Free Republic

With the presidential race the focus of most of the media attention, a major division among Senate Republicans over so-called "criminal justice reform" has gotten little attention. But the liberal media are now beginning to notice that conservatives are mounting a campaign to stop a piece of legislation that has been advertised as a major part of President Obama's left-wing legacy. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123) would release thousands of criminals back on the streets at a time of rising crime rates, in the name of reducing what liberals call "mass incarceration."

Turkmens escape to Turkey from Russian, al-Assad fire in Syria ANKARA Some 1,635 migrants, mainly women, children and elderly people, crossed into Turkey on Jan. 29 and 30 from Syria, after leaving their camp across the border due to rising security risks, as the Russian and Bashar al-Assad forces’ bombardment of Turkmen villages continued. The group had taken refuge in the Turkish-built Yamadi camp after shelling by the regime and allied Russian forces’ intensified in the Bayırbucak region of northwestern Syria, according to a statement by the Turkish Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). However, they were forced...

During a recent visit to the United States, a United Nations (UN) working group has said that the US should consider giving long overdue reparations to descendants of slaves. The group also suggests the US government establish a national human rights commission, and publicly acknowledge that the Transatlantic Slave Trade was a crime against humanity. The UN working group, called "Experts on People of African Descent," went on a fact-finding mission, which included meetings with African-Americans from multiple cities, including Baltimore, New York, and Chicago. Although they won't release their full report until September, each member read a statement to...

Take note Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith: Getting political has its risks. After the actress declared Monday that she will be boycotting the Oscars after her husband was snubbed, Alexis Arquette took a major swing at the pair for what she alleges is hypocrisy. The transgender actress and gender-rights activist "outed" the married couple with a Facebook post that argued that Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s comments on race and the Oscars were invalid because they won't ’fess up about their alleged homosexuality. "When Jada comes out as Gay and her beard husband admits his first marriage ended when she...

Is the “green” movement too white? According to former Obama administration green jobs czar Van Jones, it is. Jones told the news site Grist that the environmental movement has a diversity problem. “The mainstream donors and environmental organizations could be strengthened just by recognizing the other ‘environmentalisms’ that are already existing and flourishing outside their purview,” Jones said. Historically, many environmental organizations have been mostly white, and organizations tying environmentalism to social justice received a much smaller amount of funding than mainstream groups. But Jones said that a movement that welcomed more diversity would flourish. “If you go to Detroit,...

San Francisco police officers are being asked to combat racism in the ranks and take a pledge to turn in colleagues displaying intolerant behavior, such as slurs and jokes targeting people of color, gays and women. The pledge is part of a broader public relations campaign by the embattled police department to repair frayed relations with minority neighborhoods and community activists. The campaign comes amid growing tensions between police and black communities that are shaking up departments across the country and have led to the dismissal of top brass in some cities, including Chicago. Politically progressive San Francisco is not...

Turkey said Saturday that a Russian warplane has again violated its airspace despite several warnings - two months after Turkey's military shot down a Russian jet for crossing over its territory. The past incident seriously strained the previously close ties between the two countries, damaging a strong economic partnership. A Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday said that a Russian SU-34 crossed into Turkish airspace on Friday, ignoring several warnings that were delivered both in Russian and in English by Turkish radar units. It said Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to the ministry Friday evening to "strongly protest" the violation. The...

Former University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe, who resigned from his post amid protests over the school's handling of racial matters on campus, sent a confidential email to supporters last week complaining about the incident. In the email, which was leaked to local media, Mr. Wolfe compiled a list of people he believed made it impossible for him to keep his job at the university, including outgoing Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, ex-Mizzou football coach Gary Pinkel and the players that joined a strike, and an unnamed "significant Ferguson protester," most likely a reference to Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson....

'Moscow gives us hope', says Syrian Catholic patriarch 'We will thank anyone who helps us stay in our country' 28 January, 20:21 - ROME - Syrian Catholic Church patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan has said that he approves of Russia's actions as an attempt to resolve the Syrian conflict and defeat the Islamic State (ISIS). ''The Russian intervention gives us a bit of hope in this tragic situation,'' he said. ''Russia has helped Syria a great deal to retake and liberate cities and villages under the control of terrorist groups.'' ''Syrian Christians are grateful to Russia,'' he said. ''Since...

