Free Republic

If jail time doesn’t deter burglars, maybe Internet shaming will. After a break-in at Frijoles & Frescas restaurant on Charleston Boulevard earlier this month, store manager Greg Carlson took matters into his own hands, turning security footage into a YouTube video titled “Burglars Just Want Tacos,” depicting the robbers as hunger-crazed patrons seeking out Mexican food. Since its posting on December 17, the video has collected more than 3 million views. “Guy wants a taco,” the text reads as the clip shows a man attempting to break into the restaurant by throwing a rock through the door. “Sorry, bro,” it...

The family of the 14-year-old Muslim boy who was led out of school in handcuffs has hired attorneys to get back the homemade clock that administrators mistook for a bomb. Ahmed Mohamed was suspended after showing his clock to a teacher at his Irving, Texas, high school last week. His case sparked an outcry on social media and attracted the attention of President Obama and a number of tech companies who invited Ahmed to visit. His family said in a statement Wednesday that it had pulled Ahmed and his two siblings out of the Irving school district "because of religious...

After five and a half days of deliberation, a Brooklyn federal jury found state Sen. John Sampson guilty of an obstruction of justice rap and lying to federal agents Friday.

Backers of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda are imploring key senators to stand by their previous votes when they revisit the issue in a showdown set for Tuesday. Opponents meanwhile are mounting an equally emotional push to keep Obama from obtaining “fast track” authority to negotiate trade agreements with Pacific Rim countries and others. At least 60 of the Senate’s 100 members must back the measure for it to clear a procedural hurdle Tuesday and complete a near-miraculous resurrection of the White House priority. In a May 21 vote, 62 senators backed fast track, but they didn’t expect it to...

Bill Clinton was interviewed by NBC News, discussing Hillary’s run, their foundation, and the income he makes from speeches. The Clintons have certainly stuck with the narrative of being average people. He defends his half million dollar speaking fees with “I gotta pay our bills,” and “it’s the most independence I can get.” While there in nothing wrong with his right to earn a living by fetching great sums for his appearances, the Clintons really need to stop pretending they are one of the “little people.” And whenever they get caught being rich, they throw in a something about being...

"In a Hillary Clinton campaign—not to mention a Hillary Clinton administration—her husband is a tremendous asset, someone who could help make the difference in a close election, or give valuable advice to a first-term president.....But there’s a cost to flying with Bill Clinton; you also have to carry his baggage........It was his fame,reputation,and powers of persuasion that drove the effort,which has raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on charitable activities around the world....but while Clinton and his foundation have done tremendous good, they have also had a questionable relationship with donors and contributors.........(NYT) published its first take on...

The world is accustomed to stock plays and players. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is but a take on a play written in Rome by Plautus a couple of thousand years ago, and all the key players are stereotypes of characters we see over and again in theatrical comedies. Is there after all much space between Pseudolus, the hero of that hoary work, and Sergeant Bilko? In much the same way, the Clintons tend to be characters in a stock play that we’ve seen over and again for decades. The only question this time around...

Rev. Jesse Jackson said Wednesday he is planning to celebrate Jackie Robinson West at a “Reaffirmation of Championship” celebration on Saturday. The event will be held at 9:30 a.m. at Rainbow PUSH Coalition, 930 E. 50th St. ”I was upset to the point of tears this morning,” Jackson said, adding that he already had spoken to some of the parents of the players and was distressed to learn they had heard the news through the media. Their children already have been harassed over the controversy, Jackson said, and “it’s not like the children are cheating.” Violating a boundary line when...

The American Tort Reform Assn calls NYC's asbestos court the nation’s top “judicial hellhole”. Silver has been blocking tort-reform bills for decades. Silver's arrest centers on his no-show legal work for asbestos-profiteer, Weitz and Luxemberg, (as well as millions in bribes and kickbacks from fixing real-estate cases)..... judges with ties to Silver and his lifelong pal, Jonathan Lippman, the chief judge of the state Court of Appeals, presided over the cases. Silver was “of counsel” to Weitz & Luxemberg which earned unusual fast-track “red-carpet treatment” “better judges” and first dibs on jurors. Sherry Klein Heitler, the chief asbestos judge (at...

