Free Republic

A story broke last week that an Arabic journalist named Jamal Khashoggi who was working for the Washington Post had disappeared and was presumed dead. The official story is that Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on the afternoon of October 2. Immediately (and suspiciously) media stories that appeared to be coordinated appeared, pointing the finger of blame for Khashoggi’s disappearance at Saudi Arabia, in general, and at the country’s Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, in particular. It was alleged by anonymous sources for several days that Khashoggi had been abducted and then killed at...

Among the Don’s and Capo’s of the K street syndicate operates a man of considerable yet waning influence, his name is Grover Glenn Norquist. Mr. Norquist’s controversial “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” has come under recent fire from both high ranking Democrats and so-call conservative Republican supporters. To many Americans, Norquist’s small government and tax reform agenda has made him a man worthy of praise. However, as it is with all lobbyists, the general public would do well to consider Mr. Norquist’s loyalties before rushing to anoint another false patriot. For decades Grover Norquist has enriched himself with his legislative crusades to...

Washington’s renowned anti-tax fighter, Grover Norquist, apparently thinks that letting tax cuts expire doesn’t violate a no-new-taxes pledge he has extracted from most Republicans. See pledge signees here. Norquist told the Washington Post that letting broad-based tax cuts passed in the Bush era would not violate his Taxpayer Protection Pledge. “Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” he told the Post’s editorial page.