Free Republic

(WASHINGTON) -- In late October, former CIA Director David Petraeus traveled to Libya to conduct his own review of the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. While in Tripoli, he personally questioned the CIA station chief and other CIA personnel who were in Benghazi on Sept. 11 when the attack occurred. The Libya stop was part of a six nation trip to the region. Petraeus intended the review as a way to prepare for his upcoming testimony before Congress on Benghazi. "He was looking forward to testifying," a Petraeus friend told ABC News. "He wanted...

Unnamed sources tell Fox News that the CIA Annex in Benghazi held three Libyan militia members for days and that retrieving these detainees may have been a motive for the September 11th attack on the nearby US consulate. The new reporting builds on details previously published by Fox's Jennifer Griffin and information apparently leaked by ex-intelligence officer Paula Broadwell last month. Speaking on Fox News Monday, Griffin indicated new sources suggest the CIA annex may have been a detention site for local militia forces and even for some prisoners from other parts of Africa.

There are certain things you expect to see in a 97-year-old woman's home and certain things you don't. Katie Watson from Richfield, North Carolina is full of things you wouldn't figure. She shot her first rabbit when she was 10 years old. To this day, she hunts quail and turkey but she's probably most proud of the fact that she's tagged 44 deer since she turned 80. "How many men still hunt when they're 97?" she asks. If you wondered how she gets around in the woods, she takes an A.T.V. Watson doesn't plan on slowing down any time soon....

If the United States were a healthy meritocracy, where talent and hard work pretty much determined how far we go in life, fair-minded people wouldn’t be demanding that rich people pay more in taxes. The general feeling would be that the race is fair and the wealthy have earned all they’ve got. The rest of us just have to work harder and smarter. But by no honest reckoning is the United States the “land of opportunity” it once was, and the race looks less fair every day. Advantages and opportunities are skewed to the few against the many, as is...

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 55% of Likely Voters at least somewhat approve of President Obama's job performance. Forty-four percent (44%) at least somewhat disapprove. The president’s overall approval rating is up seven points from a year ago and is his highest since late June 2009 (see trends). Ninety-four percent (94%) of Democrats approve, while 82% of Republicans disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 46% approve and 51% disapprove.

The Army Reserve officer alleged to have had an affair with former CIA Director and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus could be forced out of the service. Paula Broadwell, a lieutenant colonel with a top secret security clearance, is under investigation by the FBI for sending anonymous, threatening emails to a Florida woman who is friends with Petraeus. The FBI traced the emails to Broadwell’s computer, and in so doing uncovered evidence of her affair with Petraeus. No charges have been filed against Broadwell. However, the emails, as well as public statements she reportedly made about the U.S. consulate attack...

Piers Morgan asked a pretty good question of former CIA agent Robert Baer on his show last night, and Baer is just as perplexed as Morgan. David Petraeus suddenly resigned yesterday after the FBI discovered an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, but does the FBI routinely investigate the director of the CIA? Baer tells Morgan, “There is something going on here,” apart from the sexual peccadilloes. Or could it be as simple as the old adage that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”?

Radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada was freed from prison on Tuesday after a UK court ruled he cannot be deported from Britain to Jordan to face terrorism charges. Qataba has been dubbed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe. By Catherine VIETTE (video) News Wires (text) Britain on Tuesday released terror suspect Abu Qatada from prison on bail after judges ruled that the man dubbed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe should not be extradited to Jordan. The radical Islamist preacher, who is in his early 50s, was driven out of the high-security Long Lartin prison in central England...

June 30, 2010 — The Senate confirms Petraeus as the new commander for war in Afghanistan. Over the next year, Broadwell expands her research of Petraeusinto an authorized biography. She makes multiple trips to Afghanistan and is given unprecedented access to Petraeus and his commanders. Sept. 6, 2011 – Petraeus is sworn in as CIA director with his wife, Holly, by his side. Broadwell keeps in contact with Petraeus and is later invited to his office for events, including a meeting with actress Angelina Jolie. November 2011 – Petraeus begins an extramarital affair with Broadwell, according to retired Army Col....

Well freedom fans, Glenn thinks the hundreds of thousands who e-signed the various peaceful secession petitions are crazy.

