Free Republic

A Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission is warning about a government-backed study that “seems to have come straight out of a George Orwell novel.” Commissioner Ajit Pai — one of two Republicans on the five-member commission — warned in a Washington Post op-ed on Saturday about a National Science Foundation study of people's communications on Twitter, which he said amounted to government monitoring of people’s speech. ADVERTISEMENT “In the United States, the government has no business entering the marketplace of ideas to establish an arbiter of what is false, misleading or a political smear,” he wrote. “The federal...

Here is a transcript of the trans-Atlantic telephone conversation that would have taken place between General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, and President Barack Obama on the eve of the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944. Friday is the 70th anniversary of the landing. President Obama: General, are you sure we are doing the right thing by going ahead with this invasion? Ike: It's too late to turn back now. Obama: I should have flown to Berchtesgaden and talked with Mr. Hitler. Or at least called. Ike: He won't take your calls

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's administration defied the federal government by refusing to close popular state properties at the behest of the National Park Service. The park service ordered state officials to close the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine, Devil's Lake, and Interstate state parks and the state-owned portion of the Horicon Marsh, but state authorities rebuffed the request because the lion's share of the funding came from state, not federal coffers. Instead, the state's Department of Natural Resources "issued a statement saying all state parks, trails and other recreational properties were open and not affected by the federal government's...

A Wisconsin school district is apologizing after middle school students were shown a video that featured Hollywood celebrities pledging to be a servant to President Obama.“I pledge to be a servant to our president,” Demi Moore said in the “I Pledge,” video shown Wednesday at Hudson Middle School. The video was part of a number of Peace One Day activities, an international event to build peace awareness. The students were also invited to make their own pledges after viewing the video. But there was a big problem – the video conveyed the idea that Americans should serve the presidency instead...

Catholic Bishop Stands His Ground on Obamacare Rule: ‘We Cannot--We Will Not--Comply With This Unjust Law’ (CNSNews.com) – As many Americans start to enroll in the Obamacare health insurance exchanges on Oct. 1, the position of Bishop Paul S. Loverde, head of the Catholic diocese of Arlington, Va., on the law’s mandate that nearly all health insurance plans include contraception, sterilizations, and abortifacient drugs without co-pays has not changed and is clear: “We cannot--we will not--comply with this unjust law.” Bishop Loverde made that statement in a joint letter with Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of the Richmond Diocese to the...

McAuliffe on defensive as Cuccinelli gets a boost By Laura Vozzella, Published: September 18 E-mail the writer RICHMOND — Terry McAuliffe said Wednesday that he knew nothing about a failed effort by his supporters to wrest an important business endorsement from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, his Republican rival in the governor’s race. McAuliffe also dismissed accounts that he had flubbed his interview for that endorsement by touting his ability to schmooze. And he backed off a campaign pledge that Republicans said amounted to a threat to shut down the government over Medicaid. McAuliffe made those comments on a morning...

billion in gold reserves back from the Federal Reserve. State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione is sponsoring a bill that would establish the Texas Bullion Depository, a state-based bank to house the gold bars owned by the University of Texas Investment Management Company, The Texas Tribune reports. Mr. Capriglione told the Texas Tribune that the measure is “not about putting Texas on its own gold standard, [but instead will] give the state a reputation as being more financially secure in the event

I'd like to invite you to join Terry as he visits C'Ville Coffee in Charlottesville to give a campaign update. Terry is excited to meet activists and voters to talk about the upcoming election and listen to their concerns. We hope you'll join us to support him tomorrow. Thank you, Michael Halle Coordinated Campaign Director Democratic Party of Virginia Wednesday, January 16 WHAT: Terry to visit C'Ville Coffee in Charlottesville WHEN: 5:30 PM WHERE:1301 Harris St, Charlottesville, VA 22903 RSVP Today

Bearing Drift: Virginia's Conservative Voice

Madison—Today Governor Walker announced he will not pursue the implementation of a health insurance exchange and has turned down Early Innovator Grant funding from the federal government. The Governor also will repeal the executive order that created the Office of Free Market Health Care. “I have directed the Department of Health Services to notify the federal government that we will discontinue any development on a health exchange and that Wisconsin will turn down funding from the Early Innovator Grant program,” said Governor Walker. “Stopping the encroachment of ObamaCare in our state, which has the potential to have a devastating impact...

