Free Republic

A once-standout U.S. narcotics agent who used his badge to build a lavish lifestyle of expensive cars, parties on yachts and Tiffany jewels was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison Thursday for conspiring to launder money with a Colombian cartel. (SNIP) U.S. District Court Judge Charlene Honeywell in handing down her sentence expressed disgust with the DEA for its failings and said other agents corrupted by “the allure of easy money” also needed to be investigated.(SNIP) Dominguez has met with prosecutors for “endless hours” to provide information on the criminal activities of “fellow law-enforcement agents who initiated...

"The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves." -- ― Vladimir Lenin A video has surfaced in which a man in the Saint Louis area, who has been involved in the protests in Missouri tells viewers that agent provocateurs are infiltrating legitimate protests in Missouri, all for the sake of the government growing its militarized presence in the area. The videographer wrote in the description of the video: "I debated with myself over an hour about whether I should post this or not. Earlier, while on the 2nd shift of our U. City protest, a guy...

I may regret writing this column. Retaliation by a state agency is an ugly thing. My best hope is that the bureaucrats who have made my life a living hell for these past few months don’t read insignificant little articles written by nobody columnists for a bi-weekly newspaper. It wasn’t bad enough that the cable, phone, credit card, garbage, power, and water companies, along with the Florida Retirement System and bank, gave me major grief after Frank died. Apparently it doesn’t matter that no payment was ever late or not paid in full. Since Frank was the primary, they reasoned...

The Environmental Protection Agency moved forward with a proposed rule to require coal-fired power plants to install a technology aimed at reducing greenhouse gases that the Government Accountability Office found won’t be commercially viable for several years. The EPA first proposed new caps on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel fired electricity generating units in April 2012 and received more than 2.5 million public comments on the rules. In the proposed rule filed with the Federal Register on Wednesday, the EPA said it is withdrawing the 2012 proposal and moving forward with new substitute rules.

Kombucha lovers rejoice! Your favorite fluid is back on shelves at Whole Foods. Kombucha maker Vibranz on Wednesday said that its product, also known at Synergy, is back in stores. Whole Foods Market Inc. removed all varieties of the drink from shelves in mid-June over worries they contained too much alcohol. The retailer and regulators are concerned that some bottles have more than 0.5 percent alcohol -- the legal limit for a drink not to be considered alcoholic. The drink, which some call Chinese fermented tea, in its most popular form is raw and unpasteurized, meaning it ferments and the...

In yet another arrogant display of the federal government's jackboot to the throat of America and of its troubling disregard for the rights of citizens, the Food and Drug Administration now claims that Americans have no fundamental inherent right of access to certain foods. The agency also claims that Americans do not have a fundamental right to grow their own food, to sell it as they see fit, or to engage in contractual agreements with other citizens in forming food coops. Neighborhood food coops, such as this one, The Lots O'Greens, in Detroit, would be banned under new FDA rules....

A search warrant executed on Tuesday authorized the seizure of records for more than 300 medical marijuana card holders, including doctors’ recommendations and personal contact information, after officers from the Grand Junction Police Department were called out to investigate a suspicious odor seeping from a building near the offices of the U.S. Census Bureau. The warrant, which was signed by District Judge Thomas Deister on Tuesday, allowed for Western Colorado Drug Task Force officers to seize records, “in order to verify who the current primary caregiver is,” for the approximately 308 patient files found inside a large marijuana grow at...

<p>My friend, the wonderful sf writer Peter Watts was beaten without provocation and arrested by US border guards on Tuesday. I heard about it early Wednesday morning in London and called Cindy Cohn, the legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She worked her contacts to get in touch with civil rights lawyers in Michigan, and we mobilized with Caitlin Sweet (Peter's partner) and David Nickle (Peter's friend) and Peter was arraigned and bailed out later that day.</p>

An expert who testified against the government in a disputed Wisconsin gun case involving what the defense has described as a "broken" gun says federal agents ever since have been retaliating and the government's actions are costing his business hundreds of thousands of dollars.

BEIJING (AP) - The communist government's leading newspaper called Saturday to "resolutely crush" Tibetan demonstrations against Chinese rule. The statement came as international criticism against the crackdown on Tibetan protesters swelled. A senior EU official said European countries should not rule out threatening China with an Olympic boycott if violence continues in Tibet. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi also joined the growing chorus of critics. Fighting back against the criticism, Beijing has begun releasing tallies of statements of support from foreign governments and trying to get its version of events before the international...

Despite the endless blathering and squirming to the contrary on the part of Wired Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Cato Institute and other institutions that normally proclaim the truth of free-market economics, the Law of Supply and Demand applies to labor as much as to any other thing that is bought and sold.  That is to say, if one increases the supply of labor relative to demand, its price will fall. That price is your salary, friend.  And mass immigration is inexorably driving it down. Well, maybe not your salary personally, if you are lucky enough to work in...