Free Republic

ECORSE — With a healthy balance sheet, a two-year budget and an improved credit rating, Ecorse is back in the hands of local leaders. In April, Gov. Rick Snyder announced the city no longer is in a financial emergency. Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm put the Wayne County city under emergency management in 2009. Joyce Parker, the outgoing emergency manager, told Gov. Snyder recently that a $14.6 million cumulative deficit and a $5 million structural deficit were eliminated. And to make sure the city stays in good standing financially, there are several safeguards in place. The city must now work with...

I fully support family and friends of removing their sons from a once impressionable institution. The great “lie” that children are gay is nothing more than men and women pushing an evil agenda. America does not give up. Stand and fight for your boys and they will love you for it. This evil has not place in the lives of young boys or anyone for that matter. Do not allow these sick twisted individuals to dictate what your lives should and will be. I and every other Marine, Sailor, Soldier, Airmen, Coast Guard, and National Guardsman didn’t take an oath...

[snip]After the May 17, 2013 hearing conducted by the House Ways and Means Committee, at which Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller testified, Mitchell decided to release a memorandum she compiled, “to place into context the manner in which the IRS processed applications for exempt status prior to 2010, what has transpired during this terrible targeting period, and some reactions to the statements and misstatements and misrepresentations of Acting Commissioner Miller last week.” (Emphasis is ours)

Given our level of government dependency, being a confessed socialist is great cover for what I believe Obama really is – a supreme caliph-in-waiting. Haven’t we blindly spent trillions in American treasure and technology and thousands of American lives and wounded to see every country we supposedly are freeing from despots end up with Sharia law in their constitutions? The Muslim Brotherhood are persecuting, murdering and forcing out Christians wherever they gain control. They are harassing and killing Buddhists and Hindus. How dumb can we get? Don’t we have the most successful triune philosophy of government in history in the...

When a killer confesses, politicians who try to whitewash the truth from the public see their credibility drop into untrustworthy territory. They are either unbelievably naïve for their station in life or, more dangerously, they are knowingly putting their political considerations ahead of the safety of citizens.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (Special Report, Panel) on Obama's ounterterrorism speech: "..... he explains why he wants to change and ultimately repeal the law that authorizes the War on Terror. He wants all of that. But it derives from this notion which is every war has to come to an end. Every war in the past has and he said this war like all wars must end. That is a naive and utopian idea. It is true that all other wars have ended. But to end a war you need two sides. You will either have the surrender like the Germans and...

Uh-oh. Mortgage rates are rising at the same time that leading indicators (lumber futures and architectural billings) are declining. According to Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprise in conservatorship, mortgage rates are trending upwards. The primary-secondary mortgage rate spread has fallen below 100 basis points (but remains elevated since Fannie and Freddie were put into conservatorship). At the same time, lumber futures continue to decline. Architectural billings plunged declined by the most since 2008. And architectural inquiries also declined. House prices remain elevated since a year ago (FNC, Case-Shiller, Loan Performance, FHFA). Let’s see how this impacts prices.

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The Internal Revenue Service is in the news because of a growing scandal where it admitted targeting conservative non-profit groups and generally making their lives difficult. That led me to think about my own experiences trying to start a conservative non-profit in which the IRS delayed approving my application. I was dismayed because I had been given several examples of approved non-profit applications that I used as a template. And yet, I still got a letter with 18 questions that needed to be answered before the IRS would even consider my application. The IRS questioned how much I had reported...

Michael Adebolajo, 28, a former Christian who converted to Islam and was radicalized, is accused of killing Lee Rigby in east London. (snip) This was not the horror of tornadoes ripping through Moore, Okla., and killing innocents, ... This was a world at war in London, where terror is the madman in front of you as you are walking back to your barracks, with everything ahead of you. We talk about the war in Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. But this was the war that is the real terror for us, here and in London, this was the war...

Once again, the words of Enoch Powell appear prescient, although perhaps in not quite the way the late British parliamentarian and classicist intended. In the same week that Swedes have been besieged by aggrieved jihadists imported by their own government, Londoners experienced yet another subsidiary benefit of multiculturalism. This time, in the form of a Nigerian convert to Islam ritualistically slaughtering a member of the British Army. Drummer Lee Rigby, of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was methodically dismembered by an adherent to the Religion of Peace as he walked to his barracks yesterday. The loving...

