Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A finance executive at MF Global Holdings Ltd invoked her right against self-incrimination as lawmakers heard from officials who played critical roles in the final days of the futures brokerage, when a huge and still unexplained shortfall in customer money surfaced. Assistant Treasurer Edith O'Brien, believed to have been involved in authorizing a $175 million transfer that may have included customer funds, three days before MF Global's bankruptcy filing on October 31, declined to testify on Wednesday. "On advice of counsel I respectfully decline to answer based on my constitutional right," she told subcommittee chairman Randy Neugebauer...

As I noted here, Dean Obeidallah is making a film about the trumped-up concept of "Islamophobia," and he would really like to interview me for it. So after I wrote this yesterday, we had another exchange, and I thought there might be an opportunity for some honest dialogue. So I asked Obeidallah to answer these questions, and told him I'd be interviewed for his film if he did so: 1. True or false: No comedy show, no matter how clever or winning, is going to eradicate the suspicion that many Americans have of Muslims. This is because Americans are concerned...

Students studying Spanish in a Texas public high school were asked to recite the Mexican national anthem and Mexican pledge of allegiance as part of an assignment, and when one student refused, stating that it upset her, the school district maintains there was nothing wrong with the lesson, writes Madeleine Morgenstern at the Blaze. The incident happened last month at Achieve Early College High School in McAllen, Texas — a city located about 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. 15-year-old sophomore Brenda Brinsdon refused to participate, stating that she was particularly offended because the presentations in teacher Reyna Santos’s class...

Despite persistent questioning from Chris Wallace, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner refused to acknowledge what his plans were just in case the debt ceiling is not raised before August 2nd. Insisting that his plan was only to get Congress to raise the debt ceiling, Geithner seemed to demonstrate just how fearful he is of what might happen by hesitating to even discuss the possibility of any contingency plan. Continuing to sound the alarm, Geithner warned Wallace, “we do not have the ability, Chris, to protect the American people from the consequences of Congress not” raising the debt ceiling. And he reiterated...

Doubling down on RomneyCare, confirming that he believes in climate change, now this. Say this for him: At least he’s not a total pander machine this time around. He just … seems to be in the grip of a political death wish. I can’t even explain this in terms of him wanting to stick by a position he espoused in the past in order to signal to voters that he’s “authentic” and won’t bend on his principles easily. His position, ostensibly, is that he’s pro-life. This makes him look like he’s inching back towards his pro-choice past. Is he in...

Despite enjoying a hearty welcome at the US Congress recently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to meet with a delagation of representatives organized by J Street, the liberal Jewish lobby said Sunday. Congressmen cheered Netanyahu on enthusiastically 50 times during his speech, 29 of those being standing ovations. However when five of those same Congress members planned a visit Israel, requesting a meeting with the prime minster or any other official representative of the state, not a single one complied. The delegation, composed of Democratic Congress members, was set to arrive in Israel on Monday. The trip was initiated...

Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne rejected the Federal critique, saying, "When somebody acquires weapons and plans to bomb the largest synagogue in Manhattan he can find, what do you call it, mischief?" Muslim Brotherhood-tied groups in America (ie CAIR, ISNA) have infiltrated and dug so deep into our nation's most critical government agencies and institutions that they have the Department of Justice, the Department of State and the FBI playing steppin' fetchit for every imaginary insult they can dream up under the sharia -- but bombing NY synagogues? Nothing to see here, folks. If jihadis planning to blow up a...

Following its controversial decision to ban Andrew Breitbart from publishing articles at its front page, the Huffington Post has found itself in quite a pickle now that one of its regular contributors, comedian Bill Maher, made disgustingly vulgar references to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. As NewsBusters previously reported, Breitbart made some comments about President Obama's former green czar Van Jones that precipitated the following hypocritical statement from HuffPo spokesman Mario Ruiz last Thursday (readers are warned of vulgar content in full article): The Huffington Post is committed to fostering a lively and often provocative debate about the issues of...

Bill Maher uttered a female vulgarism when referring to former Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin on his HBO show Friday night. “Did you hear this – Sarah Palin finally heard what happened in Japan and she’s demanding that we invade ‘Tsunami,’” Maher said. “I mean she said, ‘These ‘Tsunamians’ will not get away with this.’ Oh speaking of dumb tw**s, did you...” Maher was offering an imagined Palin response in an apparent attempt at humor, as Palin had made no such statement.

