Free Republic

The United States Government is rapidly becoming a fascist dictatorship where Big Brother dictates and observes the daily lives of its citizens on an overgrowing basis.

The father of the 13-year-old boy who accused pop legend Michael Jackson of molesting him in the early 1990s was found dead in his Jersey City home earlier this month -- an apparent suicide -- authorities said today. A Jersey City police spokesman said that Evan Chandler, 65, was found dead on his bed in Liberty Towers, 33 Hudson Street. He had a single gunshot wound to his head and the gun was still in his hand, police spokesman Stan H. Eason said. Police checked on Chandler when they received a call from a Bayonne doctor, who was concerned because...

It looks like the leftist partisans who violated Joe the Plumber’s privacy, rifled through Linda Tripp’s confidential records, and spent weeks literally navel-gazing at Bristol Palin’s real and imagined pregnancies have hit a new low: leaking an underage pornographic video to smear Carrie Prejean. By now, the media have ensured millions of people who never learned the names of Van Jones, Valerie Jarrett, or Anita Dunn have heard that the former Miss California once made a solo sex tape -- or, as the seasoned gatekeepers of reliable journalism often report it, simply a “sex tape.” Prejean told Sean Hannity...

Carrie Prejean on Tuesday defended a recently surfaced erotic video of her as a youthful indiscretion and questioned whether it could actually be called a “sex tape” since no one else appears in it. Prejean admitted to making the video of herself and sending it to her boyfriend when she was 17 years old.

A civil war is threatening to erupt within the Democratic Party as liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org looks to punish moderate Democrats opposed to the sweeping health care overhaul proposed by party leaders. MoveOn has reportedly raised more than $3.5 million in contributions to fund primary challenges against "any Democratic senator who blocks an up-or-down vote on health care reform with a public option," according to an e-mail sent to group members on Thursday. The e-mail warned that any Democratic House member who joins Republicans to filibuster the health care reform measure will "face an enormous backlash from the grassroots." The...

Carrie Prejean demanded more than a million dollars during her settlement negotiations with Miss California USA Pageant officials -- that is, until the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her handiwork. The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let's just say, Carrie has a promising solo career. We're told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing....

Levi Johnston says he's keeping some "huge" things about Sarah Palin from the public. In Part One of a two-part exclusive interview with "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, which aired Wednesday, the father of Palin's grandson says, "There are some things that I have that are huge. And I haven't said them because I'm not gonna hurt her that way. " ... I have things that can, you know -- that would get her in trouble, and could hurt her. Will hurt her. But I'm not gonna go that far. You know, I mean, if I really wanted to hurt...

Going into the Copenhagen climate change summit, the delegates appear to be competing over who can offer the most ambitious and least realistic targets. If the upcoming Copenhagen climate change summit fails to result in substantive agreements, as increasingly seems likely, look for the global warming lobby to turn up the extortion heat. Here’s the dilemma: The United States, Europe, Japan, and other developed countries are steadily cutting per capita emissions. But there remain contentious divisions about what future cuts are technologically and economically feasible. Going into the talks, the delegates appear to be competing over who can offer the...

<p>For immediate release. As you know, I am one that is sick of scammers of this world. From global warming, to the very laws that control the people. However, one scam is starting to stick out right now.</p> <p>Free Republic LLC. has viewers, in which only seems to be run by one or two people. The donations on that site are enormous, but the costs just do not add up. We at the SCWXA use about 5% of our server's bandwidth and do not need over $20,000 monthly. It seems owner Jim Robinson is scamming the viewers by using the country's issues on hand, to make money.</p>

<p>Since you've done what you've done to another reporter of mine when others seem to be allowed to post back to their blog or sites viablogger section, I've taken the liberty to gathering information about your website.</p> <p>1. I've determined the need for all that money a month is invalid. I run a major website, and do not need that much.</p>

TALK-SHOW host David Letterman has been recorded on tape having sex with a female staff member - and he is worried that the footage will eventually be leaked, it's reported today. Letterman, 62, recently admitted to having a series of sexual relationships with some of the women that work for him. The chat show host and a much-younger female co-worker have apparently been captured on a studio surveillance tape in a compromising position. “If the tape makes its way into the criminal case, it’ll explode his marriage to smithereens,” a source told the National Enquirer magazine.

