Free Republic

.... Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer seemed to hit hard in December 2012 when he announced that global banking giant HSBC would pay the government a fine of $1.9 billion.... In March 2013 Breuer’s boss, Attorney General Eric Holder, went before the Senate Finance Committee to explain why HSBC wasn’t indicted for these crimes. He said some banks may be too large to prosecute without wrecking the economy. Holder’s “too big to jail” comments caused an immediate uproar. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said “big bankers know that if they commit financial...

In the Gospel from Ash Wednesday’s Mass, Jesus gives an extended teaching on the problem of hypocrisy. You can read it here: Matthew 6 – On Hypocrisy. In the modern age we have tended to reduce the idea of hypocrisy to duplicity. The modern notion is that a hypocrite is someone who says one thing but does another, a person who is two-faced, inconsistent, or phony. Jesus’ teaching on hypocrisy does not exclude this definition, but it is far richer.

In the Gospel from Ash Wednesday’s Mass, Jesus gives an extended teaching on the problem of hypocrisy. You can read it here: Matthew 6 – On Hypocrisy. In the modern age we have tended to reduce the idea of hypocrisy to duplicity. The modern notion is that a hypocrite is someone who says one thing but does another, a person who is two-faced, inconsistent, or phony. Jesus’ teaching on hypocrisy does not exclude this definition, but it is far richer.The biblical understanding used by Jesus is rooted in the original meaning of the Greek word ?p????ta? (hypokritai), which means “stage...

UNE 5--With his divorce trial looming, Michael Moore is battling his wife over the valuation of the couple’s assets, while branding her a spendthrift who “unilaterally wasted a large percentage of the marital funds” building a lakefront mansion that has prompted mocking news stories about the activist filmmaker’s wealth. Moore and Kathleen Glynn are scheduled for trial next month in a Michigan courtroom not far from the sprawling Torch Lake residence that the Hollywood power contends became a money pit that cost five times what his wife claimed she would spend on the home.

Late last month, conservative filmmaker and activist James O’Keefe premiered an undercover video exposing celebs Mariel Hemingway and Ed Begley Jr. as enviro-hypocrites willing to work with a Middle Eastern oil tycoon to fund an anti-fracking film. O’Keefe promised there were even bigger Hollywood names still to come.....

The Bergdahl affair is proving to be very enlightening. Take for instance the liberal hypocrisy concerning two guys with beards, both of whom have religious affiliations with credos that have strong opinions concerning homosexuality. One of the two bearded fellows is Bob Bergdahl, father of recently-released POW Bowe Bergdahl. Besides his whiskers, Bob seems to proudly exhibit a strong affinity for Islam, a religion that tolerates the mistreatment of women, children, and homosexuals, and has a violent faction that has killed thousands of innocent Americans. Bob is currently one of the two top recipients of the left’s politically-correct attention, protection,...

Sharia law is nothing if not hypocritical. It forbids what is good (rights for women) and sanctions what is evil-–savagery toward women. Sharia wraps woman in cloth bags to “protect their virtue” but treats women like farm animals. In the perpetual frat boy’s dream which is adherence to Sharia, women have no rights; they are not esteemed or celebrated in anyway but rather taken advantage of constantly. Male Sharia adherents see women only as specialized animals good for relieving their sexual demands. Female Sharia adherents are not allowed to have an opinion let alone express one. One of the more...

In many of his years as a rapper, Snoop Dogg seemed to embrace guns: he was arrested multiple times for gun possession and lyrics from his songs included references such as “So Snoopy he went straight to the trunk of his car (And what he get?), he got his gun and they start running hard.” But these days, the 42-year-old star, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr. and also goes by Snoop Lion, is pushing a decidedly anti-gun message. On Thursday night, he appeared at a benefit here with fellow rapper MC Hammer, Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana...

With public school students using #ThanksMichelle to tweet photos of their skimpy, stomach-turning school lunches, I decided to look at what Michelle Obama's daughters are served at Sidwell Friends school, and it turns out the girls dine on lunches from menus designed by chefs. While the Obama daughters have enjoyed dishes like chicken coconut soup, local butternut squash soup, crusted tilapia, they also get their fill of what Mrs. Obama might consider junk food. This week, for example, they'll enjoy meatball subs, BBQ wings, and ice cream, in addition to chicken curry, deviled egg salad and the intriguing "Chef's Choice."...

His voice cracking with emotion, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice acknowledged Friday that he “failed miserably” and apologized for the actions that led to his arrest on assault charges. Rice was arrested following a Feb. 15 altercation in Atlantic City, in which he allegedly struck fiancee Janay Palmer. The couple married in late February, and both went to the stage at the team training complex for their first public comment since the arrest. “I failed miserably, but I wouldn’t call myself a failure because I’m working my way back up,” Rice said. Rice was accepted Tues­day into a diversion...

