Free Republic

Earlier, I wrote about the various proposals circulating through Washington DC on the future of housing finance in the USA. Virtually every one had a government guarantee in their proposal, as if the mortgage market would collapse without Uncle Sam. As Nancy Pelosi once famously stated, we need to look at government guarantee “away from the fog of the controversy.” Several economists at The Federal Reserve produced a nice graphic on prime versus subprime borrowers. Essentially any loan with a down payment of less than 20% is considered subprime and credit scores of 660 are prime if the down payment...

The blatant application of political pressure applied through powerful government bureaucracies such as the IRS, is arrogant abuse of power in the extreme. Obviously. These proven abuses now provide us very fresh perspectives on other fraudulent manifestations of National import perpetrated by an immoral political machine whose genealogy is rooted in Chicago. A major such event which the MSM has willfully refused to cover before, during and after its denouement, is the conviction of two Democratic political operatives convicted in a fraud which put Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. Democratic...

Jeb Bush made a brash statement in a speech a few days ago before a group called the Faith and Freedom Foundation in Washington D.C. It struck me as one of the epic Bush political pronouncements - "Islam is the Religion of Peace", "Mission Accomplished", etc. “Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans,” Bush said.  “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population.  Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.” This is clearly a talking point in support of more immigration and of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (Amnesty)....

Since disclosing that high officials in the US State Department had covered up an Inspector General report outlining criminal acts involving State Department personnel, whistle blower Aurelia Fedenisn has been intimidated by State Department threats. The criminal acts include Hillary Clinton’s security detail who allegedly hired prostitutes, a U.S. ambassador accused of trolling public parks for paid sex with under-aged prostitutes, and a security official in Beirut committing sexual assaults on foreign nationals. Secretary of State John Kerry defended the pressure tactics being used against Fedenisn as “normal efforts to preserve the image of the agency. The release of information...

Aside from fears of government intrusion into the private lives of ordinary citizens, what about intrusion from the private business sector of telecoms, internet apps companies, credit card services, and private data aggregators? I finally took time out to watch the 2002 film "Minority Report". Within the movie, which takes place in something like 2056, iris-recognition technology is fully integrated into society: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bXJ_obaiYQ....kinda like today in 2013. The technology is here. Earlier this month was this story about a school conducting iris scans of its students: Parents in Polk County, Florida were outraged after being informed that their children’s...

I interrupt my discussion of sexual harassment in the military for major breaking news. Sen. Bill Nelson, Democrat - Florida, in effect said that President Barack Obama committed treason by claiming that Edward Snowden's revelation of NSA monitoring of American phone calls was an "act of treason". Nelson served on the Senate Intelligence Committee for six years. Burgess Everett reports in Politico that Nelson said, “On the issue of if this a whistleblower or is this an act of treason, I think it directly is [treason]. And I think most of the people who served on intel will tell you...

Once again, our Commander in Chief is going to drag us into a war with no defined mission or compelling national interest. This time, he's going to send small arms, ammo and possibly anti-tank weapons to the Syrian "rebels". At first blush, that could make sense--the people rising up against the murderous Assad regime and all that. Unfortunately, the "rebels" have been taken over by al qaeda affiliated groups who have become far stronger than the original grassroots bunch of anti-Assad protesters. Essentially, the battle is now between Hezbollah and al qaeda--both enemies of the United States and Israel. Common...

Sen. Dick Durbin said Monday it would be a “big mistake” for the Senate Gang of Eight to make several concessions to Republicans in order to get at least 70 votes for the immigration bill. Asked during a CBS interview Monday whether the bill needed 70 votes, Durbin (D-Ill.) answered flatly: “No, we need 60.” “By Senate standards, the more the better though. I just don’t want to compromise the basic values in this bill,” the Senate Majority Whip said Monday. “We worked all this time to come up with a basic framework. If we are going to abandon this...

Obama had it easy when he came into office in terms of repudiating his predecessor's ideas, but he had much bigger ambitions than that. He has dedicated much of his rhetorical firepower to debunking the message of the Reagan presidency -- that government is too big, and that big government often creates bigger problems than it solves. And if he wins over young supporters to such a philosophy, he will have created a generation of believers in a more robust federal government, who, like those who came of age in the Reagan era, will age and to some degree retain...

So now get this story, BradyBot Chairthing Heidi Yewman decided to 'prove' how easy it is to get and carry a firearm even for ignorant, stupid people.  So, being ignorant and stupid, she does so. Tony told me a Glock doesn’t have an external safety feature, so when I got home and opened the box and saw the magazine in the gun I freaked. I was too scared to try and eject it as thoughts flooded my mind of me accidentally shooting the gun and a bullet hitting my son in the house or rupturing the gas tank of my...

