Free Republic

Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday called Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent in the Supreme Court’s latest affirmative action ruling “courageous.” At an event on diversity within the Justice Department, Holder said it’s tempting to think the struggle to overcome discrimination has ended when people like him or President Obama have reached the nation’s highest ranks. But he said the fight for equal rights is not over. "[This] great country still has a ways to go before our founding promise of equal justice and equal opportunity is fully realized,” he said. Holder quoted Sotomayor in the dissent she filed a day...

The world's only 'married' lesbian threesome are expecting their first child. Doll, Kitten and Brynn, from Massachusetts, were joined together in a marriage-style ceremony last August and are expecting a daughter in July. Kitten, 27, is pregnant after undergoing IVF treatment using an anonymous sperm donor, and the trio eventually plan to have three children - one for each of them. The plan at the moment is that Kitten will bear all the children - possibly using her wives' eggs and donated sperm - but they are open to other options, such as adoption. Brynn, 34, says: 'The hope is...

The Citizens Commission on Benghazi, a self-selected group of former top military officers, CIA insiders and think-tankers, declared Tuesday in Washington that a seven-month review of the deadly 2012 terrorist attack has determined that it could have been prevented – if the U.S. hadn't been helping to arm al-Qaeda militias throughout Libya a year earlier. 'The United States switched sides in the war on terror with what we did in Libya, knowingly facilitating the provision of weapons to known al-Qaeda militias and figures,' Clare Lopez, a member of the commission and a former CIA officer, told MailOnline. She blamed the...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said little as federal agents seized and then released cattle last week from the Bundy ranch, but there is little doubt that the highly charged episode was threatening to become a political headache for the Nevada Democrat. The Bureau of Land Management is headed by former longtime Reid aide Neil Kornze, who was confirmed by the Senate as BLM director on Tuesday, just as federal authorities descended on the cattle ranch outside Mesquite, Nev.

With a single phrase of compassion for immigrants in the U.S. illegally, Jeb Bush has prompted questions about his viability as a potential presidential contender and underscored how divisive the immigration issue remains for the Republican Party. The former Florida governor sparked a conservative furor this week when he described illegal immigration in an interview as an “act of love” by people trying to provide for their families. Backing Bush are some of the GOP’s most powerful insiders and financiers, who are hoping the party can woo Hispanic voters and rebound from Mitt Romney’s damaging “self-deportation” rhetoric in 2012. “The...

Senate Democrats are rallying to Attorney General Eric Holder’s defense. They argue Republicans are wrong to suggest he is overly partisan, or that he is more uncooperative with Congress compared to past attorneys general. “I guess they don’t like anybody who disagrees with them,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “He’s a strong and smart advocate for a different point of view.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a senior member of the panel, also stood up for Holder. “I simply do not accept that. I’ve been here long enough to know,” she said. “He is...

House Republican leaders got an earful in two separate private meetings Wednesday from conservatives fuming over their move last week to pass a Medicare payment fix without a full House vote. The leadership on Thursday had abruptly put up a bill to prevent a cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctor, passing it by voice vote rather than holding a recorded roll-call vote. Few members were on the House floor to object, angering conservatives who accused the leadership of subverting the democratic process. “I’m getting used to being deceived by the Obama administration, but when my own leaders do it, it’s...

You know who wants Jeb Bush to run for president? The pundits. It's not that they pine for another Bush in the White House; it's that they need a GOP front-runner, preferably a household name. The Republican race is too amorphous for their taste. Every story has to mention Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio and on and on. What journalists love is a two-person showdown, especially if each candidate hails from a different wing of the party, paving the way for lots of civil war themes. Christie was their guy. A brash, blunt blue-stater with...

“What the hell is this, a joke?” Boehner said at his weekly press conference. He was responding to the administration’s announcement on Tuesday evening that people who had begun the process of signing up for insurance through the federal exchanges would have until mid-April to do so, instead of March 31. The Speaker called the move “another deadline made meaningless,” adding it to a litany of unilateral changes that the administration has made to the law. “This is part of a long-term pattern of this administration manipulating the law for its own convenience,” Boehner said. “It’s not hard to understand...

