Free Republic

Barack Obama pledged to radically transform America when he took office. He didn't stop at America. President Obama's greatest legacy may be the radical reshaping of the global map. Fast forward three years. Here's where we stand. Given Europe's failure to stand up to Russian aggression in Crimea, Russia's borders have expanded to include Eastern Ukraine, northern Kazakhstan and larger portions of Moldova. As of 2014, Russia had consolidated its hold on Transnistria, the Eastern region of Moldova, which is heavily Russian; Russia had annexed Crimea; Russia had placed troops inside Eastern Ukraine. But it didn't stop there. Russia began...

Fear. It is a basic, primitive emotion common to every living species on planet earth. It is the instinctual response that keeps animals alive in nature, and influences the thoughts and actions of humans. Edmund Burke once described the potency of fear saying, “No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” Burke’s observations ring especially true in today’s hypersensitive, hyper-connected world of 24-hour news channels and social media, in which the flames of fear can be fanned in ways only dreamed of in ages past. Our fear of illness feeds the...

"I should have anticipated the optics," President Obama said by way of acknowledging that golfing right after making a statement about the beheading of James Foley looked bad. "Part of this job is also the theater of it," he said. "It's not something that always comes naturally to me. But it matters." For those who remember that this is the same guy with the Greek pillars, the campaign stop in Berlin, the newly minted "seal" of the president-elect, it was an odd confession. Obama likes theater just fine; he just doesn't like having to read from a script not of...

"Do you have a strategy now, Mr. President?" asked the cover of the Daily News next to a photo of the second American journalist to be beheaded by the terrorist group ISIS. The impulse to "do something" to counter such evil is strong. But why do we assume that government doing something is always an improvement over government doing nothing? In domestic policy, encouraging government to act leads to nonsense like the "stimulus spending" that created boondoggles such as Cash for Clunkers. Our foreign policy record isn't much better, despite big successes such as stopping Hitler. Consider the unintended consequences...

"If you watch the nightly news, it feels like the world is falling apart," President Obama told Democratic mega-contributors last month in one of the 400-plus fundraisers of his presidency. But not to worry. "The world has always been messy," he said. "In part, we're just noticing now because of social media and our capacity to see in intimate detail the hardships that people are going through." Like being beheaded by Islamist terrorists. Or having your country invaded by Russian soldiers. The president gives the impression of trying to reassure not so much his audience, as himself. For this is...

Not that we'd expect one from this bunch.The Obama administration and the Democrats are still trying to "walk back" the president’s statement that "we have no strategy" to deal with ISIS. This shocked those of us paying attention to the brutality of the ISIS rampage through Iraq, the highly publicized beheadings of Americans, and direct threats to kill more Americans and eventually attack the U.S. here at home. Even more shocking was the revelation that President Obama was aware of the ISIS organization and threats over a year ago, and that he did not take them seriously by referring to...

The American people should be sadly unsurprised to hear President Obama say one thing and see him do another. From the now-laughable “if you like your plan, you can keep it” claim to those infamous “red lines” in Syria, empty rhetoric is unfortunately all too common in this administration. But with his recent ringing endorsement of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the President has taken his flip-flopping to a new level. In his weekly address to the nation on August 23, President Obama praised the Ex-Im Bank, a federal credit agency that provides financing for deals between American...

Resident Obama has come under attack from critics lately for the pandemic chaos evident at home and abroad. The President has been called “aloof,” “bored,” “disinterested,” and “incompetent.” Pundits universally decry his inaction. Inaction seems to be the criticism leveled by all with their own preferred adjective attached.Amidst all of the criticisms of the President’s inaction, has it even been considered by mainstream commentators or by the average citizen that his inaction is, in fact, action? When he’s accused of only being concerned with political appearances instead of solving problems, is it possible that to him creating the right political...

The end of summer makes melancholy babies of all of us. We're more nervous than usual this year. There's the muted anxiety for the young, shifting gears for back to school, and simply putting away the summer clothes reminds us all of the fleeting freedom of life in the sunshine. But this year the whole world seems on edge. There's the chatter from the Middle East, which at last seems to bother President Obama. Beheadings of Americans will do that. We've all felt the deaths of James Foley and Steven Sotloff as personal loss and grief. Children were alarmed and...

Many people suggest President Obama has checked out. He treats the ever-growing threat of ISIS as an abstraction. Sources from within the administration are now more openly admitting that, for almost a year, intelligence and Pentagon officials have advised the president of the threat. He has chosen to do very little. Last Wednesday, he said we would "shrink" ISIS and make it "a manageable problem" as opposed to eliminate it. A few weeks ago, I had dinner with a sitting governor and a dear friend of mine. The friend leaned over to the governor and me and said Barack Obama...

