Free Republic

The lead investigator in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s review of the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate today unloaded a bombshell about the case: that he was told by sources members of the media were threatened with federal investigations should they continue to report on the birth certificate issue. Lead investigator Mike Zullo told WND that as he was preparing information to be presented to the public “it was clear that the mainstream media was not going to be in attendance” at the sheriff’s scheduled new conference, where he revealed facts suggesting both fraud and forgery in the image of a...

"We’re acting like Greece and like Italy,and that’s what people are frustrated with. They want us to act like a first-world nation,not like what President Barack Obama is doing. He’s acting like we’re a banana republic. We’ve got to get our act together and stop spending money that we don’t have."

Gap, ubiquitous in malls across America, will reduce the number of its U.S. stores to 700 by 2013, a 34 percent decline from 2007, the company announced Thursday. Although it is shrinking its retail footprint in the U.S., the company announced it is expanding Gap and Banana Republic stores in China, Italy and South America. It is planning on tripling its Gap stores in greater China from roughly 15 at the end of this year to about 45 by the end of 2012, according to the press release. Another one of its brands, Old Navy, will make its debut outside...

Media: The president of Univision, the top Spanish-language network, made an apparent attempt to extort a TV appearance from Sen. Marco Rubio in exchange for not broadcasting dirt on a relative. Can it go any lower? Last July, representatives of the Florida-based Hispanic national television network contacted the Florida Republican to urge him to appear on "Al Punto," a Spanish-language talk show whose host, Jorge Ramos, is a loud proponent of amnesty for illegal aliens. Like most Americans, Rubio is no amnesty proponent and said no to an appearance on the show. But Univision wouldn't take no for an answer....

Various Chiefs of Police and other law enforcement representatives have gone on a public tour with the Governor proclaiming how important the “Duty to Retreat” is to New Hampshire’s self defense law as it applies to honest citizens under RSA 627:4. Given that they feel that way, we propose adding it to the self defense requirements for law enforcement found under RSA 627:5. (Note that this applies only to a law enforcement officer's self defense, not to making an arrest.) We have taken the exact language that they support and just modified it to fit law enforcement. Here is how...

Half a generation ago a Wall Street Journal editorial declared Canada an “honorary member of the Third World.” The shock of that scolding helped return a country that had begun to think of itself as ungovernable back to fiscal and economic sanity. Might a similarly sharp rebuke from its friendly northern neighbour aid in turning an apparently increasingly ungovernable United States back to sanity? Probably not. But we would feel bad for not trying: This summer’s disgraceful spectacle of a U.S. political system seemingly incapable of addressing the country’s dire fiscal condition makes the United States worthy of honorary banana...

More stores across the U.S. that offer deeply-discounted products are seeing their sales decline after years of growth amid America’s “Great Recession” — and one analyst said on Monday it’s another sign of even deeper downturn. SNIP “I think what’s going on in those stores is that we are in a depression for 80 percent of Americans,” SNIP “In other words, the economy is continuing to be worse, the Obama depression continues to explode,” he added.

For her long friendship with the Obamas, 65-year-old Kaye Wilson has been lavished with invitations to state dinners, Camp David and trips aboard Air Force One. But the Olympia Fields woman — "Mama Kaye" to the president and other friends — is one of the least known people in his inner circle and seems to like it that way. Her ties to the Obama family are many, and in some cases, uniquely hers.

Soaring food prices have been, perhaps, the most pressing global issue of the past two years – yet the U.S. Federal Reserve has taken a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" approach to the global crisis. Instead, the Fed has dutifully maintained its focus on so called "core inflation" in the United States – even as Americans suffer the consequences of the "hidden inflation" the government refuses to account for. The Federal Reserve excludes food and fuel prices from its preferred gauge of inflation because they are often influenced by erratic weather patterns and political turmoil. That...

