Free Republic

Iran’s clerical leadership, under “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali HoseiniKhamene‘i, is expected to make rapid, significant, and symbolic responses to the targeted killing in Baghdad on January 3, 2019, of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani. It seems unlikely that the Iranian response would initially be to launch a military assault on Israel, which it has been planning, but, rather, something which could target the oil production and exports of the US’ key allies in the region: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, in particular (but not exclusively). The event was not only decisive for...

Senate Democratic leadership is urging President Trump to declassify the official war powers notification he submitted to Congress regarding the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani via a drone strike. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez wrote a letter Sunday to Mr. Trump asking him to release the notification that was transmitted to Congress this weekend. The letter to the president was made public on Monday. “It is critical that national security matters of such import be shared with the American people in a timely manner,” Mr. Schumer and Mr. Menendez wrote. “An entirely classified notification is simply not...

Former Obama administration housing chief Julián Castro is endorsing Elizabeth Warren’s presidential bid, saying the Massachusetts senator is “the most qualified, best-equipped candidate to win the nomination” and defeat President Donald Trump. In an online video posted Monday featuring the two former 2020 White House rivals, Castro tells Warren, “No one is working harder than you.” The pair had remained friendly during months of campaigning. Castro, also the former mayor of San Antonio, dropped out of the presidential race last week. The Iowa caucuses that kick off the Democratic primary are less than a month away. Warren’s campaign announced minutes...

As the next General Assembly is set to open January 8, pro-abortion leaders in the Senate and House are making good on their promise to push a radical agenda in the legislature In VirginiaÂ’s November election, Democrats won the majority of seats in both the state House and Senate. With Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam at the helm, the state is blue for the first time in 26 years.Lead Democratic candidates campaigned on a radical abortion platform, promising to make abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy accessible and remove other restrictions. Abortion-related groups were the second-largest single-interest donor category in...

In 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense released a report warning that by 2020, major European cities would be under water, Britain would be plunged into a "Siberian" climate and the world would be teetering on anarchy, with mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting. The secret Pentagon report, the Observer reported at the time, was, suppressed by American defense chiefs, noted John Nolte of Breitbart News. The report said abrupt climate change could bring the world to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. "Disruption and conflict will...

Opinion by Dan Wos Author – Good Gun Bad Guy Anti-Gunners may be suffering from “Delusional Disorder.” Red Flags Law Kill USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- The irrational fear of guns, perpetuated by the anti-gun left, has worked its way into our society in such a way that causes people to take extreme action on situations that exist only in their minds. Often times, when guns are the topic of discussion, those of the anti-gun mindset, believe their fantasies over the stark contrast of what is actually occurring in the real world. It’s so bad that the mere photo of a gun,...

Sentiments among Iranian social media users appear to be dramatically divided over the targeted killing of IRGC Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani. Most of the debate revolves around the variations in the characterization of the man and the way his life ended. The debate is whether he was "the world's biggest terrorist" as President Donald Trump has said or "a national hero" and "an icon" as many Iranians, even some of the opponents of the Islamic Republic seem to believe. Another aspect of the online debate is about whether he has been "Killed, martyred, or assassinated." Some Iranian Twitter users...

2020 is here, and many people are excited about starting a new decade. Yet for those who watch Social Security's financial condition, New Year's Day just means we're a year closer to the challenges facing the key government program.This year is likely to be the last one that Social Security manages to keep its spending under a key psychological level. Starting in 2021, the amount of money that the Social Security Administration spends on benefits for retirees and survivors of retired workers will exceed $1 trillion for the first time -- and that's just the beginning of an upward surge...

Europe's Airbus has become the world's biggest plane maker this year as its US rival Boeing struggles to get its bestselling MAX jets back in the skies. Airbus — which has trailed Boeing since 2012 — delivered a record 863 aircraft in 2019, Reuters news agency reported, citing airport and tracking sources. Boeing, on the other hand, had delivered just 345 planes by the end of November and is on course for its worst performance in more than a decade, mainly hurt by the grounding of the MAX aircraft. The US plane maker delivered 806 aircraft in 2018, slightly more...

D.C. is all worked up over the killing of Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s top military operator. Democrats, driven by anti-Trump madness, have taken to eulogizing Soleimani. That’s insane. Meanwhile, D.C. Republicans are ecstatic about the killing.Soleimani certainly deserved it. During the heyday of the Shiite uprising in Iraq, his forces were responsible for bombs that killed countless American servicemembers. It’s good that he is dead.Soleimani was hit because Iranian proxies were behind recent attacks in Iraq, including one that killed an American contractor. The White House hopes this will warn Iran that America means business, and that Iran will cease...

