Free Republic

The White House said Tuesday it will provide $308 million in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, as the country teeters toward a full-scale humanitarian crisis and economic collapse under the Taliban.

The press has rather innocently been reporting that President Obama dispatched one of his closest aides, Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors, to “help” and to “oversee” things at Veterans’ Affairs while officials get to the bottom of the widening scandal over VA clinic wait times that resulted in the deaths of veterans. There might be a coverup too.From the Washington Post: Rob Nabors, a White House deputy chief of staff, will work with the VA temporarily to help assess its practices and develop recommendations on how veterans’ hospitals can increase access to timely care, the White House announced Wednesday. In...

Van Jones just sent me an email. The note, courtesy of MoveOn.org, invites me to help suggest and rate ideas on how to improve the economy. He writes: I trust my neighbors more than any Wall Street bank, hedge fund, or oil company. I think we all do. But we keep letting the banks and multinational corporations, and their high-priced lobbyists, call the shots in our economy. You know what? I think they're doing a terrible job. Now it's time for us, the American people, to come up with our own vision. So today we're launching a new effort. And...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Monday said an indictment against three illegal immigrants accused of killing a border patrol agent sends a "clear message" to drug cartels and border smugglers. A federal judge unsealed a 14-count indictment against Manuel Osorio-Arrelanes and two other Mexican natives last Friday, accusing them of participating in the shooting that killed 40-year old Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December. "This indictment also sends a clear message to those who would consider committing violence against the Border Patrol: we will not stand for aggression against our men and women in uniform

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a secret operation to secure nuclear material, the United States has helped Ukraine send to Russia enough uranium to build two atomic bombs. This week's removal of more than 110 pounds of highly enriched uranium followed a pledge by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to get rid of all of his country's highly enriched uranium by April 2012. The material will be blended down in Russia, rendering it useless for bomb making. Details of the operation were provided to The Associated Press by the National Nuclear Safety Administration.

A Palestinian caught trying to infiltrate a settlement Wednesday night claims he was sent by his family members, who had hoped he would be killed by soldiers during the infiltration. Israel Defense Forces soldiers patrolling the central West Bank near the settlement of Beit El on Wednesday spotted a Palestinian walking toward the settlement and subsequently arrested him. According to the investigation into the incident, the boy was behaving in a strange manner and the soldiers originally thought that he was drunk. Later on in the investigation, it was clarified that he was actually suffering from a mental illness.

In wake of renewed Turkish demands that Israel apologize for the deaths of nine pro-terror activists killed in a maritime clash with the IDF, MK Danny Danon of Likud offered his own “apology” in a letter he read aloud in the Knesset Tuesday. Danon's speech was as follows: To the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, (by way of the Turkish ambassador to Israel) Regarding: The request for an apology to the government of Turkey for the events aboard the Mavi Marmara of the Gaza flotilla.

After Joy Behar’s “bitch” session on The Spew yesterday, Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle struck back…with flowers and a cheery note. Via Elizabeth Crum at NRO Battle ’10: No one can accuse Team Angle of not having a healthy sense of humor. In response to Joy Behar’s vicious remarks on The View, the Angle campaign sent a lovely flower arrangement with a note enclosed. “Joy, Raised $150,000 online yesterday. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Sharron Angle”

Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv treats up to 100 patients a month from Gaza, and often Hamas takes the role of middleman between Gaza residents and the Israeli hospital, Ichilov Director Professor Gabi Barabash said Thursday. Barabash spoke to Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara, who was touring the hospital and viewing its care for foreign Arab patients. In addition to caring for patients from Gaza, the Ichilov staff treats many citizens of foreign Arab countries, including those that have no diplomatic ties with Israel. They all receive dedicated care, and the relatives who accompany them are provided with free food and...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, announced in Ramallah on Tuesday that 50 Russian troop carriers would soon be delivered to the PA. Lavrov told reporters that Moscow provided the carriers a few years ago, "but Israel refused to hand them over." Now, he said, "we have already sent the carriers. The vehicles arrived in Jordan and we hope they will arrive in the next few days." It was not clear if he expected Israel to block them again or allow them through.

