Free Republic

The tumultuous ethics case against Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles’ most enduring politicians, took another strange turn Friday as six members of the House Ethics Committee recused themselves from considering the charges against her. Committee Chairman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) said that all five of the panel’s Republicans, including himself, and one Democrat were taking the unusual action of recusing themselves from further involvement in the long-running Waters case "out of an abundance of caution and to avoid even an appearance of unfairness." Six new House members immediately were named to the bipartisan panel to consider all matters related...

Investigation Into MF Global Expected to Heat UpBy BEN PROTESS December 30, 2011, 1:30 pm When customer money disappeared from MF Global over Halloween weekend, it seemed implausible the cash would remain at large come New Year’s Day. But two months later, the hunt for roughly $1.2 billion in client money continues. Some MF Global customers, including farmers and hedge funds, are still without about a third of the money in their accounts at MF Global, the brokerage firm once run by Jon S. Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey. Against this backdrop, and as 2012 gets ready to...

The Monty Python defense. My goodness. Joltin' Joe Lieberman announces a Senate Homeland Security investigation on F&F "inter-ageny miscommunication" and the head of Border Patrol runs away the very same day. Folks, just received this statement by email: Statement from Alan D. Bersin, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Earlier today, I notified the President of my intent to resign as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection effective Dec. 30. I have expressed my deep gratitude and appreciation to President Obama and Secretary Napolitano for the opportunity to have led such an exceptional organization and for the confidence they...

Penn State rebuffs CNN request for records on 1998 Sandusky investigationBy Greg Botelho, CNN updated 12:38 AM EST, Mon December 19, 2011 (CNN) -- Penn State has rejected a CNN public records request for a copy of a 1998 campus police report tied to sexual misconduct allegations made against then-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a lawyer for the school told CNN. Amy Elizabeth McCall, an assistant general counsel, asserted in a letter to CNN that Penn State is "a state-related institution" and not a "state school" like some in other states, and therefore does not have the same public records...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional investigators said Monday that four House members received VIP discounted loans from the former Countrywide Financial Corp., the lender whose subprime mortgages was largely responsible for the nation's foreclosure crisis. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, declined to name the four but wrote the House Ethics Committee that it should investigate the lawmakers. Issa, in a letter dated Friday and released Monday, said there could be additional lawmakers who received discounted loans. The most favored customers of Countrywide were known as "Friends of Angelo," who were given discounts in...

The House Agriculture Committee is questioning former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine on the bankruptcy of the financial firm and a dispute over $1.2 billion in missing funds. According to the Committee's website, the purpose of the hearing is "to examine the facts and circumstances that led up to the bankruptcy, and the efforts underway to recover customer funds and return them to their rightful owners." The former Senator and New Jersey governor is at the center of a dispute over $1.2 billion in missing customer funds. The trading firm’s bankruptcy is the 8th largest in the nation's history.

New internal White House emails reveal that a scathing critique of Energy Secretary Steven Chu by a former Obama political advisor led to an extensive internal discussion about failures of the president's Energy Department at the highest levels of his administration. The February 25, 2011 email that sparked the deliberations landed on West Wing desks just as the solar energy firm Solyndra was starting to show outward signs of financial trouble. It was sent by Dan Carol, a former Obama campaign staffer and clean energy advocate who was described by Obama's then-Chief of Staff Pete Rouse as someone whose views...

(CNSNews.com) – A day after newly released e-mails surfaced regarding an Obama donor’s role in asking for a second Solyndra loan, the White House agreed to provide subpoenaed material to the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- but not without a jab. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called the House probe into the $535-million federal loan to the solar panel firm "partisan." Solyndra is now bankrupt and under FBI investigation. “We have been enormously cooperative with legitimate oversight. In this investigation alone we’ve turned over 85,000 pages of documents,” Carney told reporters Thursday. “We will continue to cooperate with...

Solyndra is being investigated by the FBI, but that may just be the tip of the shovel-ready iceberg. The Department of Energy is investigating more than 100 potential instances of criminal abuse of stimulus loan monies, according to the department’s Office of Inspector General. In prepared testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday, Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman said his office has launched more than 100 probes into possible criminal activities related to the 2009 stimulus funds behind the loans.

The System of Checks and Balances is designed to restrain abuse of power by another branch of the US Federal Government. The Legislative Branch may start investigations, especially against the Executive Branch. Why has the Legislation Branch not used their power of Checks and Balances by by investigating Obama? What more is needed than a Spendaholic-in-Chief, who is afraid to meet with Congressional Leaders and attends pep rallies instead, who has destroyed over 4 TRILLION dollars in less that 3 years, who signed the un-Constitutional obama"care" bill into law, etc. etc.? Clearly the Executive Branch has abused its power! What...