Something strange happened today. Something, in fact, I never thought was possible. I not only gained some respect for a cable news network not named FOX, but I have, of all organizations, the George Soros-funded, 501(c)(3) Media Matters to thank for it. In Media Matters never-ending crusade to purify the news into their unholy Leftist vision, we here at the Bigs all knew that once our very own Dana Loesch was hired by CNN as a political contributor, that Soros’ minions would then set out to do what they always do, and that’s find a way to convince CNN to...

DES MOINES, Iowa – A standout Iowa high school wrestler refused to compete against a girl at the state tournament on Thursday, relinquishing any chance of becoming a champion because he says wrestling a girl would conflict with his religious beliefs. Joel Northrup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High School this season, praised his first-round opponent, Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman, and Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, who became the first two girls to make the state wrestling tournament in its 85-year history. But in a news release, he said he defaulted on his match with Herkelman...

With speculation about Republican candidates for President running wild, likely candidate Newt Gingrich appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and declared that the Republican candidates for President should organize the terms of the debates and not the news media. Before one dismisses this as the usual conservative gripe against the “liberal media,” it does consistently seem odd that MSNBC attempts to put Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann in the position of hosting election night coverage or moderating candidate debates when each host clearly has a liberal perspective.Newt’s verbal smackdown:

A California Republican congressman on Friday would not apologize for a comment about immigrants he made in April in the context of Arizona's controversial new immigration law. The law requires that state law enforcement officials ask for identification from people they suspect are in the country illegally if they are stopped for other reasons. Critics say that could lead to racial profiling of Latinos. Rep. Brian Bilbray -- a supporter of the law -- was asked on MSNBC in late April how officers could identify illegal immigrants without using ethnic characteristics. "They will look at the kind of dress they...

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on 5/13/2010, US Attorney General refuses to use the term "radical Islam."

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has turned down ACORN's request for help in its lawsuit claiming Congress was wrong to shut off the activist group's federal funding. The high court on Friday refused to throw out a decision by the federal appellate court in New York City. That court had decided to freeze a judge's determination that Congress acted unconstitutionally in yanking the group's funding.

The father of a Marine killed in Iraq whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters told Fox News he will defy a court order and not pay the protesters' appeal costs. Albert Snyder, of York, Pa., told Fox News he does not intend to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps, the leader of Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church, which held protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006. "I don't think I'm going to be writing a check until I hear from the Supreme Court," Snyder told Fox News on Tuesday. "I'm not about to pay them anything." The Court...

<p>A federal judge in Washington refused Wednesday to halt the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach's clean-truck program, which aims to phase out 17,000 polluting big rigs that shuttle freight to and from rail terminals and other transport hubs.</p>

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a part of the Voting Rights Act aimed at helping minorities elect their preferred candidates only applies in electoral districts where minorities make up more than half the population. The decision could make it harder for some minority candidates to win election and for southern Democrats, in particular, to draw friendly electoral boundaries after the 2010 Census. The 5-4 decision, with the court's conservatives in the majority, came in the case of a North Carolina plan that sought to preserve the influence of African-American voters even though they made up just 39...

MUMBAI, India — A Muslim graveyard has refused to bury nine gunmen who terrorized Mumbai over three days last week, leaving at least 172 people dead and wreaking havoc at some of its most famous landmarks. The men are not true followers of the Islamic faith, according to the influential Muslim Jama Masjid Trust, which runs the 7.5-acre Badakabrastan graveyard in downtown Mumbai. "People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim," said Hanif Nalkhande, a trustee. "

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Risking impeachment, Ohio's attorney general on Monday refused demands from the governor and other fellow Democrats that he resign over a sexual harassment scandal in his office and an affair with a subordinate. Gov. Ted Strickland told reporters that Democrats will begin drafting an impeachment resolution against Attorney General Marc Dann right away. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted said Monday that his chamber — which takes the first step in any impeachment — was already reviewing the process. Virtually every state-level Democratic officeholder urged Dann to resign in a letter late Sunday after Strickland tried twice during...