Free Republic

Navy SEAL Who Killed Bin Laden Tells Buttigieg: ‘Stop Playing War Hero’ February 13, 2020 By Tristan Justice The former Navy SEAL responsible for killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden offered some harsh advice for Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who often touts his five months in Afghanistan on the presidential campaign trail. “My advice for Pete Buttigieg… Stop playing war hero. You’re gonna get called out,” wrote Robert O’Neill on Twitter.

Key Points China said it confirmed 15,152 new cases and 254 additional deaths and that those figures include the ones reported earlier by Hubei province. China’s Hubei province reported an additional 242 deaths and 14,840 new cases as of Feb. 12. The province said it is starting to include “clinically diagnosed” cases in its figures and that 13,332 of the new cases fall under that classification. =================================================================== All times below are in Beijing time. 6:03 pm: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi warns of first-quarter smartphone hit The chief executive of smartphone maker Xiaomi said the the disruption caused by the coronavirus...

Hundreds of F-35s could have the wrong fasteners in “critical areas,” according to the Defense Contract Management Agency. But F-35 builder Lockheed Martin says the problem may not need to be fixed. “All aircraft produced prior to discovery of this [problem] have titanium fasteners incorrectly installed in locations where the design calls for Inconel,” the F-35 Joint Program Office said in an email in response to a query from Air Force Magazine. “Because of this, the engineering safety analysis of the issue has assumed that each critical F-35 joint was assembled with the incorrect fasteners.” Inconel is an alloy of...

President Trump has already branded rival Michael Bloomberg as “Mini Mike." Now he’s dipping even deeper into his bag of put-downs. The insulter-in-chief reprised his most effective jibe from the 2016 primary campaign when he dissed the billionaire ex-mayor on Thursday “as a tiny version of Jeb “Low Energy” Bush. .

The annual César Awards, more commonly known as the “French Oscars,” are coming up in a couple of weeks and, as usual, it appears that the panel of judges still haven’t caught on to the whole #MeToo thing that’s been going on. When the big show takes place, the majority of the nominations have been given to convicted rapist and child predator Roman Polanski. He apparently released yet another film named “An Officer and a Spy” (or “J’accuse”) and the French critics can’t get enough of it.Thankfully, there are at least some folks across the pond who understand what...

A Jewish-American woman is suing the Harvard Club of New York City and a Harvard University professor for assault after she rose to ask a question following a presentation by a pro-Palestinian lecturer. The Harvard Club not only forced Vanesa Levine, 28, to leave the February 2019 event, but later rescinded her membership, she says. The social club was founded in 1887 and, according to its website, is intended to be a “warm and friendly place” for Harvard alumni to connect. In her complaint filed in New York state court at the end of last month, Levine alleges that Harvard...

The Washington Post in their article, "How peace plan could dispossess Arab Israelis" (2/9/20) has dispossessed and manipulated the truth. The Post uses a device called a "straw man argument" to indoctrinate its readers. In the article, which describes the recently proposed Trump administration peace deal, the Post states that "many [Israeli Arabs] say [the deal] would amount to a forced deportation from Israel, where their families have lived for generations." Who are these "many" individuals? Nonexistent straw men. No Israeli Arabs would be "deported" in the peace plan. The peace plan expressly states that no one would be deported,...

Pete Buttigieg rivals and critics attack his record on race relations and question whether the former mayor of a mid-sized, Midwestern town is up to the task of being the next commander in chief. After all, it seems that his racist past comes back to haunt him. Buttigieg has struggled mightily to attract support from voters of color, which could be a major issue for him once the calendar turns to more diverse states. Henry Davis Jr., a black member of the South Bend City Council, had a viral Twitter moment this weekend when he attacked Buttigieg for turning a...

From beginning to end, Robert Mueller and his squad used Roger Stone as an object lesson to frighten anyone who had high-level contact with the Trump campaign in the lead-up to and immediately after the election. Stone is not a savory character, but the treatment meted out to Stone, now 67, had a revolting aura of police state hanging about it from the start. Now, it turns out that this un-American police state set up a kangaroo trial to shuttle Stone into prison. The Mueller mob started its press against Stone in January 2019, when Stone, who ought to have...

