Free Republic

I couldn’t have imagined that President Obama could do any more harm to the Cuban people before he left office, but I was wrong. With only a week left in his presidency he announced that the long-standing policy of accepting Cubans that flee the Communist island of Cuba by sea — the policy known as “wet feet, dry feet” — would change. That policy has been in place since President Clinton declared it so after the horrific debacle of the Clinton administration’s handling of 9-year-old Elian Gonzalez. After the forced deportation of Elian Gonzalez by armed U.S. federal agents under...

LIFE AFTER TERROR By JOSEPH F. CONNOR YOU sometimes hear how the first World Trade Center attack was a warning that the city ig nored. But it wasn't the first: Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the New York terrorist attack that killed my father, Frank T. Connor — the Jan. 24, 1975, bombing of Fraunces Tavern. The killers struck on a warm, clear and pleasant winter's day. My dad, a 33-year-old officer of Morgan Guaranty Trust, was having lunch with clients. The bomb killed him and three others in unspeakably gruesome ways. One of his colleagues was decapitated; silverware...

The White House said Tuesday that the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba will still be open when President Barack Obama leaves office, conceding that a core campaign promise will go unfulfilled. Administration officials had long insisted that the president was continuing to work toward closing the facility even when it became obvious that it would no longer be possible for practical reasons before President-elect Donald Trump takes office Friday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that the administration determined it wouldn’t happen when they realized they did not have enough time left to comply with the 30-day deadline...

For all President Obama’s claims to want a smooth transition to the new administration, his people have been laying plenty of land mines for Team Trump. Some are plainly Obama’s doing, from that anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution to slamming the door on Cuban refugees. But the nastier ones — the Justice Department inspector general probe of FBI chief Jim Comey’s announcements on the Clinton email investigation, and the leak about that “Russian dossier” — have more deniability. The Cuba move may be the most ironic, given fears on the left that Trump would close the door on refugees. Yet...

The Obama administration signed a law-enforcement agreement with Cuba Monday that doesn’t call for the return of U.S. fugitives, including former Black Panther Joanne Chesimard, who is wanted for killing a New Jersey police officer. The pact was signed by Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the de facto U.S. ambassador in Havana, and the Cuban Interior minister Julio César Gandarilla. It covers a broad range of law-enforcement topics, such as counternarcotics operations. Also present at the signing was White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, who played a key role in forging Mr. Obama’s policy of restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba in...

In his last week before leaving office, President Barack Obama overturned a 50-year US Government policy of allowing Cuban refugees who reach our shores to remain in the country. In contrast to the "dreamers" that Obama has declared must not be sent back to Mexico even though they entered the United States illegally, Cubans arriving without visas will be expelled. "Refugees from Mexico have a legitimate reason for coming to America," Obama said. "Their country's economy isn't providing sufficient jobs or benefits to support their survival. Cubans don't face this kind of hardship. Their government is dedicated to ensuring social...

Oh boy, Best Election Ever !! …Only Trump could put this much sunlight upon decades of economic fraud, as carried out by “the big club“, in one single news cycle.. (Reuters) The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce met with Cuban President Raul Castro and in separate meetings with members of Castro’s economic cabinet on Friday, as they prepare for the advent of a more hostile Trump administration next week.

I'm actually beginning to think had Hillary won there would be fewer Clinton retreads coming on-board. Where the change? The bold innovative thinking? Are former Clinton hacks the best you can do, Barry? Geez, at this rate I almost expect Lani Guinier to be nominated for something. It's almost as if they had some incriminating photos of the guy. No, instead of this mythical change, we get a guy who sent Elian Gonzalez back to hell. Craig, 63, is a partner at Williams & Connolly and a protégé of the late Edward Bennett Williams, the legendary Washington power lawyer. His...

Mike Allen reported over the weekend that "Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton's impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by resident-elect Barack Obama". Believe it or not, the time Craig spent shilling for Clinton may have been his most honorable days of work ... In the early 1980s, [Craig] was an attorney for John Hinckley, the man who shot President Reagan and three others. Craig helped put together an insanity defense that led to Hinckley's acquittal. Nine years later, he advised Ted Kennedy in the Palm Beach rape case involving the senator...