Thanks to a cut in taxpayer funding, the Planned Parenthood abortion business has announced it will close one of its abortion clinics, that operates in Abilene, Texas.Planned Parenthood of West Central Texas announced it is closing the Abilene clinic, which gives out the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug that has claimed the lives of dozens of women and injured thousands more, on November 9. Women will be sent to the nearby San Angelo Heath Center, which provides women with legitimate medical care and not abortions. “We share the concern of community members about what the long term consequences of Texas’...

For all our UK readers, who hope some day to collect pension benefits, we have two messages: i) our condolences, and ii) you won't.   Why? The answer comes straight from the ONS: The new supplementary table published by ONS in Levy (2012)10 includes the following headline figures for Government pension obligations as at end December 2010: Social security pension schemes (i.e. unfunded state pension scheme obligations): £3.843 trillion, being 263 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) (£3.497 trillion at end of December 2009)Centrally – administered unfunded pension schemes for public sector employees (i.e. unfunded public service pension scheme...

You won’t be surprised to learn this is a violation of a promise: It was one of the simplest, most poignant promises Barack Obama made in 2008 in his first campaign for the White House: He would fulfill “a sacred trust with our veterans” by significantly reducing the government’s lengthy backlog of pending claims for disability coverage. The goal: All veterans could get a decision on disability claims within 125 days. The results: Records obtained by the Washington Guardian show that as of Nov. 5, the day before Mr. Obama won re-election, 558,230 of the 820,106 veterans seeking disability coverage...

Brace yourselves, conservatives. What I’m about to say will hurt, and it should hurt -- and I’m not the first to notice. (Kudos to Rush Limbaugh, who noticed and is hitting this point hard.) Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election not so much because he got fewer votes than Barack Obama but because he got fewer votes than John McCain in 2008. Additional votes are still coming in, but, as of the time of my writing, Romney received around 57.8 million votes in 2012. In 2008, John McCain received 59.9 million. Romney got over 2 million fewer votes than McCain....

Is CBS Radio’s KPTK, Seattle the Next Progressive Talker to Flip? Seattle-based blog Blatherwatch (cool name!) is reporting the WYD Media-produced Stephanie Miller talk show indicated on Monday’s broadcast that CBS Radio’s KPTK, Seattle would flip from progressive talk after the holidays. No report on what the station may become and the report has not been confirmed by CBS Radio. If this comes to pass, it would be the second West Coast progressive talk outlet to recently shuck the format as Clear Channel’s KPOJ, Portland did Monday (11/12). It’d also be the second progressive talk station that’s been in the...

The most widely offered explanation for Mitt Romney's defeat is that the Republican Party is disproportionately composed of -- aging -- white males. That is, alas, true. But the real question is what Republicans should do with this truth. There are two responses. The nearly universal response -- meaning the response offered by the liberal media and liberal academics (and some Republicans) -- is that the Republican Party needs to rethink its positions, moving away from conservatism and toward the political center. The other response is for conservatives and the Republican Party to embark on a massive campaign to influence,...

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President Obama is hosting a closed-door White House meeting Tuesday morning with labor leaders and liberal activists to discuss his stance in negotiations with House Republicans on the looming budgetary fiscal cliff. One day later, Mr. Obama plans to have a similar private discussion with business leaders. Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the Tuesday's gathering, which is being billed as a discussion of "the actions we need to take to keep our economy growing and find a balanced approach to reduce our deficit," according to a White House release. Several labor leaders plan on attending, including Mary Kay...

A cadre of top labor leaders is headed to the White House on Tuesday to press their concerns about the fiscal cliff. Topmost on their list: Tax hikes for the wealthiest Americans, and protection from cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other programs for low income families. Attending the meeting are leaders representing teachers, municipal employees, nurses, truck drivers, grocery store clerks, and factory floor workers, among others. The fiscal cliff is the most pressing issue facing the President, who won reelection last week. If Congress doesn't act in the next seven weeks, it will deliver a one-two punch...

When the smarmiest Senate Democrat and the smarmiest Senate Republican sit down for talks on an issue of fundamental importance to the nation, and to the future of conservatism, conservatives should be very scared. When the smarmy Democrat is Chuck Schumer, a shrewd partisan, and the smarmy Republican is Lindsay Graham, a squish who gets his kicks from cooperating with Democrats, conservatives should panic. Schumer’s objectives in the negotiations are clear: to reach a deal that will enable the Democrats (1) to cement their position as the Party that dragged reluctant Republicans into a breakthrough immigration deal, thereby keeping the...