Free Republic

A Fox News correspondent was accused in a Justice Department affidavit of being a possible criminal "co-conspirator" for his alleged role in publishing sensitive security information -- in a leak case that takes the highly unusual step of claiming a journalist broke the law. According to court documents, the Justice Department obtained a portfolio of information about Fox News' James Rosen's conversations and visits to the State Department. This included a search warrant for his personal emails. The effort follows that by the department to secretly obtain two months of phone records from Associated Press journalists as part of a...

“You’ll have to take my word for it,” said a spokesperson for the most transparent administration in history when reporters asked her to substantiate her claim that the CIA removed references to terrorists from the Benghazi talking points before the State Department ever saw them. “If you look at the talking points and the train of that, the reference to al Qaeda was taken out even before the State Department saw the talking points,” Jen Psaki, former traveling campaign press secretary for the Obama team in 2012, told reporters during the State Department press briefing Monday.

The Foundation for Individual Rights In Higher Education (FIRE) is the premier non-partisan organization fighting to protect free speech and other constitutional rights on campus.  The FIRE defends everyone’s rights, regardless of political affiliation.We have cited The FIRE numerous times here and at College Insurrection, and they have submitted a few guests posts on campus issues.The FIRE is not an organization prone to hyperbole.So when I received this email late this afternoon from FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley, it got my attention: THIS. IS. OUTRAGEOUS. The government has mandated speech codes on all campuses. I hoped I would never see this day, but...

See note Victoria sent me: Greta, I really do not appreciate a headline saying I was accused of lying. Here is my response for you to add to your piece: I said Ventrell was “incompetent or lying’” because he said on 4/30 he knew of no “attorney” requests when he knew very well that Issa had written two letters asking for a process to clear lawyers and DOS had not responded. He purposefully mischaracterized it as an “attorney” request so he could shoot it down. I have never said I requested my clearance; I always said the Department had not...

The State Department has acknowledged that five U.S. personnel killed in Afghanistan, including 25-year-old diplomat Anne Smedinghoff, were on foot when they were attacked by a suicide bomber, and not in an armored vehicle, as officials had told bereaved relatives earlier this week. The violent deaths of U.S. diplomatic personnel — and the State Department’s changing account of how they died — harken back to the debacle in Benghazi, Libya, where Islamist extremists killed four Americans in assaults on the U.S. diplomatic compound on Sept. 11. “We are able to clarify at this point that they were

I’m still waiting for the Hitler quote. Or is there a minimum number of people that a dictator has to murder before he gets placement on a part of the Department of Education website devoted to kids. This isn’t a generic quote about education being a good thing. It’s actually a quote about the need for Communist indoctrination among Communist Party members. The full quote that the Department of Education cut down comes at the end of an essay on “The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War” “Whoever refuses to study these problems seriously and carefully...

A top Obama administration Department of Labor (DOL) official sent an email to Department employees March 1, as workers were fearing furloughs as a result of sequestration, urging them to vote in an Episcopal Church-themed online game called “Lent Madness,” prompting outrage from Department workers who perceived the email as being in poor taste and a possible violation of separation of church and state. Carl Fillichio, senior adviser for communications and public affairs at DOL, sent an email from his government computer and official email account system to instruct DOL Office of Public Affairs employees to vote in an online...

Remember the State Department had no money for Benghazi security because of the mean GOP. But it can always seem to find huge chunks of cash for really stupid things like this. This “Hope” nonsense smacks of an extension of Obama’s permanent campaign and it’s largely meant to fool Americans into thinking that matters in Afghanistan have improved so much that the departure is not a defeat. That makes this expensive propaganda boondoggle of dubious legality and obvious uselessness. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul plans to spend up to $250,000 in taxpayer money on the creation of a website that...

The U.S. government has approved the sale of U.S. taxpayer-backed A123 Systems to a Chinese company, despite security and economic concerns about sensitive technology changing hands. A representative with A123 Systems confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com that Wanxiang America Corp. has gotten approval from a Treasury Department agency to take over "substantially all" of the non-government business assets of the lithium ion battery manufacturer. "We're pleased the government has completed its review and provided us with the go-ahead to finalize this transaction," Pin Ni, president of Wanxiang America, said in a written statement. A representative with the Treasury Department's Committee on...

