Free Republic

America's police state: The drones are coming Friday, February 10, 2012 A new federal law accelerating domestic use of government aerial surveillance drones brings America frighteningly close to an Orwellian police state. President Obama is expected to sign the FAA Reauthorization Act, which expedites approval for federal, state and local police to use these drones. The Federal Aviation Administration's existing case-by-case approach is chilling enough -- it's being sued over its refusal to disclose publicly which agencies use drones and how they're used. Still, it's known that the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection arm uses drones domestically....

Portage Public Schools had an odd reaction to some good financial news this week, telling a company that could save it $270,000 a year "no thanks." That offer came from Grand Rapids Building Services, a facilities cleaning contractor that proposed taking over the school district’s first shift custodial duties. GRBS is able to accomplish the same work at a lower cost primarily because it uses a different benefits package than Portage schools, one that doesn’t include overpriced health insurance from the Michigan Education Special Services Association or expensive contributions to the unsustainable school employee pension plan. GRBS’ more reasonable benefits...

More taxation for Islamization as we told you about here in 2010. Gadi Adelman writing at Family Security Matters has more disturbing waste of taxpayer money via U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize Overseas Mosques.The story of the U.S. State Department funding mosques overseas was uncovered in July 2010 when reporter Justin Farmer from ABC affiliate WSBTV Channel 2 in Atlanta Georgia did an investigative report. Farmers’ story focused on how the U.S. was spending its tax payer dollars while supposedly trying to cut the budget. The U.S. budget is so bad that we need to cut $487 billion in defense spending, but...

Crony capitalism not only is a pain in the national wallet, but products from crony capitalists pose a physical danger. Fisker Automotive —fronted by Democratic eco-millionaire Al Gore —received a half-billion federal “loan” 2 years ago to make luxury electric cars. Not only was this a sweetheart from the Obama administration, but the deal financed the manufacture of unsafe electric lemons.From the New York Times: Fisker Automotive is recalling all 239 of its 2012 Karma luxury plug-in hybrid cars because of a fire hazard, according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Prices on the 2012...

First lady Michelle Obama took daughters Malia and Sasha to MA'O Organic Farms in Hawaii for a pizza party this week, where they were joined by Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass, and Honolulu chef Ed Kenney, a board member at MA'O — which supplied a healthy heap of fresh veggies used by Kenney and Kass as they cooked pizzas for the First Family in a fire oven. The first lady met Kenney when she first visited MA'O back in November for a tour of the farm and a round table with the her "Let's Move!" initiative....

U.S. assistance to Egypt is helping political parties of all ideologies prepare for the upcoming elections -- even Islamic parties that may have anti-Western agendas. "We don't do party support. What we do is party training.... And we do it to whoever comes," William Taylor, the State Department's director of its new office for Middle East Transitions, said in a briefing with reporters today. "Sometimes, Islamist parties show up, sometimes they don't. But it has been provided on a nonpartisan basis, not to individual parties." The programs, contracted through the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the International...

OKLAHOMA CITY – With our current poll showing the majority of Red Dirt Report readers are skeptical or out-right against the newly-hatched American intervention in Uganda and east-central Africa, one of the craftsmen in Congress of the so-called “Plan Uganda” operation, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), is defending the this U.S. foreign policy move and our involvement there, as approved by Congress. We wrote several stories since Friday on the issue, which can be found here, here and here. Two members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation responded to our inquiries about the "Plan Uganda" operation. The Obama administration, with Secretary...

President Obama has dispatched 100 troops to Central Africa on a humanitarian mission to help track down a fugitive wanted for crimes against humanity. The contingent of special-operations forces began arriving Wednesday in Uganda to help train its army to search for Joseph Kony and what remains of his Lord’s Resistance Army that has terrorized Central Africa for more than 20 years. (SNIP) More troops will be sent to South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. President Obama said the “combat-equipped” troops will provide information advice and assistance to national forces and would not...

(CBS News) Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said recently that al Qaeda terrorists may regroup in Africa, and that is why the U.S. is sending 100 Special Forces troops to one of the most violent places on Earth. The first 40 Americans have arrived in the region that includes South Sudan, scene of a long running civil war, and the Congo, site of the deadliest conflict since World War II. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley sat down with Panetta, who said the Americans will train local forces to fight terrorists, including al Qaeda. Pelley: You're sending a hundred troops...

