Free Republic

Earlier today Barack Obama told Denver’s WUSA TV this in regard to the Benghazi 9-11 terror attack, “I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to. Number two, we’re going to investigate exactly what happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice.”

The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment. Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette is being sent back to the USS John C. Stennis' home port at Bremerton, Wash., in what the Navy called a temporary reassignment. The Navy said he is not formally relieved of his command of the Stennis strike group but will be replaced by Rear Adm. Troy M. Shoemaker, who will assume command until the investigation is completed. It is highly...

Two trailblazing women who became the first female participants in the notoriously brutal Marine Corps’ Infantry Officer Course have dropped out of the program, according to the Stars and Stripes. The two female lieutenants failed to complete the combat endurance test portion of the program, as did 26 male Marines.

The U.S. Census, always seeking ways to go above and beyond its constitutional role of counting the number of people in the United States, may be planning to ask questions regarding sexual orientation in the 2020 Census community survey.

With CNN’s Candy Crowley shamelessly throwing President Obama a Libya life-preserver at Tuesday night’s debate, the so-called Mohammed video is back in the news. That ought to offend sensible people — and not just because the president, aided and abetted by Ms. Crowley, is lying when he now claims, despite weeks of denials, to have regarded the Benghazi massacre from the first as a pre-planned terrorist attack.

Expectations are high leading up to the President Obama's acceptance speech in Charlotte, NC on Thursday evening, as they were last week in Tampa for Republican nominee Mitt Romney. With a campaign slogan like "Forward" you'd think, and hope, the Obama Administration has moved passed the blame game politics of the last four years, pointing the finger at the Bush Administration as the root of all of America's economic problems. "What you're going to hear is 'we have done everything we could to right the ship, to make sure that we are headed towards recovery. We may not be there...

When you squint your eyes and look only at the broad historical trends at play in this presidential election, all signs point to a victory for Mitt Romney in November. Back in February, the Signal's first draft of its elections model, which relied only on historical data, predicted that Obama would win the election with 303 electoral votes. This model relies heavily on economic indicators and was published before the dismal second quarter economic figures. If you apply that same model through June, Romney wins with 290 electoral votes to Obama's 248.

The commanding officer of a Florida-based warship was removed from the post during an overseas deployment after several female crew members alleged that he sexually harassed women aboard ship, a Navy report shows. Cmdr. Derick Armstrong was relieved of command in May, about six months after his promotion to the top job aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans. Of the 1,500 commanding officers in the Navy, 22 were removed from the job last year for various reasons. Armstrong is among a dozen commanding officers removed so far this year.

The Evansville Museum in Indiana corrected their misidentification of a glass piece of art held in storage for 50 years. The rediscovered artwork is a valuable Picasso original gemmaux work, created by baking different pieces of colored glass, titled "Seated woman with Red Hat." Documentation associated with the piece incorrectly indicated it was by an artist named "Gemmaux" with a design inspired by a Picasso oil painting, and the work was kept in storage for decades.

A new law in Indiana authorizes the general public to use deadly force against public servants (including law enforcement officers) who unlawfully enter private property. The measure, approved by Gov. Mitch Daniels in March, (who himself is a Bilderberg member, making the situation even more interesting) is a real game changer as the script has been flipped on the police when it comes to deadly force.

The man accused of the shooting rampage in a Denver-area screening of the latest "Batman" movie mailed a notebook detailing his plans to a psychiatrist days before the attack, FoxNews.com reported on Wednesday, as the first funeral was held for one of the 12 people killed. The package allegedly from the suspected shooter, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes, remained unopened in a mailroom, perhaps for as long as a week before its discovery Monday, FoxNews.com reported, citing a law enforcement source.

Torrence Brown Jr., one of the Aurora movie shooting survivors, is planning on suing the theater, confirmed his family's publicist on Wednesday. "We're going to make sure whoever is accountable is going to take responsibility for this tragedy," Cassandra Williams of Wet PR said. She said that Brown, who was friends with 18-year-old AJ Boik, one of the shooting victims, is handling the criticism his suit has sparked. "We know it goes with the territory, so he's fine," Williams said. She added that Brown, 18, is seeking therapy and is emotionally distraught after the shooting.

[Snip]...I have long felt that one of the biggest threats to the U.S. ethanol industry is a major drought/crop failure in the heart of corn country. This year we may be experiencing such an event. Recent reports indicate that what had been expected to be a record crop of corn has been downgraded such that only 40% of the corn crop is being classified as in good or excellent condition. This is down 48% versus last week and 69% versus a year ago.

If you ever want to strip down naked at Portland International Airport, congratulations — there’s now a legal precedent that puts you in the clear. John Brennan, 50, was found not guilty this week over indecent exposure charges filed earlier this year. On April 17, Brennan was attempting to fly out of Portland International in the state of Oregon when a routine security screening raised a red flag. After a TSA agent allegedly identified traces of nitrate on Brennan’s body, the would-be passenger stripped off his clothes in what he says was an act of protest.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and the FBI are trying to figure out how needles got into turkey sandwiches served aboard four flights from Amsterdam. One passenger was injured. The airline said that what appear to be sewing needles were found in five sandwiches on Sunday. One passenger on a flight to Minneapolis was injured, but the passenger declined to get medical attention, according to Delta spokeswoman Kristin Baur. The other needles were on two flights to Atlanta and one to Seattle.

Updated at 6:17 p.m. ET] The U.S. Navy's new class of carriers will be the first to go without urinals, a decision made in part to give the service flexibility in accommodating female sailors, the Navy says. The change heralded by the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers – starting with the namesake carrier due in late 2015 – is one of a number of new features meant to improve sailors' quality of life and reduce maintenance costs, Capt. Chris Meyer said Wednesday. Omitting urinals lets the Navy easily switch the designation of any restroom – or head, in naval...

Come September, a small group of young female Marines will break through one of the last bastions of macho in the U.S. military. They’ll be the first class of female officers to take part in the grueling Infantry Officer Course in Quantico, Va., a test of both physical fitness and mental will that prepares the corps’ future platoon leaders. All of these women will be volunteers, and their training will be closely watched. The new coed class has sparked suggestions that such training could lead to integrating women in the Marine infantry, with some saying they “would make excellent grunts.”

From NPR: "First thing that always pops into my head regarding our president is that all of the people who are setting up this barrier for him ... they just conveniently forget that Barack had a mama, and she was white — very white American, Kansas, middle of America," Freeman said.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka celebrates Independence Day today by bashing freedom. The Examiner reported: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has a 4th of July-themed column in the Huffington Post musing on the word freedom and how it is interpreted by the Republican Party. His conclusion is that they use the word to con people. Let’s call this right-wing “freedom” catch phrase what it really is: a grossly political strategy to dupe the public, which holds the word “freedom” as something sacred.

The Republican National Committee, keeping up on their social media campaigns like we haven’t seen before in a presidential election, have already released an ad absolutely belittling Obama for saying that families making under $250,000 a year would not see a tax increase. Well, Mr. Obama, your little tax increase yesterday may just come back and bite you in the bum. As pointed out in this article, the penalty for not following the direction of the individual mandate requiring all Americans to purchase health care coverage is not a fine, but a tax.