Catholic World News Patriarch grateful to Russia for military intervention in Syria January 29, 2016 The head of the Syriac Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, welcomed the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War. In the four months since Russia, at the request of the Syrian government, began its air strikes against rebel forces and the Islamic State, “many things have changed on the ground,” said Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Yonan, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. “The Russian intervention gives us a bit of hope in this tragic situation,”...

Read the article that may have gotten Alexander Litvinenko Killed

"It's boring." Actress and star of the blockbuster Twilight movie series Kristin Stewart spoke with Variety magazine about the supposed gender gap in Hollywood's paycheck. "Instead of sitting around and complaining about that, do something," Stewart said. "Go write something, go do something." "And that's easy to say," she continued. "Like, ****, it's hard to get movies made. It's a huge luxury. Who gets to just make movies? But that subject is just so prevalently everywhere right now, and it's boring." "Guys make more money because their movies make more money," she added. "Let's start making more movies. It makes...

BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Last week, fighting between security forces and Islamic State militants in Iraq's Anbar province continued alongside clashes across the border in neighboring Syria -- where the United States and Russia could be setting up new air bases. Syria Russia is reportedly establishing a presence in more air bases across Syria besides the currently used Hmeimim air base in Latakia province. Russian forces are also expanding the al-Shayrat air base, located in the countryside southeast of the capital of Homs province, according to SOHR. The facility will reportedly by used by Russian warplanes in operations around...

American business magnate and investor George Soros no longer views Russia as an enemy of the EU and is now openly calling on Brussels to cooperate with Moscow, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) wrote. According to him, the European Union may soon collapse due to the refugee crisis and the lack of leadership. In order to survive, European leaders need a "new Marshall Plan" in which Russia should play a key role, the investor stressed. Soros has always been a supporter of the idea of the EU's existence, but now he sees that the EU is "falling apart". In...

Billionaire prophet of doom George Soros said the European Union is on the “verge of collapse” as it faces five or six crises at once. “The Greek crisis taught the European authorities the art of muddling through one crisis after another. This practice is popularly known as kicking the can down the road, although it would be more accurate to describe it as kicking a ball uphill so that it keeps rolling back down,” Soros said in an interview with The New York Review of Books.

Moscow (AFP) - To reach the gigantic statue of Vladimir Lenin that overlooks Moscow's October Square, pedestrians can stroll down streets named after the Bolshevik revolutionary's wife or mother, or cross Lenin Avenue that intersects with a road named after his brother. More than a quarter of a century has passed since the fall of Communism but reminders of the Soviet Union's founding father Lenin -- who died on January 21, 1924 -- are still easy to find. Yet the man himself seems increasingly to mean little to many people in Russia, the cradle of his revolution.

Lou Holtz once said, "Don't tell your problems to people: eighty percent don't care; and the other twenty percent are glad you have them." Unfortunately, Lou Holtz is a man out-of-step with our whiny age. Today, people will not shut up about their problems. They want to let you know about every issue they have, every "microaggression" and every time they're offended. It's a bottomless sea of discontent. Worse yet, our generation of complainers never seems to blame themselves for their own problems. Instead they've picked out a group of designated fall guys that it's always okay to blame for...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States and Turkey were prepared for a military solution against Islamic State in Syria should the Syrian government and rebels fail to reach a political settlement. The latest round of Syria peace talks are planned to begin on Monday in Geneva but were at risk of being delayed partly because of a dispute over who will comprise the opposition delegation. Syrian armed rebel groups said on Saturday they held the Syrian government and Russia responsible for any failure of peace talks to end the country's civil...

[photo] While some suspect 'conservative' media to be in Trump's pocket -or at least sourcing revenue from said pocket- still more are now scratching their head at Palin's highly-dubious endorsement of a pro-abortion non-conservative (who thinks mocking disabled people is funny)... so it's time to wonder what the value is of Trump's much-trumpeted  'can't be bought' spiel, now that he appears to be the one doing the buying. Small wonder the corrupt, self-serving GOPe thinks their interests could be potentially better served by electing a wheeling, dealing quasi-dictator instead of a principled man -and proven conservative- like Ted Cruz. Flashback to last June...

Turkey alarmed by 'Russian build-up' on Syria border AFP By Dilay Gundogan and Burak Akinci in Ankara 42 minutes ago Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday expressed alarm over reports of a build-up of Russian troops in northern Syria near the Turkish border, saying such movements would not be tolerated. "We have said this from the beginning: we won't tolerate such formations (in northern Syria) along the area stretching from the Iraqi border up to the Mediterranean," Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul. Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said that...