Free Republic

She has the sober demeanor and tightly wound bun of a boarding school headmistress. And she's Vladimir Putin's new morality crusader, spearheading efforts to curb gay rights, punish online cursing and impose a tax on divorce. Yelena Mizulina, a member of parliament, has used her position as the head of the Committee on Family, Women and Children to author increasingly conservative laws, including a ban on homosexual "propaganda" that went into force last month.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s GreenTech Automotive took advantage of a loophole that allowed the company an exemption from Securities Exchange Commission regulation.

If you ever wonder why the weasel west media always calls Putin a dictator or demonizes him, just look at what has been happening recently. By watching the US news last week one would think all of America has turned gay with the Supreme Court ruling on married same-sex couples. The New York Times called it a, "major victories for the gay rights movement". Some even compare it to racial equality. If Putin was the dictator the West claims, the new law that defends Christianity would have been in effect immediately after the pussy riot blasphemy which happened last year....

Google launched a new Maps product with STUNNING resolution today. A lot of sleuthing and spying needs to be done, and coordinates are needed for points of interest (POI) Please post interesting points' GPS coordinates. You can Paste these into Google Maps and hit search and then zoom in as far as you can go.

Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April. The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries. The document shows for the first...

A new report on world international terrorism activities released by the State Department asserts that there were "no known operational cells" of Al Qaeda or Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere during the year 2012. This is despite the report acknowledging Iran's increased presence in the hemisphere along with the country's "marked resurgence" of sponsored terrorism. The State Department released the "Country Reports on Terrorism 2012" late last week which details the United States' assessment of terrorism and counter-terrorism activities in countries around the globe. The Department detailed Iran's "marked resurgence" of terrorism saying:

Three explosions were heard in western Tehran on Tuesday, in an area where Iran carries out missile research and storage, according to a Tweet by a BBC Persian journalist. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries or damage in the incident. In January, both Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency denied reports that a blast had hit the Fordow underground uranium enrichment center near Qom.

SEOUL — The North Korean army said Thursday it had final approval to launch "merciless" military strikes on the United States, involving the possible use of "cutting-edge" nuclear weapons. In a statement published by the official KCNA news agency, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said it was formally informing Washington that reckless US threats would be "smashed by... cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means". "The merciless operation of (our) revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified," the statement said.

Explains how Al Jazeera English is violating U.S. law by not registering as "Foreign Agent"

Will this finally be enough to break the Obama administration's hold over Senate Democrats when it comes to the Hagel nomination? Chuck Hagel has refused to disclose to the Senate Armed Services Committee the sources of his foreign funding over the last five years. Is Chuck roast? (Hat Tip: Noah P). Republican members of the committee asked Hagel last week for information on whether any of the organizations received funding from any foreign government, individual, or corporation — a request he declined late Tuesday in a letter citing confidentiality agreements. "[T]he information you seek is legally controlled by the individual...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) defended Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) Sunday, expressing confidence his Democratic colleague who has come under scrutiny from the Senate Ethics panel didn’t do anything wrong. -snip Menendez is the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Reid said he didn’t see any problem with Menendez serving in that role while under investigation.

Hi, I'm interested in reading about American politics and for a while I've been reading through Henry Kissinger's memoirs. I have to say they're a bloody good read, there are 3 volumes of them and well over a thousand pages each. They're pretty well written, rich in detail and he does defend himself well. So they made me want to look for more books with regards to republican policy throughout American history,thinking maybe there are some that could rival Kissinger. So basically I'm asking if anyone can recommend any decent books by republicans. I don't care if they're from the...

A congressional report found that foreign companies have been large beneficiaries of stimulus funds and received billions of dollars funds meant to promote green energy development and create jobs in the United States. The House Energy and Commerce Committee staff examined Treasury Department data and found that nearly one-quarter of the $16 billion in Section 1603 green energy grants went to a handful of large European and Asian renewable energy companies. “Billions of dollars have filled the coffers of overseas firms while the evidence of the promised permanent jobs and economic growth here in the United States is scarce,” reads...

<p>MEXICO CITY (AP) — More than 54,000 Mexicans have signed a petition calling on the United States to take further steps to combat weapons trafficking.</p> <p>Mexico says the majority of guns used by the country's violent drug cartels are smuggled over the border from the United States.</p>

Wondering why rail traffic has been somewhat surprisingly consistent despite uncertainty? Concerned at government's tenticular reach into each and every aspect of our lives? This somewhat stunning anecdotal report from OilPrice.com might shed some light: A cargo train filled with biofuels crossed the border between the US and Canada 24 times between the 15th of June and the 28th of June 2010; not once did it unload its cargo, yet it still earned millions of dollars... The companies “made several million dollars importing and exporting the fuel to exploit a loophole in a U.S. green energy program.” Each time the...

A Vietnamese water company has asked the Obama Administration for help in assessing its information and communications technology (ICT) modernization plan, and a White House agency has agreed to provide a $600,000 grant for that purpose. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) will fund the endeavor, which entails footing the bill for an ICT contractor to fly to Vietnam to provide "technical assistance" to the Saigon Water Corporation, or SAWACO. SAWACO is described as "a government-owned enterprise operating under the HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) Peoples' Committee," according to a contracting notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located...

Washington DC - -(Ammoland.com)- During comments at the 2012 Herman Khan Award Dinner in New York last night, former VP Dick Cheney criticized Obama’s Middle East policy and what he perceives as the projection of U.S. weakness instead of U.S. strength. Cheney said the Middle East is moving in a direction “fundamentally hostile to U.S. interests” and “the U.S. is increasingly unable to influence events there.” Cheney believes our inability to influence is largely tied to the fact that Obama is “headed for the exit” in Afghanistan. The former VP then reminded his audience of Obama’s “apology” tour to the...

Obama's foreign policy team hits turbulenceBy JOSH GERSTEIN | 11/13/12 4:21 PM EST President Barack Obama and his aides touted his strengths on foreign policy and national security during the campaign, arguing his accomplishments are so significant that they buttress his case for a second term. Now, just days after his reelection, Obama’s national security team is facing the most dramatic upheaval of his presidency. CIA Director David Petraeus is out because of a sex scandal. The commanding general in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, finds himself ensnared in the same flap. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to call it...

The U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, James Smith, told the Arabic news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat that American foreign policy will now change after President Barack Obama's reelection. Smith made the comments at an election night party at his residence. Ambassador Smith "stressed the desire of President Obama to resolve a number of foreign issues, most notably restoring negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, responding more strongly to Iran, and working with allies to end the Syrian crisis, (Snip) The ambassador appears not to have elaborated further.

Washington Barack Obama’s reelection was barely sealed before some international voices began trumpeting how the president’s victory would mean a renewed American focus on foreign policy issues that languished during the campaign. President Obama could now revive the search for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, international Middle East envoy Tony Blair said. The US will be bolder now in pressing for a resolution of Syria’s deadly and dangerous civil war, some US allies, including Turkish officials, predicted. Have these foreign friends heard of the “fiscal cliff”? (Snip) Mr. Obama will no doubt be looking broadly to