Free Republic

The Central Intelligence Agency improperly and covertly hacked into computers used by Senate staffers to investigate the spy agency's Bush-era interrogation practices, according to an internal investigation. CIA Director John Brennan has determined that employees "acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding" brokered between the CIA and its Senate overseers, according to agency spokesman Dean Boyd. The stunning admission follows a scathing, 40-minute speech by Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein on the Senate floor back in March, in which she accused the CIA of secretly accessing her panel's computers.... At the time, Brennan denied Feinstein's accusations, telling NBC...

A new national survey conducted by the Associated Press suggests that illegal immigration and the border crisis could be morphing into major political liabilities for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. Key take-aways:

A failure of management by the Obama administration led to the disastrous rollout of the ObamaCare website and caused the government to incur tens of millions in additional costs, according to a congressional watchdog report released Wednesday. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded after a months-long investigation into the rocky rollout of Healthcare.gov that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ failure to establish “effective planning or oversight practices” was to blame for website’s myriad problems after it was launched. Among the issues, investigators found that the administration kept changing the contractors' marching orders for the HealthCare.gov website, creating widespread...

A rushed team at the Department of Health and Human Services failed to plan properly or watch over contractors hired to set up and run the online health insurance exchange, setting it up for its spectacular blowout when it rolled out last October, according to a report to be released Thursday. And unless HHS acts, more problems could happen this year, the report warns. Federal officials had just three and a half years to design, build and launch the online marketplace from the time the Affordable Care Act was signed in March 2010 to the time it had to be...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a state law requiring voters to have photo identification to cast a ballot, although the law remains blocked by an earlier ruling by a federal judge that it is unconstitutional. The court wrote in its decision that providing a photo identification at the ballot box does not create a substantial burden to the voter, as claimed by the plaintiffs in the case. "Photo identification is a condition of our times where more and more personal interactions are being modernized to require proof of identity," the court wrote.

In 1952, when Dwight Eisenhower was elected president, Wes Roberts, Pat’s father, the chairman of the Republican Party in Kansas, promoted a legislative act to pay the AOUW Insurance Company $115,000 for a building which had been erected on the Norton County TB sanatorium grounds on state land. Wes Roberts got a $15,000 kickback from the AOUW, unbeknownst to anyone, until it was discovered by Alvin McCoy of the Kansas City Star and was exposed. Wes Roberts had been promoted to National Chairman of the Republican Party on the election of Dwight Eisenhower. When this came to light, Eisenhower dismissed...

TOPEKA – A national Republican group has contributed $45,400 to Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts in his GOP primary race against tea party challenger Milton Wolf, a boost for the incumbent’s sizeable and consistent lead in fundraising. Recent finance reports filed by the campaigns show that Roberts has raised more than $200,000 so far this month. But Wolf, a Leawood radiologist making his first run for public office, raised more than $120,000 in contributions this month and also loaned his campaign an additional $20,000. Roberts is seeking this fourth, six-year term and has enjoyed a significant fundraising advantage ahead of the...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the Senate's most outspoken conservatives, is stepping into the middle of House Republican politics yet again. Cruz held court in his office with about a dozen of the House's most ardent conservatives Wednesday night, according to news reports. On the agenda: ways to limit the president's future authority on executive immigration decisions. While the House and Senate already far apart on how to handle the arrival of more than 60,000 children at the southern border, Cruz's demands only widen that gap. He introduced legislation in the Senate earlier this month that would bar the...

Conservative Louisiana Senate candidate Rob Maness, a retired Air Force Colonel, opposes the House's $659 million border bill, and he called on Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to stand with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and publicly oppose it. "With President Obama threatening unilateral executive action to grant a massive amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, the next action Congress takes should address this threat of lawlessness," Maness said on Wednesday, emphasizing that it was a "silent surrender" to a lawless executive. "Congressman Cassidy should publicly and immediately join me in opposing this hollow border bill and fight...

House Republican leaders abruptly changed their plan to deal with the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border late Wednesday night, after they were not able to muster enough votes to pass the legislation before Congress leaves Friday for a five-week recess. Conservatives in the House revolted against the Republican-led plan, which provides about $659 million in emergency spending for the border crisis through the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. As a result, the House will vote Thursday on two pieces of legislation, the first being the border plan. If that legislation passes, the House would be required to vote on...

