Free Republic

It's back to the Vineyard for the Obamas. The first family will again descend on the Massachusetts retreat this summer, likely from Aug. 9 to 23.

President Obama is taking a 15-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard next month, despite the widespread criticism he’s received for not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border while it descends into chaos. The Obamas will leave Washington on Saturday, Aug. 9, and stay at a $12 million vacation home in Martha’s Vineyard until Sunday, Aug. 24, the White House confirmed late Wednesday. The president is expected to return to Chilmark and stay in a secluded house off North Road that overlooks the north shore and Vineyard Sound, the Martha’s Vineyard Times reported. Though not confirmed by the White House, the Obamas are expected...

Economists and lawmakers view the jobs report as good news. The US economy gained 288,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 6.1%. One economist even said the report is "as good an excuse as any to enjoy the weekend's fireworks." Yet as Americans struggle to make do with their stagnant wages and the bills that never seem to stop piling up, one thing has to go: vacations. So as businesses anticipate a slower summer, thousands of restaurant and hotel workers are left without work.

Airline ticket prices are soaring this summer. Prices are up 12 percent since 2009, even after adjusting for inflation. When customers of Spirit Airlines book their flights, they can see exactly what they’re paying for. Spirit provides a breakdown of individual factors that make up the total cost of an airline ticket, including the base fare, fuel prices, and taxes/fees (aka the government’s cut).

ISIS TERRORISTS BEGIN ASSAULT ON BAGHDAD— Baghdad International Airport under Assault– Here’s a new image reportedly of an explosion at the Baghdad airport. The Battle for Baghdad has begun…

Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama is in a tough spot as Islamic militants sweep across northern Iraq, overtaking two major cities as tens of thousands of Iraqi government troops reportedly abandon their posts. Fighters from the Sunni group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are reportedly beheading victims in a bid to instill fear as they sweep through the country's north, and have vowed to attack the national capital city of Baghdad. The mayhem puts Obama in a sticky position. After more than a decade of wars in the Middle East, trillions of taxpayer dollars spent and...

Dead workers in Germany have a right to any annual leave which they’ve failed to claim at the time of their death, Europe’s top court ruled on Thursday. In a case brought by a widow from North Rhine-Westphalia, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled she was entitled to money from her dead husband’s employer for the holiday he had failed to claim. The dead man, named only as Mr. Bollacke, worked for the retailer K+K from August 1998 to November 2010, when he died. …

PHILADELPHIA — DINNER with your children in 19th-century America often required some self-control. Berry stains in your daughter’s hair? Good for her. Raccoon bites running up your boy’s arms? Bet he had an interesting day. As this year’s summer vacation begins, many parents contemplate how to rein in their kids. But there was a time when Americans pushed in the opposite direction, preserved in Mark Twain’s cat-swinging scamps. Parents back then encouraged kids to get some wildness out of their system, to express the republic’s revolutionary values. American children of the 19th century had a reputation. Returning British visitors reported...

(CNSNews.com) – The cost for the lodging, entertainment, and security by the Secret Service for the June 2013 Africa trip by President Barack Obama and his family cost $2,189,727, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the government watchdog group Judicial Watch. In addition, the flights costs to, around, and from Africa for that trip cost $8,104,224, and the total cost of the trip has been estimated by numerous media reports as somewhere between $60 million and $100 million. “The Obamas clearly either do not understand the value of a dollar – or understand it all...

Obama administration travel and vacation documents were released yesterday by Judicial Watch, and they reveal an unprecedented level of executive branch leisure spending. According to public information: “As of 2001, the president earns a $400,000 annual salary, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment. The most recent raise in salary was approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1999 and went into effect in 2001.” Obtained via a Freedom of Information request, here are some of the Obama presidency’s spending items: Since 2009, a total of $40,000,000 has been spent....

