Free Republic

A federal judge in the Western District of Texas reversed her Temporary Restraining Order that stopped the Department of Homeland Security from cutting border barriers put in place by the State of Texas. The new order issued Wednesday night reverses that position after the judge heard additional evidence. The case will now proceed to a trial on the merits. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Texas Public Policy Foundation filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Border Patrol, and multiple Biden administration appointees to stop the federal government’s interference...

"We all have a problem .... they're putting a pre-fab concrete wall around the White House right now. I'm sure you might have some conclusions .... especially when the News Organizations are silent." Fuzzy Tom Cat Twitter

The United States is not doing enough to promote free trade and the elimination of trade barriers around the world. In fact, it’s doing just the opposite and imposing barriers on billions of dollars’ worth of imports. As a result, new trade restrictions implemented by World Trade Organization member countries have reached historic highs. Over the last two review periods, new trade restrictions totaled $588.3 billion and $339.5 billion, respectively. For the previous two periods, new trade restrictions totaled roughly $100 billion or less. The latest figures present a worrisome and unpredictable climate that is harming the overall health of...

Thousands of people who pass over the Golden Gate Bridge likely didn’t notice the four new metal protrusions on its western and eastern flanks. Kymberlyrenee Gamboa did. For the Fair Oaks resident, the four support beams were evidence that the bridge’s ambitious suicide barrier was actually beginning to take form — a project Gamboa and her family had wished was already completed before her 18-year-old son, Kyle, jumped off the bridge five years ago and died. “It was pretty emotional for everybody that has been involved to actually physically see something out there,” Kymberlyrenee Gamboa said. “Because it does take...

Various activist groups are protesting the building of a proposed border wall-fence along the banks of the Rio Grande. The barrier is expected to cut through various wildlife refuges like a butterfly center. This month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced it would begin construction of a wall-fence system running six miles along the border. The system would include a concrete wall that would stand up to an existing river levee and an 18-foot bollard fence on top. The project also calls for the removal of 150 feet of brush in what is considered an enforcement zone. The government would...

Hundreds of new protective barriers will be permanently installed in Times Square and other locations around New York in an effort to block vehicles from hitting pedestrians after deadly attacks last year on crowds. The city is spending $50 million on protective measures including the installation of 1,500 metal barriers, or bollards, in key locations around the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.

Barbie gets a lot of heat nowadays. People shout at her for her figure. They complain about her plastic perfectness and general lack of realism. But they forget just how pivotal Barbie has been in helping challenge barriers in society. For example, the first African American President Barbie was released in 1992 - 16 years before Barack Obama took office. In 1992 Barbie released the Barbie for President African American doll. It took the United States another 16 years to elect one... a male one. Yay, Barbie, setting out good messages everywhere! In 1988 Dr. Mae Jemison completed astronaut training,...

The Egyptian army has set up barricades outside the presidential palace, after ordering protesters to leave the area. It follows violent overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi that left five people dead and 644 injured. Most protesters left the palace by the 15:00 (13:00 GMT) deadline, though some opposition activists remained. Meanwhile, Egypt's top Islamic body has called on the president to suspend his decree claiming sweeping powers. The Al-Azhar institution also demanded an unconditional dialogue between the president and his opponents. The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says this move by one of the most...

  By Spec. Cynthia S. Teears Van Cleve 1st Brigade Combat Team MAZAR-E SHARIF, Afghanistan-The Soldiers of the Female Engagement Team, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, had their first opportunity to interact with the local female population by going to a school and meeting the female students at Rabai Balkhaey Fatima in Mazar e Sharif, Afghanistan, April 21. There are 5,000 students and 140 teachers, said Breshana Karamat, principal of Rabai Balkhaey Fatima. The school is in a good area and is famous right now. “Usually in Afghanistan there are 30 students per class, but here we...

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The United States has set preliminary anti-dumping duties ranging from 90 to nearly 175 percent on about $30 million worth of electric blankets from China, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday. The ruling is a victory for Jarden Consumer Solutions, a Florida-based subsidiary of consumer products company Jarden Corp (JAH.N). It filed a petition earlier this year asking for protection against its Chinese competitors. The relatively small case is of one several ongoing U.S. investigations into charges that Chinese companies are selling their goods in the United States at unfairly low prices and benefit...

