Free Republic

Lately a little-known clause in the Constitution has been making big headlines. It's called the emoluments clause, and it's just 49 words total. The clause reads in full: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any Present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." The ethics group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) claims President Donald Trump is in violation of that clause, and as...

Much of the commentary about Kellyanne Conway’s Meet the Press appearance this morning has focused on her criticism of the prospect of Mitt Romney as Secretary of State. We’ll discuss that in a “Note” below but would like to highlight a striking statement by Chuck Todd that immediately preceded the Romney discussion. Todd was grilling Conway over potential conflicts between Trump’s business interests and his role as president. Conway eventually had enough, and observed “I went back and looked at what all the press clips and the conversations on shows like this eight years ago. It was basically debating just...

Anti-Trump ad from July

Ever since Sen. Ted Cruz claimed in the most recent GOP debate that “I think most people know exactly what New York values are” as a slight against Donald Trump, examples of #NewYorkValues, mostly humorous, have been seen all over Twitter. Today, though, Trump took the concept to new heights (or depths) by posting a photo from 9/11 and asking, “Is this the New York that Ted Cruz is talking about & demeaning?” Some liked Trump firing back at Cruz with both barrels, while others called use of the photo “vulgar exploitation.” We’re not sure if or how Cruz will...

MILWAUKEE — Scott Walker was gone. Dropped out. And in the spring of his senior year. In 1990, that news stunned his friends at Marquette University. Walker, the campus’s suit-wearing, Reagan-loving politico — who enjoyed the place so much that he had run for student body president — had left without graduating.

President Obama charged that his Republican opponents had “nothing to offer except cynicism and fear and frustration” during a fundraiser Thursday in Minnesota. The fundraiser capped off a day Obama spent with Rebekah Erler, a working mother who wrote the president to detail her financial struggle. “It moved me,” Obama said of the letter, adding that he only went into politics to help people like her. Obama said he remembered what it felt like to be struggling to figure out “how you lead a good life and raise your kids, not looking to get wildly wealthy… trying to make ends...

The New York Times, which has actively helped Democrats and the White House perpetuate the phony "war on women" campaign against Republicans, reportedly fired its female executive editor because she complained about pay inequality at the so-called "paper of record." On Wednesday, the Times announced that Dean Baquet, the managing editor, would replace Jill Abramson, becoming the paper's first black executive editor. Abramson was promoted to executive editor with much fanfare in 2011. "Several weeks ago," according to The New Yorker, "Abramson discovered that her pay and her pension benefits as both executive editor and, before that, as managing editor...

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...

With the wheels coming off of ObamaCare, liberals are desperately searching for a way to go back on the attack against Republicans. On Saturday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, Zerlina Maxwell of TheGrio.com trotted out a months-old strategy: attack Republicans for pushing the supposedly “phony” Benghazi scandal. Asked for her opinion on the Republicans’ investigation of the Benghazi attack, Maxwell spit out the liberal narrative that we heard a lot of earlier this year: [Video below. MP3 audio here.] MSNBC Contributor: Benghazi Is a ‘Fake, Phony Scandal’ Well, I think that Benghazi is a tragedy but it's a fake, phony scandal....

ALL ABOUT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S "PHONY" SCANDALS Last week (the week of July 14, 2013) President Barack Hussein Obama, in a long rambling speech, spoke of how upset he was that the country had gotten off-track as he termed it, and was too focused on what he called, "phony scandals," to address what he deemed were the real issues facing the nation. So, I thought I would examine and talk a little bit about Obama's belief that America has been "distracted," by these "phony," scandals. THE BENGHAZI SCANDAL Is one of those scandals the attack on the US consulate in...

Reversing these trends must be Washington’s highest priority. It sure is mine. But over the past couple of years in particular, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. An endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals shift focus from what needs to be done.

Once again, we are seeing President Obama traveling around America and going into full campaign mode. In this round of speeches, he is accusing the rest of Washington, meaning everyone who doesn't agree with his progressive policies, of being distracted by phony scandals. He must be trying to get a head start on the upcoming budget battles and on the 2014 campaign for the control of Congress. In doing so, he is ignoring the facts, nothing unusual for him to do that, and doing what he can to accuse his political opponents of the political posturing and games that he...