Free Republic

Melania Trump is a world-class snubber. She skipped almost every event of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, only returning to regular political spouse duties late last year, as she had a memoir to plug and a lucrative documentary project to film. Despite suggesting she would be a full-time First Lady in Trump’s second term, she has gone unseen for weeks at a time and even skipped her stepdaughter Tiffany’s baby shower (a People source explained, savagely, that Melania “has her own schedule, even on weekends” and didn’t see “any reason” to attend). Now Melania is getting a small taste of her...

The Washington Post will not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president, according to the paper’s editorial board on Friday. It will be the first time in 36 years that the paper has not endorsed a presidential candidate, a blow to Harris who is already suffering from not being endorsed by the L.A. Times, her hometown paper. The decision allegedly involved Jeff Bezos, who reportedly ordered the non-endorsement with the early vote trends appearing to favor former President Donald Trump. Bezos, the owner of the paper, has several large contracts with the U.S. government. NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik reported...

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska declined an invitation from the White House to attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) address. The alleged snub was somewhat unusual given the prestige of a choice SOTU seat and Ukraine’s fervent desire to remain in the good graces of the United States, the most pivotal supporter of Kyiv’s struggle against the Russian invasion. The White House reportedly offered to seat Zelenska next to U.S. first lady Jill Biden. According to the Washington Post, Zelenska turned down the invitation because Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian...

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had no answer Tuesday when asked why the White House did not extend an invitation to the leader of the national Border Patrol union for President Joe Biden’s upcoming border visit. During a press conference, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre why National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd was stiffed by Biden yet received an invitation from Donald Trump. “So look, I will have more to share on what Thursday’s gonna look like. We’ll have more to share on who’s going to be joining the president,” Jean-Pierre replied.

Polish President Andrzej Duda reportedly cancelled a planned meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations in New York as relations between the two neighbouring countries have grown increasingly tense over the issue of grain. A meeting between the two presidents was scheduled to take place during the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, yet, President Duda called off the meeting, claiming that there was a scheduling conflict and that they may meet at another time, Rzeczpospolita reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday, citing scheduling conflicts, but he paid tribute to the last Soviet leader Thursday, the Kremlin said. In a call with reporters, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president paid his final respects by laying a wreath at Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, where Gorbachev died on Tuesday at age 91. “Unfortunately, the president’s work schedule will not allow him to do this on Sept. 3, so he decided to do it today,” Peskov said. Russian state television showed Putin walking to Gorbachev’s open coffin and placing...

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has little to say about her state's former governor's nascent bid for Alaska's at-large congressional district. "Why don't you ask an original question?" she quipped to Insider, lamenting that "everybody" is asking her about Sarah Palin's newly-announced campaign to succeed the late Republican Rep. Don Young, who held the seat from 1973 until his death this year, in an upcoming special election.

The nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 are in, and the list includes Radiohead, Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks, Rage Against the Machine, the Cure, Devo, Janet Jackson, Kraftwerk, LL Cool J, Roxy Music, Todd Rundgren, John Prine, MC5, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan and the Zombies. The top vote-getters will be announced in December and inducted March 29th, 2019 at a ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. HBO will broadcast the event later next year. To be eligible for this year’s ballot, each nominee’s first single or album had to released in 1993 or earlier. Several...

Was the Pentagon's exclusion of Obama foreign policy advisor Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, USAF (Ret.) from Barack Obama's planned visit with wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany the reason for Obama's cancellation of the visit?Piecing together the information being reported in various news outlets points in that direction.Der Spiegel first reported the story in a brief note on their live thread on Obama's visit to Berlin yesterday morning (EDT). Free Republic was the first to pick up the story. From there it was picked up by Hot Air, then spread through the blogosphere and into the the...

If it mattered, the dismissive way Obama treats the media coupled with his lack of transparency would be troubling. But it doesn't matter. Even if the president was as transparent as glass, the media would still cover up anything that might politically damage him. So the fact that Obama treats the media like the lackeys they are, is actually very amusing and all kinds of satisfying. The media's been whining about "access" for 10 days now and as a result, today, Obama pretty much laughed in their collective faces with this: “What I want to do is clear out the...

