Free Republic

DAVOS, Switzerland - US President Barack Obama plans to accelerate the pace of American aid to Egypt, a top State Department official said on Wednesday, as the most populous Arab nation reaches a critical stage in its uncertain transition away from autocratic rule. Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats, part of a US delegation that held unprecedented talks last week with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, said Washington wanted to provide "more immediate benefits" to Egyptians, who earlier this month conducted their first democratic elections in decades. "During this period, we want to be as supportive as we can. This is an historic...

Group considered close to Obama administration concedes bias against Israel in e-mail. A senior employee of the US think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) appears to have admitted in an e-mail sent from his CAP account that a blogger for the policy organization used anti-Semitic language to attack supporters of the Jewish state. CAP advises the Democratic Party on Middle East policy and is an important source of ideas for the Obama administration.

A Republican source who was at the dinner in which pollster Chris Wilson says Herman Cain sexually harassed a young staffer is contradicting the account, telling CBS News he never saw Cain sexually harass anyone that night, although he does remember Cain drinking. "I did not see a lech," the source said.

Across a vast expanse of the Muslim world, from Tunisia to Pakistan, the forces of Islam are rising. Tunisian voters have given the Al Nahda (Muslim Brotherhood) party a dominant position in the national assembly that will write the country’s new constitution. In Libya, Chairman of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, has declared he seeks to make Islamic law the basis for legislation.In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood campaigns under the slogan, “Islam is the Solution” as Coptic Christians face the worst persecution in decades. ...Here at home, the Obama administration’s Justice Department has launched a campaign to extirpate...

(CNSNews.com) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that under the administration’s policy of exercising “prosecutorial discretion” in the enforcement of the immigration laws, her department is currently authorizing some illegal aliens to work in the United States. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking-member of the Senate Judiciary panel, asked Napolitano: “According to the information from your department, some individuals who are given relief will obtain work authorizations. So people with no right to be in the country will be allowed to work here. Is that correct?”

Heard it on Rush.Somebody duct tape my head, please.

The sister-in-law of John Podesta, President Obama's influential White House transition director, served as the lobbyist for a wind power firm that was just awarded a $135.8 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.

'Green' firm with White House ties lined up to get massive guaranteeThe sister-in-law of John Podesta, President Obama's influential White House transition director, served as the lobbyist for a wind power firm that was just awarded a $135.8 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.The company is Brookfield Asset Management. It boasts a board of nine directors, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's long-term girlfriend. The Energy Department's promise to Brookfield marks the latest in controversial massive alternative energy loans to companies with strong ties to the Obama White House and to top Democrat lawmakers....Since 2009, Brookfield has been...

It’s been a bit of a puzzle as to why the owners of Zuccotti Park that the Occupy Wall Street gang has taken over have allowed them to stay. They’re angering residents and pretty much stinking up the place. The owners have mentioned that the park is normally cleaned every night, but they have not been able to clean it in three weeks. Sanitation was “becoming an issue” a few days ago. Lord knows what it’s like now, I hear it’s pretty bad. Could the fact that the parent company of Brookfield Properties received a “green energy” loan guarantee from...

(This info was developed and originally posted by chatteringclassof58. The original post was deleted. This is an edited version of the material.) Occupy Wall Street protesters have been camped out in and trashing Zuccotti Park for weeks. Zuccotti Park is a very nice private park, right in the middle of Manhattan. Zuccotti Park is owned by Brookfield Office Properties, which is part of Brookfield Asset Management, worth at least $150 billion. Brookfield Office Properties Mayor Bloomberg has said he can do nothing about the protest unless the park owners (Brookfield Properties) ask the protesters to be evicted. Brookfield issued a...

A Daily Caller investigation has found that in addition to the failed company Solyndra, at least four other solar panel manufacturing companies receiving in excess of $500 million in loan guarantees from the Obama administration employ executives or board members who have donated large sums of money to Democratic campaigns. And as questions swirl around possible connections between political donations and these preferential financing arrangements, the Obama White House suddenly began deflecting The Daily Caller’s questions on Wednesday to the Democratic National Committee. Asked Wednesday to comment on the connection between large Democratic donors and Obama administration loan guarantees to...

