Free Republic

As if President Obama’s backdoor amnesty weren’t bad enough, the administration just issued an official order allowing the U.S. to take in once-banned refugees and asylum seekers who have provided “limited material support” to terrorists. With the stroke of a few pens—those belonging to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry—the nation’s zero tolerance for any sort of terrorism-related support has vanished. It also marks yet another alarming example of a president who changes or replaces laws passed by Congress when he doesn’t like them. Besides immigration, we’ve seen this in the selective enforcement of Obamacare....

The State Department is presenting a global webcast on February 4, titled "From the Street to Mainstream: The Evolution of Rap/Hip Hop Music." The host of the webcast, rapper and State Department Music Ambassador Toni Blackman, will be joined by Pras Michel, [snip] Some of Michel's more inflammatory comments in the past raise questions about the appropriateness of his appearance with the U.S.'s music ambassador on a government-sponsored webcast representing America to the world.

Senate Intelligence Committee members did not include important testimony from Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks about security at the U.S. mission in their final report, which had the effect of blaming the fallen ambassador and protecting a top State Department official from responsibility for the attack. "I was interviewed by the Select Committee and its staff, who were professional and thorough. I explained this sequence of events," Hicks (who worked with the late U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, in the lead-up to the attack) explained in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Thursday. "For some reason, my explanation did not...

Newly released records confirm a 2012 Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) report that the State Department cleared the way for a visiting delegation of Muslim Brotherhood officials to enter the country without undergoing routine inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. The April 2012 visit came before the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate was elected Egypt's president, although the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) had won a plurality of seats in parliamentary elections. The expedited entry is known as a "port courtesy" normally reserved for high-ranking visiting government officials and dignitaries. [...] The Muslim Brotherhood has open connections with Hamas,...

The US State Department announced today that it has added three chapters of Ansar al Sharia, as well as three of the groups' leaders, to the government's terrorist designation lists. Ansar al Sharia groups in Benghazi, Derna, and Tunisia were designated as foreign terrorist organizations, as well as specially designated global terrorist entities. The three Ansar al Sharia leaders, Sufian Ben Qumu, Ahmed Abu Khattalah, and Seifallah Ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi), were also added to the list of specially designated global terrorists. Ben Qumu is described as "the leader" of Ansar al Sharia Derna, while Khattalah is...

The State Department has identified Ansar Al-Sharia and its leaders as terrorist organizations and terrorists respectively, something we (and others) demonstrated several months ago. Let’s see, well over a year after the Benghazi attack, State has conceded something that was beyond painstakingly obvious within hours of that attack. There is something else that is quite obvious State doesn’t seem too interested in conceding – an Egyptian connection to the Benghazi attack. It is a case we have been making for several months. Perhaps there is no better anecdote available to demonstrate the sheer incompetence and malice of the Obama administration...

Full Title: (OT) Abe's Yasukuni Shrine Visit and the "Disappointed" US: State Dept Spokesperson Tells Chinese Reporter to Go Get a Dictionary and learn the difference between "disappointment", "regret" and "concern". The Chinese reporter's question is quite legitimate, as the words used in diplomatic statements are (or should be) strictly defined and used to convey specific meanings. The US State Department, following the example of the US Embassy in Tokyo, chose the word "disappointed" in their statement regarding Japan's PM Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on December 26, 2013. But Ms. Harf, deputy spokesperson of the US State Department, told...

NEW DELHI India has sought details about staff in American schools in the country for possible tax violations and revoked ID cards of U.S. consular officials and their families, retaliatory steps for the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York on criminal charges. The measures suggest that the two countries are no closer to a resolution of a diplomatic dispute over the treatment of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade this month on charges of visa fraud and underpayment of her housekeeper. Khobragade, who has denied the charges, was handcuffed and strip-searched while in custody despite informing U.S. marshals about...

ГЛОНАСС (GLONASS) Russian GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System), is a space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) operated by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. It is the Russian version of America’s military GPS and is currently the only alternative navigational system in operation capable of global coverage. GLONASS first become operational in 1982 and achieved global coverage in 2011. During the first reign of Vladimir Putin, GLONASS became the first priority of the Russian Federal Space Agency, consuming nearly one third of the Agency budget. It was, after all, imperative to duplicate the accuracy of America’s GPS system. State Department In 2013,...

The CIA and Pentagon have been trying to halt a State Department plan to let Russia’s space agency (Roscosmos) construct within the United States a handful of monitor stations, according to American officials, the New York Times reported. The fear is that the stations could aid Russian efforts to spy on the U.S. and bolster the accuracy of Russian weaponry, the officials told the Times, adding that the Russians said the monitor stations would dramatically improve their version of the Global Positioning System. The CIA and other U.S. spy agencies, along with the Pentagon, believe the monitor stations would provide...

