Free Republic

The revelation that the National Security Agency is tracking every phone call each American makes, and broadly mining internet data puts President Obama at the center of yet another controversy. He and supporters in the Republican leadership, not Edward Snowden, are making themselves villains. Two sets of issues are central. Do NSA practices strike a reasonable balance between the threats posed by global terrorism and right to privacy? Are these the least intrusive necessary? Are safeguards against abuse adequate? Will Edward Snowden be thrown in jail for revealing classified information under the Espionage Act or other statutes? The president argues...

Things got feisty on Morning Joe today, as Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian clashed with Mika Brzezinski over the leak of the NSA phone surveillance program by Greenwald's informant, Edward Snowden. H/t NB reader Jeff M. When Brzezinski alleged that wiretapping or the review by the NSA of emails required an additional judicial review and warrant, Greenwald accused Mika of using "White House talking points" that were "completely misleading and false." Mika denied it. View the video here.

Timeline of NSA Domestic Spying All of the evidence found in this timeline can also be found in the Summary of Evidence we submitted to the court in Jewel v. NSA. It is intended to recall all the credible accounts and information of the NSA's domestic spying program found in the media, congressional testimony, books, and court actions. For a short description of the people involved in the spying you can look at our Profiles page, which includes many of the key characters from the NSA Domestic Spying program.

On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on ''media reform.'' She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists. The 2,500-person event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, one of more than 180 different media-related organizations that receives money from liberal billionaire George Soros. Soros, who first made a name for himself in investing and currency trading, now makes his name in politics and policy. Since the 2004 election, the controversial financier has used his influence and billions to push a laundry list...

How often have you heard people refer to America as a Democracy? When was the last time that you heard America referred to as a Republic? There is a very good reason that our Pledge of Allegiance refers to our country as a Republic and there is a very good reason that our Declaration of Independence and our constitution do not even mentioned the word "democracy". Many people are under the false impression our form of government is a democracy, or representative democracy. This is of course completely untrue. The Founders were extremely knowledgeable about the issue of democracy and...

After reviewing President Obama‘s 23 “executive actions” signed into law yesterday, Joe Scarborough said Thursday morning that his Republican Party had better proceed with caution, seeing as how he believes the policy proposals have the “overwhelming” support of the American people. The president’s plan included universal background checks on gun purchases, which Scarborough said has the support of at least “85% of Americans.” The president’s call for a

Those in the CIA Annex requested permission to aid the consulate. Were told to stand down at least twice. Went anyway after being told to stand down the second time

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that three urgent requests from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Consulate and subsequent attack nearly seven hours later were denied by officials in the CIA chain of command -- who also told the CIA operators to "stand down" rather than help the ambassador's team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11. Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were part of a small team who were at the CIA annex about a mile...

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks.In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family.Author Robert Keith Gray writes in “Presidential Perks Gone Royal” that Obama isn’t the only president to have taken advantage of the expensive trappings of his office. But the amount of money spent on the first family, he argues, has risen tremendously under the Obama administration and needs to be reined in.Keep reading...

George Soros has donated more than $8 billion globally to his Open Society Foundations. Couple that with decades of investing around the world and it would be easy to assume Soros in a figure of global popularity. Only he isn’t. He’s almost the polar opposite. Soros made headlines recently warning of increased economic problems, the growth of Occupy Wall Street and government repression what he characterized as “strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order.” In short, the kind of chaos helped foment in the old Soviet Union and elsewhere.In his book “Open Society,” Soros credits his foundation with “mobilizing civil...

