Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday sharply criticized U.S. states that are defying the Pentagon by refusing to allow National Guard facilities to issue ID cards that enable same-sex spouses of military members to claim benefits. "This is wrong," Hagel said in remarks prepared for delivery in New York.

President Obama spent his first term pushing from power long-standing Arab allies in Egypt and Tunisia; seeking to engage the now blood-soaked Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad; pulling his punches against Iran’s nuclear program; and putting “daylight” between his administration and Israel. Now for his second term, he has nominated for the highest posts bearing on the Middle East three figures who give the strongest indication we can expect much more of the same – John Kerry for State, Chuck Hagel for Defense and John Brennan for the CIA. Kerry opposed Congress’ 2009 hold on appointing an ambassador to a regime...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has just a 26 percent approval rating among individuals currently serving within the national security community, according to findings from a new survey commissioned by Defense One. The findings come as scrutiny on the Obama administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and Syria grows. At the same time, a variety of media reports hint that President Barack Obama, himself trailing in the polls after a poor showing for the Democrats in Tuesday’s election, is considering a shake-up of his national security staff. That could include Hagel. The “Defense One National Security Survey” released Friday found...

How Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel Steals from His Soldiers That is a tough charge, not made lightly. The Secretary of Defense is stealing earned but deferred income from his soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. It is especially troubling because Hagel is a former Vietnam combat soldier and noncommissioned officer. He served in the infantry with valor and gallantry. He just stole $6 billion from his retiring or retired soldiers. No need to detail here the massive debt the nation has created and much of that from fighting mostly unfunded wars. No need to repeat the abundant and perpetual...

WASHINGTON, July 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Sunday defended presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama from recent political attacks. Hagel said during an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation" that U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the likely GOP nominee, was pushing the ethical envelope by questioning the Illinois senator's motivations for opposing the Iraq war. "I think John is treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives, when we start to get into, 'You're less patriotic than me' and 'I'm more patriotic.' I admire and respect John McCain; we talk often. John's better than...

Nebraska Jews Recall Senator Chuck Hagel as “Unfriendly” and “Unmovable” on Israel, “Didn’t Give a Damn About the Jewish Community” Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel speaks at a forum for the Law of the Sea Convention in Washington, D.C. Photo: Wikipedia. While former Nebraska Senator and likely Secretary of Defense nominee, Chuck Hagel, has drawn criticism in recent days over his foreign policy positions, and specifically his hostility to Israel, members of Nebraska’s Jewish community spoke to The Algemeiner about their experiences with him during his time in office. Former editor of the Omaha Jewish Press, Carol Katzman, who was...

Another underreported fact from Tuesday's election is the extraordinary night Republicans had in winning state legislative seats. The GOP now controls two thirds of state legislative houses – 66 of 99 (Nebraska's legislature is unicameral).  They upped the number of states where they control both house and senate to 24 – one more than they had before the election.  And according to this article in Vox, they cut the number of Democratic-held legislatures from 14 to 7. Republicans made historic gains in state legislatures in 2010. They held on in many states in 2012, or made up for losses...

President Barack Obama should demonstrate his commitment to working with Republicans in control of Congress by permitting the Keystone XL pipeline, Sen. John Hoeven said Wednesday. Hoeven and other Senate Republicans are making plans to advance a bill authorizing the controversial project early next year, as one of their first legislative moves after taking control of the chamber. While some Senate races are not yet decided, Hoeven, R-N.D., said he already counts at least 60 votes in favor of his legislation to approve the pipeline using Congress’ authority under the Foreign Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Although that’s enough votes...

Democrat Tom Wolf, a businessman from central Pennsylvania, was elected governor Tuesday in his first campaign for political office. Republican Tom Corbett became the first incumbent governor to lose reelection in the state's modern history. "We need to restablish education as the priority in the state of Pennsyvlania," Wolf said, speaking to supporters at the York Expo Center shortly after 10 p.m., after thanking Corbett for his service to the state.

Nebraska voters have overwhelmingly elected Republican Ben Sasse to the U.S. Senate over Democrat David Domina. Sasse easily won election Tuesday, replacing Republican Mike Johanns, who didn't seek re-election. Sasse is president of Midland University in Fremont and previously worked in the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services....