The travel costs for vacations taken by the first family and the Bidens have reached over $40 million with the Air Force´s revelation that two golf outings by President Obama this year cost $2.9 million, according to the taxpayer watchdog group Judicial Watch. The group said that the Air Force provided documents and records that put the price of the first family´s trip to Key Largo, Fla., in March at $885,683 just for flying Air Force One. The travel costs to golf in Palm Springs, Calif., in February, where the president also met with King Abdullah II of Jordan, was

For those of you who’ve been missing the fashion updates of the recently shuttered Mrs. O site, good news! I think she’s taken her keen eye for fashion over to Huffpo. At least this sounds like her: Velvet and patchwork and shine -- oh, my. Michelle Obama, along with daughters Sasha and Malia and mother Marian Robinson, arrived in China Thursday, but you'd never know by looking at them that they just took a 14 hour flight. The ladies of the first family not only look fresh-faced, but extremely fashionable as well in their travel outfits. FLOTUS stunned in a...

No one should begrudge the President a little rest and frivolity. There is a time and a place for it. The issue for a President is picking the time and place for such things. George W. Bush refused to golf once the wars started, deciding that the appearance of the President golfing sent the wrong message. Bush was forever attacked for spending a month at his ranch every summer, despite the fact that he had the same access to the government and the world that he had in the White House. Bill Clinton took less vacation time than Bush, spending...

First Lady Michelle Obama will be accompanied by her children and her mother on her trip to China, which begins today. But she won't be accompanied by the press. "Michelle Obama’s trip to China starting on Wednesday will be nonpolitical, the White House says, a 'people-to-people exchange' emphasizing the importance that both nations place on education. As if to underscore the point, no reporters are traveling with the first lady, and she does not plan to give interviews while there," reports the New York Times. The White House is defending the first lady bringing her family along for the ride...

Like the swallows to Capistrano, the White House advance peeps have hit Martha’s Vineyard scoping out yet another Obama presidential vacation. Ukraine? Crimea? Putin? The president’s going to Mad Martha’s! Word from The Rock is that Barry, first lady Michelle and kids Sasha and Malia will land on the island sometime around Aug. 9 for a week or so. As you are so well aware, the first family has vacationed on the Vineyard every summer of Obama’s presidency, with the exception, of course, of 2012, when he was up for re-election and canoodling with the beautiful people in a $30...

NORTH KEY LARGO -- President Barack Obama spent his first weekend in Key Largo without ever leaving the secluded Ocean Reef Club. The president traveled from Washington, D.C., to Florida last Friday morning, accompanied by U.S. Congressman Joe Garcia, D-Miami, with whom he discussed the situation in Venezuela, immigration reform, implementation of the Affordable Care Act and skyrocketing flood insurance rates, Garcia's office said. After arriving in Miami, the president, with First Lady Michelle Obama, visited Coral Reef Senior High School, where he spoke to hundreds of teenagers about education and financial aid. From there, the Obamas were taken by...

President Obama Sunday returned from yet another golf vacation, this one a two-day excursion to Key Largo with First Lady Michelle Obama. The Obamas stayed at the ritzy Ocean Reef Club, requiring a major security operation to ensure their safety and happiness. “The White House rented several houses in Ocean Reef and security in the community was tight,” according to KeysInfoNet, which said F-16s had to be scrambled a couple of times to escort private planes out of the area. It’s the third vacation of the year for the Obamas, following their annual sojourn in Hawaii in January and separate...

And that’s pretty much all I have to say about it. The departure from the land of enchantment and endless sunsets: What not to wear. And how not to wear it: The homecoming: proof that covered is always the better choice. Keep in mind what Josh Earnest (filling in for Jay-Jay who was on vacation too) told us last Friday: White House spokesman Josh Earnest defended President Obama's weekend vacation in Key Largo,  despite the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, arguing Obama would be able to monitor events from Florida. “What the president will be doing this weekend in Florida is...

After vacationing at the $2,500 a night Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo this weekend, no wonder Barack and Michelle Obama look pleased with themselves as they returned to Washington on Sunday afternoon. Appearing relaxed after his third vacation of the year, the president has been heavily criticized for his taxpayer-funded trip as the crisis in Ukraine rumbles on. Squeezing in another round of golf on Sunday, the president's holiday coincided with his Vice President Joe Biden jetting off to the Virgin Islands for the weekend as the White House prepares to welcome Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk for critical...