Free Republic

A Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple is appealing a "re-education" order from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.The order requires cake artist Jack Phillips to create wedding cakes for gay couples and to re-educate his staff that the state's Anti-Discrimination Act means artists must endorse all views.It also requires him to file quarterly compliance reports for two years.According to Phillips' attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom, the reports must include the number of patrons that Phillips declines to serve, along with the reason.The order stems from a 2012 incident in which Phillips refused a...

President Obama and HealthCare.gov are in the running for an Emmy this awards season. Obama’s satirical interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis on the web series “Between Two Ferns” was nominated Thursday for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment category.

The standoff between rancher Cliven Bundy and federal agents, which escalated into a national news story earlier this year as armed supporters of Bundy gathered at his Nevada ranch, “invigorated an extremist movement” in the country, according to a report issued Thursday by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

President Barack Obama told his Cabinet on Tuesday to 'be creative' looking for areas where he might be able to govern by executive action given gridlock in Congress that is hampering his agenda. In a White House meeting, Obama brought together the top officials in his government a day after conceding that a deadlocked Congress will prompt him to act on his own authority where he can on an immigration overhaul. Obama said he wants to work with Congress where possible, "but if Congress is unable to do it," then he said his Cabinet officials and agency heads should look...

President Reagan will be turning over in his grave on November 15 when the second annual “Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award” is given to President Obama’s former CIA director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.As we noted when Panetta was nominated by Obama for the Pentagon post, his Congressional career “was dedicated to fighting Reagan’s defense build-up and anti-communist policies.”He is also a notorious leaker, having disclosed top secret information to Hollywood filmmakers about the Special Forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden.The “Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award” recognizes “the exemplary dedication and service of individuals in the...

Rival filmmakers plan Bowe Bergdahl movies Team behind Zero Dark Thirty in race to tell controversial story of American soldier held captive by Taliban for five years By Rob Crilly Two movie production teams are already gearing up to tell the story of Bowe Bergdahl, even before an investigation has worked out how and why he ended up in Taliban hands. Sgt Bergdahl, 28, arrived back on American soil five days ago after spending almost five years in captivity. He was released last month in exchange for five Guantánamo Bay prisoners. Two versions of his politically-charged story are already in...

Two senators unveiled a bipartisan plan Wednesday to raise federal gasoline and diesel taxes for the first time in more than two decades, pitching the proposal as a solution to Congress’ struggle to pay for highway and transit programs. The plan offered by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., would raise the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax and 24.4-cents-a-gallon diesel tax by 12 cents each over the next two years, and then index the taxes to keep pace with inflation. The plan also calls for offsetting the tax increases with other taxes cuts. …

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Patent Office ruled Wednesday that the Washington Redskins nickname is "disparaging of Native Americans" and that the team's federal trademarks for the name must be canceled. The 2-1 ruling comes after a campaign to change the name has gained momentum over the past year. The team doesn't immediately lose trademark protection and is allowed to retain it during an appeal.

A new documentary makes the controversial case that a political cocktail of big corporate money and racially charged sentiments has helped fuel the rise of the tea party. And squarely behind that movement, the film argues, are the Koch brothers. Co-Directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin sat down with “Top Line” to discuss their film, “Citizen Koch,” and why they say the GOP’s deep-pocketed donors, the Koch brothers, are such figures in American politics today. “Money – $100 billion now,” Deal said in explaining the Kochs’ influence. “When we started out making this film, their net worth was about $68...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is re-establishing a law enforcement group to fight those it designates as domestic terrorists, with an announcement expected on Tuesday, Department of Justice officials said. Following hate-motivated shootings such as the one at a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, Missouri in April, federal prosecutors have pressed the need to coordinate intelligence of such criminals on a national level, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The group will coordinate cases that involve Americans who may be spurred to violence for political or prejudicial reasons.

President Obama spoke at a Walmart in the heart of Silicon Valley and rolled out his plan for energy reform, an ambitious effort to convert more businesses, homes and government buildings to solar power. Obama praised the store's solar panels, LED lighting and updated refrigeration systems as examples of the redoubled efforts he wants private companies and the government to make toward a cleaner, greener future. Obama's choice of Walmart to highlight energy efficiency enraged those who see the retail giant and its low-wage jobs as a major driver of the income gap that Obama so often speaks of trying...