Just what is holding up the release from captivity of the only American POW, Sgt. Bowe Robert Bergdahl, 27, of Ketchum, Idaho? Is this beloved 27 year old American soldier now a ping pong ball in the Afghanistan-US peace talks? Or is he being held as a bargaining chip between our State Department and Senate because President Obama’s aim to close Guantanamo Prison in Cuba is being thwarted by Congress which doesn’t want it closed? And, if as the Taliban supposedly demands, America must release five prisoners being held in Gitmo to show confidence before Sgt. Bergdahl can be freed,...

The Washington Free Beacon reports that a senior Muslim Brotherhood official who, until fairly recently, was employed by the William J. Clinton Foundation, was arrested in Cairo on Tuesday and charged with inciting violence. The official, Gehad el-Haddad, had been serving as one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s top communications officials. In that capacity, while the Muslim Brotherhood controlled Egypt, he “push[ed] the Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamist agenda in the foreign press, where he was often quoted defending the Brotherhood’s crackdown on civil liberties in Egypt,” according to the Free Beacon. El-Haddad served the Clinton Foundation in Cairo as “city director” from...

The Syria researcher, who wrote the oft cited OpEd piece by Elizabeth O'Bagy, on the Syrian Conflict was fired for lying about having a PHD. from Georgetown University. She also failed to reveal one small little detail. She works for the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit group who advocates for Al Qaeda and other opposing forces in Syria. And let us not forget the best part. Who pays for this propaganda? You do. The main problem is that she has caught the ear of many of our leaders. She has been cited by John McCain, John Kerry, and others....

A young researcher whose opinions on Syria were cited by both Senator McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry in congressional testimony last week has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly faking her academic credentials. The institute issued a statement on its website concerning the researcher, Elizabeth O’Bagy: The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University. ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O’Bagy’s employment, effective immediately. O’Bagy and her op-ed drew scrutiny last...

The State Department has a long-standing policy of waiving security requirements in dangerous areas, as well as ignoring threat assessments, a new report on the Benghazi terror attack concludes. The sacking of the consulate a year ago could be repeated in any number of hot spots, thanks to a lack of focus on security and safety at Foggy Bottom, and lack of accountability for decisions made in those areas, according to the documents leaked to Al-Jazeera America: The U.S. Department of State has known for decades that inadequate security at embassies and consulates worldwide could lead to tragedy, but senior...

The religion of violence has struck again and these are the savages that Barack Obama, John Kerry, and now John Boehner (no real surprise there) are wanting us to support. Alalam is now reporting that the Obama backed and supported al-Qaeda Syrian rebels forced 24 civilians off a bus traveling from Tarus to Ras al-Ain in the northeast of Syria and beheaded them all, including a mother and her baby. Alalam reports: Al-Qaeda linked terrorists in Syria have beheaded all 24 Syrian passengers traveling from Tartus to Ras al-Ain in northeast of Syria, among them a mother and a 40-days...

... The London-based satellite channel, Barada TV, began broadcasting in April 2009 but has ramped up operations to cover the mass protests in Syria as part of a long-standing campaign to overthrow the country’s autocratic leader, Bashar al-Assad. ... In February 2006, when relations with Damascus were at a nadir, the Bush administration announced that it would award $5 million in grants to “accelerate the work of reformers in Syria.” ... Around the same time, Syrian exiles in Europe founded the Movement for Justice and Development. The group, which is banned in Syria, openly advocates for Assad’s removal. U.S. cables...

Given how that Obama is 50% United States and 50% Kenyan, ask yourself this question: would you like to live with just 50% of your body parts? Children are expected to do more than 50% of their schoolwork and the Electoral College is supposed to be won by at least more than 50% of Electoral College votes and George Washington was unaminously elected by the Electoral College. Seems like Obama is a threat to United States Security, remember his friend Rev. Jeremiah Wright? I say that the Supreme Court should nullify Obama's Presidential status.

Will he be deported from Egypt and allowed to re-enter the U.S.? via Egypt arrests US citizen son of Brotherhood figure | THE DAILY STAR. CAIRO: Security officials say the son of an outspoken Muslim Brotherhood figure has been detained. Mohamed Soltan’s family says he is a U.S. citizen and does not know his whereabouts. An active supporter of the Islamist group online, the 25-year-old had posted pictures of his arm after it was shot when security forces cleared out two Brotherhood sit-ins Aug. 14. The Ohio State University graduate is the son of outspoken Muslim Brotherhood figure Salah Soltan....

Make no mistake, if you or I robbed a bank would we keep the money if caught? In a word, NO! For CNN to say it is a “moot point” whether or not Barack Hussein Obama AKA Barry Soetoro / Soebarkah is eligible to hold the Office of the United States Presidency is a travesty to the nation! CNN is fully aware that an official law enforcement investigation spanning more than 23 months by the duly authorized Cold Case Posse for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona led by the Constitutionally elected Sheriff Joe Arpaio has determined that the...