It has been reported that President Barack Obama is planning to unilaterally attempt to grant legal status to illegal immigrants.  There is no legal authority for him to do so.  It has been reported that it may not be possible to stop Obama’s action with a lawsuit because nobody would have standing to bring the lawsuit. Legal experts see any challenge to the expected immigration policy changes headed for the same key roadblock facing House Speaker John Boehner’s planned suit over Obamacare implementation delays: finding a way to show the injury needed to press a case in the federal courts....

It’s sad but true. Nearly 50% of high school seniors know the names of The Three Stooges (Larry, Moe and Curly) but can’t name the three branches of government. And fully one-third of students asked for the origin of the statement “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” responded that this came from the Bill of Rights when it actually came from The Communist Manifesto. So says Dr. Walter Williams, the eminent free market economist and higher education critic, who explained in a recent column at Townhall.com that examples like this are a testament to...

If at first you don't impede, try, try again. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a new law today restricting the free speech rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors. Patrick, a Democrat, said he was “still stunned” by the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in McCullen v. Coakley, striking down the state's previous 35-foot “bubble zone” at today's signing ceremony. The original law, drafted by current Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts President Marty Walz when she was a state legislator, required all “protesters” to stand dozens of feet away from the entrance of any such facilities. The justices did not rule that all such zoning...

... “If the question is was there political, ideological bias inside the IRS, it’s hard to argue ‘no’ after you read that,” said Willie Geist. “And malice,” added MSNBC contributor Nicolle Wallace. “She equates Republicans as inferior to terrorists. I think motive is there, I think state of mind is there–again, if this were a legal proceeding, they’ve got their gal.”

It has been reported that President Barack Obama is planning to unilaterally attempt to grant legal status to illegal immigrants. There is no legal authority for him to do so. It has been reported that it may not be possible to stop Obama’s action with a lawsuit because nobody would have standing to bring the lawsuit.

The state Democratic Party today criticized Republican Charlie Baker for dismissing the significance of a gun control provision designed to give police chiefs authority to keep rifles and shotguns out of the hands of people they consider dangerous. In an interview on NECN Tuesday, Baker declined to say whether he supported that provision, which was included in an anti-gun violence bill passed by the House, but was stripped out by the Senate. The host, Jim Braude, pressed the gubernatorial hopeful: “Should police chiefs have that discretion?” “I don’t think that matters, Jim,” Baker replied. “The real issue here is: They...

Sharp declines in voter turnout for primaries in 25 states have both parties worried, but the situation is dire for Democrats, who are pouring millions into building ground operations ahead of the November election, The Hill reports. The Center for the Study of the American Electorate released a report last week showing turnout in the 25 states that have already held statewide primaries dropped 3.5 percent from 2010 to 14.8 percent of the voting-age population. Turnout in 15 of those states hit record lows. "In terms of our turnout operation this fall, an aggressive early voting push and an aggressive...

House Republican Leaders have a deal for conservatives. After giving Barack Obama a blank check with the debt ceiling, if they will now give him $659 million then and only then will John Boehner give conservatives a vote on shutting down DACA. This really is inexcusable. DACA is the chief incentive inspiring people to cross the border. The administration intends to expand DACA. The House GOP should be starting with closing DACA, not telling conservatives they first have to fund the President and then they’ll get table scraps. I have opened RedState’s Action Center. Go here now, put in your...

Updated 11:07 p.m. | In a bid to shore up votes for their border supplemental, Republican leaders plan to give conservatives a vote Thursday prohibiting President Barack Obama from granting deportation relief to more illegal immigrants. One vote will be on the $659 million appropriations bill aimed at curbing the flow of child migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes policy riders that have alienated nearly all Democrats. On the condition of that bill passing, members would then be allowed to a vote on standalone language prohibiting the expansion of President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program granting...

Senate Republicans have a message for House Republicans: Don’t screw up before Election Day. After fumbling primaries in the past, the GOP believes it will win a majority in the upper chamber this fall — as long as the party can avoid self-inflicted wounds. To do that, Senate Republicans want their colleagues in the lower chamber to play ball and not hand Democrats anything that could turn out the opposition’s base or turn off independent voters. Senate Republicans have put subtle pressure on House members to avoid a messy fight over the border bill, impeachment or a government shutdown. Democrats...