Free Republic

Given the presence of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., at Congress last night – and President Obama’s January 12 speech to the nation about the need for “more civility in our public discourse” – the White House has faced questions in the last day about Vice President Biden’s possible behind-closed-doors use of the word “terrorists” to describe Tea Partyers. As we covered yesterday, meeting with anxious House Democrats yesterday, the Vice President heard from Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Penn., who said “the Tea Party acted like terrorists in threatening to blow up the economy.”Doyle used the term several times.

A pro-life organization is set to release a series of 911 calls showing staff at the Southwestern Women’s Options late-term abortion center in New Mexico calling for help on various occasions over a 15-month time period after women were injured in abortions. Some of the calls show life-threatening situation where women’s lives and health were at risk as a result of failed abortions. The pro-life group, Operation Rescue, says the calls, which will be made public today and in the coming weeks, reveal a disturbing pattern of life-threatening abortion complications that routinely endanger the lives and health of women.

President Obama has a new term for the people he wants to tax more: jet owners. In his news conference today, the president said: “I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that’s doing so well to give up that tax break….I don’t think that’s real radical.” (Courtesy of JetSuite Air) Asking private-jet owners to give up tax breaks may not be that radical. And it probably would be supported by the vast majority of the nonjet-owning voters. The problem is that most of the people that would be subject to the higher...

Bill O’Reilly keeps addresses to his media enemies at a bare minimum, but tonight he devoted an entire segment to declaring war on left-wing media criticism site Media Matters for America and their current tax-exempt status. Along with Washington Times reporter C. Boyden Gray, O’Reilly highlighted the fact that MMFA had not paid taxes since well into the George W. Bush administration and it would take an independent formal complaint to remove their status. O’Reilly, who defined Media Matters as an organization dedicated to war on Fox News, asked Gray to explain

Welcome to the new civility. At a Thursday rally in New Jersey protesting Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s pension deal that would cut pensions and benefits to public workers, a union leader charged Christie with acting like a Nazi. And not any ordinary Nazi, but Adolf Hitler himself. “Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Welcome to Nazi Germany,” Communications Workers of America District 1 Vice President Christopher Shelton is seen raving in a video posted on YouTube. “We have Adolf Christie and his two generals trying to make New Jersey Nazi Germany.”

Karl Vick’s anti-Israel partisanship continues unabated on the pages and website of Time Magazine. Vick, Time’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, self-assuredly insisted in a May 29 blog post that Israel continues to occupy the Gaza Strip: Cairo after all had control of the coastal enclave from 1948 to 1967, when Gaza was among the vast territory Israel conquered in the Six Day War. And though it remains technically under Israeli occupation, Israel Defense Forces pulled out in 2005... Israel, of course, fully withdrew its soldiers and civilians from the Gaza Strip in 2005, representing a self-evident end to the occupation....

California Republican Darrell Issa has called a hearing to look at the possibility that the Department of Justice (DOJ) may be committing obstruction of justice by ignoring a subpoena. On April 1, Issa, House Oversight Committee chairman, subpoenaed all documents pertaining to two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) programs, Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious. Specifically, Issa was looking for documents and communications “relating to the genesis” of the programs and any information related to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Two AK-47s ATF was tracking through Operation Fast and Furious were found at...

I thought for sure the Democratic line on this would be, “It’s over, he accepted responsibility, let’s move on.” Nope. So worried are they about the fallout that they’re willing to prolong the story as long as they can if it means they can get on the other side of it and isolate Weiner in doing so. Or is this simply Pelosi knowing/expecting that the GOP will launch an investigation anyway and figuring that she might as well stand up for “good government” while she can? But after his news conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that she...

Is this a joke? Or has the mainstreaming of Sharia really advanced this far? If Shamci Rafani is real and not a hoax, is she a "moderate" because she is only calling for the killing of adulteresses, not actually carrying it out? Doesn't this article give the lie to the oft-repeated claim that no Muslims in America support the elements of Sharia that contradict American principles and laws? Can we get a statement repudiating the stoning of adulteresses and rebuking Shamci Rafani from the "moderate" Muslim establishment? Honest Ibe Hooper? Imam Rauf? Anyone? Anyone? And didn't anyone at the Visalia...

