Free Republic

CNN reported on Monday that Saudi Arabia is preparing a report in which they will admit that Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who went missing earlier this month, was killed in an “interrogation gone wrong.”

The government of Saudi Arabia on Sunday vowed to retaliate with "greater action" if the Trump administration punishes the country for the apparently preplanned murder of a dissident earlier this month inside its Turkish Embassy. Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote columns in the Washington Post critical of the Saudi government, entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul October 2 and disappeared. Trump has said the U.S. would be “very upset and angry” if the Saudi government was behind it and, in an interview with "60 Minutes," he clarified that there would be "severe punishment." "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any...

Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin should not attend an upcoming investment conference in Saudi Arabia amid an ongoing investigation into the country's possible involvement in the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who went missing earlier this month in Turkey. "I don't think he should go," Rubio told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," adding that he doesn't think any US officials should continue with their usual business in Saudi Arabia until Washington gets to the bottom of Khashoggi's disappearance. "I don't think any of our government officials should be going and pretending...

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said President Trump must respond with more than “just words” if Saudi Arabia is found to be behind the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi or it would undermine the United States’ reputation as a champion of human rights. “I’m glad the president didn’t tie his hands in terms of exactly what we are going to do. But it needs to be very strong and meaningful, it can’t be symbolic, it can’t just be words,” the Florida lawmaker said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Trump has threatened “severe consequences” against Saudi Arabia but hasn’t gone...

The Palestinian Authority President delivered his statement on Sunday as pressures mount on Saudi Arabia following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement on Sunday in which he voiced "full confidence" in Saudi Arabia and praised its leaders for their support for the Palestinians. The statement, which was published by the PA president's office, quoted Abbas as saying he has "absolute confidence" in Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. "Palestine was - and shall remain - on the side of Saudi Arabia," Abbas said....

The National Park Service is exploring whether to require protest organizers to pay for the cost of providing law enforcement and other support services for demonstrations held in the nation’s capital. The proposed rule also could shrink a significant portion of the sidewalk outside the White House that is accessible to pedestrians, leaving a five-foot wide sliver. The public has until the close of Monday to comment on the proposal. More than 7,600 comments have been submitted so far, the vast majority in opposition, including many who consider it an effort by the Trump administration to deter some of the...

Donald Trump is responsible for all manner of things, particularly if you ask anyone at MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times or the Washington Post. He’s caused unrest around the world using nothing more than tweets, sparked riots in the streets and I’m pretty sure at least a couple of people have blamed him for global warming. But perhaps his greatest trick of all has been to increase the rates of alcohol consumption in America. Or at least that’s the opinion of WaPo columnist Kathleen Parker. Amid hurricanes, a vanished journalist, the recent Supreme Court hearings, midterms and “mobs,” it...

The conservative national security community in Washington is not known for its enlightened thinking on gender identity. Yet, so far, Giselle said, she has received nothing but support from her bosses at the American Enterprise Institute, where she works as a resident fellow in defense and security studies. AEI President Arthur Brooks and Vice President for Foreign Policy Danielle Pletka told me their decision to support Giselle was a simple one, since she’s the same person dedicated to the same principles that made her a good fit for the institution all this time. “We are proud that she is part...

The worst of Hurricane Michael’s remnants were supposed to track south of tiny Charlotte County in southern Virginia, but a desperate 911 call Thursday night told a different story: A car had been washed away in a torrential flash flood. When sheriff’s deputies raced to the scene on Mount Harmony Road after 11 p.m., county administrator Daniel Witt said they heard the screams of a 17-year-old boy clinging to a guardrail. The sheriff’s deputies and some bystanders linked arms and waded into the raging water, before tossing the teen a rope. He was pulled to safety, but his father and...

Khashoggi never had much time for western-style pluralistic democracy. In the 1970s he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, which exists to rid the Islamic world of western influence. He was a political Islamist until the end, recently praising the Muslim Brotherhood in the Washington Post. He championed the ‘moderate’ Islamist opposition in Syria, whose crimes against humanity are a matter of record. Khashoggi frequently sugarcoated his Islamist beliefs with constant references to freedom and democracy. But he never hid that he was in favour of a Muslim Brotherhood arc throughout the Middle East. His recurring plea to bin Salman in his...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — A strong earthquake has hit Papua New Guinea and raised the possibility of a tsunami. The magnitude 7.0 quake struck Thursday morning about 118 kilometers (74 miles) east of Kimbe, West New Britain, on the Pacific island nation. It was followed by aftershocks of magnitude 5.7 and 5.9. Just over an hour later, a magnitude 6.3 quake hit farther northeast on the island. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center oceanographer David Walsh says any tsunami from the earthquake would only affect areas immediately around the epicenter. But scientists don’t have any tide gauges close to the...