Palestinian evangelical in “propaganda tour” of Brazil Christian leader questions Open Doors's sponsorship of 'anti-Israel' message Michael Carl A Christian leader in Brazil says he’s alarmed by what he regards as a campaign by evangelicals to spread pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli propaganda. Julio Severo, a pro-family activist and blogger, told WND he’s concerned about a speaking tour in Brazil that features Bethlehem Bible College President Emeritus Bishara Awad in support of Open Doors, International. Severo told WND that at an event in Brazil, Awad spoke of “the Palestinian plight provoked by Israel.” “He did not mention anything about Muslim violence...

Watching Uncle Democrat scaring his Republican children with campfire ghost stories about what happens to bad little boys and girls when they don’t support his agenda is painfully embarrassing and infuriating. The script is numbingly repetitive: Child-like Republicans sit around the campfire shivering while kindly old Uncle Democrat tells them frightening stories about what will happen if they dare vote against his wishes. In a “Fort Worth-less Jim Wright” friendly, but firm tone Uncle Democrat warns his childish campers against being anything but good little Democrats. The stories have the same themes: “If you support protecting the borders our media...

School officials in Calvert County, Maryland have denied a request to expunge the suspension of the kindergartener who brought a plastic cap gun on a school bus last month and then wet his pants during a subsequent interrogation. The refusal came in the form of a letter dated Friday, reports The Washington Post. The letter stated that the five-year-old “did bring a cap gun in his book bag.” It also charged that some other children were frightened and told school officials that they couldn’t discern if the orange-tipped cowboy-style gun was real or fake. The unidentified kindergartener had brought the...

Homebuilder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes hit a significant milestone in June, surging eight points to a reading of 52 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. Any reading over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. “This is the first time the HMI has been above 50 since April 2006, and surpassing this important benchmark reflects the fact that builders are seeing better market conditions as demand for new homes increases,” said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder and developer from Charlotte, N.C....

Now Mayor Bloomberg wants mandated composting? Big deal: we’ve been composting and recycling in Washington for years.   Official “Congress In Session” Symbol Starting with the recycling of your money:   That’s a lot of fraud for just 2 of our 57 (or 60, depending on how you count) states! The IRS: taking money from you to give to somebody else in order to grow the economy since 1913: “Let me say that unemployment insurance… is one of the biggest stimuluses (sic) to our economy. Economists will tell you, this money is spent quickly. It injects demand into the economy,...

House Speaker John Boehner is not going to bring a comprehensive immigration-reform plan to the floor if a majority of Republicans don't support it, sources familiar with his plans said. "No way in hell," is how several described the chances of the speaker acting on such a proposal without a majority of his majority behind him. Boehner, R-Ohio, does not view immigration in the same vein as the fiscal cliff last December, when he backed a bill that protected most Americans from a tax increase even though less than half of the GOP lawmakers were with him, said multiple sources,...

The anonymous author over at GOPwrite.com recently came out with a laughable “Factcheck” on the claims Nancy Mace made in her RedState post titled “Lindsey Graham’s World”. The author starts off with hearsay in the introduction: It’s worth noting that Mace couldn’t get any South Carolina based website or publication to publish her drivel. Perhaps she specifically sought out RedState because it is one of the top conservative sites in the nation? That’s something to consider. What notable South Carolina sites are there that are comparable to RedState’s audience? Let’s go through the series of claims and rebuttals, and then...

Only a few weeks ago, Graham breathlessly claimed that any effort to include gay binational couples in the immigration bill would cause him to withdraw his support for the legislation, effectively killing it. So Democrats threw gays under the bus, yet again refusing to include our number one immigration priority in the so-called “comprehensive” immigration reform bill in order to appease Republicans. Some of us at the time had been arguing that the Republicans were bluffing; that the GOP is desperate to get immigration reform passed in order to weaken the lock the Democratic party has on the Latino vote...

HEIL OBAMA! HEIL McCAIN! HEIL FASCISM! U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (RINO-SC) wholeheartedly approves of the federal government’s massive Orwellian domestic spying initiative. Not only that, Graham wants to hunt down the heroic contractor who exposed this unprecedented intrusion on liberty and prosecute him for treason. Or at least he wants other people to do that … obviously Graham isn’t going to do it himself. Why is he adopting this position? Because Graham – like U.S. President Barack Obama and other fascist leaders in Washington, D.C. – are 100 percent secure in the knowledge that they are governing a nation of...