<p>The 1890s Chicago City Council was notorious for corrupt political practices orchestrated by a faction of its aldermen known as the Gray Wolves. So named because they were viewed as preying upon the defenseless public, the Gray Wolves were led by First Ward aldermen “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Mike Kenna, and Johnny Powers of the Nineteenth Ward. These elected officials were not only skilled at trading votes for favors, but once in office they excelled in making municipal decisions to profit themselves financially.</p>

Something is really, really, really not right… The New York Times has a really bizarre story on the front page today. I will make some remarks about the story and then there is a link at the bottom for you to read the entire story. I don’t want to run wild with crazy conspiracy stories but there are some really peculiar parts of this New York Time story that warrants further investigation. First some bullet points: * Juan Jose Rojas Cardona (“Pepe” and hereinafter I will refer to him as that) lives in Mexico and is part of the casino...

Japan to Mull Backup of Tokyo's Capital Functions Tokyo, Aug. 8 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government will consider having a backup of Tokyo's capital functions to prepare for possible terrorist attacks or large-scale natural disasters like the one that hit northeastern Japan in March. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism plans to organize a new panel as early as this autumn to discuss the matter, informed sources said. The move comes amid concern that a major disaster in the Tokyo metropolitan area, where important political and economic functions are concentrated, could do grave damage to the whole country. The...

Opponents itching to upend the FCC’s controversial net neutrality rules can forget about doing so anytime soon. The commission adopted the controversial net neutrality order five months ago — and it may be another five months before the rules are published in the Federal Register. The delay, say FCC officials, has to do with the sheer complexity of implementing the order.

The international headline read: "IMF Warns that US lacks credible strategy for dealing with public debt." Doubtless, the article had been written after Obama's predictably inane deficit entrenchment/campaign renewal speech. And yet, we have the Democratic Disciples of Deficit still stubbornly insisting that spending is not the problem but rather it's how little we tax that's at issue, along with how little our Government invests in the economy, which is another way of saying "spend even more money," believe it or not, according to the Democrats. Meanwhile, and in dire counterpoint, both small businesses and individuals are now gearing up...

The Vatican is upset, and feeling like a victim. The Vatican is angry that the world is no longer willing to tolerate the alleged homophobia of the Catholic Church. However, not everybody is sympathetic to the Vatican's claim of victimization. Tuesday the Vatican condemned a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in support of gay rights. The resolution was sponsored by 85 countries including the United States. The Vatican objects to this resolution that simply and clearly states that human rights apply to everyone, no matter who they are or whom they love. By Thursday, the Vatican's statement was being...

The lack of clarity surrounding the mission ordered by Obama in Libya has triggered criticism from both parties, with Republicans demanding that he clarify its aims and some Democrats insisting that the President was Constitutionally required to seek Congressional authorization before ordering the invasion. Obama has now sent a letter to leaders of Congress defining the mission, in keeping with the War Powers Resolution of 1973 requiring a report to Congress within 48 hours of commencing military action, and it contains rebuttals of both lines of criticism. Obama is taking criticism from the right for failing to articulate “regime change”...

Republicans vote to defund Obama's 'czars' By Andrew Restuccia - 02/17/11 07:01 PM ET The House GOP approved an amendment to a government-spending bill that would block funding for the Obama administration’s so-called policy "czars,” appointed advisers to the president that have been much-criticized by Republicans. The vote was 249-171. The amendment, offered by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), specifically targets Obama’s “climate czar” by blocking funding for the assistant to the president for energy and climate change, the position's official title. The amendment would block funding for the 'czars' through the end of the fiscal year, when the spending bill...

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

It's called "an admission against interest" in legal circles. Example: When the New York Times says something good about George W. Bush. It was George W. Bush's fault, the NYT just confessed, that the Stuxnet computer worm ended up destroying 984 Iranian uranium centrifuges over the last year or so. Bush got the Stuxnet program started in cooperation with Israel and other countries in the last years of his presidency. Of course the Times buries the truth half-way down its long story on Stuxnet computer worm, instantly saying that when Obama found out about it he made the program speed...