Alessandro Taloni, a reputed associate of the Montreal-based Rizzuto clan, has pleaded guilty for his role in an alleged $1 billion drug trafficking organization which brought hydroponic bud into New York and sent powder cocaine into Canada according to a press release from Brooklyn federal prosecutors: "The organization allegedly transported tens of thousands of pounds of marijuana from outdoor growers in British Colombia to Montreal, Canada, and controlled numerous warehouses in and around Montreal for the manufacture of ecstasy and hydroponic marijuana. The drugs were smuggled into the United States using transportation networks run by the Hells Angels and Native...

Joe Biden has a very long history of putting his foot in his mouth. Be it when he called his running mate "Barack America," or when he stated, "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent to fully... I'm not joking." On Tuesday he did it again, this time when giving a speech about the impact that Jewish Americans have had on American culture. The Vice President started out by lauding the great achievements made by Jews in the United States. Then, speaking off-the-cuff, he veered into odd territory. Discussing the...

John Steinbeck's 1942 novel The Moon is Down is about people of a small  village occupied by Nazi forces somewhere in Northern Europe. They become sullen and their obedience is bought at an increasingly high price. Free people cannot remain conquered.Re-reading The Moon is Down left me with nagging questions about the extent to which the People of the United States remain free. Those questions did not arise when I first read it, many years ago. It now seems obvious that we are less free than we once were; yet perhaps (one can at least hope that) there are still enough to make...

In the wake of a pair of terrorists slaying a British soldier in the streets of London, talk show host Michael Savage pointed out Wednesday one key difference between the United States and the United Kingdom: Second Amendment rights. “Now what stands between us and what happened in London?” Savage asked. “Guns, guns, guns — only guns, only guns. And this very same gang that wants to flood this country with 50 million, 30 million, 20 million, 11 million — you pick the number, pick it out of a hat — illegal aliens, it’s all amnesty for every one of...

Sen. John McCain hammered his fellow Republicans on Thursday, saying that further objections to moving ahead on the budget could carry dramatic implications for future bills, including immigration. Tea party conservatives have objected to a House-Senate conference on the budget resolution, fearing that a deal could mean the adoption of a debt ceiling increase. Democrats and some Republicans have cried foul, and McCain, an Arizona Republican, said on the floor that if the GOP seeks to require conditions before going to conference, there’s nothing preventing the same thing happening on future bills, such as the farm bill currently on the...

The number of scandals and the speed at which they are both multiplying and growing in seriousness portends difficulties for Democrats in the near future. Nevertheless, they are a slippery bunch and never without a trick or two up their sleeve. All indications are that these scandals will end Democrat dreams of having useful idiots like Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan help them erase our borders thus giving them a fresh supply of voters. When that scheme ends, they will have to look elsewhere and that elsewhere is Statehood for Puerto Rico. A movement for statehood for Puerto Rico is...

h/t Kirby

While more than 100 school districts rushed to approve new contracts that impeded implementation of right-to-work before the March 27 deadline, at least two districts took a different approach. Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools and Hamilton Community School district embraced the concept of allowing its teachers a choice to join a union as a condition of their employment. Both districts approved new teachers’ union contracts before the right-to-work law took effect, but had specific language in their agreements that allowed teachers to opt out of their union. Hamilton Community Schools did it through a memo-of-understanding. "It was important to me and the...

Yesterday, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke indicated he has little appetite for a premature slowing of the central bank’s asset purchase program because of persistent weakness in the U.S. labor market and a general lack of confidence in the self-sustaining nature of the recovery. At the same time, he hinted that personal credit was too tight. Well, with California, Arizona and Nevada house prices racing like a scalded cat, I shudder to think what will happen if the credit floodgates open wide. Mortgage purchase applications remain stable and back at levels last seen in 1997. And according to Zillow, about...