This is not a drill, we have a situation here; the Islamic State Zombies (ISZ) present an existential threat to Western Civilization and you must choose a leader to follow. Which one would you choose?1. Our Prezzy, who thinks we can shrink the ISZ to a “manageable problem.” “We know that if we are joined by the international community, we can continue to shrink ISIL’s sphere of influence, its effectiveness, its financing, its military capabilities to the point where it is a manageable problem.” As far as I know Barry can’t manage his way out of a brown paper bag...

Reports President Obama authorized surveillance flights over Syria suggest he is beginning to seize the moment given to him by the horrific execution of American journalist, James Foley. If he authorizes airstrikes into Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), even over the horizon from Iraq, it could reinforce the “moderate” Free Syrian Army against both ISIS and Assad. Even if such strikes also helped Assad against ISIS, they would be worth the effort. Interests If the surveillance over Syria indicates the President if abandoning his strategy of defensive containment and going on the offensive with a...

Millions of people are out of work and can’t find a job. Many of those who have jobs are being forced to work part-time instead of full-time. And those who have full-time jobs are in for a nasty surprise. Next year’s take home pay is like likely to be smaller than what they earn right now.In all cases the reason is the same: Obamacare.Why can’t people find a job? Three Federal Reserve Banks – in Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta – have released business surveys that confirm what many of us have been predicting. The new health law is discouraging...

Those who think that either the Constitution or possible negative consequences to the Democratic Party will deter President Obama from acting unilaterally on immigration policy probably still don't understand what makes this man tick. The main things that drive him are his own interests -- whether political or legacy -- and his own ideological goals. The Washington Post is reporting that both Democrats and Republicans "are in a state of high anxiety" over the possibility that Obama will issue an executive order allowing millions of people who entered the country illegally to stay in the United States in contravention of...

WASHINGTON -- Immediately after his telephone call consoling the Foley family on their son's grisly murder at the hands of Islamofascists, President Barack Obama took a powder. He headed for the golf course. Yes, the golf course! He had golfed eight times in 11 days, as the world was in tumult the likes of which we have not experienced since the late 1930s. There is something very odd about this man. He seems to think he can duck his obligations by lolling on the golf course. Does he believe no one is looking? In his brief life, my guess is,...

resident Obama doesn't know much about history. In his therapeutic 2009 Cairo speech, Obama outlined all sorts of Islamic intellectual and technological pedigrees, several of which were undeserved. He exaggerated Muslim contributions to printing and medicine, for example, and was flat-out wrong about the catalysts for the European Renaissance and Enlightenment. He also believes history follows some predetermined course, as if things always get better on their own. Obama often praises those he pronounces to be on the "right side of history." He also chastises others for being on the "wrong side of history" -- as if evil is vanished...

Playin’ two RoundsWords and Music to Draggin' The Line by Tommy James and Bob King Parody and Copyright by LonePalm Makin' vacation the old, hard way. Puttin' and drivin' hard day by day. I dig blow and grass and the well kept grounds. Playin' two rounds [Playin’ two rounds]. Michael Brown is pushin’ up Daisies. Raisin’ more funds from my far left crazies. They dig blow and grass and the well kept grounds. Playin’ two rounds [Playin’ two rounds]. Playin’ two rounds [Playin’ two rounds]. I feel grand. Got lots of cash in hand. Speeches are all pre-planned. What can’t...

"About half the practice of a decent lawyer consists in telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should stop." So supposedly said Elihu Root, New York lawyer and secretary of war and of state, and U.S. senator from 1909 to 1915. Today it seems that many liberal "would-be clients" are in desperate need of what Root called "a decent lawyer." Take Texans for Public Justice, the so-called public interest group that has been pushing for the indictment of Gov. Rick Perry by a grand jury at the urging of special prosecutor Michael McCrum. The basis for the indictment...

Our President may be a well-educated and a very smart guy, but he seems to have skipped out on his world history classes. He certainly would have learned the absolutely true saying that “history repeats itself.” He would also know that any dithering with ISIS will only cause us more pain and lost lives in the future. History does repeat itself, and regularly. A perfect example has been on display with the debt crisis in Argentina. The country has defaulted on its debt. Its President, Cristina Kirchner, did not accept blame for the default. She pointed the finger at two...

Paul Ryan proposed a private health insurance alternative to Medicare for future retirees, liberal critics pounced. It’s another scheme to undermine health care for the elderly by “privatizing” and “voucher-izing” the program, they said.Yet, almost one third of seniors are already in private health insurance plans. They are called Medicare Part C, or Medicare Advantage, plans. And you would be hard pressed to find any Democratic office holder who wants to abolish them. The reason? Seniors choose to be in these plans because they like them better than traditional Medicare.Not only do seniors like them, but they appear to provide...