Free Republic

A series of questions on the war in Ukraine drew heated comments from multiple candidates onstage at Wednesday's Republican presidential primary debate and led to a tense exchange between Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Ramaswamy, pressed on if he supported additional funding for Ukraine as requested by President Joe Biden, said he was "absolutely unpersuaded" by pleas for aid from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Ukraine is not a paragon of democracy," he responded. "This is a country that has banned 11 opposition parties. It has consolidated all media into one state TV media...

Forget any talk about a possible VP slot on the Democratic ticket or chatter about an attorney general nomination under a new president in 2021. Kamala Harris should go on vacation, get away from the cameras and then get back to work. No matter how brief her rise, Harris used her brains and brawn and made it into the top tier of the Democratic candidates. She became only the third African American woman ever to make a credible run for president, after Shirley Chisholm in 1972 and Carol Moseley Braun in 2004. That’s a real accomplishment. But having been cut,...

The man charged with strangling Chicago honors student Ruth George did so because he was angry that she was ignoring his unwanted advances, prosecutors said in court documents. Ruth George, 19, of Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago, was found dead in her car at a campus parking garage at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Nov. 23. Donald Thurman, 26, of Chicago was arrested the next day and is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault. Thurman was released from prison on parole last year after having served two years of a six-year sentence for armed robbery. He...

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivers a line in the Indian language Hindi in a campaign commercial airing on Indian-American cable stations. The ad features some of Trump's comments at a recent speech to the Republican Hindu Coalition. Several top Bollywood stars were in attendance as Trump talked of his love for the Indian people and his desire to end terrorist violence, like the attacks on Mumbai. He also delivers the line "ab ki baar Trump sarkar," which translates to "this time, a Trump government." A recent analysis of minorities in the 2016 election by UPI and CVoter found Trump...

A group of Indian Americans against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was at the New York City India Day Parade Aug. 21 to hand out flyers against the presidential hopeful. Citing a deep concern of Hillary and former President Bill Clinton’s persistent anti-India record during the past 25 years, the group passed out about 800 of the flyers while asking Indian Americans to support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.... “As senator, Hillary voted against the India nuclear deal (former President George W.) Bush set up and funded NGOs in India to unearth mass graves under the 'Get Modi' policy,”...

President Barack Obama hosted a science fair at the White House on Monday. The president saw 35 projects from student teams from across the country who won various competitions, and one of those students is from the Bay Area. Ruchi Pandya is a senior at Lynbrook High in San Jose. Using tiny carbon nanofibers, Ruchi created a thumbnail-sized sensor that may one day save a lot of lives. “I can actually, with one drop of blood, tell you what a certain protein concentration in your bloodstream is. That’s an indicator for cardiac arrest,” Ruchi told KPIX 5 via Skype. Which...

Asian voters switching to Republicans? Prowling through the election returns in the governor races two weeks ago, I was surprised to find that Middlesex County, New Jersey, voted for Republican Chris Christie over Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine by a 48%-44% margin, almost exactly the same as Christie’s 49%-45% statewide margin. Middlesex County has been a Democratic county for as long as I have been studying election returns (going back to the 1960 election). In close elections it voted 58%-42% for John Kennedy in 1960, 46%-43% for Hubert Humphrey in 1968 (when he failed to carry New Jersey), 51%-47% for Jimmy...

As with so many other things, Barack Obama has proved himself adept at playing the race card. What most people don't realize, though is that the race card has two sides back to back. And maybe you have to be part of a really small, relatively quiet and peaceful ethnic minority group--- like the Indian American community-- to ever get a look at the uglier side of the race card Mr. Obama and his democrats are playing. On the one hand, Mr. Obama spares no opportunity to portray himself as the black victim of right-wing republican racism-- a role he...

Anurag Kashyap Wins National Spelling Bee Thursday, June 02, 2005 WASHINGTON — Bursting into tears, eighth-grader Anurag Kashyap (search) of California became the U.S. spelling champ Thursday, beating out 272 other spellers in a tough two days of competition. He said he felt "just pure happiness." Anurag, 13, of Poway, clinched "appoggiatura," a melodic tone, to take home some $30,000 in prizes. He won in the 19th round of the 78th Annual National Scripps Spelling Bee. Also among 27 spellers remaining at the end of the sixth round Thursday afternoon were a half dozen home-schoolers. Home-schooled students have won twice,...

Eighteen Indian Americans are among 60 high school seniors named to the prestigious 2005 All-USA High School Academic teams Thursday by USA Today, the nation's top-selling newspaper. Four out of the 18 students?-- Nikhil Gupta, Sagar Mehta (from New York), Megan L Srinivas (Iowa) and Lekha R Tummalapalli (Pennsylvania) -- have made it to the First Academic team of 20 of the brightest students. 10 Indians in US Presidential Scholars list Each of the students will receive a trophy and $2,500 cash award. "We are pleased to be able to honour these remarkable students who have demonstrated both impressive scholarship...

Gopal Khanna, currently chief financial officer with the Peace Corps, will join the White House next week as the chief financial officer of the executive office of the President. This is the first high-level appointment of an Indian American in President Bush's second term in office. Peace Corps director Gaddi H Vasquez said, "During his nearly three years of service, first as the chief information officer, then as CFO of the Peace Corps, Gopal distinguished himself as a visionary leader, with a well-planned strategy to build the global support infrastructure for the Peace Corps of the 21st century." "We congratulate...

<p>Posted on November 10, 2003 Republican Bobby Jindal's campaign to become the first Indian-American governor in American history has touched a nerve with some Pakistani-Americans, who are lining up to support Democrat Kathleen Blanco of Lafayette in Saturday's runoff.</p> <p>The support culminated during an Oct. 21 fund-raiser for Blanco in Lake Charles sponsored by the Pakistani-American Business Association of Louisiana, which gave Blanco $50,000 for her campaign.</p>