Free Republic

Executive Orders: A liberal constitutional scholar warns of the concentration of power not only in the hands of one branch of government but in a single man who ignores the Constitution and acts of Congress on a whim. As the story goes, Benjamin Franklin emerged from Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on Sept. 18, 1787, when a woman asked, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin is said to have replied, "A republic, madam — if you can keep it." The Founders designed a system of checks and balances...

The first thought that pops into the mind of Rep. Earl Blumenauer when he sees prices at the gasoline pump is: They ought to be higher. The Oregon Democrat introduced legislation Tuesday to nearly double the federal gas tax from 18.4 cents per gallon to 33.4 cents over the next three years. By indexing the amount to inflation, the tax would hike itself automatically each year. “The gas tax hasn’t been increased since the beginning of the Clinton administration,” says Mr. Blumenauer, referring to the 4.3 cents per gallon hike in 1993. Nothing could be more offensive to a Democrat...

...Remember on Friday how one of President Obama's efforts to get people to trust the government more concerning the NSA's surveillance efforts was to create an "outside" and "independent" board to review it all?... ...Except, that was Friday. Today is Monday. And, on Monday we learn that "outside" and "independent" actually means setup by Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper--the same guy who has already admitted to lying to Congress about the program, and has received no punishment for doing so. This is independent? From this we're supposed to expect real oversight?!? This is from the letter sent to Clapper:...

Twelve different groups within the IRS targeted conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt nonprofit status, according to the attorneys representing tea party plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the IRS. The revelation disproves the suggestion by a top congressional Democrat that only one IRS group was responsible for scrutinizing tea party and conservative applications.

The Internal Revenue Service has failed to turn over documents requested by the powerful Senate tax-writing panel, which is investigating the tax agency´s practice of targeting conservative organizations. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the panel´s top Republican, gave the IRS a May 31 deadline to answer dozens of questions related to the special scrutiny the agency was giving to right-leaning groups seeking tax-exempt status. But the troubled IRS let the deadline go by.

When certified firearms instructor Shawn Moore posted a photo of his 11 year-old son on Facebook the last thing he expected was a SWAT style raid on his home. The picture showed his son, a licensed hunter, holding his new birthday gift, a .22 caliber rifle. While Moore’s son proudly displaying his semi-automatic personal defense rifle was completely legal, an anonymous tipster contacted New Jersey’s Department of Children and Family Services and declared that the Moore family was neglecting and abusing their child, an unfounded accusation that led to the mobilization of local police who were apparently not at all...

Following a public policy meeting of African-American leaders, National Urban League president Marc Morial and National Action Network president Al Sharpton called for a new national assault weapons ban, saying the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should be regulated. “The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not absolute. One cannot yell fire in a crowded theater and hide behind the First Amendment,” said Morial when asked by TheDC if he supports California Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein’s assault weapon ban bill. “And we absolutely think that the idea of banning a military style assault weapon, a weapon that I...

Back door gun control is the phenomena where an entity will enact a law that indirectly affects your right to keep and bear arms. It’s easier to pass legislation that harms Second Amendment rights when it does not directly require the citizen to surrender a gun. Examples of back door gun control are: Define ammo components as an unhealthy threat. Environmental laws designed to outlaw the use of ingredients that comprise components of arms related materials. The easiest example to point to is lead. Lead has long been the primary ingredient of bullets. Designating lead as an environmental hazard means...

In the Lowe case, news stories said, a thug named Loren Manning Jr., accompanied by two other thugs, jumped Lowe on a city street last October. Lowe, 57, is a disabled and retired Marine, who has had two strokes and two heart surgeries and wears a pacemaker. Manning and his sidekicks attacked Lowe and witnesses said Manning chased him and tried to clobber him with a metal pole before catching him and pinning him to the ground, where Lowe managed to retrieve a small pocket knife and used it to stick Manning, who, tragically, died. This is Philadelphia, mind you,...

MONTEREY, Tenn. -- "If somebody told me this happened to them, I absolutely would not believe this could happen in America." "You live in the United States, you think you have rights -- and apparently you don't," said George Reby.

RUSH: This is from Rayford, North Carolina. Carolina Journal. I'm gonna read it to you exactly as it printed out here: "A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious. The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice did not meet US Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day." Again, let me read this to you again: "The...

And we're the ones, the old-fashioned conservatives, we want to deny people a good time, we want to deny people fun, we want to deny people all these things in life. So we have yet another example of life in America under the thumb of an ever-expanding state with central planning, otherwise known as "well-intentioned liberalism." From violating religious rights where there is no power permitted to do so, to mandating the purchase of products, to now mandating insurance companies sell certain products at a price that's also mandated, from czars, to denying the right to travel, it's all here....

As soon as December 13, the President will sign NDAA Section 1031 into law, permitting citizen imprisonment without evidence or trial. The bill that passed Congress absolutely DOES NOT exempt citizens. The text of Section 1031 reads, "A covered person under this section" includes "any person who has committed a belligerent act". We only have to be ACCUSED, because we don't get a trial. - Confusingly, Obama threatened a veto for 1032, but NOT 1031. 1032 is UNRELATED to imprisoning citizens without a trial. He has never suggested using a veto to stop Section 1031 citizen imprisonment -- in fact,...

The Minneapolis City Council approved a $1 million settlement Friday after a botched drug raid in 2010 in which an officer threw a "flash-bang" grenade into a Minneapolis apartment burning the flesh off a woman's leg. The payout to Rickia Russell, who suffered permanent injuries, was the third largest payout for alleged Minneapolis police misconduct on record. --SNIP-- On the night of Feb. 16, 2010, 18 officers were executing a search warrant on the apartment at 5753 Sander Drive based on a tip that narcotics were being sold at the address by someone named David Conley. In what Bennett called...

During Wednesday's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing exploring the tragic, utterly unforgivable tragedies of "Project Gunwalker," it would have been easy to miss one short statement from one of the witnesses. This would be a mistake, because what Special Agent John Dodson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) said in that one sentence could have some pretty dramatic implications. Dodson, readers will remember, was the first brave whistleblower to publicly come forward with the sordid details of "Project Gunwalker." As a witness at Wednesday's hearing, Dodson was asked by Congressman James Lankford (R-OK) to...

Yes, I have been watching this closely but it feels like the fit is hitting the shan on this - finally. Obama and Holder are complicit in murder and are engaging in outright treason just within the matrix of Gunwalker alone. Here is a link to a great piece at Pajamas Media that sums it all up - and read the comment thread which is every bit as informative as the article itself. Click Here for article and comment thread. Bottom line: Gunwalker never, ever had ANYTHING to do with drug enforcement or stopping the cartels. NOTHING. The reason that...

Google "Senate Health Care Bill" and there are links to the US Senate that lead no where. It is amazing that the seizure of one sixth of the US economy is being done without any Rule of Law and undere the cover of Top Secret cover of darkness.

Russia’s Top Prosecutor Suggests Taking Hostages to Fight Terror Created: 29.10.2004 16:24 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:02 MSK, 5 hours 31 minutes ago MosNews Russia’s Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov has proposed taking hostages as a possible measure to fight terrorism. “Detaining terrorists’ relatives during a terror attack would certainly help us save people,” Ustinov told the State Duma, speaking at a conference of law enforcement officials and law makers on the war on terror, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported. In his address, he urged parliament to consider the issue as they revise the law on terrorism. In response, Duma...