Free Republic

Two years ago, on the morning of the 2012 election in the United States, I got an email with an urgent subject line: "You should write the story of how Facebook blew an opportunity to turn out 300k voters." The sender, a veteran progressive online activist who would prefer to remain anonymous, was upset for good reason. The election was bound to be close, and as of 10am that morning he hadn't yet seen an "I'm Voting" button on his Facebook page, nor had another colleague of his. Nor was one on my own Facebook page. Given that when Facebook...

Newser) – You might think that giving a green light to Edward Snowden and Aaron Alexis and allegedly fraudulently submitting 660,000 other background checks without actually completing them would prevent you from getting future government contracts. But you'd be wrong, because the Department of Homeland Security has awarded a $190 million contract to US Investigations Services, the Wall Street Journal reports. Why? Because USIS hasn't actually been suspended, and, as one immigration official explained, unless there is such a suspension in place, "by law and policy, we have to go with the lowest bidder." USIS isn't barred, the Office of...

Just in time for the Fourth of July, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has added a new regulatory weapon to its arsenal. In a Federal Register notice on July 2 titled “Administrative Wage Garnishment,” the EPA stated that by the authority of the Debt Collection Improvement Act (DCIA ) of 1996 it issued a proposed rule that “will allow the EPA to garnish non-Federal wages to collect delinquent non-tax debts owed the United States without first obtaining a court order.” According to the Treasury Department, under DCIA, such debts include “unpaid loans, overpayments or duplicate payments made...

Ryan spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times (http://bit.ly/1lyPU0m ) in a story published Wednesday, offering some details of his time in prison and since being released. He says some prison guards "made things a little rough" because they were not happy with his decision as governor to put a moratorium on the death penalty. Ryan, a Republican, was convicted in 2006.

President Barack Obama told his Cabinet on Tuesday to 'be creative' looking for areas where he might be able to govern by executive action given gridlock in Congress that is hampering his agenda. In a White House meeting, Obama brought together the top officials in his government a day after conceding that a deadlocked Congress will prompt him to act on his own authority where he can on an immigration overhaul. Obama said he wants to work with Congress where possible, "but if Congress is unable to do it," then he said his Cabinet officials and agency heads should look...

According to the work of Charles C. Johnson and Joel S. Gilbert, what we thought was just a racist campaign to get people out to vote in the Cochran vs McDaniel Mississippi Senate race was the tip of the iceberg. It now appears to be a vote buying scandal right out of the office of Thad Cochran himself: Reverend Stevie Fielder, associate pastor at historic First Union Missionary Baptist Church and former official at Meridian’s redevelopment agency, says he delivered “hundreds or even thousands,” of blacks to the polls after being offered money and being assured by a Cochran campaign...

One person was killed and four others injured after a man opened fire at an overnight party early Sunday in East Hollywood to celebrate the upcoming Black Entertainment Television Awards. The assailant was a lone gunman who is still at large, said Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Department. The shooting occurred at 5:17 a.m., when the gunman fired several rounds, Madison said. Ambulances transported three victims to a local hospital, where one died. The two others arranged their own hospital transportation. Investigators have not released information about the victims. The coroner’s office said early Sunday that it...

Chad Pergram works for Fox News, and has been covering the IRS scandal. On Twitter he just dropped a bombshell. #BREAKING: #IRS email dump to Congress reveal Lois Lerner sought to have Sen Chuck Grassley (R-IA) referred for IRS examination. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 25, 2014 Sources tell Fox #IRS‘s Lerner came across invitation for Grassley to event. Lerner then referred Grassley for probe. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 25, 2014 Camp: At every turn, Lerner was using the IRS as a tool for political purposes in defiance of taxpayer rights. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 25, 2014

The IRS will pay the National Organization for Marriage $50,000 to settle a lawsuit over claims the agency improperly disclosed confidential tax information, according to a consent judgment released this week. The lawsuit stemmed from information an IRS worker sent to an individual who identified himself as a member of the media who requested it in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign, which he then sent to the pro-gay rights group Human Rights Campaign. The Huffington Post then ran a story noting a political action committee linked to Mitt Romney had been a donor to NOM. John Eastman, NOM’s...

