Free Republic

People's Convoy rally 3/7/22

Former CIA Director John Brennan Thursday on MSNBC accused President Donald Trump of playing to a “very debased” group of people. Discussing Trump’s comments on Roger Stone today at a prison graduation ceremony in Las Vegas, Brennan said, “He’s clearly giving every indication he wants to act like a mob boss. And he’s going to try to take care of him and his soldiers.” He continued, “It’s outrageous he would try to make any moral equivalency between someone like Roger Stone who the judge said has trampled the law and public servants like James Comey and others who really tried...

On Tuesday night The Denver Post editorial board hosts a public forum on gun legislation at the national level. U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter, State Sen. Kevin Lundberg, and Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith are among the scheduled panelists. During the question and answer period a concerned Denver citizen asked Democratic Representative DeGette how he was supposed to defend himself under the new Colorado gun laws. DeGette smirked and mocked the senior citizen saying, “The good news for you, you live in Denver. The Denver PD would be there within minutes. (laughing) You’d probably be dead anyway.” Really?...

It’s that time of year again. Like millions of Americans — some 50 percent of tax filers, in fact — I am spending many hours assembling various forms and bits of paper that I will turn over to my accountant, who will then go away to add, subtract, depreciate, amortize, deduct, allow, and expense, presenting us in the end with a long and (to me) unintelligible document, a hefty bill for his services, and pulse-rattling totals to be sent to the U.S. Treasury and the treasuries of various states.Here’s a question. What do you suppose those governmental agencies do...

Over the past year, a lot of people have been talking about “the 1%” versus “the 99%.” But if you’re concerned about one class exploiting another for economic gain, that’s the wrong way to look at the problem. See an EAGnews.org exclusive animation explaining the situation here.The protesters are right about one thing: there are gross class inequities in America. There is one class that works more hours per day, more days per year, for more years of their lives. They have less job security, they pay more for health coverage, and their retirements are not guaranteed. Their incomes...

Public servants who think themselves wronged by their government have been demonstrating for days in Madison, Wisconsin. Their march for fair treatment in the budget battles and contract negotiations to follow is intended to evoke sympathy, but is it merited? Such a thing has happened before. In the summer of 1786, Captain Daniel Shays led a revolt of his fellow Revolutionary War veterans in Pennsylvania. His compatriots were losing their homes to foreclosure, after having served their country, after enduring the frost at Valley Forge, the shelling at New York, the disease and malnutrition of an ill-equipped army's eight-year campaign...

In April 2008, The Orange County Register published a bombshell of an investigation about a license plate program for California government workers and their families. Drivers of nearly 1 million cars and light trucks—out of a total 22 million vehicles registered statewide—were protected by a “shield” in the state records system between their license plate numbers and their home addresses. There were, the newspaper found, great practical benefits to this secrecy. “Vehicles with protected license plates can run through dozens of intersections controlled by red light cameras with impunity,” the Register’s Jennifer Muir reported. “Parking citations issued to vehicles with...

Last night the MTA said a fare hike by January is a near certainty. This will be the third fare hike since 2008, raising the monthly unlimited pass from $89 to $104. Meanwhile, the MTA continues to pass major service cuts. But what's really appalling here is how much transit workers get paid. We're republishing data from SeeThroughNY showing that 8,074 MTA employees earned $100,000 last year. Fifty MTA employees earned more than $200,000 last year. And salaries are rising.

SEATTLE (AP) - Police are looking for a Washington Department of Licensing employee accused of illegally selling identification documents to immigrants. The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle says Melanie Yoder failed to show up for work Friday at the Bellevue licensing office. She is charged with conspiring with a Brazilian immigrant, Rodrigo Moura, who was arrested Friday in Kirkland. The criminal complaint says Moura charged $3,000 for a license and paid $500 to Yoder to handle the paperwork. In June 2009, Yoder issued 45 Washington drivers licenses and identity cards to people claiming to be from Brazil. The FBI was...

In reviling testimonyon the Hill today, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson discovered the military may be covering up that the redeployment of military bases to Guam may cause the island to "Tip" over. Rep. Johnson asked Generals if an Island 7 miles by 12 miles had enough space to support military operations. The military, reluctant to answer under the Johnson's relentless pressure, said "Congressman I don't know but can get back to you". Rep Johnson's asked "How big is Guam if it were 24 miles by 7 miles". The General trying to obfuscate admitted "Congressman, I don't know, but I would...

