Free Republic

In the wake of recent attacks, Germany’s conservative Christian Democrats over tripping over themselves with proposals for tightening anti-terror laws. Instead of calming the people, they are simply confusing them. […] A year after Merkel’s proclamation that “We can do it,” there seems to be few traces of last summer’s optimism in the conservatives’ ranks. Back then, the chancellor was still confident that a “strong Germany” could absorb hundreds of thousands of immigrants and train and integrate them into the country’s workforce. The conservative interior ministers’ proposals highlight to what extent fear has become a driving political force in Germany....

Populist right-wing AfD party co-leader Frauke Petry has encouraged Germans to carry firearms. She claims the government has lost its state monopoly to protect the public, especially in thinly populated areas. Petry, who caused an uproar January by suggesting German police could use firearms to deter incoming refugees, on Saturday called into question Germany's policing and stringent gun ownership law in the wake of deadly attacks last month. There were no grounds for concern when citizens armed themselves for self-protection in areas where austerity measures by national and regional governments had “systematically ruined” police services, Petry told the Funke Media...

Democratic megadonors, including George Soros and Tom Steyer, are putting millions of dollars into efforts to put Hillary Clinton in the White House and win control of the Senate. Their investment comes as Republicans worry about not only their nominee Donald Trump’s chances, but also his effect on down-ballot races. Yet few of the GOP’s biggest donors have put major money into Trump efforts, a striking change from four years ago when Mitt Romney had more million-dollar donors on his side than did President Barack Obama. …

The U.S. State Department on Thursday said there is “no evidence” that a “deliberately edited” videotape of its Dec. 2, 2013 State Department briefing was intended to “conceal information from the public,” even though someone requested the edit. Spokesman John Kirby said a months-long internal investigation was unable to identify the person who asked for the edit: “And while the technician recalls receiving a phone call requesting the edit, there is no evidence to indicate who might’ve placed that call or why.” Kirby also said even if the video was edited with the intent to conceal, “There was no policy...

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Saturday his country is willing to accept a role for Syrian President Bashar Assad during a transitional period but insisted he has no place in Syria’s future. The comments came after Assad’s forces began attacking Kurdish positions this week, leading some Kurdish officials to speculate that a Syrian-Turkish rapprochement was underway at the expense of Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria. “There will be concessions on the Kurdish question,” said Nasser Haj Mansour, an adviser to the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, which expelled the Islamic State group from their northern Syrian stronghold of Manbij...

Health care will be on Rebecca Esparza’s mind in the voting booth this fall. The two-time cancer survivor from Corpus Christi, Texas, says repealing the Affordable Care Act could make her uninsurable. The health law protects people with pre-existing medical conditions from being denied coverage. …

Mina Schultz figured she’d be OK without health insurance during the months between finishing graduate school and joining the Peace Corps. But a few weeks after graduation, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer more common in children. […] Her father, Jack Schultz, a professor at the University of Missouri, recalls a scramble not only to deal with his daughter’s health, but also to pay for it. He said it was only after her diagnosis that he learned she could be covered on his policy under a provision of President Barack Obama’s health insurance law that allows young adults...

Hail a yellow taxi in New York City, and there is a good chance the driver is from another country. Passengers are regularly exposed to a range of languages that span the globe, from Spanish to Bengali to Urdu. It can be charming, but also maddening for riders who feel that drivers do not understand where they want to go. Don’t you have to speak English, some wonder, to drive a taxi here? As of Friday, the answer is no. That is when new rules went into effect eliminating the requirement that taxi drivers take an English proficiency exam. Now,...

The head of the Scottish government has reached out to Germany, the European Union’s most populous member, as she tries to keep Scotland in the bloc — and is arguing that Scotland should be able to remain part of the EU without leaving the United Kingdom. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told German broadcaster ARD that “because we are in unprecedented circumstances, we should be prepared to think about unprecedented solutions. And that’s the spirit that I will have in any discussions.” The U.K. as a whole — which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — voted narrowly to...

