Free Republic

After Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 veered off its course, civilian air-traffic controllers spent precious predawn hours in befuddled exchanges with counterparts in nearby countries in an effort to locate the jet, according to documents released by investigators Thursday. A series of missteps began less than an hour after the plane disappeared around 1:20 a.m. on March 8.... Through that first stretch, the carrier's operation center continued to advise controllers that the plane was in "normal condition," remained in contact with ground facilities and was flying somewhere in Cambodian airspace—an area that was never on its flight path from Kuala Lumpur...

Hillary Clinton, long regarded as politically liberal by more voters than any other presidential candidate, must for now cede that status to Barack Obama. The most recent Rasmussen Reports survey indicates that 53% of all likely voters see Clinton as liberal but 55% see Obama that way. The new numbers represent a trivial fluctuation for Clinton but a moderate uptick for Obama. In December, just before the primaries began, 54% perceived Clinton as liberal and 47% perceived Obama as liberal. In twelve previous Rasmussen Reports surveys, the share of the electorate seeing Clinton as liberal slipped below 50% only once.

In December of 1992, even before he began his first term as President, Bill Clinton announced a controversial policy related to the service of homosexuals in the military called, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). At the time, the Clinton administration was seriously lobbying Congress to change federal law which prevented openly homosexual individuals from serving in the United States Armed Forces. Clinton's plan was met by furious criticism from political conservatives as well as military members who said such tampering with federal law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) would negatively impact the nation's ability to defend itself....