurers as well as a contributor to Barack Obama, so a $20 MILLION loan with US taxpayer funding to be sent overseas, made a...

An audit by Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, found that President Obama's auto task force arbitrarily closed many profitable dealerships, destroying thousands of jobs "based on a theory and without sufficient consideration of the decision's broader economic impact." Barofsky observed that Chrysler and GM were subsequently forced to reinstate more than 700 of the approximately 3,000 disenfranchised dealers, "suggesting, at the very least, that the number and speed of the terminations was not necessarily critical to the manufacturers' viability." One more thing: China has a virtual monopoly on neodymium, a rare earth metal...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Iranian-American man who U.S. officials say has links to Iran's security forces pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday to plotting to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington in a bomb attack. , 56, who was arrested on September 29 in New York, faces several charges including conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism. Another man, Gholam Shakuri, was also charged in the plot but is believed to still be in Iran. U.S. officials said he is a...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Federal and local law enforcement agencies raided a series of car lots and homes in connection with a money laundering investigation involving a convicted Palestinian terrorist. Family members of the suspect had previously been tied to a network of underground casinos, officials say. On Thursday morning, federal agents along with investigators with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office carried out a series of raids at a home in a luxurious neighborhood and at two car lots owned by George Z. Rafidi.

While speaking in Peru for an international summit, President Obama bragged that his administration has been, allegedly, scandal-free during his presidency. "I'm extremely proud of the fact that over 8 years we have not had the kinds of scandals that have plagued other administrations." He's actually serious about this. And it appears that it's a goal of the Obama administration to push this claim in an attempt to frame the outgoing president's legacy. During an interview with CNN which aired on Sunday, President Obama's top aide, Valerie Jarrett, claimed that Obama is proud of himself because his administration has been "scandal-free."...

There is a major probe going on into the breach of Congressional computer security, surrounding three Pakistani brothers who served as IT staff for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Oh, you haven’t heard about this in the media? The three brothers were locked out of U.S. House computer networks as part of the probe, but now we’re learning that one of the staffers allegedly had the user name and password for Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s iPad, and by extension had access to her DNC emails. If you recall, Wasserman-Schultz was the Chair of the Democratic National Committee whose...

Two members of Congress are asking if the Treasury Department disproportionately targeted more Republican or conservative owned auto dealerships during the government-lead restructuring of General Motors in 2009. Breitbart.com reported today that Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) released a letter asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to release documents regarding the process and methodology that determined which GM dealerships were closed.

It’s hard to uphold a reputation as a devoutly religious terrorist group if you make millions selling cocaine. Just ask Hezbollah. Last month, the US government filed suit against a number of American and Lebanese businesses that allegedly helped bankroll the Lebanese terrorist group. The civil indictment in Manhattan blew the lid off a vast criminal network that included money-laundering, cocaine deals and more — including 30 US car dealerships that helped the group launder cash. As one investigator quipped, Hezbollah is the “Gambinos on steroids.” The indictment charges Hezbollah kingpin Ayman Joumaa with smuggling more than 100 tons of...

It's a question CBS5's Joe Vasquez asked the owner of Nemesis Motors, a car dealership in an area with a large Latino population that has plastered its windows with signs in Spanish. [Tip to Claycord.com] But one of those signs that concerned a local blogger implies you don't need a license to purchase a car. And according to DMV and CHP officials, you don't. Dealerships can sell cars to unlicensed buyers. Even so, under Nemesis Motors' policies, the person driving it off the lot must have a license, according to Vazquez. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?blogid=111&entry_id=62235#ixzz0n1Dyfpgg

Immediately following Obama's coup at General Motors, and near-takeover of Chrysler as well, there was about two weeks of news coverage of the shocking number of dealerships summarily, and seemingly arbitrarily, put out of business. The demand for explanation of why and how one dealership was killed, while another was spared execution, was ever so briefly loud, then quieted, and finally silenced. This front page story moved to the back pages and, in short order, to oblivion - and the questions it raised were never answered. Case in point: Ron Marhofer, the owner of Marhofer Chevrolet in the little burg...

Chrysler announced the closing of 789 dealerships earlier this month. On today's radio program, Rush Limbaugh spoke for a few seconds about whether or not some of the dealership closings are the result of politics (campaign contributions). After hearing this, I decided to look up the contributions of the dealers on the Internet. Here are a few examples of the campaign donations made by some of the dealers who will close their doors shortly. I'm not anywhere close to going through the entire list yet. The figures are only from the 2004, 2006, and 2008 Election cycles: (1) Michael E....