Free Republic

Israel has described Iran's unprecedented 350-missile attack as a 'declaration of war' and confirmed it has approved plans for 'offensive and defensive action'. The country's president Isaac Herzog insisted that Israel did not want a war but suggested they would retaliate after Iran's audacious airstrike early on Sunday. He said it was 'about time the world faces this empire of evil in Tehran' and makes it clear that its behaviour is 'unacceptable'. President Herzog told Sky News: 'It's a declaration of war... we are considering all options and I'm quite confident we will take the necessary steps to protect and...

Mexico has refused to accept any migrants deported by Texas under one of the toughest immigration laws enacted by a US state in modern times."Mexico will not accept, under any circumstances, repatriations by the State of Texas," the government said. The statement was issued as the US Supreme Court allowed the measure, SB4, to take effect pending an appeal. The law allows police in Texas to arrest those suspected of illegally crossing the US-Mexican border. The Biden administration has challenged SB4, calling it unconstitutional.

The United States will soon follow Europe in implementing laws against so-called hate speech, a top Eurocrat claimed at the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos. The vice president for Values and Transparency for the European Commission, Věra Jourová predicted on Tuesday that hate speech laws will be imposed upon the American public, despite longstanding case law at the Supreme Court protecting such speech under the First Amendment. “Illegal hate speech, which you will have soon also in the U.S. I think that we have a strong reason why we have this in the criminal law,” Jourová said.

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will hold an emergency meeting with top security, political and defence officials on Friday, following the Kremlin's announcement of plans by Russia to annex four Ukrainian regions.The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign documents on Friday proclaiming Moscow's annexation of regions where Russia organised what Kyiv and the West said were sham referendums staged at gunpoint on Russian-held Ukrainian territory."President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine for tomorrow. The agenda and other details will be announced later," presidential...

Belarus has allegedly threatened to deploy 100,000 troops in Ukraine unless Kyiv withdraws its forces from the ‘new Russian territories’ after the referendums. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Belarus government in Minsk today, Thursday, September 29, announced that unless Kyiv withdraws all of its military forces from the four new regions of Russia, it will deploy 100,000 troops in Ukraine. They were referring of course to the four occupied regions of Ukraine where the recent ‘referendums’ were held in which people allegedly voted to join the Russian Federation. They also revealed that railway stations and airports in the...

Turkish Airlines has extended its cancellation of flights to and from Belarus and Russia. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the national carrier of Turkey operated passenger flights to and from Minsk (MSQ) in Belarus as well as Rostov (RVI), Sochi (AER), and Yekaterinburg (SVX) in Russia. The Istanbul-based air carrier announced that it will not resume flights to the named destinations until at least December 31, 2022. “Our flights from/to Minsk (Belarus) have been canceled until December 31, 2022 (inclusive), from/to Sochi (Russia), have been canceled until December 31, 2022 (inclusive), and from/to Rostov (Russia)...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Monday in Moscow, Belarus state media reported. Russia and Belarus are close allies, with Russia having used bases in Belarus as a staging post for its troops, aircraft and equipment in the invasion of Ukraine.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he was not planning a mobilisation after his close ally Russia announced it was calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists for the war in Ukraine. "The mobilisation is in Russia. ... There will be no mobilisation (here)," state media quoted Lukashenko as saying.

The lower house of the Russian parliament will gather on July 15 for an extraordinary session, its council decided on Monday, just days after President Vladimir Putin warned that he had not even started to get serious in the war in Ukraine. Putin used a meeting with parliamentary leaders on Thursday to dare the United States and its allies to try to defeat Russia in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Parliamentary leaders all thanked Putin for his decisions.

VANITY. I'll post various sources. Here are the demands: For ease of consideration, we’ve broken these demands into four categories: The Justice System, Health and Human Services, Economics, and Education. Given the historical moment, we’ll begin with our demands pertaining to the Justice System. The Seattle Police Department and attached court system are beyond reform. We do not request reform, we demand abolition. We demand that the Seattle Council and the Mayor defund and abolish the Seattle Police Department and the attached Criminal Justice Apparatus. This means 100% of funding, including existing pensions for Seattle Police. At an equal level...

