Free Republic

President Obama said the shoot-down "points to an ongoing problem with the Russian operations" in Syria, including attacks against moderate Syrian opposition groups near the Turkish border. If Russia were going after the Islamic State instead, Mr. Obama said, such mistakes "are less likely to occur." He said it’s important for Turkish and Russian officials to communicate and to "discourage any kind of escalation." French President Francois Hollande called the incident "a serious one." "We must prevent an escalation," he said. Mr. Obama said the U.S. is still gathering facts of the shoot-down, but said Turkey "has a right to...

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) during President Obama's tenure, went on the Kelly File last night to talk about the possible manipulation of ISIS intelligence. He said the investigation should "start at the top. Where intelligence starts and stops is at the White House." "[M]any of them have been deployed for many years in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere... so I think that the focus of really this investigation, they'll find whoever they're going to find and some of the tactical issues at central command, but the focus of this investigation ought to...

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear on Tuesday signed an executive order restoring voting rights to most felons in state in an action that he said will affect some 180,000 people. Once felons have completed their sentences, including any probation or parole, and have made court-mandated restitution, they will have their rights automatically restored as long as they have no additional cases pending, Beshear said. Previously, felony offenders needed to apply to the governor's office to have their voting rights restored. Now, Beshear said, the Department of Corrections will make the determination. "The old system is unfair," Beshear said. "It's counterproductive. We...

Valuable vehicles and equipment are being yanked from law enforcement agencies across the country by the Obama administration in the wake of the president’s post-Ferguson order -- as sheriffs and lawmakers tell FoxNews.com the equipment is needed, and losing it could put officers and the communities they serve in danger. "These things are useful tools and the president taking them away will put more officers in jeopardy and at risk of harm or even death. I don’t know how he can sleep at night knowing his actions will have those repercussions," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told FoxNews.com. President Obama issued...

Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, senator, and first lady who is now running for president stepped in it with a Sunday tweet on the subject of rape. She tweeted, "Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported." It was a case of Hillary believing that accusations of rape and sexual assault were distractions before she believed that they were serious. Of course, as many people who responded to her tweet pointed out, those accusations involved her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The names of the women whom Bill Clinton is said to have assaulted...

The political operative behind the nonprofit that just began attacking Ted Cruz in Iowa is a Marco Rubio backer who served as a co-host of a fundraiser for the Florida senator last week. Sean Noble is the founder of American Encore, a 501(c)4 nonprofit, which is paying $200,000 to air an ad in Des Moines that accuses Cruz of voting to “weaken national security” and urges him to “stop leading from behind.” Noble said that while he personally is backing Rubio — he served as a co-host of scotch and cigars fundraiser in Arizona last week — his group is...

President Obama’s low-key response to the recent ISIS attacks in Paris has turned off many Americans, even as the bombastic, tough-guy talk of Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is resonating with Republican voters, according to new polling data. Obama, who drew sharp criticism from Republicans and some Democrats for his response to the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks, met on Tuesday in Washington with French President Francois Hollande, who is seeking to bolster international cooperation and intensified attacks against ISIS forces. Obama said that the United States stands united in “total solidarity with France,” but he did not...

For over half a century, American universities, with few exceptions, have ceased teaching and begun indoctrinating. In the past few weeks, this downhill spiral has accelerated. The university is now a caricature of an educational institution. It is difficult to come up with an idea or policy that is more absurd than the ideas and policies that now dominate American campuses.

The United States believes Russia's incursion into Turkish airspace on Tuesday likely lasted only a matter of seconds before Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, a U.S. official said, saying the assessment was based on preliminary indications. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States was still investigating the incident.

Obama recently lashed out against the idea of giving preference to Christian refugees, describing it as "shameful:": "That's not American. That's not who we are. We don't have religious tests to our compassion," loftily added the American president.

President Obama declared Tuesday that next week’s climate change summit in Paris would be a “powerful rebuke” to terrorists, speaking alongside French President Francois Hollande at a joint news conference. “Next week, I will be joining President Hollande and world leaders in Paris for the global climate conference,” Obama said during his prepared remarks, which focused mostly on the efforts to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be, when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for...

