Free Republic

Military veterans are receiving preferential treatment for many federal job openings, and as with any kind of preferential-treatment program, it’s causing a backlash. In a remarkable story, the Washington Post describes growing tension between veterans and civilians who never served in the military throughout the federal government. Civilians complain that their veteran colleagues are conservative yes-men who don’t question authority and are sometimes lacking in the necessary skills. Some complained that male veterans sometimes act inappropriately around their women peers. “You’re getting a very conservative worker that’s very narrow-minded,” said one civilian who works in the Office of Personnel Management....

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Video from the Harkin Steak Fry shows former President Clinton saying "I agree with that" to a man on the ropeline who says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is not the guy" to make peace. "If we don't force him to make peace, we will not have peace," the man says. The conversation came on Sunday after the Clintons made a high-profile return to Iowa and spoke at Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) Democratic fundraiser. "First of all, I agree with that," Clinton replies. He then makes a point defending the Israelis, saying: "But in 2000, [then-Israeli Prime Minister] Ehud Barak,...

But it's not quite the projection of strength that it seems... Last week, two aircraft took off from an air base in western Russia, just east of the Russian city of Saratov. The aircraft, Tu-95 strategic bombers code-named Bear by NATO, flew northwest, skirting Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. Once beyond Canada, the two lumbering, propeller-driven bombers settled on a heading straight toward the United States. Their goal was a "launch box" off the coast of the U.S. from which, during wartime, they would fire nuclear-tipped cruise missiles towards American cities and military bases. The provocative flights were timed to a...

A Mississippi coroner who advised residents to arm themselves and shoot home intruders said today that he had been angered about a recent spate of burglaries and wasn’t trying to drum up business. David Scott Gregory, 40, the coroner of largely rural Winston County in eastern Mississippi, went on social media during the weekend to urge residents to buy guns and be willing to use them on burglars. “I say shoot the idiots and call the Coroner!” Gregory wrote on Facebook. “I’d hate for any innocent people to get hurt, but at the same time, my stuff is my stuff;...

A pair of Jewish travelers stopped by Sarah Palin’s house recently, and the GOP pundit welcomed the men in for a chat. Palin was prepping for a film segment when two strangers, donning kipopt, knocked on her door and asked to come in to kibbitz. The on-hand camera people were able to video the exchange as the past Alaska governor spoke with the pair about Judaism and Israel. Palin remarked on the events in Israel over the summer, saying “it’s not right” and adding “USA and Israel, together. ” The video was uploaded to YouTube this week via the SarahPalinChannel.com...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had a pretty simple response to to Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) claim that a proposed constitutional amendment intended to reverse the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision could put "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels in jail. Here's Pelosi on NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" reacting to a clip of Cruz making the claim on the Senate floor: Cruz said the amendment applies to SNL because NBC is a corporation, and the late-night show has had influence over elections. He called the proposal -- which would give Congress and states more power to...

They cannot kill us all. They can not throw us all in jail. We want justice for Michael Brown and every victim of police brutality. We’re now a month out from the killing of Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, and a month away from when a grand jury is likely to decide whether or not to indict him. Yet we still have no answers and no respect in the state of Missouri. In Saint Louis County, the police have a history of racial profiling and abusing the power of the shield. Racial profiling in North County has...

Eighty legislators from Utah have submitted an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which the legislators warn the Court that legalizing same-sex marriage would lead to the legalization of incestuous and polygamous marriages. The brief comes following the request for a writ of certiorari from both Utah's Attorney General, Sean Reyes, and the plaintiffs in Kitchen v. Herbert, the case that found both both a district court and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of marriage equality in Utah. As Joe.My.God points out, "the brief is signed by 22 of the 29 members of the state...

I know, I know, I’m the guy that just keeps pointing out obvious truths but never offers any real solutions. Bear with me anyway. My freshman year, I took a classical fencing class through Cornell P.E. with Maître d’Armes Adam Crown. He said some very interesting things to us before he left. For example: 1.When it is not time to act, it is time not to act. 2.If you can call Obama a black president, you can also call him a white president. 3.America is exhibiting signs of becoming a fascist country. 4.In vino veritas (translation: “In wine there is...

If your life came to a tragic end, how would you want the news to tell your story? This is a question news organizations must constantly ponder when covering victims of gun violence. Following the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old male shot in Ferguson, Missouri, news outlets such as USA Today pulled photos from Brown’s Facebook page, showing him displaying what can be interpreted as a gang sign. As a result of the media coverage of Brown’s death, social media users have flocked to Twitter and Tumblr announcing their outrage using the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown to...