Yes, certain subjects are off limits. Just ask Mark Cuban. Eric Holder famously suggested that, on the question of race at least, America represents a “nation of cowards.” After watching the crucifixion of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban over the past couple of days, it’s nigh on impossible not to think that he’s right. In an interview arranged by the business magazine Inc., Cuban went out on a limb. Answering a question about Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, he started by reiterating his view that not only is cultural censorship a force for ill, but that it is impossible...

Apparently, sombreros aren’t considered business casual at CNN. A gay ex-CNN staffer from Queens claims he was discriminated against and eventually fired for wearing extravagant ensembles that included mariachi suits, yellow track suits and cowboy hats to work. In a $65 million Brooklyn federal lawsuit filed Thursday, former CNN studio technician William Kane claims that a supervisor, John Silva, hated his taste in clothes and recommended that he transfer to the makeup or entertainment units. Kane asserts that several on-air personalities — including Anderson Cooper and former talk show host Piers Morgan — objected to Silva’s treatment of Kane and...

But the content is eye-opening. O’Keefe’s crew pose as a Middle Eastern potentate named “Muhammad” and his American ad executive. They approach the Tickells with an offer of $9 million to finance an anti-fracking film. “Muhammad’s” motives are clearly expressed: he wants to keep the U.S. dependent on Middle Eastern oil, and to that end he wants to stamp out fracking. The Tickells have no problem with this at all. They discuss the need to keep the film’s source of funding secret, and talk about how they can create a false impression as to who paid for it. You hear...

In the wake of this week’s NBA proposed lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine for Donald Sterling, a longtime reader reminded me that I’d written about another NBA owner, a Black man, who held a party in which Whites were refused entry and turned away. And, yet, the NBA did nothing. As Americas Feedom Fighters already pointed out, Black racism and bigotry against Whites, Jews, Mormons, and gays is tolerated by the NBA. But a private racist conversation by a White owner is not. And here is an instance of a Black then-NBA owner whose public, deliberate racism was tolerated...

Hillary Clinton has been praised for, eventually, tweeting a condemnation of Boko Haram’s kidnappings, but she hasn’t had anything to say about the Sultan of Brunei’s plans to stone gay men to death. And that’s not too surprising. Hillary, like Obama, has been to Brunei and set up relationships with the Islamic tyranny. Bill Clinton and Chelsea visited Brunei last year. The Beverly Hills hotel being boycotted by Hollywood over its ownership by the Sultan of Brunei hired a Clinton aide as a crisis manager. The Clinton Foundation, which has played a key role in helping position Hillary for her...

The family bicycle business of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke has not paid state income taxes for more than three decades. Burke’s father co-founded Trek Bicycle in 1976, out of a “red pole barn” in Waterloo, Wis. The company grew to become the largest bike manufacturer in the United States, and has been pivotal to Mary Burke’s case in her effort to oust Gov. Scott Walker (R.).Burke mentions her role at Trek in nearly every campaign appearance. As head of Strategic Planning for Trek, Burke focused “every single day on improving the company’s bottom line,” according to her campaign...

In truth, the most salient fact of contemporary Catholic life in the West is the way it is pervaded by the pattern of saying things and then acting as if something else were true. (I’m learning, slowly. Everything below that is sarcasm or the voice of a liar, heretic or apostate is in GREEN.) Indeed. This sentence, penned earlier this week by a secular columnist almost sums up what pretty much everyone is too cowardly to say. In fact, it is the base premise underlying the derivative statement above that is the real 800 pound gorilla sitting squarely in the...

When P.K. Subban, a Black man scored the winning goal in the second overtime period of Thursday night’s National Hockey League playoff game thereby beating Boston’s Bruins and giving the victory to the Montreal Canadians, twitter exploded. It was filled with res gestae spontaneous comments from New England liberals about what they actually feel about Black people. The free flow of the “N” word tells what the people who vote for a murderer and fake Indian truly think when they can speak “anonymously” and don’t have to fake their responses. Here is a sample of these disgusting comments. – That...

It doesn’t matter if you belong to the 0.1 percent as long as you say the right things. The qualifications of a Tommy “Dude” Vietor or Ben Rhodes that placed them in the Situation Room during Obama-administration crises were not years of distinguished public service, military service, prior elected office, a string of impressive publications, an academic career, previous diplomatic postings, or any of the usual criteria that have placed others at the nerve center of America in times of crisis. Their trajectory was based on yeoman partisan PR work, and largely on being young, hip, and well connected politically....

I hadn’t intended on commenting on the Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers story in any meaningful way…until the NBA issued a life long ban on the tragically unenlightened Mr. Sterling, with the intent of forcing him to sell his franchise. This is extremely dangerous in an Orwellian sense. I’ll be brief. The NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated: “The views expressed by Mr. Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful. That they came from an NBA owner only heightens the damage and my personal outrage.” What the adulterous Sterling said in confidence to his equally adulterous paramour is indeed offensive to me...