BEIJING — On a visit that was supposed to be nonpolitical, Michelle Obama delivered an unmistakable message to the Chinese on Saturday, saying in a speech here that freedom of speech, particularly on the Internet and in the news media, provided the foundation for a vibrant society. On the second day of a weeklong trip to China with her two daughters and her mother, Mrs. Obama spoke to an audience of Americans and Chinese at Peking University, and in the midst of an appeal for more American students to study abroad, she also talked of the value for people of...

Thailand's military said Tuesday that its radar detected a plane that may have been Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 just minutes after the jetliner's communications went down, and that it didn't share the information with Malaysia earlier because it wasn't specifically asked for it. A twisting flight path described Tuesday by Thai air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn took the plane to the Strait of Malacca, which is where Malaysian radar tracked Flight 370 early March 8. But Montol said the Thai military doesn't know whether it detected the same plane.

President and First Lady returned from their vacation at exclusive Florida resort that costs up to $2,500 a night President faced criticism for leaving Washington D.C. while Ukraine crisis looms large President Obama and his family are vacationed at the exclusive Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo A White House spokesman claimed the president would be doing exactly the same thing in Florida as he would do in the White House The White House says Obama squeezed in another round of golf Sunday before he left on Sunday morning After vacationing at the $2,500 a night Ocean Reef Club in...

EXCERPT Discussed for many years but never implemented, the concept of automatically transmitting data would involve using satellite links to send critical safety information from an airliner to the ground during extreme emergencies or just before a plane goes down. The information may highlight, among other things, engine and system performance, flight commands by pilots and possible problems with cockpit automation. The direct transmissions would serve as real-time substitutes when traditional "black boxes" containing digital flight data and recordings of cockpit conversations are damaged or lost, whether temporarily or permanently. "Such a solution is long overdue, considering the state of...

KEY LARGO, Fla. – No matter what’s going on in the world – or where in the world he happens to be – President Obama never stops being president, his aides say. So on Friday, a week into a tense international standoff half a world away, Obama loaded his aides and his family aboard Air Force One, left chilly Washington and arrived here in sunny South Florida for a weekend getaway at the exclusive Ocean Reef resort. There were golf courses, tennis courts, pools and immaculate beach fronts. There was also, White House spokesman Josh Earnest assured reporters, the “regular...

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – Students at Coral Reef High School in Southwest Miami-Dade will receive a presidential visit Friday. President Barack Obama, along with the First Lady Michelle Obama, arrived right on time at 1:40 p.m. at Homestead Air Reserve Base. The President pay the magnet high school a visit Friday afternoon to kick off a new effort to help students take the first step toward getting a college education. “It’s a historic event,” said student Sumaiya Khandaker. Mr. Obama, in a speech to the school’s seniors, will announce a new initiative to help students complete the Free Application for Federal...

Not all Ocean Reef Club residents will welcome the president with open arms if he visits this weekend. President Barack Obama is scheduled to be in Miami Friday to speak about education at Coral Reef High School. A Chicago Sun-Times blog, citing anonymous sources, said he then planned to join his family at the gated Ocean Reef Club for a weekend getaway.

Sneed is told senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett is dating Ahmad Rashad, the four-times-married sportscaster who was once a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. Although Jarrett has told at least one Chicago pal “it is not serious,” Sneed hears Rashad accompanied Jarrett to first lady Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday party at the White House in January. (snip) Rashad, who converted to Islam, was originally named Bobby Moore. ◆ Backshot: Rashad was photographed at an event in the East Room of the White House last Thursday to promote the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative introduced by President Barack Obama urging...

President Obama has signed an executive order today imposing sanctions on individuals he said violate Ukrainian sovereignty or are "stealing the assets" of the Ukrainian people. He said the sanctions were meant to "impose a cost" on Russia's action in Crimea. Obama emphasized that new visa restrictions the U.S. placed on those who are opposing the Ukraine government “continue our efforts to impose a cost on Russia and those responsible for the situation in Crimea.”

An American anchor working for state-owned television station Russia Today quit on air on Wednesday. Liz Wahl, in the network's D.C. bureau, said she could no longer be "part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin."

PARIS — A French-built warship designed to strengthen Russia’s ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships is getting its first test run Wednesday — just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military threat to Ukraine. A spokesman for the shipbuilder says the Vladivostok helicopter carrier is setting sail from the French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire. A few hundred kilometers away in Paris, France’s government is hosting American, Russian and other leading world diplomats Wednesday amid mounting tensions over Ukraine.