Free Republic

Nearly a year before President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis on the border, a team of experts arrived at the Fort Brown patrol station in Brownsville, Tex., and discovered a makeshift transportation depot for a deluge of foreign children. The researchers’ observations were among the warning signs conveyed to the Obama administration over the past two years as a surge of Central American minors has crossed into south Texas illegally. More than 57,000 have entered the United States this year, swamping federal resources and catching the government unprepared. The administration did too little to heed those warnings, according to interviews...

Hundreds of protests are taking place across the United States this weekend in opposition to the surge of immigrants illegally crossing the country’s southern border and proposed immigration reform that organizers say gives amnesty to those already living illegally in the country. Organizers say 321 protests will take place over the next two days -- from state capitals to highway overpasses to Mexican consulates. The protests have been sparked by the thousands of Central American immigrants who in the past few months have entered the U.S. illegally in hopes of staying. “We know that 12,000 people expected to attend roughly...

ISLAMABAD: Even though US Secretary of State John Kerry succeeded in brokering a deal to resolve the deadlock over the Afghan presidential election run-off, confusion still persists about the proposal of forming a “government of national unity”. On July 12, Kerry announced the agreement in the presence of both rivals Dr Ashraf Ghani and Dr Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul. “The winner of the election will serve as the president and will immediately form a government of national unity,” said Kerry. However, the top US official failed to explain the composition of the unity government. Kerry’s vague proposal has caused uproar...

ALBANY, NY – New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday he would form a new third party in the state centered around his late-term abortion expansion program. The formation of the Women’s Equality Party, which is designed to further the Democrats' national “war on women” campaign theme, was announced at a gala on Thursday.

Ukraine launched an extraordinary attack on Vladimir Putin tonight by publishing a horrific picture of a dead baby and accusing the Russian president of having the blood of the infant victim of flight MH17 on his hands. Senior government advisor Anton Gerashchenko today stepped up the rhetorical attack on the Kremlin by posting the picture with a message to Mr Putin saying: 'This baby's death is on your conscience', before adding 'Damn you for centuries!' He said that he agonised over whether to publish the image of the tiny corpse lying in a ploughed field. MailOnline has chosen not to...

Now that the U.S.-Russia relationship has broken down, Moscow could throw a wrench into the teetering nuclear negotiations with Iran. The escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow, brought to fever by the MH17 airliner disaster, are finally to the point where they threaten to spoil the number one item on President Obama’s foreign policy agenda: the nuclear talks with Iran. The man doing the threatening is Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier this week, Putin promised to retaliate against the United States for new sanctions targeting his friends and business associates, as well as large Russian defense, energy, and financial firms....

The United States is not planning to give weapons or “lethal” assistance to Ukraine following Thursday’s downing of an airliner in its conflict zone, nor does it plan any major U.S. military response to the crisis, the Pentagon said Friday. Press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby repeated U.S. calls for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine but said the “focus” of American assistance to Kiev will remain on non-lethal supplies and equipment, even though he acknowledged Ukraine has asked for both lethal and non-lethal help.

Iran and six world powers on Friday agreed to a four-month extension of negotiations on a long-term nuclear deal that would gradually end sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, diplomats close to the talks said. Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China had set a July 20 deadline to complete a long-term agreement that would resolve the decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. But diplomats said they were unable to overcome significant differences on major sticking points

Today at the Mexican Consulate just south of downtown Houston a protest against the illegal alien border surge was staged by concerned patriots. Apparently the word got out to the opposition forces. There were 25 to 30 illegals and associated supporters there as well. Our side numbered from 40 to 50 while I was on site. We were staged on opposite sides of the street. The illegals (they proclaimed themselves so, chanting "undocumented and unafraid") had a small public address system and had a designated wise-ass on the mike leading chants and taunts which actually were pretty comedic. The...