The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonize global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet. Establishment of such a group has the backing of several countries, spearheaded by Brazil. At a meeting in New York on Wednesday, representatives from Brazil called for an international body made up of Government representatives that would attempt to create global standards for policing the internet - specifically in reaction to challenges such as WikiLeaks. The Brazilian delegate stressed, however, that this should not be seen as a call for a "takeover" of the internet. India,...

Joy Tiz ©2010 Reunited and it feels so good! Looks like Bill and Hill have reconciled with their old pal, George Soros. Bill Clinton is set to be the special guest star at a fund raiser for gubernatorial candidate, Mark Dayton of Minnesota who is in a recount battle with Republican Tom Emmer. So near and dear is Dayton to Soros that he’s hosting the bash at his New York home. Soros and the Clintons were once, literally, thick as thieves. Soros reveled in having access to the Clinton White House and fancied himself part of the “Clinton team.” The...

Here, for reasons that I shall provide in a memorandum to be filed in due course, I am certain that “a reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts would [not] conclude that [my] impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” United States v. Nelson, 718 F.2d 315, 321 (9th Cir. 1983); see also Sao Paulo State of the Federated Republic of Brazil v. Am. Tobacco Co., 535 U.S. 229, 233 (2002) (per curiam). I will be able to rule impartially on this appeal, and I will do so. The motion is therefore DENIED.

The Barry Hussein Soetoro administration is touting a DoD study it hopes will be the basis for Congress repealing DADT. The poll at the center of this study is not an accurate assessment of those who will be most affected by introducing the open aberrant behavior of homosexuality into U.S. armed forces. Proponents of the politically correct social engineering scheme of introducing open homosexuality into the military used a highly unrandomized sample, which is not credible, in hopes to affect public opinion and garner support for their cause. This study is pure propaganda meant to advance the homosexual agenda just...

If you’re looking for someone to blame for the Wikileaks scandal, a good candidate would be President Bill Clinton. He was the one who, in 1995, signed an Executive Order removing “sexual orientation” as a grounds for denying someone a security clearance. Had that policy never been revoked, homosexual soldier Bradley Manning would never have had access to our national secrets and could not have leaked them. According to news reports, Manning decided to turn traitor after a fight with his boyfriend, which somehow motivated him to send hundreds of thousands of confidential documents to Wikileaks leader Julian Assange, who...

The liberal Center for American Progress doesn’t believe significant GOP gains in the House and Senate should stop the President from implementing more of his polices. The group released a report Tuesday suggesting ways Obama can bypass Congress to accomplish a progressive agenda, and it cites the president’s power as commander-in-chief to make its point. “I think most of the conversation since the election has been about how President Obama adjusts to the new situation on Capitol Hill,” Center for American Progress head and former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta told the Daily Caller. “While that’s an important...

On yesterday’s Glenn Beck show on FNC, Beck continued his much-ballyhooed, week-long expose of anti-American, socialist financier George Soros by outlining the five steps that Soros has been using to assume more control in the US. According to Beck, Soros is a snaky and sly ideologue who just loves to do almost everything under the cover of darkness, using a lot of front groups and organizations to hide his real agenda. Beck and Soros are in sort of a feud—Beck doing it out in the open on his TV show while Soros (coward) just stays behind the scenes to try...

snip The article recommends that President Obama govern from executive order to push through a progressive agenda. snip Demonstrating the close relationship between the DSA and the Progressive Caucus, two weeks ago WND reported the Democratic chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee was caught on tape meeting with DSA leaders to discuss how the group can cooperate to strengthen President Obama and advance their "one-world" plans.

Of course, the timing for the revelation on the day of the elections is a total coincidence. As per the revised tables, average incomes of top earners did not quintuple as had been released on October 15 to $519 million, but instead declined by 7.7% to $84 million.

A federal appellate judge expressed deep skepticism Monday about the Justice Department's lawsuit over Arizona's new immigration law, leaving uncertain the Obama administration's chances of stopping the law from taking effect. Judge John T. Noonan Jr. grilled administration lawyers at a hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He took aim at the core of the Justice Department's argument: that the Arizona statute is "preempted" by federal law and is especially troublesome because it requires mandatory immigration status checks in certain circumstances. "I've read your brief, I've read the District Court opinion, I've heard your interchange...