The liberal media and conservative outlets are highlighting former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s speculation that Media Matters for America is being paid to attack her reporting that was perceived as critical of the Obama administration. That’s a dog bites man story. Of course the Democratic Party front group is paid to attack reporters and media outlets that critically report on President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. What stood out in Attkisson’s comments about Media Matters, made in an interview with Brian Stelter on CNN’s Reliable Sources that was broadcast on Sunday, was the revelation that Media Matters helps...

Have you ever wondered why the Obama Administration’s plans for improving the U.S. economy always seem to fall flat? It just might have something to do with the fact that the Obama Administration has been working with someone who doesn’t like capitalism. According to an article on France24.com, a well known economist who isn’t fond of capitalism, but promotes Socialism, has been working with the Democrats and the Obama Administration “for a long time”: In his latest book, French economist Thomas Piketty warns that modern-day capitalism leads to unsustainable levels of inequality. While he is often linked to France’s Socialist...

Yesterday was a significant day in the IRS abuse scandal. The scandal evolved from being about pesky delays in IRS exemption applications to a government conniving with outside interests to put political opponents in prison. Emails obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act reveal Lois Lerner cooking up plans with Justice Department officials to talk about ways to criminally charge conservative groups that are insufficiently quiet. Larry Noble, a law professor now with the Soros-funded Campaign Legal Center , was cited in the emails as someone agitating to jail conservatives who “falsely” report on IRS forms that...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Is Barack Obama a communist? I don’t know. But here are five things I do know. 1) The Obama administration spent $1.6 million to restore graffiti that glorified communist murderers Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. 2) During Hispanic Heritage Month, the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency honored communist mass murderer Che Guevara when it emailed the following picture to its employees: 3) Obama nominated Van Jones, a self described communist, to be his green czar.4) Anita Dunn, Obama’s White House Communications Director, said that one of her favorite political philosophers was Mao Tse-tung, the Chinese communist...

A preferred ploy of left-wing change agents is to ridicule critics when they point out the undeniable parallels between the goals of today’s “progressive” movement, to include the Democratic Party in general, and the goals of the early, and very much still alive, communist movement.If, for instance, one mentions the historical fact that nearly every adult who, at any time, was in any position of influence over a young, soon-to-be-radicalized Barry Soetoro was an avowed communist, to include his own parents, then one is immediately mocked and dismissed as a neo-McCarthyite hack pining for the bygone days of the Red...

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and his family are featured in a worshipful profile in this month's Washingtonian magazine. It's the sort of adoring journalistic exercise reserved for only the most handsome of the power elite. In it you can find out details about the Carney dog (a cousin to presidential pooch Sonny!), and how much the press secretary's tie costs ($135). But keen observers may notice the kitchen decor in the photo: Soviet propaganda posters. They really are the perfect pop of color whether you are the dour and sincere Nikita Khrushchev or the cheeky press-wrangler for a...

The White House is in a tiff over Samsung’s use of a selfie shot taken Thursday of the president and Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz as a quick and easy marketing ploy. “As a rule, the White House objects to attempts to use the president’s likeness for commercial purposes,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said, The Hill reported. At the same time, Mr. Carney refused to say whether attorneys for the administration were calling Samsung to get the company to stop using the snapshot, the media outlet said.

A mother in Arkansas has expressed concern over her daughter’s recent Common Core school assignment that asked her to remove and replace two of the first ten amendments of the Constitution. The team assignment stated that the Bill of Rights is “outdated and may not remain in its current form any longer.� Here is a copy of the assignment:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE PHOTO The mother who spoke up said she was particularly troubled by the fact that her daughter’s Sixth Grade History class had received no prior training in civics or how to amend the Constitution, which may...

Residents wake up to find fliers declaring “The KKK wants you” as hatred of Obama and immigration fuels rise in white supremacy...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Internal Revenue Service told House Republicans on Wednesday that it would take years to provide all the documents they have subpoenaed in their probe of how the agency handled tea party groups' applications for tax-exempt status. The comments by IRS chief John Koskinen drew a frosty response from Republicans who run the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee, one of several congressional panels investigating the controversy. The panel's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., warned him he should comply with the request "or potentially be held in contempt" of Congress, a sometimes threatened but...

