Free Republic

[Headline only]

U.S. taxpayers shelled out nearly a quarter-million dollars in November, so Vice President Joe Biden could trumpet “diversity” to world business leaders in Morocco and boast that in 2017, “for the first time, Caucasians of European descent like me will be in an absolute minority in the United States of America.” “I’ve … come here to an ancient Muslim nation at the crossroads of Africa, the Arab world and Europe to talk about what it takes for all nations to succeed in the 21st century” the vice president told the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, explaining that educational opportunities, the rule of...

Unbelievable if true. He has ordered the FBI to read Islamo-terrorists ‘Miranda rights’ reserved for US citizens, so it’s reasonable to conclude that he ordered his Navy Seal commandos to seek al-Qaida’s surrender first before opening fire. If that’s the case, then he made it that much more difficult for these Seals to carry out their mission.

The height of the Ebola outbreak in Africa, Europe, and the United States also coincided with a period in which the Obama administration came under the heaviest scrutiny over its response to that health crisis. Amid criticism, President Barack Obama rejected calls from lawmakers to impose some travel restrictions on the areas affected by Ebola, but he did say his administration was open to appointing one figure to oversee his government’s response to the crisis. Days later, Obama appointed Ron Klain, a long-time Democratic political operative and veteran of both Bill Clinton and Al Gore’s presidential campaigns, to serve as...

President Barack Obama, who had medical tests on Saturday after complaining of a sore throat, is suffering from acid reflux, the president's physician said. "The president's symptoms are consistent with soft tissue inflammation related to acid reflux and will be treated accordingly," Obama's doctor, Captain Ronny Jackson, said in a statement. Acid reflux is a condition in which the stomach contents flow back up from the stomach into the esophagus, causing such symptoms as heartburn and sore throat. Obama, 53, went to Walter Reed military hospital for a fiber optic exam of his throat and since swelling was detected, doctors...

No, not that Executive Order - not the one he never signed about immigration. No, in this one he declares a day off for the Feds the day after Christmas. By his authority he orders all departments and agencies of the Federal Government closed the day after Christmas. For those wondering about the immigration Executive Order, it never happened. He signed two Presidential Memoranda that day, Nov. 21, in Las Vegas. Not an EO. You can read all his Memoranda at the White House Presidential Memoranda page. And all the Executive Orders are at the Executive Order page. These Memoranda...

Old habits die hard. The media are so enamored of the continuing (and largely contrived) story about the great Republican civil war that they fail to appreciate that the real internecine fight is being waged on the other side of the aisle. I grant that there's a lot of shouting today among Republicans. But it's a ritual skirmish over whether a government shutdown would force the president to withdraw a signature measure — last time, Obamacare; this time, executive amnesty. From opposite sides of the (Democratic) spectrum, Schumer and Warren are trying to remake and reorient the Democratic Party post-Obama....

"The more the president talks about his ideas, the more unpopular he becomes. Why would I want to deprive him of that opportunity?"

WASHINGTON— Ashton Carter, the former deputy defense secretary, is the leading candidate to become the next Pentagon chief, but senior officials said President Barack Obama wouldn’t make an announcement Tuesday. The president could announce his pick for defense secretary later this week, a senior White House official said. Mr. Carter, who was out of town Tuesday, is seen as the likely choice, officials said. But the White House is continuing to look at other candidates, including former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and former assistant Secretary of State Kurt Cambpell. Mr. Obama could still change his mind and opt for one...

President Obama will announce the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday in the first high-profile personnel move since Democrats suffered significant losses in this month's midterm elections. "In October, Secretary Hagel began speaking with the President about departing the administration given the natural post-midterms transition time," a senior administration official said. Obama will make the announcement with Hagel at 11:00 a.m. According to the White House, a successor will be named "in short order," but Hagel will remain in the post until that person is confirmed by the Senate. A senior administration official praised Hagel as "a steady...

