Free Republic

...Revolution? Yes, it all sounds rather “extreme”, but the cold hard reality of our era is not going to comfort us with diplomacies and niceties, so honestly, why should I have to sugar coat anything? We live in extreme times and there is no longer room for prancing around the ultimate consequences of that which is taking place in America today. This country is increasingly sliding towards the edge of internal conflict. The Liberty Movement and true Constitutionalists see it, subsections of Republicans and Democrats see it, and most of all, the federal government sees it. In fact, they may...

... Obama is cutting short his vacation in the Pacific state of Hawaii and will return to Washington to resume talks with congressional leaders aimed at reaching agreement on a deficit reduction package before the year ends. The White House says Obama will leave Wednesday and is expected to arrive back in Washington early Thursday. Early last week,the president said he and Republican House Speaker John Boehner were relatively close to an agreement on a compromise to avert what is being called a "fiscal cliff" -- $500 billion in mandated spending cuts and tax increases that would affect almost all...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand vigorously championed Americans’ right to carry high-powered guns — before she turned against them. Since the Newtown massacre, the senator has been at the forefront of the national campaign demanding stricter gun-control laws — including her own legislation to prevent gun trafficking. It’s quite the conversion for a former upstate congresswoman who earned an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. When she represented a more conservative Albany-area district, she boasted of keeping two rifles under her bed. That was before her 2009 Senate appointment.

Police in Alexandria, Va., said Sunday that the Idaho Republican was pulled over after his vehicle ran a red light. Police spokesman Jody Donaldson said Crapo failed field sobriety tests and was arrested at about 12:45 a.m. He was transported to the Alexandria jail and released on an unsecured $1,000 bond at about 5 a.m.... Police said Crapo, who was alone in his vehicle, registered a blood alcohol content of .110. The legal limit in Virginia, which has strict drunken driving laws, is .08.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said that she and other gun control advocates are considering a law that would create a program to purchase weapons from gun owners, a proposal that could be compulsory. “We are also looking at a buy-back program,” Feinstein said today in a press conference. “Now, again, this is a work in progress so these are ideas in the development.”Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., already discussed the possibility of a buy-back law for his state, but he made clear it would be a forced buyback.“Confiscation could be an option,” Cuomo told The New York Times yesterday when discussing...

Jesse Jackson Jr. & Wife Sandi Jackson, Accused of ‘Double Dippin’By Brittney M. Walker December 23, 2012 *Oops, Jesse Jackson, Jr. did it again. Just five days after the politician resigned from Congress, his lovely wife and fellow politician, Alderwoman Sandi Jackson, filed a series of interesting amendments to her ward committee’s campaign fund, revealing dozens of previously undisclosed transactions that date back three years. One of the records includes a hefty $13,000 from her hubby’s congressional account into her ward organization account, according to the Chicago Sun Times. So far, these two aren’t looking so good.

With President Obama’s announcement of a commission to study and recommend ways to reduce gun violence, the two most important Democrats in government — Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — have both indicated a desire to slow the momentum toward gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings. The president’s decision to appoint a blue-ribbon panel — the classic Washington ploy to defuse and delay consideration of an issue — along with Reid’s inaction on the gun question will undoubtedly frustrate many in their party who want immediate action. Obama seemed to anticipate that frustration...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Authorities say U.S. Sen. Michael Crapo has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence in a Washington, D.C. suburb. Police in Alexandria, Va., said Sunday that the Idaho Republican was pulled over early Sunday morning after his vehicle ran a red light. Police spokesman Jody Donaldson said Crapo failed field sobriety tests and was arrested at about 12:45 a.m. without incident. He was transported to the Alexandria jail and released on an unsecured $1,000 bond at about 5 a.m.. Donaldson said he didn't immediately know what Crapo's blood alcohol level was. Crapo has a...

Top U.S. lawmakers voiced rising fear on Sunday that the country would go over "the fiscal cliff" in nine days, triggering harsh spending cuts and tax hikes, and some Republicans charged that was President Barack Obama's goal. "It's the first time that I feel it's more likely that we will go over the cliff than not," Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If we allow that to happen it will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time, maybe ever in American history," Lieberman added.

Congressman Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Governor Rick Perry “had blood on his hands” for supporting the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.

