Free Republic

(May 23, 2015) In a 187-page filing made on Friday, Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joseph M. Arpaio and his chief deputy, Gerard Sheridan, asked U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow to recuse himself from a contempt case stemming from a December 2007 lawsuit... As a result of Arpaio and Sheridan’s filing on Friday, Snow canceled status hearings scheduled for May 29 and June 12, although he asked all parties to reserve the remaining June dates, beginning on the 16th, on which the trial is scheduled to resume.

Deep into the seventh year of his tenure, Barack Obama is thinking about his post-presidential legacy. We know this because he’s telling us so. In an interview this week with The Atlantic about the potential deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program, the president sought to use the fact of his relative youth and his consciousness about how history might judge him to his advantage: “Look, 20 years from now, I’m still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it’s my name on this. I think it’s fair to say that in addition to our...

On December 18, 2014, Barack Obama officially began the war on police as he signed an Executive Order establishing the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Since the signing of this Executive Order, 55 Officers have been killed in the line of duty. Yet, this mattered little to Obama who justified his Executive Order as he spoke about “the distrust that exists between too many police departments and too many communities – the sense that in a country where our basic principle is equality under the law, too many individuals, particularly young people of color, do not feel they...

Here’s a Memorial Day Weekend Quiz for you: I call it Which One is Smarter Than the Other Won? Cast your vote(s) below for either: A. Our President, figuring out how to get his big umbrella over the gate: Or B) The Dog, figuring out how to get his big stick over the bridge: And in case you missed this heartfelt Memorial Day tweet from the Democrats:They are hoping everyone can join Barry for another brain freeze. Funny, isn’t it, how many stories about umbrellas, ice cream and dogs pop up around Memorial Day now that Obama is here?Cast your...

On Memorial Day we honor our sons and daughters who gave their lives when their nation called on them We need to remind ourselves that Memorial Day is not just another three-day weekend or a day when all manner of sales are offered to those who want to go shopping. It is a day set aside to honor the ultimate sacrifice of those who have fought to defend our nation and take military action in foreign nations. We honor, too, those who suffered wounds and returned home. We like to think of America as a nation that has gone to...

A group of 14 Democrat senators has written a letter to President Obama urging him to “dramatically increase” the number of Syrian refugees being resettled into American cities and towns. They say the U.S. needs to take in at least 65,000 Syrians as permanent refugees over the next year-and-a-half. “While the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, we must also dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees that we accept for resettlement,” says the four-page letter to Obama, copied to Secretary of State John Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. More than 3.5...

President Obama embraced the beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador Saturday ahead of celebrations in El Salvador over the controversial religious figure's progression toward sainthood. "I join people in El Salvador and around the world today in welcoming the beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero," Obama said. "He fearlessly confronted the evils he saw, guided by the needs of his beloved pueblo, the poor and oppressed people of El Salvador." Romero was shot while performing Mass in 1980 just one day after imploring the country's military to abandon their orders to violently repress a leftist uprising. Pope Francis called...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Appalachian coal mining suffered a double blow on Friday, as Murray Energy announced plans to lay off more than 1,800 miners, most from West Virginia, and Alpha Natural Resources told 439 more Mountain State miners they could be out of work. The announcements continue a grim employment trend for the Appalachian coalfields. On Friday, St. Clairsville, Ohio-based Murray Energy said it told 1,417 workers at five West Virginia mines that their jobs must be eliminated....

[1]The Goldberg interview with Obama reads like a conversation with an idiot. Actually make that two idiots, both of whom are also compulsive liars.One of the highlights of their insane exchange is when Obama tries to insist that Iran won’t be more dangerous if it gets another $150 billion. Obama: The question is, if Iran has $150 billion parked outside the country, does the IRGC automatically get $150 billion? Does that $150 billion then translate by orders of magnitude into their capacity to project power throughout the region? So Obama brings out the math, and by math, I mean...

State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf was widely ridiculed in February for saying [1] of the Islamic State (ISIS): We cannot win this war by killing them, we cannot kill our way out of this war. We need, in the longer term, medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether itÂ’s lack of opportunity for jobs. On Wednesday, Barack Obama made it clear that HarfÂ’s ridiculous analysis did not originate with her; rather, she was reflecting the company line. Said [2] Obama: Climate change constitutes a serious threat to...

On Friday, President Obama spoke at a Jewish American Heritage Month celebration being held at the Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C. Wearing a yarmulke, Obama addressed his Jewish gravitas, citing his two Jewish former chiefs of staff, saying he has been called America's "first Jewish president" by Jeffrey Goldberg, who recently interviewed him for The Atlantic. Goldberg was in attendance.

