Free Republic

The U.S. ambassador to Israel on Monday sought to reassure Jewish leaders unnerved by the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran on that country's nuclear program. Ambassador Dan Shapiro insisted the U.S. would not let Iran develop a nuclear weapon even as it sought to reach a deal that could remove some sanctions on Iran. "Obama has made it crystal clear that he will not permit Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon period, and is prepared to use all elements of our national power to ensure that we are successful," Shapiro told the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly in...

Socialism: As the U.S. fixates on ObamaCare, south of our border another "free and universal" health care system is collapsing, according to a report from the Associated Press. It's an uneasy portent. The idea of free, universal health care has always seemed like a perfect solution. At least that was the thinking behind Venezuela's constitutionally enshrined "right" to free health care since 1999, winning the late President Hugo Chavez a lot of elections and seeming to be the logic behind ObamaCare. But post-Chavez, Venezuela's health care system is a shambles. Massive shortages of basic supplies plague both public and private...

Mid-East Prophecy Update - November 10th, 2013 Pastor JD talks about the prophetic implications of the ongoing U.S. push for a deal with Iran, while putting the last nail in the coffin of any support for Israel.

This was embarrassing– Sarah Palin ate Matt Lauer’s lunch on “The Today Show” this morning. Lauer tried over and over to get Sarah Palin to apologize for the Tea Party and conservative principles but instead – she threw it back in his face.“ What apology?’’ Palin said. “He kind of acknowledged a bit that there’s a broken website. The broken website is the least of America’s worries. This broken website I think is symbolic of a broken administration. Take over one-sixth of our economy and the socialized medicine that’s being crammed down our throat, that’s what’s broken. “Where do you...

A dramatic showdown is underway in the State of Washington, pitting Boeing against its largest labor union, the International Association of Machinists (IAM). If the union, voting Wednesday, rejects a proposed contract that includes lower health care benefits, Boeing is threatening to move production of its next generation airliner, the 777X, out of the Puget Sound region, to such locations as Charleston, SC (where it is assembling the new 787) or Texas, right-to-work states where the union's demands would hold no sway. The Washington State Legislature takes Boeing's threats very seriously, indeed. Boeing has long complained about the tax burden...

Two seniors from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington were placed on indefinite probation Sunday after pulling a gun to defended themselves when a six-time felon attempted to enter their apartment. [video at link]

'A 13-year-old boy who ran away to join up fought on the front line in the First World War until his mother sent his birth certificate to the War Office and pleaded that he should be sent home. Sidney Lewis, who has been recognised as Britain's youngest soldier to serve in the Great War, enlisted with the East Surrey Regiment in August 1915, five months after his 12th birthday, and was fighting on the Somme by the age of 13. But within weeks he was ordered home to his mother, Fanny Lewis, in Tooting, south London, after she told officials...

The Navy has suspended two admirals in a broadening bribery scandal that already has ensnared three senior naval officials. Involving charges of prostitution and payoffs, the scandal is the U.S. military’s highest-profile case of officer misconduct this year — part of a trend that has caused deep concern among Pentagon officials. The number of substantiated cases of misconduct has increased steadily since 2008, according to statistics by the Defense Department’s inspector general. The Navy is investigating Vice Adm. Ted Branch, director of naval intelligence, and Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, director of intelligence operations, on accusations of “illegal and improper relations”...

Aleksandra's Note:As the world marks Armistice Day November 11, 2013 and pays tribute to the heroes of World War One and thanks all veterans everywhere who have fought for noble and righteous causes, let us remember our great American ally Serbia, who stood up to the enemy and prevailed at great cost and sacrifice to her nation, her soldiers, and her civilians. Serbia, through all her trials and tribulations in the Great War, remained steadfastly on the side of the victorious Allies, committed to a noble cause and determined to survive and flourish despite the great efforts of the bully...

At Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Me., admissions officers are still talking about the high school senior who attended a campus information session last year for prospective students. Throughout the presentation, she apparently posted disparaging comments on Twitter about her fellow attendees, repeatedly using a common expletive. Perhaps she hadn’t realized that colleges keep track of their social media mentions. “It was incredibly unusual and foolish of her to do that,” Scott A. Meiklejohn, Bowdoin’s dean of admissions and financial aid, told me last week. The college ultimately denied the student admission, he said, because her academic record wasn’t competitive. But...

