Free Republic

CHICAGO—Since the heyday of the city's machine politics, punching a straight Democratic ticket on Election Day has been as dependable a Chicago tradition as hot dogs without ketchup and the Cubs breaking their fans' hearts. But this November, the automatic vote is turning out to be a little too dependable for the state's Democratic leaders. The feared victory Tuesday of a former state lawmaker indicted on federal bribery charges has top Democrats scrambling to defeat one of their own. They've hand-picked a rival candidate, set up a separate "independent" political party for him and deployed their precinct operations in an...

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin heeded a request from the White House today — one with political overtones — and announced it will not issue layoff notices to thousands of employees just days before the November presidential election. Lockheed, one of the biggest employers in the key battleground state of Virginia, previously warned it would have to issue notices to employees, required by law, due to looming defense cuts set to begin to take effect after Jan. 2 because of the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction — the so-called Super-committee, which was created to find a way...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The White House on Friday told government contractors worried about fiscal cliff spending cuts to hold off on warning employees about possible layoffs. The government said it would cover legal costs if contractors are forced to slash their payrolls because of the looming $109 billion in automatic cuts next year and are alleged to have violated the WARN Act. .... Defense contractors in particular have warned for months that the upcoming sequester would cost jobs in their industry. And Lockheed Martin's CEO has said publicly he may be forced to issue notice this fall of possible...

Obtaining lucrative contracts in Europe by companies or individuals still involves, in some cases, bribing foreign public officials. The prosecution and investigation into such illicit acts has improved somewhat when compared to previous years, according to a report released on Thursday (6 September) by the Berlin-based NGO Transparency International (TI). … TI looked at laws dealing with corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, or violations of accounting and disclosure requirements. The report did not look at cases involving domestic companies and their respective public officials. …

'clandestine tap' Despite 130-ton pot busts and their being locked in a five year, multilateral war with the government/other gangs in which 5x more people have died than US losses for the entire Iraq war, frightening Mexican drug mafias continue to grow in wealth, power, and influence... and are now extending their unique brand of chaos directly to US soil.The Mexican federal government already had enough problems facing an utterly ruthless enemy equipped with machine guns, narco-tanks and homemade submarines attained via almost unlimited cash- now the gangs have gone on the offensive against the feds' own primary revenue source, Pemex: over thirty of the...

State lawmakers today kicked out a West Side Democrat accused of taking a $7,000 bribe, marking the first expulsion from the Illinois House since 1905. Rep. Derrick Smith failed to show up to defend himself or hear his fellow House lawmakers condemn his alleged actions before the 100-6 vote was taken. Three lawmakers voted present (see roll call here). [...] The disciplinary action against Smith required the votes of 79 members of the 118-member House. Smith was arrested March 13 by federal agents who alleged he used his office stationery to push for a $50,000 grant for a fictitious operator...

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - The Illinois House of Representatives on Friday expelled a Democratic lawmaker indicted for bribery, the first member to be booted from the chamber since 1905. State House Representative Derrick Smith, who represents a staunchly Democratic district in Chicago, was arrested in March and charged with accepting a $7,000 bribe in exchange for endorsing a daycare center's state grant application. He has denied the charges. Days after his arrest and indictment, Smith won the Democratic Party primary to contest the November 6 election, in part because some Democrats hoped he would resign and be replaced on the...

Anti-corruption police spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej has told CTK that the office has been conducting a large investigation since Monday. He refused to elaborate. The server iDnes has written that the police were making a search in Rath's office in the regional governor's building in Prague. The server has written that the investigation is connected with European subsidies for a hospital in Kladno, central Bohemia. Regional state attorney Lenka Bradacova has told the server iDnes that the police had detained five men, including one deputy, and three women, in connection with the case. Rath has come under the suspicion of harming...

Disgraced ex-Brooklyn state Sen. Carl Kruger was sentenced today to 7 years in prison for receiving $500,000 in bribes -- much of which he funneled to his live-in gynecologist boyfriend. Kruger’s sentencing in Manhattan federal court by Judge Jed Rakoff came before the scheduled sentencing today of his lover, Dr. Michael Turano, 50 for conspiring in the same bribery scheme. In the "pay-to-play" scheme, the then-senator directed illicit payments from representatives of the real-estate, hospital, supermarket and beverage industries to shell companies set up by Turano. In return, Kruger, 63, sponsored legislation beneficial to to the bribe-payers, tried to...

