Free Republic

‘Blood now soaks the soil of 3 continents. Aggressors are now on killing sprees’ Back before World War II there were multiple small, regional conflicts that had developed. Eventually they merged. And that is exactly what is developing now, according to an expert on international events, and Joe Biden is allowing it. “Biden has opened the floodgates of Hell. Although nothing is inevitable, we are fast approaching the point where, as a practical matter, he will not be able to stop China and Russia, directly and through proxies, from merging existing conflicts and turning them into the next global war,”...

President Biden’s senior adviser, Anita Dunn, has revealed a vast investment fortune worth up to $48 million — as well as a series of conflicts of interest. Mandatory ethics disclosure forms made public this week shed light on Dunn’s finances after the longtime Democratic operative left the White House last year following a prior short stint — in what was widely seen as a way to avoid making the reports. Dunn and her husband, attorney Bob Bauer, hold between $16.8 million and $48.2 million in investments, according to papers released by the US Office of Government Ethics. The couple’s sprawling...

You’ve heard the saying, “If you don’t like the heat, then get out of the kitchen.” Well, that only works if you’re not called to be in the kitchen. For those of us who are called to be there, it would be better to say, “Get used to the heat and get in the kitchen.” When it comes to the conflicts and controversies of our day, if we love God and we love our neighbor, do we really have a choice? On a daily basis, often from many different sides, I get blasted for positions I take in writing or...

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A high-ranking U.S. envoy has urged Serbia and Kosovo to stop provoking each other and to resume their discussions over how to normalize relations between the two former wartime foes. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, who met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, also called Friday on Kosovo to lift a 100 percent tariff on Serbian goods so that European Union-mediated talks can resume.

But the biggest Trump fans and "Never Trumpers" alike should be concerned about something we haven't yet quite experienced on such a serious scale in American politics, and that is having a President of the United States who's also the owner of dozens of iconic and eponymous businesses. Oh, and so far that incoming president says he intends to continue owning and running them. It's not just that Mr. Trump is a businessperson, it's the fact that he has so many varied and well-known business interests that the potential for conflict of interest is almost infinite. This is a far...

For weeks I have been wondering why no media reporter, GOP candidate, debate moderator, network political analyst or individual citizen has asked Mr. Trump a very simple and basic question. “Mr. Trump, if you are elected president, who will manage your businesses?” I do not think this is a trivial question. The job of president demands 100% mental dedication and cannot tolerate conflicts with personal business interests. Owning an on-going business is not the same as putting a stock portfolio in a blind trust. To be sure Mr. Trump does have many managers to run day-to-day operations. But, I see...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - From Saudi Arabia to Israel, traditional U.S. allies in the Middle East are beginning to ask: Is America turning its back on us? President Barack Obama's diplomatic overtures to old foe Iran and his last-minute refusal to attack Syria have officials in Israel, the Gulf countries and Turkey wondering if Washington is deliberately neglecting them to avoid being dragged into a Middle East facing deeper sectarian strife and concerns that Tehran may be seeking a nuclear bomb. Media reports that the U.S. National Security Agency may have spied on the leaders of Germany, Mexico and Brazil have...

Rarely in the past six decades has global context counted for as much in strategic forecasting — trend analysis — as it does at the dawn of 2012. Reliance on stove-piped analysis of “strategic sectors” — such as economic and financial issues, security issues, politics, geopolitics, resources and energy, sociology and religion, and so on — will produce skewed and unreliable estimates, and will tend to favor linear extrapolations of recent experience. A study of broad contextual factors, including an expanded view of history, will show how cycles and confluences of trends potentially play a greater disruptive role than at...

An overwhelming number of voters believe the United States is involved in too many foreign conflicts and should pull back its troops, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill. Seventy-two percent of those polled said the United States is fighting in too many places, with only 16 percent saying the current level of engagement represented an appropriate level. Twelve percent said they weren’t sure. Voters also do not think having U.S. soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq has made the country safer, according to the poll. Thirty-seven percent said the continued presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan makes...

LOS ANGELES, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. government's majority stake in General Motors Co GM.UL has no bearing on the response of regulators to safety problems at Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T)(TM.N), Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Friday. "That argument is baloney," LaHood said when asked about the issue during an appearance in Los Angeles. Questions about whether the government stands to benefit as a GM shareholder from its regulatory crackdown on Toyota gained some steam this week with a number of critics suggesting at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The long,bitter campaigns are over,and the people have chosen a new President. He wasn't my choice-but he was and is theirs. It's time to respect that fact.

WASHINGTON - John McCain's latest campaign angst, this time over his ties to lobbyists, is putting the Republican in conflict with his carefully honed, decades-old reformer image. It's also giving Democratic rival Barack Obama an opening to paint him as nothing more than a creature of Washington. "The fact is, John McCain's campaign is being run by Washington lobbyists and paid for by their money," Obama argued Monday in Billings, Mont. — far from the Beltway. "I'm not in this race to continue the special interest-driven politics of the last eight years, I'm in this race to end it." McCain,...

