Free Republic

We have had Live Threads here at Freerepublic for the count for the last three Australian Federal elections - in 2004 which ended in conservative victory, then again in 2007 which ended in defeat for the conservatives and a Labor government, and then again in 2010 which gave us a hung Parliament, where Labor continued governing with the support of the Greens and independents. This is the live thread for 2013 - polls close and the count begins in about 10 minutes. Polls and exit polls indicate a victory for the conservative coalition under Tony Abbott is highly likely. A...

After the stunning “no” vote in the UK Parliament, President Obama’s “coalition” partners have pretty much dwindled to … France. The British parliament voted late Thursday against military action in Syria, whittling down the core of the planned coalition to the United States and France. Italy and Germany have said they won’t take part in any military action.The British ‘no’ vote raised questions about France’s participation — and ratcheted up pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama, who is also facing domestic skepticism about military intervention in Syria.Amid the resistance, the U.S. administration shared intelligence with lawmakers Thursday aimed at convincing...

This week the United Kingdom, with the support of the U.S. and France, scrambled -- in vain -- to get the approval of the United Nations Security Council for a military strike on Syria. I can certainly understand why some see this as a legal or political necessity. International law says that nations should seek approval of the Security Council before attacking other nations. That means if the United States attacks Syria without U.N. approval, President Obama will open himself to the charge from the left of being even more of an international war criminal than George W. Bush, who...

Australia's conservatives led by Tony Abbott are maintaining an election-winning lead over Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a poll showed Monday, after a first leaders' debate was widely called a draw. As the race to September 7 elections entered its second week, a Newspoll published in The Australian had Abbott's coalition leading Labor 52 percent to 48 percent on a two-party basis, the same as a week ago.

The saddest, albeit possibly most accurate short message you will read The American Dream ended (on November 6th) in Ohio . The second term of Barack Obama will be the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest Republic in the history of mankind. A coalition of Blacks, Latinos, Feminists, Gays, Government Workers, Union Members, Environmental Extremists, The Media, Hollywood , uninformed young people, the "forever needy," the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and other "fellow travelers" have ended Norman Rockwell's America . The Cocker Spaniel is...

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down before elections and that the United States has no right to interfere in his country's politics, raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war. In the capital Damascus, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded five, according to Syrian state TV. It said bomb experts dismantled other explosives in the area. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said eight people were killed,...

"Marcus Hook mayor under investigation over gun incident,” a Saturday Philly.com report revealed. “The mayor of tiny Marcus Hook, who just last year was a guest at the President's State of the Union address, is under investigation for allegedly shooting a gun in his house and giving alcohol to a 20-year-old whom he threatened to hold hostage,” the report continues. On top of that, the report says Mayor James D. Schiliro “ordered a borough police officer to pick up the 20-year-old, who was at a friend's home, in a police vehicle and bring him to Schiliro's home.” What his authority...

Likud Beytenu, the Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid reached the final stages of coalition talks Wednesday night, with Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett negotiating to break the impasse between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. After days of arguing over the Education and Interior portfolios, the number of ministries in the government, the Knesset Finance Committee, and changing Hatnua's coalition deal, the parties reached an apparent compromise brokered by Bennett on Monday evening, meeting late at night to iron out the final details. Shai Piron of Yesh Atid will be Education Minister, while the Likud's Gideon...

A Likud source responded Saturday night to a claim made by the Jewish Home party's Naftali Bennett, alleging that, "In the days immediately following the elections, Likud refused to speak with the Jewish Home," The source claimed otherwise. "The Jewish Home party was the first party to receive an offer to join the government led by Netanyahu,"...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will allow Hatnua chairwoman Tzipi Livni to lead the peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, as part of the coalition agreement between the two, but just several months ago Netanyahu made statements that said exactly the opposite. During the election campaign, Netanyahu had reportedly made clear to several of his senior staff that no talks were taking place with Livni or other members of her party, and that the chances of her joining the next government with him as Prime Minister were nil. “Livni managed the negotiations with the Palestinians poorly,” Netanyahu was quoted in December...

