Free Republic

The death of Fidel Castro, one of this era's most polarizing global figures, prompted an outpouring of responses from around the world, ranging from sympathy to celebration. President Barack Obama, who has made restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba a hallmark of his administration, offered America's hand in friendship to the Cuban people following the death of longtime dictator Castro on Friday. "We know that this moment fills Cubans — in Cuba and in the United States — with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation,"...

Late Friday evening, Cuban state media reported the death of their former leader, Fidel Castro. Some will mourn his passing or even glorify his life. But for many others, not even his death will fill the void caused by his life. For over five decades, Cubans suffered under the tyranny of Fidel and then his brother Raul. They watched the regime destroy a country and export the same perverted model of social justice throughout the developing world. My grandfather would often tell us of how he would hide indoors while Fidel’s firing squads would slaughter innocent people nearby. Religion was...

Officials in the Obama administration threw cold water on the effort to recount votes in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania on Friday. The effort was spearheaded by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who echoed arguments that Russia may have hacked US voting machines to interfere with the outcome of the November 8 election. A statement from the Obama administration cited by The New York Times acknowledged that the Kremlin likely expected the hacking of some Democratic Party entities in the run-up to Election Day to raise questions about the voting process and the legitimacy of President-elect Donald Trump's victory. "Nevertheless, we...

The incoming Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) told a room of policymakers in Europe on Wednesday that “migration is not the problem but the solution”, and said politicians should ignore voters. Speaking in Lisbon at the Vision Europe Summit, António Guterres said European nations have no right to control their borders and that they must instead take in floods of the world’s poorest people. “The idea that management of migration is a matter of national sovereignty is extremely limited. The truth is that in the meantime, the real controllers of international mobility are the smugglers and criminal organisations. It...

*It’s Christmastime, and that means trying on clothes before and after the holiday. If you shop at Macy’s, please beware that your daughters and nieces may run into a strange looking man dressed as a woman in the store’s bathrooms and fitting rooms. More important, you should know that they have no rights. Indeed, a security guard, Javier Chavez, was fired from his job at a Macy’s store in Queens, New York, simply because he responded to a complaint by a woman and her daughter that a man dressed as a woman was in the women’s restroom. It’s actually worse...

Far away from the chaotic banter of political discourse, a small network of patriots have come together – yet few, if any, will ever elevate their mindset to notice the significance of their assembly. Specifically, this Thanksgiving, we stand thankful for, and raise our glass toward, General James Mattis and General John Kelly. Both have joined ranks with Admiral Mike Rogers (NSA), General Michael Flynn (Nat Sec) and Representative Mike Pompeo (CIA) to unite behind President-Elect Donald Trump and stand the gap after a long 65 year void.

Donald Trump may be spending Thanksgiving with his family in his Florida club Mar-a-Lago, but the President-elect promises he hasn't stopped working. On Thursday he tweeted: 'I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!' Earlier this year Carrier announced that it would relocate its production plant to Mexico, causing the loss of 1,400 US jobs in Indianapolis. In a campaign speech in the city, Trump promised he would 'tax the hell' out of Carrier's Mexico-produced products - to the tune of 35 per...

It’s been a wild month for the U.S. coal In reality, new technologies mean coal power can be made cleaner than ever. By the EPA’s own measure, emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants released by coal plants have fallen by more than half over the last 40 years. There have been tremendous breakthroughs in clean coal technology, which uses carbon capture and storage (CCS) to remove the vast majority of carbon dioxide from coal power emissions. If this technology were given a genuine chance rather than being written off as a myth, clean energy might not have to mean...

General David Petraeus, one of the United States' most prominent military officers, has indicated he would be willing to serve in President-elect Donald Trump's administration if asked.

Germantown, MD – Abortionist LeRoy Carhart will no longer be conducting abortions at Germantown Reproductive Health Services (GRHS), an abortion facility in Germantown, Maryland, that has until now provided abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy. According to local sources, Carhart’s last abortions in Maryland took place during the week of October 30, 2016. He returned to GRHS on November 8, but stayed only a few hours, sending several very late-term patients home without abortions. He left later in the afternoon and never returned. “The fact that Carhart will no longer be aborting babies in Maryland is something to be...

The chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, in an interview with Breitbart News after meeting with various government officials in South America last weekend, warns that the nexus between radical Islamic terrorists and criminal groups in Latin America is “growing” and poses a major threat to the United States. Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC), the chairman, also told Breitbart News that the jihadist group Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has established training camps in countries south of the United States.