The remains of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military commander killed in a US drone strike, were apparently placed in a cardboard box and flown out of Iraq across rows of passenger seats, new video shows. The recording shot aboard a Mahan Air flight and posted on Twitter appears to show Soleimani’s coffin and those of others killed in the attack on an Airbus from Mashhad to Mehrabad Airport in Tehran — as a tribute video plays on one of the plane’s screens. Babak Taghvaee, who describes himself as a defense analyst and freelance writer, posted the video Sunday on Twitter....

“A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:17 KJV).

Bruce Ohr, the highest-ranking Obama Justice Department official to involve himself in distributing the anti-Trump dossier, carried out his freelancing through numerous meetings, phone calls and emails as a link between the FBI and Hillary Clinton forces. He told a colleague that the Russia election scandal reached the top — Donald Trump. It was his “duty as a citizen” to spread the unverified allegations around town, he said. During all of Mr. Ohr’s maneuverings, from the summer of 2016 to Mr. Trump’s election to the fall of 2017, he hid the operation from his bosses. When Mr. Ohr’s name surfaced...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote a letter to her Democrat colleagues in the House on Sunday to reveal a new “War Powers Resolution” that amounts to a pre-emptive surrender to Iran in ongoing hostilities. Pelosi’s letter begins with the declaration that President Donald Trump’s airstrike last week targeting Iranian General Qasem Suleimani, leader of the terrorist Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) Quds Force, responsible for the murders of hundreds of Americans and for recent attacks on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, was “provocative and disproportionate,” terms suggesting the attack was illegal under international law and could constitute...

NBC News continues to bury its credibility by promoting MSNBC liberal anchor Stephanie Ruhle to be their new senior business correspondent. Page Six reported NBC News’ decision to elevate Ruhle Jan. 2, stating that the notoriously anti-Trump journo “will appear across their flagship shows including ‘Today’ and ‘NBC Nightly News.’” This is the same anchor who got a Chris Matthews-like “thrill” up the leg for “astute,” and “very powerful” Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-CA) role in President Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings after she dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary late last year. Ruhle drooled: “This is going to be her...

Officials have not released his name, but friends identified the pilot as Wayne Richards. The aircraft, a home-built TM-1 Thunder Mustang, was registered under his name. "Very sweet, very loving and very active in the community," Jennifer Pearl said of her fellow pilot. "It’s a big loss." He was the only occupant of the plane that plummeted near the Newhall Avenue off-ramp just after 10 a.m. Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The aircraft had taken off from Van Nuys Airport, according to the FAA. "He had flames coming out of his motor... It looked like he...

The report established that the special counselÂ’s office was complicit in the FISA abuse, the probe was a witch hunt, and its report was a cover-up for systematic government malfeasance. Shortly after the release of the special counsel report last year, I posited that Robert MuellerÂ’s failure to investigate whether Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election by feeding dossier author Christopher Steele disinformation established that Mueller was either incompetent or a political hack. Now, with the release of the inspector generalÂ’s report on FISA abuse, we know the answer: He was both.The IGÂ’s report on the U.S. Department of...

FRISCO, Texas -- Mike McCarthy will be the ninth head coach in the history of the Dallas Cowboys, a source confirmed to ESPN. The news was first reported by Fox Sports. McCarthy stayed at the home of Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones on Saturday night, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter. "Once you stay at Jerry's house, he doesn't lose his guy," the source said. McCarthy replaces Jason Garrett, who went 85-67 as Dallas' coach from 2010 to 2019, with the hope that McCarthy can do for the Cowboys what he did for another storied franchise -- win a Super...

A ‘population overage’ EDITOR: While our global warming crisis is very real, it is only a symptom of the pervasive effects of population growth. It ought to be obvious, for example, that our so-called housing shortage is actually a population overage, and that the housing developments being readied as resolution will exacerbate climate degradation. Our flawed society, interpreting us as superior to nature and fabricating an economic system based on perpetual growth, cann only leave us confused and unable to fully grasp our dire circumstances. The truth that we have historically clung to was never real, and those chickens are...

Imagine trying to punish Donald Trump by making it easier for him to withdraw American troops from a Middle Eastern country.Next they’ll penalize him by greenlighting construction of a new Trump hotel and casino in downtown Baghdad. The headline is true, Iraq’s parliament did technically approve a resolution this morning that could potentially lead to U.S. troops being withdrawn. But read the fine print. It was only the Shiite MPs who showed up to vote; the Sunni and Kurdish members, totaling not quite half the chamber, boycotted despite threats from Iranian-sponsored militias that anyone who declined to support the...