Donald Trump’s newest campaign ad begins with a warning: “In Hillary Clinton’s America, the system stays rigged against Americans.” The commercial, which aired Friday as part of his $5 million swing state ad buy, hearkens back to a claim Trump has been hammering for weeks — that the general election is rigged against him. The questionable claim looks to mobilize Republicans, with the all-important start of early voting in some states just weeks away. […] Is voting fraud a problem? Not the type that Trump is referring to. While fraud can occur, the number of cases is very small and...

Flying across the Pacific on an Air Force jet bound for Beijing, first lady Hillary Clinton huddled deep into the night with a few aides and advisers, honing her speech for the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women. It was 1995, and it had been a bruising first few years in the White House: Troopergate, Travelgate, Whitewater. Not to mention the failure of her own high-profile efforts — unprecedented for a first lady — to reform the nation's health care system. Even her trip to China provoked controversy. There were objections in some quarters to a first lady wading into...

A pro-government Turkish newspaper placed an ad at Istanbul’s main airport on Friday warning against travel to Sweden due to alleged high incidences of rape, the state-run news agency reported, in the latest escalation of tensions between Turkey and its European allies. Anadolu Agency said the ad by Güneş newspaper appeared on two billboards at Atatürk Airport’s International Terminal and read in Turkish and in English: “Travel Warning! Did you know that Sweden has the highest rape rate worldwide?” The ad was apparently placed in retaliation for a similar news ticker at the Vienna airport last week claiming Turkey allows...

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. U.S. District Judge David Bunning issued orders Thursday dismissing the lawsuit brought by two gay couples and two straight couples against Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis. …

Colin Powell rejected Hillary Clinton’s assertion to the FBI that he had advised her during a 2009 dinner party to use a personal email account. “General Powell has no recollection of the dinner conversation,” the former secretary of state’s office said in a statement Friday. “He did write Secretary Clinton an email memo describing his use of his personal AOL email account for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications within the State Department,” his statement said. …

French President François Hollande says he may run in next year’s elections provided he sees a chance of winning, but would quit politics if he lost, according to a book published on Friday. Quoted by journalists Antonin Andre and Karim Rissouli in “Conversations Privées avec le Président” (Private Conversations with the President), Hollande highlighted the strain of politics, the burden of high office and the passing of time. “I know what it’s like… to spend years without a personal life,” he said. “But I do have the desire” to stand for re-election, he said. “That is my personal inclination.” …

In a video message posted to Facebook on Thursday evening, Anders Fogh Rasmussen appealed to the US to be the world’s “policeman” and to stop “leading from behind”. […] “Obama’s decision to draw the infamous red line to Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria and then not follow it up with action was, in my opinion, a disaster,” Rasmussen said in a video message posted to Facebook. …

Larry Wilmore bid farewell to The Nightly Show on Thursday by thanking Comedy Central, former Daily Show host Jon Stewart (who appeared as a guest during the last episode), and the show’s staff and fans. […] In an interview with EW before the final episode, Wilmore said his immediate post-show plans included taking a break from politics “for a while,” and a wish to perhaps one day moderate a debate. But speaking as he signed off one last time from The Nightly Show, Wilmore offered just four words about what his future holds: “I’m not done yet.” …

Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by two percentage points in the swing state of Nevada, according to a poll released Thursday. The Suffolk University poll shows 44% of likely Nevada voters said they support Clinton, the Democratic nominee, and 42% said they support Trump, the Republican nominee. …

At an emotional funeral service for a New York City imam and his assistant who were gunned down on a Queens street, one friend of the victims took the microphone and demanded that the city install security cameras outside mosques citywide to help protect Muslims from harassment or violence. “Each street corner should have security cameras around our places of worship,” said Anwar Hussein Khan, a teacher. But in the days following that impassioned plea, the city’s Muslim community has since backed away from that request. Muslim activists and civil liberties groups here have spent years opposing police surveillance of...

Eight years ago, a U.S. presidential candidate named Barack Obama captivated hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate with a promise to tear down walls between races and nations. Over the last year, however, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has provoked ire from German quarters after repeatedly disparaging the country. On Monday, Trump sought to insult Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton by comparing her to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying incorrectly that crime had skyrocketed under Germany’s refugee policies. Those comments, and others, have left Germans — from the highest pinnacles of business to the grungiest parks...