Free Republic

We have heard repeatedly about Americans and Europeans fighting for ISIL, but little attention is being devoted to the Russian-speaking foreign fighters that make up the group. Their numbers are estimated at 500 or more. Omar al-Shishani is usually described as a prominent Islamic State fighter who is Chechen. In fact, he was born in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and was trained there. Some reports suggest these fighters are opposed to the Russian-backed Assad regime in Syria and Russia itself. But if this is the case, then why is Russia opposed to U.S. bombing of these terrorists? NBC...

Martin O’Malley may have been such a lousy Governor of Maryland that his chosen heir was defeated by a Republican (in a deep blue state), but he is turning out to be good for something. Hell may have no fury like Hillary scorned, but as Elizabeth Warren demurely bides her time despite many calls for her to run, O’Malley leaps into the breach. Nick Carasaniti reports in the New York Times: Former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland, who has been promoting himself to Democrats as a potential alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 race for the White...

Pic - Mayor Bill de Blasio, at Gracie Mansion with First Lady Chirlane McCray, activist Van Jones, and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, plans to dip his toe into presidential politics with the launch of a push for income inequality to become a central issue of the 2016 national elections. "All of this is focused on the notion that we are not having a discussion on income inequality in this country and we are not having that discussion at our peril." GRACIE MANSION — Mayor Bill de Blasio, who supporters describe as a "national hero" among progressives, has dipped his his...

WASHINGTON — In the latest barb of a recent conservative onslaught aimed at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a new watchdog group said Friday it has asked the Federal Election Commission to determine whether she has violated campaign laws by failing to formally declare her presidential candidacy. The complaint cited media reports that Clinton has already picked her staff, selected pollsters and that her team is feeding talking points to a new political group to try to defend her amid a controversy over her use, while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, of a private email account to...

BRISTOL, VA (WJHL) - Applications for state jobs in Virginia will no longer will include questions regarding a person's criminal history. Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order removing criminal history questions from state employment applications Friday. Under the order, employment decisions won't be based on an applicant's criminal history unless it's specifically related to the job they are being considered for. While it only applies to state employment applications, the order also encourages similar hiring practices for private employers throughout the Commonwealth. Some business owners we spoke to in Bristol, Virginia are not on board with the idea.

The new year began not with a cannonball off the “fiscal cliff” but with an outbreak of conspiratorial cynicism. This time it’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose fall and concussion, followed by a blood clot between her brain and skull, has prompted an embarrassment of theories. The gist: That woman will do anything to avoid testifying about Benghazi. Several commentators on the right opined via Twitter and TV, those most deadly hosts for the parasites of rumor and innuendo, that Clinton was faking her concussion to duck out on her appearance before congressional committees investigating the attack on the...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most famous current female political figure, has fallen ill. "In the course of a follow-up exam today, Secretary Clinton's doctors discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago. She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours," a spokesman for the former first lady said yesterday in a statement. Clinton's illness, and the fact that she has not been seen in public in the last three weeks, has prompted a slew...

Complete Headline: Hillary Clinton does NOT have brain cancer: Officials slam 'nonsense' claims debilitating illness was behind collapse and decision to step down The National Enquirer claims brain cancer is behind Clinton's recent collapse and that she is facing a barrage of medical tests State Department labelled the claims 'absolute nonsense' and insists she is recovering well at home The Secretary of State suffered a concussion after she collapsed in her home earlier this month On Friday, President Barack Obama nominated Senator John Kerry to replace Clinton after she chose to step down Government officials have vehemently denied claims...

The State Department on Tuesday slammed John Bolton, George W. Bush's controversial ambassador to the United Nations, after he accused Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of faking an illness to avoid testifying this week about the Benghazi attack. Bolton implied on Fox News on Monday night that Clinton lied about her illness to avoid saying anything potentially embarrassing that could come back to haunt her should she choose to run for president in 2016. The State Department put out a statement over the weekend from doctors at Mount Kisco Medical Group and George Washington University saying that Clinton “developed a...

Excerpted from The Huffington Post: Back in October, when Christina Aguilera was being honored for her philanthropic work as a UN World Food Programme Ambassador, Hillary Clinton was caught on camera seemingly checking out the pop star’s cleavage. And lest anyone thought the photo was fake, Aguilera confirmed that the incident was very real on Friday’s episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” “That looks like it was Photoshopped but it’s not. It was a real moment,” the “The Voice” coach said. “Could you feel her gazing down on your ‘breasteses?’” DeGeneres wanted to know. “She’s such a force in a...