WASHINGTON — A district court judge Tuesday rejected the Obama administration's claims that allowing gays and lesbians to begin openly

The United States Military has performed superbly in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrating unprecedented courage and ingenuity in the war against islamic terrorists. A major characteristic of America's military is the bedrock of Judeo-Christian beliefs and heritage, which maintains unit cohesiveness, which in turn translates into combat effectiveness. Now, liberal extremists, backed by a single activist judge, a Clinton appointee, are trying to inject homosexuals into the ranks of America's fighting forces. This is something that our troops strongly object to. This is the same homosexual lobby which is attempting, through a judicial fiat, to undo what 31 States (out of...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Defense Department said Tuesday that it is accepting openly gay recruits, but is warning applicants they might not be allowed to stick around for long. Following last week's court ruling that struck down a 1993 law banning gays from serving openly, the military has suspended enforcement of the rule known as "don't ask, don't tell." The Justice Department is appealing the decision and has asked the courts for a temporary stay on the ruling.</p>

Federal judge issues nationwide injunction stopping enforcement

Breaking...

George Soros, the billionaire financier who was an energetic Democratic donor in the last several election cycles but is sitting this one out, is not feeling optimistic about Democratic prospects.

WASHINGTON -- American scientists deliberately infected prisoners and patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis 60 years ago, a recently unearthed experiment that prompted U.S. officials to apologize Friday and declare outrage over "such reprehensible research."

Through a combination of massive, Somali-driven voter fraud, stunning Election Board incompetence, and the willful blindness of the Kansas City Star, machine Democrat J.J. Rizzo managed to beat conservative Democrat Will Royster by one vote in a Missouri State House primary on August 3. There is no Republican running in this heavily Democratic, multi-ethnic Kansas City district. The Democratic nominee will face only a seriously outgunned Libertarian in the November election, and truth be told, Royster may be to the right of the Libertarian. What the Democratic machine and the Star, which endorsed Rizzo, did not count on was for...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips on Thursday granted a request for an injunction halting the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military. Phillips says the policy doesn't help military readiness and instead has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services. The lawsuit was the biggest legal test of the law in recent years and came amid promises by President Barack Obama that he will work to repeal the policy.

Ken Mehlman, President Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, made a shocking confession today in an interview with The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinger: Privately, in off-the-record conversations with this reporter over the years, Mehlman voiced support for tax increases and told of how, in private discussions with senior Republican officials, he beat back efforts to support the Bush tax cuts. The reaction by conservative pundits and leaders was praise for Mehlman following his conscience and being true to himself. Okay, not really. Maybe in an alternate universe that would happen, but in D.C....

The federal judge who overturned California's same-sex marriage ban this week is a Republican who once came under fire for his membership to a powerful all-male club that had only recently allowed blacks to join. But after Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the voter-approved ban known as Proposition 8, he became something else in the minds of some: a gay activist. Rumors have circulated for months that Walker is gay, fueled by the blogosphere and a San Francisco Chronicle column that stated his sexual orientation was an "open secret" in legal and gay activism circles. Walker himself hasn't...

In the scandal involving the theft and release of classified military information that could cost the lives of U.S. military personnel, the British Telegraph newspaper is reporting that the American soldier at the center of the scandal was "openly homosexual" and apparently held a grudge against the U.S. because of the military's anti-gay policy. In another bizarre twist, reliable reports suggest that Private First Class Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army Intelligence analyst accused of leaking the classified information to the WikiLeaks.org website, was not only a homosexual but was considering a sex change. Manning was arrested at the end of...

