Free Republic

The first ever GAO(Government Accountability Office) audit of the Federal Reserve was carried out in the past few months due to the Ron Paul, Alan Grayson Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill, which passed last year. Jim DeMint, a Republican Senator, and Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator, led the charge for a Federal Reserve audit in the Senate, but watered down the original language of the house bill(HR1207), so that a complete audit would not be carried out. Ben Bernanke(pictured to the right), Alan Greenspan, and various other bankers vehemently opposed the audit and lied to Congress about the effects an...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Tuesday pressed Attorney General Eric Holder for more information about Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's involvement with the healthcare reform law after new emails emerged showing her rooting for the law when she was solicitor general. (snip) The emails have rekindled calls for Kagan to recuse herself from ruling on the healthcare reform law next year because of a provision of the U.S. code that calls on justices to disqualify themselves when they have "expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy" while in government service.

Attorney General Eric Holder tells Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that he has not apologized to the family of Brian Terry, the U.S. Border Patrol agent murdered by a weapon used in the Fast & Furious operation now being investigated. When given the opportunity to do so at today's Senate hearing he would not apologize. Holder also says that Fast & Furious did not directly lead to the death of Agent Brian Terry. "It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast & Furious directly led to the death of Agent Terry," Holder said today. Sen....

Article For Immediate Release October 31, 2011 New Gun Walking Documents Show Criminal Division Knew More than Previous Acknowledged Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley made the following statement after the Justice Department provided more than 650 pages of documents related to the congressional inquiry into Operation Fast and Furious.  Grassley has been conducting oversight of the strategy since January. “There are 652 pages of documents that our investigators will scour over the next several days, beyond the few that the Justice Department pointed out.  At first glance, though, the documents indicate that contrary to previous denials by...

Justice Dept. Proposes Lying, Hiding Existence Of Records Under New FOIA Rule By C.J. CiaramellaArchive | Email C.J. Ciaramella A classified folder rests President Barack Obama’s desk during a morning meeting in the Oval Office, June 8, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way or used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the...

If a private health insurer had engaged in the kind of criminal obstruction that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been tied to in her home state of Kansas, it would be a federal case. Instead, it's a non-story in the Washington press. Nothing to see here. Move along. On Monday, a district judge in the Sunflower State suspended court proceedings in a high-profile criminal case against the abortion racketeers of Planned Parenthood. World Magazine, a Christian news publication, reported on new bombshell court filings showing that Kansas health officials "shredded documents related to felony charges the abortion...

Earlier this week, Rick Perry said, “It’s fun to poke at [Obama] a little bit and say, “Hey, let’s see your grades and your birth certificate.”” And why shouldn’t he find birtherism fun? Racism is supposed to be fun for white people who choose to engage in it. I mean, it’s gotta be fun to be powerful and dominant and flaunt white privilege. Right? In a country where lynchings once doubled an occasion for barbeques — the strangling and perhaps burning of a Black body as the central performance act at a pleasant Southern picnic — why shouldn’t racism be...

Rick Perry wants Mitt Romney to cough up his form 1040s (that’s the US individual tax return document). The Romney camp demurred, saying they would consider doing so next year. (Remarkably, Romney has NEVER released, even during his governorship of Massachusetts.) Why won’t Romney do it? Speculation, from liberal group ThinkProgress and others, is that Romney pays a way lower tax rate than many Americans because of his extensive financial investments, from which income is typically taxed below that of regular income. One left-leaning analyst speculates Romney paid an effective tax rate as low as 14 percent on his $6.6...

Mexican drug suspect: U.S. gave me immunityBy Sharyl Attkisson(CBS News) A Mexican drug suspect awaiting trial in Chicago is making a startling claim. He insists he can't be prosecuted because he worked as an informant and had a secret immunity deal with the U.S. government. ATF Fast and Furious investigationNapolitano testifies on ATF Fast and Furious: "We're waiting for the Inspector General"For more on this investigation, visit CBS News Investigates Prosecutors say Vicente Zambada-Niebla oversaw drug running on a massive scale into the U.S. But now, from behind bars at a maximum security prison in Chicago, he's making his...

