Free Republic

A former New Jersey Transit police officer who retired on disability after stapling his own hand is the subject of renewed scrutiny after a video emerged, showing him repeatedly firing a sniper rifle at a gun range. In Christopher Onesti’s 2008 application for a disability pension, doctors said he was “permanently and totally disabled” because he would have trouble operating his service weapon and performing other police duties. His injuries stem from a firearms certification class two years earlier, where Onesti accidentally fired a staple into his non-shooting hand while preparing to attach a paper target to some cardboard. The...

"Obamacare was sold on a trinity of lies." That ornate phrase, more suitable for the Book of Revelations or perhaps the next installment of "Game of Thrones," comes from my National Review colleague Rich Lowry. But I like it. Most people know the first deception in the triumvirate of deceit: "If you like your health insurance you can keep it, period." The second leg in the tripod of deception was "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." But the third plank in the triad of disinformation hasn't gotten much attention: Obamacare will save you, me and the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The millions of Americans who received termination notices for their insurance policies are “thrilled” that they now have other options on the exchanges, saus HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The cancellations allowed people to be “unlocked from a policy” that most actually didn’t want, she explained during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. “A lot of individuals who received cancellation notices are thrilled with the choices that are now available to them.”(continued)

New photos confirm the attack’s coordination and its cover-up The Obama State Department has finally released a second round of photos revealing the harrowing devastation wrought by a terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. The new photographs depict rampant damage to the consulate. They show charred walls, smoldering fires, Arabic graffiti defacing exterior walls, and scattered debris throughout. The extent of the damage would lead any reasonably serious person to conclude that this was a cold, calculated attack, carefully coordinated to mark the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. Unfortunately for the American people,...

Former CBS Evening News Anchor Dan Rather, despite being fired as a result of the bogus story, continues to maintain that he got it right in September 2004 when he aired forged documents concerning George W. Bush’s record with the Air National Guard. On CNN’s Piers Morgan Live Monday, Rather said, “No question the story was true” (video follows with transcript and commentary): [video] PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Let's turn quickly to what’s been going on at CBS, your old network. Your former colleague, Lara Logan, on leave of absence over this report from Benghazi. Many people believe there’s a slight...

Late Friday afternoon, Politico Magazine published an update dismantling White House claims that President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius held “dozens” of unrecorded one-on-one working meetings over the last three-and-a-half years leading up to Obamacare's unveiling.  The update, written by Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer, refuted Friday comments by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. In a telling exchange between Carney and NBC News reporter Peter Alexander and ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, Carney claimed the GAI report showing one meeting between Obama and Sebelius since Obamacare’s signing...

The White House acknowledged Thursday that President Obama lived with his uncle for a brief period in the 1980s while he was a student at Harvard Law School -- despite previously saying there was no record of the two having met. "The president did stay with him for a brief period of time until his apartment was ready," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement. "After that, they saw each other once every few months, but after law school they fell out of touch. The president has not seen him in 20 years, has not spoken with him...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Thursday that President Barack Obama briefly lived with an uncle who faced deportation from the United States, correcting its previous statements that the president had never met Onyango Obama. The 69-year-old, Kenyan-born half-brother of Obama's estranged father was granted permission this week to stay in the U.S. after ignoring a deportation order two decades ago. The uncle is also known as Omar Obama. White House spokesman Jay Carney said that when the case first arose, officials looked for records of a meeting but never directly asked the president.

Carney said the two men have no relationship now. The shifting account comes at a bad time for the administration, which is dealing with an embattled health-care law, Obama’s declining popularity and media complaints about access to presidential events.

by John UrbanTop Right NewsYesterday, we reported on how Barack Obama's drunken illegal alien Uncle Omar was handed amnesty by a corrupt immigration judge working for Eric Holder. Obama promised his uncle would get not special treatment. If you believe that, you might have believed what Obama claimed in 2011 -- that he never even met his uncle!That's right -- two years ago, right after Uncle Omar, a 21-year fugitive from a Federal deportation order, was arrested for DUI in Boston -- the White House claimed Obama had never met Uncle Omar, nor knew he was an illegal alien.The problem?...

