Free Republic

The US Postal Service plans to sell 56 buildings — so it can lease space more expensively — and the real estate company of the California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is set to pocket about $1 billion in commissions. Blum’s company, CBRE, was selected in March 2011 as the sole real estate agent on sales expected to fetch $19 billion.

The Environmental Protection Agency, on the heels of the controversy at the IRS over missing emails, is facing a probe of its own over whether it improperly scrubbed text messages. The EPA inspector general's office announced this week it is launching an audit into the agency's policies for keeping text messages. The audit was prompted by a complaint from Republicans on the House science committee, worried the EPA may have "deleted thousands of text messages" that should have been preserved. Jennifer Kaplan, spokeswoman for the EPA inspector general's office, confirmed the complaint prompted the audit. "Our auditors were persuaded that...

Colorado’s state congress is taking another stab at banning red light cameras at intersections, according to the Denver Post today. The measure is the second one of its type in as many years, with last year’s attempt failing to gain traction. Red light cameras have been proven time and time again to be not only ineffective at making intersections safer, but have actually been demonstrated to increase the number of accidents in many places where they are used. However, they are huge revenue raisers for many states and municipalities. Opposition to the measure comes from misguided types that are unaware...

The Republican party’s conservative base has a major problem. In assessing the 2014 midterm elections, a tidal wave in which the base propelled the GOP to substantial majorities in both houses of Congress, conservatives are in full agreement with President Obama and completely at odds with Republican leadership. The president boldly declared that, while he was not on the ballot, his policies were. He could not have been more right. GOP leadership boldly declares that the election was a case of voters trusting Republicans with an opportunity to “prove we can govern” — to demonstrate that GOP lawmakers can work...

Another gun seller says his firearms business was forced to shut down its bank account as a result of the government’s secretive initiative known as Operation Choke Point. This time, he’s offering audio recordings to prove it. Mike Schuetz is a former state employee who worked as a probation and parole officer for eight years in Hawkins, Wis. After working for the state, he told Breitbart News that he decided to open a private investigation business and operate a gun store on the side. His store, Hawkins Guns LLC, sells both firearms and ammunition. To manage his finances, Schuetz set...

Image from frontpage magazine. The current AG in Pennsylvania is Kathleen Kane.  She was elected in 2012, and is an avid disarmist.   She has gone so far as to say that she will not defend the recently passed gun reform bill from a lawsuit filed by PA cities.  The law targeted cities  that violate Pennsylvania gun law and citizens second amendment rights. She has been under investigation for leaking information from a Grand Jury in order to undercut a probe into corruption involving the head of the NAACP in Philadelphia.  From post-gazette.com: The investigation involved alleged financial improprieties of...

Protesters gathered outside the Clinton Foundation in New York City to complain about "missing money" from the Haiti recovery effort from the 2010 earthquake: "New Yorkers with roots in Haiti say the picture [of the Haiti recovery] isn't so rosy," said the NY1 anchor. The protesters claimed that the $10 billion meant to help rebuild Haiti did little to help the country after the devastating quake. And that much of the money went to non-Haitian companies. "[I]n Harlem, people raised their voices to call attention to the missing money," said the local New York City reporter. "This protest outside the...

The National Labor Relations Board is expected in the coming weeks to weigh in on several high-profile labor cases with major implications on workforce and union issues, ranging from college football players to fast food restaurants. Business are bracing for a flurry of action from a labor board they’ve accused of taking on an activist, pro-union agenda. "We’ve seen the board become very active and aggressive under the Obama administration,” said Beth Milito, senior executive counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). One of the most closely watched cases on the labor board’s agenda involves a bid by...

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison. The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other...

A grand jury has recommended criminal charges against Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane. The grand jury found that she leaked secret grand jury information to a newspaper in an effort to smear political enemies. PJ Media has been covering Kane’s refusal to prosecute Pennsylvania Democrats who took bribes in order to oppose photo voter identification legislation in Pennsylvania. Philly News : For about six months, Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Carluccio has been directing the grand jury as it has heard testimony from numerous witnesses, including Kane and many of her top aides, to determine how details of a long-ago investigation...

