Free Republic

FBI Director Christopher Wray on April 18 warned national security and intelligence experts, as well as students, that risks the government of China poses to U.S. national and economic security are “upon us now”—and that U.S. critical infrastructure is a prime target. “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage, and that its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic and break America’s will to resist,” he said in...

Guest columnist Perry Pendley writes, "Denver will spend $180 million, 10% of its annual budget, giving illegal immigrants housing, food, and other services. As they push its illegal immigrant problem off on other jurisdictions, Wyoming should expect illegal aliens heading north to Cheyenne and Laramie." Like most Americans, Wyomingites are horrified by the nation’s illegal immigration crisis; it is their number one issue says a new public opinion poll. Once a concern of Texans and south westerners, it is now a national problem; after all, the sight at the border of hordes of single, military-aged men from scores of countries...

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. defense-industrial base is not ready for a battle over Taiwan, as it would run out of key long-range, precision-guided munitions in less than one week, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.U.S. military aid to Ukraine has helped prevent a Russian victory against the neighboring nation, but that assistance has depleted Pentagon stockpiles and shown that the American defense industry cannot surge for a major war, the think tank found.“As the war in Ukraine illustrates, a war between major powers is likely to be a protracted, industrial-style conflict that needs...

Tsk, tsk. Donald Trump’s effort to reset his campaign following defeat in Wisconsin showed no signs of paying off this weekend, as a series of technical failures by his campaign set his hopes back even further. From Thursday to Saturday, Trump suffered setbacks in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina and Indiana that raise new doubts about his campaign’s preparedness for the long slog of delegate hunting as the GOP race approaches a possible contested convention. He lost the battle on two fronts. Cruz picked up 28 pledged delegates in Colorado. In the other states, rival campaigns were able to place...

Veteran political strategist and informal adviser for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump Roger Stone warns on Breitbart News Daily that the loss in Wisconsin should be a “wakeup call” for the Trump campaign, which he says should invest in campaign infrastructure to sew up the party’s nomination. “It’s an early wakeup call, as it were, for the Trump campaign,” Stone, who predicted earlier that Trump would lose Wisconsin, tells Stephen K. Bannon. Trump’s campaign has been fueled, from the beginning, with these hot button issues and an extraordinary communications-based strategy, where you utilize these huge rallies, the incredible media coverage they...

Sen. Rand Paul R-Ky. delivered an effective speech at Howard University, even though he rhetorically stumbled at points. The audience was mostly silent through Paul’s prepared speech, which highlighted traditional Republican policies such as school choice, free markets, and limited government. Paul’s more libertarian ideas, however, appeared to resonate with the audience, as they applauded for his views on reduced jail penalties for non-violent drug users and a more humble foreign policy. “Republicans are often miscast as uncaring or condemning of kids who make bad choices,” Paul said. “I, for one, plan to change that.” Paul admitted that Republicans had...

But Bin Laden, who was killed in a Navy SEALs raid a year ago this week, still believed his fragmented organization could deliver a horrific blow to the U.S. He wrote that he wanted to target airplanes carrying President Obama and Army Gen. David Petraeus, at the time the leader of the American military effort in Afghanistan. Bin Laden wrote that a successful assassination would propel an “utterly unprepared” Vice President Biden into the Oval Office and send the United States spiraling into chaos.

Daily Mail The U.S. Army's Combating Terrorism Center posted an explosive report early this morning that contains what are the last letters Osama bin Laden wrote before the raid that killed him a year ago.  The biggest bombshell is this: He wanted to target planes that Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus to promote the "utterly unprepared" Joe Biden to the office of presidency.From the letter bin Laden authored, the mission was of "anticipating and spotting the visits of Obama or Petraeus to Afghanistan or Pakistan to target the aircraft of either one of them." They are not to target...

Osama bin Laden aimed to assassinate President Barack Obama but directed fellow al-Qaida fighters to leave Vice President Joe Biden alone, describing him as "totally unprepared" to take over and predicting a "crisis" in America if that happened, according to a newly declassified letter from the terrorist mastermind. In the missive, part of a trove of documents seized by Navy SEALs in the raid that killed bin Laden one year ago, bin Laden asks for an update on a plan to kill Obama or Gen. David Petraeus either in Pakistan or at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. (Obama made a...

