Free Republic

BAGHDAD — The commander of a group of Syrian fighters trained by the United States has been kidnapped by Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, his group said in a statement Thursday. The commander, Nadeem Hassan, and seven of his fighters were taken by the Nusra Front, a rival of the Islamic State in Syria, as they were returning from a meeting in Turkey. A contingent of 54 fighters from Mr. Hassan’s group, known as Division 30, are the only ones who have graduated from a Pentagon program to train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State in Syria. One the...

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura says he’s backing Sen. Bernie Sanders in his bid for president. In a blog post on his independent media site, Ventura praised Sanders for challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination. “I think what Bernie Sanders is doing is extremely healthy,” Ventura wrote. “I love the idea of somebody throwing a fly in the ointment.” This isn’t the first time Ventura backed a presidential candidate looking to shake up the system. In 2008 and 2012, Ventura backed Republican Ron Paul for president. In 2004, Ventura backed Democrat John Kerry against Republican President George W. Bush....

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) said Monday that real-estate developer Donald Trump should apologize for comments he made over the weekend — but not to him. "I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving our country," McCain said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." McCain was responding to Trump, a GOP presidential candidate who panned his war record over the weekend. Trump ignited a media firestorm by saying McCain was a war hero only because he was captured during the Vietnam War. "He's not...

Three years behind schedule and some $200 billion over its original budget, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is finally set to become operational this month. The fighter jet has been in development for nearly 15 years, weathered half a dozen years of testing and experienced myriad hardware malfunctions and software glitches along the way. Once it's declared ready for combat, it will be the most expensive weapons system in world history. It will also be the most advanced in the sky. The F-35, also referred to as the Joint Strike Fighter, is touted as the most lethal and versatile...

In the early 2000s, ethanol was touted as the solution to a variety of ills plaguing our nation. As is currently the case, those who worshipped at the altar of ethanol placed their faith in a false idol. Early in the new millennium, oil prices began to rise and natural gas prices shot up. Doomsayers lacking an understanding of history and economics popped up, as they always do, to proclaim the end of cheap oil was nigh. “Peak oil” pundits ruled the airwaves and editorial pages. The United States had recently suffered the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,...

The whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.” — Henry Hazlitt, “Economics in One Lesson” One of the greatest fallacies of recent generations is the argument that free market capitalism has failed and that said failure is responsible for America’s moribund economy, the ongoing destruction of the middle...

Latin Post presents "Turnout," a series featuring leading Latino politicians, government leaders and advocacy groups discussing and debating the most important issues facing the Latino voting bloc. Listen to the Unedited "Turnout" Interview with People for the American Way's Coordinator for Political Campaigns Carlos Sanchez:(AUDIO-AND-VIDEO-AT-LINK)More than two-thirds of the U.S. Latino electorate live in six states -- Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas -- but one progressive advocacy organization has been working on having anti-Latino and anti-immigrant representatives accountable and heard for Latinos across the country, especially for the presidential election season. With people entering their names for...

The Iraqi government and army officials have sent a plea to United States officials in Baghdad, asking for military support as soon as possible to prevent Ramadi, the largest city in Anbar Province, from falling to Islamic State (IS). At a meeting held in Baghdad on Sunday to discuss the latest advances of IS in Anbar, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi warned that the jihadists may take the western Iraqi province. The meeting was attended by Iraqi army commanders, the Parliament Speaker, US Ambassador Stuart Jones and a number of Iraqi political leaders. They discussed a plan to repel the IS...

Humility from a politician is more easy to come by from those on the Right, but you can completely forget about it from anyone who sides with the Left. Am I wrong? Obama, Reid, Pelosi, are they humble? Exactly. The one person who has taken a beating more than any individual on the planet for the past 15 years or so chooses a different path. Even during his time in office, President George W. Bush recognized that he wasn’t the most eloquent speaker who ever resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but the fact remains that the guy is not one...

