Free Republic

Get ready for the White House to ignore their own science experts again. The Department of Energy commissioned a study by the National Petroleum Council which was meant to help determine our long range energy strategy. Their conclusion? We need to head on up to the Arctic basin and drill baby drill.

Here is Marcia Freedman, in a J-Street panel discussion on Liberal Zionism and sitting next to Peter Beinart, describing how she believes that the Jewish people should not have a state, and that instead they should live as a minority in an Arab Palestine as a “protected minority” – in other words, as dhimmis. I kept all the context (although I accidentally cut out the applause at the end:) Isn’t it interesting that at a conference that claims to be “pro-Israel, pro-peace” and that hammers away at how it wants a two state solution, there is no objection to this...

Linky only.

Manufacturers of consumer goods in the United States have a lot to fear from the government, and becoming the target of a class action lawsuit is right up there in the first tier of those concerns. An astounding 52 percent of major corporations are engaged in class action litigation right now. Federal judges have complete discretion about whether to certify a class action lawsuit, and then whether to approve large attorney fee requests. Once certified as a federal class action, an otherwise small lawsuit turns into a massive cash drain for the target company and a money machine for the...

Politicians frequently claim they’ve been misquoted or misunderstood by reporters. See Scott Walker’s spokeswoman’s response to a Wall Street Journal report about his position on amnesty. But there’s a sure way to avoid that: Keep reporters out of the room. The Phoenix Business Journal reports that’s what Gov. Walker did when he spoke this week to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. It was part of a series featuring presidential contenders. “I’d love to tell you what he had to say that was important enough for him to travel thousands of miles from home, but I can’t,” Travis Arbon writes. “The...

WASHINGTON - D.C.'s delegate to Congress is making news for her parking skills. Video published by Roll Call shows Eleanor Holmes Norton awkwardly trying to wedge her car between two cars parked in angled spaces near the Capitol earlier this week. You could say that didn't go well. The video was shot Wednesday along New Jersey Avenue Southeast, between the Longworth and Cannon House Office buildings, according to Roll Call. Norton, 77, is seen trying to squeeze her silver, four-door sedan in between two other cars that are parked in angled spots. The only problem? Norton is trying to park...

Prime Minister's Office confirms millions of dollars in tax revenue will go to PA; Netanyahu says important to act 'responsibly'. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has accepted the recommendation of Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, as well as the IDF and Shin Bet security service, and unfrozen millions of dollars in tax revenue for the Palestinian Authority. The Prime Minister's Office confirmed that following the decision the funds would be transferred to the PA immediately, to cover amenities including water, electricity and hospitals. The PMO stated that the decision had been taken "based on humanitarian considerations and from a wider perspective the...

Foreign minister says Paris to advance Security Council resolution on peace negotiations; EU weighing new action to pressure Israel on talks. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — France’s foreign minister said Friday his country will move forward on discussions with its partners on a possible UN Security Council resolution that could present a framework for negotiations toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Laurent Fabius said “there is no other solution.” He spoke to reporters Friday at UN headquarters before planning to leave for the Iran nuclear talks in Switzerland. France put off a previous council resolution to wait for the results of Israel’s...

Bad weather and rising gasoline prices pushed U.S. consumer sentiment a bit lower in March. The March drop in confidence was caused entirely by falling confidence among low-income households, which are especially sensitive to high utility bills in the winter. Michigan's Curtin predicted that an improving job market would boost consumer spending the rest of the year.

A report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office found that America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, received at least $1.5 billion in state and federal funding in a three-year span from 2010-2012. The investigation additionally found that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and five other pro-abortion advocacy companies— Advocates for Youth, Guttmacher Institute, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Population Council, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States – spent a combined total of nearly $482 million in direct federal funding received from Health and Human Services and United States Agency of International Development during that...

As I read the USA Today March 21, 2015 news report, “Police departments hiring immigrants as officers” I realized that my late father was, once again, correct. He used to say, “Nothing is so good it could not be better or so bad it could not get worse.” Hard as it is to imagine, things have gotten worse — much, much worse. Here is an excerpt from the USA Today article: At a time when 25,000 non-U.S. citizens are serving in the U.S. military, some feel it’s time for more police and sheriff departments to do the same. That’s why...