A limited government advocacy group is asking U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (RINO-S.C.) to cough up his private email passwords. “It’s time to ask Lindsey Graham to lead by example,” the release from FreedomWorks states. “Will he stand by his own admitted principles? Or will he tell the American people ‘privacy for me, and not thee?’” In fact the group has set up the website LindseysPassword.com, where supporters of individual liberty can sign a petition calling on Graham to release his passwords. Graham has been one of the arch-defenders of U.S. President Barack Obama’s massive domestic spying initiative. He’s also been...

Monday, June 17, 2013 Coming to America Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog How does one define a nation? That is truly the fundamental question of amnesty. The libertarian argument in favor of amnesty comes down to the question of whether nations even necessary at all. If the only characteristic that matters is freedom then borders and the other vestiges of nationhood only interfere with the flow of the free market. America then becomes a set of ideas and its only usefulness is as a space for harboring those ideas. This ideological definition of a nation demands...

I'll be the first to admit I have not followed the current attempt to pass immigration reform as closely as I should. I have focused on other issues and between that and me having a real life, immigration reform has been on the back burner for me. Not that it isn't important, but other things have taken precedent. That doesn't mean I am not aware that the powers that be in both parties are trying to force a bad bill down our throats. I almost feel sorry for Marco Rubio. I am certain he started off with good intentions. He...

The Jerk of the Week is a bit late this week as real life intruded. As is usual though, something comes along to grab me by the throat that makes me want to punch my monitor in frustration. Jerks come in various sizes, occupations, and reasons for their jerkiness. With the IRS scandal getting little coverage last week due to the whistleblower case (a situation that the Obama administration must be extremely grateful for), the testimony of FBI Director Robert Mueller was missed by many (and intentionally by the lamestream media). With his testimony, Robert Mueller is this week's Jerk...

•Palin would not have dismissed the Black Panther intimidation lawsuit that the government had already won. •Palin would not have seized two auto companies and give them to her cronies in and out of the UAW. •Palin and her supporters would not be claiming that her opponents were racists for disagreeing with her policies. •Palin would not have tried to block Boeing from building a factory in South Carolina as a gift to her union buddies in Washington state. •Palin would not have toured the world apologizing for America. If Palin Were President •Palin’s Homeland Security Department would not have...

Please help spread the message. At Midnight on July 1st, 2013, the unenforceable and unconstitutional Colorado ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, a number that was arbitrarily chosen with no logical reason, goes into effect. This 'law' is so bad, that sheriffs from 54 of Colorado’s 64 counties are suing to have it overturned. In defiance of this law, which is repugnant to the Constitution and therefor null and void, we as free Citizens of Colorado and of the united States of America, will join together to freely trade, buy and swap "high-capacity" firearm magazines in...

Arron Burr Kills Alexander Hamilton In A Duel Edward Snowden is on the run for his life. He was being asked to perform a job he considered illegal, immoral, and un-American. Supposedly, he lost faith in the leader for whom young people, Leftist Ideologues, and Useful Idiots have placed so much faith. Yet, he knew our Nobel Peace Prize winning president was spying on innocent Americans and people all over the world. Was the spying justified for America’s security or a political ploy for Democrats and possibly Obama to maintain power and control indefinitely? If the spying was strictly for...

This from Stag Arms over on ARFCOM... We were recently informed that the state police and state attorneys will no longer be confirming if a particular firearm configuration is legal under Connecticut's new gun control law. Essentially manufacturers can read the law, have our lawyers read the law, manufacture a configuration we believe is legal, and only after we start selling them will the state police and state attorneys review the product. We have no way to determine what they will do if it ends up not being legal under their interpretation of the law, if there will just be...

Earl Walker Jackson, Sr Speaks at The Faith & Freedom Coalition, the 3rd day of its "Road to Majority" conference, June 15, 2013.

Allow me to say thank you to N.C. Reps. Brian Brown, Jonathan Jordan and other members of the N.C. Legislature for taking the initiative to find a solution to the vast number of undocumented drivers in North Carolina with section 9 of H.B. 786, the “RECLAIM N.C.” Act. I suggest that this section be effective on the day after the governor signs the legislation, if approved, instead of waiting until Oct. 1. The Catholic nuns at St. Gabriel in Greenville will be happy to know that they no longer will have to be on the lookout for the state trooper...

