Free Republic

A White House reporter asked spokesman Josh Earnest whether President Obama enjoyed himself at an infrastucture photo-op earlier Tuesday in Virginia, mocking Obama’s claim last week about not visiting the border crisis because he wasn’t “interested in photo ops.” The assembled press corps laughed as Earnest asserted Obama was in good spirits. “And is he likely to be just as unhappy with the photo op he has planned later this week on infrastructure?” the reporter asked. A flustered Earnest said he didn’t understand the question. “I’m getting back to his blowing off photo ops on the border,” the reporter said....

Despite growing outrage over the mysterious disappearance of former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner’s emails, the new White House press secretary sees nothing wrong with the government’s inadequate explanation. “I think it’s entirely reasonable. And it’s fact,” incoming spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday, according to CNN. “You’ve never heard of a computer crashing before?” The IRS admits that it can’t find two years’ of emails requested during the time tea party activists claim they were targeted. Even CNN anchor John King found the explanation unbelievable. “Do you believe in the Easter Bunny?” he...

The perpetually delayed Keystone XL Pipeline is wildly popular. A Reason-Rupe poll conducted in April found that only 32 percent of Americans oppose the construction of the pipeline which would transport Canadian tar sands oil from the frozen north to the Gulf Coast. 61 percent of Americans support the pipeline. That 61 percent includes 82 percent of self-described Republicans, 57 percent of independents, and 50 percent – that’s right; a majority – of Democrats. However, one subgroup strongly opposes the construction of the 1,200 mile pipeline: self-identified liberals. 57 percent of that group opposed the construction of the pipeline in...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced to explain — and recast — what she meant when she complained of her family’s financial struggles after leaving the White House. The subject was broached on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” when host Robin Roberts asked Mrs. Clinton if she could understand America’s head-scratching reaction to her claim that the Clintons were “dead broke” upon leaving the White House and needed to hit the lucative speaking circuit to build their bank accounts. “Yes I can, but everything in life has to be put into context,” she said, The Hill reported. “As I...

Richard Armitage. I repeat, Richard Armitage. One more time...RICHARD ARMITAGE. I just made Valerie Plame wince three times once she reads this article. Why? Because the name Richard Armitage completely destroys the myth she is desperately hanging onto after all these years that the Bush administration deliberately leaked her name as a CIA employee in order to discredit her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson who criticized the decision to invade Iraq. Unfortunately for both Plame and the Left who have been clinging to that myth for years, it was completely undone when the name of the real leaker, who was an...

1.) If they believe that the Taliban aren't terrorists, then is this behind their reasoning that no negotiations took place with terrorists in the release of Bowe Bergdahl for 5 GITMO detainees? 2.) If they state that there was a third party involved (Qatar) and thus neither side (the WH or the Taliban) spoke directly with each other, then does that constitute their position that no negotiations took place with terrorists? The problem with #1 is that when the WH slammed Karzai over some of his statements concerning joining the Taliban, what could/can the WH say to Karzai now? Breitbart.com...

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said the U.S. did not negotiate with terrorists in the process of exchanging the transfer of five terrorism suspects for the release of the only American prisoner of war in Afghanistan. “We didn’t negotiate with terrorists,” Mr. Hagel said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I said and explained before, Sergeant Bergdahl is a prisoner of war. That’s a normal process in getting your prisoners back.” Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. special forces by the Taliban Saturday, with the government of Qatar serving as a go-between. Qatar is taking custody of five...

Imagine the press letting a Republican or conservative try to get away with trying to avoid uncondtionally calling something as infuriating and outrageous as the Veterans Administration waiting list scandal a real scandal. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did that on Monday (HT Patterico and Real Clear Politics) in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein, who naturally let it slide right on by:

Jay Carney: I Wish Republicans Would Stop Talking About Benghazi by Charlie Spiering 2 May 2014, 7:21 AM PDT post a comment White House Press Secretary Jay Carney admitted on Thursday that he was tired of Republicans talking about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. "I wish that rather than spending so much of their time -- and we all have limited time -- Republicans in Congress on this and on repealing the Affordable Care Act, Republicans actually got about the business of helping the economy grow and helping it create jobs, and making the necessary investments for the economy to...