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder voted to send $2.5 million in state funds to a non-profit company he headed, giving the appearance of a conflict of interest, according to auditors. Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich’s office said today in a report that Kinder served as chairman of the board of Tour of Missouri, Inc., which promoted state-wide cycling races in 2008 and 2009. At the same time, auditors noted, Kinder served as chairman of the state’s Tourism Commission and voted for budgets that sent $2.5 million in state money to the corporation for the events. “The commission minutes do not indicate...

Sacramento-Gov. Jerry Brown has a new tax proposal to sell the Legislature: raise levies on some large out-of-state corporations in exchange for new sales-tax exemptions for companies who make products and hire people in California.Under a plan to be unveiled in Sacramento on Thursday, Brown will ask lawmakers to revert state sales tax formulas to the way they were computed before 2009. That would force many large companies that sell their goods in California, but do not employ many Californians, to pay more in sales taxes.The request was part of Brown's original budget plan that was rejected by lawmakers.

Last week, the Florida Education Association joined with other groups to file a lawsuit challenging the Florida Legislature's mandate regarding the pay of 655,000 teachers, law-enforcement officers, firefighters and other workers who serve the citizens of our state. We didn't take this action lightly, but we believed we had no other choice. When the Legislature mandated that active members of the Florida Retirement System must give up 3 percent of their salary as "contributions" to their retirement benefits, it impaired a contractual agreement with employees in violation of the Florida Constitution. The Florida Retirement System is set up as a...

You may have already read in today's paper that Gov. Jerry Brown is pretty worked up over criticism of his recent contract deal with the prison guards union - so worked up, in fact, that he called us personally to sound off about the issue. As the story noted, Brown has faced some pushback from Republicans, but the piece didn't include the fact that some of the harshest criticism has come from the fourth estate, most notably the Sacramento Bee. An editorial in that paper criticized specific provisions of the contract -

Sacramento - Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law billions of dollars in budget cuts Thursday that will mean fewer government services, particularly for the old, the poor and the sick. The governor signed the new laws to tackle $11.2 billion of the state's estimated $26-billion deficit (Snip) Assistance for the elderly and disabled, in their homes and at senior centers, will also be reduced. State-subsidized child care for 11- and 12-year-olds will be eliminated. Brown sought to use the "painful" cuts he signed to make his case that Republicans should support the plan to ask voters to pay more taxes

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is praising Republicans in the state Senate who have voted to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers. Republicans cast the quick vote Wednesday after discovering a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats. All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's so-called "budget repair bill" - a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.

The US economic recovery was weaker than previously estimated at the end of last year, which could add to concern about its ability to withstand the impact of higher oil prices driven by turmoil in the Middle East. US gross domestic product increased at an annualised rate of 2.8 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with an earlier government projection of 3.2 per cent growth. Economists had been expecting a small upward revision. The disappointment was partly due to a downward estimate of consumer spending, which rose by 4.1 per cent instead of 4.4 per cent for the quarter....

Despite brutal weather, today could be the biggest yet for protesters in Madison, as most union workers across the state have a furlough day today for the holiday, and they are reportedly going to be bused in from all around Wisconsin. Bitter rainy weather drove the people and protests inside Sunday, where for a sixth straight day demonstrators packed the Capitol rotunda, talking up unions - and talking trash about new Governor Scott Walker, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers. He says taxpayers can no longer afford protracted contract battles with the state's powerful state worker unions

Barack Obama's State of the Union address sure sounded good, didn't it? There were lots of solemn promises, lots of stuff about America's "bright future" and a line about how we are now facing this generation's "Sputnik moment" that will surely make headlines all over the globe. But we all knew that Barack Obama could give a good speech. That has never been the issue. What the American people really need are some very real answers to some very real problems. So were there any real answers in Barack Obama's State of the Union address? Well, Barack Obama promised that...

Like fellow Republican governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina, New Mexico's new governor, Susana Martinez, is her state's first female chief executive. She is also the nation's first Latina governor, as Haley is the first woman governor in the United States of Indian descent.But Martinez is not new to public service, having been a prosecutor for nearly a quarter-century. Her full biography is here. Her husband, Chuck Franco, has also had a long career in law enforcement. See the couple's photo below greeting a little girl.