Free Republic

President Obama’s push to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay is likely to become a flashpoint as he seeks to confirm a replacement for outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Obama is seeking to close the detention center before leaving office, which would fulfil a promise he made during his first White House run in 2008. But with Republicans and some Democrats opposed to releasing the detainees or bringing them to U.S. prisons, the administration has considered closing the facility through executive action, according to The Wall Street Journal. The White House questioned the Journal report, but did not explicitly deny...

President Obama will announce the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday in the first high-profile personnel move since Democrats suffered significant losses in this month's midterm elections. "In October, Secretary Hagel began speaking with the President about departing the administration given the natural post-midterms transition time," a senior administration official said. Obama will make the announcement with Hagel at 11:00 a.m. According to the White House, a successor will be named "in short order," but Hagel will remain in the post until that person is confirmed by the Senate. A senior administration official praised Hagel as "a steady...

Former President Jimmy Carter responded Friday to being referred to as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., quipping that it’s a “compliment” to be considered a terrible president by a “warmonger” like McCain. [SNIP] “I was lucky enough to go through my four years, we never shot a bullet or dropped a bomb or fired a missile,” Carter said.

President Obama has ordered a review of how the U.S. handles the taking of hostages by overseas terrorist groups, according to letter by Christine Wormuth, the Pentagon's undersecretary of defense for policy. "As a result of the increased frequency of hostage-taking of Americans overseas, and the recognition of the dynamic threat posed by specific terrorist groups, the President recently directed a comprehensive review of the U.S. government policy on overseas terrorist-related hostage cases, with specific emphasis on examining family engagement, intelligence collection, and diplomatic engagement policies," Wormuth wrote on Nov. 11 in a letter to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). Hunter...

As fears grow over Iran secretly developing nuclear weapons, U.S. counterintelligence officials are keeping a close eye on scientists from Iran and other Muslim nations working at the U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories, WND has learned. The Energy Department recently revoked the security clearance of an Egyptian-born nuclear physicist because he was suspected of "conflicting allegiances." Last year, DOE and FBI agents began questioning Moniem El-Ganayni, who worked on the side as a Muslim prison chaplain.

A mouthpiece of the Chinese Government has described President Obama as 'insipid' and claims U.S. voters are sick of his 'banality'. The state-run Global Times has published an editorial deriding the leader a few days ahead of his visit to the growing economic and military powerhouse. It stated: 'Obama always utters "Yes, we can," which led to the high expectations people had for him. But he has done an insipid job, offering nearly nothing to his supporters. 'U.S. society has grown tired of his banality.' The criticism comes in the wake of a crushing defeat in the Midterm elections worse...

A weak, lame-duck Barack Obama, who has now eroded a once exuberant Democratic party, will be even weaker in the next two years. If Democratic senators who had been his stalwart supporters — voting with him over 97 percent of the time — campaigned on not wanting any connection with Obama, one can imagine what our enemies abroad think of him. If Obama adopted policies of neo-appeasement when he enjoyed a 65 percent approval rating in 2009, one can imagine his approach when his positives dip below 40 percent. But there is no need for imagination when Ali Younesi, the...

Having been relatively quiet for a while, Russia's leader Vladimir, speaking in Sochi (following meetings with Middle East crown princes who confirmed Russia as a key partner - "isolated"?), has unleashed his most aggressive statements with regard the failing world order: *PUTIN SAYS U.S. DOLLAR LOSING TRUST AS RESERVE CURRENCY *PUTIN: WORLD WITHOUT RULES IS POSSIBILITY; ANARCHY GROWING Adding that the risk of major conflicts involving major countries is growing, as well as the risk of arms control treaties being violated, Putin exclaimed that the US-led unipolar world is like a dictatorship over other countries and that "US leadership brings...

When two burly men walked into a Missouri women's underwear store Tuesday, the owners didn't think much of it -- until the pair flashed their Homeland Security badges and confiscated several dozen panties bearing the initials "KC" in honor of the Kansas City Royals.

(CNN) -- In response to the ongoing situation at Canada's Parliament, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, has increased its alert posture, CNN has learned. That means that it has increased the number of planes on a higher alert status ready to respond if needed. NORAD and Canadian law enforcement and Canadian authorities are in contact, an official told CNN.

