Free Republic

House Speaker John Boehner’s right wing is acting up again. First, hard-line conservatives failed in a January coup against the Ohio Republican. Then they tried to force a special meeting on immigration reform — but GOP leaders beat them to the punch. Now, fearful of a capitulation on immigration and fiscal issues, they want to force Boehner to have a majority of Republican support each time it considers a bill to increase spending. Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) is spurring the latest effort, and says he has more than half the 50 Republican backers needed — he won’t say how many...

The deadline draws closer by the hour. In New York, the band of good-government reformers, labor unions, enviros, community organizers, religious leaders, and more have until Thursday night, when the current legislative session ends, to press state lawmakers to pass legislation combating political corruption and kickstarting a public financing program for statewide elections. Standing in their way: The odd coalition of breakaway Democrats and Republicans who control the state Senate and who are blocking the public financing bill, which passed the state Assembly earlier this year and is backed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Friends of Democracy, the super-PAC run by...

Hundreds of pro-immigration goons stormed Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s home this past weekend. The mob brought megaphones and rallied on his front porch. And they hurled threats at his family. (VIDEO-AT-LINK) The leftists dared the Secretary of State to come outside. Todd Starnes at Townhall reported: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is calling for a criminal investigation after a huge mob of illegal alien supporters surrounded his private home Saturday and held a rally on his front porch. At least 200 members of Sunflower Community Action were bussed into Kobach’s Kansas City-area neighborhood on Saturday – to...

“Pushing back hard” turned out to have been a big mistake. In response, Lizza has released a partial transcript of his interview, showing that Rubio’s aide’s comments weren’t as bad as depicted. They were worse. Here’s an excerpt: Ryan Lizza: Well, their argument is, what, that they have American workers for these jobs, they don’t need this program. Rubio Aide 1: Yeah. I mean, one of the problems you have with this, “Oh there’s American workers who are unemployed.” There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it. There shouldn’t be a presumption that every...

When looking at Obama and the Administration he leads, it is best to look at the big picture. What we can infer from the Administration's hidden actions is evident most clearly their public actions. What we see can best be described as "Scandalpalooza", a seeming rock-concert of nonstop scandals. Witness: We have the IRS targeting the political opposition, namely the T.E.A. Party, to suppress their ability to fund candidates It has been revealed that the NSA tracks the communication habits of virtually all American citizens, creating a large encyclopedia of every citizen's communications There is the matter of Benghazi, with...

NEW YORK – Paul Soros, a successful innovator in shipping, philanthropist and the older brother of billionaire financier George Soros, died in New York City on Saturday after a long bout with a host of illnesses, said his son Peter Soros. He was 87. Soros, an engineer and businessman, founded Soros Associates, a world leader in the design and development of bulk handling and port facilities. The company has operations in 91 countries. Soros also held a number of patents and wrote more than 100 technical articles on the transportation of materials and related shipping design issues. "His genius, which...

What do I say now? ¿Qué le digo ahora?- On Monday, a majority of Senate Republicans voted to continue debate of the disastrous 'Gang of Eight' amnesty bill, surprising many when the vote easily cleared the required 60 threshold, 82-15. The reason many Republicans trust that a bill they haven't even read will "secure the border first" is because Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has assured them it would - endlessly. He even wen't on a record-tying FIVE Sunday news shows to assert this (and a avalanche of other lies), and assured audiences he would never back a bill that did not...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We go to immigration. In a remarkable turn of events, all eight Gang of Eight members voted to table the Grassley amendment, to have control of the border for six months before the amnesty kicks in. And, by the way, don't call it amnesty. It isn't amnesty. That's the latest claim from the powers that be. The Grassley amendment to the Gang of Eight bill simply said we would gain control of the border for six months before any other aspect of the bill -- which is exactly what we were told was supported from the get-go....

