Free Republic

Howdy everyone!! Happy New Year!! Out with 2012 and we get to do it all over again in 2013 (I wish)!! It's unbelievable that the Marxist excuse of a president was re-elected. And now we're going over the fiscal cliff, the debt cliff, the unemployment cliff, and the govern by royal decree cliff all at once. Best be gearing up to vote in a majority of tea party conservatives in the House and retake the majority in the Senate in 2014 so we can impeach his royal majesty before the constitution becomes totally null and void!! Woo hoo!! And our...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic aide says the White House and congressional Republicans have reached an agreement to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.The measure would extend Bush-era tax cuts for family incomes below $450,000 and briefly avert across-the-board spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week.

It's official: U.S. debt will reach its legal borrowing limit on Monday, giving Congress about two months before it must raise the debt ceiling or risk causing the government to default on its bills and financial obligations. "I can confirm we will reach the statutory debt limit today, Dec. 31," a Treasury Department official said.

Doctors treating Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for a blood clot say the clot formed in her head but they stress that they are confident she will make a full recovery. In an update Monday on Clinton’s condition, her doctors say the blood clot did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage. The clot is located in the vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear.

URGENT: Illinois Anti-Gun Legislators That YOU Voted Out of Office to Use Their Last Remaining Days in Legislature Exploiting Lame Duck Session and Holiday Break To Impose a Draconian Gun Ban The NRA-ILA has just learned that anti-gun legislators backed by Governor Quinn are deceptively trying to sneak through a new draconian gun ban as early as Wednesday while the legislature convenes for the Lame Duck Session from January 2 to 9.

Link is crashing with too much traffic.

Senate leaders appear to have reached a bipartisan agreement to avoid midnight tax increases, embracing a $450,000 earnings threshold for extending existing tax rates. But agreement remained out of reach Monday on how to avert $110 billion in automatic fiscal 2013 spending cuts scheduled to begin Jan. 2. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that Congress move ahead with tax legislation and “continue to work on the sequester part in the coming months.” “We have reached agreement on all of the tax issues,” McConnell, R-Ky., told the Senate. “Let’s take what has been agreed to and get moving. . ....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress won't meet Monday midnight deadline on voting to avert 'fiscal cliff.' Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/31/5084967/ap-reports-congress-will-miss.html#storylink=cpy

Senior Senate Republican aides tell NRO that the tax side of the fiscal-cliff deal has been finalized. Here’s a sketch of the framework: — Current tax rates would be permanently extended for singles making $400,000 or below, and permanently extended for couples making $450,000 or below — For singles, capital gains and dividends of $400,000 or below would be permanently taxed at 15 percent; capital gains and dividends above $400,000 would be permanently taxed at 20 percent

Fox local affiliate came on in Miami, said the Assclown was going to speak at 1:30. So once the teleprompter is loaded, expect him to stumble in at about 2:00.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted to hospital with blood clot following concussion.

Planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose for the third month in a row in November, partly driven by the bankruptcy of Hostess Brands, a report showed on Thursday. Employers announced 57,081 job cuts last month, the highest level since May and up nearly 20 percent from 47,724 in October, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. November's job cuts were also up 34.4 percent from the 42,474 seen a year ago. Employers have announced 490,806 cuts in 2012, lower than 2011's total of 606,082 layoffs. The recent surge in layoffs is at least partly attributed to...

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon is preparing to notify its entire civilian workforce to prepare for furloughs if Congress and President Barack Obama are unable to reach a deal before Jan. 2 to avert automatic spending cuts. A senior defense official said Sunday that the Pentagon would notify 800,000 civilian workers to brace for furloughs in the new year, meaning the workers would be ordered to take mandatory leave without pay for a certain period. The warning is much gloomier than the agency recently offered employees, as it had said there wouldn't be an immediate impact on personnel or operations if a deal...

President Obama on Sunday said he would make gun control a priority in his new term, pledging to put his “full weight” behind passing new restrictions on firearms in 2013. “I'm going to be putting forward a package and I'm going to be putting my full weight behind it,” said Obama in an interview aired on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I'm going to be making an argument to the American people about why this is important and why we have to do everything we can to make sure that something like what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary does not happen...

The Talk Shows December 30th, 2012 Guests to be interviewed on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): President Barack Obama.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Rep. Darrel Issa, R-Calif.; Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The highly-anticipated meeting came and went without any immediate clue from congressional lawmakers as to whether they had made any progress toward resolving the impending onset of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect on Jan. 1. But the president is scheduled to deliver a statement from the White House at 5:45 p.m. ET. A protracted stalemate between Obama-led Democrats and congressional Republicans had prompted Friday's last-ditch meeting.

With President Obama safely re-elected to a second term, federal workers feel comfortable to make their demands known. As debate rages over lowering the federal deficit, they want a pay raise. As CNN's Money magazine reports: [Union president Colleen M.] Kelley said her No. 1 issue right now is getting federal worker salaries unfrozen on Jan. 1, even if that means working out a deal later in the year and making pay hikes retroactive to Jan. 1. In the midst of that, federal workers are also nervous about the fiscal cliff , which includes $1.2 trillion worth of spending cuts...

President Barack Obama issued an executive order to end the pay freeze on federal employees, in effect giving some federal workers a raise. One federal worker now to receive a pay increase is Vice President Joe Biden.