Bookies are making bets on whether some version of ObamaCare will pass this year, but with five bills floating around, there is no betting on what it will look like. The threat of a "public option" has generated the hottest protest with voters understanding that the unfair competition of a government plan will quickly destroy the private health insurance system. By contrast some conservatives have expressed support for Senate Finance Committee proposal requiring that everyone must purchase insurance. After all, they reason, isn't it just a matter of fairness to expect everyone to bear responsibility for their own care? In...

Urge a reexamination of Community Reinvestment Act compliance U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-06), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote Sheila Bair, Chairman of the FDIC and Chairman of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), earlier this week to urge a thorough reexamination of the rules governing compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). “Under current rules, many banks make donations to and enter into partnership with ACORN and its affiliates to meet their obligations under the CRA. Millions of dollars flows from these banks into ACORN in what amounts to borderline extortion,� said Bachmann. “There’s more...

Unionized state workers have rejected a contract proposal that called for 19 days of furloughs over two years, setting the stage for hundreds of layoffs, a State Employees Association official announced last night. Fifty-nine percent of voting SEA members rejected the deal, which also would have restored some bumping rights for state workers who might be laid off. The contract covers about 11,500 state workers. The votes, cast and mailed in over the last several weeks, were counted and released last night. "Even under the threat of massive layoffs, our members have stood strong in their fight for a fair...

The lawyer for Robert Joe Haldeman, the blackmailer accusing of extorting David Letterman says the gap toothed funny man's not telling the full story! "Here's a guy who is an Emmy Award winning journalist, who has dealt with cops and wiretaps and undercover investigations virtually his entire life," Haldeman's defense attorney Gerald Shargel said today. Shargel alleged that Letterman wasn't telling the whole story in last week's confessional that he was being blackmailed. Cops say 48 Hours Mystery producer Haldeman offered to "sell" Letterman a "screenplay treatment" about the comedian's affairs with Late Show staffers including Dave and Haldeman ex...

Details are emerging about David Letterman's sexcapades with women in his employ other than his acknowledged longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko, mother of his now five-year-old son Harry. CBS News producer Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, the man who was arrested for allegedly attempting to extort $2,000,000 out of Letterman by threatening to write a screenplay detailing uncomfortable aspects of Dave's dalliances, is a former boyfriend of Stephanie Birkett, a former Letterman personal assistant. I have already gone on record as saying that after watching Letterman going back to my days working graveyard in the eighties, I gave up on him and...

How did a veteran “48 Hours” producer end up being accused of a $2 million blackmail attempt on David Letterman? “There is another side of this story,” Gerald Shargel, attorney for Robert J. Halderman, said. “This story is far more complicated.” What could the plot to the other side of the story be? Halderman has already entered a “not guilty” plea to first-degree attempted grand larceny. According to Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, Halderman wrote to Letterman stating that he needed to “make a large chunk of money.” Attached to his letter was a one-page screenplay treatment, which described...

An NYPD source has told RadarOnline.com that the suspect under arrest in the David Letterman extortion case was a producer for CBS’s 48 Hours, Robert Halderman. Halderman often went by his middle name Joe and currently has a residence in Connecticut. A source close to the situation told RadarOnline.com that Letterman met with Halderman several times as part of the police operation leading to the arrest. RadarOnline.com has also learned that the alleged extortionist lived with the woman who David was involved with.

Weird. And awful. According to a press release sent by Letterman’s PR reps, the host first received a package three weeks ago from someone who claimed to have information about alleged sexual relations he has had with female employees of the “Late Show.”… “This morning, I did something I’ve never done in my life,” Letterman said on Thursday’s edition of CBS’ “Late Show.” “I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury.” As part of the testimony, Letterman admitted that he had engaged in sexual relationships with staff members. “My response to that is, yes I have. Would...

A con artist who claimed to have proof that David Letterman bedded several female staff members tried to extort $2 million from the the funnyman, he told his audience Thursday night. The stunning admission came hours after Letterman testified before a grand jury and admitted to "sexual relationships with members of his staff." "This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," said Letterman. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury." The "Late Show" host received a package from an individual who claimed to have information on his dalliances with female employees and said...