[...]Take AT&T, for example. The telecommunications giant is pushing for the supercommittee to increase wireless spectrum, reform corporate tax and minimize government regulation. The company, which is also in the midst of fighting for its merger with T-Mobile, bundled $71,000 for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee through the first six months of this year and $20,750 last year for Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who co-chairs the supercommittee and runs the campaign arm that is charged with maintaining a Senate majority next November. In fact, Murray received the most bundled contributions of any individual supercommittee lawmaker since last year, also taking...

If you want to find out what happened with Solyndra you have to follow the money. I did. The half billion dollars of taxpayer dough that is probably lost in Sol came from the Federal Financing Bank (“FFB”). It’s worth a look at this bank to see what else is going on. FFB is a bank that is owned and controlled by the US Treasury. The chairman of the Board is the TSec. (Tim Geithner). With the (big) exception of the Post Office all of the loans at FFB are guaranteed by government agencies. Technically speaking, FFB has no risks...

Vice President Biden is slated to deliver the keynote address at a Las Vegas energy summit hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) later this month. The fourth annual National Clean Energy Summit will also feature remarks from Center for American Progress President John Podesta, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), among others. “The Obama administration has proven time and again it understands the importance of building a competitive 21st-century economy through clean energy investments and policies that are focused on putting people back to work, reducing costs for consumers and...

A slew of organizations funded by billionaire George Soros have been utilizing the alleged News of the World phone hacking scandal in the U.K. to call for investigations of News Corporation's U.S. interests, particularly Fox News Channel. The Center for American Progress, heavily financed by Soros, said it gathered 12,000 signatures demanding to know whether News Corp. reporters violated U.S. law by obtaining phone records in the U.S. The center is reportedly highly influential in helping to craft White House policy. It is led by John Podesta, who served as co-chairman of Obama's presidential transition team. Podesta this week told...

At least three White House advisers and officials, including President Obama's regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, have ties to an effort funded by billionaire George Soros to push for a new, "progressive" U.S. Constitution WND first reported last week that Sunstein's wife, Samantha Power, has been a champion of a Soros-funded doctrine, entitled "responsibility to protect," which was used by Obama to justify engaging in an international military alliance to bomb Libya. As the National Security Council special adviser to Obama on human rights, Power reportedly influenced Obama in his decision. Now it has emerged that Sunstein has maintained extensive ties...

Politico published an eye-opening report on Saturday by Ben Smith about “Media Matter’s war against Fox.” Smith wrote that the organization continues to transform itself into an exclusively Fox News-battling group.Media Matters founder David Brock told Politico that his organization’s activism has developed into a “strategy of containment.” This strategy includes extensive work to compile intelligence on the employees of the cable news channel. (Snip)“Somebody in that organization is giving us primary source documents.”

George Soros has been a brilliant investor over the years. As befits many hedge fund operators, he uses leverage to magnify his returns. But in his case, leverage has a double meaning. Leverage can refer to the debt Soros assumes when he makes his investments. But it can also refer to the practice Soros has engaged in, both overseas and in America, to use his money and influence to bolster his political power -- power that he then uses to boost returns on his investments. He is not just a hedge fund billionaire but a crony capitalist kingpin who puts...

US Union Boss Trumka Influencing Egyptian Revolution With International Labor Org That Calls for Redistribution of Wealth, ‘Social Justice’ and ‘New World Order’ http://www.theblaze.com/stories/us-union-boss-trumka-influencing-egyptian-revolution-with-international-labor-org-that-call-for-redistribution-of-wealth-social-justice-and-new-world-order/

A blog hosted by the Center for American Progress, headed by top Obama ally John Podesta, is blasting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its tangential ties to the Egyptian government while ignoring the extensive lobbying activities of John’s brother Tony Podesta for the Egyptian government. “There is at least one powerful, multinational entity that has continually stood by Mubarak and the Egyptian elite and has continually fought efforts to democratize the country,” says the blog post, weaving a complicated tale of the Chamber’s Egypt affiliate lobbying on behalf of the Mubarak regime. The problem is: Mubarak’s top Washington ally...