Free Republic

Team Biden moving to de-politicize the top ranks of the administration? Color us suspicious. The Office of Special Counsel (an executive branch agency) just moved authority to enforce the Hatch Act, which supposedly bans government officials from engaging in political activity, from the White House to the quasi-independent Merit Systems Protection Board. Historically, senior White House personnel have been on a long leash here, including White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre frequently and derogatorily using the term “MAGA Republicans” (and White House aide Kellyanne Conway criticizing Democratic candidates during the Trump years). Somehow we don’t think this means a muzzle...

General Mark Milley, who is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has forgotten that he was a soldier. Now, he’s only a leftist bureaucrat in uniform. Milley’s basic mode of operation is ingratiating himself to a political class that values the servile. What makes Milley dangerous is his willingness to lie unhesitatingly, particularly in public. He is the highest-ranking military officer in the nation, and this matters. Technically the Secretary of Defense is a civilian post even though the Secretary may have a military background. The President and Congress provide civilian oversight but can only do so when presented...

It’s good to be a lying government bureaucrat. And Anthony Fauci was very good at being one. A liar, I mean. And I guess that skill is as important to being a truly powerful and effective bureaucrat as any other. Not that all bureaucrats are liars; it just helps you get ahead. Fauci is something of an enigma, being the public health equivalent of J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was head of the federal law enforcement apparatus for 48 years, both before it was called the FBI and until 1972. Fauci wasn’t head of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious...

WASHINGTON—One of America’s most powerful regulators of business and finance has, at first glance, a relatively small job. Rohit Chopra’s title is director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which regulates consumer finance. From that perch, he has built substantial sway at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which oversees about 5,000 banks, and the Federal Trade Commission, the antitrust watchdog.

Revolt of the clerks Why did General Mark Milley call the Chinese about President Trump? That is a question which creates many layers of additional questions, but must be seriously addressed because it signals the republic is beyond redemption. Why was China notified and not Russia? It would appear that the Russians were not a threat in the mind of the army staff or there is an agreement in place we know nothing about. Could our generals be in contact with China regularly swapping information or in the pay of Who Flung Dung? It is sad to even think this...

My interaction with General Donahoe serves as a microcosm of the American military’s cultural rot. Here we have a two-star General who spends his days on social media hyping a vaccine for an illness that poses minimal risk to his troops. When pressed on why America can’t win wars and why he embraces policies that treat healthy people like biohazards, his first response is to accuse his critics of treachery and then block them from view. This is what $693 billion a year buys you: unbridled arrogance from the leaders of a military that can’t win against third world tribesmen...

Twitter Rumor Goes Wild — Christopher Wray to resign later this morning…

WAYNE COUNTY, N.C. – A North Carolina woman was arrested after providing care for animals during Hurricane Florence without a permit, according to USA Today. Animal rescue volunteer Raina Nyliram said the drugs she administered were all over-the-counter medication. She said the animals needed to be cared for because the veterinarian’s office was closed.

GOLDSBORO, N.C. (WNCN) - A Wayne County woman could face charges after sheltering more than two dozen pets as Hurricane Florence impacted North Carolina. Tammie Hedges runs Crazy’s Claws n Paws, a non-profit group which helps low-income families with veterinary bills, pet supplies and other needs. She’s in the process of converting a warehouse space along Route 581 into a shelter. With the storm approaching last week, she offered it as an option for pets to stay. “The goal was to make sure they were not out there drowning,” Hedges said. “We had an elderly couple, they were evacuating that...

People who are trying to do good for their families and the planet by living a simple life based on traditional skills are facing yet another assault. Artisanal soap makers say new regulations, proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), will put them out of business. Many soap makers are rural “kitchen table” operations that rely on the income to fund their simple living lifestyle. Some use milk from goats they raise and ingredients they harvest from the land. The Handmade Cosmetic Alliance posted this form on its website that can be used to reach out...