California's largest state employee union has voted to allow job actions including a strike, officials said Saturday. A spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 1000 said no strike is imminent. Union leaders will meet in the coming week to decide what steps to take, spokesman Jim Zamora said The union announced that 74 percent of its membership approved the strike authorization in votes counted Saturday. President Yvonne Walker said the overwhelming support shows employees are outraged at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to unilaterally furlough state workers three days each month. The three furlough days effectively reduce pay by about...

I would welcome fellow Freeper input on an exchange I had with the police last night. First a little background. I've got 20 years in the military, started out my life giving police officers a great deal of respect and knee jerking to their defense. Over the course of years, however, I've lost a lot of respect for the police via watching continual police traffic violations, watching unprofessional behavior and seeing shows of petty tyranny over their fellow citizens. Although I'd still like to be wholeheartedly pro-law and think the way to get respectable enforcement officers is to demand professionalism,...

The Bee's posting last week of an online database making it easy to look up the salaries of state workers by name has made two things clear: First, many state workers are irate, complaining it is an invasion of their privacy. Second, the database is wildly popular, with more than 2 million page views in just the first three days, setting a sacbee.com record by a quantum leap that's growing each day. Beyond those two facts, though, there's little agreement. Certainly for hundreds of state workers who called or e-mailed my office, nothing will suffice except the database's removal. Many...

Snow days, kids and school officials have always been a delicate mix. But a phone call to a Fairfax County public school administrator's home last week about a snow day -- or lack of one -- has taken on a life of its own. (snip) It started with Thursday's snowfall, estimated at about three inches near Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke. On his lunch break, Lake Braddock senior Devraj "Dave" S. Kori, 17, used a listed home phone number to call Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for the county system, to ask why he had not closed the schools....

The other day I posted a thread regarding an incident that occurred with an MHP officer at a traffic scene. I finally posted the video on YouTube I tried to be respectful. I know that the officer was trying to be diplomatic despite being in the wrong. At the end of it all, the traffic scene was really boring and I would have stopped filming on my own, but it gets my neck hairs up when told to stop doing a constitutionally protect activity -- especially one so important to ensuring accuracy. Anyhow - I sent a letter to the...

ST. GEORGE, Mo. -- The mayor of the St. Louis suburb of St. George, already accused of possessing marijuana, is now facing an even more serious accusation: suspicion of possessing child pornography. ~SNIP~ Goodman, 64, is a retired police officer who was elected last year. He was jailed and unavailable for comment. The St. Louis-Post Dispatch reported that police said they found marijuana when they searched Goodman's apartment, but they didn't say why they searched his apartment. snip The mayor's legal problems come less than two months after another embarrassing incident for the city. A young man's car seat-mounted videotape...

MONTEBELLO - A city commissioner was sentenced Thursday to four years probation for his fourth drunken-driving conviction. David Miranda, 43, was appointed to his position as civil service commissioner in March 2005. He also works for the Montebello Unified School District as a job developer, helping high school graduates find jobs. The terms of his probation include having his driver's license suspended for two years, serving 15 days in county jail, and serving 18 months in an alcohol rehabilitation program. The four DUIs are not the only legal trouble that Miranda has been in over the last 20 years. He...

The salaries of government employees in California, including police officers, are a public record and must be available upon request to "ensure transparency in government," the state Supreme Court ruled in a decision released Monday morning. The right to privacy of the information that employee unions argued "is not a reasonable one," the justices wrote, ending a lawsuit the Contra Costa Times filed more than three years ago against the city of Oakland. Even if disclosure of the information "may cause discomfort or embarrassment" it must be released, the decision states. The justices wrote that police salaries must be disclosed...

The founder of a publicly funded school for some of D.C.’s most vulnerable students faces up to two years in prison for his role in a computer-theft ring. Charles Emor is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court this morning. He was convicted last year of conspiracy charges after a jury found that he had bought computers stolen by his friends from the loading dock at the Gateway computer plant in Hampton, Va. Emor, 46, is the founder of SunRise Academy, a private school in D.C. that takes in learning-disabled and emotionally disturbed children from the public schools. Almost all...

The old saying that crime doesn't pay is certainly true for corrupt politicians hoping to get their pension. The board overseeing public employees retirement benefits has slashed benefits of several public servants who tried to collect pensions after corruption convictions or guilty pleas. When former state Senate President John Lynch gets out of prison, he'll be eligible for about 267 dollars a month. That's compared to the 18-hundred a month he would have received had he not pleaded guilty last year. The reduced pensions are part of a law that went into effect in April. The law makes it impossible...