Free Republic

An “Obama Clock” app is jockeying for position with National Geographic’s World Atlas atop the iTunes app store’s reference best-seller list, partly because conservatives are eager to monitor President Barack Obama’s skidding approval numbers and shrinking calendar, says the app’s designer. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/31/obama-clock-climbs-iphone-reference-app-chart/#ixzz1WeBEWaQX

<p>The CaucusThe latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.</p> <p>Vicki Iseman at an awards dinner in 2004.</p> <p>A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.</p>

A former Russian energy minister accused by federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh of stealing millions in U.S. funds was found guilty Tuesday in a Moscow court of fraud and abuse of office. Yevgeny Adamov, who served as nuclear power minister from 1998 to 2001, could be sentenced today, according to The Associated Press. Prosecutors have asked for a nine-year sentence. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan's office will monitor the outcome of the Russian case before deciding how to pursue Adamov's pending charges here, according to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice. Prosecutors have stated previously that they doubt...

Fox News has learned that the Huckabee campaign has called for a “full investigation” into the Washington State Caucus results, and are sending campaign lawyers to the state to help in that pursuit. Ed Rollins, Huckabee campaign chairman, directly challenged Washington State GOP Chairman Luke Essers move in anounncing that John McCain had won the tight race with only 87.2 percent of the votes counted. ” The chairman showed very bad judgement in stopping the voting last night when announcing John McCain had won, when there was less that a 200 vote margin between the two candidates,” Rollins told Fox...

If Hillary Clinton had been seen with a discredited former autocrat, it would have made front pages across the country. But Bill's Yalta visit went unnoticed outside Ukraine. The trip illustrates the unusual position the former president is in. He is his wife's top political adviser, and Hillary does little to downplay the idea that he would be a notable, if unofficial, presence in her administration. In speeches, she says that she would deploy her husband as a roving ambassador. Yet unlike Hillary, who must report the names of her campaign contributors and how much they give, Bill Clinton is...

Britain's last chance of securing this treacherous corner of Afghanistan lies in the hands of a piratical, black- turbaned figure with long beard, white cloak and silver-sequinned slippers with curled toes. Mullah Abdul Salaam may not look much like a white knight. He served as a commander in the Taleban and even today his true loyalties remain suspect. The 45-year-old former Mujahidin guerrilla could, however, decide the fate of the British mission to stabilise the lawless province of Helmand, where this week he was put in charge of the key district of Musa Qala. "He's not just the best show...

An eyewitness is muzzled. A leaked report contradicts the official version of the crime. A body is buried before an autopsy can be conducted. A crime scene is hastily cleansed of evidence. What may sound like a standard plot from pulp fiction is playing itself out in Pakistan, where it is widely believed that an active effort to cover up the truth behind the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is under way.... Ishtiaq Hussain Shah, the Deputy Superintendent of Police who was alongside Ms. Bhutto's vehicle and gave an account of the assassination to a local newspaper from...

Don’t let the “Comeback Gal” spin fool you. Despite the unexpectedly close finish in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton’s campaign remains in a tailspin... You can’t fake a core. You can’t fake charm. And you can’t fake humility. Mannequin Hillary tried during the ABC News debate in New Hampshire over the weekend when questioned about her likeability. “Well, that hurts my feelings,” she coyly purred in attempted mock self-effacement. One problem: The Clintons are too steeped in the politics of self-entitlement to pull off credible self-effacement. Seated next to a rival who has stolen her liberal thunder and who might make...

Scotland Yard investigators are looking for the headscarf slain former premier Benazir Bhutto was wearing at the time of being shot outside Rawalpindi's Liaqat Bagh area on December 27.... "The headscarf of Benazir Bhutto is likely to resolve the mystery which swirls around the fact that whether she was shot in the head from right or left", police sources said. "The scarf would carry the corresponding cut/cuts on it which may help the investigators in ascertaining bullet direction and size", they added. According to the eye-witnesses, a shooter as well as a suicide bomber attacked the Benazir Bhutto from her...

Secretary Ridge, I'd just like to mention one aspect of your responsibilities this morning. And, as you know, it's not often that I discuss issues that relate to my home state. But I did have the privilege of accompanying Deputy Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson and other outstanding public servants to the Arizona-Mexico border a few weeks ago with other members of the delegation, including Senator Kyl and House members. And I invite you to come when things calm down a bit, because I think it's important for you to be able to see long, long distances of border which are unsecured...

