Free Republic

The Paris climate talks have mostly wound to an end. There are still a few details to clean up over the weekend, but we’re being told that representatives from hundreds of nations have come together and are prepared to release their final agreement on how to save the world from climate change. Or maybe not: even as of this morning nobody seemed to be able to agree as to whether or not there was an agreement. (CNN) “Obviously, nobody will get 100% of what they want,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday as he discussed the “balanced and as...

Data for 2014—the latest year available—indicates that burglars absconded with $3.9 billion worth of victims’ property. At the same time, “civil forfeiture” made off with $4.5 billion worth. The civil forfeiture statute was initially sold as a tool for coping with organized crime. It has morphed into crime wave in which police seize cash from individuals on the slimmest of pretexts and dare the owner to try to get it back through cumbersome and costly procedures. A favored tactic is to assert that any cash that a person may be carrying was obtained via criminal activity. As proof, police cite...

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), a onetime rising star who came to Congress 20 years ago as a next-generation reformer, was charged Wednesday with racketeering related to an off-books $1 million loan to his unsuccessful campaign for Philadelphia mayor in 2007. The Justice Department charged Fattah, a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, and four supporters with 29 counts that included bribery, bank fraud and other corruption charges. “The public expects their elected officials to act with honesty and integrity,” said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “By misusing campaign funds, misappropriating government funds, accepting...

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) has been indicted on dozens of federal charges surrounding his unsuccessful run for Philadelphia mayor in 2007, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday. The 11-term Democrat, along with four associates, was indicted on 29 federal counts, including bribery, money laundering, falsification of records and multiple counts of bank fraud, among other charges. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said Fattah and the others "embarked on a wide-ranging conspiracy involving bribery, concealment of unlawful campaign contributions and theft of charitable and federal funds to advance their own personal interests.” “When elected officials betray the trust and...

A federal law crafted to fight the mob is giving marijuana opponents a new strategy in their battle to stop the expanding industry: racketeering lawsuits. A Colorado pot shop recently closed after a Washington-based group opposed to legal marijuana sued not just the pot shop but a laundry list of firms doing business with it—from its landlord and accountant to the Iowa bonding company guaranteeing its tax payments. One by one, many of the plaintiffs agreed to stop doing business with Medical Marijuana of the Rockies, until the mountain shop closed its doors and had to sell off its pot...

Interpol issued wanted-person notices Wednesday for six people accused by the Department of Justice of being involved in a vast corruption network surrounding soccer's FIFA governing body. The so-called "red notices" — which do not have the power of an international arrest warrant — were issued at the request of U.S. authorities, Interpol said in a statement. Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner and former FIFA executive committee member Nicolás Leoz were the top names on Interpol's list, followed by Alejandro Burzaco, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis, all heads of marketing businesses based in Argentina, and José Margulies, who runs...

Judge orders Clinton Foundation racketeering case to trial BY SARAH WESTWOOD | MAY 29, 2015 | 7:39 PM A Florida judge has set a trial date in the racketeering case against the Clinton Foundation and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Judge Donald Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ordered the racketeering, influenced and corrupt organizations, or RICO, case to head to trial January 20, 2016. The order, entered Friday and obtained by the Washington Examiner, came days after Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch filed a lengthy civil complaint against the Clintons and their foundation in...

Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation have been hit with a racketeering lawsuit in Florida court. The lawsuit, filed by Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch, includes a legal request to have the Florida judge seize the private server on which Hillary Clinton and her aides hosted their emails while she served as secretary of state. Klayman has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Clintons and other prominent politicians. The racketeering, influenced and corrupt organizations, or RICO, case alleges the former first couple and their family philanthropy traded political favors for donations or generous speaking fees for Bill Clinton...

Well, that didn't take long. The tolerance brigades are calling for the death of the proprietors of a small pizza restaurant in a sleepy Indiana town. All of the hubbub that has spawned over the last three days has spun well out of control for those that wanted to make the pizzeria an example to be shunned. However, some have taken it way too far already: they´ve raised funds for the stupid gayhaters of #MemoriesPizza let´s raise funds to kill them all !!! take you gun and kill them now — Al Gringo (@Al_Gringo) April 3, 2015 #MemoriesPizza If conservatives...

Her -- I think her -- twitter page says that her interests include "helping the world." Helping the world includes reporting as fraudulent a crowdfunding effort for a Christian family put out of business by leftwing hate.