Can you walk out on the messiah? Appearing at a campaign rally for gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown in Maryland on Sunday, President Obama sought to capture the magic that had electrified audiences in 2008 and, to some considerable degree, even in 2012. Obama isn't doing much stumping this year. He limits his campaigning mostly to fundraisers. This is the year, after all, when Democratic candidates are announcing how important it is in our system of government to have honest disagreements with the president. They're hastening to say that they would be tougher than he is on ISIS. They are declaring...

We have one of the best health care systems in the world. The CDC assures us that the outbreak is under control. There have been only 2 new cases since the Liberian patient arrived.The 1918 flu epidemic killed more people than WW2. The mobilization of millions living in close proximity aided the spread of the virus. https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/Crowded conditions accelerate the spread of disease. Children crowded on trains moving through Mexico, and living in refugee centers in the US would cause the disease to spread more rapidly and allow the virus to rapidly enter the US. Why are our leaders gambling...

The Pentagon released a report Monday asserting decisively that climate change poses an immediate threat to national security, with increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages. It also predicted rising demand for military disaster response as extreme weather creates more global humanitarian crises. The report lays out a road map for how the military will adapt to rising sea levels, more violent storms and widespread droughts. The Defense Department will begin by integrating plans for climate change risks across all of its operations, from war games and strategic defense planning situations to a rethinking of the...

Rising sea levels and other effects of climate change will pose major challenges for America's military, including more and worse natural disasters and the threat that food and water shortages could fuel disputes and instability around the world, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday. […] “Climate change is a ‘threat multiplier’ because it has the potential to exacerbate many of the challenges we already confront today—from infectious disease to armed insurgencies—and to produce new challenges in the future,” Hagel said. He spoke during the opening session of the conference, which was attended by defense ministers and military chiefs of more...

Only a madman would gamble with our lives…our children’s lives…and the entire American economy. Why would President Obama play “Russian Roulette” with the future of our country? It’s a gamble no sane leader would take. The life and death issue is Ebola. The President is more concerned with political correctness (and golf) than taking common sense precautions to prevent a deadly pandemic. Why does this President not see his responsibility is to keep the odds as low as possible? There are three simple, common sense actions any President who cared about American citizens would take:

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there was "clearly" a breach in protocol that led to a Texas health care worker contracting Ebola after treating a Liberian man who later died from the virus, although authorities do not yet know what that breach was. "We're deeply concerned about this new development," Dr. Thomas Frieden said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. "I think the fact that we don't know of a breach in protocol is concerning because clearly there was a breach in protocol. We have the ability to prevent the...

A growing number of Democrats are pressuring President Obama to ban flights to Ebola-ravaged countries despite repeated warnings from global health leaders that closing borders could accelerate the crisis. A group of 27 lawmakers, including three Democrats, signed a letter Wednesday urging Obama to ignore health officials and immediately halt flights from the West African countries worst-affected by Ebola. The lawmakers accused Obama of attempting to “pass the buck” onto organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), which have advised against travel bans. Obama has said he would not ban travel unless the WHO reversed its position. “[The WHO] has...

U.S. Border Patrol agents say an incident along the Texas-Mexico border Wednesday night is a clear warning that they are not prepared to deal with the threat of people infected with Ebola and other communicable diseases trying to cross into the United States. Agents in the Rio Grande Valley border sector apprehended a man from the eastern African nation of Eritrea who was trying to cross illegally into the U.S. Agents told TheBlaze it isn’t the first time they’ve apprehended someone from Africa or “special interest aliens” – persons from nations with known terrorist ties – trying to cross the...

WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard has stepped up screening of crews arriving in Texas from West Africa for possible Ebola symptoms. The new measures are for any vessel that has visited West Africa within its last five ports of call. They also require that any crew member with symptoms of Ebola be quarantined. In Houston, one of the world’s busiest ports, some dockworkers say they’re fearful. But no Ebola cases have been found yet, and Coast Guard officials say there’s little need to panic. “Ships from other countries, we want to be aware of where they’ve been,” said Coast Guard...

David Nieland, who led the investigation for the DHS inspector general’s office, later told Senate aides examining the investigation that his superiors had asked him to keep those details out of the report. He also said that the request to leave the information out came from his superiors shortly after they met with Janet Napolitano, then the secretary of homeland security.Nieland also said that he had been told to delay the release of the report until after the election. A Washington Post story published Wednesday night alleges that the White House did not rigorously investigate information linking a volunteer for...