Free Republic

JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will easily win a snap election set for April 9, according to an opinion poll on Dec. 25, the first to be published since the ballot was announced. Netanyahu announced the early election on Dec. 24, appealing directly to voters for a fresh political mandate that could help him weather possible charges in corruption investigations. An election had not been due until November 2019. The survey, published in Israel’s Maariv newspaper, showed Netanyahu’s Likud party winning 30 of parliament’s 120 seats, the same number it took in the last election in 2015, and a governing...

As Barack Obama continues to reflect on his legacy in a series of exit interviews, the outgoing president says he still considers the day he met with the parents of the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 the toughest day of his presidency. “I still consider the day I traveled up to Newtown to meet with parents and address that community as the toughest day of my presidency,” Obama told the History Channel in an interview that will air on Jan. 15, five days before he leaves office. “It’s the only time I ever saw...

Making the case that “Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to be president,” Barack Obama told a gathering in Ohio Tuesday that Trump’s wealth prevents him from being a champion of “working folks.” […] “Come on! That guy had never worn a baseball hat or a seed hat until he started selling them to make some money,” Obama said. “Come on. Come on! Take that off,” Obama said to a person wearing a Trump hat. As the crowd laughed, Obama told them, “Don’t boo. Vote! Although I would also check to see where that was made, because I bet it’s made...

President Obama is expected to travel to Baton Rouge next Tuesday to get a first hand look at the devastating flood damage in the state. This is a developing story. Please check back in for updates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is set to sign into law an anti-smoking bill that will give the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco. Obama is scheduled to sign the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act during an event Monday in the Rose Garden. The law allows the FDA to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such "low tar" and "light." Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.

"Now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work," Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Aug. 28 in his convention acceptance speech. He told the crowd in Denver: "I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons." Obama's campaign website is even more specific. Under the heading "Fighting for Pay Equity," the women's issues page laments that, "Despite decades of progress, women still make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. A recent study estimates it will take another 47 years for women to close the wage...