Free Republic

A cadre of top labor leaders is headed to the White House on Tuesday to press their concerns about the fiscal cliff. Topmost on their list: Tax hikes for the wealthiest Americans, and protection from cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other programs for low income families. Attending the meeting are leaders representing teachers, municipal employees, nurses, truck drivers, grocery store clerks, and factory floor workers, among others. The fiscal cliff is the most pressing issue facing the President, who won reelection last week. If Congress doesn't act in the next seven weeks, it will deliver a one-two punch...

The head of the House Homeland Security Committee said Attorney General Eric Holder may have committed a “real dereliction of duty” if he didn’t immediately report the investigation into former CIA Director David Petraeus to President Obama. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said on CNN last night politics “could have been” in play if that was the case. “The fact that this became an FBI investigation to begin with, then to me, once Director Petraeus came within the scope of the investigation, it’s almost unprecedented for the FBI to be investigating the director of the CIA,” King said, making a case...

Somebody has posted a petition asking that those who have signed the "peaceful secession" petitions be deported. So, I started a petition to deport them (fighting liberal moocher ignorance with like ignorance). Please sign my petition so that we'll win the playground fight! Click Link to Petition

President Obama is hosting a closed-door White House meeting Tuesday morning with labor leaders and liberal activists to discuss his stance in negotiations with House Republicans on the looming budgetary fiscal cliff. One day later, Mr. Obama plans to have a similar private discussion with business leaders. Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the Tuesday's gathering, which is being billed as a discussion of "the actions we need to take to keep our economy growing and find a balanced approach to reduce our deficit," according to a White House release. Several labor leaders plan on attending, including Mary Kay...

As the 2012 election approached, conservative enthusiasm grew. Mitt Romney was drawing huge crowds while Barack Obama spoke in half-filled stadiums. All the passion lay on the right while the left was discouraged with a promised messiah who proved merely a politician. And the prediction was that, in contrast to 2008, Republican turnout would dwarf the tuned-out and carry the day. Hence the shock November 6 eve. How could Romney lose, especially by such a wide electoral margin? Maybe he didn't. At least not legitimately. When I predicted Obama's re-election, I stated that, despite our country's inexorable leftist slide, Romney...

On Monday night, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly had some tough words for secular progressives, highlighting their purportedly dangerous views on social and economic issues. The subject of his “Talking Points Memo” segment asked, “Is traditional America gone for good?”The popular television host commenced the segment by noting his belief that traditional America can, once again, rise to prominence, however, he contended that “it will take a very special person to make that happen.” To corroborate O’Reilly’s point that the nation may, indeed, bounce back to its traditional roots, he noted that, despite winning re-election, Obama is slipping in popularity.“Left-wing ideology...

Hostess Brands Inc. is permanently closing three bakeries following a nationwide strike by its bakers union. The maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread said Monday that the strike has prevented it from producing and delivering products, and it is closing bakeries in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The facilities employ 627 workers. Thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike Nov. 9 to protest cuts to wages and benefits under a new contract offer, which the union rejected in September. Union officials say the company stopped contributing to workers'...

Aetna Inc. Chief Executive Mark Bertolini, who is among a dozen chief executives meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama later this week, on Monday warned that companies are preparing backup plans that include layoffs if the White House and congressional leaders are unable to reach a deal to avoid the combination of tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff." "The American people are going to suffer because we'll lay them off--because we know how to respond to these kinds of situations," Mr. Bertolini warned at a Wall Street Journal CEO Council event. The comments come seven weeks...

Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal entertainment unit is laying off about 500 employees at cable channels, Jay Leno's late-night TV show and the Universal Pictures movie studio, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The cuts add up to about 1.5 percent of the company's workforce of 30,000 employees, the source said. A large portion of the layoffs occurred at the G4 cable channel, a network about video games and the gaming culture, the source said. Two of the network's shows were recently canceled. Other layoffs occurred about two months ago at "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," which...

A few to get you started... A Bohemian Arab sucks As Human Babies Croak Bab's Marihuana Cokes Babushka Americanos Babushka Macaronies Bob's Marihuana Cakes Bohemian Abacus Arks Chimaera Anus Kabobs Heck USA I'm An Arab SOB I Am A Hack Abuser Snob I Ambush A Cobra Snake I Arab Sham Beckon USA Nab Bush Soak America

MIAMI — A claim that nearly half of Cuban-American voters favored President Barack Obama continued under dispute Monday, with one side claiming it had new evidence that it was true and the other insisting it was false. Florida International University professors Dario Moreno and Kevin Hill reported Monday their analysis of tallies from selected precincts in Miami-Dade County, Fla., indicated GOP candidate Mitt Romney won up to 59 percent of the Cuban vote.

PRICE, Carbon County — They're gearing up again at the state Department of Workforce Services to help scores of miners who received pink slips this week from UtahAmerican Energy Inc. "The coal mines are great jobs," said DWS workforce development specialist Nicole Steele. "But over the years, they do go up and down," Steele said. "It's kind of a roller coaster and everybody's aware of that." Roller coaster or not, the reason given Wednesday for the reduction of 102 jobs at the West Ridge Mine near East Carbon threw just about everyone for a loop. They were necessary because of...

If Donald Trump still has that $5 million (the offer he made for President Obama's college and passport records) jangling loose in his pockets, perhaps he could help the country address its lingering doubts about the fairness of the presidential election: $5 million to whomever can document irrefutably that voter fraud was used to swing the election to Obama. ...

An amabassador, his aide, and two navy seals have been killed (Two Supreme Court Justices have been killed.) The CIA Director gives apparently misleading testimony, albeit not under oath, to Congress regarding these mens' deaths, in addition to having possibly given contradictory information to a woman with whom he has had an affair. (Now a college professor, who clerked for one of the two men, who's also having an affair with one of his students, is given a brief by her, that states who probably, wanted to see these two men dead.) A potential rival of the mistress gives information...

Applebee’s CEO Zane Tankel hinted yesterday that the company will be likely be laying off several employees and will refrain from hiring more due to President Obama’s re-election and the roll-out of Obamacare. For those of you unaware of Obamacare, it a new initiative put forth by the President which requires any employer with 50 or more employees to provide federal government-approved health care for its employees. If a company fails to do so, it will pay a $2,000 fine per person. Tankel released the following statement to Fox News: “We’ve calculated it will cost some millions of dollars across...

Federal agents are inside the home of the Charlotte author at the center of a scandal involving CIA Director David Petraeus, who resigned on Friday. The Federal Bureau of Investigations confirms that it has agents inside Paula Broadwell's Dilworth home. While agents on scene would not confirm what they were looking for, nearly a dozen agents were seen carrying boxes and taking photographs inside the home. Paula Broadwell, the biographer who wrote a book about retired four-star general David Petraeus, 60, has not been seen at her Dilworth home since the news connecting her to an extramarital affair with Petraeus.

CIA Director David H. Petraeus did not intend to resign from his position until it became clear that his extramarital affair with his biographer would become public after a federal investigation of his e-mail accounts, according to two longtime military aides who admire the retired general. “Obviously, he knew about the relationship for months, he knew about the affair, he was in it, so yes, he was not going to resign,” said Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and Petraeus’s executive officer during the Iraq “surge,” who spoke Monday with the former general for about half an hour. “But once...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Insurgents beheaded 17 civilians in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, apparently because they attended a dance party that flouted the extreme brand of Islam embraced by the militants, officials said Monday. The killings, in a district where U.S. Marines have battled the Taliban for years, were a reminder of how much power the insurgent group still wields in the south - particularly as international forces draw down and hand areas over to Afghan forces. The victims were part of a large group that had gathered late Sunday in Helmand province's Musa Qala district for a celebration...

A women in Tampa calls the FBI. "I am getting harassing emails from some unknown person telling me to 'Stay away from my man'. I am not sure who she is talking about. What should I do?" Well of course, the FBI launches a major investigation that included many months of work. What else would you do?

John Kerry as Secretary of Defense. Susan Rice as Secretary of State. How much loonier can it get? Who says Obama has no sense of humor? Here's your chance to weigh in, FReepers. Post your own nominees for the New And Improved Obama 2013 Cabinet here. I'll get the ball rolling: Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare: Michael Moore CIA Director: Van Jones Secretary of the Treasury: Jon Corzine et cetera. Have at it, comrades!