Free Republic

Now we know one reason why Obama bowed to the Saudi monarch. The Saudi Kingdom gave the Obama team suitcases of jewels during their infamous Apology Tour.

Numerous FBI agents accused of leaking appear to have improperly received benefits from journalists, reflecting a “cultural attitude” flaunting Bureau policies on unauthorized media contacts, the Justice Department Inspector General report concluded. The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General made the discovery as it struggled to identify possible FBI agents improperly transmitting to reporters, according to its report released Thursday on the agency’s handling of the 2016 probe into Hillary Clinton’s unsecured, private email server. According to the watchdog report, investigators had “profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered...

Jurors at U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial heard Wednesday how the senator failed to list a series of gifts he received from his co-defendant between 2006 and 2010, including six round-trip flights, a $875 livery service and a $4,934 stay at a Paris hotel, on his annual financial disclosure forms. In painstaking detail, prosecutors pointed out that the gifts from Salomon Melgen, a wealthy Florida ophthalmologist and longtime friend, did not qualify for reporting exemptions and that Menendez had acknowledged with his signature that the reports were “true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency misused federal money meant to help homeowners rework their mortgages after the recession, according to a government watchdog. The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly known as TARP, found more than $3 million in wasteful spending from the program's "Hardest Hit Fund" in housing agencies nationwide, including more than $107,000 in North Carolina, officials said. The N.C. Housing Finance Agency disputes the findings but has already begun paying the money back, executive director Scott Farmer said Wednesday.

This case is unusual as it is rare for an Admiral to even face criminal proceedings Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/San-Diego-Navy-Admiral-Guilty-Plea-Navy-Bribery-Scheme-382400401.html#ixzz4B8MhpHYZ Follow us: @nbcsandiego on Twitter | NBCSanDiego on Facebook A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy plead guilty to one felony charge in connection with a multi-million dollar bribery scheme that has led to the arrest or imprisonment of more than a dozen U.S. Navy officers and Pentagon employees. Rear Admiral Robert J. Gilbeau appeared in court Thursday in the downtown San Diego federal courthouse. Gilbeau entered a change of plea to one count of providing false statements to federal investigators and...

Full title.............................Obama accepted $30,000 in gifts during his last year in the White House – including a replica Super Bowl trophy..............During his last year in office, President Barack Obama accepted $30,000 worth of personal gifts, including a replica of the Vince Lombardi trophy,new disclosure forms reveal. The most valuable item was a five volume set of Obama's family genealogy, worth $8,300 and given to him by Thomas Monson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. Obama also received presents from celebrities, including comedian Whoopi Goldberg and baseball great Hank Aaron.

We come bearing gifts of book recommendations for your holiday break and for making America great again!

New York City’s teachers might make a paltry salary, but the perks are grade A. One-percent parents lavish their offspring’s educators with cash tips and over-the-top gifts for the holidays to show their appreciation — and maybe get some special treatment for Junior.

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to give her gifts, including a free stay at one of his hotels, as part of what she called his pattern of trying to influence news coverage of his presidential campaign.</p>

In a 2011 memo published by Wikileaks, Clinton underling Doug Band described how he secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in free travel and gifts for Bill Clinton and his family. While Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton did not disclose any gifts or free travel, as required. The gifts were first reported by Alana Goodman in the Daily Mail: ‘In support of the President’s for-profit activity, we also have solicited and obtained, as appropriate, in-kind services for the President and his family – for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like,’ wrote Band in the Nov. 16, 2011 memo...

Kaine and his running mate are both old school Democrats who take advantage of perks and bend the law to their advantage Well, it was a rocky coronation for Hillary Clinton. Although she secured the controversial nomination, her acceptance speech was widely panned, even criticized by Democrat operative David Axelrod. In fact, it was so boring that her husband fell asleep during her 56 minute excursion into political fantasy land. It remains to be seen what kind of bounce she will receive in the polls. After the GOP finished their convention, Donald Trump secured the lead for the first time...