A wrongly imprisoned Dallas man, who just won his $1.1 million lawsuit against the city, would still be in jail if not for the discovery of video evidence, which proved that his arresting officer had attacked him and lied about it. In December of 2009, Dallas police Officer Matthew Antkowiak was dispatched to break up a fight between two white men. But on his way to the scene, he saw a black man, 62-year-old Ronald Jones, crossing the street. Antkowiak claimed that Jones was throwing beer bottles. He stopped his car and approached Jones. According to the officer, Jones tried...

In March 2006, Crystal Gail Mangum, a student at North Carolina Central University, who worked as a stripper and an escort, accused three members of the Duke lacrosse team — Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans — of raping her at an off-campus party. The case captivated the country, with the media breathlessly reporting the statements of prosecutor Mike Nifong, who was later fired, disbarred and imprisoned for 24 hours, and then those of the players' defense attorneys in a seemingly endless loop of contradictions. In April 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said there was "no credible...

Barack Obama has told us the border is “more secure than it has ever been”, and has even mocked those who say the border is unsafe: “Maybe they’ll need a moat. Maybe they’ll want alligators in the moat. They’ll never be satisfied.” Well, just this last week, FOX 10  in Phoenix reported on a illegal alien who was apprehended in Arizona who had been deported 14 times. Yes, count that. Fourteen. If someone can cross the border illegally that many times, can the border really be secure? WATCH:

"Despite all that good news, there's plenty of horror stories being told. All of them are untrue, but they're being told all over America," said Reid. "The leukemia patient whose insurance policy was canceled [and] could die without her medication, Mr. President, that's an ad being paid for by two billionaire brothers. It's absolutely false. Or the woman whose insurance policy went up $700 a month--ads paid for around America by the multibillionaire Koch brothers, and the ad is false. "We heard about the evils of Obamacare, about the lives it's ruining in Republicans' stump speeches and in ads paid...

For Democrats Obamacare is the train wreck that keeps getting worse. For Republicans, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Obamacare premiums are expected to nearly double later this year. Keep in mind premiums already rose 50-400% compared to the old “junk” policies people had and liked before Obamacare. A massive price increase latter this year will more or less collapse Obamacare. We might know more about Obamacare enrollment in the next few weeks, though while the administration claims 5 million have signed up they claim not to know how many have paid. If you haven’t paid, you aren’t covered....

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, you remember -- and I've got the audio sound bites here to refresh your memory. Barack Obama lied, it's been calculated, roughly 25 times over three years. "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. Obamacare is not gonna affect you! You like your doctor, you like your plan, you keep it." I will maintain to you that Barack Obama would not have been reelected had he not made that lie. If people had known they weren't gonna be able...

Vivek Murthy, 36, complained as a teen that violent Saturday morning cartoons were feeding 'society's preoccupation with firearms' Murthy is attracting criticism for using his status as a physician to promote strong anti-Second Amendment views He founded Doctors for Obama before the 2008 presidential election Senators complain that he's agenda-driven and too inexperienced to be 'America's Doctor'

Police say a transgender teen who said he was beaten and sexually assaulted in a California high school bathroom has recanted the story. Hercules police spokeswoman Detective Connie Van Putten says detectives interviewed the student Tuesday and determined nothing had happened to him. On Monday, the 15-year-old student reported he was attacked by three boys in a bathroom at a suburban San Francisco public school. The teen, who is biologically female but identifies as male, had told officers he was leaving a boy's bathroom late Monday morning at Hercules Middle/High School when the assailants...

**SNIP** “The House Republican agenda feels like déjà vu all over again. As if the first 49 votes were not enough to satisfy the Republican fixation on undoing health reform, the Republican leadership is prepared to make yet another attempt – their 50th try – to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act. Americans deserve better. “On the same day that Republicans gathered to discuss an alternative to the health care law, five years later, the proponents of repeal still can’t help themselves. This latest Republican proposal would drive up premiums for millions of Americans. All the while, Republicans ignore...

“That information turned out, in some respects, not to be 100 percent correct," Rice said. "But the notion that somehow I or anybody else in the administration misled the American people is patently false. And I think that that's been amply demonstrated." She was, at the time, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a top candidate to become secretary of state. However, Rice withdrew herself from consideration in the wake of the attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, after the firestorm of criticism she received for her response. Rice said Sunday she didn’t know whether her...

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...