Free Republic

When a government agency becomes abusive and recalcitrant, that agency calls for the need of vigorous, legal challenge. That’s why Judicial Watch is pleased to report that we have filed a Motion for Limited Discovery in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Thus far, the IRS has refused to obey federal court orders to provide information that explains how its “lost and/or stolen” records pertaining to the targeting of conservative groups may be retrieved. And we intend to find out. Remarkably, the IRS has filed a total of seven declarations that make an end...

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission (the term “ethics” is used rather loosely in this case) has a plan to get more voters to turn out on Election Day. Basically, they think the city should bribe people to show up at the polls. According to LA Times:Alarmed that fewer than one-fourth of voters are showing up for municipal elections, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission voted Thursday to recommend that the City Council look at using cash prizes to lure a greater number of people to the polls. On a 3-0 vote, the panel said it wanted City Council President Herb Wesson's Rules,...

Duke Energy seeks nearly $2 million in Florida electricity rate hikes to pay for a new power plant made necessary by environmental restrictions. The electricity rate hikes became necessary as environmental restrictions force the closing of two coal power plants providing Floridians with inexpensive electricity. ... Aided by $10 million in campaign spending by billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer, the Charlie Crist campaign is hammering Gov. Rick Scott for not imposing still more stringent power plant restrictions, above and beyond those imposed by the federal government. Steyer and Crist say Florida should impose state-specific power plant restrictions that would close...

Yes, the Democrats are that desperate. Smacked with the guy who has made his business to lead the loyal opposition to policies that hurt the country, the Democrats did something so foul, so mind numbingly stupid and so desperate that it out Nixoned Nixon in his worst of days. And in doing so, theyÂ’ve completed the transformation from political party to caricature. Does Rick Perry's indictment disqualify him for 2016?!!! asks CNN, while fronting for the Dems. No, the indictment probably does not disqualify him. But Marco RubioÂ’s sip of water during a televised address should, right? RubioÂ’s problem...

We all now know what happened with the federal healthcare marketplace, Healthcare.gov. The three-year development was complicated by changing specifications, and the government's convoluted procurement process meant entrenched companies were getting contracts over and over. But a wave of government accountability reports, concluded after months of investigations, is bringing new attention to the meltdown. The Government Office of Accountability released a report earlier this week detailing the security flaws in the site, but a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released yesterday is even more damning.

Attorney General Eric Holder is again asking a federal court to delay the transfer of disputed documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious to a House committee. In a new court filing Monday night, Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson not to require Holder to turn over any of the roughly 64,000 pages of documents to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee until after her rulings can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. "The Department respectfully submits that it would be preferable for the parties, this Court, and...

An angry mob was waiting outside of Ukraine's parliament today, and they were not playing games. When they spotted Economic Development Party member Vitaly Zhuravsky leaving the building, they grabbed him and threw his ass right into a dumpster. It's not clear exactly what Zhuravsky did to deserve getting himself thrown into a garbage receptacle, but as NBC News points out, it probably had something to do with the fact that he has a history of trying to pass bills that would crack down on anti-government protests. He's also the kind of dick who sues the press for saying mean...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)A former Veterans Affairs supervisor has been sentenced for stealing up to $20,000 of government property, a recent Justice Department release announced. From 2010 to 2013, 48-year-old Venita Godfrey-Scott directed her employees to use materials and supplies intended for VA medical center upkeep on her own house. These taxpayer-funded home improvement projects included “a deck in her backyard, carpet installation, and various kitchen, bathroom and basement improvements.” She also instructed employees to buy other necessary materials with her government-issued credit card, and had them work on these projects during normal work hours, when they were being paid by the VA....

A Barclays' survey of over 2,000 individuals with a net worth over $1.5 billion contains some pretty interesting results. Those in China and Singapore are most likely to leave their country, while those in the US and India were most likely to stay. Please consider Almost Half of Wealthy Chinese Want to Leave.

No one can be certain if the amnesty fever that gripped the Republican establishment has passed, or if the conspirators are just laying low and waiting for their next chance to stab us in the back. What is clear is that during the height of their self-induced mental paralysis over amnesty, Republicans in the Senate lined up to kiss the ring of Hispanics when they confirmed Julian Castro as the new Housing and Urban Development Secretary (HUD). They struck us last July 9th and now America has another vicious enemy in Barack Obama’s Cabinet. Castro has jumped from being the...

