Free Republic

The IRS scandal is becoming more insane by the minute.  After the testimony on Friday from the Inspector General and the now “retiring� acting IRS Commissioner, Steven Miller, things couldn’t be more convoluted.  First of all, Obama came out and said that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had “demanded the resignation� of Miller, when in fact, Miller was due to leave his post by June of this year.  So there was no “resigning� going on, and he will leave with all of his benefits intact.  Wow!  No accountability, no answers, no penalties. Next we find out that during the four year...

“For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union and the Obama White House Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal? Is the White House Visitors Log the trail to the smoking gun? The stunning questions are raised by the following set of new facts. March 31, 2010. According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that...

National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley (in tan jacket) leads a protest earlier this month. About 250 Federal workers massed in Federal Plaza in Manhattan May 7 to protest the sequester cuts. (The Chief) This explains things… President Obama met with anti-Tea Party IRS union chief Colleen Kelly in the White House the day before the agency targeted Tea Party. The Spectator reported: “For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union and the Obama White House Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?...

Huma Abedin — Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide and the wife of all-but-declared New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner — spent her final months at the State Department working as a part-time consultant with the agency who at the same time was allowed to represent outside clients, POLITICO has confirmed. Abedin, a fixture at the Clintons’ side for at least 15 years — from Iowa to Indonesia — shifted to her new role after maternity leave in the early summer of 2012, according to a source familiar with the arrangement. The new status made her a “special government employee,” which was...

Corruption: The inspector general's report on the IRS targeting of conservatives makes it seem like a case of bureaucratic bumbling. But the more we learn, the more it looks like a concerted effort to hobble Obama's political foes. 'Inappropriate criteria," "insufficient oversight" and "lack of managerial review." That's what led the IRS to target hundreds of conservative groups for intrusive, costly and lengthy scrutiny during their application for tax-exempt status, according to the IG report released on Tuesday. In other words, it wasn't a politically motivated attack on conservative groups during a presidential campaign. It was just a case of...

Senate Democrats blocked a resolution condemning the targeting of tea party groups by the Internal Revenue Service Wednesday, according to Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul. The resolution Paul introduced Tuesday condemns the targeting of tea party and other affected groups. The resolution further calls for investigations and criminal charges against those who authorized or were involved in targeting people on the basis of their political beliefs. “This resolution is not about Republican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal. It is about arrogant and unrestrained government vs. the rule of law. The First Amendment cannot and should not be renegotiated depending...

Scandal: Senate Democrats, including supporters of the Disclose Act, provided the names of groups they wanted targeted in a taxpayer-funded witch hunt overseen by an IRS employee and Obama campaign donor. Using the Citizens United case as a pretext, retiring Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., on July 27, 2012, wrote IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to investigate 12 conservative groups he accused of violating their tax-exempt status and engaging in coordinated political activity. The groups Levin asked to be targeted for special scrutiny were Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, Priorities U.S.A., Americans Elect, American Action Network, Americans for Prosperity, American Future Fund, Americans...

Your government, as currently administered by President Obama, doesn’t like the word “patriot.” If you associate yourself with an organization using that word, you may be investigated and prosecuted. Under Obama, government employees think they are doing what their superiors want them to do when they harass and menace political organizations that might oppose the president. Vladimir Putin is probably jealous of Obama. He and others like him will hardly be able to hide their smiles when they hear the United States preach about the need to let political organizations function freely. What lessons should the Muslim Brotherhood learn from...

USBC News Wire- Yet a another major scandal is rocking the already extraordinarily unpopular Obama administration, this time the controversy involves abuses by the IRS in targeting US citizens based on their political views. It appears that agents used keywords to target groups in opposition to the governing Democratic administration. Remarkably, the agents found it acceptable to single out patriots for unprecedented behavior. The agents singled out their fellow citizens by using keywords such as “patriot” or “tea party” (itself a reference to the earliest American patriots) to identify groups that object to the policies of the current administration. Lois...

The U.S. government had the ability to “react and respond” to the Benghazi terrorist attack and could have had forces on the ground before the second wave of the assault began, a special operator with knowledge of the response told Fox News in an exclusive interview. Due to the explosive nature of his allegations, the special ops member asked to remain anonymous. “I know for a fact that C 110 the UComm CIF was doing a training exercise, not in the region of northern Africa, but in Europe. And they had the ability to react and respond,” he told Fox...

