Free Republic

For those left unsatisfied with the media’s uncritical and shallow coverage of the recently released Benghazi report from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I wanted to pass along this just-published article, 10 major takeaways from the House Benghazi report that the media is completely ignoring, based on a careful read of the actual text of the report and appended documents. The media’s unwillingness to actually study the report given the political value of the “headline” takeaways, not to mention its uncharacteristic lack of skepticism at an investigation conducted by a committee led by Republicans almost completely absolving the...

Energy Transport: New data show fast-rising rail shipments from North Dakota's Bakken shale formation and the need for a safer alternative to rail — like the Keystone XL pipeline. In his post-election press conference, the president noted in justifying his continual kicking of the Keystone XL oil drum down the road that "while this debate about Canadian oil has been raging ... we've seen some of the biggest increases in American oil production and natural gas production in our history." That increase is due in large part to oil recovered from the Bakken shale formation centered on North Dakota. So...

Republicans decry ‘border sabotage’ ahead of expected illegal immigration executive actionThe Obama administration quietly announced a program late last week to create a legal channel for thousands of Central American children to come to the U.S., a move designed to prevent a repeat of this summer’s illegal immigrant surge but which Republicans said amounted to “border sabotage.” Coupled with President Obama’s expected action in the next few weeks granting tentative legal status to illegal immigrants already in the U.S., the policy could open the door to illegal immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala petitioning to have their children still...

(CNSNews.com) - The Obama administration announced on Friday a plan to create a new refugee/parole program for children in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras whose parents are legal residents of the United States. “This program will allow certain parents who are lawfully present in the United States to request access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for their children still in one of these three countries,” the State Department said in a news release. The department added that “[c]hildren who are found ineligible for refugee admission but still at risk of harm may be considered for parole on a case-by-case...

The United States on Monday condemned the two stabbing attacks in Tel Aviv and in Gush Etzion, while urging both Israelis and Palestinian Arabs to ease rising tensions. "We strongly condemn the stabbing today in the West Bank, and we deeply regret the loss of life," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, in a statement made before soldier Almog Shiloni, who was critically wounded in the Tel Aviv attack, died of his wounds. "Our condolences go out to the victim's family. It is absolutely critical that parties take every possible measure to protect civilians and de-escalate tensions," added Psaki. .....

As State Department spokesman Jen Psaki appeared to be going out of her way to avoid implicating Hamas in an act of terrorism, she was coincidentally dressed in a shade of green reminiscent of Hamas’ color. When asked by AP reporter Matt Lee about reports that the terrorist leanings of a 14 year-old Palestinian-American boy named Orwa Hammad, Psaki pleaded ignorance. Hammad was reportedly hurling molotov cocktails before being killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF); Psaki played dumb.

Stephen DinanThe Washington TimesOctober 28, 2014 The State Department has quietly made plans to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, according to an internal department document that argued the only way to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa is to promise the U.S. will be the world’s medical backstop. Some countries “are implicitly or explicitly waiting for medevac assurances” before they will agree to send their own medical teams to join U.S. and U.N. aid workers on the ground, the State Department argues in the undated four-page memo, which was reviewed...

Billionaire Paul Allen says he'll contribute at least $100 million to the fight against Ebola. The Microsoft co-founder said Thursday that among the initiatives he's supporting is the development of two medevac containment units that the U.S. State Department can use to safely evacuate health workers who become infected. Allen, who is worth more than $15billion, said he's working with the World Health Organization to increase its capacity for handling the logistics of transporting international aid workers, and he's establishing a fund to help cover the costs of emergency transportation of the workers.

The State Department's Office of Inspector General has released another “management alert” detailing rampant mismanagement within the agency, much of it during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's tenure. The inspector general’s latest “management alert” — the third released by the agency's internal watchdog in a little over a year — warns that the State Department’s management and oversight of grants has become a serious financial liability. “The management and oversight of grants poses heightened financial risk to the Department of State,” Inspector General Steve A. Linick said in a report dated Sept. 26 but released Sept. 30. Linick became the...

In yet another tragic indication of Obama administration’s ideological obstinance, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki indicated that Israel and the United States are not on the same page regarding the scope of Islamic terror. The rift centers around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the U.N. on Monday, during which he insisted that terrorist groups such as ISIS, Hamas, the Iranian regime, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram share the same vision. “Some are radical Sunnis, some are radical Shi’ites,” he explained. Some want to restore a pre-medieval caliphate from the 7th century. Others want to trigger the apocalyptic return...

