Free Republic

Mohammed Darwish, head of the Hamas movement's leadership council, sent a public message ahead of the Arab summit in Cairo on Tuesday, stressing the terror group's commitment to completing the later stages of the ceasefire deal with Israel. The later stages of the deal include the IDF's full withdrawal from Gaza, as well as rebuilding Gaza and fully opening all border crossings. Darwish stressed that Hamas is determined that decisions for "the day after" the war will be made only by "Palestinians," and based on full "national" agreement and support from the Arab world. .....

President Donald Trump on Friday said he wants California to implement voter ID laws before he would approve federal funds to help it recover from massive wildfires there and said he might eliminate the federal emergency response agency."I want to see two things in Los Angeles: Voter ID so that the people have a chance to vote. And I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state. Those are the two things. After that, I will be the greatest president that California ever has ever seen," Trump said during a visit...

A U.S. senator told Breitbart News on Wednesday evening that President-elect Donald Trump’s push to have the debt ceiling increased as part of a government funding deal this week “makes sense” from Trump’s perspective but warned it is unlikely Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would agree to such a push. The senator, who asked for anonymity to discuss the very fluid situation on Capitol Hill just days before a government funding deadline on Friday, said Schumer only has one real piece of “leverage” over Trump next year, and that leverage is the debt ceiling deadline.

Iran intends to "significantly increase" its production of highly enriched uranium, according to a confidential report released Friday by the UN nuclear watchdog and seen by the AFP news agency. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report noted that updates to the design of Iran's Fordow facility would "significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent." The new production rate is expected to exceed 34 kilograms of highly enriched uranium per month, a substantial jump from the previous rate of 4.7 kilograms. In its report, the IAEA urged Iran to allow inspections "as a matter...

The leaders of Qatar, Egypt, and the US on Thursday issued a joint statement in which they called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent talks on August 15, either in Doha or Cairo, to bridge all remaining gaps in the proposed hostage release and ceasefire agreement and start implementing it without any delay. "It is the time to conclude a ceasefire agreement and release hostages and prisoners," the statement added. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in response to the statement, "Following the proposal of the United States and the mediators, Israel will send on August 15 its negotiations...

The transcript link isn't working. In brief, Israel is using the maritime oil field agreement with Lebanon as leverage to force the Lebanese government to either put a muzzle on Hizbollah and get them to cut out the attacks or get rid of them. Nash says "without firing a bullet".

Is it possible to be around narcissistic people and not lose your power? Especially when it's your mom, dad, ex, or boss who’s acting toxic? Today, Mel is joined by Rebecca Zung, an expert on narcissism and a globally recognized high-conflict negotiator. Rebecca is also a top-ranked trial lawyer who has studied narcissism so that she could win against them in the courtroom. She’s written the playbook, SLAY the Bully: How to Negotiate with A Narcissist and Win. She is here to make the case that you CAN stay in power no matter how toxic the people are around you....

The Belarusian army is combat-ready and will be able to inflict unacceptable damage on the enemy in case of external aggression, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the meeting to discuss Belarus' defense needs on 10 May, BelTA has learned. The head of state underlined that the armament, which the Belarusian army possesses today, lets the country maintain its defensive capacity. “I think it is good armament for the army. It shows that our army will be able to fight and inflict unacceptable damage on the enemy. We are realists, we understand that we will not be able to defeat...

Millennial Millie does an expose on who is behind the riot insurrections, the connection with the Green New Deal, the group that recruits school children as young as middle schoolers as foot soldiers in the ranks of Antifa and BLM, and who have gotten 16 of the 30 Democrat candidates they promoted elected in 2018 including Cortez, Omar, Talib and Presley. A must see.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he does not care if Iran agrees to negotiate with the United States. The comments came after his National Security Adviser, Robert O’Brien, suggested Iran would have no choice but to agree to talks. O’Brien, an interview with Fox News, said the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” was working, adding, “Iran is being choked off, and Iran is going to have no other choice but to come to the table.” In a Twitter post later on Sunday, Trump cited O’Brien’s interview and replied, “Actually, I couldn’t care less if they negotiate. Will be...

