Free Republic

WASHINGTON – While Barack Obama is basking in praise for his "decisive" handling of the Somali pirate attack on a merchant ship in the India Ocean, reliable military sources close to the scene are painting a much different picture of the incident – accusing the president of employing restrictive rules of engagement that actually hampered the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips and extended the drama at sea for days. Multiple opportunities to free the captain of the Maersk Alabama from three young pirates were missed, these sources say – all because a Navy SEAL team was not immediately ordered to...

Former President Bill Clinton, in South Florida to campaign for Democratic candidates, made a surprise appearance Saturday night at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's 10th annual Recognition Dinner in South Beach. Clinton arrived at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel about 8 p.m. and greeted NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond, who received the evening's National Leadership award. Local honorees: philanthropist Bob Cole (The Miami Herald Humanitarian Award) and TWN (The Weekly News), South Florida's gay newspaper that closed in March after 29 years.

Swift Boater No. 1 November 5, 2006 12:50 am John Kerry's painful self-expiation SEN. JOHN KERRY'S little joke about smarts and soldiering in Iraq turned out to be, pardon the expression, not much of a swiftie. If the Kerry Correlation is true, the senator's performance at a California city college last week qualified him to be dropped off alone in middle of the Sunni Triangle with a rifle, pack, and desert uniform with a stitched-on name patch: Doofus. If that scenario sounds suicidal, Mr. Kerry's remark about the lazy and ill-educated "get[ting] stuck in Iraq"--he claimed later he was talking...

I had a brief conversation with the office of the Mississippi Republican Party. There was great disappointment when they answered my first question: Is there a provision in the Mississippi Constitution for the people to recall the govenor? Answer: Unfortunately not. Well, I guess we can't get a petition drive going to boot out Robert Musgrove so that new GOP Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck could take over. Amy was recently welcomed with open arms as she switched parties. The next question was whether Trent Lott would leave the Senate if demoted from his position as majority leader. According to communications...