Simran Khosla, GlobalPost September 27, 2014The world can be a dangerous place. Depending on where you live, you're reminded of that every time you turn on the TV or read the news. If you are citizen of the United States there's also another consistent reminder: State Department travel warnings. According to the US Passport and International Travel Office: "We issue a Travel Warning when we want you to consider very carefully whether you should go to a country at all. Examples of reasons for issuing a Travel Warning might include unstable government, civil war, ongoing intense crime or violence, or...

Considering what’s been going on in Syria over the last few years (including the official emergence of ISIS), and after the questionable scrutiny in giving thousands of visas to so-called immigrant-children refugees, I’m not sure this is a good idea.

Full title: Judicial Watch: Documents Reveal State Department Officials Told Three Months before Attack that Benghazi Security Guards Abandoning Posts Out of Fear for Safety Internal email reveals that three months before fatal terrorist attack, an explosion at compound wall “created a fear factor when it came to working the night shift” (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained 130 pages of new State Department documents revealing that local security guards working for Blue Mountain Group (BMG), the firm hired to protect the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, repeatedly abandoned their posts “out of fear of...

Who doesn’t love Bill O’Reilly? He’s witty, charming, sarcastic, and has just a little bit of that pompousness that makes the guy borderline adorable, in a non-homo kind of way. He also tells-it-like-it-is, and he’s pretty darn good at it. Unfortunately, these characteristics are not fully appreciated by State Department spokesperson Marie Barf Harf, who has been taking every opportunity she can to throw the conservative powerhouse under the bus for criticizing one of her female colleagues, a move she labeled “sexist.” Of course, it’s pretty dang hard to take any claim of “sexism” or “racism” serious from a liberal,...

Bill O’Reilly came under criticism from the Obama administration this week for stating that Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the State Department, “looks way out of her depth” and that “just the way she delivers, she doesn’t look like she has the gravitas for the job.” The criticism was delivered by Psaki’s deputy, Marie Harf, who claimed that O’Reilly’s comments are sexist because she doesn’t “actually [doesn't] think [he] would ever use [those words] about a man.” O’Reilly’s actions are “not ok,” Harf lectured. Harf, who makes Psaki look intellectually hefty, should think again. O’Reilly has used similar words to disparage...

In another heated exchange between State Department spokesman Marie Harf and AP reporter Matt Lee, the issue of whether any governments are funding ISIS / ISIL is proving to be a hot button issue. In this particular exchange, Qatar is the focus but other countries – specifically Turkey – should start getting spotlighted soon. Harf contends that there is “no evidence” of governments funding ISIL but Lee calls her on that assertion based on a quote from President Obama. To say there is “no evidence” that any government is “supporting this group (ISIS)” is a major lie ... Let’s go...

Deputy State Department spokesperson Marie Harf on Wednesday condemned the beheading of American journalist James Foley by Islamic terrorists, but she also stated that the ISIS threat “is not about the United States and what we do.” Harf spoke after President Obama told the nation that “governments and peoples across the Middle East” should come together in a “common effort to extract this cancer, so that it does not spread.” He then went golfing. "I think ISIL wants to make this about the United States and our actions. And I think what the President was trying to say was that...

To get to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad you first must present proper identifying credentials to pass Iraqi army checkpoints. Then turn through Assassin’s Gate, into what’s now known as the International Zone, or IZ. Nearing the banks of the Tigris, you turn right onto a boulevard, see the first guard tower marking the embassy compound, then drive—and drive—some minutes fronting its fortress-high walls before you reach an entry gate. The embassy—opened in 2009 at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of over $750 million—is the largest diplomatic compound in the world. At 104 acres (that’s 80 football stadiums) it’s about...

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Iraq. Travel within Iraq remains dangerous given the security situation. On June 16, the Department of State began relocating some staff members from the Embassy to the Consulates General in Basrah and Erbil and Iraq Support Unit in Amman. The Embassy remains open and is operating. In early August, the threat to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR) increased considerably with the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) towards Kurdish areas. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated June 16, 2014, to...

At times, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki sounds like a mouthpiece for Hamas. She’s counting the supposed number of Israel’s attacks on “schools” in Gaza. No mention of the Hamas rockets being launched or hidden in or around those schools! She did say Israel has the right to defend herself, which should be the end of the story. Psaki needs to stop embarrassing our nation with her attacks on Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKVKf_p_2U0