Free Republic

NYC Mayor de Blasio on vaccines: “We’ve got to shake people at this point and say ‘c’mon now.’ We tried voluntary. We could not have been more kind and compassionate as a country…free testing, incentives, friendly warm embrace — the voluntary phase is over.”

As Wisconsinites head for the polls, our Beltway elites are almost giddy. For they foresee a Badger State bashing for Donald Trump, breaking his momentum toward the Republican nomination. Should The Donald fall short of the delegates needed to win on the first ballot, 1,237, there is growing certitude that he will be stopped. First by Ted Cruz; then, perhaps, by someone acceptable to the establishment, which always likes to have two of its own in the race. But this city of self-delusion should realize there is no going back for America. For, whatever his stumbles of the last two...

he Washington Post's obsession over Donald Trump is a sight to behold — but not a pretty one. On Monday, following two week-earlier Trump-demonizing columns, one comparing the billionaire to medieval emperor Charlemagne, and another claiming that Trump's electoral progress thus far had helped her understand "exactly how Hitler could have come to power in Germany," the Post issued a house editorial directly comparing Trump's "assault on democracy" to Hitler's rise to power. In other words, last week's columns were merely appetizers for the paper's institutional assertion that, as far as they're concerned, the "authoritarian" Trump should be rejected because of the likelihood...

President Obama continued his criticism of Fox News, arguing that the network’s viewers are getting a different set of facts than the rest of the country. During a WTF Podcast with Marc Maron, Obama lamented that the media is “splintered” now, with all kinds of different news outlets. “We’re not in a common conversation,” he said. “If you watch Fox News you inhabit a completely different world with different facts than if you read (the) New York Times,” he said. Obama said media institutions such as Fox News and political organizations were trying to profit from polarization, and that’s leaving the political...

President Obama seemed to relish the chance to take yet another swipe at the Supreme Court justices who were deliberating a case that could determine the fate of his landmark health-care law. “This should be an easy case,” he said earlier this month regarding the latest legal showdown over the Affordable Care Act. “Frankly, it probably shouldn’t even have been taken up.” This time the president was taking questions from reporters at a recent summit of world leaders in Germany. The case before the court would decide whether millions of Americans who receive tax subsidies to buy health insurance on...

Justice Department’s national security chief cites six-month transition period in the USA Freedom Act as a reason to turn the bulk surveillance spigot back on.The (Obama administration) has asked a secret surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the National Security Agency the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months. The legal request, filed nearly four hours after Barack Obama vowed to sign a new law banning precisely the bulk collection he asks the secret court to approve, also suggests that the administration may...

MASHPEE – President Obama and his family will be vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard again this summer, according to officials at Joint Base Cape Cod. Base officials were in Mashpee this week to give selectmen an update on a number of issues at the base. But tucked in among the announcements about mission changes and environmental mitigation, Colonel James LeFavor of the 102nd Intelligence Wing announced that President Obama would be coming to Martha’s Vineyard again this summer. “This summer again, we’re still having a visitor to the Cape down on Martha’s Vineyard as we have for a long time and...

Complete Headline: Pumping his arms, pointing his finger and firing verbal volleys: Obama's aggressive body language in State of the Union speech shows Republicans he means business Obama's body language avoided impression balance of power has shifted He gave his State of the Union address to Republican-controlled Congress But he refrained from being conciliatory with defiant gestures and barbs Contained within his speech were a host of threats to use veto powers Pumping his arms, pointing his index finger and gesturing with his hands, President Barack Obama's body language at last night's State of the Union speech was anything but...

The White House said Monday that President Obama won’t necessarily seek congressional approval if he decides to order airstrikes in Syria against militants of the Islamic State. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Mr. Obama, who is meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Monday afternoon, “has not made a decision to pursue any military action in Syria.” But he said the president doesn’t see the need to seek congressional approval as he did a year ago, when he was considering an attack on the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for its use of chemical weapons. “That was a...

President Barack Obama hits Chicago on Wednesday for two jumbo priced fundraisers to benefit the Democratic National Committee. Obama hosts a roundtable—I am told keyed towards business executives—at the Chicago Cut Steakhouse downtown where about 25 folks are expected; the tab is up to $32,400. The Obama roundtable is hosted by Mesirow Financial Chairman and CEO Richard Price.