Who is Obama's Real Father? Find out when Joy Tiz talks to filmmaker Joel Gilbert, producer of "Dreams from My Real Father"--the video that made him a target for the IRS and a Soros funded journalist. In Dreams from My Real Father, Barack Obama is portrayed by a voiceover actor who chronicles Barack Obama's life journey in socialism, from birth through his election to the Presidency. This is a don't miss interview at 2 pm PDT.

Sarah Murnaghan, a victim of ObamaCare at the tender age of just ten years old has beaten back the Death Panel, at least for now. Thanks to the intervention by federal judge Michael Baylson, Sarah got her urgently needed and life saving lung transplant with no time to spare. This is open defiance of Death Panel Czarina Kathleen Sebelius' order that she be allowed to die because it's simply against the rules to allow a child to receive adult lungs. Ignore the fact that the child's doctors all insist that adult lungs would work in Sarah's case. The Czarina hath...

In 2007, John McCain’s “comprehensive” immigrant-legalization bill failed after opponents flooded the Senate with calls, shutting down the switchboard. Despite considerable press hype, the bill didn’t even muster a majority on the crucial cloture vote. It won’t be that easy this time. For one thing, they have a better switchboard, I’m told. For another, the Republican consultants–e.g. Gillespie, Rove–who helped Mitt Romney lose the 2012 election have taken their own failure as an excuse to push what they’ve wanted all along–a business-pleasing immigration policy guaranteeing a supply of inexpensive labor from abroad and a stream of campaign donations to pay...

Back in 2011, I posted the following article on FRee Republic. I think it's more relevant now, especially since Chairman Obama has decided to use the IRS as his own personal Gestapo. To shamelessly rip off Greg Gutfeld and not feel the least bit bad about it, enjoy enjoyers! *** While spewing venom at the Communist Left at Moveon.Dork, I noticed something rather odd at the bottom of the propaganda-filled screen: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "MoveOn.org Civic Action is a 501(c)(4) organization which primarily focuses on nonpartisan education and advocacy on important national issues. MoveOn.org Political Action is a federal political committee which...

The 10-woman, two-man jury deliberating for weeks in the WellCare medical fraud trial delivered a mixed bag of verdicts at noon Monday, finding all four health care corporation executives guilty of a some of criminal charges against them while acquitting the same defendants of many others. On the more serious charge of conspiracy to commit medical fraud on each defendant, the jury was unable to reach verdicts and told U.S. District Judge James Moody they were deadlocked on those counts. "We respect the jury's verdict," said Lee Bentley, with the U.S.Attorney's Office in Tampa, though prosecutors will meet to decide...

In a Spanish-language interview Sunday with the network Univision, Sen. Marco Rubio, the leading Republican on the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform group, made his strongest statement yet that legalization of the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants must happen before any new border security or internal enforcement measures are in place, and will in no way be conditional on any security requirements. “Let’s be clear,” Rubio said. “Nobody is talking about preventing the legalization...

New Zealand Herald can't be posted to FR, but I think a link might be OK: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10889158

On Friday, CNN profiled liberal billionaire George Soros for their “Fast Facts,� calling him “one of the most successful investment financiers in the world� and an “active philanthropist.� The segment failed fail to note his massive contributions to lefty politics, or his calls for an “open society� that sound Orwellian at best. The CNN profile highlighted key moments from Soros’s life, including his birth, immigration to the U.S. from Hungary, and major financial milestones in his road to becoming one of the wealthiest men on the planet. The only political donation that CNN mentioned at all was $1 million that Soros gave...

Scandal: IRS profiling of Tea Party groups was endorsed by Democrats who ignored tax-exempt groups funded by billionaire backer George Soros and others who encouraged this assault on democracy and the Constitution. Rep. Jim McDermott has made it official that Democrats who don't support efforts to enhance border security on the grounds it means ethnic profiling do support federally backed, taxpayer-funded profiling of Tea Party groups based on their political and religious beliefs. To make it worse, like the rape victim who is told she wore suggestive clothing, McDermott, D-Wash., pointed his finger at representatives of targeted groups at Tuesday's...