A con artist who claimed to have proof that David Letterman bedded several female staff members tried to extort $2 million from the the funnyman, he told his audience Thursday night. The stunning admission came hours after Letterman testified before a grand jury and admitted to "sexual relationships with members of his staff." "This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," said Letterman. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury." The "Late Show" host received a package from an individual who claimed to have information on his dalliances with female employees and said...

Already facing the loss of federal government funding, the community-organizing group Acorn also has run afoul of one of its big corporate partners, Bank of America Corp. In response to questions from The Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for the banking company said it has "suspended current commitments" to Acorn Housing, an affiliated group, and "will not enter into any further agreements with Acorn or any of its affiliates," pending assessments by the bank of the organization's operations. Acorn, officially the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has been under fire since the recent release of secretly recorded videos...

Guillermo Loaiza, a loan officer for a unit of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in Phoenix, has resigned from the board of Acorn Housing, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan said. Acorn Housing is an affiliate of the community-organizing group Acorn, the full name of which is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Both Acorn and Acorn Housing have been under fire since the recent release of secretly recorded videos that depicted Acorn employees offering advice on evading taxes, setting up brothels and smuggling illegal immigrants. J.P. Morgan has said it doesn't have a regular working relationship with Acorn...

Governments and schools across Michigan are bracing for the possible loss of millions of dollars in tax revenue as General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC argue that they should pay less in property taxes... More at link.

Pelosi $pares Charlie: GOPBy DAPHNE RETTER, Post Correspondent Last Updated: 5:05 AM, September 10, 2009 WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel has donated more campaign cash to the House Democrats than virtually any other member of Congress -- and critics charge that's bought him protection from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Federal Election Commission reports show Rangel's campaign committee has forked over $2 million to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 1995. Only Pelosi (Calif.), Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (Maryland) and Democratic Whip James Clyburn (SC) have been more generous. Rangel also has donated $3.8 million from his campaign and leadership committees...

WASHINGTON — Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life, including voting rights, housing, employment, bank lending practices and redistricting after the 2010 census. As part of this shift, the Obama administration is planning a major revival of high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies, in areas ranging from housing to hiring, where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly.

Former New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo was convicted today by a federal jury in Albany, N.Y., of attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge John F. Pikus of the FBI’s Albany office announced. Spargo, 66, was convicted following a three-day jury trial. Evidenced introduced at trial showed that on Nov. 13, 2003, Spargo solicited a $10,000 payment from an attorney with cases pending before him in Ulster County, while Spargo was serving as a state supreme court justice. The trial evidence showed...

excerpts.... When a portion of wealth is transferred from the person who owns it — without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud — to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated; that an act of plunder is committed. I say that this act is exactly what the law is supposed to suppress, always and everywhere. When the law itself commits this act that it is supposed to suppress, I say that plunder is still committed, and I add that from the point of view of society and welfare,...

House Democrats are probing the nation’s largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data and schedules of retreats and conferences. Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents for an examination of ‘extensive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.” The letters set a deadline of Sept. 14 for the documents. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, signed the three-page letter dated Monday. An industry source replied when asked for comment:...

It’s a thought to madden a Manichaean, but the usual outcome of any struggle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ isn’t victory for one or the other, but stalemate. Good and evil both survive to fight another day. Thus, the astonished delight over Barack Obama’s victory in the US presidential elections last November hadn’t even begun to subside before the resultant rage of racist America was making itself heard. In a column written three weeks after November 2, this columnist (‘Keeping him safe’) remarked on that fury. Yet, in the euphoria of the moment, I was inclined to dismiss it as “the...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino told police he had sex and paid for an abortion for the woman accused of trying to extort him for $10 million, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported on its Web site that Pitino told police he had been drinking in a Louisville restaurant and had sex with Karen Sypher in August 2003. The police report said he denied allegations by Sypher that he raped her after the restaurant closed and at another time somewhere else. He said later he gave her $3,000 for an abortion. Sypher went to...