Uncertainty and struggle are what we most often associate with poverty. Not knowing if you can still afford to pay next month’s bills and worrying over how much more you can cut back when you’re already barely getting by. This way of life has become more associated with the middle class than with those at the very bottom. The statistic that shows that average black household worth is at $4,955 while average white household worth is at $110,729 is often quoted, but these numbers are not comparing similar things. The $110,729 and $4,955 don’t reflect different standards of living; but...

Many communities across the U.S. have problems getting reimbursed for sending ambulances to pick up patients, but for one community along the U.S.-Mexico border, the delinquent party is the federal government, which the city of Nogales says owes it hundreds of thousands of dollars for picking up immigrants. The Arizona city billed the federal government for hundreds of ambulance sorties dispatched to calls from federal agents when they find someone injured, but the government has paid less than 20 cents on the dollar — leaving Nogales to bear the burden of more than $250,000 in the past fiscal year alone.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Chicken from China has officials on alert, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) As WCBS 880’s Jim Smith reported Sunday, Schumer said first, the U.S. Department of Agriculture only allowed chickens that had been processed in China to be sold in the U.S. Now, he said the USDA plans to green-light poultry raised and slaughtered in China.

Even the most staunch, radical, "Blame Bush" Obama supporter - whether they will admit it publicly or not - has to know that the roll out of Obamacare has been a total, unadulterated disaster, a multi-billion dollar joke, an embarrassment and a crippling blow to America's already ailing image. President Obama is either a glib liar or the most uninformed president in the history of this and any other nation.

FRiends, it is my sincere belief (as someone not at all involved in the publicatioon or sale of the book, now a few years old) that B G Burkett's book, STOLEN VALOR: How the Vietnam Generation was robbed of its Heroes and its History ...Is one of the (three) most important books of this past decade. Who are so many of these ratty-fatigues "veterans" crowding The Wall? Who are the false "heroes?" Why are they all over America, at all levels? Why do so many non-vets get VA disabilities? Why will the media not expose these frauds? What is "PTSD?"...

Reflexively distrustful, eager to make powerful enemies, the young journalist whose Mercedes exploded in Los Angeles one night couldn’t possibly have died accidentally, could he? A t the end of his life, Michael Hastings, like many of the progressive journalists he counted among his friends, felt besieged by an overreaching government. Hastings was living in Los Angeles, and at a Beverly Hills theater in April, he took part in a panel discussion about the documentary War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State. Interviewed in May on The Young Turks, a talk show on Current TV, Hastings railed...

A new study suggests that the ban on ozone depleting chemicals may have also impacted the rise in global temperatures. CFC gases were responsible for a massive hole in the ozone layer, but they also had a powerful greenhouse effect. The authors link a ban on their use to a “pause” or slowdown in temperature increases since the mid 1990s. The research is published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The subject of a hiatus or standstill in global temperatures rises since 1998 has been the subject of intense debate among scientists, and it has been used as a key argument...

<p>The Boston Globe has a look back at Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz‘s three years as a student at Harvard Law from 1992 to 1995. It turns out largely unremarkable, as Cruz seems to be the exact same person then that he is today. But there were two curious anecdotes worth note.</p>

November 11th is designated as Veterans Day, when Americans say thank you to those who served and fulfilled their patriotic duty, preserving their fellow citizen's freedoms. It is a holiday that celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans; yet, those that fought in Vietnam have never received enough appreciation or recognition. American Thinker wants to dedicate this Veterans Day to all those who served during the Vietnam War. Those interviewed include veterans as well as authors whose recent books have included a shout-out to the Vietnam veterans. Those who fought in Vietnam dutifully served under horrendous conditions, many times...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — When calamity strikes, charity crosses religions. This was the case with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormon Church, joining hands with the Roman Catholic Church to distribute relief goods to earthquake victims in Bohol. The Latter-day Saint (LDS) Charities, the Mormon Church’s humanitarian arm, has vowed to help Catholics rebuild their Spanish-era churches that were destroyed by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Central Visayas on Oct. 15