Free Republic

The last Oliver Hazard Perry frigate on the West Coast was decommissioned after more than 30 years in service in a Thursday ceremony at Naval Station San Diego, Calif. Former and current crew from the USS Gary (FFG-51) gathered at the yard for the ceremony. “These are the boys of Gary,” said second commanding officer, retired Capt. Dallas Bethea, during remarks at the ceremony. “These are the boys, the men, who were integral in the success of the ship. They took a ship that was nothing in the shipyard and created a warship. It wasn’t me, my predecessor or successor;...

It's a point of pride at Morning Joe that the show is unscripted. But in a notable deviation from that practice, Joe Scarborough clearly seemed to be reading off a teleprompter today as he promulgated a damning indictment of Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information on her private email system. Scarborough's statement was interspersed with clips of Hillary making statements about her email use that in light of the Inspectors General statements seem clearly to be untrue. Even more ominous for Hillary and her presidential ambitions was that none of Andrea Mitchell, Mark Halperin nor Ron Fournier--who claimed that as...

Secretary of State John Kerry said a rejection of the nuclear deal with Iran by the U.S. Congress would put Israel at risk of being "more isolated and more blamed." Speaking in New York on Friday before members of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, Kerry declared there are "no alternatives" to the nuclear agreement the United States and five other world powers struck with Iran. A clear focus in Kerry's message on Friday was his past and continuing support for Israel, even recalling his 100% voting record for Israel during his time as senator. With the deal, Kerry...

A day after Donald Trump announced the formation of “Veterans For Trump,” a small New Hampshire-based coalition that supports the bellicose business mogul’s bid for the White House, at least two of the veterans named as supporters distanced themselves from team Trump. The announcement of the veterans group came five days after Trump said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is only considered a war hero because he was captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War. “I don’t know anything about it,” said Ernie Fusi, a World War II veteran whose name was still listed among the 51 veteran supporters on...

On Sunday, New York City’s AM 970 host John Catsimatidis had former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) on his “The Cats Roundtable” program to talk about the Iran nuclear deal. Lieberman started off by ripping the White House for its proposed Iran nuke deal by saying, “First, it’s a deal with somebody we can’t trust. Why? Because they have said for years and continue to say even after the agreement was signed, ‘Death to America.'”

The Washington Post headline on June, 2, 2015, read: “Obama Makes an Impassioned Case for a Palestinian State.” While President Obama and his administration are eager for the establishment of another unstable and likely terrorist Arab (there are 21 Arab states, and Palestine is the 22nd) state called Palestine, they have largely ignored if not betrayed the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. The Kurds are one of the largest national groups globally without a state of their own, and they are yearning for one independent Kurdish state. Justice for the Kurds, it seems, is subjected to the whims...

In arguably one of its cruelest acts yet, the Islamic State (ISIS) has reportedly blown up a baby as part of a demonstration showing how to handle explosives. So reports The Clarion Project. The unparalleled incident took place in Diyala Province, eastern Iraq, this past Friday, according to Sadiq el-Husseini, Security Committee Chairman of the province on behalf of the anti-ISIS forces there. He recounted the event to the local Arabic-language A-Sumeriah News. “The organization booby-trapped the baby in front of dozens of armed ISIS men," el-Husseini said, "and then detonated it from afar.” He explained that the purpose of...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., kept a promise made to Democratics earlier this year that in exchange for their support on an important trade deal, he would allow a vote on a measure to extend the bank.... Obama administration is closer than ever on a breakthrough on the biggest trade deal in world history. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/trans-pacific-partnership-trade-pact-challenges-120600.html All the Good ol Boys are convinced we the people, maintain generic, or self-inflicted stupid. We the people keep proving it is so, up to the tipping p0int. Raben

During the height of one of the most brutal months of Muslim persecution of Christians, the U.S. State Department exposed its double standards against persecuted Christian minorities.Sister Diana, an influential Iraqi Christian leader, who was scheduled to visit the U.S. to advocate for persecuted Christians in the Mideast, was denied a visa by the U.S. State Department even though she had visited the U.S. before, most recently in 2012.She was to be one of a delegation of religious leaders from Iraq — including Sunni, Shia and Yazidi, among others — to visit Washington, D.C., to describe the situation of their...

The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, just published an article by Rabbi John Rosove titled Many Israeli Experts Believe the Iran Deal is a Supportable Deal Despite its Flaws. He is self-described as a progressive Reform Zionist and national co-Chair of the Rabbinic Cabinet of J Street. Remember that J Street just announced a multi-million campaign to endorse the Iran Deal. This article is surely part of that campaign. In reviewing the quotes from these experts which he lists to make his case, it is clear that they appear to be making the assumption that the deal will be honored...