Former governor Mike Huckabee (R., Ark.) implicitly made the case against Senators Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Rand Paul (R., Ky.), or Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) serving as president during a meeting with reporters about the prospect of his own candidacy. In a roundtable meeting this morning with journalists in Washington, D.C., Huckabee said that he would decide next year whether or not he will run for president, but he already knows he’s unlikely to support any of those freshman senators. “If not me, I would be supportive of someone who has had executive experience and who has been a governor...

On Monday, The New York Times reported that once again – for what must by, by this point, the 1,297th time – Democrats have decided to swivel to social issues for electoral purposes in advance of the 2014 election. “After a generation of campaigns in which Republicans exploited wedge issues to win close elections,” the paper reported, “Democrats are now on the offensive in the culture wars.” According to the Times, Democrats’ turn to abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraceptives is merely the latest attempt to “stoke concerns among moderate voters, especially women, and motivate their base.” And, the Times notes,...

The United States government is sending thousands of military troops to the west African nation of Liberia as part of the Obama administration's Ebola virus-response strategy, the White House said late Monday night. 'U.S. Africa Command will set up a Joint Force Command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia, to provide regional command and control support to U.S. military activities and facilitate coordination with U.S. government and international relief efforts,' a statement from the White House press office said. 'A general from U.S. Army Africa, the Army component of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), will lead this effort, which will involve an estimated...

An overhauled The View kicked off this morning with no fireworks, but, of course, it’s only Day 1. The show opened glutinously, with The New Ladies Of The View kissing the rings of Barbara Walters, sitting on a throne, who ordered them to “go out there and let them see why we have the best show in daytime TV.” (Babs stuck around for the rest of the show, looking sort of third wheel-ish, according to a source.) Whoopi Goldberg assumed her long-held position of air traffic controller, settling that question for now as to whether she or Rosie O’Donnell would...

Suddenly NBC's "Meet The Press" matters again, and when new host Chuck Todd joined me on Friday's radio show (see transcript) two of many reasons why became obvious. First, Todd had booked James Baker (former secretary of state and treasury, White House chief-of-staff, and W's Florida strategist during 2000's epic recount) to talk about whether or not an international coalition could be assembled by President Obama to battle the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The Baker booking was shrewd, and more will be forthcoming. Also shrewd was Todd's analysis of the Romney 3.0 boomlet which had been the subject...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)MISSION, Texas -- Authorities prepare to use “whatever force is necessary” to defend international bridges between Texas and Mexico from U.S. based militia groups. The preparations by Texas law enforcement agencies are in response to recently discovered plans by militia groups to attempt closing several international bridges. The militia groups' plans are intended to be protests against the federal government's failure to secure the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The plans call for militia groups to begin blocking traffic on an undisclosed number of international bridges in the Rio Grande Valley on Sept. 20th, 2014. “We will not allow...

As drones, cyberattacks and other high-tech developments change the nature of war, two prominent scholars argue that we must also rethink who fights our wars: the time has come, they say, to bring back the draft. The article, "Universal Conscription as Technology Policy," appears in Issues in Science and Technology, a journal published by the National Defense University. The authors are Mark Hagerott — a distinguished professor of cybersecurity studies at the U.S. Naval Academy, who was cited by Foreign Policy as one of "The Top 70 Military Thinkers "— and Brad Allenby, President's Professor of Sustainable Engineering, and Lincoln...

Is Tinder not selective enough for you? Is OkCupid turning up dates that don't meet your standards? If so, you might want to look into The League, a new dating app recently released by a Stanford business school graduate. "You're smart, good-looking & successful. You don't need a dating app to get a date - you're too popular as it is. But you should join The League," reads the app's website. The site invites users to download the app and join the waiting list for its "private alpha." Once live, it promises to exclude all of the chaff you'd find...

In Politico Magazine, but discussed at the National Review. Our anthem is too militaristic? Um, we're not even in the top fifteen. Here are the first few stanzas of the French national anthem. I've bolded my favorite parts. Let's go children of the fatherland, The day of glory has arrived! Against us tyranny's Bloody flag is raised! (repeat) In the countryside, do you hear The roaring of these fierce soldiers? They come right to our armsTo slit the throats of our sons, our friends! (Refrain) Grab your weapons, citizens! Form your battalions! Let us march! Let us march!Let their impure...

I was walking through the Fox News building a while ago and a producer introduced me to a young black man by saying, “This is the engineer you’ll be working with tonight.” We shook hands and the engineer said, “I know who you are. Look, I want you to know, I don’t agree with all your beliefs but I respect you for speaking your mind.” I said “Thanks” because we were in a hurry but what I really wanted to say was, “What beliefs? I’m not a Scientologist. I don’t really have ‘beliefs.’ I have opinions based on the information...