Free Republic

Country music superstar Charlie Daniels, whose criticism of politicians is legend – just last month he blasted them for being willing to “kiss a flatulent skunk’s posterior” before allowing the “other party” to look good – has issued a warning to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Those Democratic Party scandals still could make a few waves. Such as the the cash that flowed to the Clinton Foundation amid the State Department’s approval of a deal to give Russia control of 20 percent of America’s uranium reserves. Or the time four American citizens died in a planned terror attack in Benghazi,...

Several hearings we're keeping a close eye on today on Capitol HIll. There are two hearings on health care and the Affordable Care Act. One in the Senate, one in the House. We're expecting new data on enrollments today including who has paid after signing up. Insurance companies will reportedly testify that 80-85% of those who signed up have made their initial insurance payments. We're also awaiting a contempt vote for Lois Lerner. She is the IRS official accused of helping politically target certain political groups. There's a hearing on the IRS today where it could come up. Mike Emanuel...

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner said Wednesday that he will pay out of his own pocket the nearly $10,000 it cost for his trip to France last month. Filner’s announcement came one day after U-T Watchdog reported that the IRS had no record of the organization Filner said paid his tab of being a U.S. tax-exempt nonprofit.

Sen. Robert Menendez wooed a married newspaper publisher, taking the attractive brunette on a romantic getaway to the Caribbean, a tipster alleges. The New Jersey Dem and Cecilia Reynolds jetted to Puerto Rico, where they stayed at the isolated beach retreat of the island’s then-governor, Anibal Acevedo Vila. In a photo provided by the anonymous informant, Reynolds is sitting naked on a beach and suggestively smiling at the camera. In another set of pictures, they take turns posing against the same sunset backdrop. The happy couple, dressed in shorts, also appeared to tour a national park and pose for a...

NY Senator Says She Expects to be ArrestedState Sen. Shirley Huntley from Queens is facing New York City Councilman James Sanders Jr. in a tough Sept. 13 Democratic primary. By Michael Gormley | Saturday, Aug 25, 2012 | Updated 6:46 PM EDT A veteran New York state senator said Saturday that she expects to be arrested Monday in the state's continuing investigation into the use of pork-barrel grants by legislators. Sen. Shirley Huntley, a Queens Democrat, didn't indicate what the charge against her might be. Huntley founded a nonprofit social service and education group that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is...

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - The Illinois House of Representatives on Friday expelled a Democratic lawmaker indicted for bribery, the first member to be booted from the chamber since 1905. State House Representative Derrick Smith, who represents a staunchly Democratic district in Chicago, was arrested in March and charged with accepting a $7,000 bribe in exchange for endorsing a daycare center's state grant application. He has denied the charges. Days after his arrest and indictment, Smith won the Democratic Party primary to contest the November 6 election, in part because some Democrats hoped he would resign and be replaced on the...

State Rep. Kerry Gauthier won't be charged in an incident involving a 17-year-old boy at a freeway rest stop in Duluth last month, the Duluth News Tribune reported Thursday. ...(snip)... Democratic House Minority Leader Paul Thissen said in a statement that Gauthier was hospitalized for "an unknown health issue." ...(snip)... Gauthier was elected in 2010 with 73 percent of the vote. Republican Travis Silvers is challenging him this year, vowing in a campaign video to make "God, family, marriage" a priority.

(snip) The LIBOR scandal is "so big I don't think people have got their minds around it," says Jim Rickards, a partner at JAC Capital Advisors and author of Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global. "This is the largest financial scandal I've seen in my career." If $500 trillion of swaps are based on LIBOR and the rate was manipulated by 10 basis points over five years, that's $2.5 trillion of fraudulent transactions -- more than the combined capital of the nation's five largest banks, Rickards explains. "Congress may have to step in to limit the damages because...

After a lengthy investigation, Wilson was indicted in April on a misdemeanor insurance charge for laundering a total $8,000 in campaign contributions from Missouri Employers Mutual Co., a state-created workers' compensation company based in Columbia, to the Missouri Democratic Party through a St. Louis law firm, Herzog Crebs. Former Herzog Crebs partner Ed Griesedieck III was also indicted.

Waters case to proceed By Jordy Yager - 06/06/12 12:58 PM ET The House Ethics Committee announced on Wednesday that Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-Calif.) rights were not violated in its investigation of her and its case will proceed. In a letter to Waters, the committee wrote to inform the lawmaker that it had considered the 12 allegations of misconduct her lawyer had presented against the panel and found that none of them was in violation of the House or committee rules. “The outside counsel has concluded, and the Committee has unanimously found that you have been afforded notice and the...

Here’s how to ruin your chances at winning a U.S. congressional seat: Get arrested for driving under the influence and unlawfully possessing a firearm, with a female college student who is not your wife in the car.

A former North Carolina Democratic Party staffer was sexually harassed by a party official, made a financial settlement with the party and signed a non-disclosure agreement to keep the incident quiet. “If this hits the media, the Democratic Party, our candidates, and our credibility are doomed in this election,” reads one email exchange between state Democratic leaders. An email chain between those Democratic leaders, obtained by The Daily Caller, indicates the executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Jay Parmley, and the alleged sexual harassment victim both signed non-disclosure agreements. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/13/nc-dem-official-sexually-harrassed-staffer-party-fears-credibility-doomed/#ixzz1rwtJpJrP

Former US president John F. Kennedy had an affair with a Swedish flight attendant, according to a new book based on interviews with current and former Secret Service agents. According to ex-agent Robert Lutz, President Kennedy took a liking to a Swedish Pan Am Flight attendant who was riding on the press pool airplane which typically follows US presidents while they travel. While Lutz, who was assigned to the press plane, had initially planned to ask the good looking Swede out for dinner, members of the Secret Service detail assigned to President Kennedy told Lutz to back off. “She’s part...

America's number one talk radio host Rush Limbaugh urged Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, on Friday to deliver a "farewell expose" on his fellow Democrats before they vote to expel him from the House on corruption charges next week. "Congressman, I know you're out there," Limbaugh told his audience. "I would love to hear you deliver a farewell expose, if you will, on the floor of the House, blowing the whistle on all the Democrats who stood behind Clinton and Condit but aren't standing behind you." The conservative talker said Traficant's bribery conviction paled next to the crimes of the...