Well, right on cue, Politico arrives this morning like the cavalry with an appallingly dishonest (but expected) piece of reporting that falls right in line with what Congressional Democrats did yesterday. It is as pure a piece of coordination and left-wing propaganda as you will ever read. And this is the only kind of investigative reporting Politico ever does. Imagine if Politico poured these same resources into investigating the IRS's connections to the White House or the shaping of the IRS talking points by the State Department. But today's Politico piece is all about changing the subject. All it looks...

Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood’s son, Sam Lahood, has been convicted and sent to prison in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood regime led by Mohammed Morsi has ruled that Lahood may spend up to five years in prison for receiving foreign funds, supposedly to foment unrest in Egypt. The non-profit group of which Lahood was a part was allegedly working on democracy training, a no-no in repressive Egypt.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Yeah, here we are, great to be back here, folks. The news just isn't the news when I'm not here to tell you about it. I had so many people send me e-mails last week and the first couple days this week: "You know, Rush, there's a lot going on but it just doesn't seem like it's actually going on without you here." Folks, trust me, it was going on. It was happening. And I know it just doesn't seem the same, but the news isn't the news when I'm away. Because there isn't any news anymore....

Samantha Power has been a notorious critic of Israel for years and that, naturally, makes her well-qualified under President Obama's criteria to serve in such a crucial post. She will be welcomed with open arms at the United Nations. We at American Thinker have been warning about her influence with Barack Obama since 2008 (see Samantha Power and Obama's Foreign Policy Team). But her bit of nastiness seems to be tinged with a bit of anti-Semitism as well. When concerns arose in 2008 regarding Barack Obama and his views towards Israel it generated wrath from Ms. Power, who was a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House official says President Barack Obama will name former aide Samantha Power as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Power will replace Susan Rice, who will take over as Obama's national security adviser. The official says Obama will announce both appointments from the White House Wednesday afternoon. Power is a longtime Obama adviser who worked on his 2008 presidential campaign and ran the human rights office in the White House.

Whenever something bad happens to America, look for the connection back to Obama's boss, George Soros. This time, it's the IRS using its considerable muscle to bully conservative organizations with the ultimate goal of voter suppression. Jeffrey Lord, writing for The American Spectator points to Jason Furman, Obama's top economic adviser. It's a position that, by the way, did not require senate approval. While Lord's column was focused on 17 year tax cheat, Charlie Rangel who was never harassed by the IRS, it reveals some interesting facts about Furman as well as former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. Just last week...

<p>Shulman rallied for Rangel: Jason Furman, Media Matters, Fox News, Jarrett and a job.</p> <p>And the Liberal Dog Whistle Blows.</p> <p>Congressman Charles Rangel of New York.</p> <p>Ex-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.</p> <p>The new chairman of the president’s Council on Economic Advisors, Jason Furman.</p>

This is a story about politics and power in the golden land, and it begins with the money. In early May a luxury resort in Laguna Beach, Calif., hosted a five-day semi-annual meeting of the Democracy Alliance, a secret, invitation-only organization of liberal moneybags that since its formation in 2005 has directed some $500 million in contributions to progressive groups. Never has a wolves’ den been so posh.

Everyone’s favorite billionaire investor is back in the spotlight, and this time he has a few people wondering what he’s up to. George Soros has dumped his position with several major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Capitol One, SunTrust, and Morgan Stanley. He has reduced his exposure to Citigroup and decreased his stake in AIG by two-thirds. In fact, Soros’ financial stock holdings are down by roughly 80 percent, a massive drop from his position just three months ago, according to SNL Financial. So what’s the deal? What does he know that we don’t? There could be a simple and non-nefarious...

The Illinois Ag Dept. illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News. Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years. “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of hisstock.

We have put together what might be called a basic “timeline of tyranny.” A timeline that connects the dots of IRS behavior in the Obama administration not just to the specifics of the IG’s timeline, but to other events of a similar nature. Events that set the stage for what was to come, and most importantly events that illustrate the mindset of the American Left when it comes to free speech, to dissent — and how that mindset plays out when married not just to money but to a perceived or very real access to serious government power. Drawing on...

