Free Republic

A fresh cash infusion of $250,00 from ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and wife Connie has swelled the pro-Initiative 594 Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility warchest to $3.4 million. The Ballmers gave $125,000 apiece, swelling their total contributions to $600,000. The pro-594 campaign reports more than $1.1 million in cash on hand, according to its filings with the state Public Disclosure Commission. The alliance was formed, largely by faith leaders, after the December 2012, massacre of 20 first graders in Newtown, Connecticut. After the Washington Legislature failed to act, supporters collected signatures to put on the ballot a statewide initiative that...

White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday called repeatedly for Republicans to stop talking about impeaching President Barack Obama — but said he wouldn’t do the same for Democrats who’ve been fundraising off it nonstop in recent days. “It is up to Democrats to make their own decisions,” Earnest said at the White House daily briefing. “I will leave it to Dem strategists who have a much better sense than I do about the best way to raise money for their campaign committees.” Earlier in the briefing, Earnest read through a list of Republican members of Congress who have...

Left-wing financier George Soros has spent more than $100 million funding groups that in some way support "immigrant rights" since 1997, with many advocating for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. He has donated over $3 million to the National Immigration Forum, which has fiercely advocated for comprehensive immigration reform legislation and legalization of the nation's illegal immigrants.

First Lady Michelle Obama returned to her hometown Thursday and decried the effects of gun violence on Chicago’s youth as she told a group of campaign donors to “write the biggest, fattest check that you can possibly write” to help Democrats make a better future for children. The First Lady noted that all children deserve a bright future of opportunity, but it was not happening in some Chicago neighborhoods. Donors paid from $500 per person to $20,000 per couple, and the First Lady asked them to give more.

President Obama makes a rush hour foray into Seattle and the Eastside on Tuesday, once more holding no public events and raising money from donors who will pay up to $25,000 to see the 44th president and ask Obama a question. The President’s political ATM machine will operate at two destinations, the Madrona home of Bruce and Anne Blume alongside Lake Washington and the Medina mansion of Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal. One event is for the Democratic National Committee, the other will benefit the Senate Majority PAC. Air Force One is due to land at Boeing Field around 3 p.m.,...

A major Democratic donor who is funding some of the left’s most politically active electioneering groups was subject to bipartisan condemnation this week in the midst of a federal investigation into his hedge fund’s tax avoidance schemes. Senators from both parties blasted efforts by Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund owned by Democratic mega-donor Jim Simons, to shield itself from federal income taxes during a Tuesday hearing. “Two banks and a handful of hedge funds developed a complex financial structure to engage in highly profitable trades while claiming an unjustified lower tax rate and avoiding limits on trading with borrowed money,”...

LOS ALTOS HILLS -- President Obama hit the Bay Area for a fast cash-and-grab fundraising drive Wednesday, but there were signs that even in one of the nation's most reliable Democratic ATMs, donor fatigue is setting in. There was no listed price for tickets for Obama's morning appearance at a roundtable in San Francisco for the House Majority PAC - the type of intimate gathering for which admission is usually $32,400 per person, the legal maximum. Some donors said tickets had been offered for a deep discount. And in Los Altos Hills, the heart of Silicon Valley big money, the...

Partisan gridlock blocking President Obama’s nominees for prestigious ambassadorships has created vacancies in a slew of top diplomatic posts at a time of growing international instability. It has also prevented Democrats from rewarding some of their biggest donors and bundlers in the midst of an intense campaign year, when they are eager to raise more money than Republicans. Ambassadorial nominees used to sail through the Senate. But as Obama has tapped an increasing number of them with strong political ties to the Democratic Party, the confirmation process has been bogged down, leaving gaps in important posts around the world. Secretary...

Title says it all. Who has experience with crowd funding? Get a bunch of school buses and drop them off in D.C.

A Chinese businessman paid $500,000 to have dinner with Bill and Hillary Clinton. But when he asked if his kids could join, the former first couple demanded another half-million, the New York Post reports. One witness said Holzman regaled guests with a tale that “lunch for two with Bill and Hillary went for $500,000 to benefit the Clinton Foundation.” And the winning bid came from “a Chinese business mogul who then asked if he could bring his two children along to the meeting.” But, our spy said, the high bidder was then told by the Clinton camp he could only...