Washington-The Obama administration has delayed a decision on TransCanada Corp´s rerouted Keystone XL oil pipeline until after March, even though Nebraska´s governor on Tuesday approved a plan for part of the line running through his state. "We don´t anticipate being able to conclude our own review before the end of the first quarter of this year," said Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman at the State Department, which had previously said it would make a decision by that deadline. She said the department would take into consideration approval of the line by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman.

The Obama administration has been consistently arguing since announcing a year’s grace period for some religious organizations to figure out how to violate their consciences and obey the Department and Health and Human Services abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization mandate, that the controversy over religious freedom and the mandate is over and the Catholics are happy. That, as has been pointed out here before, ignores all the lawsuits pending. And that they are not just from Catholics. Today in New York, a judge dismissed Justice Department claims that the Archdiocese of New York’s lawsuit in response to the coercive mandate is unnecessary....

-Take Politics Out of Student Loan Process (Debate is divided along party lines) -Working Together Is the Only Way (Republicans opposed to modernizing schools) -American Jobs Act Will Create Jobs Today and in the Future (Nothing controversial & everything paid for) -Fix No Child Left Behind (If congress does not act, Obama will) -DREAM Act Gives Young People a Shot (Only 8 reasonable Republicans)

United Liberty points out that convicted "Speedway bomber" Brett Kimberlin and his Justice Through Music Project are partners with the U.S. Department of State in the "International Visitor Leadership Program," a taxpayer-funded professional exchange program. The Justice Through Music Project reported yesterday on its participation in the State Department's program, and on the visitors the government brought to meet Kimberlin (see photo above--note the anti-Bush poster on the wall): JTMP has been a participant in the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program for 3 years now, where citizens from around the world involved in the arts get to come to...

The Justice Department today precleared Florida’s Congressional map, making the GOP-friendly lines enforceable law. The new lines, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Rick Scott, are likely to lead to Democrats picking up two to four seats in November. But the Florida delegation is almost certain to remain overwhelmingly Republican. The current House delegation includes 19 Republicans and six Democrats. Reapportionment granted Florida two new seats because of increases in population. The 1965 Voting Rights Act requires the Justice Department or the federal court in Washington, D.C., to certify new Congressional maps before they...

The Justice Department is tightening procedures for responding to information requests from Congress in the aftermath of a troubled arms trafficking investigation. In Operation Fast and Furious, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed hundreds of weapons to flow across the border into Mexico. The Justice Department told three congressional committees in a letter Friday night that it has improved coordination between agents and their managers in carrying out arms trafficking investigations. Attorney General Eric Holder probably will face questions about the changes when he testifies Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. That committee has...

(CNSNews.com) -- The United States is not “overly concerned” about the Iraqi government detaining a “handful of U.S. contractors” over visas and paperwork, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Tuesday. Back on Jan. 11, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued an “emergency warning” for U.S. citizens in Iraq, informing them “not [to] attempt movements about the country in the absence of valid, current permits and paperwork.” On Sunday, Jan. 15, the International Stability Operations Association (ISOA), an organization that represents contractors in Iraq, sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asking her to intervene regarding...

Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) under Attorney General Eric Holder, is leaving the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to an announcement released just before the start of the Iowa caucuses. "Laurie Robinson has helped transform OJP’s role in the criminal and juvenile justice field, bringing scientific rigor, a true sense of partnership, transparency, and accountability to the agency," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement on her departure at the end of February. "I am proud of her service to OJP’s constituents, the Department of Justice and the Obama Administration and personally...

The U.S. Justice Department has blocked South Carolina’s controversial voter ID law, saying it would prevent black people from voting. It was the first voter ID law to be refused by the federal agency in nearly 20 years. The decision means voters will not have to show a Department of Motor Vehicles-issued driver’s license or photo ID card, a U.S. military ID or a U.S. passport. And it means the state, which says it plans to appeal the decision in court, will spend time and taxpayer dollars on the second such lawsuit during Gov. Nikki Haley’s term.