A three-year government investigation has found no wrongdoing by Bush-era Pentagon officials when they gave war briefings to retired military analysts who served as TV and radio commentators. The probe by the Pentagon inspector general was a response to a 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning article in the New York Times that implied the former military officers, some of whom worked for or were defense contractors, received financial favors in return for their commentary and that they were tools in a propaganda campaign. Sources familiar with the IG’s final report said it will say officials broke no rules or laws when they...

Almost immediately after the Justice Department announced a shake-up of the officials who oversaw ATF’s ill-begotten “Operation Fast and Furious,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) signaled they wouldn’t let the reassignment of acting ATF director Kenneth Melson slow down their investigation of the questionable program. Two days later, they’ve already made good on that promise. Today, they sent a letter to Ann Scheel, the acting attorney general in Phoenix, basically putting the Arizona district office on notice and demanding e-mails, memos, notes and other documents from six top officials, including Scheel and ousted former U.S. Attorney...

On Thursday the House Energy and Commerce Committee ramped up its ongoing investigation of the federal government’s $535 million loan to Solyndra, a solar energy company that recently announced it will file for bankruptcy. In a letter to the White House, committee Chairman Fred Upton and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns requested a scheduled briefing on the matter by no later than September 12 and asked for all documents related to the loan guarantee between Solyndra and the White House. In 2009, Solyndra was the recipient of a half-billion-dollar loan through the Department of Energy, funded by stimulus...

NoisyRoom by: AJ of NoisyRoom.net & Arlen Williams contributors: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton & Ann Barnhardt   An investigation of President Obama and his administration must commence immediately. Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, author and self-described Liberal Democrat Marxist Muslim who campaigned for Barack Obama, revealed the identity of Obama’s White House appointees who have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood (see Muslim Brotherhood in our White House – Vetting Obama). Obama’s appointees could access sensitive military and National Defense information while in our White House, to include military missions that were planned for SEAL Team Six. Important questions surround...

New details about Operation Fast and Furious cast doubt on the ability of the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General to conduct an “independent” and fair investigation, congressional Republican investigators say. The information comes via a letter Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday. In it, they question a request from Holder for a transcript from a meeting they held in secret on July 4th with Ken Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

FULLERTON, Calif. (KTLA) -- Fullerton's city council has voted to hire a police watchdog to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of mentally-ill homeless man, Kelly Thomas, after a violent confrontation with six officers. Council members voted 4-1 Tuesday night to hire Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review, at upwards of $230 an hour. Gennaco said he would immediately begin his investigation into the entire department -- not just Thomas' death -- to see if there's any corruption. The decision came after a heated meeting involving enraged community members who booed, heckled and...

A shock investigation of possible insider trading at Standard & Poor's has reportedly begun, with the country still reeling from the rating agency's historic downgrade of U.S. debt. Authorities want to know who had prior knowledge of the decision, which sparked a wild week of trading on Wall Street that saw breathtaking losses and rapid rises. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which has oversight of credit rating firms, has started asking preliminary questions, the Financial Times reported. However, the regulator is not aware of a leak from an S&P insider,

The Congressional Research Service recently released another in a series of “Gun Control Legislation” reports by William J. Krouse, Specialist in Domestic Security and Crime Policy. While the entire report is an invaluable guide for understanding the scope and nature of related firearms control issues being considered by Congress, the report references a recommendation of particular interest to those following the “Project Gunwalker” (Operation Fast and Furious) story. From page 30 of the report (page 34 in the pdf file): As called for originally by Senator Grassley, the House Appropriations Committee included report language in the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations...

A cryptic code sent by the Zodiac killer on November 8, 1969 to San Francisco Chronicle has baffled authorities for decades, until now. Now a 27-year-old man is claiming he cracked this code as well as the identity of the Zodiac killer, who murdered at least seven people in the late 60s. Corey Starliper of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was intrigued by the case after watching a 2007 movie "Zodiac" about the killings. He claims to have spent nine hours working on cracking the code. "I found it exciting, that I was actually able to get into his head when nobody had...

  Just 12 days after 49 congressmen requested an official inquiry into Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s (left) involvement with the Patient Protection and Affordable Act (PPACA, aka ObamaCare) during her tenure as U.S. Solicitor General, the House Judiciary Committee has complied. Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) sent a July 6 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for “relevant documents and witness interviews in order to properly understand” Kagan’s role with regard to the legislation itself and related litigation.Perhaps the committee will have better luck in wresting those documents from the Justice Department’s clutches than private organizations have...