Being in the Texas Legislature is not intended to be a lucrative career. Legislators receive part-time pay. They are only in session six months every two years. It is, for all intents and purposes, a volunteer position for those wishing to serve the public. Last week, we released an exhaustive report covering the loans relating to the campaigns and PACs of every Texas Legislator. Despite a tepid and defensive response from the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) regarding our figures and call for an audit, we delved further into the campaign finances of the Legislature. This time we took a closer...

A longtime Catholic school priest at a renowned New York City school has admitted to sexually abusing minors in the 1970s and 1980s, and local prosecutors are now investigating, authorities say. Father Robert Harrison, a priest who taught for 26 years and coached basketball for more than 20 years at the all-boys Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, has been removed from the school and is barred from any sort of ministry as church and law enforcement officials investigate.

During the last Congress, I led the fight in the House to pass conservative bills that offered real solutions to the challenges we face as a nation. Now we have a Republican Senate to join us in this endeavor. Conservatives have a real opportunity here to affect change in Washington. But in order to do so we must now be united in the fight against Barack Obama and his failed policies. When we met as a conference on November 13th, Republicans nominated John Boehner as their candidate for Speaker of the House. No one ran against him for the position...

“This is the way I think Putin operates, and operated even in St. Petersburg. Putin is not formally speaking Mafia…he was never “made,” using this American phrase. What he did was to make illegal activity legal, which is a far more useful thing. So he…because he was…in charge of all the registrations of foreigners coming into Russia, into St. Petersburg, and all of the export licenses going abroad, you didn’t have to run the risk of illegally exporting if Putin would sign the documents for you. He could open the border going and coming for money for goods for raw...

Police report says Epstein had okayed deal in underage sex probe JULY 27--Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, now ensnared in a sleazy Palm Beach teenage sex/massage scandal, agreed earlier this year to plead guilty to an aggravated assault charge, serve five years probation, undergo "psychiatric/sexual evaluation," and have no unsupervised visits with minors, according to a police report. The details of the Epstein plea agreement--which was never finalized--are contained in an 87-page Palm Beach Police Department incident report, an excerpt of which you'll find below. According to an account by Detective Joseph Recarey, prosecutor Lana Belohlavek related to him the terms of...

Obama plans to talk manufacturing in Detroit ahead of auto show By Khalil AlHajal | kalhajal@mlive.com January 05, 2015 at 1:48 PM DETROIT, MI -- President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak in Michigan on Wednesday and is expected talk about manufacturing jobs, according to the Associated Press. The visit will come days ahead of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which begins with press previews Jan. 12. The president is expected to highlight manufacturing jobs and his decision to bail out the auto industry in a Detroit-area visit before heading to Phoenix the next day to focus...

In the latest of many scandals involving U.S. aid for Afghan social issues, tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars have been wasted on programs to supposedly assist women in the Islamic country escape repression yet we have no idea if it’s made a difference because there’s no accountability or follow up. During a two-year period from 2011 to 2013 the U.S. blew $64.8 million on 652 projects, programs and initiatives to support Afghan women though details of how the money was spent and the effectiveness of the costly experiments aren’t available, according to a federal audit. The cash flowed...

Judicial Watch on the Case: Three Lawsuits over Terrorist Release Photos Show Bloody Consequences of Fast and Furious Corruption Obama Continues to Fly High at Taxpayer Expense District of Corruption Documentary Movie Now Available on iTunes Judicial Watch on the Case: Three Lawsuits over Terrorist Release According to the Obama administration, the five Guantanamo terrorists they traded for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl are “no longer a threat to U.S. national security.” That’s what now former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel concluded when he signed the document setting them free. But we’re not so sure. We’d like to know what...

George P. Bush took office as state land commissioner in a low-key ceremony at the Texas Capitol on Friday. - I don't yet know a whole lot about George P. Bush, but he seems (far) more electable than his father. Jeb should stand aside, and let his son take the lead.

Funeral services for former Gov. Mario Cuomo are being planned for Tuesday at the Saint Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in Manhattan, a church official told the Daily News.