Phoenix - Sheriff Joe Arpaio said a scathing U.S. Justice Department report about his office's law enforcement tactics against Latinos marks "a sad day for America as a whole." Billed as America's toughest sheriff, Arpaio struck a defiant tone at a Thursday afternoon news conference in response to the report, which he called a politically motivated attack by the Obama administration that will make Arizona unsafe. (Snip) Homeland Security also will restrict the sheriff's office use of the Secure Communities program, which uses fingerprints collected in local jails to identify illegal immigrants.

Today the Islamized State Department will be meeting with the Islamic supremacist Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss strategies and develop action plans in which to impose the restriction of free speech (or blasphemy, as truthful speech about Islam is considered in Islamic law) under the Sharia here in America. Photos accompanying news reports about the upcoming meeting shows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu at a meeting last summer in Istanbul. Such prominence is given to this totalitarian organization. That photo reminds me of Neville and Adolf.

Wouldn`t it be music to the ears of all freedom loving Americans to hear one of our so called ``conservative`` talk show hosts ask Mr. Gingrich some tough questions, e.g., why he sided with the progressive Jimmy Carter in creating the un-constitutional federal department of education? And likewise ask Mr. Gingrich if he was wrong in helping to create this vehicle for a subversive federal takeover of public school systems established under state Constitutions? How about one of our ``conservative`` talk show hosts asking Mr. Gingrich, in reference to his vote to create the federal department of education, what part...

A  U.S. State Department law enforcement agent from the mainland was arrested for fatally shooting a man in his 20s early this morning on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki, sources said. Honolulu police identified the alleged shooter as Christopher W. Deedy, 27, and sources who asked to remain anonymous confirmed that he is a federal agent who was off-duty at the time of the shooting. A State Department spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., said only, "We are aware of the incident and we cannot comment on an ongoing investigation." She would not confirm whether he was here for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference...

The State Department on Wednesday defended spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on books authored by President Obama, while White House spokesman Jay Carney called the book-buying an “embassy-based decision.” The comments followed a report Wednesday by The Washington Times that found the State Department had spent more than $70,000 on books by Mr. Obama. Most of the purchases came in the months after Mr. Obama won the White House, though the embassy in Paris spent more than $8,000 for copies of “Dreams From My Father” as recently as March.

Of all the departments of our federal government, the most pointless and unconstitutional is the Department of Education. Since it was created back in 1976, test scores have shown no substantial improvements compared to all the money we are spending. If we are looking for ways to cut back our budget and the debt itself, one of the first places we should look is the Department of Education. The Department of Education's budget has increased over 300% from when it was first established. With this significant increase, one would logically think that test scores of American students would be increasing...

The Justice Department is accusing the Republican congressman who is leading an investigation into "Operation Fast and Furious" of "mischaracterizing evidence" and "maligning" federal law enforcement officials by questioning Sunday whether the FBI was trying to cover up the existence of a third gun at the scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry's murder last year. "The FBI has made clear that reports of a third gun recovered from the perpetrators at the scene of Agent Terry's murder are false," the department said in a statement Monday. This comes one day after Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif,

WICHITA, Kan. -- As the first and only federal prosecutor in Kansas dedicated solely to handling criminal immigration cases, Barry Disney took a pragmatic approach to filing charges in an interior state that has become a mecca for immigrant labor drawn to its massive meatpacking plants and other food processing industries. Limited resources were spent on the worst criminals who had been deported and then come back to the United States. Disney's first trial in federal court dealt with two illegal immigrants found speeding through Kansas with an assault rifle wedged in the back seat of a truck and loaded...

September 1, 2011 3:26pm 0 Comments The Department of Energy is not a business byConn Carroll Senior Editorial Writer Follow on Twitter:@conncarroll Asked at today's White House press briefing, "What does it say about the President's so far as he gets ready for this new plan, that this company he promoted and gave government money too has gone bankrupt and is laying off 1100 people." Carney answered: The whole purpose of this program, which has a broad portfolio of many companies that are doing well was to invest in cutting edge technology. ... There are no guarantees in the business...

Any day now, the U.S. Department of Labor, under former Big Labor treasurer and now Obama’s current Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, intends to announce a new definition for the term “Employer” that will protect her union boss friends. When the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) passed, Congress defined the term “Employer” very broadly as “any employer or any group or association of employers engaged in an industry affecting commerce … an employer within the meaning of any law of the United States relating to the employment of any employees.”

