Free Republic

Employers are increasingly recognizing they may be able to avoid certain penalties under the federal health law by offering very limited plans that can lack key benefits such as hospital coverage. Benefits advisers and insurance brokers—bucking a commonly held expectation that the law would broadly enrich benefits—are pitching these low-benefit plans around the country. They cover minimal requirements such as preventive services, but often little more. Some of the plans wouldn't cover surgery, X-rays or prenatal care at all. Others will be paired with limited packages to cover additional services, for instance, $100 a day for a hospital visit. Federal...

North Koreans holding Chinese boat for ransom By William Wan, Published: May 20 BEIJING — Armed North Koreans are holding a Chinese fishing boat and its crew for ransom despite the protests of Chinese officials, the boat’s owner said Monday. The boat’s seizure — which occurred early this month but was revealed by Chinese officials only Sunday night — is the latest dust-up between North Korea and China, which Pyongyang has long relied on to prop up its economy and defend it from international censure efforts by the United States and others.

The European Union on Monday denied a report in the Israeli media that it was delaying a decision to label products from Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, AFP reported. On Sunday, the Haaretz newspaper reported that the EU had delayed labelling the products to the end of June at the request of the United States. "Contrary to what was recently reported in the Israeli media, work on the effective enforcement of EU legislation with regard to the labelling of settlement products has not been delayed. Nor has the EU been asked to postpone such work," a statement...

Dr. Yehuda David, who was sued for libel by the father of Muhammad al-Dura – and eventually won his case – expressed great satisfaction at the issuing of a report by a special report by a government panel that revisited the infamous incident, in which IDF soldiers were accused of killing the 12 year old Arab boy at the start of the second intifada. The committee determined that not only were the allegations – and a report by French television purporting to show IDF soldiers shooting and killing the boy – a lie, but that the al-Dura is not even...

The head of the National Treasury Employee Union (NTEU), which represents employees of the Internal Revenue Service, met with President Barack Obama in the White House one day before the manager of the IRS’s “Technical Unit” suggested establishing a “Sensitive Case Report” for the tax-exempt status applications of Tea Party groups, according to data from the official White House visitor log and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The White House visitor log shows that NTEU President Colleen Kelley met with Obama--“POTUS,” President of the United States--on March 31, 2010. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report on...

Fun from MSNBC’s early afternoon “news” bloc of programming via Noah Rothman. The logic is ironclad and inexorable: Doug Shulman, appointed IRS commissioner by Bush in March 2008, was so fiercely loyal to his Beltway Republican masters that he decided to risk his career to kneecap conservative insurgents’ nonprofits in 2010 … even though Bush had left office more than a year before and the GOP establishment he represented was widely loathed by pretty much everyone in America. Oh, and even though (again per Rothman) Shulman himself has donated to the DNC in the past. Say it with me, guys:...

Riots" and "Stockholm" are two concepts that rarely pair up. But on Monday, angry masked youths in a suburb of the Swedish capital took to the streets to set fire to cars, toss rocks at police and ignite a parking garage. The disturbance was believed to be set off by the fatal shooting by police earlier this month of a 69-year-old man who allegedly attacked them with a machete. Authorities said at least 100 cars were damaged, and the fire in the garage forced an evacuation of an apartment building. About 50 residents were sheltered temporarily in buses. Police said...

A Washington state man who impregnated a 12 year-old girl forced her to have an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in order to cover up his sexual assault on the girl. The Bellingham Herald reports that Luis Gonzalez-Jose, 31, of Everson, Washington must serve a sentence of six years in jail, then leave the United States, after raping the young girl in her home while her mother was in the shower, according to documents filed in Whatcom County Superior Court. Gonzalez-Jose brought the girl to a Planned Parenthood clinic in August of 2012, where she falsely told staff employed...

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior presidential advisers knew in late April that an upcoming report was likely to find that IRS employees had inappropriately targeted conservative political groups. That disclosure on Monday expanded the known circle of top officials who were aware of the audit beyond those identified earlier by the White House. The White House says McDonough and the other advisers did not tell President Barack Obama about the impending report, leaving him to learn the results from news reports later. The White House defended the decision to keep the president in the dark,...

To mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn on May 17 will display the rainbow flag on the Embassy building at Kentmanni 20, Tallinn. IDAHO is an annual event celebrated internationally to counter homophobia and raise awareness of the human rights discrimination faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals. “Flying the flag,” Ambassador Levine said, “is a simple statement of our support for the LGBT community and its struggle for equal rights.” Noting the substantial progress being made, Ambassador Levine added that much of the world has come to understand that...