While some public officials would have you think Syrian refugees are a national threat, the mayor of Dallas couldn’t disagree more. Saturday, Mayor Mike Rawlings told MSNBC that the United States should welcome refugees and also admitted there are bigger homegrown threats to be worried about. “I am more fearful of large gatherings of white men that come into schools, theaters and shoot people up, but we don’t isolate young white men on this issue,” Rawlings said responding to questions about the threat of terrorists sneaking into the country through refugee programs....

Perhaps the most obvious sign that the Bowe Bergdahl desertion case has been irrevocably corrupted by President Obama's improper (and illegal) command influence is the unexplained and inordinate delays in processing and completing the case. As I explained here, military justice generally differs from the civilian model in its alacrity, because the military's mission requires that criminal cases be handled honestly but swiftly, lest good order and discipline disappear. This is especially true in the case of pure military offenses, like those against Bergdahl It has been over a month since Bergdahl's attorneys leaked the results of the Article 32...

As part of Operation Tidal Wave II, the U.S. military dropped leaflets containing grave warnings to oil truck drivers in Islamic State territory 45 minutes before destroying almost half the truck fleet. Here's what the pamphlets said, according to a report from The Free Beacon. "Get out of your trucks now and run away from them." Another pamphlet read, "Warning: airstrikes are coming. Oil trucks will be destroyed. Get away from your oil trucks immediately. Do not risk your life." The airstrikes took out 116 oil trucks, which put a sizeable dent in the 300-strong fleet. Concern over civilian casualties...

Young people are on track to be poorer than their parents at every stage of their lives, according to a new report. The study, by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), added that households actually grew richer during the financial crisis. But it said that the reason for the growth between 2006-12 was the increase in pension values over the period. And the slow rate of growth in overall wealth suggested that young people would lag behind earlier generations....

Britain's Prince Charles has blamed climate change in part for the Syrian war and warned that global warming could exacerbate similar conflicts worldwide. Charles's comments — in an interview broadcast Monday — came exactly one week before the start of a United Nations climate change conference in Paris, where he plans to deliver a keynote address. Unless world leaders take action to slow the impact of climate change, "it’s going to get so much worse," Charles warned in the interview with Sky News, which was recorded before the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. "Some of us were saying 20...

According to a new Ipsos-MORI poll, 48% of Americans -and 44% Britons- now favor halting all immigration into their besieged countries... stopping not just Muslims, but everybody. These numbers represent about a five-point jump... Other fun facts: 95% of people in the UK -and 91% of Americans- expect there to be a major terrorist strike on their respective homeland over the coming 12 months... that's a pretty dark outlook to have to get up and face everyday, and over time it's bound to take a toll on you. Hillary and Obama sure are fond of telling us how 'un-American'...

President Obama’s “Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH) is a stunningly ambitious attempt to force Americans to change the way they live. In essence, it seeks to use the power of the national government to create communities of a certain kind, each having what the federal government deems an appropriate mix of economic, racial, and ethnic diversity. I’ve written about concept (Obama moves to impose his vision of how we should live, Part One) and (Obama moves to impose his vision of how we should live, Part Two) (among other posts).Readers may recall that earlier this year, by a vote of...

President Obama calls the upcoming climate summit with world leaders in Paris a “powerful rebuke” to Islamic State terrorists who attacked the city earlier this month. “What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be, when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children,” Obama marveled, after previewing his attendance at the summit which begins next week in Paris.

An emergency NATO session has been called for later today following Turkey shooting down a Russian SU-24 aircraft earlier today -- reportedly the first incident of a NATO country shooting down a Russian or Soviet plane. But following that shoot-down as Russian rescue helicopters searched for the pilots of that airplane, at least one of the helicopters was destroyed by U.S.-backed Syrian rebels using a CIA-provided TOW anti-tank missile. The rebel group posted video of the destruction of the Russian helicopter: [VIDEO] In the video, the serial number of the missile stand can clearly be seen: [SCREENSHOT] As part of...