Free Republic

President Joe Biden is said to be spending this holiday season in deep thought about another run for the Senate, err, make that another run as President Kamala Harris’ sidekick, err, oops, make that a third term in the White House. Or something, something, anyway. Which is it, Joe? If this is the hope of the Democrats, Republicans are poised to breeze into the White House 2024. “Biden, who just turned 80, remains in many Democrats’ minds the party’s best shot at retaining the White House in 2024,” The Hill wrote, in a piece that was headlined, “Biden mulls 2024...

The Trump administration is considering Jim Webb, a former Democratic senator and Reagan-era secretary of the Navy, to be the next defense secretary, according to three officials, potentially bypassing more hawkish Republicans whose names have been floated to replace Jim Mattis. Mr. Webb, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, is being considered as President Trump seeks to carry out campaign promises to withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Those two decisions prompted Mr. Mattis to resign late last month, putting the deputy defense secretary, Patrick M. Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, in the top role in an acting...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even as they grapple with an immigration crisis at the border, White House officials are making plans to act before November's mid-term elections to grant work permits to potentially millions of immigrants who are in this country illegally, allowing them to stay in the United States without threat of deportation, according to advocates and lawmakers in touch with the administration. Such a large-scale move on immigration could scramble election-year politics and lead some conservative Republicans to push for impeachment proceedings against President Barack Obama, a prospect White House officials have openly discussed. Yet there's little sign that...

Top White House national security advisers are considering much more significant troop reductions in Afghanistan than those discussed even a few weeks ago, The New York Times reported. The newspaper said some officials were arguing that such a change is justified by the rising cost of the war and the death of Osama bin Laden. President Barack Obama is expected to address these decisions in a speech to the nation this month, the report said. The National Security Council is convening its monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday, and assessments from that meeting are likely to inform decisions...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Federal Reserve official says he may push for an early end to the central bank's $600 billion bond-purchase program if inflation shows signs of spreading. Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, is an outspoken critic of the program, which is slated to end in June. Plosser says he "would not rule out" pressing the Fed for an early end to the program if the economy grows more strongly than anticipated and inflation picks up too much speed. The Fed's next meeting is March 13.

Sources in the PMO submit deal to US by which Israeli spy would be freed in exchange for 3 month extension of moratorium, Army Radio reports. Senior Israeli officials are considering a deal in which the moratorium on building in West Bank settlements would be extended for three months in exchange for the release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from the United States, Army Radio reported Monday.

The army is considering revoking a ban on Jews entering West Bank cities that are under Palestinian Authority control, in view of significant improvement in security and in Israel's coordination with Palestinian security services. The Palestinian Authority is interested in having Israelis visit Palestinian-controlled West Bank cities and their environs, designated as Area A, because it could signal the resumption of trade and tourism, which would boost the Palestinian economy.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Israel and Iran would be expected to attend talks on making the Middle East free of nuclear weapons, according to a draft final document of a UN non-proliferation conference released Tuesday. A nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East is among the most contentious issues at the conference reviewing the 189-nation Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global mandate for fighting the spread of atomic weapons. The draft calls for an initial conference in 2012 "to be attended by all states of the Middle East, leading to the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is considering imposing a fee on banks to help recover some of taxpayers' costs of bailing banks out from the financial crisis, according to multiple reports on Monday. The White House said President Barack Obama wants to ensure that taxpayers are paid in full. "That's the president's goal," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. He declined to provide details on how that might be done. Politico, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, in nearly identical stories on their websites, cited administration officials saying that a bank fee was under consideration and...

KABUL (Reuters) – NATO's top defense officials will examine proposals Saturday for a big troop surge to contain Afghanistan's escalating insurgency but any such move hinges on a decision by the U.S. president, NATO military officials said. The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has recommended sending at least 40,000 additional troops and trainers as part of a beefed-up counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, something being considered by the administration of President Barack Obama. Military representatives on NATO's Military Committee, who provide assessments for their political masters, met McChrystal on a three-day visit to Afghanistan that ended...

