Free Republic

Over the last two presidential debates, both Democratic and Republican candidates have asserted that the television news media is biased and has done a poor job informing voters of the most pressing issues in the election. And while their focus is on things like the type of questions asked by debate moderators, they are overlooking much clearer signs of potential conflicts of interest. Fundraising disclosures released this month and in July reveal that lobbyists for media companies are raising big money for establishment presidential candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton. The giant media companies that shape much of the coverage of the...

Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to the FBI in a hush-money scheme, agreeing to a deal with federal prosecutors that recommends he serve no more than six months in prison and averting a trial in the case. A judge, however, could go beyond that recommendation and give the former House speaker up to five years behind bars.

A study done by NOAA scientists in July contradicted previous evidence that global warming was declining. The House science committee now demands internal communications related to the study. In a study published in the journal Science in July, scientists indicated that average global temperatures have continued to rise in the 21st century, contradicting previous evidence that suggested a global warming hiatus. The analysis, based on temperature records from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, has now come under congressional scrutiny. In July, the US House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology committee head, Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas,...

Only weeks after the White House made headlines with a directive urging prosecutors to get tougher on corporate crime, the Obama administration has moved to protect a convicted financial firm from punishment. The bank, Credit Suisse, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to President Barack Obama’s political campaigns. It also employs the Podesta Group, a lobbying firm with family connections to the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. In 2014, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to criminal charges for operating “an illegal cross-border banking business that knowingly and willfully aided and assisted thousands of U.S. clients in opening and...

“President Obama’s gamble that a nuclear deal would lead to a more responsible Iran has already failed,” Mr. Boehner said. “This sham of a trial violated every international standard and made a mockery of Iran’s own legal system.” Senate Republicans, joined by four Democrats, approved a resolution of disapproval Sept. 10 by 58-42 but were unable to muster the 60 votes needed to override President Obama’s veto. The advocacy group J Street, which ran ads in favor of the nuclear deal leading up to the Senate vote, agreed that the ICBM test was a “gratuitous violation of a U.N. Security...

Many people may share Senator Bernie Sanders' complaint that he was tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. But the controversy is about issues far bigger than e-mails. One issue is the utter disaster created by the Obama administration's foreign policy in Libya, carried out by Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. An even bigger issue is whether high officials of government can ignore the law and refuse to produce evidence when it is subpoenaed. If they can, then the whole separation of powers — the checks and balances in the Constitution — gives way to arbitrary government by corrupt...

Bridgeport voters realize many in Connecticut don’t understand why former Mayor Joe Ganim stands a good chance of winning back his old office. […] Resident Nicole Phillips and other voters remember better schools, lower taxes, cleaner parks and safer neighborhoods during Ganim’s tenure and believe he should be given a second chance. …

In 2013, Michael Bloomberg’s pro-gun control PAC injected $1.1 million into the Virginia gubernatorial race to help out Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe. It succeeded. McAuliffe won, and now Bloomberg is trying to make sure the state legislature’s composition is slightly more favorable for the next session by dumping another $1.5 million in the Old Dominion’s respective state senate races (via WaPo): Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control group will bankroll a $1.5 million advertising campaign for a Northern Virginia state Senate candidate, in its second big ad buy in the commonwealth in as many days. Less than two...

Friday, October 23, 2015 Akin: Illinois ranks high for creating lawsuits, not jobs By Travis Akin - The University of Illinois football team is struggling once again this year, mired at the bottom of the Big Ten and near the bottom of numerous national rankings. Similarly, the State of Illinois is stuck near the bottom of another set of rankings, only these rankings reflect not just lost games but lost jobs and thus are important to every person living in Illinois. These important but depressing rankings come from a new national study that confirms Illinois’ status as a lawsuit haven,...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/10/23/hillary-helped-by-partisan-media-atmosphere-undermining-benghazi-hearing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29 When the House Benghazi hearings opened yesterday, it seemed like the committee was on trial rather than Hillary Clinton. Chairman Trey Gowdy kicked things off with a passionate defense of his panel, insisting that the proceedings were purely professional and dismissing suggestions that the investigation is about the former secretary of State. “Let me assure you it is not,” he told Clinton. Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings responded by blasting the probe, telling Clinton that the committee was set “loose because you’re running for president” and demanding that the Republicans end the “fishing expedition.” In short, the media atmosphere surrounding...

http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2015/10/22/can-california-be-saved-n2069002/page/full Never has a region been so naturally rich but so poorly run by its latest generation of custodians. California endures some of the highest gasoline taxes, sales taxes and income taxes in the nation. Yet its roads and public schools rate near the very bottom of U.S. rankings. Traffic accidents in California increased by 13 percent over a three-year period -- the result of terrible roads and worse drivers. Almost half of all accidents in Los Angeles are hit-and-runs where the drivers leave the scene. California has lots of petroleum and natural gas. It used to be a pacesetter...