If a conservative politician does something or is alleged to have done something ill-advised of the sexual nature, chances are it will be on the radar of the mainstream media. But what about liberals – like New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner? According Andrew Breitbart, there’s a double standard not only in the mainstream media, but among members of Congress as well. On Tuesday’s “Follow the Money” on the Fox Business Network, Breitbart went right after those politicians. However, he also had a few words for CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who attacked Breitbart earlier in the day. “Look, there’s...

If the War Powers Act becomes moot, don’t blame Barack Obama, say the editors of the Chicago Tribune today. In order to curtail abuses of power from the executive, the legislature not only has to pass laws but also enforce them. And thus far, they’re not impressed with the Washington Way in Chi-town: Obama is on the horns of a dilemma. As a candidate, he said the president does not have the power to go to war on his own except in cases of actual or likely attack. But if he were to ask Congress to authorize the Libyan intervention,...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the U.S. would not intervene militarily in Syria as it is doing in Libya, and drew a distinction between Libya's Muammar Qaddafi and Syria's Bashar Assad. The latter, she explained, is seen by congressmen from both parties as “a reformer.” “What’s been happening there the last few weeks is deeply concerning," she told CBS's Face the Nation regarding Syria, "but there’s a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing and bombing your own cities," as Qaddafi has done, and the violence by the Assad regime, which merely amounted to "police actions...

Washington - US President Barack Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to offer condolences for a bombing in Jerusalem that killed a British woman and injured at least 34 people, including six US citizens, the White House said. Advertisement: Obama also expressed ‘concern about the recent rocket and mortar attacks against Israel from Gaza,’ White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. Obama ‘reaffirmed the United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,’ Carney said.

Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz asks that the Obama administration reconsider its position on health care reform in an interview published Tuesday by The Seattle Times. The coffee company and barista bigwig, often vocal about wanting health care reform, saw double-digit employee health care cost increases for five consecutive years. “That cost last year was $250 million,” Schultz told The Seattle Times.

(Excuse me for printing his words. I wanted you to see what the left is saying now.) This is infuriating. This clod deserves no respect. Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a “dumb twat” on his comedy show last night. His far left audience loved it. The Daily Caller reported: On Friday night’s airing of the show, host Bill Maher took a shot at one of the left’s favorite targets, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, by contemplating her reaction to the tragic events that have unfolded in Japan over the past nine days. (h/t Real Clear Politics Video) “Did you hear...

Despite some skeptics, many Islam watchers report that the Muslim Brotherhood is an extremist group—and no friend of Israel. Now, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is forming a political party called Freedom and Justice. Sa`d al-Katatni has been asked to lead the charge. This is a significant development because it marks the first time in the nearly century-long history of the Muslim Brotherhood that it has successfully organized a political party.

As the calls for clemency for Jonathan Pollard continue to intensify, Henry A. Kissinger, an elder statesman, well-respected diplomat, and experienced member of the United States intelligence community, has become the latest American governmental leader to issue a public call for Pollard’s release. Pollard has spent more than 25 years languishing in a federal prison for passing classified information to Israel, an ally of the United States. Kissinger, who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, sent a letter to President Obama requesting that he commute Pollard’s sentence to...

RUSH: Robert B. Reichhhh, you've got to hear this. Robert B. Reichhhh was on NBC live last night with the anchor Cenk Uygur, and he spoke with Reich, and Cenk Uygur said, "This isn't just about let's get the money from the rich because that's where it is and they've accumulated all the wealth up at the top. It also makes sense for the rich if we had more equal distribution of income because of the effect it would have on the middle class. Tell us about that, why do you think [it's better to redistribute the wealth?] Now if...

MADISON, Wis.--The head of Wisconsin's powerful teachers' union is calling on educators to return to classrooms Monday and Tuesday rather than continue being absent to protest an anti-union bill at the state Capitol. The protests against a bill that would take away public workers' right to collectively bargain for their benefits and working conditions forced several school districts to shut down last week after teachers called in sick to join demonstrators in Madison.

Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps made a case for a government hand in media policy in a speech to the FCBA on Tuesday. "The commission can act now. It should have acted on the media before now. I am disappointed that it has not," he said. The decline of "real journalism" justifies federal involvement, according to Copps. "The news is suffering from a bad case of substance abuse," he said. The Democratic commissioner pointed to Fox News' Bernie Goldberg and Bill O'Reilly as examples of the problem with today's media landscape,