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Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call Daniel Halper January 25, 2013 10:26 AM President Barack Obama fired General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, without even calling the general to let him know he was being replaced. "I am told that General Mattis was travelling and in a meeting when an aide passed him a note telling him that the Pentagon had announced his replacement as head of Central Command. It was news to him -- he hadn't received a phone call or a heads-up from anyone at the Pentagon or the White House," Thomas E....

I thought it best to post a follow up to my previous post of yesterday. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3317547/posts I would first like to thank everyone for the prayers/thoughts/advice. I noticed several others who have gone through similar circumstances and I thank you for sharing. Since the original post we have got new meds for my wife and she started taking it last night. I’ve also received additional comments from our children. When I got home from work yesterday she kept asking me why I was acting different. She said I was not acting like myself. When I asked what she meant she...

My wife is mentally ill. I realize many men say this and most are probably kidding but in my case it is 100% true. Her illness began in 1996 after the birth of our last child. At first we were told it was post-partum depression. She was hospitalized that year several times and given various medications. We’ve never really gone to church much but she began talking about religion quite a bit so I bought her a bible (NKJ) and she devoured it. She was reading it all the time and one day I noticed she was crossing parts out...

A zoo in Ohio has pressed charges against a man who jumped a fence to pet cougars - then posted video of it on YouTube. Joshua Newell had his camera rolling when he leaped over the outer fence of the big cat enclosure at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The 35-year-old then began petting two adult cougars through a second fence as he said things like, "Kitty, kitty, kitty". The footage showed the animals appearing to enjoy the attention. Zoo officials called the video "alarming" and said it was fortunate that neither Newell nor the cougars were harmed. "Animal welfare...

In his weekly address today, Barack Obama lauded the Greatest Generation — the men and women who fought for freedom and won the Second World War. In his address, Obama said this howler: Let’s make sure that we keep striving to fulfill our founding ideals—that we’re a country where no matter who we are or where we’re from or what we look like or who we love, if we work hard and take responsibility, every American will have the opportunity to make of our lives what we will. Note that again: “If we work hard and take responsibility, every American...

The U.S. Women's National Team won its first Women's World Cup title since 1999, beating Japan 5-2 Sunday. The USA is the only country to ever win three Women's World Cup titles. Check out a summary of updates from the game in the comments thread below.

WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) – A group claiming to defend the military against a Christian takeover is demanding an Air Force general face a court martial for saying he is a "redeemed believer in Christ" while in uniform at a National Day of Prayer Task Force meeting in Washington May 7, the Air Force Times has reported. Mikey Weinstein, who heads the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, wrote an editorial on the organization's website May 15 that Maj. Gen. Craig Olson violated Air Force instructions about speaking openly of God and Jesus Christ as a representative of the military. Weinstein believes the...

Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Planning Directorate, told Israel Hayom in a weekend interview that when Israeli leaders say “all options are on the table” with regard to Iran, they mean it. “If someone builds a nuclear bomb and at the same time declares that the State of Israel has no right to exist, then we have to think about how to respond,” he said. “It goes beyond a simple challenge." When asked if Israel might take “dramatic steps” in defiance of the American position, Sheffer answered positively: "When it comes to our national...

During today's confirmation hearing for Loretta Lynch as DOJ Attorney General, Ted Cruz asked some incredibly poignant questions one of which should send chills down every American's spine. Cruz asked one question the answer of which SHOULD be quick and obviously "NO!". The question is as follows: "Is it constitutional (for the U.S. gov't) to use a drone's lethal force against an American citizen ON AMERICAN SOIL who doesn't pose a threat?" Loretta Lynch failed to answer with 'no' just as Eric Holder also once failed to answer 'no'. There should be NO debating or pondering the answer to this...

A sniper killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander who was training Iraqi troops and Shi'ite militia fighting Islamic State (ISIS, IS, or ISIL) militants in the Iraqi city of Samarra, official Iranian media reported Sunday. Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi, a veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, was killed by snipers hiding behind a power transformer in Samarra, an embattled city north of Baghdad and home to holy Shi'ite shrines, they said, quoting a Revolutionary Guards statement. Several people with him were wounded in the rain of sniper fire, they said. "Taqavi became a martyr while fulfilling his duty as a...

