Free Republic

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that House Republicans were criticizing the border deal because they are “following orders” from former President Donald Trump. While discussing the Senate immigration bill, Jeffries said, “It should not be dead on arrival. See, you know, we need more common sense in Washington, D.C., less conflict and less chaos.”

As flames tore through a West Maui neighborhood, car after car of fleeing residents headed for the only paved road out of town in a desperate race for safety. And car after car was turned back toward the rapidly spreading wildfire by a barricade blocking access to Highway 30. One family swerved around the barricade and was safe in a nearby town 48 minutes later, another drove their four-wheel-drive car down a dirt road to escape. One man took a dirt road uphill, climbing above the fire and watching as Lahaina burned. He later picked his way through the flames,...

As more details emerge about what really happened in Maui, one thing is unmistakable: the government has completely surrendered its delegated charge as the guarantor of unalienable rights, and in its current form, it is wholly unsuited to have any sort of authoritative role. A report out yesterday at The Hill detailed that Maui residents fleeing the blaze were barricaded in by several road closures, established by local authorities; those who heeded the orders died, and those who didn’t, escaped the flames. From the article:Those who disobeyed the barricaded road closures during the Maui fires survived the disaster, while many...

The court’s decision represents a victory against authoritarianism, but censorship by Covid scaremongers should still trouble Americans. ... Afederal judge halted California’s attempt to censor doctors when, last Wednesday, the court enjoined the state statute that banned medical professionals from spreading purported “misinformation” or “disinformation” to their patients about Covid-19. The decision represents the latest victory against the authoritarian edicts that quickly followed the outbreak of the pandemic three years ago but continue to this day. In August of 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 2098 (AB 2098), adding a new provision to California’s extensive regulations...

The Miami Herald warned Wednesday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is taking a page from disgraced former President Richard Nixon’s playbook with his attack on Disney. An editorial in the influential South Florida paper condemned DeSantis, a potential GOP 2024 presidential candidate, for his push “to strip Walt Disney World of the special taxing district that independently governs it” as “an act of pure vengeance” and “the stuff of Richard Nixon and his enemies list.”

Is Donald Trump summoning his inner Richard Nixon? One could draw that conclusion from the Trump administration’s recent announcement that it is withdrawing 2,000 U.S. troops from Iraq – more than one-third of the total deployed – which follows a similar statement on the exit of one-third of some 36,000 troops from Germany. That, in turn, followed announced troop withdrawals from Afghanistan in June, reductions from Syria, ongoing threats to remove U.S. troops from South Korea and implied threats to Japan as well if Tokyo doesn’t contribute more to the U.S. presence there of some 50,000 troops.

Sunday on NBC´s "Meet The Press," host Chuck Todd took President Barack Obama to task for the optics of going golfing moments after his statement on ISIS beheading journalist James Foley. Obama complained during his vacations he would "love" not to be followed by the press. “You know, it is always a challenge when you’re supposed to be on vacation, because you’re followed everywhere, part of what I would love is a vacation from the press," Obama said. The president did take some responsibility saying, “But there’s no doubt that after having talked to the families, where it was hard...

Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Sunday blasted President Barack Obama's diplomatic strategy with Russia President Vladimir Putin regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons, saying Obama is now "following from behind." "You have Putin playing chess and Obama playing, frankly, a very lucky game of tic-tac-toe," Gingrich said on CNN's "State of the Union." "Putin stepped in to maximize Russian influence in the Middle East. That is a strategically defeat for the United States." "We are now relying on the Russians," said Gingrich, now a host of CNN's 'Crossfire." We're now following from behind -- not leading from behind....

Hollywood and the mainstream media have been portraying the Tea Party movement as racist and violent ever since it rose up during the early months of President Barack Obama's first term. Never mind that the Occupy Wall Street movement set the standard for ideologically driven violence, and that whenever Tea Partiers gather they typically leave the grounds cleaner than when they arrived.

Israel appreciates President Obama’s commitment to peace. Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state. That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004, which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress. Among other things, those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea...

Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships. After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for...