At 67, Hillary Clinton is now a “woman of a certain age.” So much emphasis and worry are put on physical aging in women that the emotional maturity and freedom that can come at this time are given short shrift. That robs everyone of a great natural resource. As women of a certain age, it is our time to lead. The new standard for aging women should be about vitality, strength, and assertiveness. One of the largest demographics in America is women in their forties to sixties, and by 2020 there will be nearly 60 million peri- and post-menopausal women...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is the only major Republican likely 2016 presidential candidate who hasn't weighed in on the controversy over Indiana's "religious freedom" law that erupted this week — and his explanation for avoiding the issue is questionable.

Andrew Malcolm at Investor's Business Daily points out that some key state polls show that Hillary Clinton is losing support fast and that the e-mail scandal is playing a bigger role than first thought. According to the newest numbers, Hillary Clinton is now running three points behind Jeb Bush in the key swing state of Florida. And her lead over Marco Rubio there has collapsed from ten points to but two points. Of course, none of those people have yet to announce their candidacy. Everyone is pretending they don't know that she'll announce later this month, Rubio likely in...

Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS), a member of the Benghazi Select Committee said that the committee will “speak with” Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal on Wednesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show.” “We’ve got to ask a lot of folks a lot of questions. The Committee will also speak with Mr. Blumenthal. And we’ve got lots of other folks who we’re still pursuing, who may well have also had personal email accounts…It’s not just classified information. It is, there’s sensitive information that

Astrophysicist and cosmologist Neil DeGrasse Tyson is defending Scientology in light of HBO's highly critical documentary on the church. HBO's documentary "Going Clear" did not show the church in an entirely positive light — Scientology has a built a reputation for tormenting members who leave it either by surveillance or harassment. The film highlights the celebrities who made the religion intriguing to the world as well as the horrific stories of abuse from former members. But Tyson, in an interview with The Daily Beast, declined to bash the controversial church, saying people are free to believe whatever they want. "So,...

A House panel Tuesday formally requested Hillary Clinton to testify about the private server and email account she used while serving as secretary of state. Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi, sent a request to Clinton's personal attorney, David E. Kendall, requesting that Clinton appear before the committee no later than May 1 for a transcribed interview about the server and email. The request comes after Kendall told Gowdy that the server had been wiped clean and that it would be impossible to recover the 30,000 emails Clinton deleted last year. Gowdy, in his request to...

Hillary Clinton knowingly acted to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act by creating a private email server, according to legal experts. Speaking at a panel hosted by government watchdog group Judicial Watch, experts in the field of government accountability agreed that Clinton’s decision to create her own email server was a deliberate attempt to avoid transparency laws. Daniel Metcalfe, who was the founding director of the Justice Department’s office of information and privacy, said that the regime created by Clinton at the State Department was a “prescription for blatant circumvention of FOIA.” FOIA agents responding to the multiple requests made...

Presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) thinks former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton probably violated federal law when she deleted a huge trove of emails. In a Tuesday radio interview on "The Dana Show," Cruz argued the Democratic presidential front-runner's actions may have even been "criminal.""It is long past time for a fair and impartial investigation into what occurred here. Based on what she has admitted publicly, it appears that Secretary Clinton's conduct was in violation of federal law and may have even constituted criminal conduct," Cruz said.Cruz, a former Justice Department lawyer, was reacting to a question from...

Hillary Clinton’s lawyers confirmed what many have suspected since her remarks at a U.N. press conference earlier this month: She has wiped her server clean of any e-mails that she didn’t turn over to the State Department. In so doing, Mrs. Clinton has given her critics more reason to suspect that she is up to no good and yet further reason that Mrs. Clinton should keep those lawyers on speed dial. In the ongoing saga of Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of a private server at her Chappaqua, N.Y., home, the latest bomb was thrown by her lawyer, David Kendall (of...

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s mixture of personal and work email once resulted in a reply to a crashed drone story with inquiries about home decorations. Files obtained by The Associated Press show that Mrs. Clinton accidentally sent adviser Huma Abedin questions about the attractiveness of shelving units in response to a drone crash in Pakistan. “I like the idea of these. How high are they? What would the bench be made of? And I’d prefer two shelves or attractive boxes/baskets/ conmtainers (sic) on one. What do you think?” Mrs. Clinton wrote, AP reported Tuesday. When Mrs. Abedin then asked if she...