Free Republic

For those of us of younger generations, Seymour "Sy" Hersh is not a well-known name. But in days past, his investigative journalism was nothing short of award-winning. Hersh earned his 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for exposing the 1968 My Lai Massacre in Vietnam and the ensuing government cover-up. His resume includes writing as a first-rate reporter for The New Yorker and the New York Times, participating in the reporting on the 1972 Watergate scandal. His 2004 article in the New Yorker called "Torture at Abu Graib" covered the disgusting abuse of prison inmates by U.S. intelligence officials, proving...

The White House's John Kirby — who seems to work as a pinch hitter on tough briefing days for Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as much as he does his day job as the National Security Council's Coordinator for Strategic Communications — hit the airwaves on Sunday and renewed strong denials of any U.S. involvement in the sabotage of Russia's Nord Stream pipeline. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Kirby was asked by host Shannon Bream about a report by award-winning journalist Seymour Hersch that Townhall covered in early February. As Leah reported when the story first ran: A bombshell report by...

Environmentalists may have cheered when President Biden pulled the plug on the Keystone XL pipeline, but his decision is sparking concerns of a greater calamity down the tracks as the risks associated with transporting Canadian crude oil by rail start to pile up….

Gov. Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency Friday night after a leak was detected Thursday in a pipeline that supplies fuel to Las Vegas. The leak of about 205 gallons of gasoline from an above-ground pipeline was detected at a pumping station in the Watson neighborhood of Long Beach, California. The Kinder Morgan energy company shut down its 566-mile CalNev pipeline to investigate a release, according to a statement from the company. The pipeline supplies gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to locations throughout California and Nevada, including Las Vegas, according to the company’s website. “To avoid any unnecessary shortages,...

The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now The U.S. Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center can be found in a location as obscure as its name—down what was once a country lane in rural Panama City, a now-booming resort city in the southwestern panhandle of Florida, 70 miles south of the Alabama border. The center’s complex is as nondescript as its location—a drab concrete post-World War II structure that has the look of a vocational high school on the west side of Chicago. A coin-operated laundromat...

At long last, the Biden administration is admitting what experts have always known: reckless energy policies have disastrous consequences. This time, the Department of Energy quietly released a report highlighting the positive economic benefits of developing the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, an energy project canceled by President Biden in the hours following his inauguration. But the DOE’s report is a proverbial day late and a dollar short. The cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline has already cost the United States thousands of jobs and billions in economic growth while families suffer under the weight of record high energy prices....

A large blast has hit a gas pipeline in the Pasvalys region of northern Lithuania, near the Latvian border. Images broadcast by local media showed flames illuminating the night sky, but officials say there have been no injuries caused by the explosion. Latvia's Defence Minster Artis Pabriks wrote on Twitter that the cause of the incident would be investigated and said sabotage could not be ruled out. But the pipeline's operator said it did not believe the blast was suspicious. "According to the initial assessment, we do not see any malign cause, but the investigation will cover all possible options,"...

Just how bad was Joe Biden’s decision upon taking office to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline? We now have an admission directly from Biden’s own administration. According to a newly-released report from the Department of Energy, which cited a variety of studies on the economic impact of the pipeline’s construction, the cancellation of Keystone XL cost somewhere between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs. Lost GDP from the project is also estimated to be between $3.4 billion and $9.6 billion. Even when you only consider the SEIS, which is the government’s environmental impact study, the numbers of jobs and money involved aren’t...

Led by a respected former PM, and given a lot of resources by the Russian State, meet the Imperial Orthodox Palestine SocietyThe Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, a humanitarian NGO founded in Russia 140 years ago, now plays a key role in expanding Russian influence in the Middle East and beyond. As relations between Russia and the Western world plunge, Middle East and African countries engage in developing ties with Moscow. It is also quite remarkable that this rapprochement is based not so much on political foundations as on the common values and moral foundations. The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS)...

Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahar: The “Army of Jerusalem” Will Not Liberate Palestinian Land Only; the 512 Million Square Kilometers of Planet Earth Will Come Under a System with No Zionism, No Treacherous Christianity #Hamas #Palestinians.

Preparing for any potential war against Iran, the Biden administration has formally elevated Israel in military planning.... ...For the Pentagon, Israel is the most prized military and intelligence partner in the Middle East, with its vast combat experience and advanced technologies. With the end of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with the brokering of the Abraham Accords by the Trump administration, Washington sees an opportunity to incorporate Israel into a new regional alliance. ... ..."CENTCOM will now work to implement the U.S. Government commitment to a holistic approach to regional security and cooperation with our partners," the Tampa-based command...

