Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review. In the letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that the Justice Department is reviewing Hatch's request and other materials to determine whether to open an investigation into whether the BCS violates antitrust laws.

Five months ago, British shoe bomber Richard Reid, who is serving a life sentence for his failed attempt in 2001 to blow up a trans-Atlantic airliner, was moved out of the isolation wing at the Supermax prison in Colorado -- prompting some conservative lawmakers to suggest that the Obama administration is making it possible for the self-proclaimed Al Qaeda terrorist to radicalize his fellow prisoners. Critics said the move was part of what they say is a troubling pattern in the administration to treat terrorists with kid gloves. "This decision is another product of the Obama administration's alarming effort to...

A South Jersey woman got the scare of her life when she tried to report suspicious activity on board a plane Philadelphia International Airport. The woman shared details of her terrifying ordeal only with Fox 29 News on Wednesday. Now, she's wondering if it was some kind of sick joke or a test run for a terrorist. Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser reported that 12 days after her red-eye flight from Los Angeles, the US Airways passenger is still upset over an incident on her flight, the reaction to it by the flight crew, and the lack of reaction from authorities....

One of the most oft-asked questions since the "underwear bomber" was arrested on Christmas day is why was he treated as a domestic criminal instead of being turned over to to our intelligence agencies to be interrogated. As Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the Underwear Bomber, was fresh from the terrorist operations in Yemen, we could have gotten valuable information regarding al Qaeda's new set-up in Yemen. The word leaked out is immediately after his arrest Abdulmutallab sang like a canary, then he was read his Miranda rights,so he "lawyered-up" and stopped talking. If he had been turned over to the special...

The U.S. military's just-released report into the Fort Hood shootings spends 86 pages detailing various slipups by Army officers but not once mentions Major Nidal Hasan by name or even discusses whether the killings may have had anything to do with the suspect's view of his Muslim faith. And as Congress opens two days of hearings on Wednesday into the Pentagon probe of the Nov. 5 attack that left 13 dead, lawmakers want explanations for that omission. John Lehman, a member of the 9/11 commission and Navy Secretary during the Reagan Administration, says a reluctance to cause offense by citing...

<p>He's tanned, he's rested and he's back in love with the cameras!</p> <p>For the third day in a row since returning from his Christmas/New Year's vacation, Barack 'can't I just eat my waffles' Obama is appearing before the cameras to speak to the American people.</p>

Rev. Jeremiah Wright said that the “chickens came home to roost” on 9-11. He was wrong. But they have now, indeed, come home to roost as we witness the results of the unilateral disarmament President Obama has practiced in the war on terror. Beset once more by terrorism on our soil and in our airspace, we find ourselves suddenly overmatched by those who the Bush Administration kept away from our shores for seven years. This new onset of terrorism is not the product of any change in the international environment or some new “systemic” flaw in our intelligence operations. It...

“The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.” Vladimir Lenin, leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution Last week, while Congress and the nation were preoccupied with the holidays, the Treasury made a Christmas eve announcement that it would be providing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unlimited financial support for the next three years. The Treasury's press release notes: “At the time the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship in September 2008, Treasury established Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) to ensure that each firm maintained a positive net worth....

Documents produced by the Department of Homeland Security indicate that in fiscal 2010 the department is planning to catch only 26 percent of travelers committing major criminal violations while seeking to enter the United States through international airports. DHS documents also indicate that the department believes it will fail to screen against law enforcement databases 15 percent of travelers entering the United States in 2010 through all official ports of entry. In fiscal 2008, according to DHS, the department caught only 25 percent of those committing “major violations” while entering the U.S. on international flights. It also planned to catch...

Yesterday Newsweek revealed that on December 22nd, three days before the attempted underwear bombing, the President was warned that an attack might be imminent. In a background briefing for reporters on December 29, also attributed in an official White House transcript to a "senior administration official", that official asserted that in the wake of the attempted underpants attack, it had become clear to the President and top advisers that before Christmas, the US government was in possession of "bits and pieces" of information, which, if they had been properly knitted together, "could have...allowed us to disrupt the attack or certainly...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top counterterrorism official is warning that al-Qaida and other extremists are working to test U.S. defenses and launch an attack on American soil.</p> <p>National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter says the failed Christmas Day attempt to bring down a U.S. airliner is the starkest reminder of that threat.</p>

OBAMA’S TERROR FRIENDLY ADMINISTRATION IS A “SYSTEMATIC FAILURE” On Christmas Day, 2009, the first of many terror chickens to come, came home to roost when a Nigerian member of Al Qaeda climbed aboard a US commercial flight headed from Amsterdam to Detroit and attempted to set off a chemical bomb mid-flight. Once again, civilians found themselves in the position of having to provide for their own safety and security as the folks whose primary purpose is to provide for the common defense of the people, came up sorely lacking. Had it not been for a handful of brave patriots willing...

