Free Republic

Is a miserable pissant of epic proportions. Sir Keir Starmer is blocking a request by President Trump to allow American planes to use British bases to attack Iran, telling him that it would be in breach of international law. In a rift with Washington, the prime minister is understood to have told Trump that the UK would not allow the use of British facilities at Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which is home to America’s fleet of heavy bombers in Europe. Under the terms of long-standing agreements with Washington, these bases can only be used for military operations...

ictory is near for the candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump in Staten Island's Republican primary for bureau president. The third round of unofficial ranked-choice results from the June 22 contest released Tuesday evening, the first including absentee votes, showed Vito Fossella holding a narrow lead with 9,306 votes (50.8%). That was enough for his closest rival, Steven Matteo, to concede the race after getting 9,016 votes (49.2%).

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a sudden, unscheduled trip to Baghdad on Tuesday, as an aircraft carrier and Air Force bombers headed to the Middle East amid warnings that Iran was contemplating an attack on U.S. troops in the region. The surprise visit came after Pompeo abruptly canceled a trip to Germany, where he was scheduled to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. The State Department initially said only that the change was made because “pressing issues” had arisen. Pompeo’s visit to Baghdad, which followed an Arctic Council meeting in Finland, took on an air...