Attorney General Eric Holder is prepared to tell the plaintiff in a private lawsuit that he cannot seek damages because doing so could potentially result in the release of sensitive information. Victor Restis, a Greek businessman, is attempting to sue a private organization, United Against Nuclear Iran, for defamation. He claims the group has erroneously accused him of engaging in business with Iran and, in the pursuit of legal recourse, has sought the release of certain relevant data. Holder, however, has responded that publicizing information from the non-governmental entity could lead to national security concerns.

Of all the malfeasant scandals the Clintons have committed, from lying under oath, to Whitewater to the Marc Rich pardon, little compares to the politically craven 1999 clemencies to 16 unrepentant terrorists of the Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN (Armed Forces for National Liberation). Fred DuVal was the co-chair of President Clinton’s White House Interagency Group of Puerto Rico, one of the groups that actively promoted clemency for terrorists. frauncestavernbombingFrom 1974 to 1983, the FALN waged a merciless, bloody war against the United States, attacking civilians mainly in Chicago and New York. On January 24, 1975, the FALN’s most deadly...

U.S. Congresswoman Lois Frankel just bought herself a nice condo in downtown West Palm Beach — and she got a hell of a deal.... Frankel’s campaign...does claim she turned downtown West Palm Beach around when she ran the city... With her recent purchase, Frankel’s now living in District 22. Good thing, since she wants to be elected for another two years in Washington, D.C.... Margi Helschien, spokeswoman for Paul Spain, Republican candidate for the seat, says she smells a rat. “Either this is a sweetheart deal, or proof of Lois’ failed downtown strategy, including the Digital Domain disaster. Either way,...

Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday postponed the start of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s prison sentence pending appeal on his conviction on corruption charges. […] Olmert, 68, was convicted in March in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a controversial real-estate project in Jerusalem. He was charged for acts while he was mayor of Jerusalem and national trade minister, years before he became prime minister. …

PUEBLO, Colo. - Black Hills executives heard another earful from its customers during a hearing on its proposed rate increase. "I'm mad as hell about these rate increases," said Frank Soudek. "Reasonably priced power. That's what we're asking for," said Lee Gladney. Black Hills wants to increase utility rates by 4 percent starting next year to make up for the construction cost of a wind farm in Huerfano County.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) found that over $33,700 in campaign flights were inappropriately charged to her official account in an internal review of her finances released Friday. The report is sure to draw added scrutiny to her use of charter planes just as her main opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), is set to introduce a resolution meant to highlight such spending, which he calls a "waste of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars." The review , which was released four days after her self-imposed deadline of Sept. 8, found that the senator took 43 trips, which amounted to 136 campaign functions, that...

Yet another indication of the endemic corruption that infests the Obama administration, their Democrat colleagues and a willfully somnambulant mainstream media In a letter written to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), Issa reveals there was an attempt to coordinate media spin regarding the IRS investigation between the DOJ and the staff of the Committee’s Ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). How did Issa find out? A DOJ official in the Office of Public Affairs who thought he was calling Cummings’ office, mistakenly phoned Issa’s office instead.

IRS: An aide to the attorney general accidentally calls the office of the House Oversight Committee chairman, asking for help in spinning the defense of the agency whose head just said they obey the law when they can. We have commented many times of the all-too-cozy relationship between the IRS and Democratic members of the House and Senate, with members writing to the agency demanding that specific conservative groups and political action committees they find particularly irritating be subject to the "special scrutiny" that the Tea Party and other conservative and religious groups were subjected to in the ongoing scandal....

Melvin E. Lowe, a New York political consultant, was found guilty yesterday of conspiring with State Senator John Sampson of Brooklyn (in photo) to defraud the New York Senate Campaign Committee out of $100,000. Sampson is under indictment on unrelated charges of embezzlement, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the FBI. He allegedly embezzled $440,000 from escrow accounts on foreclosed properties. Sampson and Lowe were caught up in an investigation prompted by NLPC's exposé of former State Senator Shirley Huntley, who was jailed for looting a nonprofit organization she founded, for which political allies had arranged to...

Unsettling new Foxtel drama makes for tough watching as it unflinchingly faces child sex abuse within the Catholic church. You’ve read reports about how the Catholic church covered up evidence involving paedophile priests. You’ve followed the hearings of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, established by Julia Gillard in 2012 following the shocking allegations of a cover-up in NSW. But nothing can prepare you for watching the grooming and abuse of an innocent 12-year-old boy by a respected school chaplain as it plays out dramatically in front of you.