America’s Lebanese fantasy hits a road-bump Lebanon Follow Tony Badran Published: 13 December ,2022: 12:39 PM GST Updated: 13 December ,2022: 01:25 PM GST For the past two years, the Biden administration has been hell-bent on getting Saudi Arabia to underwrite the US project of administering Lebanon. And for two years running, the Kingdom has refused, having no desire to bankroll an Iranian equity run by Hezbollah. The administration, however, is demanding US allies suspend disbelief and pretend that Lebanon is in fact a real, normal state. In the latest iteration of its Lebanese project, the Biden team is trying...

Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu said Wednesday that a normalization agreement between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is within reach and would effectively “end the Arab-Israeli conflict.” The latest statement from the Prime Minister comes as the new conservative coalition vows to confront terrorism in the Middle East and strengthen alliances with Arab allies. Speaking from Israel at an online event hosted by Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center, Netanyahu reminded an online audience of nearly 300 people that the Abraham Accords were negotiated by the former Trump administration when he was Israel’s prime minister. The Accords normalized...

Distillate levels in the United States have plummeted to the lowest levels since 2008.. Low distillate inventories have sent diesel prices soaring. ... The primary distillates are diesel, jet fuel ,and heating oil). However, in 2008 distillate levels were low coming out of spring. Currently, they are low going into fall. That’s far worse than the situation in 2008. Distillate demand generally spikes in spring — when farmers are planting crops — and in fall, when they are harvesting those crops and people start buying fuel oil for winter. Thus, a low distillate inventory in late April 2008 isn’t quite...

Rich countries must sign a pact with poor countries on the climate or "we will be doomed" - that's the warning from UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Speaking ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Mr Guterres said wealthier countries must help emerging economies to speed up their transition to renewable energy. "COP27 must be the place to close the ambition gap, the credibility gap and the solidarity gap," he said. "It must put us back on track to cutting emissions, boosting climate resilience and adaptation, keeping the promise on climate finance and address loss and damage from climate change."...

The State Department slammed Russia's 'baseless' accusation that Britain and the U.S. of conspiring to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipes, claiming former Prime Minister Liz Truss texted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the explosion saying 'it's done.' 'Russia’s baseless accusations against the United Kingdom, and before that the United States, are just another attempt to distract from their brutal war against Ukraine,' State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement to DailyMail.com. 'These ridiculous claims have no factual basis. Russia has a long history of spreading disinformation and it is doing so again here.' Vladimir...

Former prime minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is set to become Israel's next prime minister, according to Tuesday night's exit polls. According to the polls, Netanyahu's bloc, which includes Likud, Religious Zionist Party (RZP), United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, crossed the 61-seat threshold and will be able to form the next coalition. In some of the polls his bloc reached 62 seats. What do the exit polls say? Netanyahu's Likud party is expected to receive 30 seats according to Channel 12 and 31 seats according to Channel 13, while Lapid's Yesh Atid party is expected to get 24...

The United Nations General Assembly's first committee, which deals with disarmament, global challenges, and threats to peace that affect the international community, voted 152-5, on Friday, on a resolution concerning "the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East". The resolution states that Israel must dispose of all its nuclear weapons and place its nuclear sites under the International Atomic Energy Agency's purview. The resolution, which is submitted every year to the UNGA in New York, was submitted by Egypt and sponsored by the Palestinian Authority and 19 counties including Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates. Canada, Israel,...

Politics in the state of Israel has never been more complex. One coalition is held together by the slimmest of reeds: opposition to one man — Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s a collection of liberal, conservative, and Arab parties that was formed primarily to defeat Netanyahu last year with Yair Lapid as its leader. Some oppose the two-time former prime minister for his alleged corruption. Others blanch at his policies in the Palestinian territories. But because the only real unifying factor for the opposition is hatred of Netanyahu, the governing coalition lasted only a few months. Netanyahu’s Likud coalition is a mish-mash...

After a decade, the E.U.-Israel Association Council met. Although ties are improving, the question of Palestinian statehood persists. Government ministers from Israel and the European Union met on Oct. 3 for the first “Association talks” since 2012. Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern headed the Israeli delegation at the E.U.-Israel Association Council session in Brussels. Established in 1995 and first operating in 2000, the group has not met since July 2012, in part due to differences in views over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank. Bouts of violence between Palestinians and Israel, along with the COVID-19...