http://townhall.com/columnists/kenblackwell/2015/10/23/hillary-offers-disastrous-obamacare-20-n2069866/page/full One thing is clear: our country faces many challenges when it comes to health care. And the last thing Americans need is another misguided leader with failed policies that discourage risk taking and innovation. Yet, after seeing Secretary Clinton’s proposal to address prescription drug costs, we should be deeply concerned about another national health care policy that could have disastrous effects. Clinton’s sweeping proposal combines a number of misguided policies that would undermine access and choice of medicines for patients. It would also destroy incentives to invest in new cures and life-saving treatments. A reckless plan of this magnitude...

http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2015/10/23/doctors-agree-obamas-electronic-medical-records-mandate-sucks-n2069809?bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiJkNmM1NGMxZS1kY2NkLTRmYjktODdmZi02ZmIzMmFmZDEzYjgifQ%3D%3D Hey, who's up for a stiff dose of "See, I told you so?" For the past several years, medical professionals have warned that the federal electronic medical records mandate -- buried in the trillion-dollar Obama stimulus of 2009 -- would do more harm than good. Their diagnosis, unfortunately, is on the nose. The Quack-in-Chief peddled his tech-centric elixir as a cost-saving miracle. "This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests," he crowed at the time. In theory, of course, modernizing record-collection is a good idea, which many private health care providers...

http://clashdaily.com/2015/10/no-white-house-invite-for-this-kid-even-though-he-made-a-life-changing-invention-for-vets-with-ptsd/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:19815131&utm_campaign=Liberal%20Chick%20Asks%20Dumb%20Americans%20Who%20This%20%E2%80%98Ben%20Ghazi%E2%80%99%20Guy%20Is%20(WATCH) Ahmed Mohamed makes a ‘clock’ that looks like a briefcase bomb and gets an invite to the White House. But Tyler Skluzacek? Obama probably won’t ever know who he is. Senior Tyler Skluzacek said he was in sixth grade when his dad, Sgt. First Class Patrick Skluzacek, spent a year in Iraq. It had a huge impact. His dad returned with PTSD and night terrors. So Tyler’s team created an app they say helps prevent them.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/22/editorial-congress-failed-benghazi-responsibility/ The House leadership, when it is installed and settled, should press for a new way to conduct oversight. There should be fewer speeches by members tailored for re-election campaign commercials and better questions from the members of the committee and their lawyers. Mr. Gowdy is a former federal prosecutor but his performance Thursday hardly demonstrated that. The hearing was undisciplined in time and narrative. Learning from this hearing, making oversight more effective, would be a way to honor the four Americans who gave their lives for their country at Benghazi. They deserved better than they got from Hillary Clinton...

(Washington, DC ) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement regarding the Obama Justice Department decision to close its investigation of the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups and other conservative opponents of President Obama’s policies: “President Obama’s IRS was used against his opponents to help him win reelection. So the Obama Justice Department’s decision to shut down its IRS abuse investigation with no prosecutions is as unsurprising as it is corrupt. Judicial Watch’s independent litigation proved the Obama IRS obstructed justice and destroyed evidence. And we uncovered that the IRS and Lois Lerner conspired with the...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/21/surge-illegal-children-families-accelerates/ Border Patrol officials in Washington blamed violence and poor economic conditions in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras for pushing illegal immigrants to flee their homes and head north, but agents on the ground said the problem is lax U.S. enforcement, which entices migrants to make the dangerous journey, assured that they will be allowed in the U.S. rather than turned away at the border. “We’re talking about the rule of law in other countries; we’re not enforcing the rule of law in this country,” Chris Cabrera, an official with the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union for line...

“Recent videos exposing the abortion-for-baby parts business have shocked the nation, and demanded action. At my request, three House committees have been investigating the abortion business, but we still don’t have the full truth,” Mr. Boehner said. The new committee will have the resources and subpoena power to “get to the bottom of these horrific practices, and build on our work to protect the sanctity of all human life,” Mr. Boehner said. The following Republican representatives will make up the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s new investigative panel: Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Chairman (R-TN), Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), Rep. Diane Black...

President Obama announced Friday that he was replacing retired Marine Gen. John Allen with lawyer and diplomat Brett McGurk as his special envoy for Iraq and Syria with a wide-ranging portfolio that includes holding together a coalition against ISIS. Allen, who reportedly had clashed with the military over the now-defunct $500 million effort to create an army of Syrian volunteers, was departing after 13 months as special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, another name for the terrorist group.

Washington (CNN)The Justice Department notified members of Congress on Friday that it is closing its two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups. There will be no charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner or anyone else at the agency, the Justice Department said in a letter.