Free Republic

PHOENIX (Reuters) - One person was shot and killed and five others were injured in a shooting on Wednesday that unfolded across multiple locations in Mesa, Arizona, the Arizona Republic newspaper reported on its website.

STOCKHOLM - Several people have been shot inside a restaurant in the south-western city of Gothenburg in Sweden, according to media reports that quoted the Swedish police. The Daily Express reported that at least one person had been killed, and the death toll was expected to rise ...

Glenn Beck says he is no longer a member of the Republican Party. “I’ve made my decision — I’m out," Beck said on his radio show Wednesday, according to Mediaite.com. "I’m out of the Republican Party. I am not a Republican; I will not give a dime to the Republican Party. I’m out.” The former Fox News host and founder of the Blaze supported the GOP during the last election cycle but has become disillusioned with the party in recent years over what he believes was its failure to stand up to the Obama administration — specifically, the Affordable Care...

An online communications strategist working for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) campaign-in-waiting resigned late Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, after controversy erupted over disparaging comments she had made disparaging comments about Iowa?

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's victory in the Israeli election will not hamper US efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, the State Department said Wednesday. The Israeli leader opposes any accommodation with Tehran and came to Washington during the campaign to address US lawmakers and denounce the agreement under negotiation as a "bad deal." "We've been long familiar with the views of the prime minister on Iran. We don't think that his win has impacted the Iran negotiations, or will," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Lausanne for talks this week...

Federal immigration officers released another 30,000 immigrants with criminal records last year, following the 36,000 it released in 2013, the government announced Wednesday — though it promised to take steps to cut down on the problem. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that handles detention and removal of illegal immigrants, said it will no longer allow overcrowding to be the main reason a dangerous illegal immigrant is released, and will require a top supervisor to approve the cases of any serious criminals that officers want to release. Overall, ICE released 30,558 criminal aliens in fiscal 2014, which is down...

Congress’s two top tax chairmen warned President Obama on Wednesday not to claim unilateral executive powers to raise taxes on his own, saying it violates the Constitution and ruins chances for a lasting deal. Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said they were troubled by White House’s announcement earlier this month that Mr. Obama is “very interested” in exploring what options he has to raise taxes without going through Congress. “This would be a mistake, both constitutionally and politically,” the two lawmakers said, adding...

In a new interview with Playboy, former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder of "playing the race card" and said that he could "go on for hours" about all of the ways Obama has "undone" the work of President George W. Bush.Although the article claims that Cheney's "preoccupations revolve around the books in his study and the purchase of just the right gifts for his grandchildren," it sounds more like he's kind of obsessed with Obama. Calling him "the worst president in my lifetime," Cheney said his criticism of Obama and Holder has nothing...

The White House said Wednesday it still believes a two-state solution is the best way to find peace in the Middle East, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the creation of a Palestinian state. This comes after a comment by the White House, saying it will evaluate its approach to Mideast peace process. President Barack Obama believes a two-state solution is "the best way to resolve the situation," according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who added that Obama had not yet called to congratulate Netanyahu on his election victory. The White House also said it was "deeply...

Members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have voted to make the 1.8-million-member, 10,000-congregation denomination the largest Protestant group to formally recognize gay marriage allow same-sex weddings. The Presbytery of the Palisades in New Jersey cast the necessary 86th vote Tuesday night to establish that a majority of the church’s 171 regional presbyteries now support an amendment to the church constitution that redefines marriage, the Associated Press reported. “Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives,” the church’s Book of Order will read,...

'Most Transparent' White House Dumps FOIA Regulations for Itself Transparency advocates hammer Obama administration for change. President Barack Obama says he's running the most transparent administration in history, but transparency advocates aren't applauding. By Steven Nelson March 17, 2015 | 6:56 p.m. EDT The Obama administration announced Tuesday it will ditch regulations that subjected large portions of White House correspondence to public records requests, a decision derided by transparency advocates who wryly noted it was issued during a week celebrating open access to government.The notice exempting the White House's Office of Administration from the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After six years of testy relations, U.S. President Barack Obama may have to resign himself to the likelihood that he has not seen the last of Benjamin Netanyahu. A better-than-expected showing by the Israeli prime minister in Tuesdays closely fought election raises the prospect that he could remain a thorn in Obamas side, with the two men increasingly at odds over Iran diplomacy and Middle East peacemaking. U.S. officials responded cautiously as they waited to see whether Netanyahu or his centre challenger, Isaac Herzog, would get the nod from Israels president to begin the long and messy...