(IsraelNN.com) According to a report on Middle East Newsline, President-elect Barack Obama has dispatched his "senior foreign policy adviser", Robert Malley to Egypt and Syria to outline Obama's policy on the Middle East. Malley reportedly relayed a promise from Obama that the United States would seek to enhance relations with Cairo and reconcile differences with Damascus. "The tenor of the messages was that the Obama administration would take into greater account Egyptian and Syrian interests," an aide to Malley was quoted as saying. The aide said Obama plans to launch a U.S. diplomatic initiative toward Syria. Malley met both Egyptian...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Three U.S. transport planes carrying military aid to Lebanon's army arrived in Beirut Saturday, part of an international airlift to support troops fighting Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp. At the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern city of Tripoli, a four-day-old truce mostly held up despite sporadic gunfire. A few dozen more Palestinians left the camp. Four ambulances entered the camp bearing medicine on Saturday, and trucks from the international Red Cross brought water, bread and candles. Souad Ali, 70, one of the people who left, said she had cancer and...

Ultra-lethal TB sends fear through Africa 10:30 17 September 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition. African countries last week agreed a plan to tackle a new and ultra-lethal strain of tuberculosis called Extensive Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB). It is especially harmful to people infected with HIV, killing 52 out of 53 HIV-positive people who caught it after attending a clinic in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, earlier this year. All were infected with the same strain, suggesting that one infected person spread it to all the rest. Most died within 25 days - long before the three months it takes to get...

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2006 – What started out as a hobby for Daniel Hoebeke in January 2005 has led to more than 1,000 care packages being sent to military chaplains serving overseas. Volunteers and passersby gather around an Adopt-A-Chaplain booth at the Los Gatos, Calif., Fourth of July celebration. Adopt-a-Chaplain, a member of the Defense Department's America Supports You program, provides care packages for chaplains and servicemembers deployed overseas. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "Our goal is to provide support to the people who provide support to our troops. It gives us an opportunity to give...

Bush sends National Guard to Mexico border By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 16/05/2006) President George W Bush last night sent thousands of troops to the Mexican-US frontier in an eye-catching gesture to tighten border security and raise the morale of his mutinous conservative supporters. In a sign of the passions raging over immigration, Mr Bush told the nation of his initiative in a prime-time address from the Oval Office, his first on domestic policy in his five and a half years in the White House. Jorge Alavrez, who was deported from Nevada two months ago, squeezes back into the...

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2006 – There's nothing like a steaming cup of gourmet coffee to get you started in the morning, and coffee is one of the few things servicemembers can make in a combat zone, said Jon Rogers, founder and president of the Rogers Family Company. Volunteers at a care package packing gathering at the California Army National Guard's armory in Van Nuys, Calif., packs coffee packets into care packages bound for troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations overseas. The volunteers are Judy Beer (left) who puts the coffee in the package as Kerri Parr pushes boxes...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2006 – The military's persistence in determining the identity of an airman missing in action since World War II sends an important message to families of all missing servicemembers and all men and women serving in uniform today, the commander of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command told American Forces Press Service. The remains of a World War II-era U.S. airman found in October 2005 in a California glacier are shipped to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to be identified. Experts at the command later identified the airman as Aviation Cadet...

Montana-Based Program Supports Troops By Christopher J. Moore Each “Giving Tree” ornament had a soldier’s name written on it. Supporters were asked to purchase suggested items for one of the soldiers and place them in a gift bag beneath the tree. Courtesy Photo Montana Supporting Soldiers group members box care packages to send to deployed soldiers. Courtesy Photo WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2006 - Liann Meyer, an America Supports You team member based in Helena, Mont., sent some cheer to deployed troops this holiday season. Meyer’s organization, Montana Supporting Soldiers, sent care packages full of cookies, candy, cards and decorations to more...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2005 – A group that began in a Marine Corps wife's basement when her husband deployed to Iraq is in the midst of sending thousands of care packages to deployed troops for Christmas. "Give2theTroops" is a nonprofit group aimed at supporting the physical, moral and spiritual health of America's armed forces in combat zones through the world through letters and packages prepared and shipped by volunteers. Andi Grant of Connecticut founded the group three years ago when her husband Brian and his Marine Reserve unit prepared to deploy to the Middle East for Operation Iraqi Freedom. As...

MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kansas, Sept. 28, 2005 - Three Airmen received some “sweet” support from the “Rose Hill Cookie Lady” while they were deployed. Since Feb. 5, Merry Debbrecht, nicknamed the Rose Hill Cookie Lady, has baked more than 30,000 cookies for deployed troops all over the world. Mrs. Debbrecht’s baking project began after her grandson, Army Private 1st Class Andrew Webb, deployed overseas. “As soon as I knew my grandson was going, I started baking,” she said. But supporting just her grandson wasn’t enough. What really sparked her baking drive was her grandson’s graduation at Fort Hood, Texas....