Free Republic

(Great video of President Trump signing the long awaited veterans choice extension act. As noted in the Video, more to come next Thursday).

The notices are in, and they're brutal. Donald Trump's nascent North Korea policy—announcing the end of "strategic patience" (Barack Obama's code for sitting around and doing nothing about the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons), leaning on China to rein in Pyongyang, strengthening sanctions, and issuing ambiguous threats about possible military strikes—is being panned by American foreign policy experts and journalists. The New York Times bemoans Trump's "recklessness." Ishaan Tharoor, a Washington Post blogger with the modest remit of covering the entire world, warns of the "dangers" of Trump's policies. Even Ian Buruma, an expert on Dutch politics most famous for...

The Murdochs have decided Bill O’Reilly’s 21-year run at Fox News will come to an end. According to sources briefed on the discussions, network executives are preparing to announce O’Reilly’s departure before he returns from an Italian vacation on April 24. Now the big questions are how the exit will look and who will replace him. Wednesday morning, according to sources, executives are holding emergency meetings to discuss how they can sever the relationship with the country’s highest-rated cable-news host without causing collateral damage to the network. The board of Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, is scheduled to...

'The sword stands ready': Pence warns North Korea Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday warned North Korea not to test the resolve of the U.S. military, promising it would make an "overwhelming and effective" response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons. Pence, who was aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, said that President Trump's administration would continue to "work diligently" with allies like Japan, China and other global powers to apply economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang. But he told the sailors, "as all of you know, readiness is the key." "The United States of America will always seek...

Over 100 artists have signed an acoustic guitar for Planned Parenthood and for $10 you can buy a drawing ticket to enter to win the guitar. Among the artists to sign it are R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, Feist, Fred Armisen, Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, Mac DeMarco, Lady Gaga, Arctic Monkey's Alex Turner, My Morning Jacket's Jim James, The National's Matt Berninger, Perfume Genius, The War on Drugs' Adam Granduciel, Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry, Tom Petty, Andrew Bird, Queens of the Stone Age, Ryan Adams, Katy Perry, Ty Segall, Luna's Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips,...

WASHINGTON -- An Iraqi unit with U.S. and Australian advisers was hit by an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) mustard agent, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. Twenty-five Iraqis required treatment but none of the advisers were injured Sunday, Martin reports. Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told the Associated Press that six soldiers suffered breathing problems from Sunday’s attack and were treated in a field clinic. An investigation was then launched to determine what type of gas was used. The attack marked the second chemical attack of its kind in several days. It occurred one day after...

In the days after Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, liberals in America were depressed, despondent, and asking themselves what to do next. David Nir, the political director of the liberal blog Daily Kos, had an answer and that answer was Jon Ossoff. Nir and the Daily Kos team had been crunching the numbers from Trump’s election since the day after it happened. Which districts did Trump underperform in? Where were the opportunities for Democrats? They quickly noticed that in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, which Mitt Romney won by 23 points in 2012, Trump had won by just a point...

FROM the outside North Korea looks like an impoverished state cut off from the rest of the world. But during its weekend procession, the isolated regime managed to put on an impressive display of its rockets and military strength, in defiance of growing American warnings about its military capability. While many have the impression of North Korea being a poor country that can’t feed its own people, Leonid Petrov told news.com.au that it had large stockpiles of natural resources that it used to fund its weapons research. “North Korea is a mountainous country that has huge natural resources including deposits...

Fox News is planning to sever ties with Bill O’Reilly, the popular host who is embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday that sources close to the situation reported a final decision regarding the host of “The O’Reilly Factor” could come in the next several days.

The FBI used information from the explosive, unverified dossier detailing President Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia to obtain a warrant to secretly monitor former Trump adviser Carter Page. That same dossier — a collection of memos compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele — has been used in other elements of the US investigation into whether there was any inappropriate contact between Trump campaign associates and Russia. CNN first reported the FBI's use of the dossier to secure the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant on Page, the former Trump foreign-policy adviser who has appeared to be at...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued a stark warning Tuesday, calling the risk of a terror attack on the United States "as threatening today" as it was on 9/11. Specifically, Kelly outlined the danger posed by homegrown terrorists and foreign fighters from around the world who have traveled to Syria and Iraq with plans to return home. "The threat to our nation and our American way of life has not diminished," Kelly said during a speech at George Washington University. "In fact, the threat has metastasized and decentralized, and the risk is as threatening today as it was...

