Free Republic

President Donald Trump ousted John Bolton in part due to frustration with his third national security adviser’s guidance to pair military power with economic pressure against Venezuela, according to current and former administration officials. One senior administration official said that Trump had grown weary of repeated vows from Bolton that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be out of office in short order. A second official said that they had clashed over Bolton’s efforts to advance planning for military intervention. That official pointed to the administration’s national security strategy, which predated Bolton’s tenure and called for “strong diplomatic engagement” to isolate...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, argued that his support for "democratic socialism" is not the same as the form of socialism that the government has imposed in countries such as Venezuela and Cuba. Sanders made his comments during the presidential debate on Thursday evening. The senator was asked why he hasn't called Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro a dictator and if his socialist policy proposals are different from the socialist policies in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. "Anybody who does what Maduro does is a vicious tyrant. What we need now is international and regional cooperation for free elections...

While things have calmed somewhat regarding President Trump and immigration (I mean, his Sharpie pen on a hurricane map IS vastly important), Florida Democrats are trying to build the importance of that issue back up, and it's with an eye on the demographic map. Thinking they've found a wedge to finally strip away the dependable Cuban vote from the red team, Democratic pols and their pals in the press are loudly crowing about "the GOP deportations" to Cuba. At issue is that President Trump has shown a willingness to send back some illegal residents to the island nation. Dems believe...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Blames Marxism for Rising Persecution of Catholics in Nicaragua Bp. Juan Abelardo Mata accuses papal nuncio of being 'used' by the regime MANAGUA, Nicaragua (ChurchMilitant.com) - Nicaragua's most outspoken bishop has accused the country's "demonic" Marxist regime of persecuting the Catholic Church and of "murders and crimes against humanity." Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata, bishop of Estelí, 73, reputed to be the "toughest" bishop of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, attacked President Daniel Ortega's dictatorship for "using" papal nuncio Abp. Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag in the Second National Dialogue, which was later suspended. In a Spanish interview, Mata, who "has spent his entire...

Doug Ogden doesn’t know what to do. The 75-year-old retired law enforcement officer is disgusted by President Donald Trump. But he can’t imagine voting for a Democrat in 2020, either. A self-described independent in South Carolina, Ogden doesn’t recognize the modern-day Democratic Party. “The state of the Democratic Party is wild against wilder,” says Ogden, standing with his arms crossed at a recent town hall meeting for Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. “It scares me.” At the core of Ogden’s concern is a broader question about the direction of the Democratic Party and its values in the age of Trump....

Bernie Sanders wants to do the same things to the U.S. that Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro did to Venezuela Bernie Sanders has described his proposals for the Green New Deal on his website. (Original, archive.)And here is a link to a blog post that I wrote about the things that Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro did in Venezuela. It includes links to verify each and every one of my claims.The two things are very similar in many ways.Both Chavez’s and Sander’s plans call for massive government control of the agricultural, energy, transportation, manufacturing, construction, and steel industries.Both plans call for...

A top American diplomat said the United States would not prosecute or otherwise seek to punish President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela if he voluntarily left power, despite bringing his country to the verge of economic collapse and humanitarian disaster. Elliott Abrams, the State Department’s special envoy for Venezuela, said he had seen no indication that Mr. Maduro was willing to step down. But his offer of amnesty was a message to Mr. Maduro after both countries’ leaders described high-level talks that Mr. Abrams unequivocally said did not happen. “This is not a persecution,” Mr. Abrams said of Mr. Maduro on...

Two U.S. senators say that they were denied visas as part of an official delegation to Russia for talks with their counterparts in the country's parliament. Amid tensions over arms control, human rights, and Russian aggression in Ukraine, Venezuela, and Syria, it's a sign of the frayed ties between Washington and Moscow, despite President Donald Trump's consistent calls for better relations with President Vladimir Putin's government -- including its readmission to the G-7. Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut were scheduled to leave on their trip next week, according to aides, with stops in Ukraine,...

U.S. MarinesUS Marines Will ‘Have Problem Getting Out' of Venezuela Alive if They Enter, Key Maduro Ally Warns 17:36 28.07.2019(updated 17:47 28.07.2019) On Saturday, Venezuela’s armed forces reported that US aircraft had violated the country’s airspace, continuing a trend seen since January, when opposition figure Juan Guaido proclaimed himself ‘interim president.’ Earlier, the Pentagon said that a US Navy ship would be moving “very close” to Venezuela in the coming days, sparking invasion fears. Venezuela is prepared to wage “absolute war” with the US if Washington makes a decision to attack it, Diosdado Cabello, president of the Constituent Assembly and...

The problem with Joe Biden isn't that he's a leftist. Every single Democrat is. No, the real problem with this guy is that he clearly has no idea what he's talking about. Politics, history, race relations... it doesn't matter. Imagine a subject and realize: Biden has little to no knowledge about it. That would be perfectly fine if he were, say, a truck driver. Sadly, however, Biden is a) a former senator, b) a former vice president and c) the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. As we reported yesterday, Biden was in New Hampshire on Friday to promote his...

