Free Republic

The U.S. is committed to the Palestinian people’s right to “self-determination” and “dignity,” President Biden said on Tuesday, weeks after Palestinian terrorist group Hamas murdered an estimated 1,400 people in Israel. “The United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away,” Biden said Tuesday morning. It remains unclear what, specifically, prompted that statement.

'In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national interest,' Jo Johnson wrote. Jo is opposed to a no-deal Brexit. In a surprising move, Boris Johnson's younger brother Jo Johnson announced on Thursday that he is resigning from his positions as Tory MP and minister in what The Guardian called "an extraordinary blow" to Boris Johnson's...

If you follow international issues on the news or in social media, you might have heard that Spain is currently either existentially threatened by Catalan terrorists or led by fascist dictators. While the truth is far more complicated than these extremes imply, there is no denying that Spain is experiencing serious political unrest that could have profound consequences for the future of that country and for Europe in general. On the one hand are the Catalan independentistes, who are fighting for their natural right to self-determination. On the other is most of the rest of the Spanish state (along with...

..... "Ahwaz was Arab land since the time of [the kingdom of] Elam, some 4,000 years ago, through the [time of] the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans, up until the Achaemenids, led by Cyrus the Great, invaded in 539 BC. Persian control [of it] lasted until the Battle of Dhi Qar,[4] when the Arab tribes surrendered to the kingdom of Banu Lakhm,[5] to the Islamic conquest [in the second half of the 7th century CE]. After that, the Arab principalities emerged in the region, one after another... "Arab Ahwaz is mentioned in many Arab history books... In 1762, German...

CNN's Christiane Amanpour took her left-leaning, pro-European Union activism to a new level on Tuesday during an interview of pro-Brexit politician Daniel Hannan. Amanpour, who recently blasted the referendum as an example of "xenophobia", tried to implicate the British member of the European Parliament as somehow partially responsible for supposed post-vote "hate crimes." Hannan didn't take her clear bias sitting down, however: "You guys have been shouting 'racist' so long, you're not listening to what we were actually saying...if I was relying on CNN...I would think that this was nativist vote, a protectionist vote. It's the opposite." [video below] The...

On April 14, 1852, Lloyd and Lodisa Frizzell and their four sons, with “five yoke of cattle one pony & sidesaddle” in tow, departed their home, on the Little Wabash River in southeastern Illinois, for California. Seventy-two days into their voyage, Lodisa would write in her journal (later titled Across the Plains to California in 1852): That this journey is tiresome, no one will doubt, that it is perilous, the deaths of many testify, and the heart has a thousand missgivings, & the mind is tortured with anxiety, & often as I passed the fresh made graves, I have glanced...

'We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden and delusional. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so addicted to handouts that they require a Bill of NON-Rights.' ARTICLE I: You...

Could a Mars colony become a nation? That question was posed by Michael Byers, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia in a Washington Post article. Byers’ answer to his question was yes. A body of international law has evolved over time that recognizes the rights of people to self-determination.

Arizona Democratic State Senator Carlyle Begay announced Monday he is leaving the Democratic Party and becoming a Republican. Senator Begay is a Navajo Indian and represents an area of Arizona which encompasses the Navajo and Hopi reservations. Begay told the Arizona Republican, "the Republican Party better reflects the values of self-determination and self-empowerment that he holds and wants to emphasize to his district." To announce his decision, Begay released a two-minute video entitled "Change Must Happen Now" explaining his reasoning. Citing the failing education system, high dropout rate, crumbling infrastructure and unemployment rates "as high as 80 percent" in parts...

The occupy movement is circling back on itself with the announcement of the final prosecution of protester Cecily McMillian. Sentenced to three months for elbowing a police officer, those within and without the movement are wondering where they go from here and what it all means. The founders of the movement have moved from cities into the country, and are organizing to occupy the polls to rout out corruption. However, there are questions within the confines of the Electoral College as to how much change this focus can produce. One element of the occupy movement from its headquarters in Zuccotti...

The indigenous town of Cherán used to be like many places in Mexico, caving under the weight of drug-related crime and a police force that did little to stop it. But about two years ago, citizens here threw out the police, and took over their local government, running the town according to indigenous tradition. So far, they’ve had remarkable success. Indigenous autonomy movements, like the one in Cherán, are a trend throughout Latin America, scholars say, from movements like the Zapatistas in Chiapas in the 1990s; to communities seeking to self-govern today in places like Chile and Bolivia. The response...