A quick follow-up to our post this morning, featuring liberal 30-year-old Congressional wannabe Jon Ossoff's rocky interview on CNN today, in which he was pressed on the fact that he doesn't even live inside the district he wants to represent. No big deal, he says, explaining that he's supporting his girlfriend's medical education by residing 'down the road:' It's not an altogether terrible answer, although I'm not sure 'I'm living outside of the district to be with my girlfriend of 12 years' is an especially resonant explanation for suburban Georgians who may view him as under-experienced and too liberal.  He also refers to his...

That word they keep using. I don’t think it means what they think it means.They use the word ‘fascist’ as if it refers to anyone who disagrees with them. The so-called ‘anti-Fascist’ ctrl-left anarchist group Antifa clashed with other people who didn’t see eye to eye with them. They even clashed with Bernie Sanders supporters who didn’t even like Trump.But they were still accosted, assaulted, and told that they were ‘Nazis.’ There’s another one of those words which meaning isn’t what they think it is. Here’s Heat St.:The protests against Donald Trump this past weekend didn’t only involve violence between...

New Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez picked up where his profanity-laced tirade left off last month at the DNC’s “Come Together Fight Back” tour in Portland, Maine Monday. Perez again went on a rant against Republicans, slamming their new “sh**ty” budget" and dismissing their health care plan, insisting the GOP "does not give a sh*t about the people they are trying to hurt."His appearance was doomed from the start, judging by the reaction he got during the introductions.The leader of the Maine Young Democrats opened the rally by asking the audience who or what brought them out. When she mentioned Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the...

“It has come to our attention that when offering voter registration opportunities to customers, DMV’s employees offer voter registration materials to DMV customers whom they know to be non-citizens based upon their presentation of a Green Card for identification purposes,” Cegavske wrote. “More specifically, it is our understanding that some DMV employees have been instructed to accept registration materials from all customers, including those who present a Green Card for identification purposes…This practice must cease immediately.

China's Korea policy 'in tatters,' as both North and South defy sanctions More than half a century ago, hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers died in the Korean War, fighting on the side of their Communist allies against the American-backed South. Yet today, China finds itself in the uncomfortable position of falling out with both the Communist North and capitalist South of this troublesome peninsula, imposing sanctions on both countries but getting no satisfaction from either. Yesterday, South Korea announced it would press ahead with the "swift deployment" of an American missile defense system despite relentless and vociferous Chinese opposition....

This is an interesting development and not a good one. It seems North Korea will not accept China’s offer of a meeting. It sounds like Lil’ Kim is isolating his Country from his closest friend and supporter. China is becoming very troubled over this. I am very troubled over this, as it insinuates a turn for the worse in Kim’s mood and trust in his ally. North Korea turned its nose up at Chinese diplomats this month as things became heated on the Korean Peninsula, according to people familiar with the situation, raising questions about the influence Beijing’s leaders have...

On April 18, 1942 - 75 years ago Tuesday - 80 incredibly brave men in 16 bombers took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet to bomb Tokyo and other Japanese cities in retaliation for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. It was called the Doolittle Raid, after the group’s charismatic leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, a renowned avaiator even before the war. Doolittle’s B-25 was the first to take off from the Hornet. Sitting beside him was a quiet, lanky young man from Dayton, Ohio, named Dick Cole. On Tuesday, the 101-year-old will be at the National Museum of...

Donald Trump has congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his victory in Sunday's referendum that gave him sweeping new powers. The US president's phone call contrasts with concern by European leaders who have pointed out how the result-51.4% in favor of the changes-has exposed deep splits in Turkish society. Mr. Erdogan has rejected criticism from international monitors who said he had been favored by an "unequal campaign". "Know your place," he told them. The narrow victory was ruled valid by Turkey's electoral body, despite claims to irregularities by the opposition..... The call from Donald Trump was pre-arranged and the...