Hillary Clinton is very unhappy about Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act and on Thursday, she joined in the histrionics of the angry mobs who were complaining about the horrid, discriminatory law.  Sad this new Indiana law can happen in America today. We shouldn't discriminate against ppl bc of who they love #LGBT http://t.co/mDhpS18oEH— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 27, 2015  But Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, pointed out that it was Hillary’s husband, then-President Clinton, who signed the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993.  I remember when your husband signed the federal version into law. RT @HillaryClinton...

Muslim immigration from dangerous nations is dramatically higher in recent years, and government assurances that immigrants are being properly screened is “a farce,” according to accomplished author and columnist Paul Sperry. “It’s a huge surge under Obama. In the last three years, he’s averaged 100,000 new immigrants from Muslim nations a year. That is very alarming. It’s more than we’re importing both from Central America and Mexico combined. This is a big shift in immigration flows,” said Sperry, who is the author of “Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington” and co-author of “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret...

As more and more information about the nuclear talks with Iran is revealed in the press, including yesterday’s gem in which the nation learned that the White House might consider allowing Iran to proceed with enrichment at a hardened, underground facilities designed to withstand airstrikes, the public grows reasonably skeptical of the true design of a nuclear accord. If the administration’s aim is not merely to freeze but roll back the Iranian nuclear weapons program, actors in the region nervous about Iran’s ambitions believe the White House will fail to achieve this objective. Moreover, in the effort to provide...

This might surprise you, but it appears that key GOP activists and influential party members do not see Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as having much of a shot at becoming the party’s 2016 nominee. Now, anyone looking at the early state polls at this stage of the race might say the same thing. Cruz is not polling competitively in Iowa as of today, and he’s certainly not over-performing in New Hampshire. But these “insiders” who responded to a Politico Caucus survey don’t think Cruz can win either primary state. What’s more, they do not believe he can prevail against...

Remember when a disagreement between Republicans on the budget was “cataclysmic” for GOP claims to governance? Democrats last passed a normal budget resolution six years ago, but Republicans went all of seven days before both chambers finally passed budget resolutions. Our long national nightmare, at least as envisioned by Politico, is over: The Senate passed a Republican-authored budget plan early on Friday that seeks $5.1 trillion in domestic spending cuts over 10 years while boosting military funding.The 52-46 vote on the non-binding budget resolution put Congress on a path to complete its first full budget in six years. It...

On February 12, the Pentagon quietly declassified a top-secret 386-page Department of Defense document from 1987 detailing Israel's nuclear program – the first time Israel’s alleged nuclear program has ever been officially and publically referenced by the U.S. authorities. In the declassified document, the Pentagon reveals supposed details about Israel’s deterrence capabilities, but it kept sections on France, Germany, and Italy classified. Those sections are blacked out in the document. The two main exceptions in the international media that wrote about the declassification at the time were the state-funded Iranian regime station Press TV and the state-funded Russian station RT....

Travel schedules of Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif suggest that the parties may gather for a “signing” ceremony on Sunday, March 29 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Omri Ceren, press director at The Israel Project, told reporters via email from Switzerland: “Rumors are swirling about a deal as early as Sunday the 29th: Lavrov is slated to fly in for the 27th-29th, Kerry is supposed to be in Boston on the 30th, and the Iranians are talking about where they want to move the talks for the signing ceremony.” However, it...

Moshe Kahlon, chairman of Kulanu, on Thursday ordered his team not to attend the meeting with Likud’s team in protest against media reports that the Knesset Finance Committee and the Planning Administration – two bodies that Kahlon is seeking for Kulanu to promote a series of reforms – are to be given to United Torah Judaism and Shas. Sources in Kulanu accused Likud of “handing out positions at the expense of the tools needed to bring down housing prices and the cost of living, even before the negotiating teams have met.” Likud, seemingly unfazed by Kahlon’s muscle-flexing said: “How did...

There are several egregious exhibits that clamor for more scrutiny of union contract negotiations with governments: vacant jails awaiting unionized staffing; ill-timed, even illegal teacher strikes; funding for salaries of union officers and bogus bonuses, to name a few. Here’s another: illusionary job inequities that elicit extra pay for some state workers and extra taxes for everyone else. In Washington State, collective bargaining between the Governor’s office and public unions is exempt from the state’s Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA). When public unions enter the breach of accountability they conjure secret covenants, secretly arrived at, and this is true in...