Free Republic

For a very fat fee, South Florida check-cashing businesses have routinely turned a blind eye to criminals who use fake IDs to cash millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained tax-refund checks from the U.S. Treasury Department, authorities say. Case in point: A Homestead-area man convicted of cashing thousands of fraudulent tax-refund checks totaling $12 million. Now, the government hopes to put an end to the racket by requiring 760 check cashers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to obtain additional personal information from all customers if they want to cash a refund check in excess of $1,000. The check-cashing crackdown —...

LOOMIS, Calif. — China is demanding that the Obama administration return a wealthy and politically connected businessman who fled to the United States, according to several American officials familiar with the case. Should he seek political asylum, he could become one of the most damaging defectors in the history of the People’s Republic. The case of the businessman, Ling Wancheng, has strained relations between two nations already at odds over numerous issues before President Xi Jinping’s first state visit to the United States in September, including an extensive cybertheft of American government data and China’s aggressive territorial claims. Mr. Ling...

SO AFTER ABOUT 4 HOURS, SCOTT WALKER IS FARTHER AHEAD IN THE INSTAPUNDIT READERS’ POLL THAN I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED. And this lead has been consistent from the very beginning.

hen Newsweek broke the story last week that the College Board had redone its controversial 2014 AP U.S. history (APUSH) framework, the headline blared: “Revised AP U.S. History Standards Will Emphasize American Exceptionalism.” That headline was quickly echoed across the web, with Slate promising an APUSH course “Juiced Up With More ‘American Exceptionalism,’” New York Magazine following suit, and Think Progress decrying the College Board’s supposed “cave” to conservative pressure. A more accurate headline would have been, “College Board Inserts Meaningless Mention of American Exceptionalism to Shut Conservatives Up: Liberals Go Nuts.” Early coverage of the renewed APUSH controversy has...

A California academic whose criticisms of science behind the nation’s most expensive diesel emissions rules has won a legal victory and effectively erased his termination. James Enstrom, an epidemiologist and researcher at UCLA for 35 years, learned last week he had won $140,000 and retains his ability to keep an office and use laboratory facilities on campus. He’ll also have the ability to gain an appointment to perform additional research. “It’s gratifying to get any kind of decision against the university,” Enstrom told Land Line Magazine by telephone Monday. “It’s really a brutal process. They go out of their way...

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As The Daily Signal and 2nd Vote have revealed, corporate America is a major source of revenue for Planned Parenthood. While less than the half-billion in taxpayer dollars Planned Parenthood receives annually, corporate contributions made up a healthy piece of the $127 million in “excess revenue” the ostensible nonprofit received last year alone.But while corporate America has been comfortable donating funds to Planned Parenthood for years, it has been far less willing to give—or even allow its employees to give—to religious charities.As their gifts to an organization whose senior officials have been caught on video haggling over money for baby...

Only a month after the Muslim-majority nation of Chad announced in June a ban on the burqa and full-face veils, neighbouring Cameroon has done likewise. And for the same reason – to save lives. Female suicide bombers wearing the Islamic garments left a trail of death and destruction in July in Cameroon, a West African nation of 22 million. Forty-three people perished in different attacks and dozens more were injured in the first suicide bombings ever to take place there. The previous month, Chad had experienced the same devastation from suicide bombers, involving both men and women dressed in the...

PARIS — Before the ink was even dry on the Iran nuclear deal, European leaders and executives were heading to the airport to restart trade with an Iranian market described in almost feverish terms as “an El Dorado” and potential “bonanza.” Germany sent a delegation five days after the signing of the accord in Vienna on July 14. The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, arrived in Tehran on Wednesday. Italian government ministers will get there on Tuesday. Business leaders are to follow soon. They will include 70 to 80 top executives of France’s largest companies in September. Despite the hints...

DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was given a second chance on "Meet the Press" Sunday to explain the difference between Democrats and Socialists, but for a second time, she passed on the question, choosing to focus instead on the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Wasserman Schultz was first asked to name the difference Thursday night by NBC's Chris Matthews, where she tried to laugh the question off and refocus on the difference between the GOP and the Democrats. When Chuck Todd posed the question to the DNC chairwoman Sunday, she again refused to answer. "Given that Bernie Sanders...