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said it condemns any position adopted by an international body that supports prolonging occupation of Palestinian territories, including a U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The OIC summit in Mecca said in its final statement on Saturday that it opposes all illegal Israeli measures aimed at changing facts in occupied Palestinian territories including Jerusalem, and undermining the two-state solution. It urged member countries to take “appropriate measures” against countries that move their embassies to Jerusalem. …

With the appalling news of the past few weeks of mobs attempting to harass and intimidate President Trump’s female Cabinet members and staff, the inclination is to believe that this remarkable behavior, so antithetical to American values, is the result of a lack of leadership in the Democratic Party. Yet, the organized nature of the attacks, combined with liberal political and legacy media rhetoric, makes clear this is not some sort of organic turn of events. Having come from the left, I can tell you everything liberals do is organized around the principle of personalizing, punishing and polarizing; it’s the...

Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) called for mass immigration to the United States during a speech Thursday, declaring it a “human right” for all North Americans. “And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their towns and find a life in the United States.” He then declared it as “a human right we will defend,” eluniversal.com reports. While the election is not until July 1, Obrador is by far...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is the only major Republican likely 2016 presidential candidate who hasn't weighed in on the controversy over Indiana's "religious freedom" law that erupted this week — and his explanation for avoiding the issue is questionable.

Two members of the Senate are pressing for significant changes to how presidents consult with Congress on sending the military into war. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., unveiled legislation on Thursday that would repeal the 1973 War Powers Resolution, often ignored by presidents of both parties, and replace it with a new law that requires greater consultation and a congressional vote within 30 days on any significant armed conflict. …

Speaker of the House John Boehner called on President Barack Obama Monday to make a decision on the Syrian conflict, but not without the approval of congress first. "The Syrian regime has blatantly crossed President Obama's red line, the White House has acknowledged, by using chemical weapons on its people," the Ohio Republican wrote in a statement. "The options facing the president are complicated, have far-reaching ramifications, and may require significant resources." "That's why, if he chooses to act, the president must explain his decision publicly, clearly, and resolutely," he added. "The president is commander-in-chief. With that power comes obligations,"...

The United States and its allies carried out 29 separate airstrikes targeting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq on Friday, according to the Combined Joint Task Force. The strikes occurred between Friday and Saturday morning, and targeted a range of Islamic State vehicles, buildings, and other positions, according to Reuters. Sixteen of the attacks occurred in seven different Iraqi cities. Vehicles, buildings, equipment and fighting positions were targeted, as well as Islamic State units, according to the task force. In Syria, 11 more airstrikes were conducted around the city of Kobani. Those strikes destroyed a tank and other fighting...

*****November 16, 2009*****".....The [Washington] Times compiled an informal list of the new rules from interviews with U.S. forces. Among them: • No night or surprise searches. • Villagers have to be warned prior to searches. • ANA or ANP must accompany U.S. units on searches. • U.S. soldiers may not fire at the enemy unless the enemy is preparing to fire first. • U.S. forces cannot engage the enemy if civilians are present. • Only women can search women. • Troops can fire at an insurgent if they catch him placing an IED but not if insurgents are walking away...

As an excuse to back down, that is...  then blame the Republicans, of course After days of talking VERY publicly of all the terrible things he could do to Bashir Assad's odious regime in Demascus... Russia's sent 6-7 warships in and told him to back off while France scampered and the Brits said 'pass'. All of a sudden now he wants to ask Congress, please. Either somebody warned Obama he's opening himself up to impeachment with another violation of the war powers act... or he simply realized he's been abandoned or opposed by just about everybody on Earth, including the UN. The Peace...

"We're actively looking at the various legal angles that would inform a decision." That is what an anonymous administration official told the Washington Post this week about President Barack Obama's deliberations on whether he will personally involve the United States in another Middle Eastern war by ordering military action in Syria. But the only law that ultimately matters here is the one Obama swore to preserve, protect and defend: the Constitution of the United States. As recently as six years ago, Obama exhibited a clear understanding of the power the Constitution does and does not give the president in using...