March 26, 2014 10:44 AM Read the Complete List of Obamacare Delays By Alec Torres The Obama administration will announce its tenth Obamacare delay later today, this time extending the March 31 enrollment deadline for people who say they’ve been unable to enroll in health plans in the federal marketplace by the deadline. The extension applies to the federal exchange operating in three dozen states and is expected to last for two or three weeks. Can’t remember what all the delays have been? Politico provided a helpful history of Obamacare delays from most to least recent: March 25: Final enrollment...

Hi, The Weekly Standard put up a article about how a AZ CBS reporter confessed that Jay Carney and key people in the DC Press meet before briefings and he gets the questions and gives them the answers. Its all a charade in the televised Briefings. We suspected that, but now we know the details on how it is rigged. Nevada's biggest Obama fan Jon Ralston was even offended to find out how contrived it is. Now for the cover-up. The video has been blacked out on YouTube. Both Carney and the reporter are denying what she said on air....

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied on Thursday a television news reporter´s day-old claim that reporters often ´provide the questions to him in advance,´ before his daily briefings, and that he sometimes provides answers on paper before taking the podium. WIthin hours, the Phoenix reporter at the center of a quick-drying controversy admitted she got the whole thing wrong. Phoenix news anchor Catherine Anaya reported Wednesday night on KPHO-TV5 that in an ´off the record´ meeting, Carney had told a handful of local TV reporters that White House correspondents often tell him before daily briefings what they´ll be asking.

"The product is good and people want it," President Obama said, touting his health insurance plan to an audience at DreamWorks Animation in November. Yet, for being such an illustrious product, the Obama Administration sure seems desperate for people to get on board. Here are 15 ways the White House, state exchanges, and supporters have tried to sell Obamacare. 2. Quickly followed by Hoe-surance: 3. With a "geek" selfie: These geeks are covered ... are you? #geeksgetcovered Send us your #getcovered stories http://t.co/MMo1RXlWK3 pic.twitter.com/b9BSAGU2hN — The White House OSTP (@whitehouseostp) March 13, 2014 4. With a message from Lebron...

When President Obama began the year by boasting about his pen and phone, Speaker Boehner said, “I would remind the president he also has a Constitution, and an oath of office that he took where he swore to faithfully execute the laws of our country.” Not too long after that, Boehner addressed the American people’s growing concern about White House overreaching: “The president seems to change the health care law on a whim, whenever he likes. Now he is running around the country telling everyone he’s going to keep acting on his own. He keeps talking about his phone and...

As Russia spins a false narrative to justify its illegal actions in Ukraine, the world has not seen such startling Russian fiction since Dostoyevsky wrote, “The formula ‘two times two equals five’ is not without its attractions.” Below are 10 of President Vladimir Putin’s recent claims justifying Russian aggression in the Ukraine, followed by the facts that his assertions ignore or distort. 1. Mr. Putin says: Russian forces in Crimea are only acting to protect Russian military assets. It is “citizens’ defense groups,” not Russian forces, who have seized infrastructure and military facilities in Crimea. The Facts: Strong evidence suggests...

This week's episode:  Spending enormous resources on a program to reduce X, and then not tracking (or even putting in place a mechanism to track) whether X was reduced as promised.   James Taranto quoting the National Journal quoting Administration officials: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the health care law will reduce the number of uninsured people by about 24 million over the next few years, and that about 6 million previously uninsured people will gain coverage through the law's exchanges this year. So, is enrollment on track to meet that goal? Overall enrollment is looking pretty decent, but...

On Friday, Pres. Obama mocked Republicans who complain about his use of executive actions to "fix" Obamacare without involving Congress. **SNIP** "The reason they don't do it, of course, is that we already took the best ideas that are out there about bringing down costs and covering more people. Yes, there have been some disruptions. Yes, we lost that first month out of the gate. And we've worked hard to fix problems that have come up without any cooperation from them; in fact, they've complained when we fix them. They say, how dare you fix the things we were complaining...