While Director of Boston’s EMS, Richard Serino (now the Obama Deputy FEMA Director) developed and authored a 39 page PDF publication entitled “A Tale of Two Cities and the Running of a Planned Mass Casualty Event.” (1) In 2009, Serino retired from his Boston post to serve under FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. Prior to his promotion, Serino created Course 18 which contains the following seven chapters: “Presentation Overview, Planned Disaster Concept, Groundwork, Collaboration , Planning, Execution, and Evaluation and Analysis.” Florida Atlantic University Professor James F. Tracy is being credited for bringing this important publication to our attention in...

May I be the first to wish Kanye West Happy Father’s Day?  His current squeeze, the lovely Kim Kardashian, just gave birth to a baby girl yesterday. So he’s technically got the “dad” box checked, and as soon as his lovely baby-mama, Kimmy, gets her youthful figure back, they’re going to throw themselves a big party and pretend they’re getting married “forever.” Again, in Kim’s case. Maybe wedding  #3 will be the magical one I know, I know – Kimmy’s mom said they’ll have a “private wedding” and you think that means “small,” and “private.” We’re talking “Kimye” here: everything...

With all the banter going around concerning this ‘rouge element’, we need to take an honest look at what information has been revealed and more important - what makes this leaked information so damaging, and why Snowden is so dangerous?

Knives are arms protected by the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Some contend that the ban on knives that can be easily be opened with one hand, by the push of a button,(switchblades) was prompted by the play and movie "West Side Story". I call these sort of laws, "trendy laws", laws that make no sense logically, but are passed as a sort of trendy effect pushed by the media. The newtimes notes: Indiana's upcoming end to its decades-old ban on switchblades has spurred some of the state's gun stores to start taking pre-orders for the spring-loaded knives. State lawmakers...

I wrote last week about how the Obama administration has specifically forbade federal law enforcement officials from spying on Mosques. That news came as no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to how Obama has conducted himself during his first term in office. In one of the comments on that post, it was said that we all know there are evangelical conservatives who are issuing veiled threats against our democratic process when they do not like the majority's decisions. That must be why the IRS, under President Barack Obama, has been targeting churches for investigation. Hat tip to The...

Virginia resident Michael McNeill filed a petition with the Virginia Supreme Court requesting a Writ of Mandamus to compel Petersburg Circuit Court Clerk Shalva J. Braxton to follow Virginia law when it comes to concealed handgun permit application processing procedures. A Writ of Mandamus is a judicial order compelling an official carry out a “ministerial duty,” i.e., a duty which is non-discretionary. In Virginia, the legislature requires Circuit Court’s to issue concealed handgun permits if the applicant pays $50, submits proof of firearms training, and passes a background check. Braxton initially told Petersburg NBC 12 News through her attorneys that...

I contend that the purpose of the programs is primarily symbolic, to delegitimize gun ownership and armed citizens, to condition the public to the idea of the legitimacy of turning guns over to the government and of the government destruction of guns.Guns Turned In at Recent Phoenix Gun Turn In Event In an article from the Times Herald, Carl Rotenberg writes: Academic studies of gun buy-back programs have concluded they are ineffective at reducing gun violence in the limited number of communities where they are held. Criminals rarely turn in guns used in crimes, and if they do turn in...

The video quality is a bit sketchy [Updated Now]. We’ll (hopefully) update with something of higher quality when/if it becomes available. Anyway, this is a great speech. The Governor displayed her inimitable ability to tweak the Left and GOP Establishment for their latest idiocy de jure. Be sure to watch for her subtle dig at Jeb Bush’s bizarre immigrants are more fertile” justification for the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill. Enjoy.

More at Reaganite Republican...

At what point does it become clear that we no longer inhabit America? When we "Press 2," not "1," for English? When a national Social Security Number syncs an electronic identity that the government hospital provided us at birth to track us till death? When borders are no more, but the Surveillance State always knows where we are? Ours is the age of dislocation before realization: The United States of America no longer exists. Why? How? The answer is simple, tragic and outrageous: Government officials, elected and unelected, with precious exceptions, no longer preserve, protect and defend the U.S. Constitution....

Complete title: ALERT: Chief Judge Of The United States District Court For DC Gives Leave Of Court To File Motions & Documents Providing Undeniable Evidence Of Obama’s Use Of A Stolen Social Security Number... On June 13, 2013, Judge Lamberth Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia gave leave of court to file 74 pages of motions and exhibits [embedded below] submitted by Attorney Orly Taitz in case 11-cv-402 Taitz v Astrue (Michael Astrue was the Commissioner of the Social Security at the time the case was originally filed, currently it is Carolyn W.Colvin) This...