[Excerpted] Cuban Jose Enrique Manreza, who sold his house and belongings to embark on a epic journey by plane, bus and on foot in pursuit of the American dream, is now stranded in a Mexican border town after Washington abruptly ended a lenient immigration policy.

The coward occupant of the Oval Office is still welcoming unvetted Muslim terrorists into this country. And he just rejected the idea that those fleeing communism should be helped.

The Radical-in-Chief kills hope for Cubans fleeing their totalitarian hellhole As a final sop to his friends and fans in Communist Cuba, President Obama yesterday abruptly ended the two decade-old compassionate immigration policy that allowed any Cuban who made it to U.S. soil to remain in this country and become a legal resident. This middle finger to the Cuban community is likely part of a series of last-minute policy changes Obama makes on his way out of office. In addition to an expected avalanche of eleventh-hour executive orders and regulations, media reports indicate the White House is seriously considering commuting...

But will the new policy have a shelf life of more than a week? I guess we’re now just down to total d*** moves on the part of the Earth Scorcher in Chief. Ever since Fidel Castro turned Cuba into a Soviet outpost in the 1950s, the United States has had a policy of welcoming Cuban refugees, assuming they could make it to our shores, even if they don’t have a visa. (Since, after all, how could they have a visa?) And since the mid-1990s, this has been formalized the wet-foot-dry-foot policy, and it establishes that if land on U.S....

President Obama said Thursday that he was terminating the 22-year-old policy that has allowed Cubans who arrived on United States soil without visas to remain in the country and gain legal residency, an unexpected move long sought by the Cuban government. “Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal, consistent with U.S. law and enforcement priorities,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries.” The move places a...

The Obama administration is ending the "wet foot, dry foot" policy that granted residency to Cubans who arrived in the United States without visas. That's according to a senior administration official, who said the policy change was effective immediately.

can’t say anything about the roots of this story and I don’t plan to dig further… I need to think about my own skin too. Understand that as you will.” —Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the Russian maritime Bulletin Sovfrakht., speaking about the “hijacking” of the Arctic Sea While it might seem like an unusual morphing of the movies Inside Man and The Hunt for Red October, the account of the cargo ship Arctic Sea is far stranger than either fictional account. Based on information developed through our extensive investigation, we can authoritatively state, without hyperbole, that the mysteries surrounding the...

Democratic lawmakers are calling for President Obama to close Guantanamo Bay because "Donald Trump must be deprived of the use” of the controversial prison. Representatives including New York City’s Hakeem Jeffries, Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velazquez and Jose Serrano signed a letter sent to the White House Wednesday. Obama promised during his first presidential campaign to close the facility on Cuban soil, which was filled with suspected terrorists during the Bush administration, some of whom have stayed there for years without a trial or charges. The White House has said that it is working to move the 18 inmates who remain...

The death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro raises once again the issue of the American embargo. It's a controversial law that for five decades has been more misunderstood and misrepresented than anything I've experienced in public life. I authored the law strengthening the U.S. embargo under President George H.W. Bush when I was in Congress, so a little perspective is in order as we ponder Castro's passing and what he meant to U.S.-Cuba relations. Among my first memories as a child growing up in Franklin Lakes were of the U.S. and the USSR teetering on the brink of nuclear war. Only recently have we learned...

Whole title:EXCLUSIVE: At least 18 MORE Guantanamo detainees to be freed within days as Obama starts mass transfer of fanatics who have threatened to bomb and behead AmericansPresident Obama is planning to transfer at least 18 more Guantanamo Bay detainees within days after announcing that four prisoners are being sent to Saudi Arabia, DailyMail.com has learned. snip FREED DETAINEES WHO RETURNED TO TERROR A series of those already freed from the Cuban facility have gone straight back to jihad. They include:Ibrahim Sen: Held in Guantanamo Bay from February 2002 until November 8, 2003. Released to Turkey because U.S. officials reportedly...

instead of railing against the Republican winner of the U.S. presidential election, who has already taunted and threatened the Cuban government with his infamous tweets, the theme was anti-Obama. Apparently everybody loves a winner, and Raúl Castro is no exception. He’s ready to ditch President Barack Obama, who opened up to Cuba like no other U.S. president before him. The parting is ugly. Listen to the war chant the marching troops were shouting...