An analysis of Boehner’s current investment holdings includes a number of stocks benefiting from Obamacare in a total portfolio estimated at between $3.5 and $5 million in current market value. Boehner’s Obamacare-related investments trace back to 2009, when the Obama administration was pushing the Affordable Health Care Act through Congress. Boehner has consistently maintained his investments are held in a blind trust and that he does not personally make investment decisions in his own investment portfolio. But few experienced congressional critics believe Boehner and other members of Congress are unaware of their investment holdings, because public disclosure requirements demand yearly...

Speaker Mop & Glo made headlines for her call to investigate opponents of the Ground Zero mosque, but there was something else about her remarks that should have raised your hackles: “There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded,” she said. “How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we’ve been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we...

..."He also serves on the Massachusetts board that oversees the state’s new health care exchanges. Along with these credentials, Mr. Gruber’s position as an adviser to the influential Congressional Budget Office also left him perfectly positioned to advise the White House on health reform. “The most important arbiter of everything was the C.B.O.,” said Neera Tanden, who was a senior adviser for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services. ...

A resolution to split the state of Florida in two has passed in the city of South Miami, the newspaper in South Miami the Sun-Sentinel reported. The officials voted 3-2 in favor of making South Florida the 51st state, according to the Sun-Sentinel. The city's Vice Mayor Walter Harris stated that the capitol doesn't provide South Florida with the proper representation and doesn't address the specific concerns like the sea level rising. The mayor supported the secession too. Those opposed to the idea said that this vote sets a precedent for parts of cities to break away if need be....

For the second time this year, one of the characters in the massive investment fraud portrayed in the Leonardo DiCaprio blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street is involved in a Palm Beach area political race. Convicted felon Danny Porush, Jordan Belfort‘s main sidekick in the $200 million-boiler room scam that sent them both to prison, and his wife have become major donors to U. S. Congressman Patrick Murphy‘s reelection campaign, Gossip Extra has learned exclusively. Together, husband and wife have contributed $12,500 over the past two years to ensure that the rookie Democratic politician Murphy keeps his seat....

We all now know what happened with the federal healthcare marketplace, Healthcare.gov. The three-year development was complicated by changing specifications, and the government's convoluted procurement process meant entrenched companies were getting contracts over and over. But a wave of government accountability reports, concluded after months of investigations, is bringing new attention to the meltdown. The Government Office of Accountability released a report earlier this week detailing the security flaws in the site, but a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released yesterday is even more damning.

The Israelis are among 13 people who ran a vast counterfeit ring since 1999.... The ring was reportedly responsible for manufacturing more than $77 million in fake $100 bills at Israeli locations since 1999. The counterfeit notes were then distributed throughout the East Coast...

Edward "Ed" Mezvinsky, born January 17, 1937. Then you'll probably say, "Who is Ed Mezvinsky?" Well, he is a former Democrat congressman who represented Iowa's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for two terms, from 1973 to 1977. He sat on the House Judiciary Committee that decided the fate of Richard Nixon. He was outspoken saying that Nixon was a crook and a disgrace to politics and the nation and should be impeached. He and the Clintons were friends and very politically intertwined for many years. Ed Mezvinsky had an affair with NBC News reporter Marjorie...

Chicago man faces murder, kidnapping charges two years after exonerated for 1980 murder Two years after Andre Davis was exonerated of a murder for which he served 32 years, the 53-year-old Chicago man was taken into custody and charged with the murder and kidnapping of a 19-year-old. BY NINA GOLGOWSKI A Chicago man who spent 32 years behind bars for rape and murder before being exonerated by DNA evidence in 2012 is now facing new murder charges. Just 15 months after Andres Davis' release from a maximum-security prison in Illinois, authorities say the 53-year-old ex-con shot and stabbed a man...

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is widely referred to as a "rising star" in Democratic politics. There's even talk the Mexican-American Castro could earn the vice-presidential spot on the 2016 Democratic ticket in an effort to further strengthen the party's bonds with Hispanic voters. And now, it appears Castro's national profile is about to rise with word that President Obama plans to nominate him to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. If Castro is tapped for the job, his Senate confirmation hearings will likely shine a spotlight both on his role in San Antonio's government and his way of...

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is about to be tapped by President Barrack Obama to be the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This is the second time Obama will have asked Castro to serve in his administration. The move for Castro comes at a time where a big game of musical chairs is going on in the Obama Cabinet. Castro will be asked to replace HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who is expected to move to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).