The Queen, apparently impatient to get to church, veered onto a grass verge to avoid a family strolling through Windsor Great Park. The monarch took to the wheel of a Jaguar X-type estate as she drove herself down the Long Walk on the Windsor estate on Sunday. But when she found her path blocked by the young family, she clearly felt she did not have time to wait for them to get out of the way. Despite diverting around them, the Queen, who is said to be furious over the leaking of a home movie of herself as a child...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)An American analyst believes that US politicians do not care about another global war as they insist to cancel the conclusion of nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers. David Christie, a broadcast journalist based in New York, said US politicians, including Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, who criticize the nuclear agreement, are more concerned about Israel. “For GOP senators and congressmen, what Israel wants is their guiding principle and that trumps the safety and security of America for Americans every time,” Christie told Press TV on Sunday. “If anybody is confused about the current hostile and predictable rhetoric...

Police in France are searching for the driver of a vehicle that tried to crash through a security barrier for the Tour de France, which ends in Paris later. The incident took place on the Champs-Elysees at about 08:00 local time, as the barriers were being put out. Officers opened fire on the car but the suspect drove away. The car was later found abandoned nearby. There is no suggestion of terrorism as a motive, according to the BBC's Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield. He says the car first hit a parked vehicle in the Place de la Concorde.

Authorities have ordered the closure of mosques and Islamic schools following a series of suicide bombing attacks in northern Cameroon that have left at least 60 people dead, the region's governor said Sunday. Child beggars are also being ordered off the streets because all the suicide bombers so far have been children, including the 13-year-old female who detonated explosives in an attack Saturday evening. While there have been no claims of responsibility, authorities have blamed the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, which has pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State group and abducted hundreds of girls and young women. The...

Obama’s first trip to Kenya since becoming president has highlighted the disappointment that many Africans feel in his presidency. While President Bush earns high praise and achieved a great deal in Africa, particularly with regard to his efforts fighting AIDS, Obama . . . not so much.In his article entitled, “Africa’s Disappointment with Obama,” Edward-Isaac Dovere writes: Beneath the ecstatic welcome President Barack Obama will receive when he arrives in his father’s homeland of Kenya on Friday is a lingering sense of disappointment.More than the first black president, he’s the first African-American U.S. president, and that’s accentuated a frustration among...

“This requires everyone to intensify efforts to criminalize insulting heavenly religions, prophets, holy books, religious symbols and places of worship.” What is wrong with this? Who wants to insult “heavenly religions, prophets, holy books, religious symbols and places of worship,” anyway?One problem with it, among many, is that at a time when hatred and violence are being preached and perpetrated in the name of a “heavenly religion” and justified by reference to a “holy book,” to criminalize criticism of such things would be tantamount to muzzling all resistance to that hatred and violence. And that may be precisely the agenda.“Criminalize...

Malmö in southern Sweden was shaken by a hand grenade attack overnight – less than 12 hours after another explosion rocked residents in a series of blasts in Sweden's third largest city this summer.Police were called to the scene at Hålsjögatan in Malmö shortly after midnight on Friday after a grenade exploded outside a council offices building. Windows were shattered in the powerful blast which damaged several cars parked outside... On Thursday several cars and homes were damaged after a hand grenade was thrown at a building in a residential area of Limhamn in western parts of the city, just...

Donald Trump delivers remarks at his “Make America Great Again Rally & Picnic” in Oskaloosa, Iowa on July 25, 2015.

OTTAWA — Flora MacDonald, who served as a senior cabinet member in two Conservative federal governments and made a run for the party’s leadership in 1976, has died. She was 89. MacDonald’s long-time executive assistant Margit Herrman says MacDonald died in Ottawa this morning — the cause of death was not immediately available. MacDonald was the first woman to hold the foreign affairs portfolio in Joe Clark’s government from 1979 to 1980. She was heading the department during the Iranian hostage crisis when Canadian diplomats gave shelter to six Americans who escaped capture when their embassy was overrun.

President Obama Dances With Kenyan Pop Stars Sauti Sol Jul 26, 2015 By CONOR FINNEGAN At the end of a long day of bilateral meetings and news conferences, President Obama celebrated his historic trip to Kenya with an official state dinner and a little bit of dancing. The Kenyan pop group Sauti Sol posted video of the president stepping with them just before his toast. He joined the VMA and BET Award-winning group, along with his half-sister Auma Obama, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.