President Barack Obama’s pick to be the next attorney general is winning over Republicans. Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, has met privately with several Republican senators in recent weeks, earning some of their early support ahead of what is expected to be a contentious set of nomination hearings early next year.

Murthy, 37, a physician at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School, won confirmation on a 51-43 vote. He's a co-founder of Doctors for America, a group that has pushed for affordable health care and supports Obama's health care law. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said most of Murthy's career has been spent as an activist focused on gun control and other political issues, rather than on treating patients. "Americans don't want a surgeon general who might use this position of trust to promote his own personal campaign against the Second Amendment of the Constitution," Barrasso said.

Washington (CNN) -- Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, is expected to be President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, U.S. officials briefed on the matter said. An announcement is expected in the coming days, though the timing is complicated by the president's plans to travel to Asia this weekend. Lynch is a popular prosecutor who is in her second stint as U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, appointed by President Obama in 2010 and also serving in the same post from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General on Monday denied hiding a 2008 report that identified improper manipulations of patient wait times at the Phoenix VA hospital where up to 40 veterans died while awaiting care. In a statement released Monday, acting Veterans Affairs Inspector General Richard Griffin said that “suggestions from the media and some members of Congress that the OIG kept secret inappropriate scheduling practices are belied by nearly a decade of reporting.” “We encourage serious readers to consider the persistent alarms the OIG has raised on patient wait times and scheduling practices—alarms acknowledged on numerous occasions by...

Currently the U.S. does not have a permanent surgeon general. President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Vivek Murthy to fill the spot last November after the previous surgeon general vacated the position. Murthy's nomination has been tied up in the Senate since March amid concerns from conservative, gun rights group, the National Rifle Association, that the Harvard and Yale educated doctor would seek to implement restrictions on the Second Amendment if he were confirmed for the position. ... Now, liberals in the media are arguing that Murthy, not [CDC Director] Frieden, should be out calming Americans and cautioning them on how...

September 21, 2014Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Is 55:6-9 Seek the LORD while he may be found,call him while he is near.Let the scoundrel forsake his way,and the wicked his thoughts;let him turn to the LORD for mercy;to our God, who is generous in forgiving.For my thoughts are not your thoughts,nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.As high as the heavens are above the earth,so high are my ways above your waysand my thoughts above your thoughts. Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18 R/ (18a) The Lord is near to all who call upon...

Hollywood actor James Woods issued a call on Twitter for U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder to investigate Saturday’s mob attack at Kroger in which the assailants were black and two of three injured victims were white. “This is a direct challenge to Eric Holder: Are you, Sir, going to Memphis, TN to address the Kroger racial hate crime? #holderchallenge,” Woods wrote Tuesday in a message that was retweeted more than 4,500 times. On Wednesday, Woods added a second hashtag to his demand. “Mr Holder,” Woods wrote, “stand above politics and address the cancer of ALL racism in America. Go to

The Obama administration announced this weekend that it will be sending not one, but three, officials to attend the funeral of Michael Brown on Monday. President Barack Obama is sending three White House officials to the funeral service of the Missouri teenager whose death in a police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, has sparked days of racial unrest. Leading the group for Monday's service will be the chairman of the My Brother's Keeper Task Force, Broderick Johnson. My Brother's Keeper is an Obama initiative that aims to empower young minorities. Johnson is also the secretary for the Cabinet. Also attending will...

Almost two weeks ago, the Washington Post ran a story with this headline: “Obama’s Silence on Death of Major General Harold Greene Comes Under Fire.” General Greene, a two-star general, was killed during an ambush in Kabul, Afghanistan that wounded at least 15 others. He was the highest-ranking American military officer killed in a war zone since Vietnam. The Washington Post put it this way: “The shooting has been met with silence from another member of Greene’s chain of command: President Obama. The commander-in-chief has said nothing about the incident, leaving it to the Defense Department and his own press...

NBC News reports U.S. Army Major General Harold Greene was buried today at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, including a caisson, two escort platoons, casket team, firing party, colors team, and a caparisoned horse. The U.S. Army band, “Pershing’s Own,” played softly as the funeral procession made its way down the long hill past the rows of simple white gravestones to bring General Greene to his final resting place. The graveside service began with a few words, followed by a 13-gun salute. The major general’s widow, Dr. Susan Myers, was seated in the front row. To her right...