Free Republic

In 1970 America, two infamous organizations were gearing up for big things. Wade Rathke founded ACORN in Arkansas and soon after moved its headquarters to New Orleans. Jim Jones was building the Peoples Temple and set up operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rathke and Jones were gifted community organizers utilizing Democrat politicians, a compliant media, and vulnerable citizens to further their quest for power and money. Their identical pretense was helping the poor and downtrodden. Jim Jones could round up crowds of protesters and door to door campaign workers on demand. Admired and enabled by San Francisco Democrats...

There are a handful of political poisons that conservatives fall victim to swallowing that inevitably lead to "death" at the polls. I could talk about the lack of political fortitude (call it like it is), or even the inability, to articulate a clear and concise message to the people in a world where cryptic political double-speak is considered graceful, but for today, the focus is placed on the importance of who should be, and who should not be, allowed to walk under the banner of the Conservative Movement. Liberals always hate the analogy, "birds of a feather flock together," because...

A law school professor has withdrawn a lawsuit accusing the legal blog Above the Law of publishing a "viciously racist series of rants" after reporting the professor's arrest for suspicion of soliciting prostitution. University of Miami School of Law professor Donald Marvin Jones dropped his lawsuit on Wednesday, nine days after he filed it pro se in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He did not respond to a request for comment.*** Above the Law Managing Editor David Lat declined comment on Thursday, but in a blog post on Wednesday wrote that there had been no...

Note: The following text is a quote: Three Louisiana individuals sentenced for transporting illegal aliens Defendants Part of Large Scale Operation to Transport Illegal Aliens LAKE CHARLES, La. - Members of a large scale illegal alien transportation operation based in Sulphur, La., were sentenced in federal court yesterday following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. U. S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi sentenced Carolyn Joyce Metcalf, 62, to 30 months in prison, followed by three years supervised release; Terri Lynn Fields, 41, to 27 months in prison, followed by three years supervised release; and Jean Morgan Vincent,...

White House Communications Director Anita Dunn says that her comment about Chairman Mao as one of her "favorite political philosophers" has been badly distorted. Perhaps she meant to say that Mao is one of her favorite media strategists. It is telling what Dunn regards as a reassuring defense: that she was only extolling Mao's can-do attitude and that her admiration for it came from Lee Atwater. "The Mao quote is one I picked up from the late Republican strategist," she said. So now the reviled creator of the Willie Horton ad is someone Democrats feel they can safely hide behind?...

National security adviser James L. Jones - the president's point man in a momentous debate on U.S. policy in Afghanistan - has repeatedly shifted his assessments of the war as he transformed himself from a top Marine general to a civilian adviser in recent years. Mr. Jones declared as recently as 2006 that the Taliban had been tactically neutralized by coalition forces in southern Afghanistan. In the ensuing years, though, he has warned that the Taliban is expanding its reach while offering varying opinions on whether more U.S. troops are needed to fight them, a review of his public statements...

"I have a gift." Barack Obama to Harry Reid I’m not exactly sure what “gift” President Obama was referring to, but unless he’s delusional, it isn’t his governing skills. Those who are still hypnotized eleven months after the election of Dear Leader may not have noticed, but the man who manipulates the teleprompter and looks temperately placid, has a decidedly diabolical persona toward his electorate. He hires people like Mark Lloyd for the FCC who worships Hugo Chavez and his revolutionary control of the press. Then there’s the self- acclaimed Communist and Black Liberationist Van Jones. Sadly for Valery Jarrett...

America's National Security Adviser Jim Jones over the weekend gave a pass to Iran, dismissing concerns that the regime had a nuclear arms program that was dangerously close to success. He stood by the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that was widely criticized as being grievously flawed when it stated that Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program. That report was discredited two years ago but apparently Jones has his finger to the wind and changed his mind to suit his political patrons. But this shifting to suit politicians is par for the course for him -- he has also done...

Obama decision on Afghanistan strategy due in 'a matter of weeks,' says JonesBy Michael O'Brien 10/04/09 10:58 AM ET President Barack Obama will make a decision on how to proceed in Afghanistan in "a matter of weeks," his national security advisor said Sunday. Retired Gen. James L. Jones, who serves as national security advisor, said that the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan is in no imminent danger of failure, and that the president would consider a variety of broad, strategic directions to pursue before determining whether he would grant a top general's request for more troops. Jones said Obama would...