WASHINGTON — The State Department is urging Americans in Syria to leave the besieged country immediately while commercial transportation is still available. The Syrian government is clamping down on a rebellion in the city of Hama, the center of anti-government activity. Thousands of protesters across the country are marching, demanding solidarity with the people of Hama and demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad. On Friday, the State Department urged U.S. citizens who must remain in Syria to limit travel and warned U.S. citizens not in the country to avoid traveling there for now.

Limousines, the very symbol of wealth and excess, are usually the domain of corporate executives and the rich. But the number of limos owned by Uncle Sam increased by 73 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration, according to an analysis of records by iWatch News. Most of the increase was recorded in Hillary Clinton’s State Department. Obama administration officials said most of the increase reflects an enhanced effort to protect diplomats and other government officials in a dangerous world. But a watchdog group says the abundance of limos sends the wrong message in the midst of...

Here is an unusual press release from the U.S. State Department, first noted by The Weekly Standard and later Arutz Sheva: State’s Steinberg’s Visit to Israel, Jerusalem and West Bank U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman May 18, 2011 MEDIA NOTE Deputy Secretary Steinberg's Visit to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg visits Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank May 18-19, 2011. In Israel, Deputy Secretary Steinberg met with Israeli academic and student leaders. In the West Bank, he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other

In the words of Lewis Carroll, it gets curioser and curiouser. According to this report, back when Lou Dobbs (then a CNN host) began to raise questions about Obama's birth, CNN president Jon Klein had his researchers contact the Hawaii Department of Health to inquire as to the records. TV Newser reproduced the letter in a post dated July 24, 2009: From: Klein, Jon (CNN) Sent: Thu Jul 23 19:00:44 2009 Subject: Important re birth certificate I asked the political researchers to dig into the question "why couldn't Obama produce the ORIGINAL birth certificate?"

The ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wants to know why Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is sitting on millions of dollars in taxpayer money rather than shifting it to the Broadcasting Board of Governors for anti-censorship work in China and other repressive regimes. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) wrote to Clinton on Friday after learning the BBG has yet to receive funding from the State Department. The BBG, which oversees government-sponsored international broadcasting, would like to use the money to ensure its content is accessible. The so-called Great Firewall of China, for example, is a hurdle for Voice...

The long-awaited internal report on the New Black Panther voter intimidation dismissal is done, and sensible Americans aren’t going to be happy. The New Black Panther fix is in. I have learned through sources inside and outside the Department of Justice that the long-awaited internal report on the New Black Panther voter intimidation dismissal is done, and sensible Americans aren’t going to be happy. In essence, it will adopt the outrageous position of Attorney General Eric Holder when he testified to Congressman Frank Wolf’s Appropriations subcommittee a few weeks ago: all this fuss about the New Black Panther dismissal does...

The links are to the US Dept of Justice Website Look at the heading. Here's a bit from the body of the email I received: They have removed the Stars and Stripes and replaced the banner with a BLACK strip with the quote. "The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people" This quote is from C Wilfred Jenks a Socialist, British citizen and big labor, world workers rights union supporter. In the 1930's he was a leading proponent of the international law movement including Sharia Law. His goal was to impose a global...

The State Department on Wednesday declined to describe the raging conflict in Libya as a civil war, after a key lawmaker used the term to characterize the ongoing battle between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar al-Qaddafi. "I would just say that what we have is a leader who used not just arms but heavy weaponry against his people and is now in a situation where he's lost all legitimacy," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, when asked whether the fighting had escalated into a civil war.

After World war 2, leftists in the U.S. State Department and the Office of Strategic Services/Central Intelligence Agency aggressively funded and promoted European Socialist parties as a supposed counterweight to communism. As most European Socialist parties were controlled or infiltrated by socialists anyway, this simply succeeded in pushing Europe, as a whole, even further to the left. Today the U.S. State Department is actively helping to network "moderate" young Muslims organizations, as a counterweight to radical Islam. Much of this work is being done through the Alliance for Youth Movements, "a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, connecting, and supporting digital...

