Free Republic

To understand the lack of enthusiasm most Americans feel about the midterm elections, it’s important to recognize a vital distinction between government and community.... Despite all the promises made by politicians, few voters really expect a meaningful change in their own life based upon whether one politician beats another in a particular election. People are generally happier when their team wins and sadder when it loses, but most then go on with life as they did before the votes were counted. More than anything else, the lack of connection between election results and reality explains the low turnout in American...

Corruption is like “bad breath,” says Pope Francis, “it is hard for the one who has it to realize it; others realize it and have to tell him.” In an address to a delegation of the International Association of Penal Law this morning, Francis commented on a variety of troubling international legal issues, including the widespread problem of corruption, which he called “a greater evil than sin.”

Father Mark J. Haynes, 55, an archdiocesan priest and parochial vicar at SS. Simon and Jude Parish in West Chester, was arrested late Wednesday evening, Oct. 22, by Chester County police and charged with six counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia called the charges “serious and disturbing” in a statement Oct. 24. It said Father Haynes has been placed on administrative leave immediately and he no longer resides at SS. Simon and Jude rectory.

Okay, so here's the irony of the government in America... 1) The government claims to save money by not enacting travel restrictions from the ebola hot zone, yet the total treatment cost for the American ebola patients and Liberian national numbers in the millions and counting, unless the New York doctor case is the last one. Also, the possibility exists that people will not want to be in public as much thanks to fear of ebola infectees walking around in public? 2) The CDC claims it is so noncontagious, but shouldn't people take precautions such as banning possibly ebola infectees...

Late last night the Department of Justice complied with a court order and turned over a list to government watchdog Judicial Watch , known as a Vaughn Index, of Fast and Furious documents being held from Congress and the American people under President Obama's assertion of executive privilege. Not surprisingly, DOJ failed to fully comply with the requirements of providing a Vaughn Index. The Vaughn index explains 15,662 documents. Typically, a Vaughn index must: (1) identify each record withheld; (2) state the statutory exemption claimed; and (3) explain how disclosure would damage the interests protected by the claimed exemption. The...

Never in my lifetime did I believe this great nation would be taken down and withdrawn from its world leadership position by its own leadership. While some try to explain away the Obama administration’s damaging policies by making excuses, they fail to face reality. This is a planned agenda. When then-Sen. Barack Obama announced in 2008 that he was going to fundamentally transform America, few Americans comprehended what that declaration actually meant. However, with his radical background and his leftist mentors and associates, his agenda became very clear early on in his presidency * * * The real question is,...

Perhaps the last trio you'd expect to see mentioned in the State Sen. Leland Yee corruption trial is comedian Katt Williams, rapper Too $hort, and hip-hop mogul Suge Knight. Strangely enough, recent court documents reveal some interesting details and even more curious connections between some of the defendants in the Yee case and the three famous guys mentioned above. For starters, Keith Jackson — the former school board member who who got tangled up in the corruption case when he allegedly helped Yee obtain campaign donations in excess of the legal limits — was heard on wire taps bragging to...

Everything you need to know about Beltway nepotism, corporate cronyism and corruption can be found in the biography of Robert Hunter Biden. Where are the Occupy Wall Street rabble-rousers and enemies of elitist privilege when you need them? Straining their neck muscles to look the other way. The youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden made news last week after The Wall Street Journal revealed he had been booted from the Navy Reserve for cocaine use. His drug abuse was certainly no surprise to the Navy, which issued him a waiver for a previous drug offense before commissioning him as...

Conservative radio host Mark Levin warned the American public during a Fox News television appearance that President Obama has nothing to lose in his last couple years in office and will press forward with aggression and fervor to realize his agenda. Mr. Obama will go “full Mussolini” after the November elections wrap, in comparison to the past few years, when he’s been mostly a “statist,” Mr. Levin said.

Remember the woman who had her home sold out from underneath her by the inept hacks of Norcross, GA city government? The ones who received tax payments from her for three years, then seized her home without notice and sold it (also without notice) because they claimed they didn't know how to contact her. At her HOME. Where she LIVED? Yesterday city officials denied knowing anything about anything and suggested that, since the home had a new legal owner, there might not be anything they could do...except keep the money from the sale and throw this family out on the...

A group of Washington overlords — federal prosecutors — sometimes break rules and wreck people’s lives. President Obama may soon appoint one of them to be America’s next Attorney General. The prosecutorial bullying is detailed in a new book by Sidney Powell, “Licensed to Lie.” She reports that the Department of Justice’s narcissistic and dishonest prosecutors destroy people by doing things like deliberately withholding evidence. Remember the Arthur Andersen accounting firm? It was killed off by ambitious prosecutors who claimed the company helped Enron commit accounting fraud and then shredded the evidence. But instead of charging people who allegedly ordered...