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Wednesday referred more than a dozen judicial misconduct complaints filed recently against Brett M. Kavanaugh to a federal appeals court in Colorado. The 15 complaints, related to statements Kavanaugh made during his Senate confirmation hearings, were initially filed with the federal appeals court in Washington, where Kavanaugh served for the last 12 years before his confirmation Saturday to the Supreme Court. The allegations center on whether Kavanaugh was dishonest and lacked judicial temperament during his Senate testimony, according to people familiar with the matter. Last month, a judge on the U.S. Court of...

LONDON - Former Vice President Joe Biden predicted on Wednesday that the Democrats would win 40 seats in the House and would also take back the Senate in the November midterm elections. "I predict to you the Democrats will win 40 seats in the House. And I predict to you there's a slightly better than even chance we win the Senate," Biden said in a speech during a visit to London. He said a deep dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump and his administration would result in the Democratic wave. "President Trump is the only president - and I've been there...

Minutes after Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Kannon Shanmugam took to Twitter to publicly congratulate the new justice. Shanmugam’s tweet highlighted a July post in which the Williams & Connolly appellate partner congratulated Kavanaugh on his nomination to the high court. He gave similar congratulations to Justice Neil Gorsuch following his confirmation last year. Shanmugam, with at least three cases at the Supreme Court this term, has no shortage of business coming before Kavanaugh—unless the former clerk to Antonin Scalia gets a new gig. Kavanaugh’s elevation to the Supreme Court—he takes the bench Tuesday as a...

James Roche, the college roommate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, speaks to CNN's Anderson Cooper about his experience with Kavanaugh at Yale. .....

The Georgetown University professor who called for the "miserable deaths" of GOP senators admitted Thursday to PJ Media that she runs a "doxxing" blog where she posts the names, phone numbers, and addresses of people who send her rude emails.The blog -- "Sh_tMenSay" on Tumblr -- was launched by Professor Christine Fair in January 2017. First, she began by posting screenshots of the "hate mail" she was sent by Facebook and email, typically only including names and people's email addresses. Tumblr screenshot of Christine Fair's doxxing page. But as early as May 2017, Fair changed course. Instead of simply screenshotting...

Amazon has approved funding for an Islamic extremist British charity called The Muslim Research and Development Foundation, through its Amazon Smile programme, The Times reports. The charity (MRDF) which according to the government’s counter-extremism commissioner Sara Khan, is the “main Salafist organisation in the UK”. It was founded and formerly chaired by Haitham al-Haddad, a 52 year old Saudi Islamic scholar. Khan also stated, “Haitham al-Haddad’s views are misogynistic, racist and homophobic. They promote a supremacist ‘us versus them’ world view that wrongly makes Muslims feel that they can’t be fully British.” In addition he has also been described as...

Starts at 7 pm on CSPAN. Right Side Broadcasting covering too!

President Trump will ceremonially swear in Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at a prime-time event in the East Room of the White House on Monday evening. The ceremony follows perhaps the most contentious confirmation battle for a Supreme Court nominee in history and the administration is using Monday evening to show voters they can make good on its promises. In front of a room full of reporters, television cameras and Republican lawmakers at 7:00 p.m. Monday, the president will stand next to Kavanaugh and present him to the nation as one of the crowning achievements of his first two years...

8 Oct 2018555 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is attempting to boost morale among her Democratic colleagues in the wake of the fight over Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation by urging them to “OWN OCTOBER” and win a majority in the November elections. The letter, dated Sunday, October 7, tacitly acknowledges that Democrats are dejected after failing to stop Kavanaugh — and that Republicans are enjoying a massive boost in voter enthusiasm that could help the GOP retain Congress in the midterms. A new survey of battleground districts published by the Washington Post on Monday shows that Democrats only enjoy a...