The posters, of unknown origin, feature the Oscar statue with Vladimir Lenin's head and the title "OCZARS," referring to the proliferation of "czars"--powerful officials with no congressional oversight--in the Obama administration.

Published on Feb 27, 2014 http://townhall.com/tipsheet/

An actress on the Netflix original (hit) series 'House of Cards' says that in the course of doing research for the show -a story about a fictitious congressman, staring Kevin Spacey, and based on a BBC miniseries-  she was told by a "senior White House official that -as on the show- reporters DO sleep with their (married) sources... at least in this putrid regime. Robin Wright -who plays Claire Underwood, wife of Spacey's congressman character on the show- said that in the course of researching her role, she learned some surprising things (to her, anyway) about what goes on in D.C.  According...

A friend sent me a link to an article on MediaTrackers.org, "Ohio National Guard Training Envisions Right-Wing Terrorism." I have to say that I was outraged but not really surprised. That a state's National Guard training exercise would employ a scenario in which the "bad guys" were supporters of the Second Amendment and "limited government" is just a reflection of the regime's ongoing campaign to ridicule and demonize those who cherish the Constitution (not to mention the regime's defiance of the Constitution itself). It reminded me of a Missouri Highway Patrol memo made public a couple of years ago in...

Gov. Pat Quinn is partnering with satiric news site the Onion to persuade young invincibles” to sign up for health care insurance — before it's too late under Obamacare. Beginning today, Onion Labs, the creative services division of Chicago-based Onion, will run banners ads on its website of a man forced to sell his action figures to pay his medical bills because he didn't buy health insurance, according to a statement today from Get Covered Illinois, the state's health insurance exchange.

Lease terms are still being negotiated, but these are some of the things expected to be a part of it: rehabilitating Hangars One, 2 and 3, fixing up a golf course, starting a public use and educational facility, and getting rid of NASA’s operation and maintenance cost of the area, among other things. In a press release, NASA did not give a date as to when these negotiations would conclude.

SOCHI, Russia, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Irina Rodnina, the figure skater who lit the Olympic flame at the Sochi Games, blamed hackers on Monday for a tweet about U.S. President Barack Obama that caused a racism row. Some Western media questioned the choice of Russia's triple Olympic champion Rodnina featuring in the climax of the Games opening ceremony on Friday. A tweet on her timeline last year showed a picture of Obama which was photoshopped to add a banana in the foreground. The image angered many including the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who called it "outrageous behaviour"....

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) says that the newly launched Congressional Full Employment Caucus will “give President Obama a number of executive orders that he can sign.” Jackson Lee made the statement while gathered with Democrats on January 29th to announce the establishment of the Full Employment Caucus. “We will be answering the call of all of America because people need work and we’re not doing right by them by creating work,” Jackson Lee said. “I believe this caucus will put us on the right path and we’ll give President Obama a number of executive orders that he...

A donor to a Democratic representative and a number of groups devoted to reducing the U.S. nuclear stockpile received a prestigious White House award for scientific achievement on Monday. Article Link: Donor to Groups Devoted to Reducing U.S. Nuclear Stockpile Receives Scientific Achievement Award | Washington Free Beacon (http://freebeacon.com/donor-to-groups-devoted-to-reducing-u-s-nuclear-stockpile-receives-scientific-achievement-award/)Posted with Article Posting Assistant: (http://code-happy.bahits.com/?p=62)

Remember when John McAfee warned us in November that anybody who signed up to the Obamacare site might have their bank account cleaned-out by hackers? The eccentric genius and former fugitive called the government website 'a hacker's wet dream', adding that there were 'NO safeguards' that would stop someone from starting a fake Obamacare website 'for a couple hundred dollars' that could 'empty your bank account' in hours.  McAfee added unambiguously that 'It's going to happen, and it's going to happen soon... nothing in the Obamacare system safeguards against this.'  And I thought he was just trying to sell...

**SNIP** Eight months later, the probe has shown few public signs of progress, and many of the tea party victims say they still haven’t heard from the FBI or Justice Department lawyers. House Republicans said they were concerned about the direction of the probe, and Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican and a subcommittee chairman on the House oversight committee, asked Ms. Bosserman to testify at a hearing next week. The GOP has identified her as the lead lawyer on the investigation, and they have questioned her role, given her history as a significant political donor to President Obama’s 2008 and...