Many evangelicals won't vote for a Mormon for president of the United States for the same reason that almost all Jews would not vote for a candidate (for any office, I expect) who is a member of Jews for Jesus. For Jews, the Jews for Jesus movement is a deceptive attempt to woo Jews to Christianity under the guise of remaining true to Judaism. Likewise, for evangelicals, Mormons are not "Christians" in the sense that evangelicals understand the term, and by portraying themselves as "Christians," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deceptively wooing evangelicals or potential adherents...

Just Three Weeks Before Dallas, Feds Uncovered Plot to Kill JFK in Chicago, Says Ex-Secret Service Agent By CHUCK GOUDIE, WLS-TV Nov. 22, 2007 — A former Secret Service agent has told WLS-TV there was a plot to kill President Kennedy in Chicago three weeks before he was assassinated in Dallas. Kennedy was murdered on Nov. 22, 1963. Today is the 44th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald would never have had the chance to kill Kennedy in Dallas, had an assassination plot in Chicago succeeded three weeks earlier, a plot that has been mentioned over the years. Kennedy...

In today's Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily it is claimed that Global Information System sources report that supporters of Sen. John Kerry have "prepared a series of television ads to take advantage of a possible major terrorist attack against the US before the [November 2, 2004] election" ["Campaign Supporting US Presidential Hopeful Kerry Readies Ads to Capitalize on Terrorist Attack on US"]. The ads reportedly say of President George W. Bush: "He said he'd keep us safe. He didn't." The report does not identify the tax-exempt 527 group that has prepared the ads.

Jason Fuchs reports in Tuesday's Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily that "spectacular" attacks against targets in the West and particularly the United States, prior to the U.S. elections on November 2, are the subject of "intense strategic discussions" involving Islamist-jihadist groups along with their chief state sponsors, Iran and Syria. GIS sources report that, on the question of a major Islamist offensive, "[Government officials in] Damascus and Tehran, and Islamist leaders in Islamabad are engaged in the debate and having "major input." "Damascus and Tehran, and [Islamist leaders in] Islamabad are in on the debate and are having major input."...

Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily published October 1 "The young Kvadrat members have been brainwashed for a decade; since they were little children in most cases. They have been taught to believe that only their zealous approach to Islam is correct; they are fanatical." a Global Information System (GIS) report from Sarajevo that the Saudi and Iranian governments are working through Bosnian terrorist groups to support Chechen Islamist terrorist and guerilla operations against the Russian government.A secret Wahabbi terrorist organization, Kvadrat (Quadrant), whose membership practice "Islam from the roots," was founded in Sarajevo in 1995. Kvadrat has expanded dramatically during...

Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily reported October 1 a Global Information System (GIS) report from Sarajevo that the Saudi and Iranian governments are working through Bosnian terrorist groups to support Chechen Islamist terrorist and guerilla operations against the Russian government.A secret Wahabbi terrorist organization, Kvadrat (Quadrant), whose membership practice "Islam from the roots," was founded in Sarajevo in 1995. Kvadrat has expanded dramatically during 2004 in operations and funding by opening a new string of offices and facilities in Bosnia and in the Raska (Sandzak) Muslim area of southern Serbia. A new base for future operations is being built in...

The Associated Press reported this week that a Saudi cleric, Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, funneled money to an Egyptian, Rabei Osman Ahmed, who is said to be the mastermind of the Madrid train bombings last March. Al-Awdah's name has been repeatedly linked to al-Qaeda and bin Laden, yet since 9-11, he has tempered his rhetoric. The disparity between his public and his covert activity can be explained by a secret agreement between the Saudi regime and al-Adwah's Movement for Islamic Resurgence.Osman Ahmed's Milan apartment was reportedly wiretapped by Italian anti-terrorism police. In one taped conversation he is reported to say that...

The Associated Press reported this week that a Saudi cleric, Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, funneled money to an Egyptian, Rabei Osman Ahmed, who is said to be the mastermind of the Madrid train bombings last March.Osman Ahmed's Milan apartment was reportedly wiretapped by Italian anti-terrorism police. To avoid tarnishing the country's image even more, Bin Laden's friends agreed to keep a low profile and the regime promised to tolerate their presence. In one taped conversation he is reported to say that "The Madrid attack is my project." He is also recorded saying that al-Awdah is "everything, everything." In a May 26...

John Kerry: But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.In the debate last night, President Bush pursued his campaign's primary strategy of portraying his opponent as a flip-flopper. On the evening's central topic of Iraq, the charge was not difficult to establish. In his toughest question to Senator Kerry, the moderator Jim Lehrer reminded him of...