Former House speaker and presidential candidate dissects president's address before the UN General Assembly, snub of Netanyahu, lack oe meetings with world leaders and more

He's done it again. For a third time, President Obama is snubbing the annual gathering of prominent Washington journalists known as the Gridiron Dinner next month. Instead, he is attending the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. "I'm disappointed," said Gridiron President George Condon of National Journal. And, he kidded, "I'm not sure what it says of his priorities when the president puts the nuclear security of the world ahead of our dinner." Subbing for Obama at the March 24 dinner will be Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, ironically the hands-on manager of the nation's nuclear arsenal that will be discussed at...

The people of England erected a statue to Ronald Reagan and dedicated it on the Fourth of July in the year of the 100th anniversary of the Gipper’s birth. President Obama snubbed it. So did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. So did the ambassador to England. The British get it. The British now know what a petty little tyrant Americans elected in 2008. From the London Evening Standard: (Snip) Where was the American ambassador to London, Louis B Susman? He had, it soon transpired, been invited. But despite a guest list that boasted four British Cabinet ministers, ex-Prime Minister,

In the latest sign of an increasingly antagonistic stand by Democrats against top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa, President Obama declined a request for a top economic adviser to testify before an oversight panel about the president’s economic stimulus law. Obama spokesman Reid Cherlin indicated the move will be part of a general policy against top White House aides testifying before Congress, potentially setting the stage for a showdown on later, more important hearings.

TheDC Exclusive – The Obama administration snubbed top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa on his first major document deadline as new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sending a short letter promising to comply in response to a major information request that was due Saturday at noon. But Issa is hitting back Tuesday with a demand key documents be sent in two days. The Obama snub is the first sign of how the administration will respond to demands for documents and testimony by key officials from Republicans in control of the House

Republican US House Speaker John Boehner has turned down a White House invitation to attend a state dinner this week in honor of Chinese President Hu Jintao, his office confirmed Tuesday. Asked why Boehner had opted to skip the glitzy and highly symbolic Wednesday event, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel replied: "Speaker Boehner will have a substantive meeting with President Hu later this week." Steel declined to elaborate, but Republicans have been critical of President Barack Obama's decision to hold a state dinner for Hu at a time when Washington has been sharply critical of Beijing's record on human rights. White...

Oh, the humiliation. Once not so long ago one of the world's top celebrities in his own right, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle did not make the cut for invitations to the royal wedding in London next spring. On April 29 in Westminster Abbey with all the grace and pageantry sure to capture international imaginations, commoner Kate Middleton will marry Prince William, son of Princess Diana. And don't forget the horsedrawn carriage perhaps. But the current residents of the White House will not be there, according to the Daily Mail.

Forty-seven world leaders are Barack Obama’s guests in Washington Tuesday at the nuclear security summit. Obama is holding bilateral meetings with just 12 of them. That’s led to some awkward exclusions -- and some unfortunate appearances, as well. One of those left out was Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia, who got a phone call from Obama last week instead of a meeting in Washington. His exclusion must have prompted broad smiles in Moscow, where Saakashvili is considered public enemy no. 1 -- a leader whom Russia tried to topple by force in the summer of 2008. After all, Obama met...

The White House did not invite House or Senate Budget Committee leaders to its healthcare reform summit later this month, including a Republican who recently offered to work with President Barack Obama to strike a bipartisan deal. Obama’s administration on Friday released a list of its invitees to the Feb. 25 summit, but topping the conspicuous absences were the top budget-writers in each chamber. For the Senate, the list excluded Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking Budget Committee member who in recent weeks has been publicly courting the Obama administration for a seat at the table in the talks, and...

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Philadelphia Eagles fans thirsty for predictions on whether their team will win or lose each week won't get them from a New Jersey pigskin-prognosticating camel. Princess, the star of Popcorn Park Zoo, won't predict the results of any Eagles games this season to protest the signing of quarterback Michael Vick. Vick spent 18 months in prison for organizing a dogfighting ring. The 2,600-pound camel went 17-4 last year and correctly picked the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl.