Free Republic

Here’s an excerpt from an administrative decision I just read, DeMay v. Richmond County Dep’t of Social Servs., 2014 WL 4206296 (N.C. Office of Admin. Hearings); it was filed July 2, 2014, but just posted on Westlaw on Wednesday. The petitioner was demoted because of a statement she made at a meeting, and the administrative decision upheld the demotion: 3. The [Department of Social Services’] Policy Concerning Unlawful Workplace Harassment provides in pertinent part: The policy of [DSS] is that no employee may engage in conduct that falls under the definition of unlawful workplace harassment. All employees are guaranteed the...

The nation’s top television news broadcasts - in both English and Spanish - have been entirely mum on the latest revelations related to alleged obstruction of justice and politically-directed abuse of power at the Obama administration’s Internal Revenue Service. Whether at ABC, CBS and NBC, or Univision, Telemundo and Mundo Fox, these networks to date have essentially censored the admission by a U.S. Justice Department official –revealed by government watchdog group Judicial Watch – that allegedly lost e-mails of Obama IRS official Lois Lerner are in fact accessible, through the federal government’s computer back-up system. As Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton...

The Obama administration is highly exercised about "inversion," the practice by which an American corporation acquires a foreign company and moves its headquarters out of the U.S. to benefit from lower tax rates abroad. Not fair, says Barack Obama. It's taking advantage of an "unpatriotic tax loophole" that hardworking American families have to make up for by the sweat of their brow. His treasury secretary calls such behavior a violation of "economic patriotism." Nice touch. Democrats used to wax indignant about having one's patriotism questioned. Now they throw around the charge with abandon, tossing it at corporations that refuse to...

It ain’t half hot here, mum : Why and how Westerners go to fight in Syria and Iraq ___ THE two young men in the bus from Antakya, in south-eastern Turkey, to Reyhanli, nearer the border with Syria, sported long beards, calf-length trousers and toted small drawstring bags with their minimal belongings. They spoke in broken Arabic to the bus driver (local Turks usually have a smattering of the language) but to each other in a regional British accent. They were just two out of hundreds of Muslims from Europe, setting off to Syria to join the battle. That was...

Democratic National Committee chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) seized on remarks by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in an interview with Breitbart News, citing his desire to address immigration in a government spending bill to argue he's thirsting for a government shutdown. Wasserman Schultz's remarks, made on a conference call with reporters convened with the purpose of bashing Rubio, come as White House press secretary Josh Earnest used similar rhetoric in a briefing with reporters Wednesday. In the interview, Rubio said Congress may seek to address a unilateral amnesty by Obama in an upcoming spending bill. “There will have to be...

The prospect of another economically and politically crippling government shutdown looms over President Obama’s talk of taking executive action on immigration next month and Republican threats to thwart him by blocking certain funding measures. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told the Des Moines Register “all bets are off” for passing a continuing resolution if President Obama decides to take executive action on immigration. “If the president wields his pen and commits that unconstitutional act to legalize millions, I think that becomes something that is nearly political nuclear,” King said. “I think the public would be mobilized and galvanized and that changes...

In her upcoming book “Off the Sidelines,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., reveals she was the subject of insensitive comments about her weight from male colleagues in the House and Senate. According to an excerpt posted by PEOPLE magazine, Gillibrand details an incident in her book where a male colleague  saw her in the gym said, “Good thing you’re working out, because you wouldn’t want to get porky!” According to the Huffington Post, Gillibrand responded, “”Thanks, a–hole.”

As federal officials grapple with a crisis-level influx of Central Americans who are showing up at U.S. borders, NBC 7 Investigates found at least three immigrant families released to a Santee shelter kept in deplorable conditions. According to a contract provided to residents of the “House of Hope,” the home is an outreach ministry of the Faith Family Christian Center, run by Pastor David Barrett. Conditions inside the “House of Hope” A resident led us through the shelter on Prospect Avenue, navigating our news crew through piles of bedding visibly covered in flies, fleas and maggots. At least eight, bedraggled...

A Littleton, Colorado, man named Jordan Mathewson was raided by a heavily armed SWAT team thanks to a false shooting and hostage report, and all the chaos was captured on a Twitch game stream (see below). During a Counter-Strike session, Jordan "Kootra" Mathewson -- a founder of The Creatures -- suddenly noticed things around him were amiss. "Uh oh. This isn't good. They're clearing rooms. What in the world, I think we're getting swatted," he says in the video. Luckily, Mathewson stayed calm throughout the ordeal and was released a short time later. On top of invading his offices, police...