Back in March 2008, the State Department launched an investigation of improper computer access to the passport records of Barack Hussein Obama, and days later those of Hillary Clinton and John McCain. The investigation centered on one employee: a contract worker for a company that was headed by John O. Brennan, a key Obama campaign adviser who later became assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. Then, a month later, the key witness in this case was murdered. Leiutenant (sic) Quarles Harris, Jr., 24, was shot in the head in his car, in...

ATLANTA — The former superintendent of the Newark, N.J., public school district and nearly three dozen administrators, teachers, principals and other educators from Atlanta were indicted today in one of the nation’s largest cheating scandals.

Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets. A joint paper by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Bank of England dated December 10, 2012, shows that these plans have been long in the making; that they originated with the G20 Financial Stability Board in Basel, Switzerland (discussed earlier here); and that the result will be to deliver clear title to the banks of depositor funds. New Zealand has a similar directive, discussed in my last article here, indicating...

Posters comment....There is no more law if this isn't correctedMore than three months after the Justice Department administered a virtual slap on the wrist to global banking giant HSBC after a whistleblower’s report to WND of massive fraud was confirmed, Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to a Senate panel he believes some banks are too big to prosecute. Under questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Wednesday, Holder said he was not referring specifically to HSBC, because it would not be “appropriate,” but the message was clear. Banks the size of HSBC are “too big to jail,” as a member...

Looking at the list of bailout recipients, and don't understand a few things, why was Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley given $10,000,000,000 each? I click on George Soros bank (http://www.wnd.com/2010/02/126555/) and it says he is in the category that doesn't need to return the money? What does that mean? OneWest Bank PASADENA, CALIF. | SEE ALL RECIPIENTS IN CALIFORNIA Entities in this category received subsidies through one of TARP’s housing programs and aren’t expected to return the money $221M Disbursed $1.84B Committed -------- CIT was given over $2 billion but they filed for bankruptcy in 2009, how does that work?...

by John HillStand With ArizonaWebsite | Facebook | TwitterA spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, said the thousands of detainees selected for release over the past week - among an estimated 8,000 - 10,000 scheduled for release - were “noncriminals and other low-risk offenders who do not have serious criminal histories.” This is a blatant lie. The aliens released by DHS are criminals, who will put families and communities at greater risk from coast-to-coast. According to Jessica Vaughan of CIS, here are some categories of detainees who were released from ICE...

The roster of state workers raking in six-figure pay skyrocketed last year by an astonishing 12 percent to nearly 7,700 employees, according to a Herald review — a budget-busting bombshell that has fiscal watchdogs howling “enough.” The review comes as Gov. Deval Patrick is pushing for massive $1.9 billion in tax and fee hikes amid a sputtering state economy and a climbing jobless rate. The highest pay — more than $700,000 — went to those in the University of Massachusetts system. Yet, nurses, state troopers, office workers, prison guards and managers also swelled the ranks of the six-figure club, including:...

WASHINGTON — Senator Robert Menendez sought to discourage any plan by the United States government to donate port security equipment to the Dominican Republic, citing concern that the advanced screening gear might undermine efforts by a private company — run by a major campaign contributor and friend of his — to do the work. **SNIP** But the questions about the port security contract are potentially more troubling for Mr. Menendez, who is already facing questions over his fitness for the Foreign Relations Committee chairmanship, because the contract involved a foreign policy concern: curbing the flow of cocaine to the United...

After a year that can only be described as “stupid,� the Chevy Volt is gearing up to make 2013 even stupider still. I know, I know. You find it hard to believe that a mostly-owned subsidiary of the United States government and the Obama administration- like GM is- could get any stupider than say Fannie Mae, or Federal Reserve Bank. Yes, that’s tough competition, but in the “idiocy� category GM seems to be the ruling champion.   Not only have they lost substantial amounts of taxpayer dollars, they have managed to do it while generating record profits even though they still...

In 2009, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, presumably speaking on behalf of the newly inaugurated Barack Obama, issued the so-called Ogden memo, instructing federal prosecutors to not target medical-marijuana patients..... "Do you intend to carry this all the way through forfeiture?" Guilford asked U.S. Attorney Greg Parham. "Yes, absolutely, your honor," Parham responded. "The only evidence in this case is a $37 purchase of medical marijuana and an anonymous comment on a website that anybody could have written," Pappas says. "For this, they want to take a $1.5 million building."

In his recent inaugural address, President Obama promised that “we will respond to the threat of climate change, ..... But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet…” When pressed on the specifics of what the president means to do on climate, his spokesperson replied: “We...

