Free Republic

A CNN correspondent harshly fact-checked Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., on Wednesday, declaring that "there is no evidence" he carried weapons in combat as the vice presidential candidate appeared to previously imply. Since Vice President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her 2024 running mate, his political and military record have come under intense scrutiny. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, former President Trump’s running mate, accused Walz of misleading the country about his veteran status on Wednesday. "He said, 'We shouldn't allow weapons that I used in war to be on America's streets.' Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in...

Dion Middleton, 45, was arrested and charged for the murder of Raymond Chaluisant, 18, after the teenager allegedly fired at him from a car on Thursday with an air rifle using Orbeez soft gel balls. It is the same type of weapon used in the viral 'Orbeez Challenge' videos, The New York Daily News reported, with the challenge depicting unsuspecting strangers being fired at by pranksters. Police said the shooting took place at around 1:35 a.m. on Thursday, near the intersection of the Cross Bronx Expressway and Morris Avenue Chaluisant died in a bloodbath after being shot while traveling in...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has hired former Trump campaign press aide Erin Perrine as his new communications director. Perrine, who served as director of press communications for former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, confirmed the appointment in a post on Twitter.

NBC'S Brian Williams admits on air to lying On 02/04/2015 Front Page,U.S.,World NBC News’ Brian Williams has been caught in a lie and forced to recant. The nation’s top-rated news anchor apologized on the air Wednesday evening for fabricating a story of personal heroics, claiming to have been aboard a helicopter in Iraq in 2003 when it was hit by enemy fire. “I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,” Williams said. At the time Williams reported the original incident, he did not claim to be on the Chinook copter that was hit by a rocket-propelled...

A new book contains additional confirmation of what we already know about the Obama administration's response to Benghazi attacks. Namely, that pretty much everyone up and down the chain of command understood the raid to be a terrorist attack: Just minutes after 35 jihadists crashed through the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, nearly one year ago, the facility got word to the State Department, FBI and Pentagon that terrorists were attacking, according to a forthcoming book that provides the fullest review of the assault to date. In “Under Fire, the Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi,” it is...

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (AFP) – Bolivian President Evo Morales was under fire on Wednesday for suggesting that eating hormone-injected chicken could provoke male deviance at a global climate change summit. Bolivia's opposition and homosexual groups criticized comments made by Morales at the first "people's conference" on climate change the previous day, in which he said that chicken producers inject birds with female hormones and "when men eat those chickens, they experience deviances in being men." The Bolivian president also suggested that the European diet made men go bald. Spain's National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals sent a protest letter...

Barack Obama came to town a year ago to change the way politics worked, and Organizing for America was to be his instrument. The successor to his campaign organization, with the largest e-mail list in America, was poised — many observers thought at the time — to bring the campaign’s movement fervor and Web-centric tactics to pushing Obama’s legislative agenda through Congress. A year later, politics is working pretty much as it always did, and it’s Organizing for America that’s on defense. With little public profile and a difficulty in pointing to concrete accomplishments, OFA, as it’s known, has faced...

After Barack Obama’s defeat in Pennsylvania, David Axelrod, his campaign manager, brushed it off: “Nothing has changed tonight in the basic physics of this race.” He may well be right — but what a comedown. A few months ago the Obama campaign was talking about transcendence. Now it’s talking about math. “Yes we can” has become “No she can’t.” This wasn’t the way things were supposed to play out. Mr. Obama was supposed to be a transformational figure, with an almost magical ability to transcend partisan differences and unify the nation. Once voters got to know him — and once...

WASHINGTON California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, facing criticism over his fundraising practices and international travel, escaped to friendlier terrain Wednesday to accept an award from Governing magazine. The Los Angeles Democrat was named one of nine "Public Officials of the Year" and was accepting the honor at a dinner at Washington, D.C.'s Willard Hotel, just blocks from the White House. Other honorees included Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire and Houston Mayor Bill White. The magazine cited Nunez's bipartisanship in working toward passage of last year's package of public works bonds - $37.3 billion for...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian government headquarters came under fire Monday while the Cabinet was meeting — apparently caught in the crossfire of battling militants allied with rival political parties — forcing the ministers to flee the building. Nine people have been killed since fighting between Fatah and Hamas forces resumed over the weekend, and the attacks have grown more brazen. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's home was shot at early Monday, hours after two militants from the rival sides were dragged onto high-rise rooftops and thrown to their deaths. The fighting also marred the first day of matriculation...

