Free Republic

Despite–or perhaps because of–the outrage of the Obama administration and left-wing Democrats in Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party continue to surge in Israeli polls, reaching their widest lead of the election thus far, according to a Jerusalem Post/Maariv Sof Hashavua poll. The poll, which shows Likud leading its closest rival by four seats in the 120-seat Knesset, is the widest lead that the Likud has enjoyed leading up to the Mar. 17 election. In addition, the Post notes, “For the first time since Netanyahu initiated the election on December 2, the proportion of respondents saying...

President Barack Obama, since taking office, has showered his donors and allies with billions in federal dollars. A steady stream of grants and loans flows from the administration to Obama's political cronies. And taxpayers foot the bill. Obama treats taxpayer money as his personal piggy bank -- using government checks as multimillion-dollar thank you notes to campaign donors. Taxpayers get nothing in return. Factories close. Jobs go overseas. The unemployment rate remains painfully high. Government debt stands at over $15.8 trillion. A 2011 investigation found that nearly 200 of Obama's biggest political donors received jobs, advisory posts or federal contracts....

Access to the Obama White House is in direct correlation to the amount of money donated to the president's reelection effort and the Democratic party, the New York Times reports today. The Times reports: "those who donated the most to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party since he started running for president were far more likely to visit the White House than others. Among donors who gave $30,000 or less, about 20 percent visited the White House, according to a New York Times analysis that matched names in the visitor logs with donor records. But among those who donated $100,000...

Louis Caldera, the former White House Military Office chief who quit last month after approving that bizarre Air Force One photo op over Manhattan that frightened countless New Yorkers, has landed a job. He'll be a senior fellow focusing on higher education and national security matters at the Center for American Progress, run by John Podesta, a co-chairman of Obama's transition team. Obama aides said at the time that the president was furious about the April 27 flyover, which included an Air Force One understudy and two F-16 military fighter aircraft flying over the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan,...

Chicago lawyers who have known President-Elect Barack Obama for years and supported his quick rise in American politics expect his legislative priorities will focus on healthcare, immigration and education. When Chicago attorney Manny Sanchez, who leads the firm Sanchez, Daniels & Hoffman, invited a group of neighbors in his Republican-leaning suburb to support Obama's run for the Senate in 2004, they agreed to pay the $500 to attend, but said he shouldn't expect them to vote for a Democrat with a strange name like Barack Obama. Now, Sanchez says those same neighbors are taking the photos Sanchez forced them to...