The Obama administration has warned British officials that if the UK leaves Europe it will exclude itself from a US-EU trade and investment partnership potentially worth hundreds of billions of pounds a year, and that it was very unlikely that Washington would make a separate deal with Britain.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Protesters rallied in dozens of cities Saturday as part of a global protest against seed giant Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces, organizers said. Organizers said "March Against Monsanto" protests were held in 52 countries and 436 cities, including Los Angeles where demonstrators waved signs that read "Real Food 4 Real People" and "Label GMOs, It's Our Right to Know."… The U.S. Senate this week overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would allow states to require labeling of genetically modified foods.

It's hard to remain hip when you are approaching 70 I guess.

Barack Obama appointed Tuesday to help lead the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, Robert F. Bauer, said during the 2012 election that voter ID laws are a Republican tactic to suppress lawful votes. During the 2012 election, the Obama team tapped Bauer to lead the legal teams for the campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Among his initiatives: fighting voter ID laws enacted by a number of states in an effort to combat voter fraud. During his time as the team’s organizer, Bauer told the Associated Press that he believes that the GOP is enlisting these new laws to impede...

Robert Malley, a top Middle East advisor that US President-elect Barack Obama promised months ago would play no role in his administration due to ties to Hamas, has reportedly been sent out on the next administration's first diplomatic mission. According to a report in Middle East Newsline, Obama dispatched Malley to Egypt and Syria late last week with a message that the he intends to mend and bolster relations with both nations, and to give greater weight to their concerns regarding regional conflicts than did President George W. Bush. During the Democratic Party primaries, Obama was lashed by critics for...

A series of letters suggests that senior IRS official Lois Lerner was directly involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups as recently as April 2012, more than nine months after she first learned of the activity. Lerner, the director of the IRS exempt organizations office in Washington, D.C., signed cover letters to 15 conservative organizations currently represented by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) between in March and April of 2012. The letters, such as this one sent to the Ohio Liberty Council on March 16, 2012, informed the groups applying for tax-exempt status that the IRS...

During friendly questioning from Rep. Hank “I fear that Guam will capsize!” Johnson in Congress last week, Attorney General Eric Holder offered the following statement. In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy. He made that statement before the facts about the sweep on Fox News’ James Rosen were known. Since then, it’s come to light that Holder himself approved the subpoena that, among other things, named Rosen as a criminal co-conspirator.

When Chelsea Clinton wanted to make a low-key visit to the hurricane-stricken Rockaways last fall, she arranged to take a trip with her close friend Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton. -snip- But the reality, it turns out, is just the opposite: Those close to the couple say that Ms. Abedin, a seasoned operative well versed in the politics of redemption, has been a main architect of her husband’s rehabilitative journey, shaping his calculated comeback and drawing on her close ties with one of the country’s most powerful families to lay the groundwork for his return. A...

When you get right down to it,the political targeting and stalling of tax-exempt applications by the IRS was an effort to defund the Tea Party. Rick Santelli,one of the Tea Party founders and my CNBC colleague,was the first to make this point. I’ve taken it a step further: The IRS was taking the Tea Party out of play for the 2012 election,as it looked to avoid a repeat of 2010 and another Tea Party landslide.… But there can be only one reason for the stalled-out approval process for conservative groups. The IRS was trying to put them out of business....

On the heels of news that the Obama administration Department of Justice was spying on reporters at the Associated Press, Monday brought the startling disclosure by the Washington Post that the DOJ had also targeted Fox reporter James Rosen for surveillance in an effort to plug up leaks. Additionally, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza obtained the full application for a search warrant of Rosen’s personal email account, in which the DOJ accused him of being “an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator.” As Lizza put it, “Rosen was not charged with any crime, but it is unprecedented for the government, in...

