Free Republic

President Barack Obama’s push to hire military veterans for jobs across the government is fueling resentment in federal offices, as longtime civil servants and former troops on the other side of the cubicle increasingly question each other’s competence and qualifications. With veterans moving to the head of the hiring queue in the biggest numbers in a generation, there’s growing bitterness on both sides, according to dozens of interviews with federal employees. Those who did not serve in the military bristle at times at the preferential hiring of veterans and accuse them of a blind deference to authority. The veterans chafe...

More Americans disapprove than approve of Barack Obama’s response to the situation in Iraq, even while the public broadly agrees with his decision not to send U.S. combat forces there. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll marks the difficulties Obama faces in crafting a popular response to the deepening crisis. Two-thirds oppose sending ground troops to fight the Sunni insurgents in Iraq, a step the president himself ruled out last week. Regardless, just 42 percent approve of the way he’s handling the situation, while 52 percent disapprove. The public divides evenly on another potential option, the use of air strikes.

A postal worker has been shot and killed while delivering mail in Prince George's County, Maryland, on Saturday evening. Police have identified the victim as 26-year-old Tyson Jerome Barnette of Upper Marlboro. Authorities are still trying to identify suspects and a motive in the case. Officers were called to Reed Street in Cheverly-Landover just after 7.20pm on Saturday and found Barnette suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In the last month, conservatives looking for a possible 2016 presidential candidate with a serious approach to defense and foreign policy were starting to wonder if they would be stuck with outliers rather than frontrunners. The only reason why people like former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton and Rep. Peter King—men who are respected voices on these issues but not likely to have a chance at the nomination—were getting even minimal attention for their presidential trial balloons was the fact that all of the likely contenders have been ignoring the question of America’s need to maintain a forward position in...

The concrete on the buildings has chipped away, the "no parking" signs are fading and the pavement is filled with sedan-eating potholes. The Port of Chicago hasn't had a major face-lift in more than 30 years — and it shows. But a 62-year lease to a Colorado company announced Sunday will bring a $500 million private investment that city leaders say will modernize Chicago's port and bring its infrastructure into this century.

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Congress to pass a wide-ranging immigration reform bill, saying it would trim the US deficit and boost economic growth.

our teenage girls caught on videotape laughingly beating a defenseless woman are remorseless and defiant even as they are about to be arraigned on criminal charges in a Philadelphia court, police said today. The girls videotaped the beating and posted it on Facebook. Someone who saw the video called the cops. Four of the six teens involved have been arrested and they are aged 16 and 17, according to the Chester Police Department. Authorities are searching for the other two girls. The cell phone video shows five girls standing on the street Tuesday night, playing around for the camera before...

The 24 Hours of Le Mans has always been a laboratory for wild automotive technology—part sporting event, part science fiction. On Sunday, at the 80th running of the world's most famous endurance race, a hybrid racing car won for the first time. Audi's 200-mph R18 e-tron quattro took the checkered flag in front of 240,000 fans, in the hands of German driver André Lotterer. The winning hybrid, nicknamed "Electra" by the Audi team, traveled 3,201.18 miles over the 24 hours—the rough equivalent of Miami to Seattle.

Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) disagreed Sunday with Mitt Romney's conclusion that the failed recall election in Wisconsin was evidence that American voters want fewer public workers such as teachers and firemen. “I think it's slightly different – I think in our case what they wanted was people willing to take on the tough issues not only here but across the country,” Walker told CBS's Face the Nation. “I know in my state our reforms allowed us to protect firefighters, police officers and teachers. That's not what I think of when I think of big government.”

Gov. Scott Walker urged Mitt Romney to develop a more cogent economic message Thursday in order to win over the fickle swing voters needed to carry Wisconsin and win the presidency. The Republican governor’s advice was more a critique of style than substance, but he warned Romney that framing the fall election solely as a referendum on President Barack Obama would be a risky bet. “He’s got plans … But I think it’s got to be, narrow it down to a very simple set of messages that embody the larger plan that he has,” Walker said of Romney’s fiscal and...

