Free Republic

After months of deliberation, former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his decision to run for president for a third time, answering one of the biggest outstanding questions about the makeup of the 2020 race. The announcement came in a campaign video released Thursday morning.

President Obama praised the resilient New York attitude and the efforts of rescue workers during his talk after touring areas of Queens and Staten Island that were ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.‘I´m very proud of you, New York. You guys are tough you bounce back,’ he said while visiting New Dorp Beach in Staten Island. After a brief helicopter tour of Queens- passing over particularly devastated areas like Rockaway Beach and Breezy Point- they arrived in Staten Island where they examined the damage by foot.

On this day in 1933, Wiley Post touched down his airplane in New York, becoming the first pilot to fly solo around the globe! On this day in 1934, Public Enemy #1, John Dillinger, was gunned down in the streets of Chicago. And on this day in 2004, the one and only Dashing Dasher, after slamming down 4 martinis, signed up on FreeRepublic. These historic events have much in common. Wiley Post was a brave pilot, risking life and limb in a rickety single engine plane. Dasher is FR's resident pilot racer, tormenting her male colleagues above the western fruited...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria is preparing a law that would prohibit trade dealings with the United States in response to U.S. sanctions imposed on the Arab country last month, Syrian legislators said Saturday. More than 130 members of the 250-seat legislature have prepared a draft of the "America Accountability Act" that would impose "strict sanctions" on American interests in Syria.