Tuesday night live on C-SPAN, President Obama outlines his agenda for the coming year when he delivers his fifth State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of Congress. Leading up to the President's speech, C-SPAN sets the scene from the White House and Capitol Hill with perspectives from Former Speechwriter to President Obama Jon Lovett, Senate Historian Don Ritchie, and Gallup Editor in Chief Frank Newport. Following the State of the Union, House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) delivers the Republican response. McMorris Rodgers is in her fifth term representing Washington’s Fifth District. C-SPAN's live coverage...

Where Congress isn’t acting, I’ll act on my own to put opportunity within reach for anyone who’s willing to work for it. That’s what I did in Raleigh by launching America’s second “manufacturing innovation institute.” It’s a partnership between companies, colleges, and the federal government focused on making sure American businesses and American workers win the race for high-tech manufacturing and the jobs that come with it – jobs that can help people and communities willing to work hard punch their ticket into the middle class.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: So Congress is going to be busy, and I’m looking forward to working with Democrats and Republicans, House members and Senate members, to try to continue to advance the economic recovery and to provide additional ladders of opportunity for everybody. But one of the things that I’ll be emphasizing in this meeting is the fact that we are not just going to be waiting for a legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help that they need. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone -- and I can use that...

Official White House photographer Pete Souza shot back at critics this weekend, insisting he is not hogging coverage of President Obama. -snip- Souza's unfettered access to Obama has made him an object of scorn among the White House press corps, who are angry that photojournalists are systematically blocked from covering the President at events. The head of photography for The Associated Press has likened Souza's "visual news releases" to propaganda. Santiago Lyon accused Obama of trying to "bypass the media by releasing a sanitized visual record of his activities through official photographs and videos at the expense of independent journalistic...

President Obama and his family are expected to leave Washington later this week for a 17-day vacation in Hawaii. This will be the First Family´s sixth Christmas in Hawaii since he was elected president, and in keeping with tradition they are expected to spend it on the island of Kailua. The White House announced on Friday that the Obamas will depart next week after what is expected to be a light work schedule for the president in Washington.The president and his family traditionally spend their Christmas break in a rented private beach front residence with spectacular ocean views.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says she will recommend that President Obama act alone if necessary to create new national monuments and sidestep a gridlocked Congress that has failed to address dozens of public lands bills. Jewell said the logjam on Capitol Hill has created a conservation backlog, and she warned that the Obama administration would not "hold its breath forever" waiting for lawmakers to act. "The president will not hesitate," Jewell said in an interview in San Francisco last week. "I can tell you that there are places that are ripe for setting aside, with a tremendous groundswell of public...

President Obama is officially on vacation with his family in Martha's Vineyard but apparently, there just wasn't enough room on 4,000 square feet of Air Force One for their dog Bo. Naturally, the dog was put on a separate flight. Rooms have to be found for dozens of Secret Service agents, someone has to carry a selection of presidential basketballs, and of course the family dog needs his own state-of-the-art aircraft. Arriving in the idyllic coastal retreat of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, Mr Obama left behind him in Washington DC high profile debates over the budget, government surveillance and his...

Bo, the president's Portuguese Water Dog, arrived separately on one of two MV-22 Ospreys, a hybrid aircraft which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane.

The White House has kicked off several federal projects aimed at influencing how Americans react to certain policy reforms, going so far as to solicit behavior experts to join a British-style “Behavioral Insights Team” to help nudge voters into accepting key political programs. “Behavioral sciences can be used to help design public policies that work better, cost less and help people to achieve their goals,” a document on the government program states, Fox News reported. The document, emailed by White House senior adviser Maya Shankar and obtained by Fox News, also seeks applicants to join the federal government’s behavior modification...

The first family is returning this summer to Martha’s Vineyard, the third time the Obamas have vacationed on the exclusive Massachusetts island in the past four years. President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will arrive August 10 and stay through August 18, the White House said earlier this month. The vacation is drawing some criticism about the president relaxing among the rich and famous while drastic cuts to the federal budget known as sequester kick in with full force, including the start this month of furloughs for 85 percent of the Defense Department’s civilian workforce.