"An error on Google Maps has caused an international conflict in Central America. A Nicaraguan military commander, relying on Google Maps, moved troops into an area near San Juan Lake along the border between his country and Costa Rica. The troops are accused of setting up camp there, taking down a Costa Rican flag and raising the Nicaraguan flag, doing work to clean up a nearby river, and dumping the sediment in Costa Rican territory. La Nacion, says the Nicaraguan commander, Eden Pastora, used Google Maps to “justify” the incursion even though the official maps used by both countries indicate...

The system for financing mortgages and regulating that financing has failed, completely and utterly. The mortgage and real estate markets are now in collapse. Yesterday I wrote about how positive feedback loops lead to collapse. Welcome to the U.S. housing and mortgage markets. As I have documented here numerous times, the entire U.S. mortgage market has already been socialized: 99% of all mortgages are backed by the three FFFs--Fannie, Freddie and FHA--and the Federal Reserve has purchased a staggering $1.2 trillion in mortgage-backed assets in the past year or so to maintain the illusion that there is a market for...

Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will LOVE him more?” Luke 7:42 The BP shakedown is the perfect example of the brainwashing of America. We have been transformed over the past 70 yrs into believing in an all compassionate gummit over capitalism. We have been taught from baby to grave into believing our govt is the only interest powerful enough to stand up to evil industry so the slaves can get their fair share of the pie when nothing could be farther from the truth....

Lt. Col. Terry Lakin refuses to be deployed to Afghanistan under the orders of Barack Hussein Obama until the government proves that Obama is qualified to be president of the USA according to the Constitution of the USA. The military is using a court martial to force his compliance. Lakin is trying to use discovery in the court martial about Obama’s citizenship as per his rights to defend his actions and the court is blocking his ability..... Obama promised to be transparent. It is time for our courts, our media, and our military to force him to keep his promise….....

When it comes to business climate, California ranks last among the states according to the latest attack on the rules and red tape despised by the respondents to a survey by CEO Magazine.

The radicals in Washington are giving the Marxists in Venezuela a run for their money. Senate Democrats have gathered in the Rules Committee to eliminate the filibuster. Republican.Senate.Gov reported: THEN-SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “What [The American People] Do Not Expect Is For One Party, Be It Republican Or Democrat, To Change The Rules In The Middle Of The Game So They Can Make All The Decisions While The Other Party Is Told To Sit Down And Keep Quiet.” “What they do not expect is for one party, be it Republican or Democrat, to change the rules in the middle of...

Experts on third world banana republics from the IMF and the Federal Reserve have said the U.S. has become a third world banana republic (and see this and this).Are they right?Well, let's look at Wikipedia's description of the four factors which make a country a banana republic. Profits Privatized and Debts SocializedThe first feature of a banana republic as "A collusion between the overweening state and certain favored monopolistic concerns, whereby the profits can be privatized and the debts socialized." ✓ Check. As I pointed out in November: Nouriel Roubini writes in a recent essay: This is a crisis of...

As I wrote Monday: In really bad times, people who are evicted from their houses will not rent. Instead, they will move in with friends or family for some time. As the Wall Street Journal explained last October: Driving the change [i.e. large numbers of rental vacancies and lower rents] is the troubled employment market, which is closely tied to rentals. With unemployment at 9.8% — a 26-year high — more would-be renters are doubling up or moving in with family and friends during periods of job loss. Landlords have been particularly battered because unemployment has been higher among workers...

If you thought the health care bill was just about, well, health care, guess again! It's about income redistribution as much as anything: For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago. Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The No. 2 Senate Democrat accused Republicans on Wednesday of refusing to accept the finality of health care changes, a day after President Barack Obama signed the most sweeping medical system remake since Medicare. "This is a political exercise for too many on the other side of the aisle," said Sen. Dick Durbin. "We're going to tell our people back home, 'It's time to govern. It's time to lead.' "

A nation in decline By Tom DeWeese web posted February 1, 2010 Many politicians are asking the question today: "Why are the American People so angry?" The following may lend a clue to the clueless. According to the annual "Index on Economic Freedom," produced by the Heritage Foundation, the United States now ranks 8th, just behind Canada. That's a drop of two full points since last year, and the largest drop of all nations in overall economic freedom. . The index ranking is based on 10 measures of economic openness, regulatory efficiency, the rule of law, and competitiveness. The basic...

