Free Republic

Today: May 13, 2006 at 11:45:55 PDT Rep. Cunningham's Plea Was Only the Start By SETH HETTENA ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN DIEGO (AP) - The political scandal that brought down former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham didn't end when the Vietnam War hero began serving an eight-year sentence in federal prison for taking millions of dollars in bribes. Since Cunningham, R-San Diego, was sentenced in March, the case has turned into a sprawling federal investigation with all the soap opera elements - money, power and sex. One of Washington, D.C.'s most notorious landmarks - the Watergate Hotel - even has a...

A plan titled “Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action” found its way into the public domain some months ago, and is currently getting quite a bit of attention. It is a fundraising document created on behalf of four left-wing organizations: Media Matters, American Bridge, CREW and Shareblue. All four organizations were founded by David Brock, and it is likely that he wrote the “strategic plan.” The document appears to have been written around the time of President Trump’s inauguration, and may have been prepared for use at this Democratic donor conference. It sets out a plan to destroy the Trump...

Following yesterday's exploration of the #BrockGate documents and our look at Media Matters' "Trump War Room", new findings indicate that Media Matters has access to the raw data of numerous social media platforms, plus the power to influence their understanding on what is and isn't "fake news." The following is an excerpt from page 10 of the #BrockGate document: "Media Matters has already secured access to raw data from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. We have also put in place the technology necessary to automatically mine white nationalist message boards and alt-right communities for our archive. We will...

EXCLUSIVE: Media Matters and Soros 2017-2020 Media Assault Plan Exposed Including 'Trump War Room' Operations, #BrockGate A new document, titled "Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action", was discovered recently that reveals a liberal coalition of business entities and groups and their plans to influence the media and the general public for the 2017-2020 period featuring everything from Russian-conspiracy jargon to anti-Trump dictums. The four entities are as follows: Media Matters for America, American Bridge, CREW, and Shareblue. Each has their own strategic plan. This is the first of three articles that will be outlining the planned media assault that is...

A new document, titled “Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action”, was discovered recently that reveals a liberal coalition of business entities and groups and their plans to influence the media and the general public for the 2017-2020 period featuring everything from Russian-conspiracy jargon to anti-Trump dictums. The four entities are as follows: Media Matters for America, American Bridge, CREW, and Shareblue. Each has their own strategic plan. This is the first of three articles that will be outlining the planned media assault that is currently underway. We are calling this initiative to spread their game plan’s contents: #BrockGate, after the...

Her daughter, Karen, has scooped up nearly $650,000 in payments from Mama Waters’ slate mailer operation for her federal campaign committee since 2006, the Washington Free Beacon reported this week. And Mama Waters owes her well-heeled daughter an additional $108,000. Waters also mau-maued the House Veterans Committee into hiring two black staffers. And she walked away with a slap on the wrist from the toothless House Ethics Committee in 2012 after being charged with multiple ethics violations related to her meddling in minority-owned OneUnited Bank. Reminder for all the new fangirls and fanboys suffering from Maxi-mnesia: Her husband, Sidney, was...

There may have been much more to the termination of US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, than meets the casual glance.According to Reuters, which cites a law enforcement source, two days before U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was fired on Saturday, the high-profile New York prosecutor declined to take a call from President Donald Trump.  Bharara reportedly contacted the DOJ for authorization to speak to the president on Thursday - one day before the DOJ announced it had requested all Obama-era attorneys to hand in their resignations. When he apparently did not receive it, Reuters...

Lately a little-known clause in the Constitution has been making big headlines. It's called the emoluments clause, and it's just 49 words total. The clause reads in full: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any Present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." The ethics group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) claims President Donald Trump is in violation of that clause, and as...

If you’re in the mood for a good chuckle, try reading the first lawsuit filed against the new president since he was sworn in. The man hasn’t even unpacked his collection of red silk ties… and already he stands accused of corruption while in office. Predictably, the plaintiffs are a clique of law professors serving as “arm candy” for a liberal group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (an oxymoron, to be sure). Their pleadings read like a dime novel. Or a comic book. On the first page, we are warned of a “secret” and “grave threat”. The...

A Washington-based nonprofit will file a federal lawsuit against President Trump on Monday, the start of his first week in office. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announced Sunday night it is bringing a suit “to stop President Trump from violating the Constitution by illegally receiving payments from foreign governments.” At issue is Trump’s refusal to divest from his business or place his assets into a blind trust, which would separate him entirely from his business empire. He has said his adult sons will run his business while he is in office, that they will not conduct any...