Since his arrest last July -- he was accused of helping to plan the post-election uprisings -- Kian's family and friends have made countless appeals for clemency to the Iranian government, written letters to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pleading his innocence, and signed dozens of petitions. All to no avail. I've come now to realize that the regime probably thinks we're obtuse. Indeed, they know better than anyone that Kian is an innocent man. As the expression goes in Persian, "da'va sar-e een neest," i.e. that's not what this fight is about.

THE HAMMER IS THE KEY TO THE COUP

More than 60 years ago, the interstate highway system was envisioned to connect the country from coast to coast. Initially, a modest 3-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel was established and wholly dedicated to the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. The vision became reality and exceeded expectations, connecting communities, making travel easier, and improving the flow of commerce. A short time later, the gasoline and diesel tax was increased to 4 cents per gallon—where it stayed until 1983, when it was doubled. Unfortunately, this also marked the point in which highway taxes began to be diverted to...

When you read this, sip slowly, dust off the way-back machine, and think about those who have surfaced visibly to support Hillary Clinton. Including “retired” U.S. General John Allen (retired in 2012), who was previously brought out of retirement to lead President Obama’s fight against ISIS in 2014. In order to understand the scope of the relationships it takes understanding the full back story. Stay with it….

Donald Trump has steamrolled toward the Republican nomination by lambasting all things political establishment, and now that establishment thinks it can convince their insult-wielding front-runner he needs them. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus has begun stating in private meetings that the party has sway over its at times unwelcome front-runner because it has tools Trump will need to use to win a general election -- voter data and field, digital and media operations that a nominee typically inherits from the party infrastructure. Dangling access to these resources, Priebus thinks he can help steer Trump toward partywide policy goals and...

Folks who live in the Great Smoky Mountains have just about reached their breaking point with the federal government. “It’s almost like they are pushing to see how far they can push before the American people say enough is enough,” said Ed Mitchell, the mayor of Blount County, Tenn. “We were founded on a declaration of independence. And they are about to push the people to the line again.” Nearly a third of Blount County is inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. So when the federal government shut down the park, it also shut down one of the area’s...

There are a lot of hard-headed people out in the investment and banking world. Most of them are hard-headed because they have never known anything else. A few are a bit smarter -- they know that their business model is cooked if the underlying assumptions change and they're being intentionally dishonest in trying to grab the last few nickels in front of the steamroller, and to hell with you (their customer.) Then there are those who have it figured out and are attempting to find a way to adapt to what is going to happen. More than 30 years ago...

A major element of surviving and thriving for an American Rhodie is identifying: in what ways and how strongly can the Regime exercise leverage over me and my Tribe? If the Regime can hurt you, that’s leverage. If you need the Regime, that’s also leverage. To that end, briefly consider the following facts: 1. In ObamaCare, the Regime created impossible-to-refuse incentives for all health care providers to acquire and deploy electronic health care record-keeping systems. 2. The Regime has built and deployed a gigantic server farm for the NSA in Utah capable of storing and searching virtually infinite quantities of...

Goldman Sachs And The Big Hedge Funds Are Pushing Leverage To Ridiculous Extremes By Michael, on January 14th, 2013 As stocks have risen in recent years, the big hedge funds and the "too big to fail" banks have used borrowed money to make absolutely enormous profits. But when you use debt to potentially multiply your profits, you also create the possibility that your losses will be multiplied if the markets turn against you. When the next stock market crash happens, and the gigantic pyramid of risk, debt and leverage on Wall Street comes tumbling down, will highly leveraged banks...

There is much debate whether when it comes to the total notional size of outstanding derivatives, it is the gross notional that matters (roughly $600 trillion), or the amount which takes out biletaral netting and other offsetting positions (much lower). We explained previously how gross is irrelevant... until it is, i.e. until there is a breach in the counterparty chain and suddenly all net becomes gross (as in the case of the Lehman bankruptcy), such as during a financial crisis, i.e., the only time when gross derivative exposure becomes material (er, by definition). But a bigger question is what...