May 20, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Under President Obama, “justice” is anything but blind. Neither is it deaf. In fact, based on recent revelations, it appears to be watching your every move and listening to your every word. Still, if you happen to be a federal employee, now it’s even listening for your silence. The only thing this Obama White House seems to generate is scandal. Well, here’s yet another to add to the growing list. In addition to the Benghazi cover-up, IRS targeting of political dissenters and the illegal seizure of media phone records, whistleblowers within DOJ have contacted Liberty...

The “charity” run by President Barack Obama’s half-brother that was fast-tracked for IRS tax-exempt status is based at a Virginia UPS store, according to its website.The organization’s IRS filings list another Virginia address that is actually a drug rehab center where the foundation does not appear ever to have been based.The Barack H. Obama Foundation is run by Abon’go “Roy” Malik Obama, the half-brother of Barack Obama.As first reported by The Daily Caller, the foundation was speedily approved for IRS exemption by Lois Lerner, the IRS senior official at the center of the targeting of conservative organizations that have waited...

Just in time for the cooler spring that has swept the nation — complete with unseasonal snow in the Rockies region — scientists with the University of Manchester said pollution actually brings on climate cooling, not warming. The logic is that manmade pollutants make clouds brighter, and that impacts how sunlight is allowed to shine — and that brings about cooler temps, scientists say, TG Daily reported. “We discovered that organic compounds such as those formed from forest emissions or from vehicle exhausts, affect the number of droplets in a cloud and hence its brightness, so affecting climate,” said one...

Top White House aides first learned of a draft report detailing IRS abuses in targeting conservative groups in late April, but they chose to insulate President Obama by not informing him until it exploded in the press, the president’s spokesman said Monday. White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Monday that White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler learned about an IRS inspector general’s draft report looking into the singling out of conservative groups on April 24. She advised senior White House staff including chief of staff Denis McDonough — about the then-draft report, but Mr. Carney said she believed that...

CHARLOTTE - Rallies in Charlotte, Raleigh and across the country took place Friday, calling on the Boy Scouts of America to keep its current ban on gay membership. Next week in Texas, the National Council will vote on a resolution that would allow gay boys to join but not openly gay adults. Both are currently banned. Those rallying say sex and politics have no place in the Scouts. "If they don't change the policy, they might lose 20,000 to 30,000 people. This issue has brought things to a head, and created, unfortunately i believe, some wounds and division" said...

An 18-year-old Florida student’s senior year has become a nightmare — all because she was in a same-sex relationship with a 15-year-old, her family says. Kaitlyn Hunt was arrested Feb. 16 for having a physical relationship with a younger classmate, who was her girlfriend at the time, mom Kelley Hunt Smith wrote on Facebook. Under Florida law, Hunt could see up to 15 years in prison and must register as a sex offender. A plea deal, however, remains on the table that would give Hunt two years' house arrest and one year of probation, her family said. “Does my daughter...

AMMAN/BEIRUT - About 30 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar Assad have been killed in the fiercest fighting this year in the rebel stronghold of Qusair, Syrian activists said on Monday. Sunday's reported death toll was the highest for Hezbollah in a single day's conflict in Syria, highlighting the increasing intervention by the guerrilla group originally set up by Iran in the 1980s to fight Israeli occupation troops in south Lebanon. If confirmed, the Hezbollah losses also reflect the extent to which Syria is becoming a proxy conflict between Shi'ite Iran and Gulf...

Democratic and Republican members of the Gang of Eight split Monday over a proposal to block millions of immigrants from receiving earned income tax credits, a major cash assistance program. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) broke with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) over the issue of giving federal payments to illegal immigrants who would receive temporary legal status under the legislation. Graham and Flake supported an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to deny earned income tax credits (EITC) to people with Registered Provisional Immigrant Status (RPI). An estimated 11 million illegal immigrants...

President Obama talked about “racism” at Morehouse College this weekend. The timing is interesting because the trial of George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin in February 2012, will begin in June. Zimmerman is Hispanic and Martin was black. President Obama stated at Morehouse, “We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices. Growing up, I made quite a few myself. Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not...

