Free Republic

Monday on FNC’s “America Reports,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was critical of the Biden administration’s handling of Afghanistan on the heels of the collapse of the Afghan government. The South Carolina Republican lawmaker argued the Trump administration had the situation on a proper course, but President Joe Biden abandoned a plan put in place by former President Donald Trump and was now dealing with the consequences. “Well, for about three years, we had a formula that worked, a small American contingent of soldiers and airmen providing close air support to the Taliban, intel to the — excuse me — to...

President Obama met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto late last week to discuss ways to reduce violence and drug trafficking along the border and stressed his continued support for immigration legislation that provides a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants now in the United States. (SNIP) A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 30% of Americans view Mexico as an ally of the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Just one in 100 schoolchildren across the United States excels at advanced levels of science while less than a third of elementary and high school students reach grade-level proficiency in the subject, according to the Nation's Report Card released today. The report found that California students fared worse than the national average, with fourth graders, for example, lagging behind 43 states in science and in a dead heat for last with three others, Hawaii, Arizona and Mississippi. Four states did not participate in the voluntary testing, administered in 2009 by the National Assessment Governing Board. The National...

CHICAGO (AP) -- On a scale of zero to 100, it can't get worse than the big goose egg. That's the embarrassing rating Illinois received in a report released on Wednesday that concludes the state is worst in the nation when it comes to information available online about how federal stimulus money is being spent. The 50-state study by the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog Good Jobs First sought to assess how well states are living up to President Barack Obama's pledge that the $787 billion federal stimulus bill would seek "an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability."

WASHINGTON – The White House says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor acknowledges she made a poor word choice in a 2001 speech in which she said that a Latina judge would often reach a better conclusion than a white male judge who hasn't lived the same life. That's according to presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs. He says he has not talked directly to Sotomayor about it but has spoken to people who have.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - State auditors issued a stinging report Thursday on Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's use of federal election funds, charging his office with "poor management" of millions of dollars and "poor oversight" of staff and consultants that may force the state to reimburse the federal government. Auditors said Shelley's office avoided competitive bids for services, paid consultants for work that had little to do with the funds' mission and failed to fulfill much of its responsibility to modernize voting systems. The audit represented the first results of investigations into Shelley's conduct in an office he's occupied since Jan....