After Likud Beytenu’s Pyrrhic victory in the Israeli elections, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will most likely be confronted with the formidable task of piecing together a new coalition. Given the diverse group of potential partners, this will be no easy task. First and foremost in this cast of characters is Yesh Atid, led by popular TV personality Yair Lapid, who surprised everyone by becoming the second largest party in the incoming Knesset. It now seems clear that the key to the new coalition is in its hands. Defining his party as Center rather than Left, Lapid has been quite clear...

Chairman Naftali Bennett and members of Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home-New National Religious Party) want to be members of a government led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to a Monday report by the Ha'aretz daily. The newspaper quoted Bennet as saying, "We'll be responsible partners." He made it clear, "We're not coming to explode the government two months after we join it. We're not coming to bring the government for any reason." Bennett said, "As long as there's o decision to give away land, we have no reason to leave the government. On the contrary, we are coming with a...

Yesh Atid (Future) chairman Yair Lapid shot down on Saturday the idea of forming an anti-Likud bloc with Labor and Tzipi Livni's party, but then gave it his conditional consent. The idea was floated Friday night by Livni in a live Channel 2 television appearance, then seconded by MK Shelly Yechimovich, who heads Labor. .... Lapid wrote on his Facebook page that he would meet Yechimovich and Livni, but added, "I have no interest in joining a 'blocking bloc' because it is not my habit to boycott people and parties." "In the meeting, I will suggest to them that, in...

A Panels Politics Institute poll...predicts the following elections results were they to take place today, before the resignation of Amir Peretz: Likud Beyteinu-39, Labor-19, Jewish Home-12, Shas-10, Yesh Atid-8, The Movement-6, UTJ-5, Meretz-5.

(Reuters) - Two explosions and shooting were heard at a U.S. base in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday, a Reuters witness said. The Taliban said they carried out an attack on the compound and inflicted casualties. NATO officials were not immediately available for comment. Security forces surrounded the area. "We can confirm there have been multiple explosions in the vicinity of the Jalalabad airfield," the U.S.-led coalition said in a statemen. "Currently, ISAF officials are on the scene gathering facts, and as more information becomes available, we will release it as appropriate."

As November election nears, splits in Democratic coalition resurfaceBy Niall Stanage - 06/11/12 05:00 AM ET Divisions in the Democratic coalition have burst into view, endangering both President Obama and his party colleagues in Congress as November’s election nears. Fissures have opened over everything from tax policy and former President Bill Clinton’s off-message comments to recriminations following the party’s fiasco in the Wisconsin recall, which some say should have been avoided. Democrats disagree over the wisdom of Obama’s attacks on Republican Mitt Romney’s private equity background at Bain Capital and are split over the proposed construction of the Keystone XL...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he believes his 94-seat super-coalition is a historic opportunity – and mandate – for peace. "On the peace process," Netanyahu told attendees at an Institute for National Security Studies conference in Tel Aviv. "We are 94 Members of Knesset. This is an opportunity to advance the peace process, an opportunity which may not repeat itself, in my opinion, in the next ten years." "Waiting and inaction lead to the mere illusion of quiet. We're on borrowed time," Netanyahu warned. "We will get stuck in a corner, or we'll arrive at a wall, and...

Just got a call from these guys looking for cash for Joe the Plumber. Is this legit?

More than 30 years ago, I anointed a young man named Benjamin Netanyahu and prophesied that he would be the Prime Minister of Israel. At the time, he was not involved in politics, and I went to Prime Minister Menachem Begin and recommended Netanyahu for his first appointment. Today my old friend is indeed the Prime Minister, and he has just accomplished something never before seen in Israel’s history. Israel’s government is a parliamentary system (like England’s) with many political parties. The Prime Minister has just created the strongest coalition government Israel has ever known by bringing the largest opposition...

Greek Conservatives failed to cobble together a coalition on Monday (7 May), with leftist leader Alexis Tsipras set to try and form a government opposing the "barbaric" bailout, a move that would put into question the country's future in the eurozone. "I tried to find a solution for a government of national salvation, with two aims: for the country to remain in the euro and to change the policy of the bailout by renegotiation," Conservative leader Antonis Samaras said in a televised address on Monday. "We directed our proposal to all the parties that could have participated in such an...