(CNSNews.com) - Today is not about Lois Lerner or the alleged inappropriate tactics she may have employed," Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday. "Today is about protecting the integrity and the credibility of this committee." Speier accused Republicans of fabricating a "vast conspiracy" around a "mid-level bureaucrat who may have made some poor decisions." "There is no connection to the White House," she said. "What we are trying to do is hold in contempt a mid-level bureaucrat, and the actions of this committee won't stand up to judicial scrutiny."

Congress passed a historically low number of laws in 2013, but the executive branch bureaucrats who write the nation's federal regulations remained as busy as ever, as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, demonstrated with a single picture. "Behold my display of the 2013 Federal Register," Lee wrote in a caption for a photo posted to his Facebook page on Friday. "It contains over 80,000 pages of new rules, regulations, and notices all written and passed by unelected bureaucrats. The small stack of papers on top of the display are the laws passed by elected members of Congress and signed into law...

The Denali Commission in Alaska, set up in 2008 thanks to earmarks by former Senator Ted Stevens, came under withering criticism from … the Denali Commission, or at least one member of it. The Washington Post reported yesterday afternoon on a letter sent by its Inspector General to Rep. Darrell Issa, chair of the House Oversight Committee, asking Congress to fire him and everyone else at the Denali Commission. Calling the bureaucracy “a Congressional experiment that hasn’t worked out well,” Mike Marsh wants Congress to save $7.4 million a year and eliminate a “middleman” agency.

Penny Pritzker will be nominated this morning to be the next U.S. Commerce Secretary... She ran candidate Obama's wildly successful fundraising operation in his 2008 presidential bid — even as her brother J.B. was a key adviser to nomination rival Hillary Clinton..... ...Ms. Pritzker, whose family controls Hyatt Hotels Corp... hitched a ride on Air Force One from San Francisco to Portland with the president. In the general-election campaign, she raised at least $500,000 and spent election night with Mr. Obama. She served on the president's Council for Jobs and Competitiveness and his Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Tracy & Matt Watson of North Andover were sent a “fat letter” from the State of Massachusetts warning them that their son, 94-pound 10-year-old Cameron Watson, was considered obese. The fit looking 4th grader recently won a Massachusetts state wrestling championship for his weight class by pinning his opponent in under 30 seconds. But according to the Department of Public Health (DPH) standards which mandates schools collect height and weight information to calculate body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of body fat, the star athlete is unhealthy.

Since people started living in communities, there’s been tension between the rulers and the ruled. That became particularly acute when America reintroduced the concept of self-government 237 years ago. Bob Buckley reports on Eustace Conway, a Boone man who says he just wants to be free from the government and its rules.

The Wisconsin legislature has had a fascinating debate on the issue of concealed carry. For a state in which responsible deer hunting has long been a key element of the culture, this should be a slam dunk. The problem of violent crime is expanding past the cities, and as the saying goes, “when seconds count, the police are just minutes away.” So, a state full of law-abiding citizens, many of whom were raised with firearms, for whom gun safety is already a part of children’s upbringing, should have no problem passing a concealed carry bill – especially now that the...

How the Road to Bell Was Paved Not with good intentions but with the avarice of professional government bureaucrats Autumn 2010 Before this summer, even many Southern Californians had never heard of Bell, a modest Los Angeles suburb of 37,000 located near enough to the big city for views of the downtown skyscrapers. Then the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story revealing that Bell’s city manager, Robert Rizzo, was receiving a salary of $787,637, while the police chief got $457,000 a year and the assistant city manager made $376,288. Overnight, Bell became America’s most famous kleptocracy, featured in national...

After heading the Culpeper Department of Human Services for the past 21 years, and being elected mayor of the Town of Culpeper last May, DHS Executive Director Calvin “Chip” Coleman is retiring from the post at the end of this month. Since taking the reigns in February of 1989, Coleman has overseen the Department of Human Services’ growth from about 20 employees to more than 180, and the development of a myriad of local programs to help DHS’ clients with everything from finding work and obtaining transportation to accessing affordable childcare.

There are 5,355 California state workers who earned more than $200,000 last year and some of the biggest money makers come from unexpected professions, according to The Sacramento Bee. Click here to meet 20 overpaid state workers >