AMNESTY (the movie) with an untalented cast of millions of non-English speaking hamburger flippers, lawn trimmers, and window washershouse. STORY OUTLINE Sen Bob (The Diddler) Menendez (D-NJ) was tapped by Obama to be the Voice of Amnesty....a prelude to establishing a permanent Dem Majortyy govt in control of both houses of Congress and the WH. Then Sen Menendez's private parts got itchy----so he hops a private plane to a posh resort in the Dominican Republic. While there, Menedez crafts a business deal w/ partners in the Dominican govt---who have cunnningly figured out the financial benefits to be derived from amnesty:...

Contrary to his website and resume, big-name institutions including Harvard, Yale and the University of Missouri have claimed they have no record of professional or educational history with Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, MD, who is under two separate federal investigations for Medicare fraud and a political scandal involving a Democratic senator, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon. Dr. Melgen's biography (pdf LINK) on his website claims he graduated from Harvard, was the chief resident of ophthalmology at the University of Missouri, and held a Yale internship, but all three denied any record to support his credentials, according...

The office of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., issued a statement Wednesday denying allegations a Florida doctor who is a friend lined up prostitutes for him. The FBI Tuesday raided the office Dr. Salomon Melgen, an eye doctor practicing in West Palm Beach, Fla., who is the target of an Internal Revenue Service lien for more than $11 million, The Miami Herald reported. The newspaper said federal investigators were believed to be looking into Melgen's finances as well as the allegations about prostitutes. "Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years," the statement...

Chuck Hagel has been tapped by Obama for Secretary of Defense, which has resulted in a slew of push backs over his troubling record: criticism and lack of support for Israel; coddling of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran; and his almost immediate appointment after retiring as a senator to Deutsche Bank’s Americas Advisory Board, the mega bank that has been accused of funneling billions of dollars to Iran’s nuclear program. But the most troubling aspect of Chuck Hagel is the fact that he may have stolen both of his senatorial elections. In 1992, Hagel was CEO of Election Systems & Software,...

Comments on 2012 Financial Statements of the U.S. Government- By: Larry Walker II -The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is required to audit financial statements for the U.S. government each year. What the GAO found in its Fiscal Year 2012 Audit published on January 17, 2013 is clearly unacceptable. If you take a few moments to read the report, what you’ll discover is that not only has the U.S. government been operating without a budget for the last three years, but even worse its books and records are so out of order that financial auditors were unable to render an opinion....

Federal prosecutors have filed a fraud charge against Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway, just a few days before she leaves the state's highest court in a scandal involving the sale of a Detroit-area home and suspicious steps taken to conceal property in Florida. [...] Hathaway was halfway through an eight-year term on the court, the result of a major election upset over then-Chief Justice Cliff Taylor in 2008. Her victory put Democrats in control of the court for a two-year period. She was a Wayne County judge before joining the Supreme Court.

Here’s more evidence that government “cures” are inevitably worse than the “diseases” they seek to wipe out. Buried in the trillion-dollar stimulus law of 2009 was an electronic-medical-records “incentive” program. Like most of President Obama’s health-care rules, this top-down electronic record-sharing scheme is a big fat bust. Oversight is lax. Cronyism is rife. The job-killing and privacy-undermining consequences have only just begun. The program was originally sold as a cost-saving measure. In theory, modernizing record-collection is a good idea, and many private health-care providers have already made the change. But as with many government “incentive” programs, the EMR bribe is...

Jill Kelley, the Florida housewife whose complaint over threatening emails revealed David Petraeus´ affair, has visited the White House three times in the past three months, it has emerged. In by far the most astonishing example of her determination to reach the top, the shrewd socialite and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, were invited to two ´courtesy´ meals in the Executive Mansion mess hall as a guest of a White House aide, an Obama administration official has revealed. She met the mid-level aide through her work with MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, where she also rubbed shoulders with the

A lawsuit seeking the return of $43 trillion (with a “t”) and an audit of all the TARP programs by an independent receiver has been filed against senior members of the Obama Administration and the New York group known as the “Banksters”. The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch is reporting that the Spire Law Group, LLP has moved its mass tort action into the federal court in Brooklyn, New York. In this District Court lawsuit (Case No. 12-cv-04269-JBW-RML), the Spire Law Group, LLP is acting on the behalf of homeowners across the country seeking to halt all foreclosures nationwide until the...

NEW BERN, NC (WNCT) – A North Carolina 69-year-old’s comment posted on Barack Obama’s Facebook page, which has more than 30 million likes, has unleashed a flood of complaints about potential voter fraud. Jim Turner admits he wrote the following on the president’s Facebook page: “I have voted once in Beaufort, once in Henderson, twice in Emerald Isle, and will vote in my precinct in Pine Knoll Shores. I will do whatever it takes to save our country from the world envisioned by Mitt” Romney. The idea someone could have voted four times in one election ignited fury on WNCT’s...