It’s been a bit of a puzzle as to why the owners of Zuccotti Park that the Occupy Wall Street gang has taken over have allowed them to stay. They’re angering residents and pretty much stinking up the place. The owners have mentioned that the park is normally cleaned every night, but they have not been able to clean it in three weeks. Sanitation was “becoming an issue” a few days ago. Lord knows what it’s like now, I hear it’s pretty bad. Could the fact that the parent company of Brookfield Properties received a “green energy” loan guarantee from...

The Obama administration engaged in a pattern of approving loans that were not qualified to receive taxpayer money, according to one Republican House chairman who says the development is as disturbing as the potential loss of billions of dollars in investments. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee, said Sunday that the administration's approval of a loan guarantee for solar power company Solyndra -- which went belly up shortly after a half-billion dollar investment by the federal government -- is just one example of a "breach of protocol" in approving loans. Issa said the...

The Bravo network TV show and its production company, Magical Elves, are fighting efforts to disclose the details of an incentive package from the state worth $400,000 in taxpayers' money... The requests sought details about the incentive agreement reached with the state. The program is outlined on the governor's website , but the deal struck with producers of Top Chef is the first of its kind. Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry sent this response: “The state has an integrated marketing agreement that allows for cross promotional opportunities between Texas Tourism and Top Chef.

Because the first one was such a PR coup? (CNN) —President Barack Obama will take a bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia Oct. 17 through Oct. 19, according to a White House official. It will be similar to the trip he took in mid-August through Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, except the president’s primary focus during this tour will be urging Congress to pass his jobs plan.

First lady Michelle Obama's family trip to South Africa and Botswana in June cost taxpayers well over $424,000, according to new accounting based on Air Force manifests obtained by Judicial Watch, a taxpayer watchdog group. The use of Air Force aircraft alone for the June 21-27 trip cost $424,142, said the group, and that doesn't include the food, lodging, and ground transportation for the 21 family and staff members. Judicial Watch said it based the jet costs on the Pentagon's hourly rates for the C-32A aircraft used for the trip. The documents don't give exact cost calculations, which is typical...

You scratch my back – I’ll scratch your back.Barack Obama’s special guest at his speech to Congress in September was AFL-CIO President Thug Richard Trumka. Obama is counting on the AFL-CIO to get him re-elected. The AFL-CIO is counting on more taxpayer stimulus cash. Barack Obama gifted the Missouri AFL-CIO Foundation with $527,529 in stimulus cash.And, here we thought the Obama Stimulus was a jobs bill. Boy were we duped.

One of the young wordsmiths behind President Obama’s oratory is leaving the administration, a crack in a close-knit speechwriting team that helped propel Obama to the White House and has played a major role in shaping his words ever since. Adam Frankel is leaving to become executive director of Digital Promise, a new nonprofit group that will explore ways technology can be used to strengthen education. “I worked with the president on a lot of his education speeches,’’ Frankel said in an interview Friday. “So I was thinking about what I want to do and I realized that I wanted...

The controversial Energy Department loan program that backed a now-bankrupt solar panel maker could nearly double in size by the month's end. The Department of Energy has until Sept. 30 to give 14 companies final approval for loan guarantees totaling over $9 billion. So far the Energy Department has already backed over $10 billion in loans to 18 companies, including a $535 million loan to Solyndra, the solar panel maker that went bankrupt and is now the subject of congressional and FBI investigations. The high-profile bankruptcy is causing some to question whether the rest of the loan guarantees should be...

I enjoy political hardball as much as the next reporter. It’s barely concealed truth that campaign journalists, like the operatives we cover, love negative campaigning and revel in OTT insults and martial rhetoric. Even candidates often lapse into the language of “rip his throat out”, “tear his eyes out” or “drive a stake through her heart”. It’s no secret either that many Republicans despise Democrats with a passion and vice versa. Just as British MPs hide their contempt of their opponents by referring to them as “the honourable member’, American politicians have their own, albeit less formal, ways of masking...

An Alabama builder has accused the state Emergency Management Agency of favoring out-of-state manufacturers in the application form tied to a safe room grant program. Under the program, put in place after tornadoes devastated the state this spring, the federal government will reimburse Alabama property owners for up to 75 percent of the cost of building a safe room to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes or other disasters.

Back in April we told you about the shuttering of the Allen Array and the difficulties that E.T. would have phoning home. Well, if you happen to be in touch with the lovable alien, let him know to load up a few more minutes on his long distance card because SETI is back, on the strength of private donations. Forty-two radio telescope dishes near Mount Shasta will again start listening for sounds of intelligent life in the universe this fall after donors — including actress Jodie Foster — came up with more than $200,000 to save the Mountain View-based SETI...