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – Admitting his confidence in Cook County ballot integrity is shaken, State Representative Candidate Jim Moynihan (R-56), was shocked today when he tried to cast a vote for himself and the voting machine cast it for his opponent instead. “While early voting at the Schaumburg Public Library today, I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” said Moynihan. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a...

Everything you need to know about Beltway nepotism, corporate cronyism and corruption can be found in the biography of Robert Hunter Biden. Where are the Occupy Wall Street rabble-rousers and enemies of elitist privilege when you need them? Straining their neck muscles to look the other way. The youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden made news last week after The Wall Street Journal revealed he had been booted from the Navy Reserve for cocaine use. His drug abuse was certainly no surprise to the Navy, which issued him a waiver for a previous drug offense before commissioning him as...

Leadership: By naming an "Ebola Czar," the president has effectively cashiered his bumbling CDC chief — and again passed the buck for another crisis to another subordinate. With Barack Obama, it's always the fault of "him." Or "her." Or "they." The federal Centers for Disease Control Director Thomas Frieden is now taking the fall for blithely promising Americans that Ebola would never come to our shores, and then, when it did — thanks to his refusal to restrict travel from West Africa — assuring us U.S. hospitals could handle it. Obama is said to be seething at the CDC's mismanagement...

On Friday, addressing mounting concerns about a medical crisis in the U.S., President Obama named the noted epidemiologist Dr. Ronald Klain as the country’s “Ebola czar.” Dr. Klain…. Oh, sorry, that didn’t happen. The new Ebola czar is not an expert in infectious diseases, or in public health, or even a doctor. To Washington insiders, Ron Klain, a high-stakes Democratic Party operative, is most famous for his role in Florida legal challenges surrounding the 2000 presidential election. Those with longer memories remember Klain’s work as the Al Gore aide who labored to raise more than $100 million for the Democratic...

In 2012, Sierra Pacific Industries was ordered to pay $55 million to the United States and transfer 22,500 acres of land to the United States government after the Department of Justice launched a massive lawsuit against the company. The DOJ argued that the company was responsible for a massive fire that destroyed 65,000 acres of land in California. Since the beginning of the case, however, Sierra Pacific has insisted that the fire started elsewhere and that the Department of Justice was being deceitful in their prosecution. Now, new evidence showing an outrageous miscarriage of justice has emerged, including the DOJ's...

Exclusive: Obama Administration Quietly Prepares 'Surge' Of Millions Of New Immigrant IDs Despite no official action from the president ahead of the election, the Obama administration has quietly begun preparing to issue millions of work authorization permits, suggesting the implementation of a large-scale executive amnesty may have already begun. Unnoticed until now, a draft solicitation for bids issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Oct. 6 says potential vendors must be capable of handling a “surge” scenario of 9 million id cards in one year “to support possible future immigration reform initiative requirements.” The request for proposals says the...

In perhaps the most stunning documentation yet of abuses by Eric Holder’s Justice Department, two former Assistant United States Attorneys spoke to defense attorneys and revealed appalling deceit and corruption of justice. This latest litigation time bomb has exploded from multi-million dollar litigation originally brought by the Department of Justice against Sierra Pacific based on allegations that the lumber company and related defendants were responsible for a wildfire that destroyed 65,000 acres in California. In what was dubbed the “Moonlight Fire” case, the tables are now turned. The defendants have discovered new evidence and filed a stunning motion. The new...

SANTIAGO — Corruption and tax evasion are flagrant violations of human rights in Latin America, where they contribute to inequality and injustice in the countries of the region, according to studies and experts consulted by IPS. “Tax evasion means that those who are most vulnerable are denied the full enjoyment of their economic and social rights, including health and education,” said Rocío Noriega, an adviser on governance, ethics and transparency for the United Nations Development Programme. “Corruption has a negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights,” she added. It also constitutes “a threat to democracy, because it systematically violates...

Years ago, I shared a very funny poster that suggests that more government is hardly ever the right answer to any question.Yet in Washington, the standard response to any screwup by government is to make government even bigger. Sort ofMitchellÂ’s Law on steroids.And thatÂ’s exactly whatÂ’s happening with the Ebola crisis. The bureaucracies that have received tens of billions of dollars over the years to preclude a crisis are now expecting to get rewarded with more cash.Governor Jindal of Louisiana debunks the notion that more money for the bureaucracy is some sort of elixir. HereÂ’s some of what he wrote...