Free Republic

A tech industry group that has Facebook and Google as participants has rejected the latest draft of a U.S. legislation that aims to put curbs on surveillance by the National Security Agency.The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday said it supported swift passage of the USA Freedom Act by the U.S. House of Representatives, and urged the Senate to follow suit."Overall, the bill's significant reforms would provide the public greater confidence in our programs and the checks and balances in the system," the White House said in a statement.But the tech companies, which also include Yahoo, AOL, Apple,...

<p>Dick’s Sporting Goods issued a profit warning Tuesday, and the biggest concern from management is over golf equipment. But that’s not the only reason the sporting-goods retailer is struggling.</p> <p>The firm DKS +0.37% also warned over its hunting division, and on a conference call, management made it clear what’s going on.</p>

Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes by the FDA By Mitch Zeller, the Director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products. Thank you for http://click.mail.whitehouse.gov/?qs=23150e34359d1e932f1289742b953a8f8e720edd2808049ece878ad77ece739c your petition on electronic cigarettes . First things first: While we are seeking to regulate products like electronic cigarettes, the proposed regulation would not ban them. Some background, which you may already know: The http://click.mail.whitehouse.gov/?qs=415c7a37f7f49244144907eba0707664a199c6968e1eda7adcc80fc526afbde7 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that Congress passed in 2009 gave the FDA immediate authority to regulate certain tobacco products -- cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco -- under the http://click.mail.whitehouse.gov/?qs=8b835bfd0f3ef363fa53fcef37ebc441c01a390924a58f216c1aae96f51dadc2 Federal Food, Drug, &...

Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes by the FDA By Mitch Zeller, the Director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products. Thank you for http://click.mail.whitehouse.gov/?qs=23150e34359d1e932f1289742b953a8f8e720edd2808049ece878ad77ece739c your petition on electronic cigarettes . First things first: While we are seeking to regulate products like electronic cigarettes, the proposed regulation would not ban them. Some background, which you may already know: The http://click.mail.whitehouse.gov/?qs=415c7a37f7f49244144907eba0707664a199c6968e1eda7adcc80fc526afbde7 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that Congress passed in 2009 gave the FDA immediate authority to regulate certain tobacco products -- cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco -- under the http://click.mail.whitehouse.gov/?qs=8b835bfd0f3ef363fa53fcef37ebc441c01a390924a58f216c1aae96f51dadc2 Federal Food, Drug, &...

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-09491.pdfThis is the docket reading

A House Republican bill aimed at forcing President Barack Obama to enforce immigration and other laws as they are written drew sharp rebukes Wednesday from the White House and House Democrats, who ripped the measure as anti-immigrant. The legal dispute over President Barack Obama’s unilateral decision to suspend deportations for people brought to the country illegally by their parents, known as “dreamers,” has split the GOP and Democrats before. But on Wednesday the dispute threatened to end any lingering goodwill Democrats were inclined to extend toward GOP leaders, who just weeks earlier unveiled a set of immigration principles for overhauling...

President Obama said Saturday that he’s doing everything he can to reduce income inequality in America. In his weekly address, Mr. Obama said too many Americans haven’t seen increases in their wages, while the wealthy “are doing better than ever.” “We’ve got to reverse those trends,” Mr. Obama said. “We’ve got to build an economy that works for everyone, not just a fortunate few.” Toward his goal, the president noted that he’s taken steps through executive action in recent weeks to boost job training, to guarantee every child has access to quality education, and to boost income and retirement savings.

With two anti-gun Colorado state legislators recently voted out of office and a third retiring facing another recall election it’s clear that gun control isn’t the non-issue so many in office assumed it would be. Now several legislators are working to repeal the laws passed early last year in Colorado, with a new package of house bills that would roll back the recent changes. Although Colorado citizens recently voted to recall two proponents of the gun control package, including then state senate president John Morse and senator Angela Giron, the Democratic Party still holds a majority by one vote. A...

Call OSHA. Quick! We desperately need the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to take a look at the incredibly dangerous flooring in the Arkansas State Capitol. This federal agency could determine why the state’s legislators are slipping or stumbling or tripping (that’s it!) so badly that legislative provisions they never, ever intended to enact are flying out of their briefcases or folders (or you-know-what) to land inexplicably into law. Laws they pass without having read. Of course. In last year’s legislative session — the first with both chambers of the state’s General Assembly controlled by Republicans since the century before...

