Free Republic

As President Obama gets ready to interrupt his vacation for two days of meetings at the White House, here’s a look at how he spent the past week on Martha’s Vineyard: During NINE days of vacation, the president played SIX rounds of golf on TWO courses with 11 different partners, spending roughly 29.5 hours on the links. He made TWO family outings to the beach, spending roughly SIX and a HALF hours soaking up the sun and surf. [Snip} He ... delivered TWO public statements on TWO different topics, Iraq and the situation in Ferguson, Mo. [Snip] He went for...

On another gorgeous Martha’s Vineyard summer day, President Obama, Michelle and daughter Malia behaved like any other vacationing family — the difference being a train of SUVs, reporters and Secret Service agents — and went for a bike ride in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. President Obama departed his vacation home in Chilmark at 11:18 am for West Tisbury, according to pool press reports. The motorcade arrived at a bike path in West Tisbury at 11:38 am and the Obamas and their security contingent pedaled away. The traveling press pool traveled by van a few miles to a scenic...

President Barack Obama really wanted to take a vacation. But then the world intervened. The president’s plan to snag two weeks off in Martha’s Vineyard has been an utter failure, marking his worst attempt at relaxation since the Detroit underwear bomber consumed his 2009 Christmas holiday in Hawaii. On the eve of his departure late last week, Obama authorized airstrikes in Iraq to beat back Islamist militants from committing genocide. Then as he wrapped up his first round of golf on the Massachusetts island Saturday night, The Atlantic interview with Hillary Clinton hit the Web, sparking days of speculation about...

.... Obama was briefed Wednesday night on the intensifying situation in a St. Louis suburb where protesters continue to clash with police in the wake of the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager....

MVI is known as one of the wealthiest and whitest places on earth for its lack of racial and economic diversity, which makes it the perfect getaway for Democrat charlatans. Now, if your only source for information on Obama is the White House press blog, you’d never know he’s on vacation, because there’s been no mention of “Martha’s Vineyard” – and for good reason. Exotic presidential vacations don’t go over well when all those “hard-working Americans” Obama so often exploits in his stump speeches are barely making ends meet because of his failed economic policies. Indeed, illegal immigrants are streaming...

Boy, it’s not just Ferguson, Missouri; racism is breaking out all over the place. For example, have you seen what Dana Milbank wrote? President Obama must really be teed off.Hillary Rodham Clinton, his once-loyal secretary of state and his likeliest successor, has gone rogue, criticizing his foreign policy as too timid.Obama responded with not one but two rounds of golf. And even Jimmy Fallon is writing racist jokes now: “After spending yesterday at the beach, Obama said, “This has been fun, but I should really get back...to the golf course.” What is it with the obsession with Big Guy’s vacation?...

t seems like just about every week Trey Gowdy is in the news as he fights the good fight against Obama and the liberals. He’s been relentless going after the administration on Benghazi and other scandals, and calling out Democrats like Nancy Pelosi on their “mind-numbing” stupidity. Gowdy has also announced support for a lawsuit against Obama for failing to do his basic executive duties. He’s now got another suggestion to rein in this reckless administration: Defund Obama’s vacations as a punishment for executive overreach. Awesome.

When it comes to mocking president Obama, there is no easier or more effective way than focusing on his vacation/golfing schedule. The conservative Washington Examiner did just that last week, before the latest Malaysian Airlines disaster, when it reported that "It's going to be hot tubs, basketball, tennis and golf for the first family this summer, having set plans for a 16-day vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., on a $12 million, 10-acre forested estate on the southwestern corner of the island. Reports from the Bay State indicate that President Obama and his family will vacation August 9-24 at the 8,100-square...

As reported earlier today by Kristinn Taylor… The Obama administration has awarded a $50 million contract to a charitable group to buy a Texas resort hotel and transform it in to a 600 bed facility for juvenile illegal aliens. The beautiful Palm Aire resort and hotel has an indoor Olympic sized pool and an outdoor pool.  Free Wi-Fi and cable TV are included in the simply decorated guest rooms. The Palm Aire Hotel and Suites is set to be sold to Baptist Child & Family Services (BCFS) operating under a federal contract, pending local government approval, according to reports from Weslaco,...

On April 1, the U.S. economy dropped a whopping 2.9 percent for the first three months of the year (no fooling). The American workforce participation rate fell to a 40-year low. One-third of people aged 18-29 have moved back in with their parents. Millions of Americans this summer will enjoy yet another “staycation”: They just can’t afford to go to the beach or the mountains, even for a week — again. Swipe cut to President Obama: He’s eating shave ice in Honolulu; playing golf (some 180 rounds so far); jetting off to Martha’s Vineyard for a 15-day vacation in a...

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....