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, billionaire, desiring to rewrite the constitution, and countrywide buttinski suffered a major "gun control" loss on Thursday in Nevada. He and his pet group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), "spent hundreds of thousands of dollars" to buy passage of the Nevada state legislature's bill SB 221, another dangerous piece of gun control legislation dressed up to look palatable by applying the innocuous-sounding "background check" label to it. Bloomberg lost, and lost big-time, not because of a paid opposition wading in money, but because of a viral grass-roots effort organized by average Americans provided...

Look at the similarities. As Gallia Watch explains, the French video that you can watch by clicking on the link just below this post title shows "the vigil held in Montpellier on the eve of the first homosexual marriage in France that took place May 29 in that city. Les Veilleurs (those keeping vigil), seated on the ground, and singing L'Espérance (Hope), their anthem, are confronted by the pro-gay crowd, standing, visibly more rowdy and drinking, carrying the multicolored banner of Gay Pride". It is easy to see the contrast between the beautiful, peaceful hymn sung by the Les Veilleurs,...

A short, mind-boggling video about a fired California public transit worker (fired for poor work habits)earning over $300,000 per year AFTER she had been fired! And yes, at taxpayer expense. Anyone still wonder why California is going broke?

The Obama Administration has finally come to the conclusion that Syrian dictator Assad has chemical weapons which he will use against al Qaeda aligned, Muslim Brotherhood backed insurgents and rebels. So after calling for an end to the war on terror, the White House resident has now ordered the U.S. military to develop a plan to assist Syrian rebels in an overthrow of the Assad regime. Once accomplished, Assad will be replaced with a Muslim Brotherhood puppet as seen in Egypt and Libya. Obama’s military planners are developing plans for arming Syrian rebels and insurgents (al Qaeda terrorists) to fight...

Jonathan Turley publishes some quite good stuff at his blog. There were two excellent pieces yesterday and one today, thus far. It's a grand old Constitution. Is it time for a wake? Today's article at Jonathan Turley's blog was authored by Mike Spindell. Titled Catch 22 and the Secrecy Debate, it is based in part on this quote from Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. There, Mr. Heller wrote  The “Catch-22″ is that “anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy” Hence, pilots who request a mental fitness evaluation are sane, and therefore must fly in combat. At the same...

WASHINGTON – Jennifer Briones’ family usually gathers for a barbecue in the park for Father’s Day, but the 16-year-old Phoenix resident said she will likely find something else to do if the family gets together this weekend. That’s because Jennifer doesn’t want to imagine her dad – an illegal immigrant who was arrested last year for driving without a license – spending the holiday in prison. “It’s hard to know he’s not here with me and I can’t show him support,” said Jennifer, a rising senior at Xavier College Preparatory. Jennifer’s dad is just one of millions of parents who...

The current Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), General Keith B. Alexander, defended its program of widespread spying on Americans on the grounds that “numerous serious threats to the government have been thwarted as a result of the data accumulated by the Agency.” Skeptics point out that there have been a number of jihad-style attacks on American soil since the NSA’s massive intrusion into Americans’ privacy got under way. Most notably, jihad terrorists detonated a bomb at the Boston Marathon. In 2009, a Muslim psychiatrist murdered 13 and wounded 31 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas in what he...

When Wisconsin passed its Shall Issue concealed carry law in 2011, there was strong support for constitutional carry. As a result, Act 35, the Wisconsin Law, is one of the most advanced shall issue laws in the nation. It offers multiple means to meet the required the training requirement required. Here are the relevant portions of the law: (4) Training requirements. (a) The proof of training requirement under sub. (7) (e) may be met by any of the following: 1. A copy of a document, or an affidavit from an instructor or organization that conducted the course or program, that...

As a long-time FReeper and supporter of Governor Palin, I was very excited when she was chosen by McCain as VP, electrified by her nomination speech in St. Paul, disappointed when McCain/Palin lost the election, and depressed wehen she declined to run for President in 2012. It is my belief that Governor Palin is a true conservative Republican in the tradition of Calvin Coolidge, Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater, and of course Ronald Reagan. There is no other person in the Republican Party or conservative movement who can fire up grassroots supporters and help conservatives get elected to office. However -...

This is no joke, “Bitchy Resting Face” is a debilitating disease that can attack women of any age and can result in her looking “thoughtfully sad or angry for no reason.”  Oh, we’ve got a reason.  Here’s the PSA describing this most serious affliction modern women “face”:     I think you’ll agree with my diagnosis that Lady M is suffering from this disorder.  The cause of the affliction is unknown, butt researchers think that several factors contribute to it including the following: The company you keep:  Un-earned honors received:  The company you keep:  Pearls:  (SNIP)The company you keep:  Really bad hair days (and the company you keep):  Bad hair...