Free Republic

By Breitbart. Vice President Joe Biden was documented as being present in the Oval Office for a conversation about the controversial Russia probe between President Obama, disgraced ex-FBI chief James Comey, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and other senior officials including Obama’s national security advisor Susan Rice. In an action characterized as “odd” last year by then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Rice memorialized the confab in an email to herself describing Obama as starting “the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by...

The Justice Department is alleging that the former Obama White House general counsel made ‘false and misleading’ statements regarding consulting work done for Ukraine. Greg Craig was lead partner for the law firm Skadden Arps on its Ukraine work, which was done in partnership with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman. Skadden Arps agreed Thursday to settle with the Justice Department by registering as a foreign agent of Ukraine and paying a $4.6 million fine. Craig’s fate remains uncertain. The former general counsel for President Obama made “false and misleading statements” to the Justice Department regarding work he...

Goldfield, Iowa (CNN) - Ted Cruz argued the developing story of a terror-related arrest in his hometown of Houston on Thursday was the latest evidence that the United States should not accept refugees from Syria.At a hastily-called media availability here in a shuttered high school, Cruz wasted no time in quickly tying arrests in Houston and Sacramento, California, to a White House unwilling to recognize the Islamic nature of the threat facing the United States."These arrests underscore the need... for President Obama to suspend this indefensible policy putting political correctness ahead of national security," Cruz said.Cruz called for an evaluation...

For the first time in Texas history, a same-sex relationship has been recognized as a common-law marriage. Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman signed a judgment acknowledging that Stella Powell and Sonemaly Phrasavath met the legal requirements to be considered married even though their eight-year relationship did not include a marriage license. Herman’s order, signed Monday but distributed Tuesday, ended Phrasavath’s quest to have her relationship with Powell, who died last year, recognized as a marriage after Powell’s siblings filed a probate suit stating that she had died single because she could not marry another woman under Texas law. The...

Connecticut’s Democratic leaders were willing Thursday to make minor changes to the business taxes that prompted some major employers to threaten to leave the state, but said they won’t roll the taxes back and expressed doubt that any of the firms would move. […] The plan includes numerous business tax changes, including higher taxes on computer and data processing services, limits on tax credits, limits on when losses can be reported, and how business income is reported. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric Co., sent an email to employees Thursday, saying he has assembled an “exploratory team” to review...

A new Connecticut Supreme Court ruling is adding to the debate on whether gay marriage rights should be applied retroactively and qualify same-sex couples for rights and benefits for which they weren’t entitled before state laws allowed them to marry. Although no states that allow gay marriage have made their laws retroactive, many same-sex partners believe they should have received Social Security survivor payments, tax breaks, inheritances and other benefits that were afforded only to heterosexual married couples before gay marriage laws were passed. …

On Thursday, the Obama administration quietly announced it will allow consumers in states with busted Obamacare websites to retroactively bag taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies, even if they purchased health insurance outside the Obamacare marketplace. The move by the Obama administration will help Democratic candidates facing voters irate over Obamacare by now retroactively cutting checks to citizens in states with broken Obamacare websites. As CBS News reports, "Those who stand to benefit the most are Democratic governors who plunged ahead and ran into problems" because "Republican governors basically defaulted to federal control of online sign-ups in their states." Democratic Oregon Gov. John...

Warning: this one is depressing if you believe in the public domain. You may recall that last year, a district court made a very important ruling on what appeared to be a minor part of copyright law. The "Golan" case asked a simple question: once something is officially in the public domain, can Congress pull it out and put it back under copyright? The situation came about because of (yet another) trade agreement that pulled certain foreign works out of the public domain. A district court had initially said that this move did not violate the law, but the appeals...

This money is to be paid to pepole that were held past their enlistment while serving in OIF and OEF.I was one of them I was held 11 months.It's all been a big joke I applied Nov. 6,2009 still waiting on a response.Cases are supposed to be prossesed and paid in the order recieved.I have a friend with a case# that follows mine his claim has been sent to DFAS to be paid.Just wondering if any FReepers are in the same boat I am.

Remember how the Democrats reacted when the Bush Administration started replacing U.S. Attorneys? At least they were actually political appointees employed at the will and whim of the President.

12/29/2008 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs have identified nearly 11,000 surviving spouses of deceased veterans who will receive a lump-sum payment before the new year to correct an error in their VA benefits. Also documented were more than 73,000 who previously had been paid. VA officials are still tracking down eligible survivors. "I am pleased that our task force working to correct this problem has been able to identify this first group this week," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. "We understand the difference these funds can make for these surviving...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2008 – Active duty troops will receive retroactive earnings next month, followed weeks later by a supplemental payday for non-active personnel, a Pentagon official said today. The National Defense Authorization Act signed into law yesterday by President Bush stipulates a 3.5 percent military pay raise. This hike is 0.5 percent higher than an executive order Bush signed Dec. 28 to increase pay by 3 percent, which took effect Jan 1. In mid-February, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service will pay active duty troops the extra 0.5 percent raise earned since the start of 2008. Non-active members...

At first, the story line went like this: Sen. Hillary Clinton may have committed the ultimate political culinary sin -- not tipping the waitress. But the story was wrong: NPR has retracted its initial report, a nasty little anecdote about iClnton meeting a working-mom waitress at the Maid-Rite eatery in Iowa over the summer, using her story in a speech -- and then stiffing her on the tip. Now NPR has confirmed the tip with an editor's note: "Since this story aired, Hillary Clinton's campaign contacted NPR to say that the campaign paid Maid-Rite a bill for $100 for food...

Raleigh – Feb. 16 State Senate Republicans voted together, Wednesday, to reject an attempt by Senate Democrats to reverse a Supreme Court decision that might affect the still-unresolved outcome of the 2004 election for state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Senate Bill 82 makes certain election challenges subject to General Assembly review and strips courts of any jurisdiction over such elections. The bill also attempts to extend new election rules into the past. The controversial bill was rushed to the Senate floor, passed by the Senate Democrat majority and immediately sent to the state House.

Can someone update me on the status of the Child Tax Rebates we were supposed to be getting starting this July? Also, the retroactive tax rate decrease ( to last Jan ), that was supposed tokick in?

All retroactive laws are unconstitutional. Supposedly, we are protected against such heavy-handed political impositions. Our social compact with government, the United States Constitution, forbids such actions by government. That is, if We the People are willing to enforce the issue. First, we should ask our Representatives and Senators if they intend to honor their oath of office. You know, the one where they swear to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. . . . Then, ask your Member of Congress to read Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which states: "No Bill of...