Free Republic

President Barack Obama's guarantee on $1 billion of Egyptian Eurobonds is poised to reduce the country's borrowing costs, helping the transition to democracy after six decades of autocratic rule. The support that Obama pledged last month may cut yields on the five-year debt by 200 basis points, or the equivalent of $100 million, according to the median estimate of five fund managers surveyed by Bloomberg. Yields on Egypt's one-year bills jumped to the highest level since November 2008 following the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February. The country last sold international debt in April 2010. "The American backing...

February 5, 2011 Obama Turns Over British Nuclear Secrets to Russians Posted by Van Helsing at February 5, 2011 9:50 AM At least the WikiLeaks revelations have made it crystal clear why no one in his right mind should want an unvetted community organizer with a radical background in charge of the country, no matter how "historic" his skin color. Possibly motivated by his malignant anticolonialist ideology, the Backstabber in Chief has once again demonstrated his hatred of our closest ally (and colonizer of his ancestral homeland Kenya), this time by offering British nuclear secrets to the Russians. Information about...

Obama says Republicans holding recovery hostage By Caren Bohan and Alister Bull WASHINGTON | Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:07pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Friday of holding the middle class hostage and defended his efforts to stimulate the sluggish economy as he tries to reverse grim election prospects for his fellow Democrats in November. With opinion polls showing more Americans questioning his economic leadership, Obama used a rare news conference at the White House to hammer home a campaign-style message painting Republicans as obstructionist and the party for the rich. Obama has been on the...

This is a disgrace, plain and simple. Military voters, their families, and veterans organizations should be outraged at the Holder DOJ. It is 2008 all over again. Today the Department of Justice effectively rewrote the 2009 MOVE Act designed to protect military voters. In a settlement reached with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, the Holder Justice Department allowed Wisconsin to mail ballots to overseas military voters only 32 days before the election, instead of the statutorily mandated 45 days. Once again, it is no accident this embarrassing settlement is being released on a Friday, so fewer might notice.The Pentagon had...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House said Tuesday that a Florida church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops abroad, while the State Department denounced the plan as "un-American" and said it would put American diplomats and travelers at risk. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs noted the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, has warned that images of a burning Quran would be used by extremists to incite violence.

The Fort Hood shooter, the Christmas Day bomber, the Times Square attacker. On May 13, the following exchange occurred at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee: Rep. Lamar Smith (R.,Texas): Do you feel that these individuals might have been incited to take the actions that they did because of radical Islam? Attorney General Eric Holder: There are a variety of reasons why I think people have taken these actions. . . . Smith: Okay, but radical Islam could have been one of the reasons? Holder: There are a variety of reasons why people— Smith: But was radical Islam one...

...I heard you on Dr. Kate’s radio program the other night, and it caught my attention when you said that you believe that your case will end up at the Supreme Court despite the fact that the Third Circuit is scheduled to hear your appeal. Could you expound on that?...Yes. If the Third Circuit affirms the District Court’s decision to dismiss the case for lack of standing and political question, then the Kerchner plaintiffs will file a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. It does not mean that the court will necessarily hear the case because you’re essentially...

Army Preps for Tea Party 'Terrorists' By Mark Alexander · Thursday, April 29, 2010 "The duty imposed upon [the president] to take care, that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will 'preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.' The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offence, or defence; for the redress of grievances, or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the...

The Obama administration said Tuesday it would provide more information to Congress about the Fort Hood shootings but continued to defy a subpoena request for witness statements and other documents. After days of negotiations, the Pentagon and Justice Department informed a Senate committee that they would not comply with congressional subpoenas to share investigative records from the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood, Tex., which killed 13 people.

What and when did US Army brass know about Maj. Nidal Hassan’s extremist views and his ties to a key jihadist cleric — and why didn’t they act before he gunned down 13 soldiers at Fort Hood six months ago? It’s a simple question — and a very significant one, to boot. But neither the Pentagon nor the Justice Department wants that information made public. Which is why the two top senators on the Homeland Security Committee — Joe Lieberman (I/D-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — have subpoenaed stonewalling Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder. “We have...

On Wednesday night in Washington Israeli and American officials worked feverishly—but failed—to produce a document stating Israel’s commitments regarding proximity talks with the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. was reportedly supposed to take the document to the Palestinians and then to the Arab League meeting in Tripoli, Libya, this weekend.Days earlier Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had outlined such commitments in a letter to secretary of state Hillary Clinton. It was deemed insufficient and, in Washington, President Barack Obama sent Netanyahu and his accompanying officials back to the drawing board. According to one report, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman advised Netanyahu not...

