Free Republic

The title says exactly what is known. The only addition is that it was being diverted due to a security incident. Flight 65 from LAX to Paris has been diverted to Salt Lake City.

Jeb Bush may be low-energy, but when it comes to Syrian refugees, he isn’t low-empathy. Unlike nearly all of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Bush said Tuesday that he would not support efforts to end refugee resettlement.“The answer to this is not to ban people from coming,” Bush told Bloomberg Television’s With All Due Respect. “The answer is to lead, to resolve the problem in Syria.”Bush emphasized that he wanted any refugees resettled in the United States to be rigorously vetted — which is already standard policy in the States — but said support for refugees was “a...

Ben Carson's remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State. Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson - who leads in some Republican presidential polls - was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews with The New York Times that he had struggled...

As President Obama presses communities to accept Syrian refugees, his current hometown of Washington, D.C., is likely to be spared much of the pain. There are about 180 communities across the U.S. that welcome refugees, but some of the more obvious cities, including San Francisco, New York and, yes, Washington, aren't high on the list because they are just too darn expensive for the refugees. Instead, the top major cities are places such as Atlanta, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Chicago and Boston, the State Department says. And there are a host of medium-sized cities as well: Boise, Idaho, Nashville, Tennessee,...

In the aftermath of the series of protests in Paris against occupation by activists and militants, who have grievances, we bring you the French plan for peace, based on France's Mideast policies. It is the only way to solve the problem of ISIS activism in Paris. First, we all agree that territory must not be annexed by force. Therefore, we can also agree that Germany has a moral right to demand the return of Alsace-Lorraine, for the French aggression in 1945 and its consequent occupation must not be rewarded. "A full withdrawal for full peace" should operate here. Further, France...

Real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican presidential field by a wide margin, after seeing his support dip in late October. Trump leads with 38 percent of the vote, twice the level of support of his nearest competitor, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who takes 19 percent. *snip* Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tie for third, at 7 percent each, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) finishes with 6 percent. No other contender scores above 3 percent of the vote. Trump's lead is built on strong support from voters who have not attended college...

As California continues its longterm battle with droughts, perhaps it should look to another arid land for some advice. 1. Ban flood irrigation Flood irrigation wastes approximately half the water used to evaporation. According to a 2010 irrigation survey in California, flood irrigation accounted for 43% of irrigated land, including 78% of corn, 79% of grains, and 85% of sugar beet. In Israel, no farmer has used flood irrigation since the early 1970s. 2. Provide tax incentives to purchase drip irrigation equipment Drip irrigation is 90-95% water efficient and increases crop yield, but many farmers are put off by the...

El Niño is already the strongest we’ve seen in more than 15 years, and it’s only getting stronger, according to a report released Monday from the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization. In fact, the weather pattern, which has already delivered extreme weather in parts of the world, is on track to be among the most powerful ever. It’s already been blamed for extreme weather events around the world, including major coral bleaching, an intense cyclone season, wildfires in Southeast Asia and drought conditions in parts of Africa, to name just a few. For California, it means increased risk of heavy flooding...

A federal judge, Christina Snyder, will decide whether a Latin cross on the Los Angeles County seal is a state endorsement of Christianity or just an accurate depiction of a building of historical significance. Coates said in a trial brief that the cross had been at the San Gabriel Mission since it was built in the late 1700s. Aside from a 22-year period when the cross was removed for repairs after the Whittier earthquake in 1987, stolen and then restored, the cross has been a consistent feature of the mission. But plaintiffs' attorney Linda Burrow, with Caldwell Leslie & Proctor,...

A Chilean mother and her daughter, cut down in a concert hall while the daughter's 5-year-old son survived. A young Italian woman, separated from her boyfriend and friends when the concert erupted in chaos. They were among the latest victims named as officials on Sunday continued the heavy task of identifying the 129 people killed in Friday night's coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.

A California man with a rare genetic disorder that gives him an insatiable appetite has pleaded no contest to breaking into houses to steal food and other belongings. The San Luis Obispo County district attorney says in a statement that because of the condition it allowed 20-year-old Tyler Jarvis to plead to five misdemeanors and get probation and treatment. He had previously been charged with felonies that could have led to jail time. Prosecutors say Jarvis has "Prader-Willi Syndrome" and they looked closely at his case to reach a just outcome. They say people who have it and are not...

