Free Republic

If you thought President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder had given up on closing Guantanamo Bay and bringing jihadists to American soil, think again. Two troubling developments on the Gitmo front should have every American on edge. The first White House maneuver took place in October, while much of the public and the media were preoccupied with election news. On Oct. 2, Obama's cash-strapped Illinois pals announced that the federal government bought out the Thomson Correctional Center in western Illinois for $165 million. According to Watchdog.org, a recent appraisal put the value of the facility at $220 million. Democratic...

A faux pax by Senator Diane Feinstein outed the presence of Mossad chief Tamir Pardo in Washington to discuss a possible strike on Iran. Mossad director Tamir Pardo is in Washington for talks about a possible attack on Iran's nuclear installations, Israel's Channel 2 reported on Tuesday. Pardo's visit, which would normally be conducted in secret, was revealed by US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, 78, who made the faux pax at committee hearing. The hearing was being broadcast live by US television. Feinstein said she had spoken with Pardo, who also met with CIA director David Petraeus, adding...

Is she a Pinhead or Patriot? You be the judge. I am talking about treasurer Kinde Durkee (and what "kinde" of name is that?) who embezzled the campaign funds of a number of CA Democrats to the extent of wiping out the money entirely, including that of Rep. Loretta Sanchez and others. Since Durkee has also been acting as treasurer for Senator Diane Feinstein there is a chance that part or all of DiFi's $5 million in campaign cash was wiped out. Most likely this money actually did serve a useful purpose in that it was pumped into the ailing...

Longtime Democratic strategist Kam Kuwata, a mainstay of the California political scene for decades, was found dead today in his Venice condominium. He was 57. “I am greatly saddened by the passing of Kam Kuwata,” said Eric Bauman, Los Angeles County Democratic Party chairman. “Today, we lost a dear friend and a top Democratic political mind whose influential behind-the-scenes work had touched California and American politics alike. Kuwata’s work extends nearly 30 years in campaign strategic planning, communications and messaging. He served in many key roles for major and local Democratic campaigns including: U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein, Daniel Akaka and...

Politics: The water spigots are back on, at least temporarily, in California's Central Valley. Turned off to protect a tiny fish, they happen to be in the districts of two congressmen "undecided" on health care reform. One could chalk it up to good fortune or just good constituent service. But in the middle of a contentious health care debate marked by Cornhusker Kickbacks and Louisiana Purchases, we may be forgiven if we find an announcement by the Department of the Interior regarding California's water supply a tad too coincidental. On Tuesday, the Department of the Interior announced it was increasing...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A group of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday asked Senator Dianne Feinstein to abandon draft legislation that would divert more water to California's farmers, a plan that has quickly become a flashpoint in the state's long-running water wars. Feinstein's proposal, which would ease Endangered Species Act restrictions, has angered environmental activists and fishing groups. The powerful Democratic senator's rebuke by members of her own party underscores the incendiary nature of water politics in America's No. 1 farm state. The 12 lawmakers, who sent a letter to Feinstein asking her to drop the plan, say it could ultimately...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday he made the decision to charge the Christmas Day terror suspect in the civilian system with no objection from all the other relevant departments of the government. In a letter to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the attorney general wrote that the FBI told its partners in the intelligence community on Christmas Day and again the next day that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab would be charged criminally.

WASHINGTON — Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jetliner bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, started talking to investigators after two of his family members arrived in the United States and helped earn his cooperation, a senior administration official said Tuesday evening. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Mr. Abdulmutallab, 23, began speaking to F.B.I. agents last week in Detroit and has not stopped, two government officials said. The officials declined to disclose what information was obtained from him, but said it was aiding in the investigation of the attempted terrorist attack. “With the family, the...

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials said a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit. And a White House official called the Christmas incident an attempted act of terrorism. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit. One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it. The passenger...

Here is a video report on what the White House has confirmed as an attempted "terrorist attack" aboard a Northwest Airlines flight that was about to land in Detroit. A Nigerian national sought to ignite an explosive device aboard the plane, and was burned in the attempt: A male passenger on an international flight bound for Detroit Friday tried to blow up the plane with an explosive device in an incident that the White House is labeling an attempted act of terrorism. Several people were hurt on the plane, which had Delta markings, but was listed as Northwest Flight 253....

It only took a public thrashing to get Obama and pals to figure out that hey, maybe we want to get this Christmas Day Bomber to cooperate after all: The Nigerian man accused of trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day has been cooperating with investigators since last week, discussing his contacts in Yemen and providing intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, officials said Tuesday. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s cooperation could prove to be a national security victory and a political vindication for President Barack Obama, who has been under fire...

After being embarrassed by a report on the breakdown of counterterrorism efforts before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a Northwest flight in Amsterdam for Detroit and a series of Congressional appearances that demonstrated a lack of communication in the decision to treat the terrorist as a criminal rather than an enemy at war, the White House has begun to push back.  Citing unnamed “officials,” the AP reports that the FBI and the CIA have begun to get information from Abdulmutallab despite having clammed up after getting Mirandized.  The key, they claim, was to get his family involved in breaking his resistance:...

The Nigerian man accused of trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day has been cooperating with investigators since last week and has provided fresh intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, officials said Tuesday. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's cooperation could prove to be a national security victory and a political vindication for President Barack Obama, who has been under fire from lawmakers who contend the administration botched the case by giving Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent, rather than interrogating him as a military prisoner. In the days following the failed bombing,...

Now the Dem libs have gone way over the line with California Senator Diane Feinstein laying out the devil’s doctrine. She focuses especially regarding abortion.

Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt. (snip) The Senate rejected the amendment by a largely party-line 61-36 margin, with Feinstein opposing the restoration of water deliveries to farmers. The California senator claimed she was blindsided by the amendment to the bill she was managing in the Senate, bizarrely comparing the move to a "Pearl Harbor." "No one from California has called, written or indicated they wanted this on the calendar," Feinstein protested.

Delta smelts: Preferred over humans. Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt.There was a time when the San Joaquin Valley was the most productive agricultural region in the world. It was a large part of what made the Golden State golden.Now it's a place where farmers no longer farm, but instead line up at food banks to feed the families of those who once fed the rest of the country and a good chunk of the...

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms. Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct...

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) on Tuesday told Capitol Hill reporters that she is skeptical of the Employee Free Choice Act, possibly dealing another deadly blow to the legislation. Feinstein's skepticism, coming a week after Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced his opposition, means Democratic leaders might find themselves in an even deeper hole as they search for 60 votes to move the so-called "card-check" bill. "I think in this economy that what has to happen is that the unions and management get together and try to see if they can work out something," Feinstein said. "The card-check bill, as drafted,...

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Minnesota freshman Rep. Keith Ellison for his recent swearing-in ceremony, the controversy over his taking the oath of office on the Quran overshadowed his earlier role in supporting a terrorist whose group tried to kill policemen and allegedly twice tried to murder Pelosi's fellow San Francisco lawmaker Sen. Diane Feinstein. On Feb.12, 2000, Ellison joined Bernadine Dohrn, one of the founders of the 1960s radical group the Weather Underground, and several other speakers at a fundraiser for recently arrested Kathleen Soliah, a.k.a. Sara Jane Olson. Kathleen Soliah, a.k.a. Sara Jane Olson Soliah – who...

On Fox News Sunday night we were distressed to hear Senator Feinstein aver that she "would be looking into the 'Fairness Doctrine'", the most misnamed of the all the liberal, thought-control ideas we have to fend off constantly. Unfortunately, at her side was the normally conservative, but not always perceptive, Senator Lott.