MINNEAPOLIS – When Meredith Aby met with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in 2006, she asked what it would take to get them to stop fighting. Jess Sundin did the same during her trip to Colombia 11 years ago. They returned and openly wrote and spoke about their experiences, while criticizing the U.S. government’s involvement in that country. FBI documents recently found by the anti-war activists suggest the trips may have started an investigation into apparent connections between local activists and radical groups in Colombia and the Middle East. One document says the probe expanded to include...

A sheriff's deputy in Pulaski County, Ill., has been arrested today and charged with 20 counts of felony including unlawful sale of firearms. Tara M. Kern, 38, of Villa Ridge, a deputy sheriff in Pulaski County, was charged with two counts of official misconduct, 16 counts of the unlawful sale of firearms and two counts of obstructing justice, according to a statement released today by special prosecutor Tyler R. Edmonds, the state's attorney for Union County. According to the press release, "Kern is alleged to have provided firearms to her husband, William A. Kern, a convicted felon, during the years...

TRENTON — Capital Preparatory Charter High School has surrendered its charter and is under investigation for financial mismanagement and a range of violations by the New Jersey State Police, a state Department of Education spokesman said yesterday. The Grand Street school had been placed on two consecutive 90-day probationary periods before it gave up its charter May 2. It will close at the end of the school year. Because Capital Prep chose to surrender its charter rather than have it revoked, it cannot appeal, DOE spokesman Alan Guenther said. In addition to the financial problems, visits to the 329-student school...

Late-Term Abortion Practitioner LeRoy Carhart Faces Investigation Germantown, MD -- Late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart, who moved from Nebraska to Maryland after a new state law banning abortions after 20 weeks went into effect, now faces an investigation from the state medical board. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/25/late-term-abortion-practitioner-leroy-carhart-faces-investigation/

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton is expanding his investigation into the meetings between special interest groups and the Obama White House that set the stage for the passage of Obamacare, sending document requests to 11 industry groups and unions that played a key role in the negotiations. In April 11 letters to the groups, Upton asks for extensive details and documents about each organization’s interactions with the White House in regards to the health care law. The requests come as the Obama White House has so far declined to provide its documents about the meetings. At issue...

An aide described as Donald Trump’s “Karl Rove” declined to discuss details of the real estate mogul’s ongoing investigation in Hawaii into President Obama, saying it would be “completely counterproductive” to tip Trump’s hand, allowing Obama to then shield himself from the investigation. Michael Cohen, Trump’s aide, did not provide any other details about the investigation besides that “people,” plural, are in Hawaii. Trump has made questioning Obama’s birthplace a signature issue of his campaign despite ample evidence the president was born in Hawaii in 1961. The move is part of a political strategy to appeal to Republican primary voters...

Donald Trump says his investigative team is still digging up evidence that President Obama was born in Kenya (or, at least, wasn't born in Hawaii). In a letter blasting the New York Times for blasting him, Trump lays out his evidence. He also accuses the liberal press of being complicit in what may be the "greatest scam in the history of our country."

It will go down in history as one of the U.S. military's worst battles in Afghanistan. And according to the families of the soldiers who died there, the history written by the U.S. Army is biased and inaccurate. Relatives of those killed in Wanat, at a combat outpost in the rugged mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, say the Army is covering up mistakes made by the dead mens' commanders and placing blame on a junior officer who was simply following orders. A military investigation that followed, led by Marine Lt. General Richard Natonski, blamed the deaths in part on dereliction of...

Fethullah Gulen, dubbed “the most dangerous Islamist on planet earth,” is now under investigation by the F.B.I. for his network of charter schools throughout the country. The 140-plus charter schools, according to a newly released federal document, may serve as madrassahs where students are “brain-washed” to serve as proponents of the New Islamic World Order that Gulen purportedly seeks to create. The Gulen schools, which have been established in nearly every state in the union, bear

The mystery of Christine O'Donnell's rent and campaign expenses has now been solved -- but not by any quality work by the news media, of course. One of the scams run by the liberal news media and the Left was the claim that Christine O'Donnell used campaign money to pay her rent. Of course there has been no evidence of this and O'Donnell denies it. The accusation is that O'Donnell's U.S. Senate campaign paid "half the rent" on the condominium townhouse that Christine lived in in Wilmington, Delaware. So imagine my surprise, when I visited my friend Christine after the...

In a special interview with Israel National News, the IDF Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Brigadier General Nitzan Alon, said progress has been made in the investigation of the horrific attack in Itamar, which left a married couple and three of their children dead. Alon said dozens of suspects had been arrested by the Israel Security Agency to clarify their connection to, or involvement in, the murders of the Fogel family. Alon unequivocally rejected claims that removing checkpoints made the attacks possible and put Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria at greater risk, insisting the current IDF doctrine...

