Free Republic

The U.S. government is proposing to charge a new fee for every vehicle or pedestrian crossing the U.S.-Canada border — an idea that has prompted fierce objections from New York lawmakers who claim the levy would stifle transboundary commerce and undermine recent efforts to ease the flow of people and goods between the two countries. The Canadian government, too, is raising alarms about the proposal, with an embassy spokesman in Washington telling the Buffalo News that “we’re confident that any study would conclude that the considerable economic damage any fee would do would greatly outweigh any revenue generated.” The issue...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is ready to assist after what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called a “cruel act of terror” in Boston. Testifying on Capitol Hill, Hagel said Tuesday that the attack on the Boston Marathon was terrorism, and that the Pentagon is prepared to respond quickly to any request from domestic law enforcement. “(The attack) is clearly an act of terror and will be approached as an act of terror,” Hagel said. snip More than 400 Massachusetts National Guardsmen remain on duty to continue to assist local authorities, according to a news release from the Guard. The 211th...

Just remember what Obama's politicized-and-militarized Department of Homeland Security was doing while terrorists where planning to blow-up the Boston Marathon... MONITORING ME -an amateur BLOGGER- who posts cartoons about him and his charmless tree of a wife: Damn you self-pleased goofballs for handing our nation's security over to such an incompetent, agenda-driven scumbag- these people's blood is on ALL your hands.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul is demanding answers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton regarding the release of illegal immigrants from detention centers. In a letter addressed to Morton and carbon copied to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Wednesday, McCaul expresses concern about news that ICE has started releasing detained illegal immigrants, and in doing so is failing to enforce the law. “This decision reflects the lack of resource prioritization within the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is indicative of the Department’s weak stance on National Security,” McCaul wrote.

"Big Sis" betrayed her fellow Arizonans - and all Americans - today by releasing criminal aliens into communities from coast-to-coast-by John HillStand With Arizona Despite potential budget cuts being 4 days away and Congress and the Administration have been negotiating to avoid them, the Department of Homeland Security has already started releasing hundreds of illegal aliens held in local jails in anticipation of automatic "sequestration" cuts - out of a planned total of more than 10,000 aliens to be released. Sources tell Stand With Arizona that DHS has "34,000 beds" for illegal aliens, meaning that Secretary Janet Napolitano is releasing...

Why does the civilian Department of Homeland Security need billions of rounds of ammunition? This is the agency that is responsible for policing the border. But it doesn’t. This is the agency that is responsible for catching terrorists. But it doesn’t. So why does Homeland Security need so many weapons and enough hollow-point rounds to plug every American six times? Maybe this is the “civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the Defense Department. These words – “civilian national security force” – have haunted me ever since I first read them. Obama...

The Department of Homeland Security has released their 2011 "Analysts Desktop Binder," detailing how the department has been monitoring activity on the internet and social networks. The binder includes an extensive list of key words and search terms carefully watched by analysts in multiple agencies including the Directorate for National Protection and Programs, Directorate for Science and Technology, Office of Health Affairs, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and others. Many monitored search terms are basic and used on a regular basis by every day American citizens and journalists.

The case against an intern serving in the Newark, N.J., office of Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat from that state, who was arrested Dec. 6 reportedly for being both an illegal immigrant and a sex offender, apparently has gone underground. The Associated Press reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 18-year-old Luis Abraham Sanchez Zavaleta outside of his Newark home. However, there seems to be no record of the arrest, the progress of Sanchez’s case, or that he is even still in custody.

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your new country can do for you. “Welcome to USA.gov,” a website maintained by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), bills itself as the “primary gateway for new immigrants to find basic information on how to settle in the United States” — featuring a prominent section for new immigrants about how to access government benefits. “Depending on your immigration status, length of time in the United States, and income, you may be eligible for some federal benefit programs,” the Web page reads. “Government assistance...

It Makes Sense Blog October 7, 2012. Vicksburg. The federal government calls them FEMA Corps. But they conjure up memories of the Hitler Youth of 1930’s Germany. Regardless of their name, the Dept of Homeland Security has just graduated its first class of 231 Homeland Youth. Kids, aged 18-24 and recruited from the President’s AmeriCorp volunteers, they represent the first wave of DHS’s youth corps, designed specifically to create a full time, paid, standing army of FEMA Youth across the country. On September 13, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security graduated its first class of FEMA Corps first-responders. While the...