Ukip is now within touching distance of the Conservatives, with the eurosceptic organisation polling just two per cent behind the governing party. A Survation poll put the Conservatives on 24%, down five points, Labour on 35%, down one point, the Liberal Democrats on 11%, down one point, and Ukip on 22%, up six points. Because of the oddities of the first-past-the-post electoral system, the poll would give Labour 377 seats, Tories 205 seats, Lib Dems 39 seats and Ukip one seat if replicated at a general election. The result is likely to worsen the chaotic debate which has dominated the...

Catherine Engelbrecht’s tale has all the markings of a classic conspiracy theory: She says she thinks that because of her peaceful political activity, she and her family was targeted for scrutiny by hostile federal agencies. Yet as news emerges that the Internal Revenue Service wielded its power to obstruct conservative groups, Catherine’s story becomes credible — and chilling. It also raises questions about whether other federal agencies have used their executive powers to target those deemed political enemies. Before the Engelbrecht family’s three-year ordeal began, Catherine says, “I had no real expectation or preparation for the blood sport that American...

The union representing 12,000 adjudications officers and staff for the United States Citizen and Immigration Services Council (USCIS) came out in opposition to the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill on Monday morning. The USCIS Council and its president, Kenneth Palinkas, joined the (letter) the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council, the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, and sheriffs from around the country have signed declaring the 867 page immigration bill makes problems worse for immigration law enforcement rather than better. In that letter, law enforcement officials noted that there has been a rush on the border by illegal...

The Hill has a story today that leaves one wondering if, when it comes to gun control, there is any line too ridiculous for progressives to cross: A House Democrat inspired by the last James Bond movie has offered legislation to produce handguns with “personalization technology.” The idea is to produce guns that can only be used by the gun’s owners. Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) cited the latest James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” as inspiration for the bill. “In the most recent James Bond film, Bond escapes death when his handgun, which is equipped with technology that recognizes him as its...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg used a commencement speech to push his gun-control agenda, telling graduates of Kenyon College in Ohio that gun control is “something you really should think about.” Bloomberg, who co-chairs Mayors Against Illegal Guns, spent at least $14 million in support of legislation that would have required universal background checks for all gun-buyers. Although the bill died in the Senate on April 17, Bloomberg said the battle isn't over. (VIDEO-AT-LINK) “I believe we will win, sooner or later, because I believe that all of you, your generation more than any other at least since the 1960s,...

The city council of a tiny rural hamlet in Somerset, England, has vetoed a plan to fly the flag of St. George because its links to the Christian Crusades in the Middle Ages may offend the town's Muslim residents. ... John Clements, vice president of the Royal Society of St. George, a patriotic organization, called the Radstock councilors' decision “nonsense” and a form of “censoring” of the national flag.

A union representing 12,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers will publicly oppose the Senate Gang of Eight immigration plan Monday, giving critics of the overhaul effort additional political ammunition as they work to defeat legislation working its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee. In a release announcing the group's opposition to the bill, National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council president Kenneth Palinkas writes that the bill would fail to address an "insurmountable bureaucracy" at the federal agency overseeing immigration documents and argues that USCIS personnel are currently "pressured to rubber stamp applications instead of conducting diligent case review and...

The Senate’s immigration bill will raise national security risks and the Obama administration will do little more than “rubber-stamp” illegal immigrants into the program, endangering Americans, says the labor union representing the 12,000 employees who will have to approve the applications. Kenneth Palinkas, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 119, which represents officers and staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will deliver a damning critique of the Senate bill Monday, according to a copy of his statement obtained by The Washington Times. His statement goes well beyond the current debate, portraying an agency intent on approving...

The White House's chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the Internal Revenue Service likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups, a senior White House official said Sunday. That disclosure has prompted a debate over whether the president should have been notified at that time. In the week of April 22, the Office of the White House Counsel and its head, Kathryn Ruemmler, were told by Treasury Department attorneys that an inspector general's report was nearing completion, the White House official said. In that conversation, Ms. Ruemmler learned that "a small number of line IRS...

Al-Hamad, who is Wahhabi (extremist Sunni) and harbors a sectarian hatred for Alawite and Shiite Muslims, said he has another gruesome video of his killing a government soldier from the Alawite faith. “Hopefully we will slaughter all of them [Alawites]. ... Human Rights Watch (HRW), which validated the video, released a report on May 13 identifying al-Hamad as a well-known commander responsible for the recent cross-border shelling of a Shi‘ite Lebanese village that killed two. The organization called on the U.N. Security Council to refer the Syria situation to the International Criminal Court to ensure accountability for all war crimes...

