Free Republic

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the likely next Speaker of the House, will visit the border on Tuesday to spotlight President Joe Biden’s failure to curb the inflow of terror suspects and fentanyl. On “Tuesday, I’m going down to the border again,” McCarthy declared at a Saturday meeting of Republican supporters in Las Vegas, adding: We’re gonna get a new update [on the border] because you know why? When I become Speaker [of the House], we’re going to move a hearing down on the border, and I’m going make it bipartisan on both sides. Another promise I’ll make you — I...

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R), who has been largely out of the public eye through much of the spring, will reemerge Sunday as she begins a national bus tour that will put her back in the spotlight and no doubt renew speculation about a possible presidential bid. The tour, the first of what will be a series of such journeys over a period of weeks, will start on Sunday in Washington at the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally and work its way north along the East Coast. She will visit other parts of the country later, stopping at symbolically...

BOGOTA (AFP) – Colombia has said it will seek UN help after Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez instructed his military to ready "for war." "Faced with these threats of war by the government of Venezuela, the government of Colombia is weighing heading to the Organization of American States and UN Security Council," said a statement from President Alvaro Uribe, read out by his spokesman Cesar Velasquez. "Colombia has not made nor will it make any bellicose move toward the international community, (and) even less so toward fellow Latin American nations," the statement said. "The only thing we are interested in is...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is expected to unveil its plans on Thursday for accelerating development of high-speed rail, a concept that in the past has had mixed political support and little public funding. "It will be broad and strategic," Karen Rae, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday about the initiative described by officials as President Barack Obama's top transportation priority. "It's going to talk about how we begin to create this new vision for high-speed and intercity rail," Rae said. White House and transportation officials have spent the past several...

As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, felt compelled to warn his successor of a crisis closer to home.

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid predicted Friday that Congress will finish its work on a massive, $787 billion economic stimulus plan, possibly by day's end, giving President Barack Obama a big victory. Speaking as debate resumed on Capitol Hill, the Nevada Democrat said the Senate would likely vote on the package of spending and tax cuts later in the day and that the finished product could be sent to Obama's desk soon thereafter. "We expect to be in a position to vote on adoption of the conference report," Reid said at the start of the Senate day. Obama,...

NAVAL SUBMARINE BASE KINGS BAY, Ga. (NNS) -- The guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728) arrived at its new home of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., April 11, completing the sub’s three-year refueling and conversion at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. Florida is the second Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine the Navy has reconfigured, replacing its 24 Trident missiles with nearly 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, switching the boat from a nuclear deterrent to a source of more conventional firepower in the global war on terrorism. “We’ve taken the Trident submarine, which is a well proven design, and we’ve done...

PORT HUENEME, Calif. (NNS) -- For the first time in the global war on terrorism, a reserve Seabee regiment is scheduled to relieve its active-duty counterpart in Iraq about mid-spring. Following the completion of Seabee readiness training at Naval Base Ventura County, the 9th Naval Construction Regiment (NCR) is slated to take the job of providing construction engineering support to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Forward (MEF) from the 30th NCR in Western Iraq. Cmdr. Mark Bellis, operations officer for the 9th NCR, said the reserve regiment is preparing to manage joint coalition construction assets over an area about the...

CRAWFORD, Texas - War protesters camping out near President Bush's ranch prepared Monday for a three-week bus tour to spread their anti-war message to people and lawmakers in 25 states. Three buses were to depart Wednesday from the makeshift camp started by Cindy Sheehan along the main road leading to Bush's ranch, protesters said. Sheehan arrived Aug. 6, soon after his Texas vacation began, and vowed to stay until month's end unless he talked to her about the war that claimed her 24-year-old son Casey's life. Since then, several thousand people have visited "Camp Casey" for a few hours, days...

LOS ANGELES - A year and a half after twin robot rovers thrilled space fans with their hijinks on Mars, NASA is heading there again. A fourth Mars orbiter is set to blast off Wednesday, carrying some of the most sophisticated science instruments ever sent into space. Circling the Red Planet, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will scan the desolate surface in search of sites to land more robotic explorers in the next decade. "It's time we start peeling back the onion layer and start looking at Mars from different vantage points," said project manager James Graf of the Jet Propulsion...

SACRAMENTO -- With a March 1 deadline for action on the verge of going unmet, Californians can expect to see a massive campaign for their signatures unfold as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attempts to meet a narrow timetable for putting his government-overhaul package on the ballot. Schwarzenegger's commitment to put his reforms before voters this year means he'll have just seven weeks to collect the 1.2 million signatures he needs -- for each initiative -- to qualify his measures for the ballot in a November election. If the governor wants to call a Nov. 8 special election, state law requires him...