Free Republic

Democrats are eager to turn the page on a poor year in which they lost again to President-elect Trump, who has swallowed up much of the spotlight well before he’s taken office for a second time. Biden for his part has embarked on several major foreign trips since the election. He also pardoned his son, is working on reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza, upping assistance to Ukraine and working the holiday circuit while delivering speeches in and around Washington. He also made waves just before Christmas by announcing he was commuting the sentences of 37 people serving on federal...

A demonstration of the art of manualism. The 20th Century Fox fanfare is played simply by squeezing air through the hands.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Wednesday marks one year since Barack Obama was elected America's first black president swept to power on a promise of change, but it will be just another day for the US leader battling a deep recession and two wars. On November 4, 2008, Obama was feted by a joyous crowd during his victory speech in a Chicago park after beating Republican John McCain to the White House in an election that promised to reshape his nation. But 12 months on the administration has no plans to celebrate Obama's historic victory, perhaps sensing there is little appetite for...

MIAMI - The trial plays out with no fanfare. This is not the stuff of O.J. Simpson or Anna Nicole Smith. Yet there has never been a U.S. criminal defendant quite like suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla. Padilla is a U.S. citizen on trial for allegedly joining a support cell for Islamic extremists. The government was forced to prosecute him even though it would have preferred to lock him up without trial. Prosecutors also had to drop allegations that Padilla planned to set off a radioactive "dirty" bomb. Legal experts say his case could have long-lasting legal implications for the...

With little fanfare, America opens a new front in the war on terror By Frank Gardner in Djibouti 20 February 2003 Largely unseen by the rest of the world, America has opened up a new military front in the so-called war on terror. From a warship off Yemen, and from a heavily guarded base in East Africa, the Pentagon is running the "Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa". On a windswept ridge on an extinct volcano crouches a team of US Special Forces. Hunching against the wind, they peer through a small device on a tripod. "Laser on," shouts one. An...