The issue of race is the longest-lasting cleavage in American politics. It is also perhaps the least understood. The open exploitation of racist sentiment by vote-hungry politicians was for centuries a durable American tradition. More recently, race has assumed a subtle, often unspoken form during campaign season, as Republicans have sought white votes by slyly associating their Democratic opponents with controversial black figures like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, or with topics--welfare, crime, federal funding for "midnight basketball"--that many voters identify with African Americans. Now, with Barack Obama inching closer to the Democratic nomination, race looms yet again as a...

Staff Sgt. Ricardo Hamlin, an Atlanta native, and an Iraqi worker guide a concrete barrier into place in a northern Baghdad neighborhood, March 23. The barriers serve to cut off exit avenues for criminals trying to stage an attack against Coalition or Iraqi forces. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Elvyn Nieves. BAGHDAD — In an effort to reduce the possibility of improvised explosive device (IED) attacks between barriers that have been moved or destroyed, Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, have recently been conducting barrier maintenance here. While replacing broken barriers during an...

KHADRA, Iraq, Feb. 6, 2008 – Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, wiped the sleep out of their eyes at 4:30 a.m. Jan. 27. They donned their nearly dry uniforms and looked out of their sand-bagged windows, hoping to find that it stopped raining sometime during the night. Citizens man a checkpoint in Khadra, Iraq, Jan. 27, 2008. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers with Company C, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, operationally attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, conduct combined traffic-control-point operations with local citizens and Iraqi National Police while concrete...

Real ID and Reality by: Amanda Busse, January 23, 2008 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has conceded in its battle with state officials to implement secure state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards as part of the REAL ID Act of 2005. DHS recently announced plans for a 73 percent reduction in the cost of putting the identification system in place, and an $80-million grant to assist in the procedure. The reduction brings costs down from an original estimate of $14.6 billion to $3.9 billion. The REAL ID laws were a top a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission after...

CAMP LIBERTY — Since arriving in theater, Company A, 526th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), has been providing barrier movement and emplacement support throughout the greater Baghdad area. Recently, the company was tasked with another mission of significant importance. The new task also involved concrete barriers; however, these barriers are not your ordinary highway dividers one finds on the roads in the United States. The barriers that are used in Iraq are a lot bigger. In fact, there are several types of barriers all with different heights, lengths, widths, and even shapes. Some...

Concrete Barriers Safeguard Adhamiyah Residents in Baghdad Temporary walls keep out vehicle-borne explosives By 2nd Brigade Combat Team 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs BAGHDAD, June 6, 2007 — The thick chains attaching the “T-Wall” barrier to the crane shuddered as the slab of heavy concrete was lifted into the air. The crane operator worked his control stick, first swinging the barrier through the air, and then slowly lowering it into place.As the 14,000 pounds of concrete settled onto the ground with a grinding crunch, the project to secure a neighborhood in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District behind miles of protective barriers...

With housing and factories weak and consumers tiring, exporters are giving the U.S. economy a boost even as trade tensions mount. The rest of the world continues to expand at a brisk pace, fueling demand for American goods. The Institute for Supply Management said last week that its March manufacturing exports index rose 1.5 points to 55.5, the best since November. Though exports remain a small part of the overall U.S. economy, they have helped soften the blow from a housing slump that has pared growth in each of the past two quarters... Yet the benefit to the U.S. economy...

KIRKUK, Iraq, April 6, 2007 — U.S. soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, with the assistance of G Company, 3-7 FA soldiers, have delivered several concrete barriers to traffic checkpoints in the Khabbaz region near Kirkuk. "The barriers will make the drivers reduce their speeds through here, as well as provide extra protection for the soldiers from any attacks," Capt. Qais Aswad Bunyan The barriers were set up at three Iraqi army’s 1st Strategic Infrastructure Battalion checkpoints to improve security for Iraqi soldiers manning their posts. The 1st Strategic Infrastructure Battalion received the barriers...

PHYSICAL barriers: Rough terrain precludes a continuous wall and presents huge challenges for those trying to patrol the Mexican border A craggy border canyon in San Diego is difficult to monitor and too rough to handle much of a fence, so the federal government has come up with an idea - it will fill the 230-foot-deep chasm and get the dirt to do it by lopping off the tops of two nearby mesas. By smoothing out Smuggler's Gulch with enough dirt to fill 70,000 dump trucks, the U.S. Border Patrol expects to be able to better patrol one of San...

With several million illegals in the country,we need to take action - but carefully ! Some ideas have surfaced.