Some take comfort in pointing out that the national debt is "only" 60 percent of gross domestic product. That ranks the United States about 25th in the world. By comparison, Japan's public debt is 180 percent of its GDP. So we are at least better off than the Japanese, right? Wrong, says Robert D. Arnott, chairman of Research Affiliates, an institutional money management firm based in Newport Beach, Calif. Our debt burden only appears to be lighter than Japan's because we don't count all of it. State and local government debt is not included; neither is corporate debt nor household...

MCALLEN - The U.S Consul General at Matamoros visited McAllen today. U.S. Consul Michael Barkin says Mexico is a safe place visit, but security is also the number one concern for Americans traveling there. Barkin was honored today at a reception at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. He has been on the job as U.S. Consul General in Matamoros since September. CHANNEL 5 NEWS asked him, given the ongoing shoot-outs and violence in Mexico, is it safe to visit? We wanted to know what people who call his office are most concerned about. Barkin says, "People are concerned about the...

<p>FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin promises to limit her enthusiasm during her visit to North Carolina's Fort Bragg.</p> <p>The former Republican vice presidential candidate planned to sign copies of her new memoir at a post store Monday. Army officials say Palin will not make a speech, pose for photos, or personalize notes in the books she signs.</p>

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics ruled Tuesday that a proposed ballot initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman cannot go forward, reaffirming an earlier ruling that such a vote would be discriminatory. The board cited the city Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination against gay men and lesbians. The board decision, which will probably be challenged in court, means the D.C. Council can move forward with its plans to vote on a bill next month to legalize same-sex marriage. The council on Tuesday scheduled a vote for Dec. 1. "We have considered all of the...

Depending on your perspective, the Oath Keepers are either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia. In the age of town halls, talk radio and tea parties, middle ground of opinion is hard to find. Most Popular Stories READY TO REVOLT: Oath Keepers pledges to prevent dictatorship in United States U.S. SENATE SEAT: Two could beat Reid, poll finds NORM: Garth Brooks, Wynn to team up NORM: Yearwood exacts her recompense Woman struck, killed by car while crossing street Friends, co-workers honor fallen police officer Friends, co-workers honor fallen police officer NORM: Rumor about ring wrong, Fator says...

Senator Judd Gregg made an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" yesterday. Gregg described the budget deficit under the current administration and the devastating impact it will have on quality of life for us and our children: See video at the link

October 18, 2009 Gregg: U.S. Could Be On Path To A 'Banana Republic' Situation From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart WASHINGTON (CNN) – A leading fiscal mind on Capitol Hill and a one-time Obama Cabinet pick sounded the alarm Sunday over the projected long-term financial challenges the country faces. “This deficit is driven by us,” New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg candidly said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about the federal government’s projected $1.42 trillion operating deficit for the 2009 fiscal year. “You talk about systemic risk. The systemic risk today is the Congress of the...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The chickens have come home to roost for Los Angeles city dwellers who keep roosters. The City Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance that—with few exceptions—allows only one rooster per property. It was spurred by complaints over noise and hygiene and concerns over illegal cockfighting. Janice Hahn, who authored the bill, says it will give residents of her district some peace and quiet. Neighborhoods from the harbor to the San Fernando Valley are sometimes annoyed by concerts from crowing roosters. Real estate developer Michael Mekeel says tenants of his Panorama City development have had to turn...

In a NY Times Op Ed this week, the financial guru of gurus, Warren Buffett warned of the dangers of the Federal Deficit: The United States economy is now out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery. But enormous dosages of monetary medicine continue to be administered and, before long, we will need to deal with their side effects. For now, most of those effects are invisible and could indeed remain latent for a long time. Still, their threat may be as ominous as that posed by the financial crisis itself. ...no one...