Wal-Mart is alleged to have paid bribes to get stores open in Mexico. Read article at link.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former Louisiana congressman who infamously was caught with $90,000 in cash hidden in his freezer will have to begin serving a 13-year bribery sentence within the next two weeks, a judge ruled Friday. Democrat William Jefferson, who represented parts of New Orleans for nearly 20 years, was convicted and sentenced back in 2009 for taking roughly $500,000 in bribes and seeking millions more in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa. But he has been free on bond, living in New Orleans while appealing his conviction.

The going rate for a vote in Wisconsin, if you believe the state’s Democratic Party, is as low as a submarine sandwich. After Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul D. Ryan joined together to serve up free sandwiches at Cousins Subs in Waukesha, the Democratic Party sent out a press release contending that by serving up the free food, the campaign had violated Wisconsin law.

An Illinois lawmaker from Chicago charged with bribery a week ago appeared on his way to a primary election victory tonight on Chicago's West Side. Rookie state Rep. Rep. Derrick Smith was accused of taking a $7,000 cash bribe in a federal sting caught on an undercover recording. But Democratic leaders showed no sign of backing away from him in the days before the election. Smith's opponent, Tom Swiss, a former ranking member of the Cook County Republican Party, conceeded he lost the race less than an hour after polls closed tonight. With more than half the unofficial vote totals...

A U.S. Justice Department source has told The Daily Caller that at least two DOJ prosecutors accepted cash bribes from allegedly corrupt finance executives who were indicted under court seal within the past 13 months, but never arrested or prosecuted. The sitting governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, his attorney general and an unspecified number of Virgin Islands legislators also accepted bribes, the source said, adding that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is aware prosecutors and elected officials were bribed and otherwise compromised, but has not held anyone accountable. (title shortened due to FR posting rules) The bribed officials, an...

Attorney General Eric Holder pauses during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) A U.S. Justice Department source has told The Daily Caller that at least two DOJ prosecutors accepted cash bribes from allegedly corrupt finance executives who were indicted under court seal within the past 13 months, but never arrested or prosecuted. The sitting governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, his attorney general and an unspecified number of Virgin Islands legislators also accepted bribes, the source said, adding that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is aware prosecutors and elected officials...

Energy Policy: Canada's prime minister restates that if there's no Keystone XL pipeline in the works, not to worry. Our northern ally will still be our friend as it sends its tar sands oil to Asian markets. 'I am very serious about selling our oil off this continent, selling our energy products off to Asia. I think we have to do that," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a Monday interview with Canada's CTV National News. It was the latest warning from our impatient northern neighbor that has used its energy resources to advance job creation and growth and...

Has anybody know anything as to why Cantor tabled the Inside Trading Bill. He said something about the bill needs more looking into? Hay, Cantor let me write the bill. Even a Elected Elite would understand. 1)All Federal elected personal and immediate family are subject to inside trading laws and bribing laws. 2)All Federal employees and immediate family are subject to inside trading laws and bribing laws. 3)All Non Paid Staff members and immediate family are subject to inside trading laws and bribing laws.

It would take an entire book to analyze every single grant and government-backed loan doled out since Barack Obama became president. But an examination of grants and guaranteed loans offered by just one stimulus program run by the Department of Energy, for alternative-energy projects, is stunning. The so-called 1705 Loan Guarantee Program and the 1603 Grant Program channeled billions of dollars to all sorts of energy companies. The grants were earmarked for alternative-fuel and green-power projects, so it would not be a surprise to learn that those industries were led by liberals. Furthermore, these were highly competitive grant and loan...

WASHINGTON -- A group of Mexican senators announced Tuesday they are preparing to meet with state legislators in Georgia and four other states next month, hoping to head off more stringent immigration laws like the one Georgia enacted this year.The senators plan to share information with state lawmakers that shows illegal immigrants generally stay out of trouble and contribute to the economy while they are here. Sen. Carlos Jimenez Macias, a member of the Mexican Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, confirmed those plans Tuesday at a workshop on immigration reform in D.C. at the German Marshall Fund, a nonpartisan public policy...

Continuing his recent tack of bypassing Congress and enacting reforms “without them,” President Obama on Wednesday announced a package of student loan reforms designed to lower college graduates’ monthly payments, arguing his plan will redirect some of that borrowed money into the economy to promote job growth. Speaking to a friendly audience of college students in Denver, Mr. Obama said the changes “won’t cost taxpayers a dime but will save you money and will save you time,” and tied the ever-rising cost of education to the nation’s lagging economy. “Living with that kind of debt means making some pretty tough...