Two of Broward’s top Republicans are being attacked by a faction of their own party for participating in this past weekend’s gay pride parade in Wilton Manors. The critics are going after County Commissioner Chip LaMarca, the only Republican on the nine-member commission, as he campaigns for re-election in November. They’re also targeting Heather Brinkworth, who was appointed to the School Board by Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Brinkworth is a Republican; School Board seats are officially nonpartisan. She is running to retain her seat in the Aug. 26 election. Their participation in the annual gay pride parade was reported in...

.... Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer seemed to hit hard in December 2012 when he announced that global banking giant HSBC would pay the government a fine of $1.9 billion.... In March 2013 Breuer’s boss, Attorney General Eric Holder, went before the Senate Finance Committee to explain why HSBC wasn’t indicted for these crimes. He said some banks may be too large to prosecute without wrecking the economy. Holder’s “too big to jail” comments caused an immediate uproar. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said “big bankers know that if they commit financial...

<p>Congressional investigators have uncovered emails showing that a former Internal Revenue Service official at the heart of the tea party investigation sought an audit of a Republican senator in December 2012.</p>

Washington (CNN) - Expanding his IRS investigation by more than two decades, House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, has sent a subpoena to the Federal Elections Commission for all communications involving former IRS administrator Lois Lerner from January 1, 1986 to the present day. This new search is the broadest-yet for records in a year-long investigation by Issa and congressional Republicans, who are trying to assess why the agency targeted tea party and other political groups for extra scrutiny.

As hardcore Islamic maniacs close in on Baghdad, Iran puts the finishing touches on its nuclear weaponry, Russia annexes its neighbors, and communist China flexes its muscles, this story from Albuquerque gives an idea of what Commander in Chief Barack Hussein Obama has our troops doing: Kirtland Air Force Base will celebrate their Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender members at a Thursday picnic. … Kirtland is embracing the LGBT community in a historic way. For the first time ever, the base will host a pride picnic on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Millennium Park. Nature abhors a...

CNN: Whistleblower: VA Changed Records To Make Dead Patients Appear To Be Alive (June 24, 2014)

When Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was released in a swap for five Taliban prisoners three weeks ago and celebrated by the White House as a hero, his fellow Army platoon leaders came forward with details about how he was "captured" as a prisoner. Bergdahl was accused of being a deserter who violated his oath and left on his own accord by the men who served with him. At the time of their statements, State Department Deputy Press Secretary Marie Harf was asked during a press conference about the knowledge the platoon members had surrounding Bergdahl's alleged desertion. She dismissed their statements...

A bill introduced June 12 by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), would establish a special envoy at the State Department to coordinate America’s “global response” on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues and allow LGBT individuals “who have a well-founded fear of persecution...to seek protection in the United States.” The International Human Rights Defense Act of 2014 would reinforce the Obama administration’s already established foreign policy position on LGBT rights, including the public funding of overseas LGBT groups. In addition, the bill would require annual congressional briefings on “the status of the human rights of LGBT people internationally” and institute...

As head of a Chesapeake defense contracting firm, Roderic Smith thought he had to "pay to play." He thought bribery was all part of the government contracting game. "The pattern and amounts of payments were very formulaic and routine," his lawyers said in a court filing. The scheme "was a scheduled system to provide continuous access to compete and win contracts." Smith would learn that this was not routine, but when he tried to get out, he was extorted by a co-defendant to stay in. It went on for more than eight years before federal authorities stopped it. Smith, 50,...

Scandal: The IRS canceled a contract with an email storage contractor weeks after Lois Lerner reported lost personal files and before other IRS officials had their hard drives crash as Tea Party-targeting investigations began. Timing is everything, the saying goes, and sometimes the timing of events is also very curious, as in the case of the lost emails of Lerner and at least six other officials at the very same time the IRS canceled its contract to back up and preserve those emails as required by federal law. Lerner's computer supposedly crashed in June 2011, an alleged event the IRS...

Facing the toughest reelection fight of his career against primary challenger state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has turned to unconventional measures to get out the vote ahead of Tuesday’s primary. He’s seen as vulnerable in part because of his age and long tenure in office, but the congressman has taken steps — quite literally, at times, dance steps — to dispel any notion that he’s unhip or out of touch. This weekend, he danced to the “Wobble” after being endorsed by a founding member of the Fugees at an event that also featured a customized rap about...