Free Republic

As the Clinton-led State Department dragged its feet against Boko Haram, Clinton Foundation donors made millions from Nigerian oil fields The attacks on Jan. 20, 2012, began not so much as an explosion but as an earthquake. ....In coordinated bombings at 23 separate locations in the city of Kano, including police headquarters and military barracks, the group left one of Africa’s largest cities in disarray and panic. The January attacks killed more than 185 people—Africa’s worst terrorism since the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. ...Boko Haram often showed up better equipped than the Nigerian military...prominently...

#BREAKING Port Authority says unspecified threat made to plane due to land at EWR this hour. 219 people onboard flight from London. 3 retweets 0 likes

Management of the New York City area’s three major airports is fed up with long lines at security check points, and they have given the Transportation Security Administration an ultimatum: Either shorten the lines or we’ll find someone else to do it. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, tasked with running John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports, is threatening to privatize the process of screening passengers before boarding their flight, according to a document sent from the Port Authority to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger. “We can no longer tolerate the continuing inadequacy of the TSA passenger...

It’s no surprise that the commuters and commercial truck-drivers who regularly slog across the George Washington Bridge are not happy with the news: Starting Sunday, auto motorists using cash will have to pay $15 to cross, a trip that until recently cost half that. They are the drivers from North Jersey and beyond who help make it the world’s busiest motor-vehicle bridge. And they are the same drivers who now must pay one of the most expensive tolls in the country. On Saturday afternoon, motorists were given a chance to vent, and they were more than willing to step up....

The Bridgegate scandal has yet to take down New Jersey governor Chris Christie (though it probably hasn't helped his 2016 chances), but in an unexpected twist, it indirectly sparked the resignation of a handful of top United Airlines executives. Jeff Smisek, chairman and chief executive, Nene Foxhall, executive vice president for communications and government affairs, and Mark R. Anderson, senior vice president for corporate and government affairs, stepped down on Tuesday amid a federal corruption probe into whether the airline launched an unprofitable Newark to Columbia, South Carolina, flight solely for the benefit of the Port Authority of New York...

A man yelling “I want to kill cops” tried to run down two Port Authority Police officers with his car near the entrance to the ­Holland Tunnel Wednesday night in the latest attack on officers. Matthew Christian Cash, who has an extensive criminal record, was barreling down a restricted fire lane near Varick and Watts streets when he barely missed cops patrolling the tunnel and smashed his silver Audi right into their ­police cruiser at about 8 p.m., authorities said.

One report has been derided by critics of Gov. Chris Christie as a whitewash; his defenders see the other as a partisan smear-job against the governor. But both a new interim report for a legislative committee investigating the politically motivated lane closures last year near the George Washington Bridge and one commissioned by the governor’s office and released in March reach a similar conclusion: There is no evidence that Christie participated in the scheme or knew about it as it happened. They also share a shortcoming: Neither group of investigators had access to some witnesses who may be able to...

The U.S. Justice Department investigation into New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s role in “Bridgegate” has thus far uncovered no information he either knew in advance or directed the closure of traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge, federal officials tell NBC 4 New York. The September 2013 closures—where several entrance lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Ft. Lee were shut down causing a traffic nightmare for commuters—has been the subject of several federal and state investigations. […] According to one former federal prosecutor, who had no involvement in any of the probes into the bridge closure, investigations of this...

Post your conditions or noticable behavior of your city officials here. Little Rock-

Two kayakers adrift in Jamaica Bay with just one paddle unwittingly breached Kennedy Airport’s $300 million perimeter detection system. They could have been spotted by a boat patrol — except there wasn’t one. Port Authority boats don’t patrol the bay at night, police sources said.

Jersey City Police Chief Robert Cowan is alleging that Mayor Steve Fulop planned to snarl traffic outside of the Holland Tunnel the same month he announced plans to sue the Port Authority for $400 million.

