Free Republic

Until now, the politics of immigration have been seen as a no-lose proposition for President Obama and the Democrats. If they could get a comprehensive overhaul passed, they would win. And if Republicans blocked it, the GOP would further alienate crucial Hispanic and moderate voters. But with the current crisis on the Southwest border, where authorities have apprehended tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children since October, that calculus may be shifting. Republicans and even some Democrats have accused Obama of being insufficiently engaged in a calamity that many say he should have seen coming. And the president’s own...

There are reports on Twitter that Delta Flight 469 is due to make an emergency landing at Israel's Ben Gurion airport. Further reports say the plane has around 360 on board and that the plane has been burning off fuel flying in loops off Israel's coast over the Mediterranean Sea.Source:Source:Over a dozen ambulances waiting for Delta plane to arrive at Ben Gurion Airport within minutes

Four representatives of the NAACP and the U.S. Department of Justice met with Norfolk Mayor Sue Fuchtman Thursday to talk about a controversial float in the Fourth of July parade. The meeting included the mayor, city administrator Shane Weidner and members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which organized the parade. The Justice Department official is a member of the Community Relations Service team that handles discrimination disputes. The float in question depicted a distraught looking mannequin in overalls in front of an outhouse with the words Obama Presidential Library on the side. "The state area NAACP has received...

Carroll County officials swiftly voiced opposition Friday to news that the federal government is eyeing a former military property near Westminster as a potential shelter for immigrant children — underscoring the challenge the Obama administration faces as it tries to manage a surge of new arrivals. A day after federal officials notified local leaders it would conduct a preliminary assessment of the vacant Army Reserve Center, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners convened an emergency meeting and, along with Republican Rep. Andy Harris, pledged to resist efforts to use the site. "Carroll County will not become a repository for Obama's...

To the villagers who fled, Zowiya is now a graveyard for all they’ve ever known. Their houses have been razed, their neighbors are dead, and their tribal codes have been violated in ways they never dreamed possible. For the extremist fighters who overran Zowiya this week in a fury of mortars and bullets, the ruins of the Sunni Muslim village carry a different symbolism: an example for any “turncoats” who dare resist the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate. “What we saw is nothing like anything in all of history, not even under Hulagu,” said a 55-year-old survivor of the attack, Abu...

I write this from the city of McAllen, which sits in the Rio Grande Valley near the border, just across from the Mexican city of Reynosa. In the last 24 hours I realize that, for an undocumented immigrant like me, getting out of a border town in Texas—by plane or by land—won’t be easy. It might, in fact, be impossible. I flew into the valley Thursday morning to visit a shelter for unaccompanied Central American refugees and participate in a vigil in their honor. Outraged at the media coverage of this humanitarian crisis (these children are not “illegal,” as news...

It’s now the extreme dividing line among the GOP’s base: Do you want to impeach the president or not? Why Republicans with long memories are worried about where all this is headed. There was a time not long ago when leaders in the Republican Party favored a cap-and-trade system to deal with the threat of global warming. And there was a time when the party coalesced around the idea of immigration reform. There was a time when it seemed suicidal to much of the party to not raise the debt ceiling. But each of those issues shifted quickly at some...

Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water, Sarah Barracuda comes back to bite. SNIP But now Palin has burst back onto the political stage with a call to impeach President Barack Obama over immigration — a double-whammy from a celebrity with a following that's ripe for mobilization... SNIP Palin goes on to charge that "because of Obama's purposeful dereliction of duty an untold number of illegal immigrants will kick off their shoes and come on in," summoning the image of strangers streaming into your living room and plopping their bare or stockinged feet on the...

Insurgents in Iraq have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the country's north, Iraq told the United Nations in a letter appealing for help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad." Nearly 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of uranium compounds were kept at Mosul University, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the July 8 letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. "Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state," Alhakim wrote, adding...

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Republican Iowa U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst attempted Tuesday night to walk back statements made at a January event in which she said President Barack Obama had “become a dictator” who should be “removed from office” or face “impeachment.” In a statement provided to Yahoo News, reacting to a story published earlier Tuesday, Ernst said that she did not believe Obama is a dictator but rather “his repeated use of unilateral action sure makes him look like one.” “To be clear, I have not seen any evidence that the President should be impeached,” the statement read.

Someone at a Denver Bar Just Asked Obama If He ‘Wanted a Hit of Pot’ — and That Might Not Have Even Been the Most Bizarre Part of His Evening President Barack Obama was asked by an unknown individual if he wanted a “hit of pot” Tuesday night, while visiting a Denver, Colorado bar. The incident, captured on video, shows the president laughing off the suggestion. “Asked him if he wanted a hit of pot…he laughed!” the Instagram user wrote for the video’s caption. (The off camera comment was, "Do you want a hit, man?" Obama gave a big friendly...

In today's episode of "Obama On The Loose", he drinks a beer and plays pool...

Enough is enough of the years of abuse from this president. His unsecured border crisis is the last straw that makes the battered wife say, “no mas.” Without borders, there is no nation. Obama knows this. Opening our borders to a flood of illegal immigrants is deliberate. This is his fundamental transformation of America. It’s the only promise he has kept. Discrediting the price paid for America’s exceptionalism over our history, he’s given false hope and taxpayer’s change to millions of foreign nationals who want to sneak into our country illegally. Because of Obama’s purposeful dereliction of duty an untold...

Members of Free Republic to rally support for Governor Perry to officially call out National Guard and Texas militia units to defend the border. (Video of 3:19 interview which lead On the Record last night at the source)

White House to Seek $3.8 billion for Border Control, More Than Previously Signaled The White House on Tuesday will request $3.8 billion from Congress in emergency funding to deal with an influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America, a far higher amount that the Obama administration had previously signaled, according to a Capitol Hill source familiar with the plans. The money would go to several federal agencies, including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, State and Health and Human Services. Funds would be allocated to send more immigration judges to the southern border, build additional detention facilities and add border...

President Barack Obama has offered to meet Texas Governor Rick Perry to discuss the border crisis during a visit to Texas after the governor declined a brief meeting when the president arrives in Austin, the White House confirmed on Tuesday. "The president would welcome a meeting with you while he is in Texas," White House aide Valerie Jarrett wrote to Perry. Jarrett also invited Perry to participate in a session to discuss the border situation with local faith leaders and elected officials in Dallas on Wednesday that has been added to president's schedule. Jarrett's letter, dated Monday, was first reported...

Live helicopter footage with audio at feed.

Bahrain ordered a top U.S. diplomat to leave the country on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said, after he met with a leading Shiite opposition group. The ministry said in a statement that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski is not welcome in Bahrain. It said he intervened in the country's domestic affairs by holding meetings with some groups at the expense of others. The statement said that such meetings "segregate" the people of the nation. His actions, added the statement, "run counter to conventional diplomatic norms." Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's...

Letter: Illegal Aliens Who Exposed Border Patrol Agents to Scabies May Have Been Released into Population Illegal aliens presumed to have exposed border patrol agents in San Diego, California, to scabies may have been released into the general population, according to a July 4 letter from Ronald Zermeno, director of Health and Safety of a local chapter of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing Border Patrol agents. “We do not know exactly which detainee was infected and processed at Brown Field that resulted in the agent contracting this disease," the letter, sent to Paul Beeson, Chief Patrol agent...