Dear John Boehner, Ted Poe, and Members of the incoming 112th Congress: If you do only one thing in your time in Washington, and frankly I hope you do only one thing given your propensity to expand government (other than eradicating Obamacare), it is this: SAVE THE LIGHT BULB. People may not realize it, but one of the first acts of the Democratic Congress in 2007, was to ban the light bulb effective in 2014. Seriously. Now, you may say that this is an exaggeration, and it is a bit, but the incandescent light bulb is the light bulb of...

YouTube clip of an upcoming documentary.

For Israel to Survive by Ari Bussel For Israel to survive she needs to change direction. First, she needs to admit that peace will not emerge from the current mistaken path of the last two decades. Further concessions only perpetuate the delusion on the Israeli side that peace is attainable and continue to weaken Israel’s already inferior position vis-à-vis the Palestinians. Second, she needs to start responding to the blood libels against her, observe, deduct trends and act before the 12th hour. Refusing to act until it is almost too late to react only worsens Israel’s position, and then we...

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama promised visiting Mexican President Felipe Calderón during a 90-minute summit Monday that the incoming administration would take stronger action to stem the flow of assault-style weapons smuggled from Texas to drug lords in Mexico. Obama, outlining his plans for U.S.-Mexico relations in detail for the first time, vowed to find ways to collaborate more effectively with Mexico to reduce drug-related violence, including weapons bought in U.S. cities used to cut down Mexican troops and police, said his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. Obama applauded the steps taken by Calderón to improve security in Mexico, Gibbs said,...

DENVER » Recognition of native Hawaiians is back in the Democratic Party's national platform. The wording is a bit different from the plank adopted in 2000, but the emphasis on some form of native Hawaiian recognition by the federal government runs on the same track. This year, Democrats said: "We support the efforts for self-determination and sovereignty of native Hawaiians, consistent with principles enumerated in the Apology Resolution and the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act." Eight years ago, the Democrats, meeting in Los Angeles, said: "We will work to pass legislation establishing a process for native Hawaiians to reorganize a...

After reading the Personal Health column on Nov. 27 on preventing geriatric suicide, Gloria C. Phares, a 93-year-old retired teacher in Missouri, wrote: “I was healthy until 90, and then Boom! Atrial fibrillation; deaf, can’t enjoy music or hear a voice unless 10 inches from my ear; fell, fractured my thigh and am now a cripple; had a slight stroke the day after my beloved husband died after 61 years of marriage. “I’ve lived a happy life, but from here on out it’s all downhill. Is there any point in my living any longer? I’m not living — just existing....

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Kosovo envoy Frank Wisner believes the time is right to implement Martti Ahtisaari's blueprint. The plan, rejected by Belgrade and blocked by Moscow at the UN last spring, in Wisner's words, is about a perspective of the province's independence. "We can't go on like this forever. During the past two years, first with President Ahtisaari and then with the Troika negotiations, we tried to find a solution based on compromise. But it transpired this was impossible," the U.S. diplomat told Belgrade daily Večernje Novosti in Washington. "The sides remained firmly in their positions. In my opinion, there...

'There is discrimination linked to the nature of the state. Israel says simply 'I am a Jewish state' and that creates discrimination with regard to non-Jews." Once again last week, the Jewish people and the world were treated to the opinion of the Palestinian leadership - the "moderate" one with which a peace process is supposedly being conducted - that the State of Israel must not be allowed to exist as a Jewish state. The speaker who delivered the words above last Wednesday in Jerusalem was not PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, who famously said a month ago that Palestinians wouldn't...

HE threat of a new war in the Balkans looms after the collapse of talks between Serbs and Albanians over the future of Kosovo. Three days of negotiations overseen by international mediators broke down yesterday, with both sides refusing to budge over their claims to the breakaway province. Kosovo's Albanian majority has threatened to declare independence unilaterally. Serbia, which regards Kosovo as the cradle of its civilisation, said this could cause unrest across the fragile Balkans, still scarred from the conflict of the 1990s. "The peace of the Balkans is very much at stake," said Frank Wisner, the UN envoy...