Free Republic

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid helped steer billions of federal tax dollars to companies supporting a green energy group run by two of his former staff members and a current campaign operative.The Nevada Democrat pushed for millions of dollars in grants and billions more in federal loan guarantees for corporations that donated to the Clean Energy Project, a nonprofit founded by a pair of former staffers with close ties to both Reid and to a major Democratic PAC associated with the senator, Lachlan Markay of the Washington Free Beacon reported.One such company, California-based Fulcrum Bioenergy, received a hefty federal grant...

It's going to be at least a few weeks, and probably a few months, before we know what the Supreme Court is going to do with Obamacare. But Wednesday's oral arguments in King v. Burwell have already made something very clear: Justice Antonin Scalia isn't too worried about intellectual consistency. Among the many issues that came up Wednesday were the likely consequences if the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, thereby prohibiting the federal government from distributing Obamacare's tax credits in two-thirds of the states. Millions of people depend on those tax credits to purchase health insurance; without the...

Many people are living longer, but not to age 112 or beyond -- except in the records of the Social Security Administration. The SSA's inspector general has identified 6.5 million number-holders age 112 -- or older -- for whom no death date has been entered in the main electronic file, called Numident. The audit, dated March 4, 2015, concluded that SSA lacks the controls necessary to annote death information on the records of number-holders who exceed "maximum reasonable life expectancies." "We obtained Numident data that identified approximately 6.5 million numberholders born before June 16, 1901 who did not have a...

Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland intends to join the race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski, hoping to become the first African-American elected to the Senate from her state, according to officials familiar with her plans. Edwards would become the second member of the state’s House delegation to announce her intentions to run for the Senate. Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen joined the race last week. No Republican has yet stepped forward to run for a seat in a Democratic state. …

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress has not eroded Democratic support for Israel everywhere. With the speech now in the past, there has been more regarding the controversy of how the speech was arranged instead of what was said in it. For one Democrat, it is indisputable that the Prime Minister’s speech was alarming, convincing and momentous. Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-NY) was extremely impressed by his speech. […] Regarding President Obama, he felt the degree of pressure and antagonism he has reserved for the Prime Minister has been uncalled for. […] He went on to say that such overt...

There was yet another stunning display of lawlessness over the last couple of days in Washington D.C. It was bold, wanton, and right in the face of the authorities. And it was awesome. Children were sledding down Capitol Hill. This was despite a specific ban on sledding or skiing around the capitol. Both activities are expressly forbidden. To be fair, cross-country skiing IS allowed, but only for the purpose of transportation. Presumably, that's no fun at all and therefore totally OK. Not everyone was happy about this, according to The Hill. Capitol Police Board Chairman and Senate Sgt. At Arms...

Texas Rep. Will Hurd’s Urdu is better than his Spanish, even though the latter is the preferred language of many constituents in his sprawling, two-thirds Hispanic district. The 37-year-old worked for the CIA for almost a decade, much of it undercover in Pakistan, where he mastered the national tongue. “When I had a long beard and wore local clothes, my Urdu was good enough to get the local discount at the bazaar,” Hurd said. Yet, he’s comfortable being a political outlier: Texas’ first black Republican elected to Congress since Reconstruction and only one of two black GOP House members along...

Director John Brennan has ordered a sweeping reorganization of the CIA, an overhaul designed to make its leaders more accountable and close espionage gaps amid widespread concerns about the spy agency’s limited insights into a series of major global developments. Brennan announced the restructuring to the CIA workforce on Friday, including a new directorate devoted to boosting the CIA’s computer hacking skills. He said the move comes after nine agency officers spent three months analyzing its management structure, including what deputy CIA director David Cohen called “pain points,” organizational areas where the CIA’s bureaucracy does not work efficiently. […] The...

A man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol called a television station from jail and said if he hadn’t been arrested, he would have gone to Washington and shot President Barack Obama in the head. WXIX-TV in Cincinnati said Christopher Lee Cornell called it from the Kentucky jail where he’s being held, confessed to being a supporter of the Islamic State group and said he planned to kill government officials in retaliation for U.S. strikes on the militant organization. […] Cornell, asked by the interviewer what he would have done had he not been arrested in January, said...

SEOUL, March 6 (UPI) — A North Korean news website denounced remarks a former U.S. negotiator made in Seoul and threatened to decimate the White House and other “strongholds” into a wasteland. The strongly worded statement, released on Saturday Pyongyang time, focused on the statements made by Christopher Hill, the former top U.S. delegate in the six-party talks. The negotiations, which addressed the North Korean nuclear crisis, were discontinued in April 2009 when North Korea pulled out of the talks.