On Christmas eve in 1938, the physicist Lise Meitner took a walk in the snowy woods of Kungalv, Sweden, with her nephew, Otto Frisch, also a physicist. A Jewish refugee who had recently escaped from Hitler's Germany, Meitner began discussing with Frisch some puzzling experimental results from a lab in Berlin. By the time their famous walk was over, Meitner had scribbled down for the first time the equations that demonstrated the possibility of extracting huge amounts of energy from the splitting or "fission" of uranium atoms. Seventy years ago today, the woman whom Albert Einstein called "our Madame Curie"...

"It's a glow-in-the-dark compass ring. So you don't get lost." -Josh (played by Tom Hanks), in the movie, "Big" Maybe what we need in California is a glow-in-the-dark compass ring. Or, maybe it's just Republicans that need one. Perhaps just Arnold Schwarzenegger. Heck, maybe it's all three. Let's face it...to our fellow citizens, Arnold is the face of California and the State GOP (with all due respect to Ackerman, Plescia and Sundheim). As Jon Fleischman and I wrote on the heels of the Governor's January 5 State of the State address, "Now, 'Mr. Hollywood' has come up with his BIGGEST...

NEW YORK (NNS) -- The 19th New York City Fleet Week came to a close May 31, as Sailors and Marines left New York City in their wake, headed for their next destination. While visiting the ‘Big Apple,’ Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen participated in community service events, sports competitions, military demonstrations and Memorial Day remembrances in all five boroughs. “I’m just impressed by the good, positive attitudes and willingness to work that the young Sailors express,” commented Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Paul Ablaza, a Reservist with Naval Security Forces, Naval Weapons Station Earle, Colts Neck, N.J. “Seeing the dedication of...

WASHINGTON, April 19, 2006 – Four state governors just returned from Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait shared glowing reports today about the operations they observed there, but reserved their highest praise for the men and women in uniform they met, including National Guard troops from their states. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack shares a meal with Iowa Army National Guard soldiers deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom during Vilsack's visit to Kuwait. Photo by Spc. Debralee P. Crankshaw, USA   The four governors -- Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and West Virginia Gov. Joe...

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers and national police did a good job in helping quell unrest during the hours and days following the Feb. 22 bombing of a prominent Shiite mosque in Samarra, Iraq, a senior U.S. military leader said today. Iraqi security forces "performed very well; they were very deliberate; they were poised," the senior official, speaking on background, told military analysts from his headquarters in Iraq during a phone interview. The official said Iraqi forces provided "a settling influence on what was essentially a very emotionally charged atmosphere" after terrorists blew the top off the Golden...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2006 – Today was "very quiet" in Baghdad, and for the most part people are complying with a new curfew, a military official in Iraq said today. Iraqi security forces have established a number of static traffic control points throughout the city so they can enforce the rule of law, the official said. Iraqi security forces "stepped up" to enhance security and quiet tensions in Iraq after sectarian violence erupted there this week, Army Col. Jeffrey J. Snow, commander of the 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, said. "They are supported by the vast majority of Iraqis and...

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) - He didn't have to go, it wasn't his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was happening in the war zone. The 41-year-old former Green Beret and author was embedded as a freelance journalist with troops last year and used an Internet blog to report on car bombs, firefights and fallen soldiers. He also wrote about acts of compassion and heroism, small triumphs in the country's crawl toward democracy and the gritty inner workings of the military. Yon's...

Exodus of 'Ossie' women following Mrs Merkel west Rob Hyde in Saxony-Anhalt AND Colin Freeman (Filed: 27/11/2005) For years, the east German male has been the butt of jokes over his poor dress sense, outdated haircuts and glum outlook on post-Communist life. Now the old stereotype's days may be numbered - not because he has changed his ways, but because of a lack of women willing to marry him. New figures show men now outnumber women by three to one in some eastern regions, following an exodus of women in search of a better life - and husbands - in...

Microsoft has confirmed that its upcoming version of Internet Explorer will include tabbed browsing, a feature made popular by competitors Opera Software and Firefox.In a Microsoft blog, IE product unit manager Dean Hachamovitch told consumers not to expect too much from tabbed browsing in IE's beta offering. "The tabbed browsing experience in the upcoming IE 7 beta is pretty basic," he said. "The main goal for tabs in our beta release is to make sure our implementation delivers on compatibility and security. The variety of IE configurations and add-ins across the Internet is tremendous." Hachamovitch said his team would seek...