Free Republic

On June 19-21, 2013, there will be dueling Seven50 Summits at the Palm Beach Conference Center, West Palm Beach, Florida. The Seven50 plan is an effort by the Southeast Florida Regional Partnership, funded by a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with the mission to “[C]reate and implement the Seven50: SE Florida Prosperity Plan, a blueprint for a vibrant and resilient economy; socially inclusive, sustainable, and affordable communities; and environmental sustainability.” … The City of Vero Beach, FL has pulled out of the plan. Mayor Craig Fletcher attended a briefing given by proponents of Seven50...

Westchester lawmakers actually put aside partisan infighting and election-year politicking when they joined together in a fight against the federal government over funding it pulled from the county. The Board of Legislators on Monday agreed to back County Executive Rob Astorino in a proposed lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over $7.4 million the agency stripped from the county because of differing interpretations of the 2009 affordable housing settlement. It's about time the two branches came together in this ongoing standoff. And it's the right thing to do for the county. In approving legal action, Westchester's...

Two prominent civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency over its program that reportedly collects the telephone records of millions of American customers of Verizon. The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union say in a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday that the program violates First Amendment rights of free speech and association. It also alleges the program violates Fourth Amendment rights to privacy. The lawsuit additionally alleges the government's program exceeds Congress' authority.

Domestic Spying Revelation Could Be Devastating For The Obama White House Peter Foster, The Telegraph June. 6, 2013, 6:46 AM The Obama administration will be bracing itself for a torrent of hostile questions this morning following the apparent revelation that the National Security Agency has been data-mining the phone records of tens of millions of ordinary Americans. Not to be confused with eaves-dropping, or bugging the phones of those suspected of conspiring to commit a terrorist or criminal offence, the top secret court order published by The Guardian appears to show that the NSA has been trawling the anonymous 'metadata'...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it will spend $32 million to provide housing, life skills and job training for HIV/AIDS patients. “Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $32 million in grant awards to assist more than 1,300 extremely low-income persons and families living with HIV/AIDS annually,” HUD said in a press release on Thursday. A total of $32,336,685 will go to housing and rental assistance programs in 20 states. On average, the 1,300 persons and families will receive $24,874.37 each. …

When Chelsea Clinton wanted to make a low-key visit to the hurricane-stricken Rockaways last fall, she arranged to take a trip with her close friend Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton. -snip- But the reality, it turns out, is just the opposite: Those close to the couple say that Ms. Abedin, a seasoned operative well versed in the politics of redemption, has been a main architect of her husband’s rehabilitative journey, shaping his calculated comeback and drawing on her close ties with one of the country’s most powerful families to lay the groundwork for his return. A...

Have you heard the one about the governor and the missed punch line? Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office said on Thursday that the governor was just kidding when he offered a disparaging assessment of Anthony D. Weiner’s campaign for mayor of New York City — -snip- Asked about Mr. Weiner at an appearance in New Paltz on Thursday afternoon, after the remark in Syracuse had been made public, Mr. Cuomo was diplomatic. “I don’t have an official position on the mayor’s race,” he said, “and I’m going to leave it at that.”

WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- The Internal Revenue Service and three other U.S. government agencies will be closed Friday as employees take a forced unpaid holiday due to spending cuts. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Office of Management and Budget are also set to be closed due to furloughs, CNN Money reported. The one-day shutdown of the IRS, at a time when many people want to know when to expect their tax refund checks, is likely to have the most noticeable impact, CNN said. snip IRS offices and hotlines will...

When Americans think of the federal government taking on locals to combat racism, they think of Ike sending troops into a Little Rock high school, of JFK sending the National Guard to Ole Miss or LBJ announcing on television the FBI’s arrest of Klansmen for killing a Freedom Rider. Now the Obama administration is arguing that the leafy hamlets of Westchester County are guilty of their own racial discrimination. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development is using all the power it has to bring the locals to heel. The leverage comes from a 2009 consent decree designed to...

No, I'm not talking about the non-event of the Sequester of Doom. Nope, this column is not about Gene Sperling's love letters to Bob Woodward. I think the talking heads that inhabit PMSNBC, The Communist News Network (CNN), and the FOX Neocon Channel (FNC) are doing a fine job of working themselves into a frenzy about these topics, so there's no need for lil' ol' me to offer my two cents. I'd rather present to you actual news that no one is talking about. For example, look what I found while snooping around the Department of Housing and Urban Development's...