New defenses and distractions in the IRS scandal are going to come rolling out from the administration and its defenders like water off a duck's back. One ploy is evident in this sympathetic story from Friday's Washington Post seeking to portray the IRS Determinations Unit as a just a group of nice, non-partisan number-crunchers: The [determinations] staff member [in Cincinnati], who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said that the determinations unit is competent and without bias, that it grouped together conservative applications “for consistency’s sake” — so one application did not sail through...

Keith Cressman of the locust-fighting unit of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said, Sunday, that the locusts crawling around Israel's southern border will start flying in two weeks and be most destructive as they prepare for the trip to the breeding grounds in northern Sudan. Following a tour out in the field, Cressman said he was impressed by the manner and pace of the Agriculture Ministry's determined war on the pests. The ministry is using ground spraying against every swarm that enters from Egypt, with air spraying as needed, around the clock. It noted that there were fewer...

A senior Hizbullah terrorist was among 20 members of the group who were killed in intense fighting in Syria on Sunday, Al Arabiya reports. According to the report, the Hizbullah terrorists were killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr, following clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces who attempted to enter the town earlier in the day. Sources also told Al Arabiya that dozens of Hizbullah members were wounded during the fight and had been taken to hospitals in Beirut, Lebanon for treatment. .....

  Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do! For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~ John Darling Terry Info from here.             Army honors highly decorated Civil War Soldier By David Vergun WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 5, 2013) -- A Union Army war hero and Medal of Honor recipient was recognized recently by the Army for brave and honorable service, when a past...

**SNIP** “I will not bore you with his history as a congressman. You, I am sure, have received more information about his tenure than I have.” “Therefore I will reduce my letter to this statement. Please let mercy temper justice.” Butler directed his comments to the wrong judge, however. His letter is addressed to Judge Robert Wilkins, who is no longer assigned to the case. Judge Amy Berman Jackson received the case through a random reassignment April 16. Jackson is to be sentenced July 1.

The government investigative committee that was set up to determine the truth of allegations that IDF soldiers killed 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura during the "Second Intifada" have determined that not only were the allegations – and a report by French television purporting to show IDF soldiers shooting and killing the boy – a lie, but that the al-Dura may not even be dead. ..... ....The fact that he was still alive at the end of the French television video, after the gunfire had stopped, could mean that the boy is alive even now. “Since this issue was first raised there have...

Local Conservative party campaigners, including the chairman of one constituency association, will this week pledge their support for Nigel Farage after one of David Cameron’s allies described grassroots Tories as “mad, swivel-eyed loons”. Mr Farage uses an advertisement in Monday's Daily Telegraph to urge Conservative voters to back Ukip. The “loons” description, he says, is “the ultimate insult” from a party leadership that has betrayed the trust of its own supporters. He writes in the advertisement: “Only an administration run by a bunch of college kids, none of whom have ever had a proper job in their lives, could so...

In a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, President Barack Obama recalls Jim Crow laws and racism of the 40s and 50s. Morehouse College is a historically black college. "Dr. King was just 15 years old when he enrolled here at Morehouse. He was an unknown, undersized, unassuming young freshman who lived at home with his parents. I think it’s fair to say he wasn’t the coolest kid on campus; for the suits he wore, his classmates called him 'Tweed.' But his education at Morehouse helped to forge the intellect, the soul force, the disciple and compassion that...

The American people have lost faith in U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., and he must be replaced, a top GOP senator said Sunday. “I lost confidence in the attorney general a long time ago over his cover-up of the Fast and Furious investigation,” said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, referencing Mr. Holder’s role in the infamous gunrunning scheme that went awry and cost the life of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Calls for Mr. Holder’s ouster have grown louder since it was revealed the Justice Department gathered telephone records for at least 20 Associated Press editors and reporters...

The White House is standing behind the woman who led the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt division while it targeted conservative groups — the same official who now runs the part of the agency charged with implementing “Obamacare.” “No one has suggested that she did anything wrong yet,” said White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, speaking on “Fox News Sunday.”Mr. Pfeiffer added that no one should jump to conclusions about whether Sarah Hall Ingram, given a promotion at the IRS as the agency’s singling out of tea party and conservative groups began to come to light, was directly involved in any...

The Homeland Security Department has granted legal status to 99.2 percent of all illegal immigrants who have applied under President Obama’s new non-deportation policy for young adults, according to the latest numbers released Friday. That’s a slight drop from the 99.5 percent approval rate reported last month. The policy, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, grants legal status to most illegal immigrants under the age of 31 who came to the U.S. before age 16 ... DACA is seen as a test-run should Congress pass a broad legalization for the 11 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the...

