Free Republic

<p>The Army on Tuesday provided a behind the scenes look at the prosecution of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, releasing pages of internal court communications that show the defense believes it is hamstrung in responding to Donald Trump’s charge that their client is a traitor.</p>

John Kerry's Department of State is responsible for functions that are so essential to the well-being of America and Americans that the Secretary of State is in the line of succession to the U.S. Presidency. On May 6, 2016 Time Magazine published the transcript of the commencement address Kerry delivered at Northeastern University. Here is an important excerpt from his remarks: “I think that everything that we’ve lived and learned tells us that we will never come out on top if we accept advice from soundbite salesmen and carnival barkers who pretend the most powerful country on Earth can remain...

This is so severely delusional, Kerry should seek professional help. Afghanistan has not been an “achievement.” What has the Obama Administration “achieved” in Afghanistan? The needless deaths of U.S. soldiers in green-on-blue attacks. The wasting of billions of dollars that has been given to the corrupt Afghan government. And what about the Taliban, that the U.S. went in to Afghanistan to fight? Is it defeated? No: as soon as the Americans are gone, it will take power again. These people are nuts. Secretary of State John Kerry recently spoke at the Oxford Union and addressed a range of issues from...

Before he died May 4 from complications stemming from pancreatic cancer and a stroke, former GOP Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah asked his wife, Joyce, and son, Jim, if there were any Muslims in his hospital. If so, he wanted to "go up to every single one of them to thank them for being in this country, and apologize to them on behalf of the Republican Party for Donald Trump." Joyce and Jim Bennett shared this story with The Daily Beast, as well as other tales involving his disgust with "Donald Trump's xenophobia" and proposal to ban Muslims from...

The U.S. Army announced Tuesday that accused deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's court-martial is delayed until Feb. 6, 2017. This seven-month delay comes as the respective legal counsels filed their motions Tuesday morning at Fort Bragg, N.C. His court-martial had been scheduled for Aug. 8. Army Judge Col. Jeffery Nance presided over the 35-minute hearing, discussing dates and specific legal motions with attorneys. Charges against Bergdahl include desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Stars and Stripes reported the delay gives attorneys time to pore through classified documents that may contain evidence.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) -- Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off his combat outpost in Afghanistan and spent five years in captivity, will be court-martialed under a new commander-in-chief. A military judge decided Tuesday to delay Bergdahl's trial from August until February to provide time for resolving disputes over the defense team's access to classified documents.

Secretary of State John Kerry is planning to attend the preliminary foreign ministers' meeting that France is convening in advance of a French-sponsored Middle East peace conference, Haaretz reported Monday. The Palestine Liberation Organization's Saeb Erekat told the newspaper that Kerry has told Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he plans to attend the summit, to take place in Paris on May 30. At this stage, however, State Department officials will not confirm that Kerry will be attending the foreign ministers' meeting, and Washington has been reluctant to express support for the French initiative. For his part, Erekat told Haaretz...

Pres. Obama said that Nordic countries would make the world “more secure and more prosperous” if "we" would just let them run things. Welcoming the leaders of Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland to the White House on Friday, Obama said that, if “we” let Nordic countries control the world, that “they could clean things up”: “So I really do believe that the world would be more secure and more prosperous if we just had more partners like our Nordic countries. There have been times where I’ve said, why don’t we just put all these small countries in charge for...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Saudi Arabia's King Salman in Jeddah on Sunday to discuss the fragile truce in Syria, before broader talks with Russia, Iran and other countries in Vienna on Tuesday. Kerry has said he hopes to strengthen a "cessation of hostilities" agreement between Syrian government forces and rebels, which has been undermined by fighting in some areas, and to increase humanitarian aid deliveries to besieged areas. On Friday, he said the meetings with the king and the Saudi interior and defense ministers - the two most senior princes - would try "to make sure that...

Former CIA Director David Petraeus on Friday called out politicians who are spreading “anti-Muslim bigotry” in a Washington Post op-ed. Petraeus wrote that he was concerned about “proposals from various quarters for blanket discrimination against people on the basis of their religion,” an implicit shot at presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country. “Some justify these measures as necessary to keep us safe — dismissing any criticism as ‘political correctness,’ ” Petraeus wrote. “Others play down such divisive rhetoric as the excesses of political campaigns here and in Europe, which...

