Free Republic

While on a long drive home with my wife the day after the election, I started to list for her the reasons why Joe Biden becoming president in 2020 was ultimately the best possible outcome for Donald Trump, our nation — and even the world. Upon returning home, my wife turned on Fox News. Lara Trump was on “Hannity” alluding to the same point. As an aside, those who hoped and prayed for a Trump victory should know that Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump and chairman Michael Whatley are two of the unsung heroes of this election. The RNC...

As word spread on Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday that a group of migrants had been flown to the island unannounced, and there was no organized plan to care for them, Tim Dobel felt like there wasn’t much that he could do. The sudden need to find shelter and medical care — not to mention the politics that fueled the decision to drop them on his community’s lap — were well beyond his control. But at the very least, he and the staff at Mocha Mott’s in Vineyard Haven could make sure they had a hot cup of coffee to keep them...

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a current unemployment rate of around 9%. So how is it with roughly 12.8 million people out of work, there are still so many jobs going unfilled? A recent report by Deloitte for the Manufacturing Institute which was based on a survey of manufacturers, found that as many as 600,000 jobs are going unfilled. “High unemployment is not making it easier to fill positions, particularly in the areas of skilled production and production support,” the Deloitte report found. There is a growing talent gap between skilled jobs in the trades and trained...

IDF commanders are investigating a "serious operational failure" that occurred Thursday morning when a lone soldier was left behind after an operation near Ramallah. Army Radio reported that an IDF mechanized infantry unit entered the village of Burdus near Ramallah to conduct operations that included searches. According to the report, shortly after the operation ended and the unit departed a lone soldier was left standing at the gate of the village. Local Arabs say they feared the soldier would be lynched and aided him in reaching an area under IDF control where another unit picked him up and returned him...

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is denying a charge that White House officials improperly influenced the commission’s net neutrality rules. In a November 2009 letter to Genachowski, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said media reports suggest “that Obama administration officials had knowledge of and potentially contributed to [the] crafting of” the controversial net neutrality rules. Specifically, Issa noted that a 2009 American Spectator article said a draft of the net neutrality rules had been circulated to Obama administration officials — and that Genachowski and President Barack Obama made suspiciously similar remarks about the rules on Sept. 21, 2009. Issa — then the...

For much of this year, the Obama administration touted its tougher-than-ever approach to immigration enforcement, culminating in a record number of deportations. But in reaching 392,862 deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement included more than 19,000 immigrants who had exited the previous fiscal year, according to agency statistics. ICE also ran a Mexican repatriation program five weeks longer than ever before, allowing the agency to count at least 6,500 exits that, without the program, would normally have been tallied by the U.S. Border Patrol. When ICE officials realized in the final weeks of the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30,...

(CNSNews.com) - Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court, helped craft President Bill Clinton’s political strategy for sustaining his veto of the partial-birth abortion ban in 1997. As a result of Clinton’s successful veto that year, the ban was not enacted until 2003, when it was signed by President George Bush

Iraqi Police in Kirkuk give a food bag to an elderly Iraqi woman during a humanitarian aid delivery, July 27. The IP, with assistance from the U.S. Army, delivered food, toys and school supplies to at least 200 residents. Photo courtesy of 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. FOB WARRIOR — In several sub-districts of Kirkuk city in northern Iraq, some of the less fortunate occasionally need assistance to make ends meet. That assistance arrived in late July with the delivery of humanitarian goods to the sub-district of Arafa and Aruba by Iraqi Police (IP) and U.S. Soldiers. The IP delivered...

WASHINGTON - Disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham parlayed his seat on the Intelligence Committee into winning at least $70 million in authorizations that benefited two contractors who — in turn — paid him millions in bribes. That was a key finding, released Tuesday, in a declassified summary of a report by the panel's independent investigator. It confirms what has long been suspected: The intelligence committee was one more venue that the California Republican exploited to help his associates. The report finds that Cunningham secured the cooperation — or at least the noninterference — of many people. That included Congress...

Katrina, Rita Actually Helped Wetlands, Study Says Willie Drye for National Geographic News September 21, 2006 A new study makes the provocative claim that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita actually helped stabilize coastal wetlands by depositing tons of silt and sediment—even as the storms devastated dozens of square miles of the low-lying areas. The new findings contradict long-held theories that rivers are the primary source of the sediment that forms wetlands, says research leader R. Eugene Turner, an ecologist at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. The study also counters beliefs that the loss of wetlands—especially on the eastern Louisiana...