10News was granted access to San Diego's seaport for a firsthand look at how Customs and Border Protection officers safeguard against weapons of mass effect. "Given the open waterways and the access to the Navy fleet here, I'd say, absolutely, San Diego is a target," said Al Hallor, who is the assistant port director and an officer with Customs and Border Protection. 10News investigative reporter Mitch Blacher asked, "Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponized device?" "At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year,...

Issa investigating allegations that GAO destroyed evidence gathered during investigation of for-profit collegesMike Riggs - The Daily Caller – Fri Feb 4, 3:35 pm ET Two House committees appear to have locked horns with the Government Accountability Office over a 2010 investigation into the for-profit college industry. **SNIP** “Our staffs have recently learned that a senior [Forensic Audit and Special Investigations Unit] management official told a group of FSI employees in an internal meeting that, but for the video recordings made in this investigation, the problems with the report would have never come to light,” reads the most damning section...

House Prepares Investigation of Obamacare Waivers Friday, February 04, 2011 By Fred Lucas (CNSNews.com) – The Republican congressman leading the investigation into the Obama administration’s decision to grant more than 700 waivers to the new health care law is questioning whether the law could be effective if so many waivers are needed. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) also noted the high percentage of Obama-supporting labor unions that received waivers -- which exempt them from a provision in the new health care law that bans annual limits on what insurance plans will pay for medical coverage. “The American people repeatedly have been...

'Speech or debate' clause invoked in investigations of House membersBy Jerry Markon and R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, January 17, 2011; 12:19 AM A constitutional clash over whether House members are immune from many forms of Justice Department scrutiny has helped derail or slow several recent corruption investigations of lawmakers, according to court documents and sources. At issue is a provision in the Constitution known as the "speech or debate" clause, which shields legislative work from executive branch interference. House members have increasingly asserted the privilege in corruption probes, often citing a 2007 court ruling that said...

The official list is out... 1. Impact of regulation on job creation … 2. Fannie/Freddie & the Foreclosure Crisis … 3. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the failure to identify origins of the financial crisis … 4. Combating corruption in Afghanistan … 5. WikiLeaks … 6. FDA/Food & Drug Safety." . From Politico (via Memeorandum) I'm going to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. There were other "mysteries" I personally wanted solved first, such as: Who is fatter: America's children, or Democrats when they lie. The per capita usage of botox in the Pelosi household. Whether or not Michelle...

E-mails and other public records requested by opponents show a Bloomberg administration acting behind the scenes on behalf of the Park51 project — aka the Ground Zero Mosque — and a development board member looking for “political cover� before allowing the project to go forward. Bloomberg administration officials are working “very closely with the organizers of the project. . . to combat public opposition and navigate various governmental hurdles.� One administration official even ghost-wrote a letter for Park51 organizers. The Wall Street Journal reports: In one email from May, Shelly Friedman, the organizers’ lawyer, wrote that Manhattan Community Board 1′s...

Investigative teams acting on orders of newly elected Congressmen are fanning out around the world to uncover the truth about President Barack Obama's birthplace, political insiders tell GLOBE in a blockbuster world exclusive! Find out how Obama's political enemies are leaving no stone unturned to expose his Hawaiian birth certificate as a fake and prove he was REALLY born in Kenya. It's must reading for every American!

New House Judiciary Chairman to Obama: Prepare for InvestigationsVeteran Congressman will head influential House Judiciary Committee By Jim Forsyth Thursday, November 4, 2010 The San Antonio Congressman who is in line to become chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee is promising 'a number of investigations and oversight committee actions' which he vows will 'hold the administration accountable,’ 1200 WOAI news reports. Veteran Republican Lamar Smith, a Yale graduate and social conservative who grew up in the brush country of south Texas which is now transit point for illegal immigrants and drugs, said in a news conference that a number...

Yesterday, the White House blog asked “as special interest billionaires continued to pour secret donations of millions of dollars each into front groups supporting Republicans, we asked the obvious question: “What do they expect in return?“” They added, “Congressional Republicans have made clear that lobbyists have a seat at the table even when they are formulating their party’s broader strategy and governing vision.” People in glass White Houses shouldn’t throw stones. * “Google’s Marissa Mayer is hosting President Obama for a Democratic party fundraiser tonight. Tickets are $30,000-a-head….” – San Francisco Chronicle, October 21, 2010 * “After analyzing the unencrypted...