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas the real “Maverick” spoke the hard core truth the other day by saying—‘I don’t trust Republicans.’ He is spot on and the old corrupt guard from both parties must be chucked now this coming 2014 election. There are only a few true blooded Republicans we should trust and they are Senators Ted Cruz and Trey Gowdy. America is in a War. A War bought on by banksters, corrupt politicians, and communists within our own government. Do not trust any “Progressives” regardless of party affiliation. All these corrupt individuals care about is getting elected and re-elected....

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Afghanistan Comes to London Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 0 Comments After telling the story of Mohammed’s boast that he would make the mountain come to him, only to be forced to go to it, Francis Bacon observed, “If the mountains will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain.” Americans, Englishmen, Frenchmen and countless others went to the Muslim world hoping to turn it into another Boston, another London and another Paris. Instead Boston, London and Paris are turning into another Kabul, another Islamabad and another Mogadishu. Mohammed has...

This year is no different; the authorities have mobilized the entire population to work on farms, meaning that adults and children alike face days of hard agricultural labor. The hours for official markets are also shortened at these times, and in some cases they are not allowed to open at all. This double-whammy only adds to the difficulty. .... Since rice planting requires a great many hands, soldiers, university, senior middle and elementary school students are all mobilized. Because this important national project determines the entire year's agricultural output, when planting season comes the authorities will try everything to get...

Mike Gallagher, a national syndicated Radio Talk Show Host, has today jumped on the Rubio Band Wagon to allow 10-20 million foreigners who have invaded our borders to stay here, and stay in front of those who have been waiting for years to enter our Country legally. Of course, Mr. Gallagher avoided giving an answer to his audience which addresses the most fundamental question which needs to be answered. How is it in the general welfare of the United States to allow 10-20 million foreigners who have invaded our borders to stay here who, for the most part, are uneducated,...

Rubio was on Cavuto and Hannity’s shows today and so naturally I watched Cavuto (watch daily) not Hannity and he (Rubio) was outraged about the current IRS scandal and said we need MORE investigations into it. See? He is one of us. And he says we can’t trust Obama with big government health care, (how about big government amnesty-care Rubio?) and we must repeal it , see, he is going after Obama ? He is on OUR side. He really ripped Obama on that too. Then Cavuto got to immigration and never letting us down he started by played a...

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) angrily stated that fellow Republican Senator Marco Rubio was delaying Senate business by objecting to a routine increase of the debt limit.

“How can I prepare for an economic collapse?” is one of the most common questions I get. It usually takes me a second to start to explain how complex such a question is. It’s like asking an auto mechanic, “Say, how do you build a car?” or asking a computer engineer, “What’s all that stuff inside my laptop?” I do have some first-hand experience in this matter, though. The economy in my country, Argentina, has gone through various crises, but none as large as when the economy collapsed in 2001 after a decade of apparent prosperity. The currency devaluated, and...

Sen. Ted Cruz proclaimed on the Senate floor Wednesday that he doesn’t trust other Republicans to fix the country’s fiscal situation, explaining why he objects to sending the Senate budget to conference with the House. “The senior senator from Arizona urged this body to trust the Republicans,” Cruz said, referring to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “Let me be clear, I don’t trust the Republicans. I don’t trust the Democrats and I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don’t trust the Republicans or the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has got us into this mess.” The...

Yesterday, Texas HB 48 passed the senate. It is now on its way to the governor for a signature. This means that there is no longer a requirement for renewal courses every five years to maintain a CHL. HB 48 would eliminate the requirement for a CHL holder to demonstrate handgun proficiency by taking a continuing education course to renew the license. The bill would repeal Government Code sections 411.188 (c) and 411.188 (j), which require a continuing education course for CHL renewal and would specify how DPS should adopt rules for this course. DPS would mail a notice of...

It is now clearer than ever that the pro-Muslim actions and non-actions of our "First Muslim President" are coming home to roost – with a vengeance. After over four years of his administration, here is where we find ourselves today with regard to attacks and threatened attacks by terrorists and terrorist nations. This week, as any rational person suspected, Muslim terrorists were behind the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Muslim terrorist brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – likely the puppets of a much broader Islamic terrorist cell that has yet to be identified or apprehended – detonated pressure-cooker bombs, a...