Angela Merkel has said public opinion is being “manipulated” on the internet, claiming “fake news” websites and “trolls” could influence the approaching German elections. In her first major address since announcing her intention to seek a fourth term, the German chancellor was also heckled and labelled a “disgrace” as she claimed to be “fighting illegal immigration” in Germany. “Something has changed. As globalization has marched on, debate is taking place in a completely new media environment. Opinions aren’t formed the way they were 25 years ago,” she said, according to AFP. “Today we have fake sites, bots, trolls – things that...

President Obama has long been criticized by national security hawks and a Republican presidential field led by Donald Trump for refusing to say the words “radical Islam” to describe threats posed by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State. That reluctance won’t be a problem for the president-elect’s national security team, which is flush with nominees who can be expected to employ the term regularly. The shift will test two deeply opposed worldviews on how to defeat jihadi terrorist groups. Mr. Obama argued that the term “radical Islam” plays into the propaganda narrative of the Islamic State and other U.S....

Q+A Q: What are 5 things we might not know about you? I’m a grandmother! My husband (Dick) and I have four children and five grandchildren. I was born and raised in Michigan. Born in Holland, MI, I’ve been a lifelong resident of Michigan. I’m an advocate for children. I’ve been involved with education issues for 28 years. I’ve been on the front lines fighting to make education better for all children. I’m an activist. I’m a total outsider to elective office and government, but I’m no stranger to the political process. A citizen volunteer, I have served in local,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump has not extended an offer to retired neurosurgeon and former presidential rival Ben Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a Carson spokesman said on Wednesday, disputing a report by the Wall Street Journal. "Trump did not make an offer," Carson spokesman Armstrong Williams told Reuters. "He asked him to consider HUD. Nothing has been offered and no decision has been made." The Wall Street Journal earlier had cited Williams as saying Carson had been offered the post and had accepted. The Journal later corrected its story to say Carson was...

The holiday season is approaching and it’s the time for miracles. For Salon, the unabashedly liberal site, Christmas may have come early with an op-ed from a liberal, tenured history professor from Austin, Texas, who says that he’s had it with the media lying about President-elect Donald J. Trump. Okay—maybe it’s not really a holiday miracle, but a broken clock is right twice a day. Al Martinez was honing in on one of Trump’s remarks, which got mangled in the press: that Mexicans are rapists. He juxtaposed what Trump said, followed by what the media reported, along with the notion...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The Real Story of Thanksgiving is a tradition on this program. I have to tell you, the holidays anymore, I am just overwhelmed with so many different emotions. I have the... This is my favorite time of year, starting now and going through Christmas. I just absolutely love it. It's because of my childhood and memories of my childhood, and being in Sacramento and Pittsburgh, and then moving to New York in 1988, and my mother and father passing away. It's nostalgic to the hilt. Nostalgia reminds you of the good times. But now it's become guilt...

A NIGHT TO REMEMBERNovember 23, 2016 (EDITORS: Note language in Patton Oswalt's tweets.) *** *** *** In fairness, we Trump supporters don't want to be sore winners, so we ought to set a time limit on our gloating. I propose three years. In that spirit, let us revel in the Never Trumpers' tweets leading up to Trump's election night triumph. Now that I've had time to do a full archeological dig, I'm able to present a whole new treasure trove of smug idiocy. Save this column to share with your children, and they with their children, for years to come....

Following student outcry for protection of undocumented students, Wesleyan University President Michael Roth declared this week that Wesleyan is a sanctuary campus that will not voluntarily assist the federal government in any efforts to deport students or faculty because of their immigration status. Wesleyan appears to be the only school to publicly call itself a sanctuary campus, though other college administrators have expressed strong support for undocumented and immigrant students and are moving toward creating safe havens for those students, Roth made the announcement after meeting last week with students, faculty and staff and conferring with the school's trustees. Roth...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had one of his indentured servants write a nine-page paper to President-elect Donald Trump. That’s the way I see it happening, anyways. What does Lil’ Kim want?Demanding an end to ‘hostile nuclear threats’ from the U.S. Classic, Kim. From Fox News: Cheeky North Korea has sent a nine-page letter to the U.S. demanding it stops the ‘hostile nuclear threats’ towards the rogue state and its despotic leader.The missive sets out what it now expects from American and is being seen by many in Washington as a direct message to new President-elect Donald Trump.North Korea...