Free Speech America

The federal government paid at least $439 million in employee bonuses last year, down $43 million since new austerity restrictions were announced.

The largest merit awards went to senior executives in Washington and air traffic controllers, an Asbury Park Press investigation found. The highest award, $62,895, went to 16 employees from agriculture to NASA.

America’s flying fortress, the Cold War-era B-52 bomber, has been in service for the last 50 years, running missions in Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. It’s a striking example of how America’s military is being forced to do more with less, relying on decades-old technology to confront today’s challenges. Unfortunately, the B-52 is only one example of the United States’ geriatric fighting force, and with mounting cuts to the military, America’s ability to defend itself is increasingly called into question.

(CNSNews.com) – The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee issued a final warning to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Wednesday, saying that if it did not produce the documents the panel requested, it would face a congressional subpoena.

A group of Republicans is working on a game plan aimed at lifting the House ban on earmarks early next year.

While the frustrated GOP lawmakers concede that eradicating the ban is not going to happen this Congress, they have become more outspoken in recent weeks and months. Their goal is to change the House’s policy in 2013.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn told The Daily Caller in a video interview that he views Timothy Geithner as the “most partisan treasury secretary” the U.S. has had in “a long time,” but stopped short of calling for his resignation.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/17/coburn-geithner-most-partisan-treasury-secretary-in-a-long-time-video/

 ..'It's A Fraud'

(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she stands with the White House in opposing a provision in the House defense authorization bill that would prohibit anyone in the military from ordering a chaplain to act against his or her "conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs" or against the religious beliefs of the denomination to which he or she belongs.

Just 16 states have seen job growth since President Obama took office, according to state employment data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The remaining states have lost a combined 1.4 million jobs since January 2009.

The Congressional Research Service estimates that since 2008 the federal government has spent nearly $70 billion on “climate change activities.”

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe presented the new CRS report on the Senate Floor Thursday to make the point that the Obama administration has been focused on “green” defense projects to the detriment of the military.

A Utah high school is learning the hard way that the government is serious about nudging students away from food it doesn’t want them to consume. Davis High School in the Salt Lake City area is having to fork over a whopping $15,000 in fines to the Feds because it accidentally sold soda through a vending machine during lunch.

The city of Tombstone, Ariz. will continue its ongoing “showdown” with the federal government over the town’s right to rebuild its water pipes that were destroyed in the devastating “Monument Fire” last August.

Earlier today Breitbart.com published a 1991 booklet by Barack Obama’s literary agent that claimed Obama was “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.”

It’s not the only time Barack Obama claimed to be born in Kenya.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/05/ap-2004-flashback-kenyan-born-obama-all-set-for-us-senate/

From Fox News Insider: Sean Hannity sat down with author Ed Klein who wrote the new book “The Amateur.” It covers everything from the allegations that the Obama inner circle attempted to pay off Reverend Jeremiah Wright to reports about widespread corruption that exists within the administration.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/05/17/Ed-Klien-Hannity

Snooping software lets police read everything on your iPhone in real-time without you ever knowing

Police - or anyone with a piece of spying software - can track everything you do on your iPhone without needing physical access to your phone.

(CNSNews.com) – FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday refused to tell a Senate committee whether confessed 9/11 terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) is an "enemy combatant."

Yet another provision of Obamacare is expected to cost taxpayers more than they expected. The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) asking for details regarding the probable loss of $3.1 billion out of the $3.4 billion in Obamacare loans to its Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (“CO-OP”). The estimate comes from the President’s Budget Appendix, and the committee is considering rescinding funds that haven’t already been obligated.