Free Republic

Lois Lerner, the IRS official who headed the tax-exempt division when the targeting of tea-party groups took place, plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions before Congress on Wednesday. But Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House oversight committee where Lerner was to appear, has issued a subpoena to Lerner anyway. The subpoena was delivered after the committee received the letter from Lerner's attorney, a committee aide said. Her attorney, William Taylor, said in a letter obtained by National Journal, that Lerner had "not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation" but that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police cannot bring drug-sniffing police dogs onto a suspect's property to look for evidence without first getting a warrant for a search, a decision which may limit how investigators use dogs' sensitive noses to search out drugs, explosives and other items hidden from human sight, sound and smell.

Gee, how many meat inspectors will be laid off to pay for this? How many air traffic controllers? How many kids will go hungry? Nancy A. Youssef of the McClatchy Newspapers writes: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry promised Sunday to give Egypt $190 million to help the government pay its bills, but said more money would require that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi move quickly to resolve the country's differences with the International Monetary Fund, reform its security services and take steps to provide equal rights for women and religious minorities.

Washington - The senior Homeland Security Department official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his resignation the same day the agency said that hundreds of people facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to looming budget cuts, according to a resignation letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The government said he had told his bosses weeks ago that he planned to retire. Gary Mead, executive associate director over enforcement and removal operations at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, disclosed his departure

Citing advanced years and infirmity, but showing characteristic tough-mindedness and unpredictability, Pope Benedict XVI shocked Roman Catholics on Monday by saying that he would resign on Feb. 28, becoming the first pope to do so in six centuries. Speaking in Latin to a small gathering of cardinals at the Vatican on Monday morning, Benedict said that after examining his conscience “before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise” of leading the world’s one billion Roman Catholics. The statement, soon translated into seven languages, ricocheted...

I'm sure the Obama administration wishes questions about the Benghazi attack and subsequent murder of our ambassador and 3 others would just go away. They successfully stonewalled the issue until after the election and then some ill-timed health issues afflicting Secretary Clinton prevented her from testifying last year. But today, the House and Senate foreign affairs committees will each get their shot at question Mrs. Clinton about what happened, why the investigation has been botched, and why the perpetrators are still at large thumbing their nose at the US government. From THE HILL: ________________________ Republicans have been clamoring for her...

In the wake of a deplorable decision by the Journal News to publish the names and addresses of law-abiding citizens with gun permits,  a home in White Plains, NY was targeted by burglars attempting to steal the gunsIf a New York victim of gun violence is to be allowed the right to sue a gun manufacturers and distributor, for argument's sake, wouldn't it seem that the victim of the White Plains crime would have a strong case for suing the Journal News? After all, in both cases, criminal third parties took the product provided by the businesses at issue and...

The fissure between the GOP establishment and Tea Party members in Congress blew wide open Monday evening when conservative members of Congress were suddenly removed from House financial committees.RedState’s Erick Erickson was the first reliable source to share that conservatives were reportedly being removed from the House’s finance related committees by Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio).Shortly after, Roll Call reported that Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona had been removed from from the Financial Services Committee “for bucking the party line too often.”“This morning Congressman Schweikert learned there was a price to be paid for voting based on principle. That...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - College students from across North Carolina will arrive in Charlotte by the busload. Same with members of predominantly black churches in neighbouring South Carolina. Their goal: help fill a 74,000-seat outdoor stadium to capacity when President Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination Thursday night. Anything short of a full house on the final night of the Democratic Party's national convention will be instant fodder for Republicans eager to use empty seats as symbols of waning voter enthusiasm for Obama. Democrats have been fretting for months over whether the president can draw a capacity crowd at Bank of...

NEW YORK (AP) — "The Protester" has been named Time's "Person of the Year" for 2011.

Cuccinelli Seeking Supreme Court Review of Va. Health Care LawsuitUpdated: 11:56 AM Feb 3, 2011 Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced Thursday that the Commonwealth will file a petition to ask the United States Supreme Court to take Virginia's health care lawsuit now, as opposed to waiting for the case to first be decided by the court of appeals. The Petition for Certiorari Before Judgment in the United States Supreme Court in the case of Commonwealth v. Sebelius will be filed pursuant to Rule 11 of the Rules of the United States Supreme Court. **SNIP** Normally, appeals of decisions of...

It was the latest in a rash of shootings of police officers in recent days and the second time that police were shot in Florida while serving arrest warrants. Two police officers, a man and a woman, were shot and killed last week in Miami, Fla., while serving an arrest warrant on a man wanted for murder. An officer in Lincoln City, Ore., was critically wounded late Sunday night when he pulled over a car for speeding. A manhunt is underway after a brief highway chase disabled the suspect's car. The driver ran into a wooded area and remains at...

