Free Republic

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents who detained conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe at the airport specifically asked him about the work he’s done investigating the “federal government.”O’Keefe was detained by U.S. customs agents Monday after arriving at the airport in Nassau, Bahamas en route to Miami. Agents told O’Keefe that he was being detained for crossing back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border while dressed as Osama bin Laden in a video that was published by The Daily Caller. Agents marked his passport with an “X” and explained that he would be detained every time he enters U.S. territory henceforth....

Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 — also called the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,” it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions — was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs’ frantic barking. The entire house — the windows and walls — was shaking. She looked outside to see up to a dozen police officers, yelling to open the door. They were carrying a battering ram. She wasn’t dressed, but she started to run toward the door, her body in full view of the police. Some yelled at...

Bosses can get mad when staffers vent on social media about their jobs, but they may not be able to get even. When one of Bert Martinez’ employees posted gripes about her job and the boss on Facebook last year, the publicist consulted his lawyer, who said the staffer couldn’t be fired. “The first lesson I learned is, employees are allowed to vent,” says Martinez, owner of Bert Martinez Communications in Phoenix. “If they're saying, ‘hey, it’s hard working here and I find this environment unpleasant’, you can’t fire them for that.” The employee quit a week after Martinez learned...

Updated, 1:10 p.m. | The 114th Congress is barely underway, but Randy Weber, R-Texas, says he’s already paying a price for making known his intentions to vote against another term in leadership for Speaker John A. Boehner. Weber, who is backing the long-shot speakership bid of fellow Texan Rep. Louie Gohmert over Boehner, has been removed as the lead sponsor of a nuclear energy bill expected to brought to the floor in the 114th. During a small meeting Tuesday of about 10 members of the Texas delegation to discuss the speaker’s race, Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas,...

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinian territories are expected to heighten after Israeli aircraft bombed a site in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip on Friday (December 19). The target is believed to have been a Hamas base. According to a spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the attack was in response to a rocket fired from Gaza, which hit an open area in the south of Israel. There are no reports of casualties following either strike. Israel’s attacks are the first since a seven-week war on Gaza ended three months ago. The incident is expected...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has reached settlements with three whistleblowers who helped expose wrongdoing at the Phoenix VA hospital, where details of a nationwide record-keeping scandal emerged this year. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a small federal agency that investigates whistleblower complaints, announced the settlements on Monday. At least two of the agreements involve promotions, signaling that the agency wants to reward employees who report bad practices. Each of the employees said they were retaliated against for their efforts to report problems. Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said in a statement on

The IDF on Sunday conferred the status of state land on 4,000 dunams in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, thereby ending the civil administration’s investigation into the possibility that parcels were private Palestinian property. The new designation for an area known as Gevaot, opens the door for settlers to advance plans to build a fifth city in the West Bank on those dunams. There is a 45(day)-period for objections to be raised. The land had previously been listed as survey land, a designation that prevented settlers and the army from moving building plans through the planning system....

Dozens of Veterans Affairs workers who have come forward with stories of mismanagement and patient abuse say they have faced retaliation within the scandal-scarred agency, according to federal investigators. In one case, a VA employee with a spotless record over two decades was suspended after reporting patients had been inappropriately restrained, according to one of 37 such complaints filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC). In another case, an employee claimed to have been demoted after disclosing alleged mishandling of patient care funds. The employee was temporarily reassigned and an investigation is still ongoing, OSC officials said. The...

The Kansas House Standing Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice has introduced a bill that will require private citizens who file complaints against police officers to sign an affidavit, acknowledging that if their allegations are proven false, they can be charged with perjury, which is a felony charge. Furthermore, this bill prohibits a Kansas law enforcement agency from opening an investigation into a complaint if another law enforcement agency has already investigated the complaint and found in favor of the officer. In other words, this bill would allow police departments to arrest the people who file complaints against police officers....

Most of us can remember feeling that someone had done us a great injustice. On those occasions, we want nothing more than to exact revenge. I remember being unfairly treated as a lowly ROTC cadet by one of the sergeants who resented the fact that my brother had been promoted to captain and company commander over him. I was ambitious and worked extremely hard, resulting in my promotion in record time to the rank of colonel and city executive officer. This individual was now firmly under my command, and I could have wreaked havoc in his life. Instead, I chose...

