Free Republic

Do we have to become China to beat China? Apparently, some Republicans think so. Dozens in the House and Senate recently joined with Democrats to push a plan to use the byzantine protocols of government bureaucracies as a way to give the U.S. a leg up in industrial competition with China. Without irony the bill is named the “Endless Frontier Act." It proposes the creation of a $110 billion slush fund, much of which will be distributed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The purpose: promote new technologies to make America more competitive against China. The practice: the NSF will...

“Failure on a massive scale” – that’s what one Member of Congress called the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The Department of Defense (DoD) markets the F-35 as a stealth fighter jet that can do it all. The real truth is the project is an abysmal waste of money which does not work as advertised. Both parties, for once, need join together in a bipartisan manner to stop the crony capitalism which has led the Pentagon to allow the taxpayers to be ripped off.Congress needs to find ways to terminate the F-35 program today. The program is a money pit...

A fight is brewing over bringing back earmarks -- provisions that are inserted into spending bills by individual members of Congress to send money to politically favored entities in their districts. There has been a moratorium on earmarks since 2011. Those who want the return of earmarks claim the practice smooths out the budget process and fosters bipartisanship. Others insist that the return of earmarks would mean a surge of wasteful giveaways to special interest groups and congressional corruption. While both sides have valid points, this debate continues to distract us from the fact that the federal government is excessively...

Hillary Clinton Appeals Federal Court Order to Go Under Oath Where are Hillary Clinton’s Text Messages? FBI Cleared Extremists Who Carried Out Deadliest U.S. Attacks Since 9/11 U.S. Makes $175 Billion in Payments “That Should Not Have Been Made” Hillary Clinton Appeals Federal Court Order to Go Under Oath In another desperate attempt by the Clinton machine to delay truth and accountability for her email conduct and how it impacted the people’s “right to know” under FOIA, lawyers for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills have asked the Court of Appeals...

WASHINGTON - The political battles raging across the federal government seem to be consumed by trade wars, immigration and of course impeachment. Those issues will run their course in due time, but there is a much bigger problem that seems to be attracting little if any attention here at the highest levels of government. President Trump rarely mentions it, if at all. Congress, for most of the year, sweeps it under the rug as it goes about its business of recklessly spending other people’s money. Newspapers and the nightly news programs all but ignore it entirely. We’re talking about wasteful...

Watch Our Expert Panel Discussion: ‘Investigating the Investigators’ Hillary Clinton was Warned Twice against Using Unsecure BlackBerrys and Personal Emails U.S. Government Wastes Billions on ‘Fragmented, Overlapping or Duplicative’ Programs Watch Our Expert Panel Discussion: ‘Investigating the Investigators’ I moderated a Judicial Watch panel of experts this week to probing into the targeting of President Trump and the attacks on our Republican form of government through the illicit use of the spy agencies. The panel also discussed the corruption at the FBI, corrupt handling of the Clinton email investigation, the Obama administration’s hand in the Russia investigation hoax, the...

Politician Tell a Reporter She's a B**ch on Camera VIDEO ONLY ON LINK warning language.

In April of 2013, I introduced a Moocher Hall of Fame to “celebrate” some very odious examples of welfare dependency.Since that time, I keep thinking that it’s time to do something similar for government bureaucrats. This compilation from last December would be a good place to start, though I’d have to figure out whether to have group memberships so that we could include the bureaucrats at the Patent and Trademark Office who get paid to watch TV, as well as the paper pushers at the Department of Veterans Affairs who got big bonuses after creating secret waiting lists that led...

Gov. Rick Perry was near the height of his popularity when he barnstormed California in September to raise money for his presidential bid and to participate in his first nationally televised debate. His state-provided security guards were flying pretty high, too, spending more than $32,000 in taxpayer money for travel and lodging in San Francisco, $4,400 to dine near the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum in Simi Valley, and another $6,400 for plane tickets to San Diego, records show.

This is a tale of massive waste in a tiny little corner of a tiny little department of the US Government, how it came to light and a few small suggestions about what could be done about it. Getting Hot in Here I'm not quite sure how I stumbled onto it, but I found that OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the United States Department of Labor) have an Android application. The purpose of the application is to provide information about the heat index and the corresponding safety warnings. Essentially, it is a temperature converter, it converts...

Obama in India.

President Barack Obama, joined by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, right, and Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, at his left, stops for breakfast at Valois deli this morning. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) President Barack Obama made a surprise stop this morning at the Valois cafeteria, a storied Hyde Park diner that advertises the slogan "See Your Food." The president, who was joined by test... FRPA

A couple of Republican senators put out a report today spelling out how they say a lot of the money taxpayers shelled out for the stimulus package was wasted. CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson Follows the Money. It may be called the Recovery Act, but to Pastor Greg Sheets - it's the law of unintended consequences. A well-meaning stimulus project to improve the road in front of his Newark, Ohio home has led the city to take part of his yard through eminent domain.... In the state of Washington, another stimulus project may be hurting those it was designed...

The uses for the Title I stimulus money outlined to the school board Tuesday include: * $214,300 to hire a coordinator and half-time bookkeeper to help administer Title I programs started with stimulus money. * $642,675 for professional development programs, including Quantum Learning, which applies brain-based research to student learning, and a program to help teachers promote social and emotional growth. * $450,000 to hire three social workers to join the 14 the district now employs. * $200,000 to contract with mental health agencies to work with students with mental health issues. * $1.05 million to hire math coaches, kindergarten...

TITLE I Diversity in Hiring and Advancement. -While many Legislative Branch agencies have achieved reasonable diversity at the lower wage tiers, diversity levels are sharply lower among managers and executives. More can be done to maximize diversity in the workplace, especially in the executive ranks. All Legislative Branch agencies who have not done so are directed to adopt by May 31, 2009 a formal written policy, in accordance with all applicable Federal laws, to develop and institute an affirmative action plan with specific goals and objectives to further the ability of women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities to achieve balanced...

Williamson County jury awards nothing to either side in lawsuit over $695 By Jennifer Barrios AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, October 22, 2004 The state spent $11,600 trying to recover $695 in damages in a small-claims suit involving a dented truck -- and ended up without a penny. On Wednesday, a Williamson County jury deliberated for 1 1/2 hours and decided that Donna Wheeler owed the state absolutely nothing for a fender bender she had with a state truck last year. A counterclaim that Wheeler's attorney filed against the state also failed. The two sides had spent a total of about $19,000...

(Washington, D.C.) - Usually the congressional pork-barrel process is something of a mystery, with boondoggles only brought to light when they are faits accomplis. But occasionally, the mask slips and taxpayers get a glimpse of how spending decisions are really made. Earlier this year, according to Roll Call, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs/Housing & Urban Development (VA/HUD) Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) bluntly approached Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), who faces a tough November election: "Paul, let's talk pork." She added, "We like you and we want you back." Mikulski told Wellstone to get a better fix on projects that would...