Free Republic

Angela Merkel's allies swept to victory in a state election in Bavaria on Sunday, regaining the absolute assembly majority they lost in 2008 and providing a show of conservative strength for the chancellor a week before Germany goes to the polls. The Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), won 49 percent according to TV projections, putting them back more firmly in the saddle of the prosperous southern state they have governed for 56 years.

President Obama is considering a strike on Syrian military targets involving sea-launched cruise missiles or possibly long-range bombers that would last no more than two days, according to senior administration officials and reported by Karen DeYoung and Anne Gearan of The Washington Post. Reuters reports that the West has told the opposition to expect a strike "within days." The limited strike would seemingly be a response to allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people before dawn on August 21. Hundreds were killed and thousands suffered "neurotoxic symptoms." The design of the potential attack implies sending...

Late Breaking Zimmerman Trial News Many of you may not know of the recent turn of events that occurred after the trial today. It is not widely reported at this point but the prosecution may have hit upon a face saving charge they believe they can prove. It’s beginning to look like the jaywalking charges may stick. The allegation is that when Zimmerman left his car he failed to cross the street at the prescribed pedestrian crossing placed there for his safety. There is a rumor, not widely distributed I should add, that the prosecution has an eyewitness that is...

6/13/13 - Glenn Beck Arriving in NYC Searching for Big Breaking New Secret...That Will Change History

German outrage over a U.S. Internet spying program has broken out ahead of a visit by Barack Obama, with ministers demanding the president provide a full explanation when he lands in Berlin next week and one official likening the tactics to those of the East German Stasi. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman has said she will raise the issue with Obama in talks next Wednesday, potentially casting a cloud over a visit that was designed to celebrate U.S.-German ties on the 50th anniversary John F. Kennedy's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech... In a guest editorial for Spiegel Online on...

Over the last several months, it has become pretty clear that when it comes to ratings, MSNBC struggles during breaking news events, while CNN and Fox both receive boosts. In an interview with the New York Times this morning, MSNBC chief Phil Griffin essentially conceded the “breaking news” mantle to the other networks, telling viewers that his network is not focused on that sort of coverage. In what seems like a stunning admission, Griffin said: “We’re not the place for that,” he said of breaking news. “Our brand is not that.” Instead, he explained, MSNBC’s bread and butter is progressive...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news. The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP....

After 10 days of deliberations and an announcement by the jury that they were deadlocked on two charges, a verdict has now been reached

Reports are coming out of Syria of multiple large explosions.

even U.S. soldiers and a member of the NATO-led coalition were killed on Saturday in one of the deadliest days for Americans and other foreign troops in Afghanistan in recent months, as the Taliban continued attacks as part of their spring offensive. The renewed violence came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged at a news conference that regular payments his government has received from the CIA for more than a decade would continue. Karzai also said that talks on a U.S.-Afghan bilateral security agreement to govern future American military presence in the country had been delayed because of conditions the...

The George W. Presidential Center is a state-of-the-art facility located on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Opening to the public on May 1, 2013, the Center will house the George W. Bush Institute and the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The Library and Museum is the 13th Presidential Library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, a Federal agency. I hope I am doing this right, and not stepping on toes, but did not see thread. http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of former White House chief of staff Jack Lew to be the next Treasury secretary, sending the nomination to the Senate floor for a vote. President Barack Obama nominated Lew last month to be Treasury chief. Lew is a veteran of Washington budget battles and did a stint at Citigroup. Nineteen senators voted to approve him, while five -- all Republicans -- voted against Lew.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- House Speaker John Boehner will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. Eastern to discuss the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester, his office said. Without a deal, $85 billion in gradual budget cuts will begin on Friday,

Live Report

The polarizing debate over whether Boy Scouts of America should allow gay members could culminate with a vote on a new policy Wednesday. But no matter which way the vote goes, activists on both sides aren't going to be satisfied. The controversy pits leaders of religious groups that sponsor about 1 million Boy Scouts against activists who want the organization to end its ban on openly gay Scouts and Scout leaders. Neither side is happy with BSA's proposal to let local troops decide if they want to allow gay members.

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down. Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed. Chu’s departure had been widely expected and follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that they are leaving.

A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [photo 2nd left] was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed when their C-12 Huron military passenger and transport aircraft crash landed nearly 3 weeks ago in the Iranian city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border.

A vote to report a state Obamacare exchange bill out of the Michigan House Health Policy Committee came up short yesterday, with only two Republicans supporting it (Committee Chair Rep. Gail Haines of Waterford and Rep. Mike Callton of Nashville). Following the vote, House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, declared the state-run exchange dead, saying: “…After due diligence, however, it is clear that there were too many unanswered questions for the committee to feel comfortable with a state-run exchange and we will not have one in Michigan… The committee apparently was not able to get the answers to key questions or...