A top White House adviser said Sunday that President Obama still plans to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees even as Republicans insisted that it's all but impossible to stop terrorists from hiding among the migrants. "We're still planning to take in Syrian refugees," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said on "Fox News Sunday." One of the terrorists in Friday's deadly attacks on Paris reportedly may have used a Syrian passport to enter Europe with a flood of refugees, but Mr. Rhodes expressed confidence in the background-check system. "We have very robust vetting procedures for those refugees. It involves our intelligence...

After the first Democratic presidential debate Oct. 13, 2015, Texas Republican Ted Cruz interpreted the crowd’s cheers for proposals to raise taxes as a reason for the decline of the Democratic Party. The day after the debate, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly asked Cruz how he could appeal for votes from Americans cheering on Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator seeking the Democratic nomination, who has stressed how much more the very wealthiest Americans have than the rest of us. "Well," Cruz replied, "it's why the modern Democratic Party is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. What does it say that they're...

As France and the rest of the world comes to grips with Friday night's horrific terrorist attacks in and around Paris that claimed at least 129 lives, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is blaming tough gun control laws in France for the dimensions of the tragedy. At a rally in southeast Texas Saturday afternoon, Trump told the crowd "nobody had guns but the bad guys." "You can say what you want, but if they had guns -- if our people had guns, if they were allowed to carry -- it would have been a much, much different situation," Trump said,...

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is standing by his support for bringing Syrian refugees into the United States of America, even after the Paris murder-rampage by some of the many Muslims migrating into Europe. In September, Rubio told CNN that “we would be potentially open to the relocation of some of these [refugee] individuals at some point in time to the United States.” On Saturday, Breitbart asked Rubio’s campaign if he still stands by this statement. In response, Rubio’s spokesman Alex Conant referred Breitbart News to two other previous interviews Rubio has done on the matter—essentially confirming that Rubio still supports,...

After a week in which he hosted Saturday Night Live and stood center-stage at a Republican debate, Donald Trump is surging among Republicans likely to cast votes in the party’s presidential primary. According to the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos presidential poll, Trump has leapt some 17 percentage points among likely Republican voters since Nov. 6, when he was essentially tied with Ben Carson at about 25 percent. Trump now captures 42 percent of those voters while Carson has fallen off slightly.

Wait what? Debbie Wasserman Schultz attacked the mainstream media for its bias and hostility toward Ben Carson? Ahhh, but there's a catch in this nice find by Newsbusters.. It turns out that DWS had to use Carson as the rhetorical diversion to protect Hillary Clinton from renewed media scrutiny into her serial fabulism and by a surprising source: DNC Chair Freaks Out After Andrea Mitchell Actually Fact-Checks HillaryAt first, Wasserman Schultz tries challenging Andrea Mitchell on the value of the story. Why on Earth are we talking about this? the DNC chair laments and Mitchell shuts her down: MITCHELL: Good...

Wait … what? Debbie Wasserman Schultz attacked the mainstream media for its bias and hostility toward Ben Carson? Ahhh, but there’s a catch in this nice find by Newsbusters. It turns out that DWS had to use Carson as the rhetorical diversion to protect Hillary Clinton from renewed media scrutiny into her serial fabulism — and by a surprising source:

Former Republican Rep. Ron Paul blasted the presidential hopeful, Donald Trump for being “authoritarian” on Alan Colmes’ Show recently. Paul’s comments about Trump came about when he was asked if Donald Trump was good or bad for the Republican Party, to which Paul replied, chuckling, “Well I don’t even care whether he’s good or bad for the Republican party. I don’t have much interest in that per se. But, I think he’s a dangerous person and a lot of people find him kind of funny and they love him, even libertarian types love him…” When Colmes presses Paul to explain...

Tom Coburn, the former Republican senator from Oklahoma says that Rand Paul scares him to death, Ted Cruz and Scott Walker are not ready for primetime, Rick Perry is not capable enough, and America will not elect another Bush to be president. Of all the candidates, he said Marco Rubio is his favorite. Former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn spoke candidly about the current crop of Republicans running for president on Sirius XM radio Thursday, sharing some critical thoughts about Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Governors Scott Walker and Rick Perry, while heaping praise on Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina,...