Free Republic

The Democratic Party's top election lawyer was sanctioned by a federal appeals court Friday for intentionally drawing out a Texas election dispute. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Perkins Coie lawyer Marc Elias "unreasonably and vexatiously" drew out a legal challenge to Texas's ban on straight-ticket voting, which lets a voter cast a ballot for every candidate of a particular party with a single mark. Elias is a longtime Democratic legal hand who represents political entities like the Democratic National Committee and served as chief campaign counsel for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and John Kerry in 2004. Elias...

The Justice Department said Friday it will not pursue criminal charges against former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, after a nearly two-year-long investigation into accusations brought by the agency's independent watchdog who found that he lacked "candor" when questioned about leaking to the media. In a letter to McCabe attorney Michael Bromwich obtained by Fox News, Justice Department attorney J.P. Cooney said the investigation is now “closed.”

Truncation: " and for Lack of Candor" The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this investigation upon the receipt of certain text messages from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) d uring the course of the OIG’s Review of Allegations Regarding Various Actions by the Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Advance of the 2016 Election The text messages indicated that a senior FBI official accepted two tickets to a professional sports game as a gift from a television news correspondent who regularly covered the FBI and DOJ, in violation of federal...

Link to the report only - pdf download.

Nearly a year before Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired senior FBI official Andrew McCabe for what Sessions called a “lack of candor,” McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. (read more)

NBC News star Chuck Todd recently made a lectern-pounding speech to attendees of a journalism awards dinner. He proclaimed: "One thing we're not is the opposition. We've never tried to be a part of the political debate, but people want to drag us into it. We shouldn't take the bait. We're simply a voice of truth." So, let's consider the case of Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI. The FBI Office of Professional Responsibility recommended that McCabe be fired for lying, or, to be gentle, a "lack of candor" -- even under oath -- in the Justice Department...

EXCLUSIVE: Fired FBI official authorized criminal probe of Sessions, sources say By Mike Levine Mar 21, 2018, 4:01 PM ETNearly a year before Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired senior FBI official Andrew McCabe for what Sessions called a "lack of candor," McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Ed Schultz, liberal radio host and MSNBC action hero, has a pronounced aversion to Republicans/conservatives/right wingers coming on his cable show.Why? Depends on when Schultz explains the reason.Here he was on his radio show this past Monday (audio) --You do not see Republican senators on "The Ed Show" on MSNBC. I don't want 'em! I don't want 'em and I'm getting sick of righties on my show anyway. I'm getting sick, I mean, we might have 2011, there might not be any freakin' righties. I'm sick of 'em!

BERKELEY Leaders of California's public universities, roiled by reports that some top officials were quietly paid millions, are pledging to be more open about executive pay. At the California State University trustees' meeting in Long Beach on Tuesday, Chancellor Charles Reed endorsed a proposal to make sure the system's board members and the public knows about compensation deals given to departing executives. Meanwhile, officials at the University of California said they would be more public about setting salaries for the top ranks. "UC has an obligation to be open and accessible to the public, and the university is committed to...

DES MOINES, Iowa - An Iowa congressman apologized Wednesday for disparaging comments he made last week at the state Republican convention about a veteran White House correspondent. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, was discussing the June 7 death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Saturday when he mentioned 85-year-old Helen Thomas, who has covered the White House for nearly 50 years and is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. "There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he's at," King said about al-Zarqawi, in a recording transcribed by Radio Iowa. "And if there are, they probably all look like...

WASHINGTON - Democrats and Republicans are applauding President Bush for acknowledging mistakes in Iraq and taking responsibility, but critics say he still has not given Americans a realistic plan that will lead to the withdrawal of U.S. forces. "I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss — and not one of those decisions has been taken lightly," Bush declared in a televised speech to the nation Sunday, his first from the Oval Office since announcing the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. He held out the promise that when the Iraqi military gains strength and self-government...

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY By Howard Fineman Newsweek Updated: 6:48 p.m. ET July 20, 2005 July 20 - George W. Bush keeps surprising the wise guys. They keep thinking that he’s going to be something other than what he is and that he will do something other than what he says he will do. Well, he and Karl Rove built his career on West Texas Bible Belt conservatism, with deep ancestral ties to the Establishment “up East.” And it was that president—half Cambridge, all “Come to Jesus”—who chose John G. Roberts Jr. for the U.S. Supreme Court. In the words of the...

I was surprised last week to learn how easily some Westerners believe terrorism can be explained. The realization unfolded as I looked into the sad face of a student at Oxford University. After giving a speech about Islam, I met this young magazine editor to talk about Islam's lost tradition of critical thinking and reasoned debate. But we never got to that topic. Instead, we got stuck on the July 7 bombings in London and what might have compelled four young, British-raised, observant Muslim men to blow themselves up while taking innocent others with them. She emphasized their "relative economic...

WASHINGTON - When it comes to counterterror strategy, maverick Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record) tells it as he sees it — often to the extreme discomfort of fellow Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration. But his candor in a new book accusing the CIA of ignoring terror information has called Weldon's credibility into question as he is being considered to chair the House Homeland Security Committee. As the committee's vice chairman, Weldon, R-Pa., is among a small number of Republicans competing to ascend to the panel's top job as early as next month. The new chairman would replace...

Democratic entrepreneur Rutt Bridges launched his campaign for governor Wednesday during a private, semi-formal soiree at his Cherry Hills Village home. Bridges plans to file his campaign paperwork this morning. "I'm basically telling a bunch of my close friends and family that I'm in the race," said the 53-year-old political neophyte, who would not say why he is running nor reveal his campaign message. "That's not a conversation I'm willing to have yet," he said. Bridges made millions developing a software program that analyzes sound reflections from the earth to identify likely oil and gas deposits. After dabbling in venture...

Tokyo Press Conference Quote:"The U.S. is the only ally providing Tokyo with deterrent power against any foreign country that could threaten regional security, such as North Korea, and the Japanese people should never forget it."-- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, stating one of the reasons for his support of U.S. action against Iraq. (Kyodo)

A U. N. report by Middle-Eastern intellectuals blames Arab culture and Arab tyranny for Arab problems. The just-released Arab Human Development Report, commissioned by the United Nations and drafted by a group of Middle Eastern intellectuals, utterly confirms the deep pathology gripping the Arab world that Western analysts have long noted. Yet what was truly astounding about the account was less its findings than the honest acknowledgement that Arab problems are largely self-created. Khalaf Hunaidi, who oversaw the economic portion of the analysis, remarked, “It’s not outsiders looking at Arab countries. It’s Arabs deciding for themselves.” And what they decided...