Hillary Clinton on Friday defended her six-figure speaking fees, saying she's donated all the money earned from colleges over the past year to her family's foundation. “All of the fees have been donated to the Clinton Foundation for it to continue its life-changing and life-saving work. So it goes from a foundation at a university to another foundation,” she told ABC News on Friday. The former secretary of State and potential 2016 presidential contender reportedly charges about $200,000 for speaking engagements. Clinton recently drew fire from University of Nevada Las Vegas students who threatened to protest an upcoming fundraiser she's...

Obamacare has pushed us over the entitlements tipping point. In 2011 some 49.2 percent of U.S. households received benefits from one or more government programs—about 151 million out of an estimated 306.8 million Americans—according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last October. Currently, around 6 million to 7 million Americans who have signed up for Obamacare are receiving taxpayer-provided subsidies (though the administration’s numbers cannot be trusted, it’s all we have to work with). There are another 3 million who have signed up for Medicaid. That means some 10 million Americans—or a total of about 161 million—are now getting government...

Hillary Clinton continued to justify her high-dollar speaking fees on Friday, telling ABC News’ Ann Compton that all of the money she’s made from colleges over the past year and a half has been donated to her family’s foundation. “All of the fees have been donated to the Clinton Foundation for it to continue its life-changing and life-saving work. So it goes from a foundation at a university to another foundation,” Clinton said when asked about the criticism she and her husband have faced recently for their wealth. Hillary Clinton reportedly makes roughly $200,000 for each speaking engagement. And recent...

Very few Americans realize there exists a large network of far left philanthropists and foundations in America dedicated to destroying the American way of life, our Christian-based culture and our free enterprise system. They seek to remove America from its constitutional foundations and move it toward a European-style socialism. Much of this effort is coordinated by a little known group called the Tides Foundation and its related group, the Tides Center. Over the course of its 33 year history, the Tides network has given hundreds of millions of dollars to anti-free enterprise groups, gun control groups, anti-private property groups, abortion...

The left-leaning protestant denomination United Church of Christ announced that it will sponsor the sporting event "Gay Games 9" in August as the first mainline denomination to provide major financial support. The event, which takes place every four years and attracts LGBT athletes, will be hosted in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the UCC's national headquarters, where church leaders will help organize events for 30,000 participants in an effort to embrace the LBGT community. "Serving as a major sponsor of Gay Games 9 is a perfect fit because of the UCC's longstanding commitment to social justice issues," said the Rev. Dr....

Candidate for governor Charlie Crist was disinvited from a high-profile fundraiser starring former President Bill Clinton in Miami Beach Tuesday evening after Crist’s Democratic primary opponent Nan Rich ran into Hillary Clinton in Washington, Gossip Extra has learned. The $25,000-party at the Palm Island home of Lumber Liquidators founder Tom Sullivan was officially a fundraiser for the Democratic Governors Association, an organization that supports Crist.

Scandal: The endless stream of IRS visitors to the White House and the involvement of campaign donors in the Tea Party-targeting scandal belie the claim by the head of the agency that there is no White House involvement. The first thing investigators often ask in pursuit of criminal activity is who would benefit. That the Obama administration, burned in 2010 by the rise of the Tea Party and by the Citizens United decision, would benefit from the IRS' targeting and harassment of Tea Party groups spawned by grass-roots opposition to big government in general and ObamaCare in particular is beyond...

President Clinton's charitable foundation failed to meet at least six of 19 accountability standards established by the Better Business Bureau, according to a recent report from the watchdog group. The report, issued in June, said the Clinton Foundation lacks policies requiring performance reviews for its chief executive officer and for the organization as a whole. The Better Business Bureau review also observed that the foundation's annual reports and Web site do not contain detailed financial statements or information about the charity's board of directors. In addition, the bureau's charity evaluation service, called the Wise Giving Alliance, said it could not...

Per Megyn Kelly on Fox News

Michelle Obama’s fashionable clothing has become something of a given in her five-plus years as first lady. Yet her wardrobe still is the subject of endless public fascination and one long-simmering question: Who pays for those incredible outfits? It’s no small matter. Her high-low fashion choices mix everyday, off-the-rack fare with custom creations from top designers whose gowns can run into five figures. SNIP It takes money to pull that off, month after month. Those three dresses by themselves could add up to more than $15,000 retail, not to mention accessories such as shoes and jewellery. Is it the taxpayers...