Free Republic

Identity thieves have victimized 12.6 million Americans in 2012 to the tune of nearly $21 billion. Eighteen percent of all Federal Trade Commission complaints received that year involved identity theft. More complaints were lodged in 2012 when compared to 11.6 million in 2011 and 10.2 million in 2010. (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2013 Identity Fraud Report: Data Breaches Becoming a Treasure Trove for Fraudsters, February 2013) Globalization and the world wide use of the Internet have allowed thieves with actual, stolen, or cyber identities to engage in highly sophisticated crimes involving credit card fraud, bank fraud, immigration fraud, medical use...

As more information becomes available, it is becoming clear to me as a former Las Vegas and Clark County land planner, that the Bundy story is not about cows,tortoises, grazing rights, childish name calling, or alleged threats. It’s about prime real estate, and Bundy’s cows were grazing on land that the City of Mesquite has had its eye on for years for annexation to be used to “meet future demands for its citizens and a rapidly growing tourism industry.” The City of Mesquite’s “Purchased, Unpurchased and Acquirable Lands” map (CLICK HERE) shows areas within yellow lined blocks on the southern...

There is a pastime among liberal pundits — the latest is Nicholas Kristof — to quote a new center left global ranking (with unbiased titles such as “The Social Progress Imperative”) and then to decry that the United States is behind its major industrial competitors in things like “Internet Access” and “Ecosystem sustainability.” The subtext of these rants is that an illiberal, reactionary U.S. does not spend enough on government entitlements to promote parity, equality and social justice among its citizenry. These pessimistic rankings increase the angst about the American condition when viewed from scowling perches in Washington or New...

The nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General is on ice until after November’s election, and top Senate Democrats say that decision was made in the White House. Democrats’ decision to back off the nomination in the face of NRA opposition has prompted much hand-wringing on editorial pages and the left, along with some back-biting over the last week. Amid the fallout, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s staff has privately worked to emphasize to concerned allies that the decision to pull the plug on Murthy came from the White House.

One imagines that the reason the IRS has changed its tune and will now supply all the emails Congress requested eight months ago is that they’ve had the opportunity to go through them and have found nothing incriminating. But the value of of examining all of Lois Lerner’s emails during the months in question has to do with the two-track approach to the IRS investigation that Republicans have initiated. The first track is an examination of the targeting scandal and all the related issues associated with IRS actions. The second, and equally important, track, is getting to the bottom of...

Sunday’s Academy Awards event showcased Hollywood’s finest. Beautiful people in beautiful clothes saying lovely things about their industry – a politically “progressive” business that gives nearly all of its political contributions to Democrats. Democrats, of course, purport to believe that “the rich” do not pay their “fair share” in taxes. Democrats also believe in gender equality, that women should receive “equal pay” for “equal work.”

Ted Nugent apologized. Now it's Spike Lee's turn. Rocker Ted Nugent, a Republican and a fierce defender of the Second Amendment, said this about President Obama: "I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame, enough Americans to be ever-vigilant not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America."

There are, however, some chilling suggestions in politics and government today that draw memories of the last days of that failed German republic. Consider two of the most notorious changes in the German nation as it moved from Weimar Germany to Nazi Germany: the destruction of the sovereignty of state governments and the replacement of the national legislature with unchecked executive power.

Mrs. Joe got a call on her cell phone purporting to be from the "American Publisher's Clearing House", informing her she had won $385,000.00 and a new Mercedes. The guy on the other end, who identified himself as "Mike Williams" had a bit of an accent, and having a better ear for such, she handed me the phone after telling the fellow he should talk to her husband. When I answered, he laid out a convoluted plan to retrieve the winnings, complete with a confirmation number and check number, and told me to call their 866 number to punch in...

Three people have been arrested in connection with the robbery of a priceless Stradivarius violin, but the instrument has not been found, police said Wednesday. The three suspects — two men, ages 42 and 36, and a woman, 32 — were arrested Monday morning at their respective Milwaukee residences and remained in police custody Wednesday. One of the suspects has been linked to a prior art theft. The violin, crafted in 1715 and known as the Lipinski Strad after a former owner, was stolen from Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond during an armed robbery Jan. 27. Almond had played...