US President Barack Obama's administration is hoping to relaunch communication channels with Cuba after 50 years of adversarial relations, US media reported. "Informal meetings" were being planned between the US State Department and Cuban diplomats in the United States "to determine whether the two governments could open formal talks on a variety of issues," The New York Times said

Interpol says it is studying a request from Iran for 25 Israeli officials to be placed on its most-wanted list over Israel's offensive in Gaza. The international police agency says it took the unusual step of confirming the request publicly, as Iranian government officials have made their request public. Interpol says in a statement released Tuesday that its legal team is studying the Iranian request for the issuance of 25 red notices, the highest-level alert Interpol issues

HONOLULU - President Bush has asked his defense and interior secretaries to look into designating Pearl Harbor and other historic World War II sites in the Pacific a national monument. A May 29 presidential memo to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said such status could offer the sites additional protection. "These objects of historical and scientific interest may tell the broader story of the war, the sacrifices made by America and its allies, and the heroism and determination that laid the groundwork for victory in the Pacific and triumph in World War II," Bush said. The...

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Indian space scientists plan to send an unmanned mission to Mars by 2013 to look for evidence of life, a news report said. The six-to-eight-month mission, likely to be launched in the next seven years, would cost three billion rupees (67 million dollars), the Hindustan Times reported. "Mars is emerging on our horizon. The geo-stationary launch vehicle can take a payload to Mars and our Deep Space Network can track it all the way," G. Madhavan Nair, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told the newspaper. "There is a lot of interest in...

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair has won ringing praise after his emotional farewell to the ruling party, including from former US president Bill Clinton, who hailed his "stunning" record. But commentators agreed Wednesday that while Blair's Labour party has managed mostly to paper over its cracks during this week's annual conference, only the coming months will decide the fate of his successor and the party's future. Clinton -- often compared to Blair as a charismatic leader of "Third Way" politics -- paid fulsome tribute to Blair's leadership when he took the stage as the star of the...

NEW YORK — Police have proposed placing tighter restrictions on protesters who march on sidewalks by making them obtain parade permits — a move civil libertarians say would cripple the rights of people to stage spontaneous demonstrations. The written proposal, made public on July 17, would require permits for any march on a sidewalk by 35 or more people or for street demonstrations involving 20 or more bicycles or other vehicles. It says the new rules are needed to better police “assemblies that obstruct the free passage of public streets and sidewalks.” Current regulations, which are more loosely worded, mandate...

Editor's Note: Published on Page A3 of the November 12, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer GREENPEACE, THE ENVIRONMENTAL activist group, is considering filing charges against the security guards who beat up a German volunteer during a protest against "dirty energy" in the state-run Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Zambales. The violent encounter between the National Power Corp. guards and 16 Greenpeace activists on Thursday was "the most severe attack" against its campaigners in the Philippines, said Red Constantino, Greenpeace's Southeast Asia energy campaigner. "The security personnel put the safety of the activists at extreme risk," Constantino said in...

WASHINGTON - Political bloggers should not have their free speech rights infringed upon by campaign finance law, House lawmakers said Wednesday in debating legislation that critics said opens up a new loophole for uncontrolled campaign spending. The House was set to vote on the bill that would exclude blogs, e-mail and other Internet communications from regulation by the Federal Election Commission. The bill, if passed by the House and Senate, would stop the FEC from moving ahead with court-mandated rulemaking to govern political speech and campaign-related spending on the Internet. "The newest battlefield in the fight to protect the First...

SAN FRANCISCO – California air-quality regulators are considering a requirement that big-rig trucks install computer systems to pinpoint on-the-road emissions problems, a move that could spur a change in federal rules. The California Air Resources Board, or ARB, is expected to vote on July 21 on what would be the first such regulations in the United States for heavy-duty trucks, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency is likely to approve a similar rule, the ARB said. California, the most populous U.S. state, often leads the way on environmental policy, and cars and light trucks in the state already face similar...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Borrowing the kind of apocalyptic language used by the warrior characters that made him one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is about to decide whether to embark on "the great battle." He has until Monday to call a special election in November to let the voters of California decide whether to clamp down on spending, change the way electoral districts are drawn and make it harder for teachers to win tenure. Unable to get his way with the Legislature, the Republican governor has been threatening for months to take his case straight to the voters...