It’s definitely late. Is it too little? During the GOP primary Frei, who lost to Lee Terry 53-47, accused Terry of “dirty politics.” In the final hours of his toughest and at times strangest Capitol Hill campaign in 16 years, Republican Congressman Lee Terry is scrambling to shore up his GOP base—thousands of potential voters who refused to back him in the May primary election. Early today Team Terry launched a 60 second radio ad which finds Dan Frei,—Terry’s tea party opponent from that rough and tumble, six-point primary—asking his “friends” to vote for Terry on Tuesday.

Democratic Nebraska Senate candidate Dave Domina is out with a new political ad that features a bedridden coma patient decked out in one of the campaign’s T-shirts. The ad had raised questions about the ethics of using a coma patient to give the politician a boost in the polls. Domina, who is running against Republican challenger Ben Sasse, also has come under fire in recent weeks for his previous work defending a Nazi war criminal, whom Domina referred to as “honorable” in an interview with the Free Beacon. The ad in questions feature Pappillion, Nebraska resident Deborah Chinnow, and her daughter Jenna, who is...

link only:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/17/lee-terry-brad-ashford_n_6003976.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel pushed back Thursday against what he said was misinformed reaction to the district’s gender identity training by national commentators and news outlets... “Never once has anyone inside our system mandated that a teacher take (the words) ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ or ‘ladies’ and ‘gentlemen’ out of their interactions with children or interaction with adults. There’s no policy, there’s no procedure, there’s no changes being made to bathrooms in schools.” ... Among the advice in the handout was to avoid gendered terms like "girls" and "boys" and opt for gender neutral terms such as “campers” or...

A Nebraska school district has instructed its teachers to stop referring to students by “gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls,” and use “gender inclusive” ones such as “purple penguins” instead. “Don’t use phrases such as ‘boys and girls,’ ‘you guys,’ ‘ladies and gentlemen,’ and similarly gendered expressions to get kids’ attention,” instructs a training document given to middle-school teachers at the Lincoln Public Schools. “Create classroom names and then ask all of the ‘purple penguins’ to meet on the rug,” it advises. The document also warns against asking students to “line up as boys or girls,” and suggests asking...

In an effort to make classrooms more gender-inclusive, teachers at a middle school in Lincoln, Nebraska were given teaching guidelines advising them not to use "gendered expressions" by calling students "boys and girls." The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the teachers have been advised to use more gender-neutral expressions like campers, readers, athletes or even purple penguins. The teaching handout called "12 easy steps on the way to gender inclusiveness" advised teachers to avoid separating students by gender, but instead by birth dates or preferences. For example, they could ask students whether they prefer skateboards or bikes, milk or juice,...

The 33-year-old freelance cameraman who contracted Ebola in Liberia is fighting for his life at the University of Nebraska Medical Center this week. He’s also racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. According to a GoFundMe campaign launched Monday by his friends, Ashoka Mukpo’s medical bills could run in excess of $500,000.

October 9, 2014 Nebraska Democrat Stands By Work Defending Nazi War Criminal Democratic Senate Candidate Domina shared his ‘gift’ with ‘most wanted’ Nazi John ‘Ivan’ Kalymon By Adam Kredo Democratic Nebraska Senate candidate Dave Domina, in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon, stood by his work defending a former Nazi police officer stripped of his U.S. citizenship.Domina, who is trailing Republican Ben Sasse, said he did not balk when John Kalymon hired him in 2006 to fight the U.S. government, which was seeking to deport the former German-occupation police officer for lying about his past.“Mr. Kalymon lived an honorable...

Via Katherine Timpf of NRO, I’m 90 percent sure this is a hoax. No, wait, let me rephrase: I would be 90 percent sure this is a hoax, if not for the fact that the school superintendent confirmed on a local radio show that these materials were handed out to teachers at one Lincoln-area middle school. Repeat: Middle school.Oh well. High time America’s 10-year-olds started considering whether they’re cis or trans.The recommendations about intervening when an androgynous child is being bullied are fine, but c’mon. This isn’t real, is it?I can’t read those italicized parts without hearing Mike Judge...

The America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race was founded by the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in 1995 due to the vision and efforts of Mark Sullivan, former Balloon Fiesta President and recipient of the Montgolfier Diplome (one of ballooning's highest honors), who saw the need for America to be identified with the world's most prestigious ballooning sport. The America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race is modeled after the Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett, but it differs from the older event in allowing balloons from all countries, without limits on the number of entries from each. The team that travels the longest distance wins.