Free Republic

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has fled Syria's capital of Damascus for his family's coastal stronghold in Latakia, according to news sources. Opposition sources and a Western diplomat told London's Telegraph that the strongman was in thel city of Latakia, and was directing a response to yesterday's bombing of a cabinet meeting. "Our information is that [Assad] is at his palace in Latakia and that he may have been there for days," a senior opposition figure, who declined to be named, told Reuters. The palace, which Assad has used before to conduct official business, is located in hills near the city,...

WASHINGTON, DC - Project Veritas, the group headed by James O'Keefe and known for their undercover video operations on ACORN, NPR and voter fraud, has released a new video that exposes waste and corruption behind stimulus-funded "Green jobs." "The purpose of our investigation is to illustrate that many of the jobs being championed -- and funded -- by the Obama administration are merely paper positions that come at great expense to the American taxpayer," says O'Keefe. "Digging holes just to fill them up again is not meaningful work, nor does it produce economic output for a recovery. Giving people jobs...

Two months ago, the Congressional Budget Office issued a stark warning to Congress over the fiscal impact of "Taxmageddon," the upcoming expiration of the Bush-era tax rates at the end of this year. Allowing all of the tax rates to rise would push the US into recession: Tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect in January would suck $607 billion out of the economy next year, plunging the nation at least briefly back into recession, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.Unless lawmakers act, the economy is likely to contract in the first half of 2013 at an...

John Solomon, writing in the Washington Guardian, is reporting today that B. Todd Jones, the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), released a video last week to all employees. In the video, Jones warns that there would be “consequences” for any employees who report wrongdoing outside their chain of command. Jones was a federal prosecutor when Attorney General Eric Holder asked him to lead the embattled agency after the Fast and Furious scandal. He is supposed to improve morale and instill a new culture in the aftermath of that scandal. Jones' precise words are:...

Is Obama’s federal government getting ready to put a huge red X mark on the Hoover Dam, which supplies most of the American West with its life-sustaining water? Having this scenario play out is quite plausible as Barack Obama’s Executive Order # 13547 in support of the global Law of the Sea Treaty (L.O.S.T.) seeks to take control of our water in any form of precipitation, from sky to ocean! Total water control will give the American president and his global cohorts total control of all U.S. citizens if this initiative is not stopped by still-free citizens. Because the Water...

Given that just about everybody agrees that government openness is essential to a healthy democracy, why would a self-styled government watchdog group go after a congressman for leaking information about a scandal that indisputably has been covered up by high-ranking government officials? The logical answer is that the watchdog group is just another one of the front groups set up by Democrats and Republicans alike to pursue and defend their interests. Which brings us to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed an ethics...

Senator Charles Grassley and Congressman Darrell Issa are strongly criticizing a video message from B. Todd Jones, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to agency employees that might discourage them from stepping forward as whistleblowers. They sent a letter to Jones on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning, a San Diego newspaper came to Issa’s defense when it labeled a “watchdog” group now demanding that Issa be held in contempt of Congress as being, in reality, a “front group” set up by Democrats “to pursue and defend their interests.” It is the latest chapter in the...

VANCOUVER — Chris Sweeney and his husband were driving home to Seattle after a recent trip to Vancouver when they were stopped at the border for more than two hours and threatened with thousands of dollars in fines for dangerous contraband in the trunk of their car. Their suspicious cargo? Half a dozen Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, each filled with a tiny plastic toy — a childhood favourite in Canada but an illegal choking hazard in the United States. “I thought (the American border guard) had done his search and hadn’t found anything, and he was joking with us,” Sweeney,...

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Thursday asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to reverse the administration’s new immigration policy or threatened to file a lawsuit to overturn it in court. Napolitano was making her first appearance on Capitol Hill since the White House announced its policy changes, which will be carried out under her department. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Napolitano vigorously defended the policy, which allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to exercise its prosecutorial discretion for certain illegal immigrants under 30 years of age who wish to defer their deportation from the country. “Representative, I will...

This week, President Obama spelled out just how much he hates American business in an off-prompter moment in Roanoke, Va. If "you've been successful," said Obama, "you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out here. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there." So, according to Obama, it wasn't your brains...

The Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps. USDA has an agreement with Mexico to promote American food assistance programs, including food stamps, among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America. “USDA and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance,” the USDA explains in a brief paragraph on their “Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance” web page. “Mexico will help disseminate this information...

Deval PatrickÂ’s office personally asked town officials to dispatch road crews this week to fill potholes near his Berkshires mansion to pave the way for a smooth ride for first lady Michelle Obama when she hits the Bay State for a presidential fundraiser at the governorÂ’s getaway next month. Richmond Town Administrator Matthew Kerwood said a staffer from the governorÂ’s State House office called this week and asked him to plug potholes on Cone Hill Road, which leads to PatrickÂ’s Sweet P Farm, where heÂ’s hosting a $20,000-a-seat dinner on Aug. 3 with the first lady for the Obama Victory...

A newly released report reveals some hard facts about how much time and effort President Obama has actually put into fixing the economy. An analysis of the President's official schedule looks at his first 1257 days, and paints a picture of what reality looks like, as opposed to his rhetoric. The following excerpt shows some of the startling facts.

Democrats pressed their attack Sunday on Mitt Romney’s record as head of the investment firm Bain Capital in the 1990’s. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate majority whip, asked on NBC’s Meet the Press, “Why is Mitt Romney running away from his company, Bain Capital, like a scalded cat? Because there’s abundant evidence that under Bain Capital they were exporting American jobs to low-wage countries and he doesn’t want to be associated with it.” Defending Romney’s record at Bain Capital, Romney campaign advisor Ed Gillespie told NBC’s David Gregory that outsourcing – U.S. companies setting up foreign operations to replace...

Two recent studies have confirmed what the Register's Editorial Board has warned since 2006 – California's Global Warming Solutions Act will have devastating effects on the state's economy, and even be counterproductive in its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It was a big red flag when the California Air Resources Board, which enforces the law, estimated in 2010 that it would reduce the state's economic output by 0.2 percent. It should have raised more eyebrows than it did when bureaucrats and regulators tasked with putting the best face on its consequences admitted it will have a negative economic effect...

“Instead of downsizing, states have decided to just look for a new tax scheme to fund the leviathan. They see online sales as the way to go. iTunes downloads will be next.Congressional Republicans are helping.” Congressional Republicans led by Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming have begun negotiating behind closed doors with liberals like Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois to raise Americans’ taxes. They introduced their internet tax as an amendment to a Senate small business bill, but that bill stalled. Now they are confident they can sneak the internet tax into a lame duck session of Congress, just in time...

A federally-funded solar production facility in Nevada has ceased operations, according to a former employee at the facility. The closure could prove troublesome for the company’s political allies. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the North Las Vegas production facility for solar panel manufacturer Amonix has not operated since May. The plant was backed by $21.5 million in federal green energy “investment” – in the form of a grant and a package of tax credits – and touted at length by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Review-Journal reports: Rene Kenerly, a former material and supply manager at Amonix, said...

Why is the Romney team having a problem with this accusation? How about these DEMOCRAT Tax Cheats: Does the name Tim Geithner, the current United States Secretary of the Treasury ring a bell? ---------- Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff, who decided that he was far, far important to be expected to pay his property taxes here in Chicago. Emanuel suddenly remembered to pay his taxes -- three months late -- right after WBBM Newsradio 780AM began to investigate the story. ----------- As of the end of 2009, 41 people inside Obama's very own White House owe the government they're...

Tuesday evening, officials from Hawaii responded to Arpaio’s allegations that their lax laws on birth certificates could pose a national security threat, saying the allegations “are untrue, misinformed, and misconstrue Hawaii law.” Joshua A. Wisch, Special Assistant to the Attorney General of Hawaii released this statement: The State of Hawaii has repeatedly confirmed the indisputable evidence of President Obama’s birth in Hawaii. An exhaustive accounting of this is provided on the State Department of Health (DOH) website (http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/obama.html). When this issue last arose in May, the Washington Post noted that “the Hawaii Department of Health has released both the short...