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan was briefed in October on an assassination attempt by Al Qaeda that investigators now believe used the same underwear bombing technique as the Nigerian suspect who tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, U.S. intelligence and administration officials tell NEWSWEEK. The briefing to Brennan was delivered at the White House by Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s chief counterterrorism official. In late August, Nayef had survived an assassination attempt by an operative dispatched by the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda who was pretending to turn himself in. The operative had tried...

Report: Brennan knew of underwear bombing technique By Tony Romm - 01/02/10 01:24 PM ET The White House's top counter-terrorism adviser learned in October that al Qaeda operatives had researched -- and attempted -- attacks using the same underwear bombing technique employed aboard Flight 253 on Christmas Day, Newsweek reported on Saturday. According to reports, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan received the briefing from his counterpart in Saudi Arabia, who survived an assassination by al Qaeda attackers from Yemen. Reports Newsweek: "The briefing to Brennan was delivered at the White House by Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s chief counter-terrorism...

On Christmas Day, a gentleman from Nigeria succeeded (effortlessly) in boarding a flight to Detroit with a bomb in his underwear. Pretty funny, huh? But the Pantybomber wasn’t the big joke. The real laugh was the United States government. The global hyperpower spent the next week making itself a laughingstock to the entire planet. First, the bureaucrats at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) swung into action with a whole new range of restrictions. Against radical Yemen-trained Muslims wearing weaponized briefs? Of course not. That would be too obvious. So instead they imposed a slew of constraints against you. At Heathrow...

Here is a video report on a "serious and unacceptable" security breach that occurred in December at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Apparently, a security checkpoint was left unattended for at least 90 minutes on December 16: The Transportation Security Administration has launched an internal investigation after a security checkpoint at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was left unattended and unsecured for 90 minutes earlier this month. Three agents have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. The agency said the agents left the checkpoint at Gate E8 from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Dec. 16. Personnel from the...

[caption id="attachment_2949" align="alignright" width="354" caption="The time has come, America Beware!"][/caption] THE ENEMY HAS LANDED MASSIVE ATTACK ON U.S. SOIL WILL OCCUR IN 2010by Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. New Year’s Day 2010.The planned bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 252 was averted by a stroke of luck and the courage of a Dutchman. But the lesson provided by Umar Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day has been lost to Obama Administration. Yes, we now have increased security at our international airports - - a measure that has resulted in passengers waiting in line over four hours to board an airplane. Yes, we have...

What was the 9-11 Commission for anyway? Recommendations put forth just “shelved.” Red flags ignored: Father warned that son had become radical; information given to U.S. Consulate in Nigeria. Undies bomber bought ticket with cash. Undies bomber had NO LUGGAGE. Undies bomber had no passport. BUT had US VISA. HOW did he get a VISA without a passsport? Has anyone even looked into the “well dressed man” that accompanied the undies bomber and assisted him getting on the plane in Amsterdam? ================= Now the White House is in FULL damage control mode trying to cover up their political incompetence on...

The Obama administration is scurrying to implement new procedures to find and keep potential terrorists off U.S.-bound planes, as results of a preliminary intelligence review flow into the White House. Emerging as a central focus are deficiencies in the U.S.'s network of watch lists, a system designed after the Sept. 11 attacks to keep tabs on potential terrorists and prevent them from boarding planes, according to a senior U.S. counterterrorism official. The official noted that government audits turned up problems in recent years, including gaps that kept suspected terrorists from being added to the U.S.'s no-fly list. President Barack Obama...

The National Security Agency four months ago intercepted conversations among leaders of Al Qaeda in Yemen discussing a plot to use a Nigerian man for a coming terrorist attack, but American spy agencies later failed to combine the intercepts with other information that might have disrupted last week’s attempted airline bombing. The electronic intercepts were translated and disseminated across classified computer networks, government officials said on Wednesday, but analysts at the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington did not synthesize the eavesdropping intelligence with information gathered in November when the father of the would-be bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, visited the United...