Update, April 3: The Indiana man who claims to have been hacked now admits that he wasn't, but says he was "joking" about robbing Memories Pizza, and is threatening to sue those who exposed his (ahem) public comments. Those of us following the Memories Pizza story won't have trouble remembering it as the years go by, thanks only partially to the Walkerton, Indiana store's fairly unusual name for a pizzeria. What will also easy to recall are the "memories" of the unhinged and threatening leftist behavior that accompanied its owner's simple statement that, if the request ever arose, they would...

Jess Dooley, a Concord High School golf, softball and basketball coach, was suspended hours after responding to Religious Freedom Restoration Act news story with Tweet about arson. A Concord High School coach has been suspended after she tweeted about arson in relation to a Walkerton pizzeria whose owners told the media they agree with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Jess Dooley, who is the head coach of the girls golf program and also an assistant coach with the softball and girls basketball programs, took to Twitter Wednesday, April 1, to voice her opinion about the RFRA. She was adding to...

ATLANTA (AP) — A group of former Atlanta educators convicted in a test cheating scandal were locked up in jail Thursday as they await sentences that could send them to prison for years. In one of the nation's largest cheating scandals of its kind, the 11 defendants were convicted Wednesday of racketeering for their roles in a scheme to inflate students' scores on standardized exams. They include teachers, a principal and other administrators, who were accused of falsifying test results to collect bonuses or keep their jobs in the 50,000-student Atlanta public school system. A 12th defendant, a teacher, was...

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Suspended California state Sen. Leland Yee could face a jury as early as June for charges of political corruption and conspiracy to import guns. At a scheduling conference on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Yee will be tried along with his political consultant Keith Jackson, who also faces drug and murder-for-hire charges. Breyer said those charges will be tried separately, but lawyers for the defendants, including Yee's lawyer James Lassart, were not satisfied. "The firearms charges are going to be extremely prejudicial. The government has acquired 50 to 70 different firearms that, undoubtedly to...

glaringly missing from the summary was mention of $15 million in fees paid by Burkle's Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund since 2002

A prominent animal-rights charity is not a friend of the furry kingdom. Americans love animals, even cats. Eight million stray dogs and cats find their way into animal shelters every year, and the lucky ones are adopted into a warm home with a loving family. Shelters are operated by small charities usually called “humane societies,” whose good deeds are funded by private generosity. The Humane Society of the United States trades on the good of others to finance a radical agenda. In May, the Humane Society and a handful of other radical animal-rights groups had to write a $15.8 million...

A man prosecutors accuse of heading a crime syndicate based in San Francisco’s Chinatown pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new charge of racketeering. Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow entered the plea to a newly filed indictment that includes all the same money laundering and related charges as the previous one. The new filing says he served as gang leader of a Chinatown community organization that bribed a state senator and laundered money among other crimes. The new racketeering count alleges that Chow orchestrated a wide range of alleged criminal activity, including the bribing of state Sen. Leland Yee. …

A federal grand jury on Friday charged a California state senator with more felonies in addition to the eight counts he already faced in a sweeping organized crime and public corruption case centered in San Francisco’s Chinatown. […] Yee pleaded not guilty to the original eight charges. He will have to enter a plea Wednesday to the charges in the new indictment. The new accusations allege that San Francisco Democrat offered to help pass legislation making it harder for professional football players to obtain workers compensation in California, in exchange for campaign contributions from an unidentified NFL owner. The new...

I’ve been a writer for Live Action News for almost two years. Before I wrote for Live Action News I was familiar with Lila Rose and the work of her organization. I watched the eye opening video Live Action made exposing racism in Planned Parenthood. I remember how I felt hearing an actor ask a Planned Parenthood worker if he could donate funds specifically towards the abortion of a black baby. The actor said ‘the less black kids the better’ and mentioned that he was against affirmative action and didn’t want his child to grow up with more competition then...

Contrary to the White Houses explanation that a few rogue agents in Cincinnati lead the targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS, newly released emails obtained by Judicial Watch detail Democratic Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) pressuring the IRS to target conservative groups. On March 30, 2012 Levin wrote to then IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman about his concern with the political activity by conservative nonprofits. “Some entities claiming tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations under 26 U.S.C.&501(c)(4) appear to be engaged in political activities more appropriate for political organizations claiming tax-exempt status under 26 U.S.C.&527. Because of the urgency of...