Destroying the sovereignty and freedom of United States citizens is well underway with a new doublespeak plan called Seven50, just another euphemism for Globalism through Regionalism. Flying under the radar, federal bureaucrats and alphabet agencies have joined with local politicians in 7 Florida counties in imposing The Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI), a United Nations created plan which divests Americans of Constitutionally guaranteed liberty by introducing social collectivism. Vero Beach County Commissioner Bob Solari warns that the Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) being pushed by HUD, the EPA, and the USDOT is representative of a culture which believes “government can never be...

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration named Holly Petraeus--wife of retired Gen. David Patraeus, who resigned last week as CIA director after revealing he had had an extramarital affair--to a $187,605-per-yer job in the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB, created by the Dodd-Frank law, was placed by that law under the umbrella of the Federal Reserve. The funding of the CFBP, which comes from the Federal Reserve, is not subject to congressional oversight. Mrs. Petraeus became a member of the CFPB Implementation Team on Jan. 12, 2011. She is now the assistant director for the Office of...

The city’s Civil Rights Commission has pushed to bring attention to housing discrimination based on how a tenant pays rent, including low-income tenants who qualify for and use Section 8 housing vouchers to help pay for housing. At the commission’s Fair Housing Conference here on Thursday, the regional fair-housing director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development took time to emphasize the value of the sometimes maligned “Section 8″ housing vouchers to both extremely low-income households and to the overall economy. Betty Bottiger, who works in HUD’s regional office in Kansas City, Kan., noted that the agency’s “housing...

Misuse of the FHA Preforeclosure Sale Program may have cost the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) over a billion dollars for claims that did not meet program according to an audit released this week by the HUD's Region 7 Office of Inspector General (OIG). OIG initiated the audit after noticing significant deficiencies in borrower qualifications during an audit of program claims at one large lender. The Preforeclosure Sale Program allows borrowers in default due to an adverse an unavoidable financial situation to sell their home at fair market value and use the proceeds to pay off an FHA-guaranteed...

Congress must raise taxes on the wealthy "because there just isn't enough to go around," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute today. "Latino growth has meant that often they're at the back of the line for housing assistance or other things," Donovan said during CHCI's annual Public Policy Conference this morning at the Ronald Reagan Building in D.C. "And the fundamental problem here (in part) is, are we going to continue to invest in those things? And if we continue to cut the budget for Section 8 housing and public housing and a...

North Miami violated federal rules and must repay more than $150,000 for not disclosing that the recipient of a federally funded home was the mother of a councilwoman. The city was awarded $2.8 million under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to rehabilitate and sell foreclosed homes to first-time home buyers. The program is run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. One of the recipients who qualified for and later moved into a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse was Councilwoman Marie Steril’s mother, Marie Charles-Brutus. According to HUD rules, elected officials must disclose any family ties to individuals who will benefit from...

..[SNIP]...The plan is led by a consortium established jointly by the South Florida Regional Planning Council and the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and is funded by a $4.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some 200 public agencies, advocates, business and academic groups are involved, including county and city planners, elected officials, major universities and chambers of commerce. ..[SNIP]..HUD has issued similar grants to 45 U.S. regions in an effort to get more bang for its economic development dollars as federal outlays shrink amid increasing demand. HUD wants to focus its funding on places...

A sprawling housing complex in the Bronx has been fined $85,000 for not allowing residents to keep emotional-support dogs. The Daily News reports that the company that manages Co-op City was fined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for denying two clinically depressed residents their pets. Co-op City has a strict no-dog policy, but federal law requires housing providers to make accommodations . . .

Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. today announced the closing of the first loan under the Green Refinance Plus program, a partnership between Fannie Mae and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) introduced last year to incentivize energy and resource efficiency improvements in affordable housing.

After edging out Rockefeller 51% to 49% in the winner-take-all race in California, Goldwater had a huge majority of delegates, enough to easily win the nomination at the Republican convention. George Romney set about denouncing Goldwater, and even raised a stink at the convention to have Goldwater′s delegates disqualified. Romney was accusing many of Goldwater′s delegates as being everything from racists, members of the Ku-Klux-Klan, the John Birch Society and even accused some of being Communists! Imagine that! Once Goldwater was named the presidential nominee, George Romney still worked to undermine his campaign, refusing to endorse or support him. So...