“This project (the 100 page “1619 Project” published by the New York Times magazine) is, above all, an attempt to set the record straight. To finally, in this 400th year, tell the truth about who we are as a people and who we are as a nation…On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment (a ship containing slaves landing in Virginia) it is finally time to tell our story truthfully.” (The New York Times, Aug. 18th) "Out of slavery -- and the anti-black racism it required -- grew nearly everything that has truly made America exceptional: its economic might, its...

A recent pilgrimage by a “delegation” of three Chicago schoolteachers to Venezuela in a show of support for dictator Nicolas Maduro is a reminder that you truly cannot fix stupid. A stubborn strain of obtuseness runs through humanity that apparently no real-world demonstration of socialism’s horrors can eliminate. The saddest aspect of this spectacle, perhaps, is that the chosen vocation of these pathetic diehards extolling Maduro’s madness is educating America’s youth. Despite a century’s experience in the abject failure of socialism’s economic policies, the mass slaughter that invariably accompanies it, and the societal wreckage left in its wake; there always...

As Zika virus raced through the Americas and the Caribbean in 2015 and 2016, it infected an estimated 800,000 people and left nearly 4000 newborns with serious brain damage. But by mid-2017, the virus had all but disappeared from the region—or so it seemed. A new analysis of Zika-infected travelers who returned to the United States or Europe in 2017 or 2018 has found that 98% had visited Cuba, which did not report any cases to world health officials at the time the country’s outbreak apparently peaked. “It was startling,” says Kristian Andersen, a genomic epidemiologist at Scripps Research in...

Yesterday we talked about an Associated Press report claiming that the United States has been in secret discussions with some of the most senior members of the Venezuelan socialist party. The suggestion was that we were offering some of these thugs assurances that they wouldn’t be prosecuted for anything if they turned their backs on dictator Nicolas Maduro and hastened his exit from office. Well, now that the cat is out of the bag, both Maduro and President Trump are confirming that the story is true. (AP) President Donald Trump said Tuesday his government is talking to “various representatives” of...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The U.S. has opened up secret communications with Venezuela’s socialist party boss as members of President Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face retribution if they cede to growing demands to remove him, a senior U.S. administration official has told The Associated Press. Diosdado Cabello, who is considered the most-powerful man in Venezuela after Maduro, met last month in Caracas with someone who is in close contact with the Trump administration, said the official. A second meeting is in the works but has not yet taken place. The AP is withholding the intermediary’s name...

The United States is working to help end Venezuela’s suffering under socialism. Earlier this month, President Trump imposed an embargo on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s socialist regime, and last month the House of Representatives voted to grant Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans in the U.S. Most of those voting in favor of TPS were Democrats, and unfortunately, most Republicans opposed the measure. The GOP is looking at this issue all wrong. Of course, it’s true that Democrats are pushing for TPS to gain popularity with Venezuelan Americans frightened by their increasingly socialist rhetoric. But, for Republicans, supporting TPS for Venezuelans...

The Russian and Venezuelan defense ministries have agreed to expand the cooperation between their navies. At a meeting in Moscow on Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and his Venezuelan counterpart Vladimir Podrino Lopez signed an agreement to allow visits by military vessels. As part of the agreement, the Venezuelan ports will be opened to the Russian Navy, effectively enabling Russia to acquire a naval base in Latin America. Since December 2017, Russia has had a similar agreement with Syria, which allowed Russia to deploy as many as 10 ships and two submarines in the Mediterranean Sea at the peak...

In 2019, Muslim Brotherhood affiliates participate openly in America's political process, in the country they wish to destroy. Emgage Foundation's CEO Wa'el Alzayat has published an announcement of the to take place in Houston, Texas on August 31, with the following enthusiastic invitation: "On behalf of Emgage, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) are THRILLED to announce that Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro will be participating at the ISNA Presidential Forum on August 31, in Houston, Texas. Their attendance will mark the first and long...

Hundreds of the millions in the United States illegally are in the custody of.... 680 is the number of established by ICE of those originally arrested but now some 300 are freed.... "The same Democrat Party that has left places like Jackson, Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston to suffer under the tyranny of violent criminals wants us to believe they have the solution to mass shootings" That's part of the latest message from 2020 Republican US Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore in Alabama who's also noting that many in the Republican Party seem to be moving in the direction...

Bernie Sanders said it’s a “good thing” when people have to wait in line for food. Meanwhile, in the real world, this is what it’s actually like to wait in line for food in Venezuela. Bernie Sanders said that it’s a “good thing” when people have to wait in line for food.These are his exact words:“It’s funny, sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is, cause people are lining up for food. That’s a good thing! In other countries people don’t line up for food: the rich get the food and the poor starve to death.”You can see him...