Certified Republican poll watchers are being turned away throughout Broward County, Florida. This Facebook post from one such poll watcher, Diane Sori spells it out very well. Ok guys you are NOT going to believe this...at 5:30am I went to the poll I was assigned to to set-up signs and to start my duties as the poll watcher, which includes checking the tapes to make sure the tabulation machines start at zero. I brought all my documentation with me to prove my certification as poll watcher (my badge and official letter from the SOE certifying me as the poll watcher...

Voter Fraud: What to Look For; How to Stop It Note: In most States, it is not legal to have your phone or a camera in within a polling place. Therefore, if you see fraud inside a polling place, please go outside to report it. To report fraud directly to True the Vote, click here and download Winning the Future's VoteStand Application for iPhone and Android.This is the quickest way to get action on your incident. Winning Our Future is a Pro-Newt Super PAC. If your issue is extremely severe, also call the FBI Fraud Hotline: 202-514-1888 | 1-800-253-3931 The...

Wow. #Obama supporter admitted he's voted 4 times already w/ 1 to go. #tcot #gop2012 #mapoli #NCpoli http://t.co/Kj2PjJPy— Brad Marston (@BradMarston) November 02, 2012 Outraged citizens are using Twitter to investigate a man’s Facebook claim that he’s proudly voted four times already and intends to vote again. Brad Marston captured the post in a screen shot: Turns out the folks at TrueTheVote.org are very interested in Mr. 'Vote 5X' Turner. #tcot #gop2012 http://t.co/ZkPA9U6A— Brad Marston (@BradMarston) November 02, 2012 He voted early, and often, if his claim is to be believed. Why would someone publicly boast about committing voter...

The government’s bailout of the automobile industry was rife with cronyism that bagged Obama bundlers and Administration insiders millions and left taxpayers holding the bill. That’s the conclusion Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer reached when he investigated little-known details surrounding the Obama Administration’s auto bailout, an action President Barack Obama touts as one of his most sterling presidential achievements. The government’s actions involving Chrysler resulted in a net loss to taxpayers of $2.9 billion, and the government is currently sitting on a $14.5 billion loss for its actions involving General Motors. But Mr. Schweizer says few Americans realize the...

In a two-page Oct. 29 contract, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) local 1049 demanded union dues, pay hikes and benefit contributions from Florida electric utilities before its workers would be permitted to help reconnect power to Long Island communities. The demand came as Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the Northeastern United States, stranding tens of millions without electricity. The “Letter of Assent,” which The Daily Caller obtained from the Florida Municipal Electric Association, demanded 11 separate financial commitments from municipal power companies and electrical cooperatives in the Sunshine State. The agreement, for any utility that decided to...

DENVER—Emails between an independent consultant and the Obama administration suggest the consultant felt pressure to help arrange a loan guarantee for a Colorado solar panel manufacturer that later went bankrupt. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce asked the administration this month to explain what the U.S. Department of Energy knew about problems with a $400 million federal loan guarantee awarded to Abound Solar. The Loveland-based company filed for bankruptcy protection this summer and laid off about 125 workers after spending approximately $70 million of its loan guarantees. An Abound spokesman didn't return phone calls seeking comment. Abound has been...

...CompleteColorado.com has obtained emails that seem to directly contradict Plouffe’s answer, and also challenge the President’s notion that the DOE’s loan decisions were universally autonomous within the agency. The emails also lend even more credence to the theory that the loan to Abound Solar was political payback to Colorado’s wealthy Democratic benefactor and Gang-of-Four member, Pat Stryker.

‘Democrat Of The Year’ Convicted Of Felony Theft October 26, 2012 JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- The woman named “Democrat of The Year” this year by the Jefferson County Democratic Party has been convicted of felony theft by a Jefferson County jury for stealing from a developmentally disabled 71-year-old woman. “The jury did right,” said Cindy Maxwell, an advocate for the victim. On Thursday, a jury convicted 66-year-old Estelle Carson of felony identify theft and felony theft from an at risk adult for stealing checks from the woman and using them to pay her own cable, cell phone and internet bills....

I've been gone from FR for a while, but damn. This is what I got when I finally decided to donate to Romney/Ryan: http://romneyryan.com/ Paid for by the DNC. And no, I wasn't stupid enough to donate off that link, but this is fraudulent.