In today’s Gospel the Lord is teaching us, by his grace, to break the cycle of retribution and hatred. When someone harms me I may well experience anger. And in my anger I may well seek to get back at the offender. If I do that, then Satan has two victories and brought the anger and retribution to a new level. And most likely the one who originally harmed me will take exception to my retribution and inflict more harm on me. And so the cycle continues and escalates. Satan loves this.Break the Cycle – But the Lord has dispatched...

SMSgt Phillip Monk, an airman who claimed he lost his job due to his Christian beliefs, was mirandized by Air Force investigators over two weeks ago. According to his attorneys at the Liberty Institute:  During a meeting [two weeks ago], Air Force investigators read Liberty Institute’s client SMSgt Phillip Monk his Miranda rights, alleging that SMSgt Monk’s religious discrimination complaint was false. Monk, a devout Christian, believes the claims are a retaliatory act by his former commander, who relieved Monk of his duties and reassigned him after Monk could not agree with his commander’s position regarding same-sex marriage. In the military, making a...

Eight months after a federal court approved a $1.5 billion Medicaid fraud settlement -- the second largest in U.S. history -- federal officials have yet to release any of the roughly $125 million owed to Virginia for being the lead investigator. The Abbott Pharmaceuticals illegal marketing case was investigated for five years by the nationally known Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the office of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Officials have told the office that the Internal Revenue Service has refused to properly fill out post-case paperwork for almost a year, which is holding up the disbursement intended for Virginia...

New evidence reveals the Obama administration’s version of the events that took place in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 was based on a tissue of lies. The Weekly Standard’s Steven Hayes has obtained a timeline and a series of emails revealing the self-serving efforts made by administration officials, who heavily edited CIA talking points about the attack that cost four Americans, including ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, their lives. Also revealed is who made the changes and why they made them. The revelations are part of a report published by the five Republican Committee chairmen that has been largely dismissed...

WASHINGTON – An independent government watchdog agency is investigating allegations that President Obama's nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives retaliated against employees for whistle-blowing, FoxNews.com has learned. The allegations against B. Todd Jones, a Minnesota federal prosecutor who also is serving as acting director of the ATF while his nomination is pending, include claims that he mismanaged the prosecutor's office and presided over a "climate of fear." Specifically, he was accused of retaliating against whistle-blowing with "a suspension and a lowered performance appraisal." In a letter dated July 20, 2012 to the Office of Special...

Lawyer up, Issa warns CIA staff By Jordy Yager - 04/17/13 08:39 PM ET House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is pushing ahead with his investigation of last year’s fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, by preparing federal agencies to allow employees to lawyer up. In separate letters to the legal offices of the CIA, State Department and Defense Department, Issa said some witnesses on the issue might need lawyers, if their agencies decide to retaliate against them for their testimony. “During the course of the investigation, numerous individuals have approached the committee with information related...

"Now that I look back to Cicero’s life and work, however, few figures from any age seem as searingly pertinent to our own social and political life"... Consider this passage from Cicero’s On Duties: Whoever governs a country must first see to it that citizens keep what belongs to them and that the state does not take from individuals what is rightfully theirs. … As for those politicians who pretend they are friends of the common people and try to pass laws redistributing property and drive people out of their homes or champion legislation forgiving loans, I say they are...

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) may have finally gone too far betraying conservatives. This past week, he removed three conservative Republican Congressmen from their committee positions in retaliation for not voting for his compromises on the budget with Democrats – compromises that led us to the current “fiscal cliff.” Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) was removed from the Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) were removed from the Budget Committee. All three were elected with strong Tea Party support. An aide to GOP leadership said they were removed for “not being team...

IAF aircraft struck a terror activity center in northern Gaza on Wednesday night, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced. According to the statement, direct hits at the target were detected. All Israeli aircraft safely returned to their bases. The attack came in response to the ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli territory. On Wednesday afternoon, terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired a rocket into the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council area. The rocket exploded near greenhouses in the area, causing them damage. No physical injuries were reported. On Tuesday, the IAF carried out a similar attack on a terror activity center in...

On December 15, 2010, ATF Special Agent John Dodson’s life changed forever when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in the Arizona desert. At least two of the guns left at the scene were linked to Operation Fast and Furious. Before Terry was killed, hundreds had been killed in Mexico as a result of the program, leaving only blood stained concrete and horror behind. For a year prior to Terry’s murder, Dodson worked as part of ATF Phoenix Gunrunning Group VII, the group assigned to carry out the bulk of Fast and Furious. He was told for months to...