According to Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the United States is on its way to becoming a “banana republic” within 10 years. Wikipedia defines a banana republic as “a country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture (e.g., bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy and corrupt elite.” Such nations have “a small, leisurely class on the top, and a large, poorly educated and poorly paid working class of peons, though it might have the (fake) trappings of modernity (such as styling itself as a republic with a president, etc.).” A banana republic “typically has large wealth inequities, poor...

Here is video from today where Rush Limbaugh officially declared the United States a "Banana Republic," and played what he called "the New National Anthem of the Banana Republic of the United States." . . . . . . (Watch Video)

A week ago, I didn't know Sean Hannity beyond the television personality. Recent events, however, brought us together through our shared philosophy that freedom and the rule of law, rather than arbitrary and inconsistent actions by government bureaucrats, provide the foundation for economic prosperity.I wrote a column that appeared in the Wall Street Journal last Friday telling the story of how the city of Los Angeles has unfairly harassed my business, Creators Syndicate. Hannity invited me on his show to talk about it, and I knew I had an ally. Creators had a tax dispute with the city 15 years...

Attorney General Eric Holder is considering whether to appoint a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation practices. A Justice Department official told the Associated Press that Holder plans to make a final decision within the next few weeks. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on a pending matter. *snip* Obama has expressed reluctance to having a probe, saying the nation should be "looking forward and not backwards" when it came to Bush-era abuses.

<p>The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Manuel Zelaya's ouster, said a senior U.S. official. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Barack Obama wouldn't support any nondemocratic transfer of power in the Central American country.</p>

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama expressed deep concern on Sunday at the Honduran military's arrest and expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya from the country. "As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama said in a statement. "Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference," he said. (Editing by Patrick Rucker)

OBAMA'S JUSTICE DEPT WILL ALLOW NON-CITIZENS TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN GEORGIA Any shot for Americans to take back this country from the hard left in 2010/2012 is looking increasingly dim .... Obama Justice Department Decision Will Allow Non-Citizens to Register to Vote in Georgia (hat tip Clyde) Decision Bars Georgia From Continuing Voter Verification Process Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Justice’s denial of preclearance of Georgia’s voter verification process Atlanta - “The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia’s already implemented citizenship verification...

THE furor over the huge federal spending under President Oba- ma - a $1.75 trillion deficit, 13 percent - obscures an even more basic question: Does he know what he is doing? That is, does he know how to do anything other than spend? His stimulus package, of course, took no special ability: He left the details to Democrats in Congress. But his two other major initiatives - his banking- and mortgage-relief plans - are both flawed and unlikely to solve their respective problems. Indeed, they're so wide of the mark as to prompt questions not of Obama's ideology but...

Caroline Kennedy's interest in the U.S. Senate seat now held by Hillary Clinton is making for lots of talk, about whether having the Kennedy name is enough to qualify her for the position. Kennedy, who's 51, has been a very private person until her very public support of Barack Obama, and this week she's saying publicly she's interested. Reaction here in Syracuse: Outgoing Congressman Jim Walsh, honored by the Onondaga County Legislature for 20 years of service to the area, says 'Well, I think you have to earn this." He points to Clinton's tenure and asks 'Why did she come...

With all but one precinct re-counted in the Minnesota Senate race, Franken campaign attorney Marc Elias is claiming Franken leads Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) by four votes. The number from Franken's internal tally does not include the Minneapolis precinct where 133 ballots went missing. The Franken count includes the thousands of disputed ballots that both campaigns objected to during the recount process.

Stuffed ballot boxes and state-run media were once the stuff of tinpot dictators and communist regimes, from Kim Jong Il's North Korea to Hugo Chavez's Venezeula, from Saddam Hussein's Iraq to Fidel Castro's Cuba. Once, we would look at these countries and wonder how things could ever have gotten that far out of hand. And then we'd be thankful that such things didn't and couldn't happen here in America. Fast forward to 2008, and the formerly unthinkable has become reality. The ultra-liberal group ACORN, under whose aegis Sen. Barack Obama got his start in politics and with whom he's had...