The Internet Sales Tax. Nothing illustrates the ravenous nature of BigGov and its insatiable desire to destroy even the smallest extant vestiges of Free Enterprise in America than the effort underway to pull millions of small businesses into their net of taxation. While the support this legislation is getting on Capitol Hill from Democrats is no particular eye-opener, it is the support from Republicans that should alert us to the hypocritical tendencies of that party. In one breath, they pander to us about smaller government and cutting spending and taxes – but when they think our backs are turned, they...

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow warned her very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very liberal audience that the Virginia Republican Party just picked a slate of “very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very conservative” candidates to run for office this fall. …… And those Republican loyalists who showed up for the convention picked candidates for this state-wide election who are very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very conservative. A very conservative Tea Party style slate of candidates. … But suffice it to say, I didn’t use enough “verys” in describing them. …

Guns are Tightly Controlled, but The U.S. Virgin Islands has one of the Highest Homicide Rates in the WorldNot counted as a state or a city, the U.S. Virgin Islands is often missed in statistics about gun control in the United States. Gun ownership is tightly regulated, with permission to own a gun only granted by the Police Commissioner upon application, and subject to the Commissioner's discretion. Even antique firearms, which are not regulated under U.S. Federal law, are not allowed unless they are inspected and "rendered useless". 476. Collections of antique firearms; certificates of uselessness. No provision hereof...

Annals of the Security State: More Airplane Stories James Fallows May 21 2013 "My dad fought a war so this can never happen in America. I will not dishonor my father's memory by giving up what he fought for. No, sir. With all due respect, I will not consent to a search without a proper warrant." Over the weekend I related the story of Gabriel Silverstein, a businessman and pilot who for no apparent reason was subjected to a two-hour detention and invasive search by Homeland Security officials as he traveled across the country in his small plane. The picture...

"Let me tell you what I'm really concerned about in addition to all the other things that I've said," said Cummings. "I'm concerned that all of this may have a chilling effect on employees where they say you know, when normally we would look at certain criteria fairly, not targeting anyone but say uh-oh, I'm worried because I'd better let this go."

Fed Chair Ben Bernanke testified this morning in the US Senate. Afterwards, US Treasury 10 year yield rose by around 9 basis points. Fannie Mae MBS current coupon rates have been rising. And the Bankrate 30 year spread over the Fannie current coupon rate remains about 100 basis points. The primary/secondary spread remains elevated from before Fannie and Freddie were put into conservatorship. And as Treasury rates trend upward, Fannie MBS durations are also rising. This results in a slower burn off rate for The Fed’s massive portfolio.

Michael Adeboloja is reportedly one of the London attackers. He allegedly answers to his Muslim name "Mujahid," or "one who fights Jihad." He is reportedly the man in the video alone. Word is that he is a Muslim convert. Someone claiming to be his friend has identified him on Twitter. His nationality is still not known, but it may be Somali. There are not many things on Google about the man, who has not been officially identified by the police.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Wednesday that he doesn’t trust members of his own party to negotiate a budget conference report. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) asked for a 10th time for unanimous consent to form a budget committee conference to work out the differences between the House and Senate budgets, but Republicans objected unless conferees are prohibited from raising the debt ceiling. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he thought it was “bizarre” that member of his own party didn’t trust that the House Republicans wouldn’t hold the party line in negotiations.

Hmmmm....I wonder why? Could it be the 2012 election? Nah.....couldn't be: E-mails between staff members of the House Oversight Committee and the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) suggest that the findings of a report on IRS targeting of conservative groups were initially scheduled to be released in September 2012, before the election. It was not formally released until May 14, 2013. “You mentioned your report would be ready in September. Any update for us?” a committee staff member wrote a TITGA employee on September 24, 2012. The employee responded that same day, explaining that “field...

I spent some time shooting Sporting Clays with Ika Ika last weekend. I was kind of gratified to hear him say that when he first read my Google Purge posts, he thought, "That guy's off his rocker." I felt off my rocker when I posted them. But I just could not make sense of what was happening. The pattern of how things should happen was just little bit off. So I wrote those posts, cracked myself up in the process and hit the "publish" button. In the first Google Purge post I observed: Somebody somewhere got the goods on General...