Secretary of State John Kerry took a shot at Donald Trump during his Friday commencement speech at Northeastern University, by saying no wall is big enough to keep dangerous terrorists out of the United States. "Many of you were in elementary school when you learned the toughest lesson of all on 9/11," he said. "There are no walls big enough to stop people from anywhere, tens of thousands of miles away, who are determined to take their own lives while they target others." "So I think that everything that we've lived and learn tells us that we will never come...

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton said Sunday no one from the FBI had contacted her yet over the investigation into her private email server as secretary of state. "No one has reached out to me yet, but last summer, I think last August, I made it clear I'm more than ready to talk to anybody, any time," she said on Face The Nation. "And I've encouraged all of my assistants to be very forthcoming, and I hope that this is close to being wrapped up." [Snip] "I say what I've said now for many, many months," Clinton said. "It's a security...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told college graduates on Friday their diversity is “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare” and it’s their job to confront global issues ranging from terrorism to climate change. […] “You really do look spectacular,” Kerry told the (Northeastern University) graduates. “I want you to just look around you. Classmates from every race, religion, gender, shape, size. Eighty-five countries represented and dozens of languages spoken. You are the most diverse class in Northeastern’s history. In other words, you are Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” […] A Department of State spokesman said Kerry’s comment about Trump was only a...

I congratulate Donald Trump on securing his place as the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee. There is no doubt that he successfully tapped into the deep sense of anger and frustration so many Americans around the country rightfully feel today. The tremendous anger of the current U.S. electorate – whether Republican, Democrat or independent – is a result of people fearful about the future, concerned with the direction of our country and tremendously frustrated by the abject failure and inability of leaders in Washington, D.C. to make anything better. American voters have made it clear that Washington is broken, but I’m...

Eric Odom, a Wisconsin-based political consultant, said the soon-to-be-candidate feels “betrayed” by Ryan’s positions on trade and immigration. “It’s very personal for him,” he told the Washington Times. “He intends to run a full-scale candidacy that will shake up the establishment in a profound way.” Odom revealed the unnamed challenger has donated to the nine-term congressman, but feels it is time for a change.

in order for Kerry to get Syria and Russian to relax, they need to tell Hussein Obama's freedom fighter to stop attacking too: Washington and Moscow said on Monday they were working hard to extend a truce in Syria to Aleppo, the divided northern city where a sharp escalation of violence in recent weeks has left a ceasefire in tatters and torpedoed peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Geneva for meetings with other dignitaries to try to revive the two-month-old U.S. and Russia-sponsored cessation of hostilities, which quieted guns for the first time during the five-year...

"From our standpoint, it’s not a good thing," Clapper said of accelerated advancements in encryption technology. Whistle-blower Edward Snowden, by leaking classified data two years ago, contributed to the acceleration of sophisticated encryption methods that militants are using to hide their communications, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Monday. The rapid advancement of commercially available encryption software is proving to be a difficult obstacle in detecting potential threats, he said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "From our standpoint, it's not a good thing," he said of the rapidly advancing encryption, adding that the software has had...

<p>Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that Russia had moved heavy artillery into position outside Aleppo in northern Syria, raising new concerns that a partial cease-fire will come undone.</p> <p>Russia’s military buildup, described by Mr. Kerry in a meeting with The New York Times editorial board, came on the same day that talks in Geneva aimed at finding a political resolution to the years of civil war began to break down.</p>

Jane Fonda has warned 'there will be violence' if Hillary Clinton is elected president in November. The actress and social activist warned that the former Secretary of State would face backlash from the nation's 'toxic masculinity' if she were to become the first female President of the United States. [Snip] 'One of the things we have to do is help men understand why they are so threatened, and change the way we view masculinity. We have a toxic masculinity and that's what needs to be addressed.' The two-time Academy Award winner became, who is a prominent supporter of feminist causes,...

On April 11, John Kerry became the first Secretary of State to pay his respects to at Hiroshima’s memorial to those who died when the atomic bomb was dropped on that city on August 6, 1945. That event, and the dropping of a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9, brought a victorious and rapid end to World War II, and a Japanese surrender 6 days after Nagasaki, saving potentially millions of casualties on both sides if the U.S. had been forced to invade the Japanese home islands. Kerry’s statement during the visit, as reported by...