The returns on voting from ballot boxes indicate that the Likud has significantly extended its lead over Zionist Union. According to Israel Radio, officials have counted the votes of 25 percent of booths across the country. The results indicate that the Likud wins 32 Knesset seats while Zionist Union garners 25 seats. Yesh Atid is the third-largest party with 11 seats, Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu faction wins 10 seats, the Arab List nosedives to nine seats, the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas movement wins eight seats, Naftali Bennett's Bayit Yehudi dips further to seven seats, while Yisrael Beytenu, which has only mustered five...

House Republicans, unveiling their first budget blueprint since the party took control of Congress, issued a sweeping spending plan Tuesday that calls for complete repeal of ObamaCare, major changes to Medicare and controversial moves to boost defense spending despite tight budget limits. GOP leaders say their budget would balance in less than 10 years, and in that time cut spending by $5.5 trillion compared with current projections. The spending plan stands little chance of ever being signed by President Obama, but makes clear that the party is not dialing back its ambitions despite a rocky start to the latest congressional...

The recent massacres in Paris of the staff of Charlie Hebdo and the Jews in a kosher supermarket, and the increasing incidences of butchering young people coming out of pubs have made more people concerned about the rise of terrorism. Tens of thousands have come out to demonstrate. Since the 9/11 attack on New York and the Pentagon in 2001, there have been close to 25,000 terrorist attacks worldwide, all of which were perpetrated in the name of Islam. That is about 5 terrorist attacks every day. So far two million people have been killed and a similar number are...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared victory after the first exit polls released following Tuesday's elections showed the Likud ahead of, or tied with, the Zionist Union. Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page: "Against all odds, a great victory for the Likud, for the nationalist camp led by the Likud, and for the people of Israel." The numbers for Netanyahu's Likud were better than expected after pre-election polls had showed him trailing Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union by as much as five mandates. The Zionist Union rejected conjecture that the results of the exit polls show that Netanyahu will form the next...

Exit polls released after the close of voting in Israel's national election show that the race is too close to call. Israel's Channel 1 and Channel 10 both said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union secured 27 seats each in the 120-seat Knesset. Channel 2, meanwhile, have Likud 28 seats and the Zionist Union 27. The numbers were published by Haaretz. What that is likely to mean is, as NPR's Emily Harris tells our Newscast unit, Israel's new government won't be immediately known. Emily says: "The new government will need approval from a majority of...

Earlier today, Judge Salim Joubran decided to ban Prime Minister Netanyahu's recorded message. In a press conference he held, Netanyahu protested the judge's decision: "I will not let anyone silence me". Judge Salim Joubran, chairman of the Central Elections Committee has decided to ban Prime Minister Netanyahu's recorded message from radio and television broadcast, since it was of a propagandist nature. The PM was quick to slam him for this decision: "The 'Anyone but Bibi' party speaks undisturbed. The only one not allowed to speak his mind is the prime minister from Likud. I will not let anyone silence me."...

Missouri’s lieutenant governor lashed out at the Justice Department on Monday, accusing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama administration of racism in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in Ferguson last year. “There is more racism in the Justice Department than there is in anywhere I see in the St. Louis area,” Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said in an interview with NewsMaxTV Monday. “We are making progress. We’ve come an enormous way in 50 years. That’s not to say we don’t have still have more to do. But it is...

The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials. With Yemen in turmoil and its government splintering apart, the Defense Department has lost its ability to monitor the whereabouts of U.S.-donated small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies. The situation has grown worse since the United States closed its embassy in Sanaa, the capital, last month and withdrew many of its military advisers. In...