Just one day after President Obama went on television saying that politics had nothing to do with the now bankrupt Abound Solar receiving a taxpayer-backed loan guarantee from the Energy Department, emails have surfaced that contradict these claims and suggest White House involvement in the company receiving the loan. “And these are decisions, by the way, that are made by the Department of Energy, they have nothing to do with politics,” President Obama told KUSA’s Kyle Clark. However, emails obtained by COMPLETECOLORADO.COM suggest that the White House was involved in the Energy Department awarding Abound Solar a $400 million loan...

This week financial news organization CNBC gave some mainstream attention to the largest money laundering and racketeering lawsuit in United States History, in which “Banksters” and their U.S. racketeering partners are being accused of laundering of 43 trillion dollars worth of ill gotten gains. The lawsuit is said to involve officials located in the highest offices of government and the financial sector. Since this information was surprisingly revealed by the mainstream news organization there has been a very suspicious and deadly fallout at the CNBC headquarters. Within hours the original page for the article was taken down, and CNBC senior...

There are many powerful outside influences on both Obama and Hillary and many high-level American politicians. These links are mostly from wikipedia, so it can't be said that these are "conservative conspiracy theories". There are myriad think tanks, organizations, governmental agencies, NGO's (non-governmental organizations) that do a lot together to strategize, gather information, and take actions of all kinds, i.e., political, economic, academic, etc., doing what they "think is best for... USA/World/Themselves/etc." From the early 1900's, NGOs have had extremely significant impact on U.S. government policies - the first major one being, perhaps, the design of the Post-WWI negotiations (Council...

BREAKING: Democrats Admit They Won’t Take Back the House, Election Is Lost Posted on October 25, 2012 by Kevin DuJan // Breaking News, Featured Content I invite anyone who can find fault with my logic on this to chime in below — because I want this to be a teachable moment for those out there who keep reading the Doom Reports that the Ministry of Truth in the national media churns out claiming that Democrats are “confident of victory” on November 6th. Folks, Democrats know they are going to lose big. I’ve been telling you that for months now. It...

An analysis of public records by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has found more than $20 million in federal stimulus funds benefitting real estate projects financially tied to Joseph Shepard, husband of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. Earlier this month, the Associated Press published an analysis , stating, "businesses affiliated with the husband of Senator Claire McCaskill have received almost $40 million in federal subsidies for low-income housing developments during her first five years in office..." The NLPC analysis released today showed more than $20 million in financial benefits from the federal stimulus law to real estate projects associated...

Obama Benefited Financially from the Auto Bailout OCT 19, 2012 • BY DANIEL HALPER Earlier today, the Obama campaign pushed around a story that they claimed proved Mitt Romney "was against the auto bailout...but personally [benefited] from it." "Today, [deputy campaign manger Stephanie] Cutter and the Obama campaign were pushing an article in The Nation saying that Romney - who opposed bailing out the auto industry as carried out by Obama - actually made $15.3 million from the bailout through a $1 million investment with a hedge fund firm that put cash into GM supplier Delphi," the Columbus Dispatch reports....

A couple weeks ago, this column analyzed the inflation rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and concluded that you should rely on your common sense when the government reports questionable statistics. If they don’t make sense based on what you see, experience, and hear from your friends, then they’re probably wrong. Last week’s unemployment number – which decreased to a still-dismal 7.8% – should not only make no sense to you, but should have never made sense to the BLS and therefore should never have been issued. So am I just popping off or is there a...

MA Republican Party asks Court to correct BBO General Counsel's misstatements of law and perceived "partisan agenda" As you are aware, I have pointed out that Michael Fredrickson, the General Counsel of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, has some explaining to do: As detailed here before, within hours of my posting about Elizabeth WarrenÂ’s lack of a Massachusetts law license, Michael Fredrickson, the General Counsel of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, gave an interview to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in which he defended Warren.Fredrickson did not indicate in the interview as reported that he was speaking in any...

There are certain issues that President Obama has consistently hammered on during his first four years in the White House. You can almost always count on him to beat the "the rich need to pay their fair share" drum at his campaign stops, or in his news conferences. Wait, never mind about the news conferences. He doesn't hold those any more. Anyway, he has reminded us of the obligation the rich have to pay their fair share more than a few times. He has also lamented the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, going so far as to blast...

Just when you think the Obama juggernaut has reached new lows on corruption and fraud out pop new allegations that are in the realm of science fiction. It would appear that 68% of web traffic donors on Obama.com may come from foreign sources a clear violation of Federal law. And if that is not bad enough, Obama administration officials may be storing its correspondence on private computers so that they can destroy incriminating evidence as quickly as it is created. What the hell is happening in this country?