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An old foe is lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry, as he continues his campaign for president. Debra Medina - a GOP opponent in 2011's gubernatorial race - and a handful of tea party activists pointed out what they call “crony capitalism” formed under Perry's reign in Texas. "Michele Bachmann got it right. Gov. Perry's executive order was driven on money, not driven on good policy,” Medina said Thursday at the State Capitol.

JASPER - Longtime civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory held a prayer vigil in Jasper Tuesday night in protest of Lawrence Brewer's execution. Brewer was sentenced to death and is scheduled to die Wednesday for his role in the dragging death of James Byrd Junior in 1998. Gregory, a strong opponent of capital punishment, will conduct an 18 hour fast and vigil at the Walls Unit in Huntsville. "When do the State qualify to kill somebody and the government qualify to kill somebody and it's all right"? said Gregrory. "It's never all right to kill somebody intentionally. There are...

Fox News presenter Bill O'Reilly has claimed that he has more power than anyone but Barack Obama. The news anchor made the extraordinary declaration while promoting his new book about the Lincoln assasination. He told Newsweek interviewer Peter Boyer: 'I have more power than anybody other than the president, in the sense that I can get things changed, quickly.'

A task force created to help overhaul a controversial deportation program instead witnessed five of its 19 members resign last week, another sign the Obama administration’s immigration policy remains politically problematic for him at a time when courting Latinos is crucial to his re-election. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Task Force on Secure Communities released its report evaluating the interagency operation that determines if immigrants arrested by local police are deportable under federal immigration laws. The task force recommended that the federal government re-evaluate its mission to focus deportation efforts on criminal aliens, not illegal immigrants arrested...

(JTA) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Obama for his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, but the address was criticized by Palestinians. Netanyahu met with Obama at the United Nations on Wednesday afternoon after the president’s speech and reportedly expressed his appreciation for the address. The speech was also praised by Israel’s hawkish foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. “I congratulate President Obama, and I am ready to sign on this speech with both hands,” Lieberman said at a news conference. Some officials with the Palestine Liberation Organization criticized the president’s speech, which was seen as a rebuke...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of violent crimes fell by a surprising 12 percent in the United States last year, a far bigger drop than the nation has been averaging since 2001, the Justice Department said. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported there were 3.8 million violent crimes last year, down from 4.3 million in 2009. Experts aren't sure why. The expectation had been that crime would increase in a weak economy with high unemployment like that seen in 2010.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama have had their ups and downs, but Saturday Bibi had high praise after the United States helped Israel evacuate its embassy in Cairo. For that matter, Netanyahu also praised the Egyptian forces:

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — NASCAR star Tony Stewart scoffed at the notion he turned down an invitation from the White House as some sort of political statement. Stewart is among four Sprint Cup drivers who say they can't attend next week's meeting with President Obama because of scheduling conflicts. Eight others who made last year's Cup playoff, including five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, plan to be there along with NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France. "Trust me, if we could be there, we'd definitely be there," Stewart said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "I've always viewed it as an honor...

Hits by Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Take That are among 100 songs that have been placed on an internet blacklist by China's culture ministry.Music websites have been given until 15 September to remove the offending tracks, which officials say harm "national cultural security". Those that fail to do so risk being prosecuted by the Chinese authorities.

Editor's note: The following story contains language some readers may consider offensive. Jackson, Mississippi (CNN) -- On a recent Sunday morning just before dawn, two carloads of white teenagers drove to Jackson, Mississippi, on what the county district attorney says was a mission of hate: to find and hurt a black person. In a parking lot on the western side of town they found their victim. James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old auto plant worker, was standing in a parking lot, near his car. The teens allegedly beat Anderson repeatedly, yelled racial epithets, including "White Power!" according to witnesses. Hinds County...