A Baltimore man was arrested Tuesday for plotting to blow up a military recruitment center, authorities said. The man was caught in a sting operation and was plotting to blow up an Armed Forces recruiting station in Catonsville with what he believed to be a vehicle bomb, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland said in a statement. "There was no actual danger to the public as the explosives were inert and the suspect had been carefully monitored by law enforcement for months," the statement said. There was no evidence the plot was linked to recent shootings at military installations in...

MORENCI, Mich. (AP) - A police chief says authorities "do not anticipate a positive outcome" in the search for three Michigan brothers who have been missing since their father's attempted suicide. Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks told reporters Tuesday that searchers are continuing to look for 9-year-old Andrew, 7-year-old Alexander and 5-year-old Tanner Skelton. The boys last were seen on Thanksgiving in their father's backyard. Weeks says the assessment is based on information including statements from 39-year-old John Skelton. He says no decision has been made about whether to bring charges in the disappearance. Police say John Skelton attempted suicide...

The Obama Administration plans to withdraw National Guard troops from the Texas, New Mexico and California borders by the end February under a new Southwest security plan, even as turmoil in Mexican border cities grows, according to documents obtained by The Washington Examiner. A letter sent to various members of the Texas Congressional delegation from Texas' Gov. Rick Perry's office says, "In February, 2011, the Texas, New Mexico, and California National Guard forces that were deployed to the border in September, 2010, under President's Obama's Southwest Border Augmentation Plan, will have 30 days to complete a total draw down of...

STOCKHOLM – Swedish prosecutors say they will seek an international arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a rape investigation. The announcement came after a Stockholm court approved their request to detain Assange for questioning in the case, which stems from his encounters with two Swedish women in August

WOODBRIDGE, Va. (AP) — Police in northern Virginia say shots were fired overnight at a Coast Guard recruiting station, the latest case of someone shooting at military buildings in the DC area. Prince William County police say they're investigating multiple bullet holes at the building.

Texas Rangers Notch First World Series Win October 30, 2010 8:55 PM ARLINGTON (AP) – Mitch Moreland hit a three-run homer in the second inning, Josh Hamilton added a solo shot in the fifth and the Texas Rangers beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 on Saturday night to close to 2-1 in the World Series. With former President George W. Bush watching from a front-row seat, winner Colby Lewis allowed two runs and five hits in 7 2-3 innings. Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for the save, completing a five-hitter. Down 4-0, San Francisco came back on solo home runs...

After Joy Behar’s “bitch” session on The Spew yesterday, Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle struck back…with flowers and a cheery note. Via Elizabeth Crum at NRO Battle ’10: No one can accuse Team Angle of not having a healthy sense of humor. In response to Joy Behar’s vicious remarks on The View, the Angle campaign sent a lovely flower arrangement with a note enclosed. “Joy, Raised $150,000 online yesterday. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Sharron Angle”

NPR terminated the contract of Juan Williams on Wednesday after comments the veteran journalist and news analyst made about Muslims on Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor." Fox News host Bill O'Reilly stirred up controversy last week on "The View" after making the blanket statement that "Muslims killed us on 9/11," a comment that led to co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walking off the set.

Rick Lazio withdrew today from the Conservative Party line and dropped out of the governor’s race. The former Long Island congressman, who lost to Carl Paladino in the GOP primary three weeks ago, made the announcement this afternoon, which coincides with the deadline for him to be nominated for a judgeship...

New York voters will, unusually, elect 2 United States Senators in 2010. In the Special Election to fill the final 2 years of Hillary Rodham Clinton's term, incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand and former Congressman Republican Joe DioGuardi today finish effectively even, Gillibrand's nominal 1-point lead being within the survey's theoretical margin of sampling error.

Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama's chief of staff, is likely to leave the White House before the November congressional elections to run for mayor of Chicago, people familiar with the matter said. Emanuel, who would be running to replace Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, could depart by early October, after Congress leaves for recess to campaign for the midterm elections, the people said on condition of anonymity. One person close to Emanuel said a final decision hasn't been made. The timing of Emanuel's departure would allow him to devote full attention to the Chicago race while still giving the president...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is suggesting a coordinated effort is behind the opposition to a proposed mosque and community center near Ground Zero, saying the whole dispute has been "ginned up" for political purposes and she supports a probe into those opponents.

A former Justice Department attorney who quit his job to protest the Obama administration's handling of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case is accusing Attorney General Eric Holder of dropping the charges for racially motivated reasons. J. Christian Adams, now an attorney in Virginia and a conservative blogger for Pajamas Media, says he and the other Justice Department lawyers working on the case were ordered to dismiss it. "I mean we were told, 'Drop the charges against the New Black Panther Party,'" Adams told Fox News, adding that political appointees Loretta King, acting head of the civil rights...