The federal judge who struck down the Obama administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling after the Gulf oil spill is holding the Interior Department in contempt of court.

On the recently announced soaring recidivism rate for Gitmo detainees returning to terror, State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said on Fox News that "we actually expected this to happen."

Thought that new car was expensive now? Wait till the Department of Transportation implements its latest plan to protect Americans from themselves. Last week, the department announced regulations that would require all new vehicles to install video cameras on their back bumpers. The idea is to make backing up safer, and it’s not optional. “To meet the requirements of the proposed rule,” reads a DOT release, “10 percent of new vehicles must comply by Sept. 2012, 40 percent by Sept. 2013 and 100 percent by Sept. 2014.” Three years ago, Congress passed the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act, named...

Maybe next, they'll invite Osama bin Laden to the State Department dining room for a cup of tea: On January 14, 2010, a former Guantanamo detainee named Moazzam Begg met with the foreign minister of Luxembourg to discuss the resettlement of additional detainees in Europe. Afterward, Begg attended a screening of "Taxi to the Dark Side," a film that portrays America's detention policies in the worst possible light. Begg also participated in a Q&A session with members of the audience. This prompted an American diplomat who was in attendance to write a summary of the event and of Begg's "barnstorming"...

If education and awareness don’t work, the Department of Transportation Secretary has some other interesting ideas on how to lower the number of distracted drivers careening down the pavement. It seems people still haven’t gotten the voicemail about the dangers of cell phone use in cars and if the trend continues, the Department of Transportation may have to do something about it — like forcibly disabling your Blackberry. While Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stressed personal responsibility in a recent TV appearance, the Secretary said the department was “looking into” other technological possibilities.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Marilyn Roberts, Deputy Administrator for the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), presented Victor Perez with the AMBER Alert Citizen Award at the National AMBER Alert Symposium in Phoenix, AZ. Victor Perez, of Fresno, CA, responded to an AMBER Alert for an 8-year-old girl who was abducted in a truck from her Fresno home. When Perez saw the truck, he drove his own vehicle in front of it, stopping the driver. The perpetrator pushed the child out of his truck and sped away. The California Highway Patrol...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has adopted new procedures for using the Defense Department’s vast array of cyberwarfare capabilities in case of an attack on vital computer networks inside the United States, delicately navigating historic rules that restrict military action on American soil. The system would mirror that used when the military is called on in natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. A presidential order dispatches the military forces, working under the control of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Washington Times lead editorial today is about the Justice Department enabling voter fraud — just in time for the November elections. This is due to the Department’s refusal to enforce the part of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act that requires states to remove ineligible voters from their registration rolls — people who have died or moved away, and felons who have not yet had their voting rights restored. The longer such names remain on a registration list, the greater the chances that a fraudulent vote will be cast in their names. I reported in 2009 that...

Washington — The Obama administration will appeal a court ruling that undercut its efforts to expand stem cell research, the Justice Department said Tuesday. The appeal is expected this week, said spokesman Matthew Miller. (Snip) National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said dozens of studies of promising stem cell therapies — about $54 million worth — would have to stop because of the court ruling that temporarily forbids any additional money from being granted.

The Department of Justice is seeking to hire linguists fluent in Ebonics to help monitor, translate, and transcribe the secretly recorded conversations of subjects of narcotics investigations, according to federal records. A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a “DEA Sensitive” security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of “telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media”

The Justice Department has found a new way to pursue civil rights lawsuits, using the powers of the Civil Rights Division not just to win compensation for victims of alleged discrimination but also to direct large sums of money to activist groups that are not discrimination victims and not connected to a particular suit. In the past, when the Civil Rights Division filed suit against, say, a bank or a landlord, alleging discrimination in lending or rentals, the cases were often settled by the defendant paying a fine to the U.S. Treasury and agreeing to put aside a sum of...

The Obama administration faced an embarrassing diplomatic blunder today after it was forced to pull a warning about racism in Spain - just as the First Lady arrived in the country for a summer holiday. Staff at the U.S. State Department removed the contentious advice to travellers, which included the phrase 'racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain,' on Monday. The First Lady landed in the Costa del Sol this morning for a break with her youngest daughter Sasha, nine.