Sen. Tim Kaine legally accepted more than $162,000 in gifts when he served as lieutenant governor and governor of Virginia.. The disclosures have been publicly available for years, but they could be under some scrutiny now, since Kaine has been floated as a possible vice presidential pick for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Virginia Democrat disclosed the gifts from 2001 to 2009, according to reports filed by the Virginia Public Access Project, which Politico reported. Most of the gifts were for travel to and from political conferences and events. Accepting gifts is legal under Virginia's lax ethics rules, and...

Why is it that most people eventually abandon the idea of Santa Claus … and yet so many never abandon belief in an omnipotent government? Santa Claus is magic. His toy sack never empties, he traverses the globe faster than lightning, his reindeer never tire, his elves never strike, and he’s never too fat for the chimney. Awed by his powers, young kids approach the Jolly One clutching wish lists that itemize the objects of their “unbridled avarice,” as a popular Christmas movie put it. And why not? Santa’s little supplicants are prodded by plenty of parental encouragement. No toy...

The Gift of Sorrow for Sin – A Meditation on the “Mass for the Gift of Tears” in the Missal By: Msgr. Charles PopeMost pastors and confessors are aware that in any parish there are going to be a few who are scrupulous, even in times like these. Some have a kind of scrupulosity that is mild and almost admirable.  A sensitive conscience is a beautiful thing and bespeaks a kind of innocence that is rare today.Some others have a more unhealthy form of scrupulosity, rooted too much in cringing fear of a God who is seen more as a...

Hillary is not going to run for president. Oh, she may put her name up. But run, as in the sense of actually campaigning, that’s another story altogether. There’s a line from the first Godfather that’s always stuck in my mind. Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), the family’s deadly enemy who has just taken an almost fatal crack at Don Corleone, bends forward and near-whispers, “Could I have gotten to him ten years ago?” That line has been running through my mind the past several weeks as the e-mail saga has unfolded: Could anybody have gotten to Hillary ten years ago? The...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday brought home a 2,700-year-old Persian artifact the US administration gave him as "a special gift" to Iranians, media reports said. "The Americans contacted us on Thursday and said 'we have a gift for you'," Rouhani told reporters upon arrival at the airport in Tehran, the ILNA news agency reported. "They gave it back as a special gift to the Iranian nation." Rouhani was speaking of a 7th century BC silver Persian drinking cup in the shape of a winged Griffin, a legendary creature with the head of an eagle and body of a lion....

Tom Brady just deflated his tax bill, handing off the winning Super Bowl MVP truck worth $35,000 to Malcolm Butler who will pay taxes on the prize. Butler is the rookie cornerback who intercepted Russell Wilson‘s pass on the goal line to seal the Patriots’ Super Bowl win..... But aren’t gifts tax-free? Not always, and distinguishing between income and gifts can be tough. If gifts are made out of “detached and disinterested” generosity, they aren’t taxable. These gifts are more in the nature of marketing, made in a business context not a family one. Any individual can give gifts to...

The West Coast port slowdowns are hurting workers as well as retailers this holiday season.The NBC affiliate in Seattle reported that many of those who work for the ports can’t afford utilities or Christmas gifts for their families because the slowdowns have delayed their paychecks. The work slowdowns are the result of a seven-month labor dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Each side of the dispute blames the other.Vicki Raiter, the mother of one of the Port of Tacoma workers, told the local NBC affiliate, “If the shipments aren’t coming, then...

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It's the season for giving. That doesn't mean it's the season for government. Government creates loyalty in the minds of citizens by pretending to be Santa Claus, doling out gifts and favors. Politicians claim they help those unfortunates who aren't helped by coldhearted capitalism. The truth is, government gets in the way of charity, making it harder for people to help others and for the poor to help themselves. It also gets in the way of commerce, which is what really makes people better off. When I was in college, President Lyndon Johnson declared "an all-out war on human poverty....