State Dept. IG Confirms FOIA Fraud by Hillary Clinton and Obama State Dept. Retrieved Emails Show Top Clinton Aide Prioritized Advertising Design over the Deaths of U.S. Personnel in Benghazi Obama Power Grab Racially Divisive and DangerousState Dept. IG Confirms FOIA Fraud by Hillary Clinton and Obama State Dept. Inspectors general offices (OIG) are established under federal law at federal agencies as "independent and objective units within most agencies. Their duties are to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the programs and operations of their respective agencies." Under the Obama administration, OIG independence has been attacked, and many IG...

MOSCOW (AFP) - Six Russian women on Wednesday clambered into a mock spaceship to begin a unique experiment testing how an all-female crew would interact on a trip to the Moon and back. For eight days, the female volunteers will live inside a wood-panelled suite of rooms at Moscow's Institute of Biomedical Problems, renowned for its wacky research into the psychological and physical effects of space travel. The institute in 2010 locked six male international volunteers in an isolation experiment lasting 520 days, to simulate a flight to Mars and back. "Such a crew is taking part for the first...

Documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) from the Department of Justice provide "hard evidence" that former Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) should have been prosecuted after NLPC exposed his questionable financial dealings, and triggered a Justice Department investigation. CREW executive director Melanie Sloantold Politico yesterday, "It was clear the Justice Department should have indicted Mollohan." Mollohan was defeated for re-election in 2010 in a Democratic primary. His ethics woes were a key issue in the campaign. Although we have not yet had the opportunity to study the underlying documents, CREW has released a very concise...

Politico treated it the way we treat news stories nowadays, in our celebrity-driven culture in which a beloved actor’s suicide can drive front-page news for a whole week: “Media Matters’ David Brock expands empire,” it reported.David Brock may not be exactly an A-lister, but he is one of a contemporary cluster of insiders who have changed the way the “mainstream media” game is played. Bias, once the offshoot of genteel groupthink, has become progressively, aggressively organized. Advertisement Under the old model, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which played a key role in bringing down Jack Abramoff and...

The government’s war on conservatives hasn’t stopped. On Saturday, Christine O’Donnell revealed a second onslaught from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in addition to the illegal accessing and abuse of her income tax records by the Internal Revenue Service. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is investigating the IRS on that. News recently broke that the IRS targeted Dr. Ben Carson, for the first time, immediately after he criticized Barack Obama. O’Donnell revealed on Saturday morning that the FEC is demanding payment of tribute (my words) to settle false accusations invented by a George Soros front group. Perhaps such shakedowns are an...

One of Washington's most prominent watchdog groups is seeking the legal reasons behind President Obama's long-standing refusal to hike the debt ceiling unilaterally. As the recent fiscal battle unfolded, the White House said repeatedly that Obama does not have the authority to extend the Treasury's borrowing powers without congressional action. But Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is challenging that claim, noting that the Obama administration has, in the words of CREW chief counsel Anne Weismann, adopted "an expansive view of executive power" in everything from the surveillance of U.S. citizens at home and the killing of Americans...

It’s made for Hollywood: the story of an average American family man, captain of a cargo ship in dangerous waters, his vessel overtaken by armed Somali pirates demanding ransom, saving his crew by allowing himself to be removed from the boat and taken hostage. All of this is the basis for “Captain Phillips,” starring Tom Hanks as the titular, real-life hero. The only problem, say some members of the real Capt. Phillips’ crew, is none of it is true. Capt. Richard Phillips, they say, is no hero, and the film is one big lie. “Phillips wasn’t the big leader like...

A Washington, D.C. watchdog group filed an ethics complaint against U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock, for his spat with a park ranger at the National World War II Memorial earlier this week. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint Friday morning, Oct. 4, with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Neugebauer “for conduct that reflects discreditably upon the House,” according to a news release from the organization. “Rep. Neugebauer’s mistreatment of a federal employee who was doing her job is disgraceful,” Melanie Sloan, the group’s executive director, said in a news release. “The blame for the government...

January 31, 2013 Women against Bob Menendez? How about a Democratic woman? Michelle Malkin Conservatives are always told they don't do enough to reach across the aisle. We're divisive, obstructionist and hostile to bipartisanship. So in the spirit of unity and comity, I'm announcing the formation of a new social justice group: Ladies Against Senator Sleaze-Bob. Now all I need are some principled Democratic ladies and liberal media lionesses to step up to the plate with me to protest the vulgar, sexist behavior of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. Surely, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Cher, Sandra Fluke, Eva Longoria and...

Bear surprises a camera crew filming a commercial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoe5Vjl90-o