The White House national security adviser said Sunday that Afghanistan “is not in imminent danger of falling,” a different view expressed from the top U.S. commander in that country.Retired Gen. James Jones, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” said the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai must improve but he believes it can succeed with a strong U.S. effort to train its army and police force.“I don’t foresee the return of the Taliban. Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falling,” Jones said. “The al-Qaeda presence is very diminished. The maximum estimate is...

From the pit of my stomach. Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falling to the Taliban, President Obama's national security adviser said Sunday as he downplayed worries that the insurgency could set up a renewed sanctuary for Al Qaeda. Retired Gen. James Jones made the comments on the same day eight U.S. soldiers were killed near the Pakistan border and as many as seven Afghan forces in one of the fiercest battles of the eight-year war. Several hundred militant fighters streamed from an Afghan village and a mosque and attacked a pair of remote outposts. It's important to get...

What’s the big rush? That seems to be Obama’s modus operandi on any foreign-policy challenge. Iran has secret (well, not secret, since the president knew about it) nuclear facilities, but we can talk about it. December’s a good deadline. But really, what’s a “deadline” mean? September’s deadline came and went, right? Likewise on Afghanistan: there is no time frame for even making a decision, according to Bob Woodward: "President Obama has not set a deadline for determining a new strategy or for committing more troops to the war in Afghanistan, despite an urgent request from his top commander, his national...

White House National Security Adviser James L. Jones says President Obama's decision to abandon a long-range missile defense site in Eastern Europe was driven by U.S. intelligence concerns that Iran is further along than previously thought in developing medium-range missiles that could strike Western Europe and the Middle East with nuclear warheads. "We think they are heading toward weaponiz[ing] these missiles, which obviously we want to dissuade them from doing," the retired four-star Marine general told The Washington Times, explaining why U.S. officials dramatically shifted from years of focus on guarding against longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Gen. Jones also...

In this epsiode of the Conscience of Kansas radio program I interview Mike Yost, candidate for U.S. House of Reptesentatives. We play some of the lecture of Bob Basso as Thomas Paine at Kansas State University. We also talk to Kristinn Taylor, co-founder of the Wasington D.C. branch of the FreeRepublic on the resignation of green czar Van jones. We invite you to listen and comment.

Van Jones,... is, or at least was, a self-professed communist. He also had ties to an organization called Standing Together To Organize a Revolutionary Movement, a communist group that considered Mao Zedong as its ideological leader. It formed Workers Organized To Rid Us of Capitalism. Jones also advocated on behalf of death row inmate Jumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer. I would think the president would think twice about appointing someone with that kind of history. Now Jones has resigned, claiming he was brought down by a smear campaign. He gave the infamous nonapology apology, saying that...

Herewith, two scenarios. Scenario A: The supposedly inept president of the United States carefully planned and orchestrated the worst terrorist attack on American soil in our history. Though "only" 3,000 people died, the plan was to kill many more by simultaneously attacking the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and either the U.S. Capitol or the White House itself on Sept. 11, 2001. Hundreds of people, including personnel from myriad agencies, participated. According to some versions of Scenario A, explosives were placed at the World Trade Center to ensure success. In other versions, all of "the Jews" working there were tipped...

For the environmental movement, Jones' resignation is a setback. One can only hope that his unwelcome celebrity of the past week will have the positive side effect of galvanizing support for his work; that it will call attention to urban poverty, pollution and his ideal of a green economy. To the extent Jones' agenda succeeds, it will benefit all of us. Even the polar bears.

If Republicans act like Democrats we don’t need Republicans. Obama has a penchant for making HC speeches that alter his intent. Just like his recent 157,929th news conference/HC speech, he indicted the Cambridge Police as “Stupid” while defending his friend, Hahvad Professor Louie Gates. HC was put on the backburner while Barack played racial politics cover-up at a beer fest. Last night, SC Republican, Rep. Joe Wilson blurted out the words “YOU LIE!” after one of the many fibs told by our Dear Leader. Never mind Barack Obama called millions of Americans liars for objecting to what’s actually in House...