Minority groups in America live better here than they do in other parts of the world. This is true for both Blacks and Hispanics. “Poor” in America is a description of at least lower middle class or better in many countries around the world. Yet when given a chance, these groups gladly plunged America into a dark and dangerous future to take their “revenge” against our nation. On first glance this lust for revenge seems counterintuitive. But closer examination explains this rage. Both groups are fueled by greed hatred jealousy and a thirst for revenge stoked to a roaring flame...

-snip- Boehner was near tears in announcing the failure to his colleagues, Republicans said. -snip- Boehner hoped he could keep the details quiet long enough for him to get Obama to agree to enough spending cuts to satisfy his caucus — and so that his leadership team could make the case for compromise in person. But the details did not stay secret for long. Reports leaked out Saturday evening that Boehner had agreed to raise taxes on millionaires. That was followed by a more alarming leak Sunday evening that Boehner was also willing to grant Obama another increase in the...

Today the House Ethics Committee announced that it was taking no action against Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) who secretly took a $40,000 payment from an individual who subsequently pled guilty in a multi-million-dollar mortgage scam. In 2007, Meeks received $40,000 from a "businessman," Edul Ahmad. Under the Ethics in Government Act, Congressmen are required to disclose such financial transactions on their annual Financial Disclosure Reports. Meeks failed to disclose the transaction on his reports for 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the New York Daily News reported, "Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks made no payments for three years on a...

Despite rumblings from some Republican backbenchers, Speaker John A. Boehner’s hold on the House’s top post appears secure after key conservative lawmakers said they don’t expect anyone to challenge him. Several congressman who were booted from their committees last week have refused to commit to voting for Mr. Boehner when the House elects its speaker next year. But the discontent has not spread widely among their GOP colleagues, who generally give the Ohio Republican good marks for playing a difficult hand in the current budget negotiations. -snip- The four lawmakers who were booted from their committees remain angry, and they...

U.S. stock-index futures dropped sharply late Thursday on news that a Republicans had cancelled a vote on their back-up measure to prevent the end of the Bush tax breaks for those earning $1 million or less. A little more than half an hour after House Speaker John Boehner said he was killing the vote due to lack of support, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 1.5%, the S&P 500 futures were 1.4% lower, and Nasdaq futures were off 1.3%. The cancelation appeared to signal dissent in the Republican ranks, reducing the odds on a timely deal to avert...

Capitol Hill reporters on Twitter writing Speaker Boehner has dropped Plan B fiscal cliff vote tongiht after revolt from House Republican caucus. House will recess until after Christmas.After raucus closed dooor House GOP meeting, Boehner says House has already passed bills to cut spending and taxes to avert fiscal cliff and the ball is the court of the Senate and President Obama.

WASHINGTON – House Republican leaders abruptly pulled their fallback tax bill from the floor Thursday night, conceding that they did not have the votes to pass it. “The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass,” Speaker John A. Boehner said in a statement. “Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff.” The decision was a major setback for the speaker, who was pushing his so-called Plan B to prevent lower tax rates from expiring on...

Mark Levin, The Great One has just reported that the GOP Leadership has called a Special Conference and are threatening committee chairmanships and assignments because at the moment, they do not have the votes to pass the second bill of Plan B.

It’s often hard to accept the truth, especially when that truth is scary, when reality seems to offer you no solutions, only poison from which to pick. It’s as with a man I once knew who insisted it couldn’t be proven that smoking was bad for you. He knew better in his heart, but his available choices — giving up cigarettes or accepting the danger of their use —were both emotionally unpalatable to him. Enter the rationalization. We’re seeing the same thing with Republicans in the wake of Barack Obama’s re-election. Radio host Sean Hannity, citing changing American demographics, stated...

Maybe Scott Brown will become the Manny Mota of politics — the guy who excels at pinch-hitting. After having just lost a statewide election to hold onto the seat he won in a January 2010 special election, Republicans want him back as their nominee if John Kerry gets his expected Secretary of State appointment. And according to a new poll from Boston’s NPR affiliate WBUR, Brown leads all of the expected Democratic candidates, too (via Sarah Rumpf): WBUR poll of 500 registered voters finds U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is in a strong position should there be a special election to...