“I am confident that as commander in chief, I have the authority to engage in the acts that we are conducting currently. As our strategy develops, we will continue to consult with Congress, and I do think it will be important for Congress to weigh in, and that our consultations with Congress continue to develop so that the American people are part of the debate. But, I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet. What I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead...

<p>President Obama said Thursday he doesn’t have a strategy yet for defeating Islamist militants in Syria.</p> <p>“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” Mr. Obama said in a news conference at the White House. “We don’t have a strategy yet. As our strategy develops, we will consult with Congress.”</p>

Of all the arguments made in the long and contentious debate over immigration reform, the one heard most often, from all sides, is that our immigration system is "broken." President Obama, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Chuck Schumer, John McCain, Dick Durbin — just about every politician who has ever weighed in on the issue has said it. The only problem is, our immigration system is not broken. The part of the system that lets people into the United States is working — not without flaws, of course, but successfully managing the country's immigration needs every day....

Government coercion of the financial sector to make irresponsible loans was the primary driver of the 2007-08 financial meltdown. Now we learn that Eric Holder, the Tom Hagen of this racketeering enterprise of an administration, is using the vig that DOJ muscle is extorting from the banks to pour tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of the radical Left’s top rabble-rousers – in addition to diverting what should be public funds to pay off delinquent debts in cities that Democrats have destroyed.

Illegal aliens successfully landed on a San Diego beach in a panga boat on Monday and ran to shore - but, when another group tried the same thing on Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border (CBP) agents were waiting for them. Around 7am Monday morning, a horde of illegal aliens stormed a San Diego beach after coming ashore in a panga boat. They sprinted across the beach and climbed over a wall, entering the city Seven of the illegal aliens were spotted by helicopter and later apprehended several blocks from the beach; the CBP is still looking for at least ten...

LOGAN, W.Va. — For 51 years he’d lived in the same hollow and for two decades he’d performed the same job, mining coal from the underground seams of southern West Virginia. Then, on June 30, Michael Estep was jobless. His mine shut down, and its operator said “market conditions” made coal production unviable. What has come since, for Estep, stands as the new Central Appalachian economic experience: a job-hunt in a region whose sustaining industry is in an unprecedented freefall. “I don’t know what to do,” Estep said as unpaid bills piled up, his cable cut to black, and his...

You are receiving this message as an Obama for America supporter.The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is solely responsible for the content of this message. Mike — I'm emailing you again because the Senate is at stake. If the GOP gains just six seats, the same Republicans who just voted to sue me will control both houses of Congress. Republicans will control everything in Congress from Medicare to education. I don't need to tell you how devastating the consequences would be. That's why the DSCC is building an enormous voter mobilization program to win. But I know first hand: Launching field...

After losing in the Hobby Lobby v Burwell Supreme Court case earlier this summer, the Obama administration has just issued new rules for the notorious “HHS Mandate,” the Obamacare provision that requires all employee health plans to include free contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.This marks the eighth time the Obama administration has modified the HHS Mandate. Once again, they’re refusing to listen to the American people—or even the U.S. Supreme Court—and truly respect the employers’ conscience rights.The new rules are nothing more than a slight variation of the so-called “accommodation” first announced in February 2012, whereby some “third party” will provide...

Thursday on MSNBC's "José Díaz-Balart," Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) said President Barack Obama should use an executive order and grant amnesty to an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants already living in the United States because it will "quell some of the unrest" caused by "racial overtones" of anti immigration rhetoric. He said, "Latinos that are fourth, fifth generation -- they see this as a civil rights issue." Grijalva said Obama's amnesty, "Will quell some of the unrest that we are seeing in our communities and the racial overtones that continue to build around this issue." He explained, "The issue of...

Oregon has had a wink-wink, nudge-nudge relationship with recreational marijuana use since 1998, when legalization for medical purposes created a wide, open system that distributes pot cards to just about anyone with a vague medical claim and the signature of a compliant physician. We're not suggesting that marijuana has no palliative value to those with genuine medical problems. But let's be honest: Recreational marijuana is all but legal in Oregon now and has been for years. Measure 91, which deserves Oregonians' support, would eliminate the charade and give adults freer access to an intoxicant that should not have been prohibited...

Whatever you do, don’t call it an invasion. U.S. officials are refusing to call Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine this week an invasion, and the issue is not on the agenda for Thursday’s National Security Council meeting. “Today the president is meeting with his National Security Council to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria, our ongoing efforts to support the Iraqi government, and our efforts to counter the threat posed by ISIL,” a White House official said on Thursday when asked if the situation in Ukraine would also be a part of the meeting. “You should not expect that...