Pew Research poll also shows Israel as staunchly pro-U.S. and most supportive of drones and surveillance in the fight against terrorists. The fact that Isrealis are one of the most staunchly pro-American people in thw world is not new. But that their confidence in Barack Obama's ability to handle world affairs climbed dramatically to reach an all-time high? ...

President Obama will host the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador next week to discuss ways to “stem the flow” of illegal immigration, as the White House said Friday the U.S. began to return families from all three countries this week. Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden will speak with the Central American leaders at the White House next Friday about ways “to promote safe, legal, and orderly migration between our countries in a spirit of shared responsibility, including with respect to the return of family units, which began this week for all three countries.

United Nations: The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today morning on Ukraine. Britain's UN Mission said yesterday it requested the meeting and later tweeted that it is set for 10 am today. The request follows Wednesday's downing of a Ukrainian air force fighter and yesterday's downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane carrying 295 people over eastern Ukraine. Britain has proposed a Security Council press statement calling for "a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the incident." The statement, obtained by The Associated Press, was circulated to all 15 council members, who must approve it before...

Laughing rebels filmed the plane as it crashed, gleefully bragging ‘That was a blast – look at the smoke!’ while a fireball rose from the debris. One of the voices is believed to be militia commander Igor Strelkov, who then penned a triumphant war cry on Twitter, saying: ‘We warned you – do not fly in “our sky”.’ A sickening mobile phone video posted online shows a pall of black smoke billowing over the crash site as three rebels provide an excited commentary. The extraordinary footage – apparently filmed by the shooters themselves – charts the terrible final moments of...

Up to 27 Australians have died on board a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that was shot down by a ground-to-air missile over Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew. ...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is a shady operator. From changing the Senate rules which allowed him to increase the tax-raising power of the Senate Democratic majority, ties to shady lobbyists, and numerous scandals in Nevada, it is little wonder how a guy on a relatively modest public servant salary has become obscenely wealthy. Now, Reid has been linked to a new massive bribery case that had two state attorneys general arrested already. Utah prosecutors on Tuesday filed criminal charges against two former state attorneys general in a court filing that makes tantalizing references to a possible pay-to-play influence...

Rebel commander Igor Strelkov - widely believed in Kiev to be a serving Russian military intelligence officer - tweeted a boastful message shortly after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was downed. The tweet indicated he thought his rebels had shot down an Antonov-26 military plane of the Ukrainian Air Force. The Antonov is a turboprop transport plane of a type used by Ukraine's forces. The message read: 'In the area Torez we just hit down An-26, it's lying somewhere in the mine "Progress". 'We warned you- do not fly in "our sky". And here is the video confirmation of the "bird...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Separatist rebels in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk have denied that they are responsible for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane.

<p>KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — An Air Force fighter jet has been shot down by an air-to-air missile fired from a Russian plane, a spokesman for Ukraine's Security Council said Thursday.</p> <p>Andrei Lysenko also said Ukrainian troops had been fired upon by missiles from a village just inside Russia.</p>

A Malaysian passenger plane with 295 people on board has been shot down as it flew above eastern Ukraine, according to aviation sources. The plane, which is believed to have been flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling at an altitude of 10km (6.2 miles) when it was shot down, Russia's Interfax reported. The Boeing 777 was brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missile, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry quoted by the news agency said. he adviser said the 280 passengers and 15 crew members who were on the plane are all believed to have died. A...

In a unanimous decision last month, the Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts buffer zone law prohibiting pro-life free speech outside abortion clinics. The decision was a huge victory for pro-life sidewalk counselors who provide women with abortion alternatives. In their ruling, the Supteme Court struck down a Massachusetts law that created a 35-foot “buffer zone” restricting pro-life advocates from speaking with people entering abortion facilities. massachusettsSaying the abortion buffer zone is “inconsistent with the First Amendment,” the Supreme Court ruled that that the buffer zone violated the First Amendment because it “restricts access to ‘public way[s]’ and ‘sidewalk[s],’ places...