SACRAMENTO — The governor's latest nominee for the board that regulates the multibillion-dollar energy and telecommunications industries has been in bankruptcy for more than four years, and faces questions about his qualifications and his commitment to consumer protection. Timothy A. Simon was one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top-level aides, screening applicants for positions in the administration, until the governor selected him Feb. 15 for a vacant seat on the powerful Public Utilities Commission. In December, while Simon was still working for Schwarzenegger, a judge ordered the state to deduct $1,795 per month from his monthly salary as part of a...

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Elliot L. Ackerman, 26, receives the Silver Star from Brig. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, 2nd Marine Division assistant commander. Ackerman, a native of Washington, D.C., received the medal for his heroism in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Demetrio J. Espinosa U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Elliott Ackerman Marine Earns Silver Star for Courage Under Fire By Gunnery Sgt. Demetrio J. Espinosa 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Jan. 16, 2007 -- Acting boldly in the face of adversity is something all Marines are taught. Against an...

Gunmen invade Mexican ranch house, shoot at American law enforcement DONNA - Border Patrol agents and Hidalgo County Sheriff deputies are pinned down by automatic weapons fire from across the Rio Grande.

After months of criticizing Mayor James K. Hahn for accepting questionable political donations, mayoral challenger Antonio Villaraigosa found himself answering questions Wednesday about $31,000 in donations to his campaign from workers at two affiliated Florida-based companies. Although some employees said they supported Villaraigosa, others struggled to explain the donations, sounded confused when told of their donations or declined to answer questions. The donations, which were first reported Wednesday in the Torrance-based Daily Breeze, prompted Hahn to urge city officials to investigate. "There's a lot of questions here and I think the Ethics Commission should do an immediate investigation of these...

A look at recent cases of professors being disciplined, criticized or let go for unpopular statements: -The University of Illinois fired biology professor Leo F. Koch in 1960 for a letter to the editor of the campus newspaper that read: "A mutually satisfactory sexual experience would eliminate the need for many hours of frustrating petting and lead to much happier and longer lasting marriages among our younger men and women." -Leonard Jeffries Jr. lost the chairmanship of African-American studies at the City College of New York in 1992 after saying in a speech that "Russian Jewry had a particular control...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - The White House offered only lukewarm support today for Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican whose bid to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is under fire from conservatives. Asked whether President Bush would have confidence in Mr. Specter as chairman, the chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said the chairmanship was "a matter for the Senate to decide, and it's something that the White House does not have a role in.'' Advertisement "Senators will make that decision," he said. The White House does, of course, have influence. By virtue of , Mr. Specter is...

<p>PG&E's top brass may be laughing all the way to the bank with more than $83 million in bonus money. But state regulators are gearing up to investigate the matter, and legislation is in the works aimed at discouraging such generous payouts from happening again.</p>

IRVINE, Calif. - The idea was innocent enough: A group of young men organize a holiday football tournament and give their teams such innocuous names as "4th and Goal" and "1988'ers." It was some of the other team names that raised eyebrows: Intifada, Soldiers of Allah and Mujahideen. The furor that followed has forced some teams to change their names and a handful of players to quit. It also sparked a debate that threatens to overshadow the tournament, which was planned primarily for young Muslims and scheduled for Jan. 4. "This was really just supposed to be about the youth...

Following murderous attack, debate heats up over future of isolated Netzarim By Ellis Shuman October 26, 2003 An Israeli soldier on patrol at Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip. (AFP) Following a Palestinian terrorist's infiltration on Friday into an army base in Netzarim, killing three Israeli soldiers and wounding two others, left-wing politicians called for an immediate withdrawal from the isolated settlement. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says any evacuation of Netzarim "under fire" would only encourage terrorism. The army is also checking why soldiers failed to detect and prevent the attack. The funeral of Sgt. Adi Osman, 19, from...

Nearly half the $9.5 million Arnold Schwarzenegger has poured into the recall race has been in the form of loans that his campaign staff says can be repaid by fund-raising after the election. Most of the loans came late last week, as polls began to show Schwarzenegger's prospects for winning the governor's office strengthening. In announcing his run for governor Aug. 6, Schwarzenegger had said that he did not need money from others. ..... Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles organization that promotes campaign reform, criticized the candidate's arrangement. If Schwarzenegger becomes governor, Stern...