If Barack Obama loses the 2008 election, liberal hell will break loose. Seven weeks before the 2008 presidential election, liberals are warning America that if Barack Obama loses, it is because Americans are racist. Of course, that this means that Democrats (and independents) are racist, since Republicans will vote Republican regardless of the race of the Democrat, is an irony apparently lost on the Democrats making these charges. That an Obama loss will be due to racism is becoming as normative a liberal belief as “Bush Lied, People Died,” a belief has generated intense rage among many liberals. But “Obama...

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has shown little in the way of leadership since taking office in 2007, but at least he could follow the advice of the experts he has surrounded himself with. He didn't even do that much this week when he ignored their recommendations to remove City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, who is under investigation for possibly intervening in a police probe of a violent street gang. Against the better wisdom of his own staff and legal advice from the city attorney's office, Dellums chose to allow Edgerly, 56, to work in City Hall for another month until her...

ONCE you become accustomed to gas at $4 a gallon, brace yourself for the next shocking retail threshold: bananas reaching $1 a pound. At that price, Americans may stop thinking of bananas as a cheap staple, and then a strategy that has served the big banana companies for more than a century — enabling them to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite — will begin to unravel. The immediate reasons for the price increase are the rising cost of oil and reduced supply caused by floods in Ecuador, the world’s biggest banana exporter. But something larger is...

Organized, well-financed and violent Mexican kidnapping cells are targeting a growing number of U.S. citizens visiting communities popular with San Diegans and other California residents. Advertisement Last year, at least 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, local FBI agents overseeing the cases said yesterday.

Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising. Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time! When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores,...

A year later, Gap continues to censor Christmas At Gap, the score is "holiday" 172 and "Christmas" 3 At Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, Christmas hardly exists. For these three companies, all owned by Gap, the only items listed as having anything to do with Christmas were a pair of boxer shorts and a child's sleepwear set. Last year, when Gap also censored Christmas, we contacted the company. The company refused to change their policy of censoring Christmas. This year the company has continued their practice of censoring Christmas from their stores and promotions. The only conclusion one can...

Surfer's Baja tale is warning to others Camping trip ended in robbery, assault By Terry Rodgers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 19, 2007 Pat Weber didn't plan on being part of a crime trend that has generated worldwide buzz this past week, but he didn't have much choice. The Encinitas resident and surfing instructor got lost on a dirt road in Baja California last month while looking for a surfing spot called Cuatro Casas. He and his girlfriend decided to park for the night on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Just after sundown, two men wearing ski masks approached Weber's motor...

Mexican soldiers jailed in killings ASSOCIATED PRESS June 6, 2007 MEXICO CITY – Nineteen Mexican soldiers have been sent to a military prison after troops allegedly killed two women and three children whose vehicle didn't stop at an army checkpoint, the Defense Ministry said yesterday. Advertisement The family was traveling to a funeral in a van Friday when it was ordered to stop at a checkpoint near the village of La Joya in Sinaloa state, local media said. When the van failed to stop, soldiers reportedly opened fire. Police identified the dead as Alicia Esparza Parra, 17; Griselda Galaviz Barraza,...

Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising. Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time! When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores,...

Much of the Venezuelan media has aggressively opposed Chavez's populist "Bolivarian revolution," though not without reason: The former coup-plotting colonel is well on his way to destroying what was once the most stable and prosperous democracy in Latin America. Some newspapers and television stations openly sided with attempts to oust the president via coup, strike or national referendum. Having survived all three, a strengthened Chavez is moving to eliminate critical journalists and create in Venezuela the kind of state-controlled media environment in which a minister of information is all-powerful. The first step was a new media content law, adopted by...