Free Republic

A new special committee created to investigate the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, will hold its first public hearing next week, the panel announced Monday. The hearing will focus on the implementation of security recommendations made by the State Department's Accountability Review Board that was set up to investigate the surroundings that led to the attacks. The review board issued almost 30 recommendations in late 2012 after concluding that "systemic” State Department failures led to inadequate security at the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi. Details of the hearing, including a witness list and on what day it will take place,...

Advertisement On Monday, Mel Brooks was honored at the Chinese Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and afterwards he stopped by "Conan" to talk about the extra digit he left in the cement. Brooks wore a prosthetic sixth finger on his left hand as he pressed both hands into the wet cement during the ceremony, and he continued wearing the extra finger during his appearance on "Conan." Looks like Brooks has found yet another way to leave his mark.

Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf has had to pull a campaign ad after it emerged that the actor vouching for his stint in the Peace Corps also appeared in a cannibal fetish film.Democrat Tom Wolf's advertisement featured Alan Benyak, 50, sitting on the hood of a Jeep and talking about Wolf's time in India.Benyak has many strings in his bow - he's an attorney who was a Democratic candidate for judge in Washington County, he served in the U.S. Army - and he's something of an actor.

It took more than a year, but D.C. statehood advocates are finally getting the hearing that Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Thomas R. Carper promised. The Delaware Democrat will hold a full committee hearing Sept. 15 on his “New Columbia Admission Act,” a bill that would unite the eight wards of the city into a full-fledged state, excluding federal landmarks such as the Capitol, White House and Supreme Court. Carper introduced the measure in January 2013 and six months later tweeted about a fall 2013 hearing on statehood.

Former congressman Allen West (R., Fla.) is making a statement on the right to bear arms on his right bare arm with a new tattoo. Aces High Tattoo Shop in West Palm Beach, Fla. showed off the former Republican’s ink on its Instagram account over the weekend.

There’s conservatism in our culture, if you’re willing to see it. I did not watch the 2013 Super Bowl and probably will not watch this year’s contest, either, being as I am more or less the effete Manhattan-dwelling, Whole Foods–shopping, theater-going caricature, though I’ve never been to one of those Georgetown cocktail parties that our more populist comments-section denizens are forever going on about. Okay, National Review did host Rand Paul at Café Milano once, but I don’t think that’s exactly what they have in mind. I do like Super Bowl commercials, though, and the 2013 game included one that...

KYIV, September 6 /Ukrinform/. Low-cost airline Wizz Air Ukraine will replace the Lviv-Dortmund flight, which is to be cancelled on October 26, with the Lviv-Naples route, avianews.com has reported.

Pro-Russian rebels conquering territory in eastern Ukraine are fighting under a new flag that betrays their - and perhaps the Kremlin’s - soaring ambitions. The blue cross set on a red background, which is stitched into uniforms and flies on tanks, represents Novorossiya or 'New Russia' - a notional state that would swallow southern and eastern Ukraine. It is slowly replacing the disparate flags representing individual independence-minded groups in the regions of Donetsk. Indeed, the separatist regional administration flag in central Donetsk – one of the rebel headquarters – is now flying the Novorossiya flag. The fighters’ ambitions mirror the...

Some have called it the worst summer ever. This may or may not include the summer when an asteroid crashed near the Yucatan peninsula, almost extinguishing life on earth. But, with Labor Day past and the kids going back to school, it's time to reflect on the summer of 2014.

Most people know Greg Gutfeld as the funny guy from Red Eye and The Five. However, he’s also a brilliant writer who manages to make profound points in a funny way. Enjoy his quotes! 20) "The media is Obama's scandal condom." 19) "The more people care about something far, far away, the less they care about their immediate surroundings -- or the people they annoy within those surroundings. It's always the roommate who's obsessed with saving the orangutans whose personal hygiene is similar to one." 18) "The great writer Michael Moynihan calls it the 'free breakfast' theory of tyrant love....

The following is an op-ed written by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In recent months I have watched in stunned horror as a group armed with military weapons, trucks, and equipment has moved into and taken over a neighboring country. These disgusting savages who have effectively erased borders that have been in place for many years not only peril the sovereignty of nations, but also threaten to destabilize the entire region. I am of course referring to the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL). It is just unbelievable to me that in...

There are things that really puzzle me. Some life insurance companies charge lower premiums if you haven't made a life-shortening lifestyle choice. Being a nonsmoker is one of them. Actuarially, that makes sense because the life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than for nonsmokers. Insurance company policies charge higher premiums to those who are obese. The National Institutes of Health reports that those with a body mass index greater than 40 have a six- to 14-year lower life expectancy. Again, actuarially, that makes sense. Indeed, there's a strong advocacy for higher life insurance, as well as...

<p>So I asked the next five Americanists I ran into and received a bit more confirmation: three gave solid endorsements of the speaker, one gave a lukewarm endorsement and one was much less enthusiastic.</p> <p>I figure it’s worth reporting because I don’t think this largely positive view among political scientists is reflected in the speaker's image in the media, where he comes off as ineffective, not particularly good at the job, and probably doomed.</p>

A Hamas-Israel joke. Hamas decided to send a gift to the President of Israel . They sent him an elaborate box with a note . The President opened the box and saw that the content was feces ( shit). He opened the note which said “ This is for you and your people!" Since the President of Israel is a wise and experienced person he decided to reciprocate by sending his gift to Hamas with a personal note. The leader of Hamas were very surprised to receive the parcel and opened it very carefully, suspecting that it might contain a...

Of all the names that it would be embarrassing for an MSNBC network host to blank on, Rick Perry's would have to be at the top of the list. How countless many times has the Lean Forward network had fun at Perry's expense over his "whoops" moment during a 2012 presidential debate? But that unfortunate fate befell Jose Diaz-Balart today, hosting his own new MSNBC show. The topic was the way in which Ted Cruz and Perry would potentially fight over Texas donor dollars if they were to both run for president. Diaz-Balart got Cruz's name without problem, but when...

Tiffany Bruce of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania had saved up for months to buy a life-size Barack Obama statue for her front porch — and then someone stole it. The loss of the statue, which cost a whopping $1,249, sent Bruce to the hospital, WNEP reports. “I just wanted to wait until I got it on sale, so I started buying my furniture before I purchased the statue, but I had to have it,” said Bruce. “I peeked my head out the door and Obama’s gone and I kind of went into a panic. I couldn’t breathe, and I had to go...

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has denied he’s not going to make a third bid for the White House but on Tuesday he left open a very small window. “I know you’re going to press, but you know, this is something we gave a lot of thought to when early on I decided we’re not going to be running this time,” Romney said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt. “And again, we said look, I had the chance of running. I didn’t win. Someone else has a better chance than I do. And that’s what we believe, and that’s...

Cause of New Mexico nuclear waste accident remains a mystery "A 55-gallon drum of nuclear waste, buried in a salt shaft 2,150 feet under the New Mexico desert, violently erupted late on Feb. 14 and spewed mounds of radioactive white foam. The flowing mass, looking like whipped cream but laced with plutonium, went airborne, traveled up a ventilation duct to the surface and delivered low-level radiation doses to 21 workers. … The investigators are looking at a variety of materials that may have been added to the drum, including lead, tungsten, acid and even kitty litter as possible factors in...