The Obama administration told Congress to find a way to regulate greenhouse gases -- or else. Last month, Congress refused: Democratic leaders in the Senate declined to take up climate legislation before their August break, which means it looks effectively dead for this session. Now the White House is stuck with "or else." The Environmental Protection Agency will soon begin regulating greenhouse gases factory by factory, power plant by power plant. That could be unwieldy, expensive and unpopular -- even President Obama has said it's not his preferred solution. But for now, it's his only option. The next few months...

Rep. Waters: Shirley Sherrod Tape ‘Planted by the Enemy’ – ‘Right-Wing Press’ July 28, 2010 12:49 PM ABC News’ Gregory Simmons reports: At the Urban League’s Centennial Celebration today in Washington, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., delivered a scathing response to the White House and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s handling of the Shirley Sherrod fallout. Sherrod, a former director of rural development for the state of Georgia, resigned from the Agriculture Department last week -- forced out by the Obama administration after video of her delivering remarks at an NAACP banquet, recounting an incident that occurred in 1986, was posted by...

A powerful Afghan insurgent leader and a man identified as Osama Bin Laden's financial adviser purchased ground-to-air missiles from North Korea in 2005, according to an uncorroborated U.S. intelligence report released by Wikileaks on Sunday. "On 19 November 2005, Hezb-Islami party leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar [sic] and Dr. Amin [no last name], Osama Bin Ladin's financial advisor, both flew to North Korea departing from Iran," the undated report said. "While in North Korea, the two confirmed a deal with the North Korean government for remote controlled rockets for use against American and coalition aircraft," said the report, whose origin could not...

A stupid New Jersey judge has attempted to use Sharia law to uphold a Muslim husband’s “right” to rape a teenage girl forced to wed him in an [arranged marriage. Taking the view that married women are the chattel property of their husbands, the judge (whose name has not been published by the old media) denied the validity of New Jersey’s charges because the rapes were committed within the period in which the couple was married. Allowing the man’s Islamic [beliefs to exonerate him, the judge remarked, "This court does not feel that, under the circumstances, that this defendant had...

More details are emerging about the case of Wikileaker Pvt. Bradley Manning and they are… Gagalicious. Manning's plan to download and leak thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks hinged on lip-syncing to "Telephone". Manning allegedly leaked the Iraq Apache helicopter video, and it's believed he also downloaded over 150,000 diplomatic cables from the military's SPIR-Net and shared them with Wikileaks. How did he do it without arousing suspicion? According to the New York TimesAccording to the New York Times: "He was able to avoid detection not because he kept a poker face, they said, but apparently because he hummed and...

President Barack Obama called Shirley Sherrod Thursday to offer his apologies and urge her to accept a promotion on Thursday, but the Agriculture Department official, who was forced out on unfounded charges of racism, kept mum on her plans. Obama had tried to call her twice on Wednesday night but couldn’t connect with Sherrod, according to an administration official. West Wing staffers were attempting to call her again when she returned the president’s calls at around 12:35 p.m. The apology came after Sherrod took to the airwaves Wednesday to say she would appreciate a call from the president. The 62-year-old...

The sentence was resolutely bland and nicely hidden in a long Supreme Court decision issued on the last day of the term. All it said was: “Our decisions have declined to distinguish between status and conduct in this context.” But the context mattered. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the majority, was talking about laws affecting gay men and lesbians. Slipping that thought into a case about the treatment of a Christian student group reminded some of a technique perfected by Justice William J. Brennan Jr....“Brennan’s colleagues learned to watch for the seemingly innocuous casual statement or footnote — seeds...

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod, who claims she was falsely smeared as a racist while she herself falsely smears Republicans and Fox News as racists, said this morning that she would like to see BigGovernment.com, the website that made her famous, shut down for the good of the country.CNN's American Morning reported on Sherrod's demand:She said if Breitbart's site were shut down, "That would be a great thing, because I don't see how that advances us in this country ... at a time when we should be trying to look at how we can make space for all of us...