Free Republic

I'm intrigued and oddly impressed at how obviously Rand Paul's maneuvering for 2016. First the trip to Israel, then the bill to nullify any executive actions taken by Obama on guns, now this double-barreled shot at grassroots conservatives' new bete noire. One of the things about the elder Paul that some people loved and others found off-putting was that he never seemed terribly interested in ingratiating himself with mainstream conservatives. If you're a fan, maybe you took that as proof of principle, that he was above gladhanding political nonsense towards people foolish enough not to embrace libertarianism wholeheartedly. If you...

A bill that was authored by an Ironworkers’ union organizer to expand union-only Project Labor Agreements–to include Hurricane Sandy cleanup and reconstruction–passed the New Jersey Senate on Monday along party lines 23-13. The Ironworkers’ union organizer who drafted the pro-union bill, Steven Sweeney, also happens to be the president of the New Jersey Senate and recently accused New Jersey Governor Chris Christie of “praying” for Hurricane Sandy to hit New Jersey. As it turns out, though, unions must be counting their blessing with the New Jersey’s Senate passage of S. 2425 which adds to an already-existing discriminatory PLA laws in...

I remember some consternation in the media a few weeks ago after Boehner split the original $60 billion relief package into two smaller bills that this meant the GOP was going to gut part of it. Absurd. Did anyone seriously believe Boehner et al. would risk more bad press by stripping out the pork after Chris Christie threw a big tantrum about how evil his own party was for even delaying the initial vote?I hereby retract my skepticism that the GOP leadership collectively has no balls. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives approved measures Tuesday to send more than $50...

The House on Tuesday evening approved an amendment to a huge Hurricane Sandy relief bill that adds $33.7 billion to the bill, nearly tripling the size of the main bill. Members approved the amendment from Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) in a 228-192 vote. It was opposed by 190 Republicans, but 38 Republicans joined 190 Democrats in support and allowed it to pass. That vote put the House on a path to passing a $50.7 billion disaster aid bill early Tuesday evening. Along the way, the House also rejected several other amendments that would have shaved millions of dollars off the...

The Republican-led House Rules Committee late Monday approved a rule for a massive Hurricane Sandy relief package that shuts out most GOP proposals to pare back the size of the bill. The main bill provides $17 billion in relief, and an amendment made in order would add another $33.7 billion, for a total of $50.7 billion. Late last week, Republicans offered amendments that would trim the bill significantly, but few of those were made "in order" by the Rules Committee on Monday. For example, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) proposed amendments that would have slashed $22 billion from the total package,...

Can anyone name the countries that sent aid to the United States after Hurricane Sandy? I am asking this because I got an e-mail from a friend that I am trying to fact check. Here it is ... ____________________________________ As you know, America is always the first country to send aid to other countries when they are in trouble. It is highly appropriate that we Americans, must now send our "THANKS" to all those countries that reciprocated our help with their disasters, misgivings, social turmoil, & poverty when they returned to the USA monetary and physical help after Hurricane Sandy...

My apologies to the late Sir Winston Churchill, minter of the the original words “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” speaking of the now defunct Soviet Union. This is the only way I can describe what I feel the upcoming Sandy Relief bill has become. One would think, after the disaster left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, that elected officials from both parties would show some respect for citizens who have suffered the hurricanes destruction. That would be far beyond a reasonable expectation it now appears. Neil Cavuto, of Fox News, recently interviewed New...

The liberal Democrat political machine has been in high gear seeking restrictions on gun ownership ever since the December 11, 2012 massacre of twenty young children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut. According to the left, that hideous event constitutes inarguable proof that America needs to rescind the Second Amendment. For the good of everyone, and particularly “the children,” the guns must go. It might seem difficult to surpass such phony liberal sanctimony. Yet during the last days of 2012, as the contrived “fiscal cliff crisis” reached its do or die moment, the same old class envy...

The United Way of Western Connecticut said it rejects conspiracy theories claiming it knew about the Dec. 14 Newtown, Conn., school shooting three days in advance and leveraged that knowledge to raise money. “It’s preposterous,” executive vice president Isabel Almeida told The Daily Caller Tuesday, dismissing what she called a “flawed” Google search result that suggests her organization issued a statement of condolence — and launched a support fund for the victims’ families — on Dec. 11. That fund has raised more than $6 million, the group reported Jan. 4.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island immigrants as a group were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy and continue to suffer economic and emotional hardships. But most, perhaps 60 percent, haven't applied to FEMA for help, with the fear of deportation a major factor. And even if they have filled out the paperwork, chances are they'll be denied, according to the advocacy group Make the Road New York. Farmer Agustin Juarez of Port Richmond, a member of the group, expressed frustration that he suffered thousands of dollars in damage in the storm but isn't eligible for FEMA assistance because he's not...