There is currently $600 trillion in derivative positions on a global economy of $60 trillion. Not a problem eh? The “cause” is the BANKS lootin and pillaging.­They deliberate­ly helped Greece hide its debt. The “problem ” was the US allowed the banks to defraud the western world. Finance Superstars Talk About the Massive Fraud in Our Economic System Nobel Prize-winn­ing economist Joe Stiglitz stated how reducing transparen­cy and hiding informatio­n was an essential element to the crisis. Stiglitz concluded, “Innovatio­n was regulator and tax arbitrage Wall Street and the banks deliberate­ly added opacity and complexity to confuse clients and consumers....

Tables Turned on White House Press Corps October 3, 2011 Press Release I have two questions, not for the President, but for the White House Press Corps. 1. Why is Barack Obama using a Social Security Number , issued out of Connecticut in 1977, when he was 15 years old and living in Hawaii? Keep in mind that if you are over 12 years old you have to apply for your SSN in person. 2. The President held a press conference on April 27th, 2011. He announced that he had requested a waiver from the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH),...

“Some Republicans in Congress have said that they agree with certain parts of this jobs bill.” Obama said. “If so, it’s time for them to tell me what those proposals are. And if they’re opposed to this jobs bill, I’d like to know what exactly they’re against. Are they against putting teachers and police officers and firefighters back on the job? Are they against hiring construction workers to rebuild our roads and bridges and schools? Are they against giving tax cuts to virtually every worker and small business in America?” The Senate is expected to take up the bill next...

Weapons linked to ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" operation have been tied to at least eight violent crimes in Mexico including three murders, four kidnappings and an attempted homicide. According to a letter from U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the disclosed incidents may be only a partial list of violent crimes linked to Fast and Furious weapons because "ATF has not conducted a comprehensive independent investigation." When added to the guns found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in the U.S., the newly-revealed murders in...

“These guns went to ruthless criminals,” Carlos Canino, ATF Acting Attaché to Mexico said in testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday regarding the scandal-plagued Operation Fast and Furious. “It’s alleged that over 2,000 guns were trafficked in this investigation. To put that in context, upon information and belief, the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment has approximately 2,500 rangers. That means that as a result of this investigation, the Sinaloa cartel may have received almost as many guns that are needed to arm the entire regiment. Out of these 2,000 weapons, 34 were .50-caliber sniper rifles. That is approximately the number of...

Atlanta Cheating Scandal Teachers Blame Testing!by Jaymie Pierce July 11, 2011 06:55 PM EDT Teachers caught in the big Atlanta schools cheating scandal complain about the pressure of achieving scores and targets from administrations in the school districts. Furthermore, they are attesting that it is the fault of the "No Child Left Behind Act." The Atlanta Journal reported today that the findings from the investigations gave three primary areas for the wide-spread cheating. The report indicates that all schools would be considered failing under the "No Child Left Behind Act" expecting 100% proficiency. The stern actions of sanctions against teachers...

A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with a committee to find long-term savings before the rest of the increase would be considered. Sen. Reid took the bipartisan plan to the White House and the President said no.”

Democrats have controlled the Senate and the White House since the election of 2008, and the House of Representatives up until this year.  Certainly they could have passed any budget they desired, including one with tax increases and spending increases.  But they chose to ignore the 800-day gorilla in the room because they don't want to be on record supporting a budget that actually does what they want.  Then the public could hold them accountable for their cowardly and irresponsible behavior in the face of national fiscal calamity.  

No battle was fought. No guns were fired. No bullets or bombs were involved. In the smooth movement of a pen over a previously-prepared document, the overthrow of the United States of America took place. The coup d’etat, still in its progressive movement of deconstructing America, was achieved without Congressional debate. No voice of argument. Less than 24 hours into office, the putative President of the United States, Barry Soetero (aka Barack Obama), signed Executive Order #13489.Filed on January 23, 2009 at 8:45 a.m., the occupant of the Oval office sealed his records containing past names, student status, foreign travels,...

With Friday's vote over, senators quickly moved to vacate the floor. Cars were waiting outside to whisk members to airports to take flights home. Though the Senate was originally scheduled to be in session, Reid, D-Nev., noted that would not be the case and no votes would be taken before Monday afternoon. Reid said that the session wasn't necessary because Obama and Boehner were working on a compromise measure. He said he understands the plan addresses both taxes and revenue, and therefore must originate in the House, giving the Senate no reason to work. Another person hot about the talks...

President Obama laments the debt talks: "All these conversations I've had over the last three weeks -- I could have been spending time with Malia and Sasha instead."