The foreign-headquartered company that recently purchased the leading U.S. electronic voting firm is boasting that it was highlighted in a report on how technology is making the election process more efficient, secure, transparent, accessible and reliable. The report, WND has learned, was authored by a firm with links to billionaire activist George Soros. The information comes after WND reported two weeks ago that SCYTL recently acquired the software division of a non-profit election organization tied to Soros’ Open Society Institute. Yesterday, WND reported SCYTL announced its technology will be deployed at more U.S. jurisdictions ahead of the 2014 midterm elections....

"The State Department says, “Eligibility for access to classified information, commonly known as a security clearance, is granted only to those for whom an appropriate personnel security background investigation has been completed."

George Soros-Funded Groups Prod IRS to Investigate Conservative Organizations Women walk out of an Internal Revenue Service office in New York, April 18, 2011. By Melissa Barnhart , CP Contributor May 16, 2013|6:07 pm Amid the uproar over shocking revelations that the Internal Revenue Service strategically targeted conservative groups that sought tax-exempt status are new findings that George Soros-funded organizations are sending letters to the IRS prodding them to investigate conservative groups, such as Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS. President Obama on Wednesday announced the firing of acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who will leave the IRS in June, following the...

The problems with the IRS extend beyond playing politics with conservative groups seeking a tax-exempt status. I have never made this public before, but given the heightened interest in the way the IRS has conducted itself, the time has come to disclose what happened. Just weeks after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, I was notified by the IRS that the Catholic League was under investigation for violating the IRS Code on political activities as it relates to 501(c)(3) organizations. What the IRS did not know was that I had proof who contacted them to launch the investigation: Catholics...

With Soros funding, anything is possible. The growing scandal where the IRS unfairly targeted politically-conservative groups can be traced back to a lobbying effort begun by George Soros-funded liberal groups in 2010, after the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling.

*Noted professor and sociologist Dr. Anne Hendershott claims IRS may have targeted her with a 2010 audit *IRS demanded to know which groups paid her and “what their politics were” *Hendershott believes her articles critical of President Barack Obama’s policies and George Soros’ funding of liberal Catholic groups may have spawned the IRS audit *Audit was emotionally and financially expensive and scared the professor into silenceIn the midst of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal, individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist,...

ProPublica on Monday reported that the same IRS division that targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle provided the investigative-reporting organization with confidential applications for tax-exempt status. That revelation contradicts previous statements from the agency and may represent a violation of federal guidelines. Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS sector that reviews tax-exemption applications, told a congressional oversight committee in April 2012 that IRS code prohibited the agency from providing information about groups that had not yet been approved. Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Jim Jordan...

The division of the Internal Revenue Service that improperly scrutinized the tax-exempt status of conservative groups sent confidential information on 31 conservative groups to the well-funded liberal nonprofit journalism organization ProPublica, according to a revelation made by ProPublica Monday. “The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year,” according to the ProPublica report. “In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications...

Meeting in Rome with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Thursday that the United States would provide an additional $100 million in humanitarian assistance for refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria, bringing the total amount of aid to $510 million. Kerry also said that he is working to bring all parties together to create a transitional government and that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would not be part of that government. Jordan, which is being inundated by a wave of Syrian refugees, will receive nearly $43 million, which will support United Nations humanitarian programs in the...

Is expected to take questions regarding the IRS scandal and Benghazi. We will see......

The question which nobody is asking: Did Bork Obunga and his puppet-master George Soros generate an immense reservoir of hatred against Americans in Libya in 2011 by taking down what amounted to the best government in the Islammic world for motives amounting to little if anything other than pure greed, and THEN set the stage for a US ambassador to be tortured, raped, and then killed by sheer fecklessness with no meaningful response in the picture even eight months later? http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD14Ak02.html Ellen Brown noted (2011) that: Another anomaly involves the official justification for taking up arms against Libya. Supposedly it's...

May 12, 2013 Darrell Issa: House Oversight Committee to depose Pickering and Mullen over Benghazi Twitchy Staff Darrell Issa reports that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chairs, will depose Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Admiral Mike Mullen over Benghazi....