As our military moves into its second decade of fighting overseas, some in the media and on Capitol Hill have shamefully managed to both cover up an actual scandal over the death of four Americans in Benghazi and at the same time manufacture a scandal through their outrage over reports of sexual assault in the military. With barely contained vitriol, editorials, news articles, and political speeches have recently described these reports as an "epidemic." Top military leaders have been berated and slandered for "failing to understand the problem" and for creating a culture of rape by getting "their buddies" off...

May 19, 2013 It Doesn’t Matter Where Obama was While Benghazi Happened, Says Obama Aide Daniel Greenfield Only crazy conspiracy theorists think that the Commander-in-Chief’s presence and attention count when an American diplomatic facility is under siege.VIDEO According to Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s whereabouts during the attack don’t matter. Oddly enough Bush taking the time to finish reading a children’s book to a class of nervous children did. WALLACE: with all due respect, you didn’t answer my question. what did the president do that night?PFEIFFER: kept up to date with the events as they were happening.WALLACE: he didn’t talk...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) hasn't given up on his bill to expand background checks for gun purchases, he said Thursday, signaling more willingness to return to the plan than he had publicly shown before. "If we could find a way to bring some more folks on board, then of course it would be worth bringing it up again," Toomey said in an interview. While he has largely returned his focus to the fiscal issues he has long been associated with, he said he still occasionally talked privately with fellow senators about the background-check bill that was defeated...

A violent mob, including priests, broke down barriers and attacked marchers at a rally to mark International Day against Homophobia in Tibilisi, Georgia. Attackers were heard screaming, "Kill them! Tear them to pieces," according to witnesses. The march, in favour of LGBT rights ended in chaos as police struggled to evacuate the 50 marchers from Tibilisi's Freedom Square. They were taken to safety by special forces. The rally was condemned earlier by Patriarch Ilia II, head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, but he urged people to behave and restrain from violence. On the morning of the rally, priests gathered...

During the summer of 2010, the dozen or so accountants and tax agents of Group 7822 of the Internal Revenue Service office in Cincinnati got a directive from their manager. A growing number of organizations identifying themselves as part of the Tea Party had begun applying for tax exemptions, the manager said, advising the workers to be on the lookout for them and other groups planning to get involved in elections. “I don’t believe there’s any such thing as rogue agents,” said Bonnie Esrig, a former senior manager in the I.R.S. office in Cincinnati. The specialists, hunched over laptops on...

What were the bonuses based on? Tapscott said, “The civil service bases its performance award system on a number of factors, many of which are very vague, escape definition and generally leave a great deal of discretion to whomever you work for. Trust me, they have very little relationship with the kind of bonuses people get in the private sector for actually producing.” He added, “This is indicative of the culture of pay without performance, which is typical of federal civil service.” Read more: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/05/16/report-nearly-100-million-bonuses-handed-out-irs-2009#ixzz2TjbmaoJv

From The White House web site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/ "There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov." Yes, you read that correctly. The Orwellian White House wants to silence the opposition...

        THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND There is a line separating dedication-to-duty from "work-a-holism". Dedication to duty is good, healthy, positive. Work-a-holism, on the other hand, is negative, harmful and eats away at family relationships. We must know the difference between the two. Let me tell you about a man who was called the Greatest American Soldier of the 20th Century: General George C. Marshall. Born in Uniontown, PA in 1880, he graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1902. As a junior infantry officer in the US Army he served two tours in the Philippines, in several...

Plenty of people rightly mocked the news a few years ago that the Associated Press was working on a plan to "DRM the news." The idea was to put some sort of licensing mechanism together to get news aggregators to pay to promote their news. This seemed incredibly dumb for a whole host of reasons. It added no value. Its only purpose was to limit the value for everyone in the system by putting a tollbooth where none needed to exist. When it finally launched last year to great fanfare in the newspaper world, under the name "NewsRight," we pointed...

There were new questions Saturday night concerning if anyone in the White House was aware of the IRS' targeting of conservative groups. Inspector General Russell George said he informed a deputy at the Treasury Department in June of 2012 about the probe into the IRS. The Treasury Department confirmed the timeline but said they did not know the details of the investigation until last week. It's the first evidence that someone within the Obama administration knew about the practice during the presidential campaign. It is unknown whether anyone in the White House was told of the federal investigation. Republican Congressman...