He knew. The liberal New York Times reported today that Governor Chris Christie knew about the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge when they were happening. The New York Times reported: The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening. In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing...

The State Department is presenting a global webcast on February 4, titled "From the Street to Mainstream: The Evolution of Rap/Hip Hop Music." The host of the webcast, rapper and State Department Music Ambassador Toni Blackman, will be joined by Pras Michel, [snip] Some of Michel's more inflammatory comments in the past raise questions about the appropriateness of his appearance with the U.S.'s music ambassador on a government-sponsored webcast representing America to the world.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) caused a small kerfuffle on Monday by requesting of President Obama, on her Facebook page: "Mr. President, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and all who commit to ending any racial divide, no more playing the race card." Nobody seems quite sure what prompted the request, though USA Today and Talking Points Memo, among others, suggest it was a new Obama profile in The New Yorker, in which the president famously says that marijuana is no worse for people than cigarettes and alcohol. In the germane passage regarding race, Obama tells interviewer David...

>BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Obama has an 18-page, if you read it on the Internet, interview/story with New Yorker Magazine. He said that Al-Qaeda is a JV unit. So the Al-Qaeda unit that did all the damage in Benghazi was the JV unit. Obama also said that he would not let his son, Trayvon Martin, play football -- while watching football, apparently. In an interview that runs the weekend of the NFL championship games, Obama said he would not let his son play the game. He doesn't have one, of course. But if he did, his son would have looked like...

First Lady Michelle Obama turns 50 today, and although the big White House celebration planned by President Obama isn’t until Saturday, that doesn’t mean you have to wait to celebrate. If your invite to Saturday’s dance party in Washington went missing, here are 50 other ways to honor the first lady on her big day — by doing some of her favorite things, from wearing stylish dresses to eating your veggies to doing the Dougie, preferably with Jimmy Fallon. 1. Dance to Beyonce 2. Eat your vegetables 3. Move into a massive new house with your family and invite your...

While The Foreign News Agencies and Media supporting terrorism and launching a fierce campaign against Egypt since the overthrown of Muslim Brotherhood, the US Congress slamed bamed their own media and really made them look and sound like Imbeciles and Morons! Since the overthrown of Muslim Brotherhood by the 30th of June revolution, the US politicized media are calling our revolution a military coup and attacking Egyptians in any step they make whether in relation to the road map moving forward or measures taken in protecting our national security against terrorism. This fierce campaign launched against Egypt by foreign media...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn't plan to file criminal charges over the Internal Revenue Service's heightened scrutiny of conservative groups, according to law-enforcement officials, a move that likely will only intensify debate over the politically charged scandal. The officials said investigators didn't find the kind of political bias or "enemy hunting" that would amount to a violation of criminal law. Instead, what emerged during the probe was evidence of a mismanaged bureaucracy...

Washington (CNN) – The heated debate over the Washington Redskins name has now moved beyond living rooms and corporate offices to the U.S. government itself, with one agency making an unequivocal ruling that the term "Redskins" is offensive slang. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected an application to trademark the name "Redskins Hog Rind," writing that the term "Redskins" is "a derogatory slang term that refers to, and is considered offensive by, American Indians." The agency cited five definitions from online dictionaries - from The Oxford Dictionary to Yahoo – that labeled the word as offensive or disparaging. In...

The White House, in damage control after a blistering memoir by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates went public, insisted that a full slate of events between President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden was not meant to prop up Biden. In a rare move, the White House opened up the weekly lunch between Obama and Biden to photographers Wednesday, prompting speculation that the administration was trying to gloss over a brutal 24 hours for Obama’s number two. “You can decide for yourself what you want to believe,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday, calling the timing of the...

Do a Google News search for “income inequality” and it will remove any doubt that this is already the political issue of 2014. The left has been gearing up for months. The liberal Center for American Progress launched a new center devoted to the subject, and President Obama has been making it a centerpiece of his speeches. Get ready to hear about “fairness”—because some people make more money than others, and this isn’t fair. How can you sit by and watch this happen? What is the government going to do about it? It’s a popular argument because everyone—even Warren Buffett—wants...