We got over 226 comments when we asked you, "What's the most frugal thing your dad ever did?" You guys have some really crafty pops. Your stories were humorous, heartfelt, and inspiring. I seriously got misty reading some of them. Others made me fearful for how our generation of young men will ever live up to what these heroes of frugality and grit did on a daily basis. Here are 16 of the best. 1. "My Dad would melt down the last part of the deodorant stick from multiple different deodorants to create a deodorant Frankenstein of sorts..." - PhiTauBill...

Great compilation video of Obama showing up late to vote PRESENT and admitting to being unprepared time after time... Video

MUMBAI: The state constabulary was grossly unprepared to deal with the worst-ever terror attacks on the metropolis because of an acute shortage of weapons and ammunition. Official records show that for a force of well over 1.8 lakh, the home department procured a meagre 2,221 weapons — 577 for Mumbai, and 1,644 for the rest of Maharashtra. ‘‘Under the centrally sponsored modernisation programme, we purchased almost all types of weapons, but for a state like Maharashtra, the number of weapons was grossly inadequate ,’’ a senior official told TOI on Monday. In the absence of a firing range and of...

Link to video (5 seconds long) Interviewer: What do you think about all the talk about [Barak Obama] running for President? Michelle Obama: It's way to soon. He hasn't done anything yet.

There is an urgent problem that Britain's Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy share: Both forces are dangerously inadequate in today's geopolitical environment. And the immediacy of this challenge is being overlooked. We need to move past the all too comfortable approach of talking about those shortfalls of naval force levels as if they are approaching problems. The problems are here now, and the situations' seriousness should be clear to anyone who can count, has access to a globe, recognizes that not all of a nation's naval units can be deployed simultaneously and grasps the fact that even the most...

Despite California's history of disasters, state government is underprepared for a catastrophic earthquake, flood, pandemic or terrorist attack, an independent agency warns. Sweeping changes in the bureaucracy are needed to bolster readiness, the Little Hoover Commission said in a report that was sharply critical of the leadership in Sacramento. "Prevention and mitigation efforts are lacking, California's response plans are inadequate and the state has no recovery plans to guide rebuilding," concluded the commission, an independent state agency that helps make state government more effective. But Eric Lamoureux, spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Services, said the state is already...

Former Gov. Gray Davis now admits he was unprepared for the 2000-01 energy crisis that sent electricity bills soaring, brought rolling blackouts and ultimately helped bring an early end to his political career. Davis, recalled by voters in an unprecedented move, was replaced by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2003, a year after Davis had won a second term. The former Democratic governor said he erred by buying power at inflated rates during the height of the crisis, but said he acted because he "wasn't willing to risk" sustained blackouts. "Did it turn out to be a mistake? Yes," Davis...

<p>The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education projects that Hispanics will account for 21 percent of the country's public high school graduates in 2008, up from 17 percent in 2002.</p> <p>The commission found that nearly 5 million Hispanics were enrolled in the country's public elementary and high schools in 1993-94. And by the 2007-08 school year, it projects that Latino public school enrollment will be about 9 million.</p>

Tuesday, 12 November, 2002, 13:06 GMTFBI 'unprepared for new attacks' Critics say the FBI is failing to get enough information A senior American senator has said the FBI is unprepared to prevent new terror strikes on US soil. They still don't know where the terrorists are, how many are here, what their intentions are, what kind of support network they have Senator Bob Graham Senator Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Washington Post that the bureau lacked knowledge of any domestic terror network. Senator Graham is said to have been briefed regularly on the Federal Bureau...

WASHINGTON -- The United States remains "dangerously unprepared" to deal with another major terrorist attack, said a report by former top government officials, academics and business leaders. "In all likelihood, the next attack will result in even greater casualties and widespread disruption to American lives and the economy" than the Sept. 11 attacks, said the task force chaired by former Sens. Gary Hart, D-Colo., and Warren Rudman, R-N.H. The report was released late Thursday. Because a year has passed without a major terrorist attack against the United States, the report says, "there are already signs that Americans are lapsing back...

America's nuclear plants are unprepared for modern-day, large-scale terrorist attacks, according to one member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. But a government takeover of security at the nation's nuclear facilities is opposed both by the nuclear power industry and by the federal agency charged with regulating it. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) released Monday what he called "a blistering, scalding indictment of the inadequacies that exist" in both federal and private industry efforts to secure nuclear facilities. "Black hole after black hole is described and left un-addressed," Markey said, announcing the issuance of his report. "Post 9/11, a nuclear...