Free Republic

WASHINGTON — THE fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday, and of the Syrian city of Palmyra on Wednesday, is a big gain for the Islamic State, but not an utter disaster, as many observers fear. Rather than inducing panic in Western capitals, it should lead to a realistic assessment of the Islamic State’s strengths and weaknesses. One setback in a long war must not trigger hasty strategic shifts that lead to foreign countries’ becoming mired in Iraq once more. Palmyra has economic and cultural significance, as it sits among gas fields and is home to renowned ruins....

Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson says the government is growing increasingly savvy at evading reporters through the use of social media and other avenues to push “their propaganda and spin.” Speaking at a Hillsdale College conference on American journalism, the Emmy Award-winning journalist and Daily Signal senior independent contributor called out the press for going soft in pursuit of the truth.Attkisson said that “unless something pretty drastic happens, it stands to continue and get worse no matter who is president next.”The author of “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington” said it’s...

Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson said the Obama administration has been producing its own video content to promote “unfiltered” messages with taxpayer-funded staff, including hairstylists, makeup artists and wardrobe consultants. By cutting out the news media, Attkisson said the White House has figured out how to avoid questions and accountability. She also revealed that the Department of Agriculture has more than 1,200 “media relations employees” nationwide. “White House officials have exploited non-news media to spoon-feed unfiltered messaging, at times pure propaganda, into the public’s mouth. The Google-sponsored chat I mentioned – that came with a pre-selected audience and questions...

2014 was, according to NOAA and NASA, the warmest year on record for the entire world. Locally, it was also the hottest year in California’s history. The world’s climate is changing, at least according to science and data. 2014 was also the year of Frozen, Disney’s animated musical blockbuster about two sisters and a snowman (more or less), amassing over $1.2 billion in worldwide box office receipts and billions more from countless sing-a-long showings, DVD sales, and merchandise since its November 2013 release. And now, in 2015, we’re learning where these two seemingly disparate facts intersect: the State Department’s Admiral...

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that the Obama administration has pulled the nation from the depths of the “Great Recession” with the creation of 7.2 million private sector jobs. … Here’s what Mr. Carney didn’t say: Since February of 2009, the first full month of Obama’s presidency, 9.5 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force. Nearly 90 million Americans are not working today! That means that 1.3 Americans have dropped out of the labor force for every one job the administration claims to have created. …

WASHINGTON (AP) — A photo of the Obamas hugging that was released on Election Day 2012 has become the world’s most popular tweet on Twitter. A dressed-up version of Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, packed with charts and graphs, is huge on YouTube. A playful picture of the president cavorting with a 3-year-old in a Spiderman costume is a favorite online.