Several thousand contract workers employed at the New York City area’s major airports voted Monday to join a union after campaigning for better pay and benefits. The workers cheered as representatives from about a dozen major airport contractors stood and announced their support for joining the union in a packed room at Riverside Church in Harlem. About 4,000 workers signed cards expressing their wish to join the 32BJ Service Employees International Union, including baggage handlers, security officers, cabin and terminal cleaners and others. …

Two former associates of Gov. Chris Christie do not have to hand over documents to a legislative committee investigating the traffic jam scandal engulfing the governor, a New Jersey judge ruled Wednesday. Former Christie loyalists Bridget Kelly and Bill Stepien had been fighting subpoenas calling for them to turn over documents regarding the plot to create traffic jams in Fort Lee to retaliate against the town’s Democratic mayor. The legislative panel asked for the court’s help in getting the two to comply with the subpoenas. Calling the decision one involving “complicated and untested jurisdictional issues,” Judge Mary Jacobson expressed reservations...

The lawyer who led an investigation that determined Gov. Chris Christie was not involved in the bridge closure scandal told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Thursday there is not a “shred of evidence” Christie knew anything. Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor, released a report on his team’s investigation Thursday. The report relied on interviews with officials in the Christie administration, including the governor, and 250,000 documents. Mastro said on “The Kelly File” his investigation was exhaustive and thorough, and in the end completely exonerated Christie. “There is not a shred of evidence that Governor Christie knew anything about this lane...

Private messages between Governor’s Christie’s deputy chief of staff and two of his top executives at the Port Authority reveal a vindictive effort to create “traffic problems in Fort Lee” by shutting lanes to the George Washington Bridge and apparent pleasure at the resulting gridlock. The messages are replete with references and insults to Fort Lee’s mayor, who had failed to endorse Christie for re-election and they chronicle how they tried to reach Port Authority officials in a vain effort to eliminate the paralyzing gridlock that overwhelmed his town of 35,000 which sits in the shadow of the bridge, the...

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) wants answers from the US taxpayer supported Export-Import bank about a $2 billion loan to Brazil for offshore drilling. Vitter’s home state is suffering under a moratorium imposed by President Barack Obama. Vitter said Louisianians “are frustrated” and he wants to know “why permitting domestically is nearly stalled…” Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) had questions about ExIM—nine years ago when he asked Congress to reject the reauthorization of ExIm for “economic, constitutional and moral reasons.” Vitter sent a letter to Fred Hochberg, Ex-Im president, on March 17. Vitter asked Hochberg to identify all US companies that have...

The Washington Post headline sounds the clarion call that Arabs are ” poised to take over significant operations at six American ports.” A New York City television station polled its viewers to answer the question, “Should Dubai Ports World be allowed to take over six major US ports?” An AP report said, “….Arab company given permission to take over operations at six major U.S. ports.” This was all very confusing to me. As a Philadelphian who used to live near the waterfront, knew people who worked there, and who would occasionally watch ships dock and unload cargo, I knew that...

SARASOTA, FL (NS/AP) - Dubai Ports World has now offered to delay part of its $6.8 BILLION deal to take over Administrative Operations at 6 U.S. Seaport's... There is NO way that ANY of our Nation's Seaport's should be for sale to ANYBODY! The recent announcement disclosing a Company owned by a Nation with links to Terrorism, the United Arab Emerates (UAE), was going to take over 6 of our Nation's Seaport's with the United Kingdom (UK) run Port Administrative and Management Company has met a strong challenge against this happening... With only 6-8% of our Imported Containers actually being...

UPDATE 3-US Democrats plan bill to block Dubai port deal Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:57 PM EST (Recasts paragraph 1, adds UAE government, Rice, analyst) By Jeremy Pelofsky and Caroline Drees WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators, citing national security concerns, said on Friday they would try to block a company backed by the United Arab Emirates government from acquiring a British firm that runs several U.S. ports. Sens. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York, both Democrats, said they would offer legislation to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring...

Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns. ADVERTISEMENT Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations. "We wouldn't turn the border patrol or the customs service over to a foreign government, and we can't afford to turn our ports over to one either," Menendez said in a statement. P&O, the company Dubai Ports...