Free Republic

Few Americans could fathom the notion that the United States is so indebted to China that one of Beijing’s spies could get away with espionage – especially with an White House in love with espionage prosecutions. But that might be the only reasonable explanation for the Obama administration’s decision to pass on prosecuting a State Department contractor who was allegedly paid thousands of dollars to someone believed to be a Chinese agent seeking information on Americans. According to Fox News, a November 2014 FBI affidavit that was filed in U.S. district court in Maryland indicates that the FBI launched a...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is slamming politicians in Indiana and Arkansas for a “retreat” on so-called religious freedom legislation and says he isn’t going to be pressured by corporate America into backing off of his support for similar legislation in his home state on the issue of marriage. “In Indiana and Arkansas, large corporations recently joined left-wing activists to bully elected officials into backing away from strong protections for religious liberty,” Mr. Jindal wrote in an opinion piece published Thursday by The New York Times. “It was disappointing to see conservative leaders so hastily retreat on legislation that would simply...

This week at the The University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, long-time immigration activist Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) said the potential Republican president he could work best with to pass comprehensive immigration reform is Jeb Bush. Gutiérrez said, “We would have to stay with the Bush family,” explaining George W. Bush tried twice to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The House Select Committee on Benghazi is asking former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham to testify in two upcoming public hearings, one to be held during the week of May 18 on her use of a private email system while serving as the nation’s top diplomat, and another to be held by June 18 specifically on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Libya. “With her cooperation and that of the State Department and administration, Secretary Clinton could be done with the Benghazi Committee before the Fourth of July,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican and...

Heartbreaking news, and a demonstration of the limit of remote-control warfare. The US drone program in Pakistan inadvertently killed two Western hostages being held by al-Qaeda, including an American whose family had repeatedly appealed for his release based on his age and health: A U.S. drone strike in January targeting a suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan inadvertently killed an American and Italian being held hostage by the group, senior Obama administration officials said.The killing of American development expert Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto is the first known instance in which the U.S. has accidentally...

Dr. Warren Weinstein, an American aid worker held hostage by al Qaeda, was accidentally killed in a U.S. counter-terrorism operation, as was an Italian hostage, Giovanni Lo Porto, and another American who was an al Qaeda leader, the White House announced on Thursday. Officials also announced that a separate operation killed Adam Gadahn, another American who became a prominent al Qaeda member. The White House said it was unaware the four were present at the sites. President Obama was set to make a statement after 10 a.m. ET. "The operation targeted an al-Qa'ida-associated compound, where we had no reason to...

The White House says U.S. counterterrorism operations killed American and Italian hostages held by Al Qaeda, as well as two Americans who were working with the terror organization. It says the U.S. recently concluded that American Warren Weinstein and Italian national Giovanni Lo Porto, hostages held by Al Qaeda, were killed in a January operation in a border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The White House says it also believes two other Americans were recently killed in a counterterrorism operation in the same region.

Sunday, we found out that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin removed himself from the running for Governor of West Virginia, but during the same announcement, he endorsed Hillary Clinton as his favorite presidential candidate. When Senator Manchin endorsed Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign on Sunday, he described Clinton as warm, compassionate, engaging, and tough. In 2008, Manchin waited until the Democratic candidate was already decided before endorsing Barack Obama.

The knock on the door in the dead of night is the stuff of Darkness at Noon, and of the state of Wisconsin. To the question of whether armed police can storm your house and take away your personal effects and tell you to shut up about it, based simply on your political advocacy, Wisconsin answered for years, “Why, yes, they can — now please, shut up about it.” The so-called John Doe investigations into Governor Scott Walker and conservative groups in Wisconsin have been an ongoing travesty that — now that Walker is entering the presidential stage — should...

I’ve been overwhelmed by the response to my article about Wisconsin prosecutors’ efforts to criminalize conservative activism,complete with terrifying dawn and pre-dawn raids. Without the courage of the raids’ targets who were willing to speak with me–on and off the record–there would have been no story. Ironically enough,on the very weekend that my story hit National Review,the Huffington Post published yet another screed against so-called “dark money” relying on the very existence of the unlawful John Doe investigations to cast a cloud of suspicion on conservative activists. The language is instructive: The Wisconsin Supreme Court is slated to take up...

Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 — also called the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,” it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions — was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs’ frantic barking. The entire house — the windows and walls — was shaking. She looked outside to see up to a dozen police officers, yelling to open the door. They were carrying a battering ram. She wasn’t dressed, but she started to run toward the door, her body in full view of the police. Some yelled...

The Supreme Court will decide Friday whether to grant review on a case relating to the infamous Wisconsin “John Doe” investigation of conservative groups that supported Governor Scott Walker and his reform of public sector union collective bargaining.The case, O’Keefe v. Chisholm, was filed by Eric O’Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth after they each received John Doe subpoenas in October 2013, demanding that they turn over all Club records and communications–including all emails, financial materials and donor lists–to prosecutors. Consistent with Wisconsin’s John Doe law, the subpoenas gagged O’Keefe and the Club, prohibiting them from speaking to anyone...

...Here’s the high-level summary. There are more details below. • Canadian company Uranium One owned uranium mines in the US and Kazakhstan. • Uranium One's mines account for 20% of the uranium mined in the US. Uranium is used for nuclear weapons, and it's considered a strategic asset to the US. • Russia’s state-owned atomic agency, Rosatom, bought a 17% stake in Uranium One in June 2009. • The Russian atomic agency decided it wanted to own 51% of Uranium One in June 2010. To take a majority stake in Uranium One, it needed approval from a special committee that...

The money fueling Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign for president comes in both trickles and torrents. And the sources of much of it are murky. A hedge fund billionaire is reported to have poured $30 million into the cause isn’t talking. So it’s unclear why he picked Cruz and how much he’s willing to spend to keep the Texas Republican’s hopes alive as the race plays out. Nor will Cruz identify supporters who’ve agreed to raise up to $500,000 from their networks of friends and associates — bundlers who’ll be rewarded with special access to the candidate in coming months. “Some...

In a Gravis Marketing poll released today Jeb Bush leads fellow GOP rivals among Republican Party Iowa voters while Senator Marco Rubio and former brain surgeon Ben Carson have increased their popularity while Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has taken the largest fall. In a telephone survey conducted April 13, former Governor Bush (R-FL) led with 16 percent of voters surveyed with Walker coming in at 13 percent, followed closely by fellow Floridian Rubio at 12 percent. The poll was conducted the same day as Rubio's announcement of his 2016 Presidential bid. The biggest gainers were Marco Rubio, who improved five points from his...

More than other 2016 presidential entrants Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) seems to have positively affected, even excited, Republicans. Ross Douthat writes, “Rubio more than most candidates fits the way most Republicans want to think about their party and ideology and cause.” There is much to that, and certainly Republicans want to get away from the dig that they are “grumpy,” “angry” or downright “mean.” So how does Rubio do it? Arthur Brooks, head of the American Enterprise Institute and arguably the godfather of reform conservatism, likes to say: “My movement shouldn’t be fighting against things. My movement should be fighting...

Serious question: what did Mark Halperin mean when he said that NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio "may be playing a more dangerous game than he realizes" by refusing so far to endorse Hillary? On today's With All Due Respect, Halperin prefaced his ominous observation by saying that there is "furor in Hillary Clinton's camp" over the matter. De Blasio's omission certainly is striking, considering that he was Hillary's campaign manager when she ran for Senate from New York. View the video here.

CERAWEEK-U.S. fracking costs falling fast, may keep fields in play HOUSTON, April 22     (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas companies have pushed down costs of fracking a shale well faster than expected, and if the trend holds up it could allow producers to keep working in oilfields that just months ago looked uncompetitive after the oil price crash.A more than 50 percent fall in the price of crude oil since June has left oil and gas producers insisting on steep price cuts from oilfield service companies that provide everything from drilling rigs to hydraulic fracturing.Oil is trading...

..."The next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that's based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages," Walker said. "Because the more I've talked to folks—I've talked to Sen. Sessions and others out there, but it is a fundamentally lost issue by many in elected positions today—is what is this doing for American workers looking for jobs, what is this doing to wages, and we need to have that be at the forefront of our discussion going forward."Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, responded, “It...