The Department of Justice is preparing to charge New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez with corruption. Menendez, a Democrat, may not leave office quietly — his term isn’t up until 2018 — but if he does resign, it could present Republican Gov. Chris Christie with an opportunity to get back in the good graces of conservatives statewide and around the country. That’s because Christie would get to choose both the temporary replacement for Menendez and the date of a special election to fill the seat. Christie could choose a moderate Republican such as state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. or former Rep....

QUESTION: And then one follow-up question from yesterday: Do you have anything further on whether there’s going to be a comprehensive review of the contents of these emails or how it is that you’ve reached the, I guess, decision that there was no classified information included?

WASHINGTON (CNN) —The Capitol Police killed the hopes and dreams of thousands of D.C.-area children (and at least a few dozen Hill staffers) Wednesday night when it reaffirmed a city ban on sledding on the Capitol grounds. Frank Larkin, chairman of the Capitol Police Board, seemed to realize he'd be ruining the snow days of many of the Capitol's youngest residents when he said that his hands are tied by regulations dating back to the 1800s. "If the forecast holds true, there are many families who will want to enjoy the snow tomorrow. Although, for security reasons, the Capitol grounds...

The U.S. government on Thursday suspended its operations due to a blizzard that forced schools and offices in the Washington metropolitan area to close and expectations are for up to 20 cm (8 in.) of snow to blanket the region. The U.S. government, which employs some 300,000 people in Washington and its vicinity, closed its doors although it is expected that some employees will be able to work from their homes. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will hold a private meeting but do not have any other activities on their agendas for today and the daily White...

Kathleen Matthews, Marriott International’s executive vice president and chief global communications and public affairs officer, and wife of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, is planning to run for the seat of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Van Hollen announced Wednesday that he’ll seek the seat being vacated by Sen. Barbara Mikulski. ... Matthews, who has long talked about running for office, advocated Marriott’s move toward more progressive policies, including sustainability and LGBT friendliness. ... She’s on the boards of Catholic Charities Foundation, Ford’s Theatre and

Last April House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) released a report implicating Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in colluding with the IRS and Lois Lerner against the nonpartisan voters rights group “True the Vote.” Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder of “True the Vote,” testified before Congress in February. She was targeted by FBI, IRS, ATF, and OSHA after she filed for tax exempt status for her voters rights group. Engelbrecht said this during her testimony before Congress and Cummings, “Frankly, to sit before my accuser and be silent in the face of what he did was unconscionable.” ... This week the...

When she served as chancellor of Washington, D. C.’s public schools, Michelle Rhee’s policies provoked scorn from Capital City teachers, to put it mildly. Long gone from the D. C. scene, Rhee’s approach is still benefiting D. C. students. “Ninety-one percent of the students on opportunity scholarships graduate from high school compared to 77 percent of the students in D. C. public schools,” Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last Thursday. Currently, there are 22 states with private school funding programs, according to Dr. Wolf. Additionally, some states have Educational Savings...

The Senate’s top Republican is telling states to ignore a central part of President Barack Obama’s plans to curb the pollution blamed for global warming. In an op-ed published Tuesday in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says states should reject Obama’s proposed requirements for power plants to reduce carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas. The rule, expected to be final this summer, would require states to submit plans as soon as 2016, or risk being forced to comply with a federal substitute. …

Dear Justice Kennedy, June is nigh, and with it will comes your ruling on the most contentious political issue of our time: marriage. I write because I am one of many children with gay parents who believe we should protect marriage. I believe you were right when, during the Proposition 8 deliberations, you said “the voice of those children [of same-sex parents] is important.” I’d like to explain why I think redefining marriage would actually serve to strip these children of their most fundamental rights. It’s very difficult to speak about this subject, because I love my mom. Most of...

Netanyahu’s arguments deserve a serious response from the Obama administration — one it has yet to provide. The White House has sought to dismiss the Israeli leader as a politician seeking reelection; has said that he was wrong in his support for the Iraq war and in his opposition to an interim agreement with Iran; and has claimed that he offers no alternative to President Obama’s policy. Such rhetoric will not satisfy those in and out of Congress who share Mr. Netanyahu’s legitimate questions. His speech singled out “two major concessions” he said would be part of any deal the...