President Obama acknowledged on Thursday that he lived with his Kenyan uncle for a brief period in the 1980s while preparing to attend Harvard Law School, contradicting a statement more than a year ago that the White House had no record of the two ever meeting. Their relationship came into question on Tuesday at the deportation hearing of his uncle, Onyango Obama, in Boston immigration court. His uncle had lived in the United States illegally since the 1970s and revealed in testimony for the first time that his famous nephew had stayed at his Cambridge apartment for about three weeks....

... and can prove it The family at the centre of a row over a note left to gay waitress on receipt for a meal have hit back claiming the whole episode is a hoax. Dayna Morales, a former marine, hit headlines last week when a picture of a receipt she allegedly received from a family at the Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, saying they didn't 'agree with her lifestyle' was posted online and went viral. On it she claimed the customer had written: 'Sorry, I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle and the way you...

The President Without A Country - Pat Boone "We're no longer a Christian nation." - President Barack Obama, June 2009 " America has been arrogant." - Barack Obama "After 9/11, America didn't always live up to her ideals."- President Barack Obama "You might say that America is a Muslim nation."- President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009 Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president, I keep wondering what country he believes he's president of. In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale's "The Man without a Country," a young Army lieutenant...

Obama scoffs at people who call him a 'socialist': 'You gotta meet real socialists' By JENNIFER EPSTEIN | 11/19/13 4:32 PM EST President Obama on Tuesday dismissed critics who call him a "socialist," suggesting they meet some real socialists if they think he's one. "People call me a socialist sometimes," he said at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit, addressing 100 top business leaders. "But, no, you gotta meet real socialists. You’ll have a sense of what a socialist is," he said to laughter from the crowd. "I'm talking about lowering the corporate tax rate, my health care reform is...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama blamed Republicans on Tuesday for contributing to the troubled rollout of his signature healthcare insurance plan and said it will be hard to "rebrand" Obamacare after his administration fixes a website used to sign up for the program. "We should have anticipated that that would create a rockier rollout," Obama told a Wall Street Journal conference."One of the problems we've had is one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure," Obama said.Obama said he thinks the website will be fixed on time for people to "catch up" and shop for insurance by key deadlines,...

John Edwards Revisits His Past, Hanging Law Shingle Again BY PETER LATTMAN AND KIM SEVERSON Before he served as a United States senator, before he made a run at the presidency and before his political career collapsed amid a sex scandal and fraud trial, John Edwards was a trial lawyer. Now, Mr. Edwards is returning to his roots and opening a new law practice. The plaintiffs’ firm, Edwards Kirby, reunites him with his former partner, David F. Kirby, and includes on its payroll his eldest daughter, Cate Edwards. “The reason we formed this firm is because we all believe in...

Full title: Obama flubs during health care conference call with community organizers, claims 'more than 100 MILLION Americans' have enrolled President Barack Obama told a conference-call audience of progressive volunteers on Monday evening that 'more than 100 million Americans' – in a nation of less than 314 million – have successfully signed up for health insurance via the Affordable Care Act. And at a time when his signature legislative initiative's website has made the White House the butt of jokes, the website hosting the conference call was plagued with its own connection errors and other malfunctions. A weary-sounding Obama made...

The current troubles of the Obama presidency can be read back into its beginnings. Rule by personal charisma has met its proper fate. The spell has been broken, and the magician stands exposed. We need no pollsters to tell us of the loss of faith in Mr. Obama's policies—and, more significantly, in the man himself. If Barack Obama seems like a man alone, with nervous Democrats up for re-election next year running for cover, and away from him, this was the world he made. No advisers of stature can question his policies; the price of access in the Obama court...

(Update: Adding more on opposition to Core, where Duncan spoke) U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.” Yes, he really said that. But he has said similar things before. What, exactly, is he talking about? In his cheerleading for the controversial Common Core...

Yes, this is a politically difficult moment for President Obama. But everyone needs to chill out. Ah, now this is what politics is supposed to be like: Ruthless Republicans, gleeful at the prospect that they might increase the net total of human suffering. Timorous Democrats, panicking at the first hint of political difficulty and rushing to assemble a circular firing squad. And the news media bringing out the "Dems In Disarray!" headlines they keep in storage for just this purpose. The problems of the last couple weeks "could threaten Democratic priorities for years," says Ron Brownstein. It's just like Hurricane...