NORCROSS, Ga. — Norcross police now believe a group of adults and a child seen on surveillance video robbing a jewelry store is actually a family of career criminals. The Legacy Jewels store inside Global Mall on Jimmy Carter Boulevard was robbed Nov. 19. The thieves were so smooth in their heist that store workers didn't even realize $20,000 worth of jewels was missing until they went to close the store hours later. The surveillance video, according to police, shows a man and young boy about 7 or 8 years old walking into the store. The pair talk to a...

The Obama administration has been accused of cronyism after it was revealed the First Lady's Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company contracted to build the beleaguered Obamacare enrollment website. Toni Townes-Whitley is senior vice president at CGI Federal, the U.S. arm of a Canadian company, which won the no-bid contract for the problem-plagued website. Townes-Whitley, from the Princeton class of ’85, and Michelle Obama are members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni, according to The Daily Caller.

..... In an apparent bid to lessen the impact of the release on public morale, the vehicles transporting the released terrorists will have blackened windows which they will not be able to open. Additionally, the release itself will take place in the middle of the night, and not in broad daylight. This arrangement will prevent a repeat of the kinds of jubilant scenes usually associated with such releases, as murderers celebrate their crimes and imminent release by cheering, laughing and flashing victory signs. .....

In a new wave of crime that occurs in an instant, thieves are cagily sliding into victim's cars and snatching valuables from open windows, in what police are calling "sliding." From Corbin, Ky., to Tampa, slippery sliders are being caught on camera all across the country. Sometimes the perpetrator is caught red-handed, but most of the time the victim has no idea until it's too late. Often operating at gas stations while customers are casually pumping fuel, thieves lying in wait pounce, snatching purses and other valuables, then running off.

For the past few months, members of Congress and their staffs have been discussing behind closed doors the worrying proposition that they will be forced off their popular health insurance program and onto the federal insurance exchanges set up under Obamacare. Those concerns reached a fevered pitch this week as President Obama, while making a rare visit to Capitol Hill, assured lawmakers that they and their staffs wouldn’t be foisted onto the same health exchange as millions of Americans. Then late last night, news broke that Obama had “solved” the problem, although no details were available. Obama and many in...

The conviction and jailing of Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny has led to widespread criticism. Navalny was imprisoned for five years for embezzlement from a timber firm. He had denied the charges, saying the trial was politically motivated. The EU said the verdict posed "serious questions" about Russian law, while the US said it was "deeply disappointed". Later, police detained dozens of protesters following scuffles in Moscow, St Petersburg and other cities. Thousands took to the streets for protests which continued late into the evening. In Kirov, where the trial was held, at least two Navalny supporters were arrested after...

Five D.C. Council members will decide whether Marion Barry should be dealt sanctions in addition to a fine he was issued as punishment for accepting gifts from city contractors. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson on Friday appointed an ad hoc committee that will investigate Mr. Barry’s actions. The committee is comprised of council members Yvette M. Alexander, Ward 7 Democrat; Anita Bonds, at-large Democrat; Mary M. Cheh, Ward 3 Democrat; David Grosso, at-large independent, and its chairman is Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5 Democrat. The District’s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability on Thursday censured Mr. Barry and imposed a $13,600 penalty...

Putting aside Obama’s intention to further reduce our nuclear arsenal as articulated in his June 19 speech in Berlin, he has solidified his position as the World’s Greatest Liar with his statements about climate change, aka global warming, which he called “the global threat of our time.”

Car burglars appear to be using a new high-tech device that allows them to disable alarm systems and quickly enter vehicles. Law enforcement agencies are stumped as to how they can prevent the auto break-ins.

The Obama Administration has a few problems. From Benghazi to the IRS to the phone records of journalists and everyday Americans, it’s not difficult to call up a scandal with investigations pending in Washington. So immigration reform makes for a nice distraction. In his weekly address on Saturday, President Obama called immigration reform “an issue that the vast majority of Americans want addressed.” This sounds like wishful thinking on his part, considering that unemployment is stuck at 7.6 percent and Americans consistently say that the economy is their No. 1 concern. But Obama was intent on giving the Gang of...