TV reporters 'helped protester burn himself to death' By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi (Filed: 18/08/2006) Indian police are investigating a group of television journalists for allegedly helping a man to burn himself to death and filming his agony for broadcast. Pictures of Manoj Mishra writhing in pain with his back on fire were shown in Bihar state on Tuesday. Mr Mishra later died in hospital from severe burns in the town of Gaya. "We have seized footage clearly showing a group of journalists handing over matches and some inflammable substance, which we later verified to be diesel, to the...

'Foreigner' helped build Terracotta Army Jonathan Watts in Beijing Wednesday June 28, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Chinese archaeologists have unearthed evidence that a foreign worker helped build the Terracotta Army mausoleum, the resting place of the country's first emperor, who died more than 2,200 years ago. The remains of the worker, described as a foreign man in his 20s, were found among 121 shattered skeletons in a labourers' tomb 500 metres from the mausoleum in the north-western city of Xian, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. According to Xinhua, the man may prove to be "China's first foreign worker", though...

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2006 – President Bush singled out the efforts of U.S. servicemembers in his salute to the new unity government that formed in Iraq today. "The sacrifices of many of our country's noblest and bravest have helped make this day possible," he said. "We will not forget their contribution to our security and Iraq's democracy." Thirty-nine ministers and state secretaries received the Iraqi Parliament's approval today, culminating the move to form a democracy that started with the U.S. and coalition's toppling of former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. "Iraqis now have a fully constitutional government, marking the end...

SACRAMENTO — Soon after taking office in January 2003, state Controller Steve Westly began helping three venture capital firms land multimillion-dollar investments from California's giant pension system, according to public records including e-mails and officials' calendars. Westly, now running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, received campaign donations from individuals associated with each of the funds, campaign finance records show. At any given time, hundreds of fund managers are angling for CalPERS investments. Westly is one of 13 members of the California Public Employees' Retirement System board, and as the state's chief financial officer, one of the most influential. The funds...

Leaked fax 'shows Romania helped CIA interrogators' By David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 10/01/2006) An Egyptian government fax intercepted by Swiss intelligence offers the first "real evidence" that the US interrogated suspected terrorists at secret prisons in Eastern Europe, European politicians said yesterday. The highly-classified fax, purportedly sent late last year by Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, to its embassy in London, was leaked to a Swiss newspaper on Sunday. In it, Mr Gheit discussed the fate of 23 detainees from Iraq and Afghanistan who were apparently interrogated at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in Romania on the Black...

WASHINGTON - As Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record) drafted letters to the Bush administration on behalf of an Iowa tribe, he had no shortage of ideas for wording: A tribal lobbyist who donated to the Democrat's campaign suggested language for him to use. Harkin wrote at least three letters in 2003 pressing the government to release federal money to help the Sac & Fox tribe in his state cope with the temporary closing of its casino due to a tribal dispute, according to Interior Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and records provided by Harkin's office. In...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide, has been a quiet yet powerful force in shaping the Bush administration's policies and helped build the case for the Iraq invasion. Libby, indicted on Friday on charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice, has a scholar's demeanor and is known among colleagues for his analytical approach honed during years of work as an attorney. Toiling long hours in his office in the building next to the West Wing of the White House, Libby steeps himself in subjects like counterterrorism, bioweapons defense and energy. But the...

LOS ANGELES - Solar flares are infamous for wreaking havoc on electrical power lines and communication signals. But a team of astronomers says bursts emitted by the sun in its youth may have helped planets form. Looking through NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the astronomers focused on a cluster of young stars in the Orion Nebula, 1,500 light years from Earth. Studying 30 sun-like stars over two weeks, they found the young stars erupted in flares more powerful than those produced by the sun. The observation could explain how Earth survived during its formative years, astronomers said. Half the stars in...

SEATTLE (AP) - A man was indicted Wednesday for allegedly buying a rifle for the Washington, D.C.-area snipers - though not the weapon used in the 2002 random shooting spree. A federal grand jury indicted Earl L. Dancy Jr., 36, of Tacoma on one count of making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. On a federal form when Dancy bought a .308-caliber Remington rifle from a Tacoma store, Dancy claimed he intended to use the weapon himself, the U.S. attorney's office said. During the November...

WASHINGTON - Not just Riggs Bank, but eight others — including Citigroup and Bank of America — helped former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (news - web sites) and members of his family build a secret network of accounts to conceal his wealth, Senate investigators have found. In a report released Tuesday, the investigators charged that Riggs's dealings with Pinochet were far more extensive and long-standing than had been known. The nine banks allowed Pinochet to use phony account names, offshore companies and other deceptions to hide an estimated $13 million or more from U.S. examiners and from international prosecutors seeking...