On Election Day 2008, Maruse Heath, the leader of Philadelphia's New Black Panther Party, stood in front of a neighborhood polling place, dressed in a paramilitary uniform. Within hours, an amateur video showing Heath, slapping a black nightstick and exchanging words with the videographer, had aired on TV and ricocheted across the nation. Among those who saw the footage was J. Christian Adams, who was in his office in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in Washington. "I thought, 'This is wrong, this is not supposed to happen in this country,' " Adams said. "There are armed men in front...

The FBI arrests affirm an emerging terror alliance between American-based leftists, Islamic terror organizations, Colombia’s FARC, and Irish Republican groups. Weeks ago, news broke of a September 24 FBI raid on the homes of Minneapolis activists — part of an investigation related, as the Bureau told the Star-Tribune, to “the material support of terrorism.” But in the absence of further reporting by the mainstream media, Americans are left wondering just who these activists are, if they remember the story at all. An ongoing PJM investigation reveals that the revolutionary American socialists targeted by the FBI are connected at multiple levels...

A city commissioner who won re-election last month by a wide margin is at the center of a criminal investigation after nearly 80 absentee ballots were requested from a computer belonging to him, Volusia County's elections supervisor said Friday...on Aug. 6 and 7 and they came from two e-mail addresses and one computer, McFall said. The computer has been traced to Daytona Beach City Commissioner Derrick Henry, who handily won his Zone 5 city contest during the Aug. 24 primary election by 65 percent, McFall said. Snip... Thursday morning, several search warrants were executed in the investigation... The 41-year-old Henry,...

PHOENIX — Two Maricopa County supervisors say an investigation into operations at the county sheriff’s office should be conducted by a neutral agency and not Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. Board Chairman Don Stapley and Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox say Babeu is a close political ally of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and having an investigation supervised by Babeu will cloud the probe. One of Arpaio’s top aides wrote a 63-page memo last month calling for an investigation of the sheriff’s second-in-command and two other high-ranking deputies. Deputy Chief Frank Munnell alleges years of mismanagement and misconduct by Chief Deputy...

If President Barack Obama needed any more incentive to go all out for Democrats this fall, here it is: Republicans are planning a wave of committee investigations targeting the White House and Democratic allies if they win back the majority. Everything from the microscopic – the New Black Panther party – to the massive –- think bailouts – is on the GOP to-do list, according to a half-dozen Republican aides interviewed by POLITICO. Republican staffers say there won’t be any self-destructive witch hunts – but they are clearly relishing the prospect of extracting information from an administration that touts transparency....

dozens of soldiers who refused to attend a Christian band's concert at a Virginia military base were banished to their barracks and told to clean them up. Col. Thomas Collins said the military shouldn't impose religious views on soldiers. "..it would be contrary to Army policy,". Pvt. Anthony Smith said he and other soldiers felt pressured to attendt. "My whole issue was I don't need to be preached at," Smith said "That's not what I signed up for." Christian rock group BarlowGirl played as part of the "Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concerts." Smith said a staff sergeant told 200 men...

* I cannot believe that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for an investigation in funding of the mosque opponents ("Pelosi's Poison," Editorial, Aug. 19). If anyone started a political firestorm, it was President Obama -- who, when addressing a Muslim group, said that the mosque should be built as a matter of religious freedom. Then he backtracked the next day, when he realized the uproar that this caused. Will Pelosi also investigate her Senate counterpart, Harry Reid, who said it should not be built?

Is Nancy Pelosi making a bid to join Rob ert Welch, longtime leader of the John Birch Society, as a truly great conspir acy theorist? It would seem only an inspired paranoic could find it so unaccountably strange -- cue the "Twilight Zone" theme music -- that there's a public outcry about a mosque project planned two blocks from Ground Zero that an investigation is in order. But Pelosi senses foul play. "There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some," she told KCBS radio in San Francisco late Tuesday. "And I...

At the tail end of a week that saw a pile up of bad news for the Democrats on the ballot this fall comes this news item from West Virginia Watchdog: Gov. Joe Manchin‘s office confirmed today that state government officials have been contacted by the U.S. Attorney's Office this week regarding an ongoing investigation. The target may be Manchin himself, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous. Democrat Manchin is the front runner to replace the late Senator Robert Byrd in November's special election. Another story reported that: Manchin spokesman Melvin Smith would not comment Friday on...

WASHINGTON, DC – The House ethics committee has announced charges against Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Water, who is from California. Waters used her congressional authority to meet with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on behalf of the Massachusetts-based OneUnited bank, in which her husband, as a former director, owned $250,000 of stock. OneUnited eventually received $12 million in federal bailout funds Here's what people are saying so far about the case, which comes as fellow Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel is mired in his own ethics investigation.