Apple's Bite Apple and its CEO Tim Cook are making history, superseding very serious Administration scandals from the MSM’s consciousness and from the front pages, as they endure a very public assault by Congress for having obeyed corporate and tax laws of the countries in which they conduct business. For decades international corporations have used all tools available to them which might strengthen their business, their health, their market penetration, and their profitability.  For decades most corporations, even small companies, when licensing intellectual property, have followed the rules Congress established, just as Apple has done.  Now, Congress, led by Sen....

I would say 'typical' statist tantrum when denied a fresh power-grab, yet this one is really a bit over the top...  The NY Post (via JWF) is reporting an incident where Mayor Bloomberg confronted a cab fleet operator in a private club over his recent court defeat re. his utopian 'Cab of the Future' program. Hissoner seems to have made quite an ass of himself in fact, threatening at the top of his lungs -with red face- while utilizing the 'F' word twice to underscore his point. And what's he all worked-up about? Seems his cab-replacement program (that was to...

The full face of political evil and arrogance showed its ugly features when progressives went up against the folks. And what we saw were the cruel, prideful, insensitive machinations of an Obama administration whose mantra involves the ends justifying any of their means. Showing no interest in their oath to maintain the public trust, these progressives revealed in real time television their demonic minds at work. When the outgoing IRS chief smirked at one Congressman’s question, hid behind the bureaucrat’s trompe l’oeil of “I don’t know,” and then used the intellectual’s latest, snarky transitional word “So,” we saw how he...

The unfolding IRS scandal is a symptom, not the disease. For decades, campaign-finance reform zealots have sought to limit core political speech through spending limits and disclosure requirements. More recently, they have claimed that it is wrong and dangerous for tax-exempt entities to engage in political speech. The Obama administration shares these views, especially when conservative, small-government organizations are involved, and the IRS clearly got the message. While the agency must be investigated and reformed, the ultimate cure for these abuses is to unshackle political speech by all groups, including tax-exempt ones, from arbitrary and unconstitutional government regulation. Beginning in...

A recent search for new Chevy Volts on cars.com unearthed 9,254 vehicles currently at dealerships for sale. There were another 258 late-model, used Volts available. About half of those had less than 5,000 miles on them. Considering the abysmal sales rate for the self-proclaimed electric wonder-car (1,306 in April for those keeping track), the unofficial inventory numbers point to about a seven month supply of Volts available. Ideal inventory levels are considered to be in the two month range. It may be near time for General Motors to halt production, yet again, for the floundering Volt. The inventory numbers for...

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose in April to the highest level in more than three years as housing continued to gain momentum. Purchases of existing houses increased 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.97 million, the most since November 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median forecast called for a pickup to a 4.99 million pace. Meanwhile, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced that mortgage applications fell 9.8% from the previous week. Mortgage purchase applications fell 3% from the previous week. But purchase applications remain at 2010 levels. Mortgage rates remain very low and...

Obammunist lackeys in-effect begging  for a Special Investigation... As widely expected, the IRS' Lois Lerner took the 5th at IRS targeting hearings on The Hill... but not before an arrogant, defiant diatribe about her years of great 'service' she's gifted us all with, not to mention standard Obammunist m.o.- deflect, divert, deny... then playing like she's pure as the driven snow. And this isn't the first time she's testified before Issa's committee... so that struck a couple of the more principled people in the room to ask 'hey, didn't she just forfeit her right to not testify by giving us that little propaganda spiel?...

I've rarely seen the "iron worker" so angry. He may have been playing for the cameras but he tends to be honest. I'll also point out that he's my representative and that I would have preferred that he get the US Senate nomination instead of Ed Markey and that he'd be a better senator than either Markey or the republican Gomez.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Partisan Nation Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The use of the IRS to target conservative groups should be the least surprising development in years. Not only does that sort of thing date back to Clinton and JFK, both of whom unleashed the IRS on their enemies, not to mention Nixon who never managed to pull off the things that JFK grinned, did and got away with, but there was no reason for not to do it. The two reasons not to sic the IRS on your enemies are decency and the law....

The Wall Street Journal reports on what National Review Online’s Veronique de Rugy calls one more in the law of ”unintended consequences” to the implementation of our President’s “signature law” – ObamaCare (via Memeorandum -bolded emphasis added by me): "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...