The New York Times reports that President Barack Obama is about to dismiss Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. The reason given? That the White House recognized that "the threat from the Islamic State would require a different kind of skills than those that Mr. Hagel was brought on to employ." In other words: Hagel was brought on to downgrade the military radically, but now the military turns out to be necessary, after all. Yet that cannot be the only reason, absent any sign that Obama is committing to a sudden, steep increase in the defense budget, and reversing the non-sequester...

The Daily Currant Politics North Dakota Names Landfill After Obama Nov 17, 2014 Climate Change And Global Pollution To Be Discussed At Copenhagen SummitThe state of North Dakota has named a new publicly-owned landfill after President Barack Obama. In an overwhelming 35-10 vote, the state Senate advanced a bill naming a 650-acre site currently under construction after the nation’s 44th president. Governor Jack Dalrymple is expected to sign the measure into law Tuesday. When completed, the Barack Obama Memorial Landfill will be the largest waste disposal site in North Dakota, and the 17th largest in the United States. It will...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and the struggles of his national security team amid an onslaught of global crises. The president, who is expected to announce Mr. Hagel’s resignation in a Rose Garden appearance on Monday, made the decision to ask his defense secretary — the sole Republican on his national security team — to step down last Friday after a series of meetings over the past two weeks, senior administration officials said.

In his speech tonight announcing that he is unilaterally changing American law, President Barack Obama called out those against amnesty as anti-American and, paradoxically, pro-amnesty. The President made it clear that those who do not believe in what he is doing are, in fact, the ones who support amnesty. "I know some of the critics of this action call it amnesty," the President stated. "Well, it's not." He then went on, "Amnesty is the immigration system we have today – millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue...

John Harwood of CNBC and the New York Times reports that President Obama's executive amnesty order is coming Friday in Las Vegas: Confirmed by source familiar: Obama to announce immigration order on Friday in Las Vegas — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) November 19, 2014 Obama immigration announcement in Las Vegas on Friday may also serve as unofficial launch of Reid 2016 re-election campaign — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) November 19, 2014

Tomorrow night, at 8 p.m. EST, President Obama will address the nation on his coming executive amnesty. "Our immigration system has been broken for decades -- and every minute we fail to act, millions of people who live in the shadows but want to play by the rules and pay taxes have no way to live right by the law and contribute to our country," says the White House press secretary in a blog post. "So tomorrow night, President Obama will address the nation to lay out the executive actions he’s taking to fix our broken immigration system. You can...

We reported of a strange incident that took place just after the Ukraine presidential coup, namely that .... "in a mysterious operation under the cover of night, Ukraine's gold reserves were promptly loaded onboard an unmarked plane, which subsequently took the gold to the US." "at 2:00 am, a transport plane took off took off from Boryspil airport. According to Boryspil staff, prior to the plane's appearance, four trucks and two cargo minibuses arrived at the airport all with their license plates missing. Fifteen people .... stepped out, some armed with machine guns. These people loaded the plane with more...

One week to ‘finish the job’ in Iran nuclear talks ‘Failure would be a dangerous scenario for the entire world’ AFP Published: 14:30 November 16, 2014 Gulf News Vienna: Iran and six world powers begin a final round of talks in Vienna on Tuesday aiming to overcome significant remaining differences and agree a historic nuclear deal by a November 24 deadline. “There’s still a big gap. We may not be able to get there,” US President Barack Obama warned last Sunday. After 12 years of rising tensions, threats of war and failed diplomacy this accord would silence for good fears...

The Talk Shows November 16th, 2014 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Sens.-elect Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and James Lankford, R-Okla.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell; Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Mitt Romney; Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.THIS WEEK (ABC): Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Al Franken, D-Minn.; Rep,...

The day after the 2014 election, the president made one of his Olympian pronouncements: "To everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you," he declared. But, "to the two-thirds of Americans who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you too." But what are non-voters saying, that they love the president so much that they couldn't bear to take part in an election where he'd be crushed? It's more likely non-voting is due to laziness, apathy or cynicism about a political process that offers Barack Obama and Mitt Romney as alternatives. In 2014,...