Free Republic

A California Republican state lawmaker is challenging the legality of a move by Democrats in the legislature to hire former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to help in any legal battles with President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. Assembly member Kevin Kiley has requested a formal ruling from state lawyers on whether the decision by Democratic legislative leaders to hire Holder and his firm, Covington & Burling, for $25,000 a month violated a provision in the state’s constitution that bans hiring outside counsel for work the state’s own lawyers can do. […] Kiley’s request came on the eve of hearings in the...

The world-renown MD Anderson Cancer Center has announced a workforce reduction by 1,000, the CEO of the center said on Thursday. The cancer hospital has had $110 million in operating losses from September through November this year, reported the Houston Chronicle. [Snip] The local publication reported that the financial problems began in the spring when the hospital implemented a new electronic medical-record system. Doctors and staff members at the center spent a great deal of time getting up to speed in using the program and that took time away from their patients.

After eight years of magnanimous humility, servility and deferential governance toward his political opposition, ‘President selfless‘ awards himself the Medal of Distinguished Public Service. Thus, President Obama officially declares himself the greatest public servant during his own tenure. No. Really, not kidding. He did.

Several federal agencies are accelerating hiring in the final days of the Obama administration to ensure that as many new employees as possible are in place before President-elect Donald Trump imposes a promised hiring freeze. Leaders at these agencies are filling open positions with transfers and outside hires and are making internal promotions before Trump takes office Jan. 20, according to internal documents and interviews. The hiring could increase tensions between the Trump transition team and the Obama administration — a relationship that has grown worse in recent days due to disagreements over how the United States should handle its...

For the eighth and final time, I am presenting my annual Year in Photographs. All of them were taken either by me or a White House photographer on my staff. For many of the images, I’ve included the backstory behind the image to provide further context or to share why that image was particularly important to me

The Agence France-Presse on Thursday updated a misleading headline that suggested that Russia manipulated US vote totals on Election Day through hacking. "US sanctions Russia over vote hacking," read an AFP headline. The Obama administration leveled sanctions against Russia on Thursday for election-related hacking. But there is no evidence that Russian hackers broke into election systems to change vote totals. The White House and US intelligence agencies have only accused Moscow of hacking the Democratic National Committee and political operatives. The AFP later corrected its headline to read: "US punishes Russia over election hacks." An editor's note was not attached...

<p>Buzzfeed published a listicle Monday containing insulting and racist messages towards white people.</p> <p>The listicle, entitled, “19 School Powerpoint Presentations That Give Zero Fucks,” is a list of students giving presentations. Many of the presentations include insulting and hateful messages towards whites, such as, “White People Are a Plague to the Planet,” “How White People Plagued Society,” and “White People Are Crazy.”</p>

The White House said Thursday that protesters angered by the fatal police shooting of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina, are raising “legitimate” concerns about racial disparities in the criminal-justice system. “Those are difficult questions that must be confronted,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “They cannot be ignored.” After a second night of rioting and confrontations with police in Charlotte, President Obama spoke by phone Thursday with North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory to receive an update on the situation. Mr. Earnest said the president wants authorities to ensure the safety of protesters.

Update: PR Governor Padilla has spoken... -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SAYS WON'T PAY DEBT TOMORROW -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SAYS ISLAND WON'T PAY DEBT MONDAY -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR: GOVERNMENT SIGNED MORATORIUM BILL YESTERDAY -PUERTO RICO NEEDS DEAL W/ CREDITORS AND/OR CONGRESS: GARCIA And of course, demands a bailout... -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR CALLS ON U.S. CONGRESS, PAUL RYAN FOR HELP And then threatens... -CRISIS WILL GET WORSE IF U.S. CONGRESS DOESN'T HELP: GARCIA -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR CONCLUDES REMARKS TO COMMONWEALTH A default on the $422 million due today is "virtually certain," S&P Global Ratings said April 11.

President Obama is so paranoid about linking terrorists to the Muslim faith that when French President François Hollande used the phrase “Islamist terrorism” at a meeting in Washington, White House officials posted their official press video with audio of the words cut out completely. The White House’s transcript of the event shows the French leader declared at the 4:49 minute mark that “the roots of terrorism, Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and in Iraq.” But rather than include Hollande’s remark in its entirety, the Obama administration posted footage in which his interpreter’s English translation of the words “Islamist terrorism” was...