A Cleveland cop cleared Saturday on state charges in the deaths of two unarmed people in a 137-shot barrage of police gunfire could face federal charges. The Justice Department said after the acquittal of Officer Michael Brelo’s on voluntary manslaughter charges that it would "review all available legal options." "We will now review the testimony and evidence presented in the state trial" to determine if "additional steps are available and appropriate," the department said. Vanita Gupta, head of the department's civil rights division said the review is separate from its efforts to resolve a pattern of civil rights violations at...

Speaker of the House John Boehner is praising the Senate's passage of the trade bill and calling on Democrats to join with Republicans to pass the law in the House. “Trade helps create good-paying American jobs, so it’s good news that the Senate has put us one step closer to eliminating trade barriers. These reforms have the support of farmers, manufacturers, small business owners, and Americans from all walks of life, and it’s not hard to figure out why," Boehner says in a statement. "With trade promotion authority, we’ll be able to hold President Obama accountable so America’s workers can...

Oh sure, there will still be barbecues,there will still be parades, complete with marching bands and cheerleaders:The very best cheerleaders are made, not bornButt there won’t be a marathon Memorial Day weekend of Hill-mail to entertain ourselves with, so hold the popcorn for now. Turns out there were only 300 emails set loose, not the 80,000 I was anticipating. Three hundred measly emails? That’s barely enough to get a bird through breakfast.And mind you, they’ve all been hand-screened, redacted and authorized for public consumption. As Charles Krauthammer said, there will be no smoking gun: “There isn’t a shred of evidence,”...

WASHINGTON (AP) — If there was one thing most economists agreed on at the start of the year, it was this: Plunging oil prices would boost the U.S. economy. It hasn't worked out that way. The economy is thought to have shrunk in the January-March quarter and may barely grow for the first half of 2015 — thanks in part to sharp cuts in energy drilling. And despite their savings at the gas pump, consumers have slowed rather than increased their spending.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, and Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) supported a visa waiver for the daughter of a fugitive Ecuadorian banker in exchange for significant campaign contributions to the Democratic Party. On Tuesday, NBC 4 New York reported that Menendez, with express written support from Clinton, intervened on behalf of Estefania Isaías, who was banned from traveling to the U.S. due to accusations of visa fraud. Isaías is the daughter of Roberto Isaias, who lives in Miami and is currently fighting extradition to Ecuador for banking crimes and under investigation for...

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) responded sharply after US President Barack Obama continued his condemnation of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s pre-election comments, in which he said a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch and warned of massive Arab voter turnout. Striking back at Obama’s criticism of Netanyahu’s remarks, Levin said, “We have much appreciation and respect for the president of the United States, but there’s no place for statements which constitute interfering in the internal affairs of Israel.” The minister continued, “The time has come for leaders of the West to open their eyes and take care...

As the administration’s false narrative about the events leading up to the sacking of our consulate in Benghazi and the killing of our ambassador continues to unravel, a sordid detail has come to light. The leader of the the attack is believed to be an alumnus of Guantanamo Bay who was released from custody via an anti-American left wing group headed by an Obama donor. First, the terrorist: Abu Sufian bin Qumu. Bin Qumu, according to his Guantanamo file, was picked up in Pakistan in early 2002 after being identified by the Libyan government (that would be the same government...

President Obama won a big victory for his trade agenda Friday with the Senate’s approval of fast-track legislation that could make it easier for him to complete a wide-ranging trade deal that would include 11 Pacific Rim nations. A coalition of nearly 50 Senate Republicans and more than 10 Democrats voted for Trade Promotion Authority late Friday, sending the legislation to the House for a difficult fight as Obama faces more entrenched opposition from Democrats. The Senate coalition fought off several attempts by opponents to undermine the legislation, defeating amendments that were politically popular but potentially poisonous to Obama’s bid...

President Obama sought to reassure American Jews that he fully supports the state of Israel while reiterating the need for a two-state solution at a Northwest Washington synagogue on Friday. Obama spoke at the Adas Israel Synagogue on the inaugural “solidarity sabbath,” a holiday meant to consolidate support for Jews amid rising anti-Semitism that falls toward the end of Jewish Heritage Month. On Friday, lawmakers were slated to appear in congregations across the country to mark the day. ......................... “When we allow anti-Semitism to take root, our souls are destroyed,” Obama said. “It will spread.” The statements follow a wide-ranging...