With the resignation of White House CEQ member and “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones over Labor Day weekend, the movement toward a green tech economy took more than just a symbolic hit. Take these three lessons from Jones’ resignation as signals that the Senate’s lift on energy/climate change legislation in the coming weeks may be even tougher than predicted: Green as Granola…or Worse? We have seen time and again this year that in spite of further entrenchment with skeptics, the green movement is still not resonant in red state America. In fact, they see climate change and energy reform as...

Former White House aide Van Jones, who resigned at midnight Saturday night on Labor Day weekend, explained in his resignation letter, "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide….But…I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future."

O'Reilly is acting absolutely jealous of Glenn Beck. He is doing so in his own condescending manner. He tells Glenn Beck that it isn't significant when the President of the United States hires a self avowed COMMUNIST in his administration. Billy boy says he calls it being an "equal opportunity employer". I do not believe for one second that O'Reilly truly feels that way. It seems obvious that he is dong this because it is his way of ATTEMPTING to minimize the substantial service Beck has just provided this country. This cretin - O'Reilly - actually just said that "communism...

This Wall Street Journal editorial hits the nail on the head when it comes to why President Obama is in danger from his own left wing and offers an explanation for why the president is relying on so many czars to consolidate his power in the White House. Basically, Jones was apparently one of many sops the president has tossed to the far left in the form of appointing "movement progressives" whose radical views can be hidden because they don't need senate confirmation. Our guess is that Mr. Jones landed in the White House precisely because his job didn't require...

Egg on their faces.

On March 13, 2008, ABC News broke the story that Barack Obama's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had made a number of incendiary statements from the pulpit of Obama's church in Chicago. The most inflammatory of those remarks was Wright's notorious "God damn America" sermon. The news set off a media firestorm. "God damn America" was in the papers, magazines, the Internet, television, radio. It was everywhere, except one place: the news pages of America's most powerful newspaper, the New York Times. In the days, weeks, and months following the ABC report, the Times' news pages repeatedly failed to...

Most of the major news outlets, like The New York Times and The Washington Post, ignored the swelling heat surrounding former White House environmental adviser Van Jones and the videos surfacing of his controversial statements. CBS News became the first of the three broadcast networks on Friday to note the controversy, but ABC's "World News" and "NBC Nightly News" again failed to report the story. After Jones' midnight resignation over the weekend, all three networks aired the story on their Sunday evening newscasts. The Washington Post offered its first story on Saturday yet The New York Times' print edition didn't...

Arianna Huffington’s liberal gossip site the Huffington Post has been vigorously defending green jobs czar and 9/11 “truther” Van Jones. It turns out that Jones was Huffington’s grassroots political director when she ran for governor in the 2003 recall election. In fact, Jones, a self-described “communist,” thought Huffington was so wonderful he was part of the effort to draft her to run for office.

I am getting old. I'll be 56 in January and I realize that the days behind me are beginning to far outnumber the days before me. I have lived a lot of history in those years and have seen just about everything in politics imaginable; huge upsets, the triumph and fall of conservatism, a presidential resignation, culture wars - exciting times to have lived. But I will never understand this: Van Jones was one of the good guys. A really, really good guy. He used his education and his passion to combat police brutality and the massive, wasteful incarceration of...

It may have taken awhile, but with the advent of The Most Radical President In U.S. History, the Silent - conservative -- Majority is finally Speaking Truth to Power. And Power is listening. Thanks to our activism, "green jobs czar" and Truther nutcase Van Jones has resigned. And thanks to us, the Department of Education has removed the fascistic trappings from the student activities to accompany the president's upcoming "school speech": The original version [of an email to principals] suggested students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president." The updated version asks students to...

An administration official said special advisers to the president, or czars, are not required to fill out the questionnaire that runs 7 pages and contains 63 questions. The entire questionnaire, the official said, is reserved for appointees who must win Senate confirmation. --- However, Fox News correspondent James Rosen spoke with 911Truth.org spokesman Mike Berger on Friday and Berger said Jones knew what the petition said and agreed with its contents. "He did agree with that statement and he did sign on to it," Berger said in a phone interview with Rosen. Berger said the group's "original board members individually...