<p>LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A newspaper is reporting that Louisville coach Rick Pitino told police he had sex and paid for an abortion for the woman accused of trying to extort him for $10 million.</p>

BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced Jeffrey L. Fowlkes, age 41, an inmate in the Maryland Division of Correction, today to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for using the mails to extort money from a another Maryland Division of Correction inmate and his family, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Nickerson also ordered Fowlkes to pay restitution of $4,250. "We will continue to work with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to combat contraband cell phones that allow jailed gang members to...

A federal Indictment charging Samuel L. Riddle, Jr., of Detroit, Michigan, with conspiring with former Detroit City Council President Pro Tempore Monica Conyers to use her positions on the City Council and the Board of Trustees of the City’s General Retirement System and Riddle’s position as Conyers’ Chief of Staff to extort money from individuals having business before the Council and the pension board was issued by a federal Grand Jury, United States Attorney Terrence Berg announced today. Berg announced that Riddle also is charged with aiding and abetting Conyers in receiving bribes relating to the Synagro sludge hauling contract...

A 46-year-old exotic dancer from Moorhead, Minn., has been charged with extorting $7,000 from a married pastor by threatening to expose their money-for-sex relationship to his wife and church leadership. Bunny Annette Byington was charged last week in Clay County District Court and released on $500 bail on Thursday. Once the pastor told Byington that he could come up with no more hush money, Byington followed through on her threat and told the pastor's wife, a senior pastor and assistant to the bishop about the affair, according to the charges. She also sent the bishop a photo of the pastor...

Citing the cereal’s claim that incorporating Cheerios into a daily diet could lower cholesterol by up to 4% within 6 weeks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced proposed regulations that would require buyers to obtain a doctor’s prescription before they would be allowed to purchase the product. “Lowering cholesterol is a medical outcome,” FDA spokesperson, Susan Cruzan pointed out. “As such, it comes under our jurisdiction. Other makers of cholesterol-lowering drugs must get FDA approval before marketing their products. To allow General Mills to skate on this would give them an unfair advantage.” Cruzan contended that “requiring consumers...

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), and JANET DIFIORE, the District Attorney of Westchester County, announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging ARTEM CHERNE, YEVGENY DYNKIN, ANDREW BURBAN, ANTHONY KALIKA, ANTON HUSYEV, LEONID VODVOZOV, ALEH MASALAKOV, ROBERT WOJICKI, and ROMAN LIKHADZIYEVSKI with offenses stemming from their membership in a criminal group involved in retail store burglaries, extortion, firearms offenses, marijuana trafficking, credit card fraud, identity theft, and other crimes. As...

The Republican senator who went public a day earlier about an extramarital affair has resigned his GOP leadership post on Wednesday. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., stepped down as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking GOP position in the Senate, after holding a brief news conference Tuesday to come clean about his affair with a former aide. He is not expected to resign from the Senate. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., confirmed the move Wednesday afternoon. "He's accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents. He offered, and I accepted, his resignation as chairman...

NEWARK, NJ—A former Jersey City building inspector pleaded guilty today to extorting corrupt payments from contractors, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced. David Harrington, 47, of Orange, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal Information charging extortion before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton. Harrington is free on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 17. At his plea hearing, Harrington admitted accepting corrupt payments in exchange for his agreement to expedite inspections of certain contracting projects being performed by a government cooperating witness between January 2004 and November 2006. Harrington admitted that he extorted the...

Atlanta, GA - NATALIE NICOLE DUNN, 32, of Ellenwood, Georgia, a former DeKalb County State Court Probation Officer, pleaded guilty late yesterday to conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right in a criminal charge-fixing scheme. United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, “This former DeKalb County Probation Officer has now admitted that she tried to use her position to assist a charged drug dealer in obtaining a dismissal of his case in exchange for cash. Now she will face a federal prison sentence for her intolerable attempt to corrupt the justice system.” According to United States Attorney Nahmias,...

Larry Moore has been attempting to earn his way off the streets of San Francisco by shining shoes. He used to be one of the homeless drunkards bumming change from pedestrians up until about a year ago when he decided to try to pull himself up by the bootstraps, so to speak. While he still sleeps under the Bay Bridge, for the last 11 months he’s cleaned up his act—stopped drinking, bathes everyday, dresses neatly and works diligently at his trade. He’s been saving money to rent a room so he can get out of the ranks of the homeless....