FReep This Poll! Do you support President Obama's efforts toward normalizing relations with Cuba? Yes No (Note: Follow the link provided; look for the POLL on the homepage of The San Diego Union-Tribune ... you can't miss it. Vote your choice.

"Won't look like rain. Won't look like snow. Won't look like fog. That's all we know. We just can't tell you any more. We've never made oobleck before." -- Dr. Suess, Bartholomew and the Oobleck Sean Malone begins a predictably tendentious essay, Arguing with Republicans, with a claim I see, read, or hear all the time when people explain why they actually spend time arguing with the colonized minds of the Left. He cites the irritating situation of "debating with leftists, liberals and progressives who's poor grasp of economics and annoying tendency to support style over substance has turned a...

Lisa in Waukesha, Wisconsin, has two Facebook accounts. One reflects her liberal politics; the other is for acquaintances and family members to whom Lisa shows only her cat photos. Christina, in Milford, Massachusetts, has a sign in the back window of her car proclaiming support for a Democratic candidate. But as soon as she parks in the company lot, she puts it facedown on the backseat. Byron has lived in the same small town of Pomeroy, Iowa—population 662—his entire life. He brings his partner to family dinners but has never actually said to his conservative sister that he’s gay. Lisa,...

Online source code repository and team collaboration service GitHub has been under fire after an anti-white agenda was revealed within the company’s “Social Impact Team.” According to Tech Insider’s reveal on GitHub’s current situation, CEO Chris Wanstrath is radically changing the company. The former flat structure that eliminated substantial hierarchy has been replaced with supervisors and middle managers, and the ability for employees to work remotely has been cut back in favour of mandatory office working environments. These changes have prompted many long-term employees to leave, with some reportedly being ousted if they cannot meet the new requirements. GitHub’s Social...

(snip) The problem is not, as some commentators have claimed, a legal doctrine known as "standing" -- a rule that requires that a person who comes to court must have a proper legal interest at stake in the litigation. Rather, the biggest barrier is a principle of judicial restraint known as "the political question doctrine." A key idea underlying this doctrine is that the Constitution itself, in its text or spirit, sometimes takes a certain sort of constitutional question away from ordinary courts and makes some other decision-maker the real judge -- a special court for a special question. In...

Obama and the other leaders were requested to give three minute introductory addresses. At 8:41 on the video, they begin to try to finally shut him up. They try again every thirty seconds...until it becomes obvious that he could care less...

The Democratic National Committee sent an email Tuesday to supporters with advice on how to talk to their Republican relatives during the holiday season, referring them to a website aimed at debunking right-wing talking points.“It’s that time of year — full of food and fun and celebrating with family and friends. But we here at the DNC know that occasionally all that togetherness can lead to some … let’s call them ‘lively’ conversations about politics with one Republican uncle,” reads the email, sent by Luis Miranda, DNC communications director. “So I’m officially deputizing you to serve as a Deputy Democratic Spokesperson...

A Syrian refugee that was relocated to Louisiana has already gone missing and the group who were accommodating them will not take responsibility. WBRZ has reported that Catholic charities had helped the refugee who settled in Baton Rouge, but also said the refugee left for another state after a couple of days, and they currently do not know where the refugee went since they do not track them. SNIP-- State Leaders say they have located the Syrian Refugee who settled in Baton Rouge… then left. They say after the Syrian left Baton Rouge, the refugee went to the nation’s capital....

The American Left is beyond parody. Apparently Salon would have us believe that the Paris jihad massacre happened because “the right wing media” criticized the Black Lives Matter movement. Islamic jihad? Warfare against unbelievers? The Islamic State’s stated imperative to murder French civilians? Only greasy Islamophobes take such things seriously: everyone knows Fox News and Ben Carson are the real culprits!(AP photo snipped)“And so the hate speech begins: Let Paris be the end of the right’s violent language toward activists,” by Chauncey DeVega, Salon, November 13, 2015:In a still developing situation, the city of Paris, France, is under attack by...

Ben Carson said Thursday that the names of two people he has previously identified as victims of his childhood violence are "fictitious." "I don't like to generally bring them in, the names I used for instance are fictitious names because I don't want to bring people into something like this because I know what you guys do to their lives‎," Carson told reporters in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Ben Carson's career in politics 13 photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson's comments follow a CNN investigation published earlier Thursday that probed his descriptions of his violent past. He has said he...