In the wake of media reports that 40,000 new federal, state, and local laws will go into effect this year, there’s no better time for Americans to revisit the old maxim that “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” An unknown number of these new provisions are criminal laws that can deprive us of our liberty and brand us for life. No ordinary American can be expected to know every law, new and old, on the books, not even every criminal law. Anyone concerned about Americans’ being locked up for innocent behavior should resolve to help end overcriminalization. Overcriminalization strikes...

The Republican Party has been clobbered in recent elections by a mythical “war on women” largely driven by abortion. Hysteria about a war on women was fueled by a Republican proposal in Virginia’s General Assembly about trans-vaginal ultrasounds before abortions. Conservatives who think people should pay for their own birth control were misrepresented as woman haters. Rush Limbaugh’s inflammatory attack on flaky Sandra Fluke upset superficial people. Somewhere in the last ten to fifteen years, the Pro-Life movement took a massive detour – for the worse. Pro-Lifers stopped trying to educate the public and persuade people of the very obvious...

While it is now illegal to use 3-D printers to manufacture firearms without proper licensing, some Penn professors question the significance of that legislation. In September, Philadelphia became the first city to ban the use of 3-D printers to create part or all of a firearm by anyone other than a licensed gun manufacturer. The legislation follows debate over 3-D printed guns, which stems from a public computer file released by the Texas company Defense Distributed in May, which could be used to create a firearm called “The Liberator” on a 3-D printer. This November, the manufacturing company Solid Concepts...

As this session of the 113th Congress draws to a merciful close, much of the punditry has picked up on the refrain that this is the “most unproductive Congress in history.” Indeed, this Congress has passed just 28 bills, easily eclipsing the previous record for inactivity set by Congress in 2012, when it passed just 68 new laws. But why, we might ask, is this such a bad thing? Sure, there are things we might have wished Congress had accomplished. Something to address immigration or entitlement reform springs to mind. And it certainly would have produced less chaos if Congress...

YOUR GOVERNMENT: 1. Legislation 10.11.13 YOUR GOVERNMENT: 1. LEGISLATION My fellow Americans. Either the government belongs to you, or you belong to the government. It’s either one or the other. This government no longer belongs to you, and it hasn’t for a long time. But we can fix that. We can make it your government again. Which is why, as your Virtual President, I would like to have a series brief discussions about the practical ways we can return your government to it’s original owners: you, the American people. Channel: Mr. Virtual President

Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, the information on this web site may not be up to date. Some submissions may not be processed, and we may not be able to respond to your inquiries. Barack H. (Hussein) Obama is the 44th President of the United States. His story is the American story — values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others. With a father from Kenya...

Why Christians Must Legislate Morality by Frank TurekWhen I have just a minute to communicate the importance of Christians being involved in politics, I call up this satellite picture of the Korean peninsula on my iPhone.1 Here we see a homogenous population of mostly Koreans separated by a well-fortified border. South Korea is full of light, productivity, and the gospel. They are a free country and one of the most Christianized countries in the world. North Korea is a concentration camp. They have no freedom, very little food, and almost no Christianity.I then ask, “What is the primary reason for...

<p>As a reaction to the crack epidemic of the 1980s, many federal drug laws carry strict mandatory sentences. This has stirred unease in Congress and sparked a bipartisan effort to revise and relax some of the more draconian laws.</p> <p>Traditionally — meaning before Barack Obama — that’s how laws were changed: We have a problem, we hold hearings, we find some new arrangement, which is ratified by Congress and signed by the president.</p>

Many freshman Democrats in the House are defying Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and not voting with the party on key issues. They told Politico they are there to represent their constituents and not make big points with House leadership. Dan Maffei (D-NY) has voted less with his party than any other freshman Democrat. He voted with Republicans to delay the mandates in Obamacare for one year. Fourteen of his colleagues joined him and Pelosi accused them of undermining her. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz (D-FL) took to the House floor to attack the defectors, but Maffei does not regret his actions:...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage has wielded his veto pen more than any other Maine governor in recent history — and the session isn't over yet. Throughout the contentious session, the Republican governor has spiked 57 bills the Democratic-led Legislature sent to his desk, recently surpassing former Independent Gov. James Longley, who previously held the record for single-session vetoes with 49 in 1977. In a statement, LePage quoted former President Calvin Coolidge, who said, "It is better to block a bad law than sign a good one."

A new bill that limits the murder of the unborn to 20-weeks and requires abortion clinics to meet basic medical standards has been officially filed in the Texas State House. HB 2 declares that the state has an obligation to protect the unborn. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, called a second special session of the Texas legislature to pass the late-term abortion ban bill. “I am calling the Legislature back into session because too much important work remains undone for the people of Texas. Through their duly elected representatives, the citizens of our state have made crystal clear their priorities...