Free Republic

With the fiscal cliff looming, the deficit ballooning and the economy far from booming, the ongoing debate over how best to address the nation’s economic woes remains unsettled. Now, labor leaders and Occupy networks are agitating for what may be the fix: higher wages. This Black Friday, workers at Walmart and other big box stores in 47 states began unprecedented demonstrations calling for higher wages and benefits. Although widespread and formally organized strikes have yet to be seen, the growing movement is likely to drive a larger national conversation about the way tens of millions of American workers are compensated....

On the morning after Thanksgiving, I was driving over to Frederick, Maryland with one of my nephews. On the car radio, he was listening to a talk radio program from WMAL in Washington. The host of the program was a man who described himself as a conservative Jew. He was talking of the increasing religious persecution within the United States. Several times throughout the program he pointed out that it was the Catholics who are more and more being singled out and discriminated against. The First Amendment on religious freedom seems almost a dead letter when it comes to...

Nonetheless, many of the President’s most ardent supporters are so delusional that they are ready to ascribe supernatural powers to him. For example, entertainer Jamie Foxx used his role at the Soul Train Awards to praise President Obama as “our Lord and Savior.” He implored the crowd to show their support for the President by standing up for him. Foxx’s comments were included in a 30 second spot by BET to promote the awards broadcast and draw viewers to the program. Obviously, BET found Foxx’s comments to be both provocative and worthy of publicity.

WaPo has run an editorial conspiratorially half-baked suggesting that Democratic opposition to Rice's nomination are racially motivated: Rice’s nomination, noted the Washington Post, garnered “the most negative votes cast against a nominee for that post in 180 years.” As the Senate debated her nomination, Senator Barbara Boxer charged that Rice “frightened the American people” into supporting the Iraq War; Senator Jim Jeffords accused her of being part of an effort to “distort information” in the service of “political objectives”; and Senator Pat Leahy, who voted in her favor, endorsed her by saying that her tenure as national-security adviser lacked “strong...

After Hurricane Sandy hit along the New Jersey Shore and throughout New York City, President Obama traveled to the affected area and delivered a message to both victims and the federal government, advising the fed to use “no bureaucracy, no red tape … get resources where they’re needed as fast as possible.” To the victims, he promised assistance. “We are standing behind you and we are going to do everything we can to help you get back on your feet.” It was that same day that an emotional embrace between the president and a New Jersey businesswoman, Donna Vanzant, was...

Warren Buffett is by now no stranger to the national debate over federal tax policy. In 2009, he penned a New York Times op-ed calling for "truly major changes in both taxes and outlays." Two years later, he returned to the Times with a widely publicized call for large tax increases on the "super-rich," noting that his own effective federal tax rate (17 percent) was far less than his employees' rates (ranging from 33 to 41 percent). President Obama liked the idea so much, he called for Congress to pass "the Buffett Rule" in his 2012 state of the union...

First it was Charlie Sheen, now the "half" portion of the two-and-a-half men has become Christian and has seen the light, now declaring what many of us have known for a long time, that the show is "filth."This reminded me of a piece I did during the Sheen meltdown.

A painting that features President Obama posed as Jesus Christ crucified on is on display at a community college art gallery in Boston. The painting by Michael D’Antuono is part of a larger exhibit called “Artists on the Stump – the Road to the White House 2012.” It’s on display at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery until Dec. 15th.

With the election now over and all of the negativity of the Obama campaign still permeating the public consciousness, it leads to an inevitable question-- how did he do it? With many questions and so many answers, what made the numbers work and how much of it had to do with Obama or Romney themselves?

President Obama’s re-election and Democratic gains in Congress were supposed to make it easier for the party to strike a deal with Republicans to resolve the year-end fiscal crisis by providing new leverage. But they could also make it harder as empowered Democrats, including some elected on liberal platforms, resist significant changes in entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. As Congress returned Monday, the debate over those programs, which many Democrats see as the core of the party’s identity, was shaping up as the Democratic version of the higher-profile struggle among Republicans over taxes. [....] Republicans insist that changes...