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that GEORGE ORTIZ, a former employee of the New York City Department of Education ("DOE"), was sentenced today by United States District Judge BARBARA S. JONES in Manhattan federal court to 30 months in prison. ORTIZ pleaded guilty on February 6, 2009, to extortion; extortion conspiracy; soliciting, receiving and accepting bribes; and conspiracy to solicit, receive, and accept bribes. According to the Indictment, statements made at the guilty plea and sentencing proceeding, and other documents filed in the case: ORTIZ worked as a supervisory...

Governor Charlie Christ (R-Fla.) touted the state’s hike in cigarette taxes as “a perfect compromise between the need for more revenue and the promotion of healthier habits.” “In an ideal world we’d be banning the manufacture and sale of tobacco,” Christ argued. “We all know its bad for us. Yet, too many of us are addicted to the substance. But we can use this addiction to help close the gap in government revenues.” Christ said that “we shouldn’t let profiting from people’s vices be monopolized by organized crime. People’s addictions to cocaine and heroin are sources of income for mobsters....

Note: Audio is included at the link. # QUOTE: Press Room: Inside the FBI Chinese-Americans Receive Phone Threats, 05/22/09 Listen with Windows Media Player Also available on iTunes Mr. Schiff: Hello I’m Neal Schiff and welcome to Inside the FBI, a weekly podcast about news, cases, and operations. Investigations are underway across the United States of telephone threats to Chinese-Americans. Mr. Phillips: “We really hope that they’ll reach out to their law enforcement; local law enforcement to report it. They can also reach out to their local FBI office; we’ve got 56 field divisions across the country.” Mr. Schiff: That’s...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today said the federal government has ruled that the state did not violate the law by cutting pay for home healthcare workers earlier this year. Schwarzenegger made the announcement in Washington after meeting privately with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In a letter to Schwarzenegger, the department said the state remains eligible to receive another $8 billion in stimulus money. Last month, the Obama administration said the state may have violated the new federal stimulus law by cutting the state's contribution of pay for unionized home healthcare workers from a maximum of $12.10 to $10.10...

A judge said Friday that she's referring a Los Angeles lawyer to federal prosecutors and the State Bar over his involvement in lawsuits that she found were part of a massive fraud by purported Nicaraguan banana workers against U.S. food giant Dole. Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney said that attorney Juan Dominguez, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuits against Dole, would be subject to charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, defrauding a court, conspiring to extort a United States company and possibly federal racketeering violations. She also ordered Dominguez to appear in her courtroom on June 15 for...

The allegations against law enforcement people in Tenaha and in Shelby County, Texas are the kind of allegations you’ve heard about people in Cuba, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. People in charge are accused of manipulating laws, blackmailing, extorting, and not giving a you know what about civil rights and common decency. Here’s the deal: at least 150 drivers, virtually all of them African Americans or Latinos have accused the town cops of pulling them over for minor infractions. Once pulled over, the drivers are often asked if they have money. If they say yes, these drivers tell...

Next on the chopping block: local governments. KQED's John Myers reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office told local government groups today the state will borrow $2 billion from local governments if voters reject the ballot measures on May 19

Note: Photos included. # Taking a Stand Against MS-13 05/01/09 Our MS-13 Task Force was able to resolve the case quickly because the victim came forward with security surveillance tapes of the robbery. After MS-13 gang members robbed a Houston beauty salon at gunpoint last January and sexually assaulted a salon employee, one of the gang members went a step further: he took the owner’s picture so he knew exactly who she was. If she thought about going to the police, he said, she would be sorry. The owner was also told that from now on, she would be expected...

Yesterday (May 1) on Detroit’s Frank Beckman’s morning talk show (WJR), bankruptcy attorney Tom Lauria made the incendiary accusation that the members of the White House had threatened to use the “the full force of the White House Press Corps to destroy” his client’s reputation if it didn’t acquiesce to highly unfavorable terms of the government’s proposed Chrysler restructuring plan. Because of the strongarm tactics, Lauria’s client dropped its opposition. Here is the tape of Beckman’s interview of