Turkey’s recent intervention aims to prevent the emergence of a de facto Kurdish sovereignty stretching along its southeastern border The latest events in northern Syria constitute a bold move by the Turkish leadership to deal with a most pressing problem, from their point of view. That problem is not the continued existence of the Assad regime, far to the south. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would certainly like to see the end of this regime. But its continued truncated existence between Damascus and the coast and in isolated spots elsewhere does not constitute an immediate danger for the Turkish leader. (snip)...

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!   For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~ Ernest E. West All info and photos from this website             Ernest E. West (born September 2, 1931) was a soldier in the United States Army during the Korean War. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on October 12, 1952. He was raised in an...

Four days before the first debate of the 2016 presidential election cycle, Republican front-runner Donald Trump says viewers shouldn’t expect to see fireworks from his side of the stage. “I’m not a debater,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “These politicians — I always say, they’re all talk, no action. They debate all the time. They go out and they debate every night. I don’t debate.” “Maybe my whole life is a debate, in a way,” Trump continued. “But the fact is I’m not a debater and they are. But with that being said, I look forward to...

....“I don’t know,” the Republican presidential candidate said... “I presume he is,”.... “You’re not going to get a different answer than I said before,” Walker said toward the end of a Q&A session moderated by Politico’s Mike Allen. Walker said he’s never asked Obama about his faith. “As someone who is a believer myself, I don’t presume to know someone’s beliefs about whether they follow Christ or not unless I’ve actually talked with him.”..... “He said he is, and I take him at his word.”...

FANCY FARM — The annual political picnic here has long been a partisan battle of wits and one-liners, where the politicians trade barbs and laughs and the crowd eggs them on. ... On Saturday, while Democrats, including gubernatorial nominee and attorney general Jack Conway, used their time on stage to remind voters of Bevin's rocky past as a politician, Bevin took the stage to decry the nature of the event and call for unity. In a sharp departure from the theme of the picnic, Bevin said he was glad to be at the event, which primarily serves as a fundraiser...

FANCY FARM — Democratic attorney general candidate Andy Beshear and Republican candidate Whitney Westerfield traded barbs face-to-face on Saturday with both referencing cosmetic treatments to feet and toes. The reference dates back to a 2007 personnel report first detailed by Pure Politics in mid-July. An August 2007 entry in Westerfield’s personnel file cites complaints with courtesy, professionalism and attitude. The file says that, “Personal interests often take priority over work duties,” including “Teeth Cleaning vs. Jury Trial,” “Pedicure vs. Arraignments,” and “Cell Phone in Court.” And it was the pedicures which both Beshear and Westerfield mentioned in their speeches on...

FANCY FARM — Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway heaped criticism on his GOP opponent at the 135th annual Fancy Farm picnic Saturday, repeating numerous attacks against Matt Bevin that have sprouted in his two runs for office. In response, Bevin completely reversed the Fancy Farm norm, eschewed the partisan tenor of Kentucky’s signature political event before leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance and painting in broad strokes in his remarks. “The one thing that discourages me, however, about this process is that we literally are celebrating the very worst elements of the political process,” Bevin said. “We are...

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NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama will impose even steeper cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants than previously expected, senior administration officials said Sunday, in what the president called the most significant step the U.S. has ever taken to fight global warming..... Obama, in a video posted to Facebook, said the limits were backed up by decades of data and facts showing that without tough action, the world will face more extreme weather and escalating health problems like asthma."Climate change is not a problem for another generation," Obama said. "Not anymore."In his initial proposal, Obama had...

Conservative billionaire Charles Koch told his ultra-rich friends that they face a “life and death” decision whether to keep lobbying for tax breaks and government subsidies. “Business leaders (must) recognize that their behavior is suicide, that it is suicide long term. To survive, long-term, they have to start opposing, rather than promoting, corporate welfare,” Koch told about 450 allies at an Orange County, Calif., summit that began Saturday. ....“Obviously, this prescription will not be an easy pill for many business people to swallow. Because short term, taking the principled path is going to cost some companies some profits, as it...