Two weeks after a conservative group disparaged Justice Department lawyers who previously represented terror suspects, Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday weighed in for the first time, calling such lawyers "patriots." “Those who reaffirm our nation’s most essential and enduring values do not deserve to have their own values questioned,” Holder told a group of lawyers who offer "pro bono," or voluntary, legal services. "Let me be clear about this: Lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be treated as what they are: patriots." The crowd, gathered to honor Holder with an award from the Washington-based Pro...

"Enemy: "a person who feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against, or engages in antagonistic activities against another; an adversary or opponent." -- Dictionary.com Despite Vice President Joe Biden's recent pledge of unswerving fidelity to Israel during his recent visit there, the rhetoric and pressure directed by the Obama administration against the only fully functioning democracy in the Middle East more accurately resembles the behavior of an enemy. Increasingly under this administration -- but also present in Republican administrations -- America's policy toward Israel is full of "harmful designs" and "antagonistic activities." The intentions may not be deliberate, but the...

Rev. Jeremiah Wright said that the “chickens came home to roost” on 9-11. He was wrong. But they have now, indeed, come home to roost as we witness the results of the unilateral disarmament President Obama has practiced in the war on terror. Beset once more by terrorism on our soil and in our airspace, we find ourselves suddenly overmatched by those who the Bush Administration kept away from our shores for seven years. This new onset of terrorism is not the product of any change in the international environment or some new “systemic” flaw in our intelligence operations. It...

Documents produced by the Department of Homeland Security indicate that in fiscal 2010 the department is planning to catch only 26 percent of travelers committing major criminal violations while seeking to enter the United States through international airports. DHS documents also indicate that the department believes it will fail to screen against law enforcement databases 15 percent of travelers entering the United States in 2010 through all official ports of entry. In fiscal 2008, according to DHS, the department caught only 25 percent of those committing “major violations” while entering the U.S. on international flights. It also planned to catch...

Shortly before Thanksgiving, a concerned Nigerian banker warned the local U.S. Embassy about his missing son's ties to Yemeni radicals and a possible terrorist threat. It wasn't until Christmas that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab resurfaced - in seat 19A of a Detroit-bound airliner, his underwear loaded with enough explosives to kill all 289 people aboard. The 35 days between were rife with missed clues, missteps and miscommunication as authorities - in a 9/11 repeat - failed to connect the terrorist dots surrounding the Al Qaeda-trained bomber. .."Somebody screwed up big time," said Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, the top Republican on...

The reason the country is uneasy is a distinct sense of not just incompetence but incomprehension. CIA interrogators will face a special prosecutor, and Khalid Sheik Mohammed will bask in a civilian trial in New York. Obama banishes the term "war on terror." Obama may have declared the war over. Unfortunately al-Qaeda has not. More jarring still were Obama's references to the terrorist as a "suspect" who "allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device." You can hear the echo of FDR: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- Japanese naval and air force suspects...

Yesterday Newsweek revealed that on December 22nd, three days before the attempted underwear bombing, the President was warned that an attack might be imminent. In a background briefing for reporters on December 29, also attributed in an official White House transcript to a "senior administration official", that official asserted that in the wake of the attempted underpants attack, it had become clear to the President and top advisers that before Christmas, the US government was in possession of "bits and pieces" of information, which, if they had been properly knitted together, "could have...allowed us to disrupt the attack or certainly...

Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address January 2, 2010 It has now been more than a week since the attempted act of terrorism aboard that flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. On Thursday, I received the preliminary findings of the reviews that I ordered into our terrorist watchlist system and air travel screening. I've directed my counterterrorism and homeland security advisor at the White House, John Brennan, to lead these reviews going forward and to present the final results and recommendations to me in the days to come. As I said this week, I will do everything in my...

On Friday, The Washington Examiner's chief political correspondent, Byron York, had another stunning report on the scandal involving the firing of Americorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin. Earlier this year, Walpin was fired in what appears to be a politically motivated attempt by Democrats to silence his investigation into allegations of misuse of $800,000 in federal funds by Sacramento mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson. The funds were provided by the federal Americorps program to St. Hope, a nonprofit school that Johnson then headed. York's latest blockbuster is his reporting of a congressional report prepared by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,...