A growing number of Democrats say they are willing to let the country go off the fiscal cliff if a deal cannot be reached by Jan. 1 that raises taxes on the top two percent of earners while protecting costly entitlement programs. Their theory in this game of chicken with Republicans is that it will be easier in January to lower taxes for 98 percent of the country while finding the best possible parts of the federal budget to cut — in line with long-held goals of the nation's liberal party. They also think they'll be in a better position...

. The truth about the Obama syndicate’s “victory” in November due to the most massive voter fraud in American history has become increasingly dire and overwhelming. It is also merely the latest treasonous act perpetrated upon We-the-People by our slave masters. And—with the exception of the still-sycophantic Obama-media who enthusiastically embrace totalitarianism—said “win” by Obama shows how quickly he and the Marxist Democrat Party (with the help of willing RINO Senators and incorrectly named “representatives” of the people) affected the complete overthrow of the United States government…and We-the-People. If you are uncomfortable with these truths and believe that the telling...

A group of Israeli-Americans has filed suit against the Obama administration, alleging that U.S. aid money to the Palestinian Authority funds terrorist activities. The lawsuit charges that federal aid money directed to the Palestinian Authority ultimately ends up in the hands of Hamas and other militant groups committed to war against Israel. Hamas is designed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government. The lawsuit charges that the State Department is ignoring congressionally-mandated safeguards to keep money out of the hands of such entities. "The American people are opposed to terror and do not want to fund it via...

The name of the program now escapes me. Several months ago, while flipping channels with the remote, I stopped on an MTV show about a working mom whose whole life was upended when her partner announced that he was splitting. It caught my attention because this mother lived in a nice apartment that looked like one in my suburban New Jersey town, and she was applying for food stamps. This wasn't your caricature "taker"—the woman had a real job. With her partner leaving, however, she could no longer afford the rent, and she would have trouble providing for her two...

Still not finalized.

An anti-gun owner initiative considered in Washington could lead to massive civil disobedience and a severe domestic crisis, gun law expert John M. Snyder warned on Friday. “According to confidential information,” he said, “forces linked with the administration suggest the government classify semiautomatic firearms and multiple capacity ammunition feeding devices as Title 2 National Firearms Act items under the Gun Control Act of 1968. Americans familiar with federal gun laws understand that under this scenario, semiautomatics and high capacity magazines could be acquired only with great difficulty and at great expense by America’s estimated 100 million law-abiding firearms owners, notes...

Good morning everyone. Today I have prepared a remedial lesson for us on Obamacare.  I just realized that we haven’t discussed Big Guy’s legacy legislation since well before the reelection. And I recall that many of you have some reservations concerning its efficacy. So now that it has been deemed the law of the land, I did a little additional research. As it turns out, Obamacare is not as bad as you’ve been led to believe. It’s actually worse, much worse. All the way from the “free, preventative” annual exams, If you are complaining of a new problem, then you...

Budget Policy: Republicans are being hounded mercilessly to abandon their no-tax pledge to get a deal on the fiscal cliff. So why aren't Democrats facing any pressure to compromise on entitlement spending? Every Republican who happens to bump into a reporter these days is sure to be grilled on tax hikes. [snip] But while GOP leaders have been signaling a willingness to cut a deal — even if it means agreeing to some form of tax hike — Democrats are digging in against any meaningful changes to out-of-control entitlement programs.

  The following was written by Gina Miller. Her opinions don’t necessarily reflect those of ScottFactor.com, but because they're here, they probably do.   Throughout most of the twentieth century, the Pravda newspaper was roughly the Russian equivalent of our leftist, state-controlled “mainstream” media, publishing only regime-approved, Communist party line content. Since undergoing a change in ownership in the early 1990s, it now offers warnings against the communism that infected the former Soviet Union and caused the deaths of millions of Russian citizens. Despite the warnings of history and those who have lived under its iron fist, communism has come...

To conservatives like me, the following proposal for raising taxes on Hollywood celebrities goes against my DNA. However, two facts are indisputable: (1) Hollywood is perhaps Obama's biggest booster club, giving him donations in kind and in dollars, and (2) Congress' stated goal is to raise taxes on the wealthy, although they will actually raise them on everyone. Therefore, with a bit of irony in mind, I propose the following for debate. After listening to Democrats argue that the wealthy aren’t paying their fair share of taxes, it’s time for Americans to take an empirical view of the massive wealth...