WE FOUND ABU NAZIR!!! (or at least the guy who plays him on "Homeland") ... and last night, he made a very interesting comment about terrorists. TMZ came face to face with Navid Negahban in Hollywood last night -- who seems to be a much nicer guy than the Osama Bin Laden-esque bad guy he plays on the hit Showtime series.

A review of press releases issued by the Department of Homeland Security, the latest being filed Sunday and dealing with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s visit to State Island for a Hurricane Sandy follow-up, reveals the department is crediting itself with all kinds of activities and accomplishments except for its commitment to produce an Inspector General report on Fast and Furious gunwalking independent of the Department of Justice report released in September. A review of the DHS OIG press releases on its website, with the latest filing also being yesterday, also does not mention such a report. The second IG investigation...

Homeland star Damian Lewis told a British talk show he sent a Muslim joke to president Barack Obama. During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show Saturday night, the Emmy-winning actor says the president wanted a signed DVD box set of the Showtime hit to give to the Teamsters labor union (the president has previously revealed Homeland is his favorite show). Lewis says co-star Claire Danes wrote something along the lines of, ”I was a fan of yours long before you were a fan of ours.” But when it was the British-born Lewis’ turn, the actor says he jokingly wrote:...

Would that really happen to Brody? Samantha Zalaznick talks to an intelligence expert about the level of realism within Showtime’s Emmy Award–winning drama Homeland. WARNING: Contains major spoilers for Sunday’s episode. Read at your own risk. Last night's (sic Oct. 28) Homeland thrillingly ripped itself open. Over the course of a single episode, Brody (Damian Lewis) was outed, as he admitted to working with Abu Nazir (Navid Negabhan), loving Issa, and planning to kill VP William Walden (Jamey Sheridan). It’s all out on the intense interrogation table between Carrie (Claire Danes) and Brody. So now they’re double flipping him, and...

This to go along with it's 1.2 BILLION rounds of ammo  (22 lead slugs for each-and-every Republican) and armored checkpoint booths... nothing to worry about, tho! To the list of recent unsettling developments at DHS and other federal agencies -such as FEMA camp expansions, massive DHS ammo buys, a creepy new biometric surveillance system just being rolled-out by the FBI, and drones buzzing our backyards with cameras- we can now add the appearance across the country of not just heavily-armored military grade Humvees, but 'GLS' armored personnel carriers (APC's) such as in the picture above- 2500 of them to be...

The New York Times has an article about Showtime’s thriller series “Homeland” . . . and offers this little anecdote: And then there was that request from the White House screening room. Mr. Gordon’s reaction? “Completely surreal.” (When [actor Damien] Lewis sat next to the president at a state dinner last spring, he said Mr. Obama told him, “While Michelle and the two girls go play tennis on Saturday afternoons, I go in the Oval Office, pretend I’m going to work, and then I switch on ‘Homeland.’ ”) Ms. Danes said: “I think we were all stunned — and a...

The first official trailer for Homeland season 2. Premieres on Showtime Sunday September 30th at 10PM ET/PT.

Pelosi, Dems push Homeland Security for clarity on LGBT deportationsBy Mike Lillis - 08/01/12 06:42 PM ET Scores of House Democrats called on the Obama administration this week to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples when considering deportations. Behind Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the lawmakers want the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to state explicitly that LGBT "family ties" will be deemed "a positive factor" discouraging deportation as DHS agents gauge whether to pursue cases. "Without specific, written guidance, there remains the very real risk agency officers, agents, and attorneys making decisions...

I was in Kentucky this last week. While driving up there I came across at least 10 different trucks hauling military vehicles going North. I even came across them in the small town of Winchester Kentucky, which is where I took the first picture of a Homeland Security armored vehicle. A friend who was driving up the other way through Bowling Green on Interstate 65 to Louisville said he saw about 20 trucks with military vehicles that same day going North too. I was going up Interstate 75 to Lexington Kentucky. I then went on a small road to Winchester...