When the phone rings, there’s a better chance than ever that a robocaller is on the other end, industry experts say: Automated calls are up 92% since 2017. More than half are legitimate calls -- from, say, your school district or doctor’s office, or politicians running for office (which you can expect more of in the months ahead). But about 44% of the estimated 59 billion robocalls made last year – approximately 26 billion – were placed by scammers, according to the Robocall Index, a national database of autodialed calls compiled by a company that sells services to block them....

Now that Bernie Sanders—once an obscure socialist senator from Vermont—is officially the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, it is time to confront what that means. It does not mean the U.S. is flirting with socialism. That’s not going to happen. The meaning of Bernie’s ascent is that the Democratic Party, older even than he is, has simply run out of gas. The Democrats resemble Europe’s aging political parties—Britain’s Labour, France’s Socialists, Germany’s Social Democrats and Christian Democrats. All have simply deflated with voters. Signs of public fatigue with the Democrats could be seen in Iowa and New Hampshire. Besides...

In Franklin County, Virginia, we have some upstanding young Americans who would be getting a movie deal now if they hadn’t been standing up for Old Glory. That still just makes it cooler. According to Virginia-based cable channel BTW21, a mother of one of the students at Franklin County High School said it began with her son realizing he was getting in trouble. “My son called me from school saying that he saw an administrator around his truck and is now being called to the office,” she said. The woman said her son and two of his friends were told...

...DOJ did not admit publicly ...how the current FBI Chief legal counsel Dana Boente participated in obtaining the April 2017 FISA (Carter Page) warrant.

Jill Filipovic is an opinion columnist for several left wing media outlets, including CNN.  Her latest column accuses Michael Bloomberg of racism, thereby  disqualifying him as a presidential candidate Her column relies on an audio recording of a 2015 speech by Bloomberg in Colorado which was released by a Bernie Sanders supporter.  Filipovic is an Elizabeth Warren supporter (my condolences), but shares a loathing of Bloomberg, except for what he may be good for later in the year -- pouring billions into electing Democrats other than himself.  Bloomberg’s comments in his speech are a tough defense of his stop...

Last weekend, in a span of roughly 12 hours, two uniformed NYPD officers were shot and wounded in attempted assassinations in the Bronx—apparently by the same suspect. One officer, while seated in a marked police van on Saturday night, was hit in the face and neck. The other, a lieutenant, was shot in the arm as he stood near the 41st precinct’s reception area the next morning. Both officers survived their wounds. The shootings occurred just days after anti-police protesters paralyzed parts of New York’s subway system while chanting obscenities about the police. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea and police union...

Guess who is in the number two spot in the Real Clear Politics averaging of polls right now in South Carolina? Tom Steyer. Who saw that one coming?

Even before most people were paying attention to the Democratic debates and primaries, I predicted on my Ayn Rand: Taking Liberty podcast with Scott Schiff that Bernie Sanders would win the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. The basis for my prediction was that in a flawed field, the Democrats would "test drive" each of their candidates as the frontrunner, disqualify each candidate for his obvious flaws, and settle on Bernie for several reasons. That is what is happening. Bernie has rocketed to the top of the Democratic field and seems poised to claim the Democratic nomination. Bernie is the...

Many in the media regularly advance positive abortion stories and the studies that support them. But women who regret their abortions exist too – and their stories should be told. In January, the media promoted a study that, they claimed, showed women don’t regret abortion. At the same time, they overlooked the study’s flaws as well as organizations that exist to help women who mourn their abortions, such as the Silent No More Awareness Campaign which represents nearly 20,000 members. With personal stories, the Christian group challenges pro-abortion legislation, such as the “Women’s Health Protection Act of 2019” heard by a House subcommittee...

SAN DIEGO — In a race against the clock, a San Diego lab is scrambling to get a COVID-19 vaccine out and on the market. As the days go by, Inovio Pharmaceuticals is getting closer to releasing the desperately needed vaccine against the deadly virus. Inovio Pharmaceuticals, which is located in Sorrento Valley, has also created a vaccine for the Zika virus, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and the vaccine for Ebola. The vaccine has been tested on mice and guinea pigs. It will next be tried on a group of human patients.

Along with many other states, California, Arizona and Nevada all have “renewable portfolio laws.” California requires that 60% of its electric power be from renewable sources by 2030. Nevada requires 50% by 2030. Arizona requires 15% by 2025. Renewable power is defined by law in each state, but usually it amounts to wind or solar.