Outrageous claims made by a professor who specializes in conspiracy theories are set to provoke grieving family by saying that the Sandy Hook massacre may not have happened at all. James Tracy, a tenured history professor at Florida Atlantic University, wrote a lengthy post on his personal blog saying that the shooting that left 20 children and six teachers dead may not have happened the way that it is widely believed, if it happened at all. Backed solely by the erroneous early reports filed during the midst of the horrendous incident, Mr Tracy 's claim is preying on the confusion...

As "Crisis Actors" is a hot topic right now, this video seems to be relevant.

From Godlike Productions Forum: Another pair of actors in Sandy hoax exposed. 100% BUSTED! Two parents “Nick” and “Laura Phelps” [link to edition.cnn.com] “Nick and Laura Phelps also are struggling with what to tell their two children, a first-grader and a third-grader.”“When I saw those teachers, I locked eyes with them separately. If I could go back, I would embrace them,” Nick Phelps said, “because I had no idea what they had gone through.” [not the guys in the video in that article]

nfluential conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer has praised Republican House Speaker John Boehner for preventing a ‘rape of the Treasury’ by blocking a larger relief bill for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Bohener and the GOP leadership have been criticized by New York-area Republicans for failing to pass a $60 billion bill to the floor, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie calling it ‘disgusting.’ Instead, the House passed a much smaller bill dealing solely with flood insurance on Friday, with a larger bill set to follow. Speaking on Fox News’ Special Report on Friday, Krauthammer claimed that Boehner had done the...

When President Obama hugged a tearful New Jersey business owner after Hurricane Sandy ravaged her home and livelihood, it was the image of compassion, promise and hope. But the victim in the photo, Donna Vanzant, has now revealed that the president's promises to pour aid into the area were empty - and that, after the hug, she merely received a form letter from him. Obama visited the destroyed marina Ms Vanzant owns in Brigantine, New Jersey on October 31 and promised her 'immediate' aid. Soon after, Ms Vanzant wrote him an email. 'Many days later, I got a response back,'...

New U.S. Rep. Scott Perry went to Washington saying he wanted to hold the line on government spending, even when it wasn't popular. On his second day in office, Perry proved he wasn't just talking. He voted against a $9.7 billion bill to pay flood insurance claims for the many home and business owners flooded out by Superstorm Sandy. Perry was one of 67 House members to vote against the bill. When a broader relief measure failed to pass he House in the closing days the last session, Northeastern politicians on both sides of the aisle blasted the delay, most...

Hurricane Sandy victim Scott McGrath unloaded on President Obama and Washington elites in an interview with Neil Cavuto today on "Your World." Here are some great quotes from Scott McGrath. Full Transcript to follow McGrath: 'This country is in debt. We are so eager to help other countries that we forget our own people.' 'They have to change this and cut out the pork. We can't accept it if it's gonna put us in more debt down the road.' 'A quick fix is not gonna help us....in the long run I don't want to be paying more taxes down the...

John Boehner got some unexpected support today over his off-again, on-again approach to the Hurricane Sandy relief bill. Boehner has pledged to allow a vote on both bills, which probably saved his speakership, but not until after getting publicly blasted by fellow Republicans Chris Christie and Peter King. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a radio audience today that the ire was misdirected — and should have been aimed at legislators that exploited a crisis to fund their own hobby horses: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who previously declined to slam House Speaker John Boehner over Congress’ stalled Hurricane Sandy aid,...

On Wednesday I joined a Facebook conversation among my New Jersey relatives and friends voicing their outrage over the delay in the $60 billion Sandy relief package. Hoping to make people think, I wrote, "I want our roller coaster up and running by this summer, and I don't care if we have to borrow from the Chinese to do it." I was referring here to the Seaside Heights roller coaster that somehow managed to slide off its crumbling pier and land standing upright in the ocean. In the process, it became something of a symbol of Sandy's wrath. My irony,...

A pork-barrel feast of goodies for federal agencies to fix museum roofs in D.C. and aid fisheries in Alaska, cooked up in the middle of the night, is not the way to aid hurricane victims or run a government. As if the fallout from agreeing to a bad deal that raises the debt by $4 trillion and accepts a 41-1 ratio in tax hikes to spending cuts weren't enough, Speaker of the House John Boehner has New Jersey's Chris Christie on his case. "There's only one group to blame," the New Jersey governor said of the Sandy relief bill that...