To be a "good" Muslim References -  'Palestinian' child abuse -  Evil 'Joy' -  'Blessing' Hitler -  Mourning the wicked -  Australia - Muslim land -  Jihad on all Buddhists -  Spain - Muslim land -  Europe - Muslim land -  Arabs DON'T care about 'Palestinians' -  72 virgins - Loyalty -  'Pallywood' -  (use of) Ambulances for terror -  (use of) Women for terror -  Human Shields -  Middle east background -  September 11 terror plot on London -  Myth on: 'Terrorists are desperate' -  Beheadings -  Ilan Halimi [an example of monsterous wild prolonged torture motivated by hate only] -  Muslims attacking Jews in France -  Ahmadinejad ' Islamic Hitler' -  Cutting -  'Honor killing' -  Jews & Christians as "Apes & Pigs"? - ...

The world has become normal again. The years immediately following the end of the Cold War offered a tantalizing glimpse at a new kind of international order, with nations growing together or disappearing altogether, ideological conflicts melting away, cultures intermingling through increasingly free commerce and communications. But that was a mirage, the hopeful anticipation of a liberal, democratic world that wanted to believe the end of the Cold War did not end just one strategic and ideological conflict but all strategic and ideological conflict. People and their leaders longed for "a world transformed." 1 Today the nations of the West...

Bloggers pressure Feinstein on conflictsBloggers are fanning the flames of inquiries into a senator’s potential conflicts of interest. By MICHAEL DOYLE McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON | Bloggers and activists are writing a new chapter in the marriage of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and her husband, Richard Blum. Feinstein has real power. Blum has serious money. For 27 married years, the politician and the investor have excelled professionally while facing periodic queries about Blum’s investments. The latest round comes powered by the Internet, fanned by activists on both right and left. The partisans find common cause in questioning Feinstein’s role...

Barack Obama's presidential campaign Wednesday defended two investments he made right after his election to the Senate, saying he was unaware of the stock purchases at the time and did nothing to directly aid either company in its business before the federal government. The two companies — AVI Biopharma and Skyterra Communications — were backed by some top donors to Obama's political committees. Obama purchased $5,000 in shares for AVI, which was developing a drug to treat avian flu. Two weeks after buying the stock, Obama pushed for more federal funding to fight the disease, but company officials said they...

Ethnic and racial tension comes to Los Angeles as regularly as the Santa Ana winds. Race-related fights afflict school campuses and jails, and two major riots, in 1965 and 1992, are hardly forgotten. But civil rights advocates say that the violence grew at an alarming rate last year, continuing a trend of more Latino versus black confrontations and prompting street demonstrations and long discussions on talk-radio programs and in community meetings. Much of the violence springs from rivalries between black and Latino gangs, especially in neighborhoods where the black population has been declining and the Latino population surging. A 14...

To be a "good" Muslim References 'Palestinian' child abuse -  Evil 'Joy' -  Australia - Muslim land -  Spain - Muslim land -  Europe - Muslim land -  Arabs DON'T care about 'Palestinians' -  Loyalty -  'Pallywood' -  (use of) Ambulances for terror -  (use of) Women for terror -  Human Shields -  Middle east background -  September 11 terror plot on London -  Myth on: 'Terrorists are desperate' -  Jews & Christians as "Apes & Pigs"? -  Non Muslims as "Cows" -  Early history -  Early terrorism -  Muslims & WW2 -  World domination & Caliphate -  'Palestinians' in Lebanon -  Jordan - Black September -  Syrian Crimes -  Lobbies -  Excuses -  Global conflicts Respond violently to anyone that says, writes, draws that...

WILFORD, Idaho (AP) -- The Hepworths knew the house would require some maintenance. But they never thought they'd need a snake charmer. Shortly after Lyman and Jeanine Hepworth began working on a rundown property outside of town, they experienced a trauma more fit for Samuel L. Jackson's character in "Snakes on a Plane" than a pair of eastern Idaho do-it-yourselfers. Snakes, perhaps thousands of them, fell on Lyman Hepworth's head when he opened the door to a pump house near the small house the couple planned to buy. "When it warmed up, we walked onto the yard and the whole...

Israeli reserve soldiers accuse government of 'cold feet' over conflict · Brigade signs letter calling for Lebanon inquiry· Newspaper demands general's resignation Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem Tuesday August 22, 2006 The Guardian (UK) A brigade of reserve soldiers angrily accused the Israeli government yesterday of fighting a war with "indecision" and "cold feet" as criticism mounted over the handling of the conflict in Lebanon. In the most outspoken acknowledgment of Israel's failings in the war, one retiring senior army officer also admitted that the military felt "a certain sense of failure" after 34 days of combat. Brigadier Yossi Heiman, head...