Jones says he has become a distraction to the administration's healthcare agenda because of his videotaped insult of Republicans and his signature on a petition suggesting a 9/11 conspiracy.Reporting from Washington - Responding to a firestorm that raged on conservative talk shows and websites, the White House on Sunday announced the resignation of a top environmental advisor who had made fiery remarks about Republicans and signed a petition questioning whether the U.S. government had any role in planning the Sept. 11 attacks. Van Jones, a prominent Oakland community activist, issued a statement decrying "lies and distortions" and a "smear campaign"...

The abrupt resignation of White House aide Van Jones, deep in the news hiatus of Labor Day weekend, will probably be forgotten in a few days. But it's a story that still deserves elaboration for what it says about the political coalition that helped to elect President Obama and whose demands are leading him into a cul-de-sac. As a candidate, Barack Obama was at pains to offer himself as a man of moderate policies, and especially of moderate temperament. He said he would listen to both the right and left, choosing the best of each depending on "what works." He...

Obama Appoints Equivalent of Holocaust Denier as Green Jobs Czar Barack Obama's "Green Jobs Czar" has already gone under the bus but it comes as no surprise--given Jeremiah Wright's statement to the effect that the United States deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks, along with his blood libels of the United States and Israel (which he accused of developing an ethnic bomb to kill Arabs and Negroes)--that Barack Obama would appoint the equivalent of a Holocaust denier to a position of public trust and responsibility. Now Mr. Jones signed a letter sent by the infamous 9/11 Truth organization to former New...

The resignation of White House green jobs adviser Van Jones could ultimately embolden conservatives who are critical of the Obama administration for its reliance on "czars" -- the nickname for special advisers who do not need congressional approval. Jones resigned late Saturday following mounting criticism over his past statements and associations. The tipping point came when it was discovered that he signed a petition in 2004 supporting the "9/11 truther" movement, which believes the Bush administration may have been complicit in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. But even before his resignation, critics said the controversy surrounding Jones was indicative of...

Now that White House "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones has resigned, what's next? Inevitably, the American mainstream media - ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, et al - must be held to account for sitting on the sidelines as this major story kept building without them, went viral on YouTube, and then became so large that a key appointee of President Obama was forced to step down. But with their decision to ignore the Jones story, they may have actually done Mr. Obama far more harm than good: Who vetted this guy? How did...

When asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether Barack Obama had ordered the resignation of green czar Van Jones, White House senior advisor David Axelrod retorted: "Absolutely not -- this was Van Jones' own decision.” Axelrod’s answer is telling. His defiant tone suggests that the thought of firing Jones had never been entertained by President Obama, thus protecting Obama’s image among the radical left. On the other hand, Axelrod’s response might be the product of a special arrangement with Jones – a man who probably knows more than we do about some of Obama’s deepest convictions. Most disturbing however is...

Here is what the MSM is saying about Van Jones Resignation: NEW YORK TIMES: The times is spinning this as poor vetting by a White House totally ignorant of Van Jones's "controversial past". Excerpt below: "Mr. Jones’s hiring and departure again raised questions about the quality of the White House personnel vetting process and the proliferation of so-called policy czars who are not subject to Senate confirmation or legislative oversight. "The Obama administration entered office promising the most thorough scrutiny ever of candidates for senior jobs, including an extensive questionnaire and time-consuming background checks that have left many senior posts...

Mr. Van Jones, President Obama's "Green Jobs Czar," is the perfectly useful political foil for the Obama Administration. "Foil" means to obscure or confuse (to leave a false trail or scent) so as to evade or spoil pursuers. It also means a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast ("The serious man was an able foil to the comic"). Mr. Jones recently resigned from his five month job as the so-called Green Jobs Czar (a highly symbolic do-nothing non-cabinet position) purportedly because he was found out to be a "communist" by conservatives on the Internet. According to...

I'm just curious. Because it wasn't all that long ago that we repeatedly heard again and again and again from biased liberal journalists that Sarah was a quitter. Dude, where's my objectivity?

Obama transition chief and head of the leftist Center for American Progress, John Podesta, laid in to Glenn Beck tonight with a spirited but after the fact defense of former Obama administration official Van Jones that was posted tonight at Think Progress:Van Jones is an exceptional and inspired leader who has fought to bring economic and environmental justice to communities across our country. He has chosen to resign because he believed he was serving as a distraction to the president’s agenda. I respect that decision. Van was working to build a common ground agenda for all Americans, and I am...

Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Sunday that the resignation of White House green jobs adviser Van Jones is a "loss for the country." The outspoken Democrat and former presidential candidate vigorously defended Jones, who resigned in the wake of criticism over his past statements and associations -- including his past support for a group that believes the Bush administration may have been involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. "I think he was brought down," Dean told "FOX News Sunday," saying he just spoke to Jones. "I think it's a loss for the country." Dean pointed to Jones' credentials...

Van Jones' parting shot reveals more truths about him and his fellow so-called progressives than it does his opponents.

The outspoken Democrat and former presidential candidate vigorously defended Jones, who resigned in the wake of criticism over his past statements and associations -- including his past support for a group that believes the Bush administration may have been involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. "I think he was brought down," Dean told "FOX News Sunday," saying he just spoke to Jones. "I think it's a loss for the country." Dean pointed to Jones' credentials as a Yale Law School graduate and best-selling author. Though Jones signed a 2004 statement calling for an investigation into possible Bush administration involvement in...

POLITICO's top story this morning is on the midnight resignation of embattled environmental adviser Van Jones, whose radical political views and past affiliation with a 9/11 conspiracy group put pressure on the White House in recent weeks. Much of the credit for Jones resigning should go to Fox's Glenn Beck, who as HuffPo's Ryan Grim notes, has his "first scalp." Beck repeatedly called attention to Jones's past comments and affiliations without mentioning that he was also the co-founder of ColorOfChange, the African-American activist group leading a boycott against the Fox host. Even before the boycott, Beck mentioned Jones twice on...

Guess who's not pleased about Van Jones middle-of-the-night-on-a-holiday-weekend resignation? Perhaps you never would have seen this one coming, but no other MSNBC "Countdown" host and provocateur Keith Olbermann himself. Bitter and seeing red? Perhaps. In a post on the Daily Kos dated Sept. 6, Olbermann urged the half-crazed liberal Kos readers to go digging for dirt on Fox News host Glenn Beck, Beck's radio producer Stu Burguiere and Fox News president Roger Ailes. (h/t Morgen of Verum Serum) "I don't know why I've got this phrasing in my head, but: Find everything you can about Glenn Beck, Stu Burguiere, and...

As most of you probably know by now, Communist Van Jones, Barack Obama's new 'green jobs czar,' has resigned. This is as it should be. A self-described Communist has no business serving in the government of the United States in any capacity. Jones' resignation comes as no surprise to those astute readers of online news sources, blogs, and other alternative media. As more information became known concerning the extremist radical views of Jones, it was only a matter of time before he either resigned or got handed his pink slip. Yet millions of Americans will be shocked tomorrow when they...

Now that Jones has resigned, we need to follow through with two critical policy victories. First, stop cap-and-trade, which could send these groups trillions, and second repeal the unspent portion of the stimulus bill, which stands to give them billions. The Van Jones affair could be an important turning point in the Obama administration if we use it as a window to understand the structure of the left and to stop the huge power-grab now taking place in the name of green jobs. It's also one of the most significant things I've ever had the honor of being involved in....

Van Jones is not an extremist. He is the liberal mainstream

"First, even as I defended Van Jones (as I saw nothing wrong with his actual performance as green jobs adviser) I will admit that his past statements were beginning to take a political toll on Obama. Day after day liberals were having to endure the next few radical sentences taken out of thirty minutes address or interview from Van Jones. While the statements had nothing to do with green jobs they were effective in making Jones, and to some degree liberals, appear radical. Republicans were beginning to see Van Jones as their party pinata who supplied with more candy every...

The Wall Street Journal reports that controversial presidential adviser Van Jones has resigned, according to a midnight press release from the White House. The mainstream media ignored the Jones controversy as long as it could, but on Saturday, the Jones revelations hit the mainstream press. The Huffington Post complained that FOX News' Glenn Beck "has his first scalp.”

Van Jones may have resigned but there are over 30 other "czars" in the White House we need to be aware of and start targeting one by one. Van Jones was easy pickings. His trail was very public, very well documented and contained many easy use statements on videotape from his speaking engagements. I doubt more powerful and possibly more radical "czars" will be as blatant in their public disregard for America and American values. We surround them. Remember, only 1/3rd of colonists were self-described patriots and only 10% of colonists actively took up arms or directly supported the Revolutionary...