Two tapes were sent today to The Long War Journal by a group identifying itself as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The same group sent a link earlier today to The Long War Journal to a YouTube video of Qari Hussain Mehsud claiming that the Taliban carried out the failed May 1 car bomb attack in New York City's Times Square. The two Hakeemullah tapes consist of a videotape of Hakeemullah flanked by two masked fighters, and an audiotape with images of Hakeemullah superimposed over a map of the US with explosions in the background....

A jury in Tennessee today found David Kernell guilty of two of four charges against him. Kernell was found guilty of computer fraud and obstruction of justice. These two charges could carry a combined maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. The jury deadlocked on the charge of identity theft and he was not found guilty on the charge of wire fraud. Prosecutors have reserved the right to hold a new trial for the deadlocked charge of identity theft. The judge in the case will determine the sentencing. Expect Karnell to get off with...

In the latest of a series of invasions into Sarah Palin’s personal life, hackers have broken into the Republican vice presidential candidate’s private e-mail account, and a widely read Web site has published screen grabs from it. An article Wednesday in Gawker.com posts family photos and snapshots of e-mail exchanges the Alaska governor had with colleagues. Gawker says the-email account has since been shut down, but it will leave the images up on its site for all to see. “Here are the screenshots of the emails saved before the account went dark, along with the contact list. It’s newsworthy...

If this is true, I don't see how the guy wins even one state in November. From the New York Post. While campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence. According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July. "He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and...

Last updated: 11:24 am September 8, 2008 Posted: 4:30 am September 8, 2008 THE Post today enthusiastically urges the election of Sen. John S. McCain as the 44th president of the United States. McCain's lifelong record of service to America, his battle-tested courage, unshakeable devotion to principle and clear grasp of the dangers and opportunities now facing the nation stand in dramatic contrast to the tissue-paper-thin résumé of his Democratic opponent, freshman Sen. Barack Obama.

MSNBC is removing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as the anchors of live political events, bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neutral in the heat of the presidential campaign. David Gregory, the NBC newsman and White House correspondent who also hosts a program on MSNBC, will take over during such events as this fall's presidential and vice presidential debates and election night. The move, confirmed by spokesmen for both networks, follows increasingly loud complaints about Olbermann's anchor role at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Olbermann, who regularly assails President Bush and GOP nominee...

I hope it is OK with mods to post a thread where we can make comments on convention coverage. If not, please delete.

HOUSTON — In a case that has drawn international attention, Texas executed José E. Medellín on Tuesday night in defiance of an international court ruling and despite pleas from the Bush administration for a new hearing. The execution came just before 10 p.m. Central time, shortly after the United States Supreme Court denied a last request for a reprieve. Protesters for and against the death penalty clamored in the rain outside the Huntsville Unit, about 70 miles north of Houston, where Mr. Medellín was executed by lethal injection. “I’m sorry my actions caused you pain,” he said to the witnesses...

I am not sure what the response will be while the Olympics are there, but I would have to say that when the games are over, the Chinese authorities will be playing their own games..........war games, with in the Muslim community of Xinjiang.

The District, rebuffed by the Supreme Court last month in a landmark decision on its 32-year-old gun ban, could soon be headed back to court over a new gun law that could take effect as early as Wednesday. The D.C. Council will vote Tuesday on emergency legislation that will require handgun owners to keep their weapons disassembled or under lock and key in what gun rights advocates see as direct defiance of the Supreme Court ruling. That ruling said the District could not bar residents from "rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense."...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding capital punishment is reserved for murderers. Patrick Kennedy, 43, was on Louisiana's death row for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. The ruling stemmed from the case of Patrick Kennedy, who has been on Louisiana's death row since 2003, when he was sentenced to be executed for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that "evolving standards of decency" in the United States forbid capital punishment for any crime other than murder. Execution of Patrick Kennedy, the justices ruled, would...

(CNSNews.com) - An appeal by environmental groups to stop the federal government from waiving regulations during construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border was turned down by the Supreme Court on Monday. In its decision, the high court rejected a plea from Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club to challenge a provision of a 2005 law that gives the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the authority to bypass environmental and other laws obstructing completion of the border fence. The controversy began after Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, invoked the REAL ID Act while issuing...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican White House candidate John McCain will promise on Tuesday to lower corporate tax rates if he wins the U.S. presidency and ease the tax burden on middle-class workers to help revive the faltering economy. The Arizona senator, who has wrapped up his party's presidential nomination, also would propose a simpler, alternative tax system and insist that chief executives' pay and severance packages have shareholder approval. "No matter which of us wins in November, there will be change in Washington. The question is what kind of change?" McCain will tell a conference for small businesses, referring to...

BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor Tuesday in what could be the grim final chapter in a life marked by exhilarating triumph and shattering tragedy. Some experts gave the liberal lion less than a year to live. Doctors discovered the tumor after the 76-year-old senator and sole surviving son of America's most storied political family suffered a seizure over the weekend. The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962, and came as a shock to a family all too accustomed to sudden, calamitous news. "Ted...

BAGHDAD (AP) — The number of American troops and Iraqi civilians killed in the war fell in September to levels not seen in more than a year. The U.S. military said the lower count was at least partly a result of new strategies and 30,000 additional U.S. forces deployed this year. Although it is difficult to draw conclusions from a single month's tally, the figures could suggest U.S.-led forces are making headway against extremist factions and disrupting their ability to strike back. The U.S. military toll for September was 64, the lowest since July 2006, according to figures compiled by...

Norman Hsu, the Democratic fund-raiser who was a fugitive from the law, was charged today with bilking investors of at least $60 million in a nationwide Ponzi scheme, tens of thousands of dollars of which was funneled by way of “straw donors” to candidates for national office in violation of federal election law. In a complaint unsealed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Mr. Hsu, 56, was accused of strong-arming his investors into giving money to various political causes and to candidates running for president, Senate and the House of Representatives. One of those candidates was Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton...

Bomb kills anti-Syrian lawmaker By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon - A bomb rocked a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital Wednesday, killing an anti-Syrian lawmaker and six other people, security officials said. Antoine Ghanem is the eighth prominent anti-Syrian figure assassinated since 2005. Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party, was targeted by the bomb, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The Voice of Lebanon radio station, which is owned by the Phalange party, confirmed Ghanem's death. The identities of the...

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico (AP) - A truck carrying explosives for the mining industry exploded after running into another vehicle in northern Mexico, killing at least 37 people, a federal police official said Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Sept. 7) - Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was arrested after the Hong Kong native failed to show up for a court appearance related to a felony theft conviction.

After spending months testing the waters for a presidential run, Sen. Fred Thompson has made his candidacy official. "I am running for president of the United States," he said during a taping of NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," drawing applause and cheers from the audience. Thompson will also talk about his decision to join the race for the Republican presidential nomination in a webcast scheduled to go online early Thursday. A five-day campaign tour will follow Thompson's announcement, sources said last week. Thompson will stump in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. Then it's on to Lawrenceburg,...

ABC News' Jack Date and Theresa Cook Report: Veteran Ohio Republican Rep. Paul Gillmore is dead at the age of 68. Two members of Gillmore's staff found the Congressman's body at the bottom of a staircase in his suburban Washington home at 11:10 Wednesday morning, according to Arlington County, Va. Police Department spokesman John Lysle. The staff members stopped by Gillmore's home to check on him after he missed a hearing, Lysle said. Gillmore, who was serving his tenth term as a Congressman, was a member of the House Financial Services Committee, which had a 10:30 hearing scheduled Wednesday morning....

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations officials found vials of dangerous chemicals, which had been removed from Iraq a decade ago, in a U.N. building in New York, but U.N. officials said on Thursday there was no danger. The FBI was called in to help remove the substances. The material was phosgene, a chemical warfare agent, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a news conference. The inspections unit said in a statement that the chemicals had been found last Friday. The Iraqi weapons inspectors came across the material as they were closing their offices, which are housed in a building near...

U.S. Forces Free 7 Iranians Detained in Raid on Baghdad Hotel August 29, 2007 BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. troops released seven Iranians early Wednesday, hours after detaining them at a central Baghdad hotel, an Iranian embassy official said. An Iranian diplomat, who refused to give his name, told The Associated Press that one of those released contacted the embassy Wednesday morning to say that they have been handed over to Iraqi authorities. American troops raided Baghdad's Sheraton Ishtar hotel and took away a group of about 10 people late Tuesday. The diplomat said the seven Iranians included an embassy staffer...

Sen. Larry Craig Caught With His Pants Down The Nation -- Republican Idaho Senator Larry Craig is the latest Conflicted Conservative in Crisis to be caught with his pants down. According to Roll Call , Craig was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom. He has pleaded guilty to the charge. Craig has faced pointed rumors of same-sex affairs in the past. Craig responded to these allegations with strident denials. Now, as details of Craig's recent arrest emerge, he seems increasinly cockeyed, so to speak. This...

*snip* Attorney General Gonzales Resigns Controversy Plagued Top Law Enforcement Official By PIERRE THOMAS, JASON RYAN, THERESA COOK and JACK DATE Aug. 27, 2007 Gonzales will hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. at the Justice Department to announce the resignation; President Bush is also expected to make a statement at 11:30 a.m. *snip* The embattled attorney general had withstood months of criticism from both sides of the aisle in Congress for a variety of missteps. Lawmakers blasted Gonzales after his department fired at least nine U.S. attorneys last year and accused him of misusing terrorist surveillance programs. Most recently...