We Sons of Confederate Veterans are charged with preserving the good name of the Confederate soldier. The world, for the most part, has acknowledged what Gen. R. E. Lee described in his farewell address as the “valour and devotion” and “unsurpassed courage and fortitude” of the Confederate soldier. The Stephen D. Lee Institute program is dedicated to that part of our duty that charges us not only to honour the Confederate soldier but “to vindicate the cause for which he fought.” We are here to make the case not only for the Confederate soldier but for his cause. It is...

Many people seem to think that the results of the British general election—a gain of 24 seats for the Tories, giving them a majority—herald a major win for conservatism. They don’t. They herald a major win for the Conservative Party, but just because it calls itself the Conservative Party doesn’t mean it does conservative things. Actually, the full official name of that party is the “Conservative and Unionist Party,” and last night was not a win for unionism either. The Scottish National Party, once a marginal outfit known outside Scotland only because Sean Connery supported it, picked up 50 seats...

What do you think of this? Despicable and outrageous, or just the school and police doing their duty?: "On March 24, cannabis oil activist Shona Banda‘s life was flipped upside-down after her son was taken from her by the State of Kansas. The ordeal started when counselors at her 11-year-old son’s school conducted a drug education class. Her son, who had previously lived in Colorado for a period of time, disagreed with some of the anti-pot points that were being made by school officials." The school called the police. Coppers showed up at Shona’s home, searched everything, and ended up...

<p>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — In an unusual legal twist, a federal judge decided Monday that a billion-dollar, class-action lawsuit over Apple's iPods should continue, even though she also disqualified the last remaining plaintiff named in a case that has been on trial since last week.</p>

House Speaker John Boehner sat down with Bret Baier today for an exclusive interview, covering everything from immigration to ObamaCare to Boehner’s invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Boehner charged the administration with antipathy toward Netanyahu, and he sounded off on plans to sue President Barack Obama over his executive action on immigration. […] Baier asked whether this Congress is Boehner’s “last time around” and if he thinks he can bring all Republicans together. He responded with a laugh and said “I’ll be here for a while,” before adding that he sympathizes with the concerns of the more conservative...

After the Washington Post reported that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke at a 2002 event hosted by a white nationalist group, RedState editor Erick Erickson knocked Scalise's supposed ignorance about the organization. According to the Post's Robert Costa, Scalise appeared at an event for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, a group founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, but didn't know at the time that the organization was a hate group. Erickson was not willing to give Scalise the benefit of the doubt. "How do you not know? How do you not investigate?" Erickson wrote...

House Speaker John Boehner called it, "Another in a long line of mindless concessions." He was referring to Obama's announcement that we would resume diplomatic relations with Cuba, not his own mindless concession to the president by fully funding Obamnesty. Just weeks ago, Boehner promised to fight Obama's immigration power-grab "tooth and nail." He neglected to specify whose tooth and whose nail. The $1 trillion CRomnibus bill includes full-funding of Obama's unconstitutional amnesty – $948 million for Homeland Security, an extra $80-million to HHS for the unaccompanied drug-dealers, gang-bangers and cheap labor, and $260 million to the State Department to...

Of course Barack Obama’s latest treachery – normalizing relations with the Castro Brothers prison state – is a terrible thing. It is as fraudulent as Obama is and it will further crush any hopes the average Cuban might have of ever being free. By infusing cash to prop up a torture regime Obama has all but guaranteed the Cuban people’s nightmare will continue after the Castros have died. They need only look to Venezuela to see their own desolate future. Yet, as sad as this is for the Cuban people, it is fraught with dangers for us as well. The...

Gov. Chris Christie has called on President Barack Obama to demand that Cuba return a woman convicted of killing a New Jersey State Police officer in 1973 before the United States moves forward with a plan to restore diplomatic relations with the communist nation. The Republican governor wrote in a letter to Obama that he profoundly disagrees with the decision announced last week to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba, saying he does not share the view that taking that step "without a clear commitment from the Cuban government of the steps they will take to reverse decades of human rights...

In the Rewrite Lawrence O'Donnell questions several claims made in a Washington Post story written by a law professor about the shooting death of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson. ...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) requested that President Barack Obama avoid making a “very public push” on immigration during the midterm primaries, according to White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett.