Free Republic

Chris Christie is trying to regain political respectability with a road map for a post-Trump Republican Party amid countless media appearances. The former New Jersey governor, once a prime GOP presidential hopeful, wrote the book “Republican Rescue” to save the party from its craziness, the lie about the stolen presidential election, the Jan. 6 mob assault on the Capitol and right-wing nuts such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.).

President Obama reached out to lawmakers by conference call Friday to "update" them on operations in Libya and will speak publicly about the mission soon. White House press secretary Jay Carney during his briefing with reporters would not give any details on when Obama would speak about Libya, but said it will be “in the very near future.” The president was scheduled to hold a call Friday afternoon to inform members of "what we've accomplished thus far" and update them on "the transition of command and control to NATO," Carney said. Obama was to speak Friday with House and Senate...

Did the Obama administration’s political group help organize union protests in Madison? It depends on whom you ask … and when. Early on, the White House seemed proud of those connections. Doug Ross, for instance, captured this tweet from DNC communication director Bob Woodhouse on February 17th, when Woodhouse “proudly” retweeted a Politico article linking the White House to the protests: Proudly RT @evale72: RT @woodhouseb@BarackObama‘s pol arm DNC/OFA playing role in WI protests:http://politi.co/eVVkyR @evale72 // yup!!! OFA is, of course, Organizing for America, which used to be Obama’s political campaign organization, whose transformation into OFA was announced by Obama...

China tries to stamp out 'Jasmine Revolution' By ANITA CHANG, Associated Press 40 mins ago BEIJING – Jittery Chinese authorities staged a concerted show of force Sunday to squelch a mysterious online call for a "Jasmine Revolution" apparently modeled after pro-democracy demonstrations sweeping the Middle East.

Just hours after National Intelligence Director James Clapper made the shocking statement this morning that the Muslim Brotherhood is a “secular” organization, his office tried frantically to “clarify” his remarks. In a statement to ABC News, Jamie Smith, director of the office of public affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Clapper was commenting on the political system in Egypt rather than the make up of the group itself: To clarify Director Clapper’s point — in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood makes efforts to work through a political system that has been, under Mubarak’s rule, one that...

Barack Obama went to church on the Sunday after Christmas in his native Hawaii, worshiping at a multidenominational service at a chapel at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. And this is news, you ask? Actually, yes it is, when you are a struggling president facing re-election after a year in which growing numbers of Americans -- as many as 1 in 5 -- thought he was a Muslim, while more than half felt Obama's religious views were different from their own. Moreover, resurgent Republicans and conservative activists continue to raise doubts about Obama's religious views as a way to sow doubts...

Danish police say they have shot an al Qaeda-linked man armed with an axe who broke into the home of a controversial cartoonist. Police say the 28-year-old Somali man was trying to kill Kurt Westergaard, who triggered worldwide protests after drawing cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammed. The intruder was linked to Somali terror organisation al Shabaab and al Qaeda leaders in east Africa, police said. The intruder was shot twice and is being held in custody. Lotte Mejlhede, of TV2, told Sky News Mr Westergaard, 74, fled to a safe room at his Aarhus home after spotting the would-be attacker.

WASHINGTON (AP) - While ceding some ground to President Obama on high-profile weapons cuts, lawmakers are cutting money for training and spare parts to pay for other weapons Obama doesn't want and their own pet projects. The push-and-pull is playing out within a massive, $626 billion funding bill for the Pentagon that is being debated on the Senate floor. All told, the bill denies Obama about $4 billion he sought for operations and maintenance accounts while providing $2.5 billion for C-17 cargo jets and $2.7 billion worth of pet projects sought by lawmakers.

A US soldier is being tried in absentia by an Italian court for the murder of Nicola Calipari, the intelligence agent who died on the road to Baghdad Airport shortly after securing the release of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena.

SACRAMENTO — Fresh from a season of cooperation with Democratic lawmakers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved Wednesday to appease members of his own party by signing a series of GOP-sponsored bills and vetoing a measure that would have banned homophobic comments from school textbooks and curricula. Since the legislative session ended last week, Schwarzenegger has acted on bills of interest to key parts of the state's Republican coalition: veterans, businesses and social conservatives. On Wednesday, he signed six GOP-sponsored bills, four aimed at helping veterans and two designed to keep children farther away from registered sex offenders. Schwarzenegger also vetoed a...

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (516) 767-4688 http://www.ny.lp.org/ Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com John Clifton www.electclifton.org; Michael Sylvia mike@mikesylvia.org www.mikesylvia.org; Eric Sundwall info@sundwall4congress.org www. sundwall4congress.org; Steve Finger 917-623-0652 Finger4Congress@aol.com, www.fingerforcongress.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GOP Tries Blocking Libertarian Candidates Albany, NY 8/31/06 Libertarian Party of New York State Chair Richard Cooper reports that general objections have been filed against both the statewide Libertarian petition and that for Eric Sundwall in the 20th Congressional District. Cooper asks “Are the Republicans and lobbyist John Faso desperate to keep the Libertarians out of the race? They know we won’t hesitate to expose Republicans...

WASHINGTON - Eager to advance President Bush's election-year agenda, Majority Leader Bill Frist maneuvered for months to bring immigration legislation to the brink of Senate passage. But as a presidential hopeful in a party dominated by conservatives, the Tennessee Republican also voted for changes aimed at derailing the bipartisan compromise he helped forge. So is he for the bill, with its emphasis on increased border security? Or is he against the measure, which would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship? "It's moving in the right direction," he said recently, a noncommittal answer that reflects a political straddle...

SAN JOSE — At a pivotal point for keeping his job, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told the divided GOP faithful Friday that he will continue to battle for reform of education, state spending, troubled pension systems and political boundary redistricting. "We will continue to fight for recovery," Schwarzenegger said. The governor also reminded Republicans that he reversed the car tax, overhauled workers' compensation, stopped illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses and avoided tax hikes. But he also had a warning for the GOP. "Republicans must begin to change our outlook," he said. "We cannot just fight, we must build. We...

WASHINGTON - After kicking off the fall campaign season, President Bush took to the road Wednesday to capitalize on the attention surrounding his State of the Union speech last night. The President will recap his top initiatives in a speech Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn., at the Grand Ole Opry. Last night, Bush painted Democrats as defeatist for criticizing his march to war in Iraq and protectionist for questioning new trade deals and tax-cut extensions. Encumbered by some of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, Bush hoped to take charge of the agenda at the start of a year that...

Nasa tries to figure out real-life Rain Man's brain Robin McKie, science editor Sunday December 11, 2005 The Observer (UK) It took Kim Peek just over an hour to read Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. Four months later, when asked to give the name of the book's Russian radio operator, Peek quoted the entire relevant passage. It was a prodigious feat. Yet for Peek - the real-life 'savant' on whom Dustin Hoffman's character in the film Rain Man is based - such recall only gives a glimpse of his powers. He knows 9,000 books off by heart; he...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syria sought to discredit a U.N. probe into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Monday, after a man who purported to be a crucial witness claimed that he gave false testimony implicating Damascus. The probe's finding that Syria must have known about — and may have been involved in — Rafik Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination has "completely collapsed" because of the revelation, said Ibrahim Daraji, spokesman for the Syrian inquiry into Hariri's murder. "Politically and judicially ... I believe the report has been dealt a knockout blow," Daraji said of the probe's findings, delivered to the...

Police: Suspect Tries To Chew Skin Off Fingers To Foil ID Robert Anwar Nicks. LOWER PAXTON, Pa. -- Robert Anwar Nicks. A fugitive wanted on robbery and weapons charges went to great lengths to conceal his identity, including trying to chew off the skin of his own fingers so he couldn't be fingerprinted, Lower Paxton Township police say.Robert Anwar Nicks, 24, ran across an interstate and ditched two handguns, a 9-mm and a .45, and tried to hijack two cars, assaulting one owner, before bystanders and police restrained him Wednesday, police said.Officers spotted Nicks in the 200 block of North...

Carthage tries to live down image as site of infanticide Thursday, May 26, 2005 By Andrew Higgins, The Wall Street Journal CARTHAGE, Tunisia -- Mhamed Hassine Fantar has a bone to pick with the Roman Empire, French writer Gustave Flaubert and a group of Americans who specialize in digging up old graves. An expert on ancient Carthage -- a city obliterated by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago -- Mr. Fantar is campaigning to clear his forefathers of a nasty stigma: a reputation for infanticide. "We didn't do it," says the 69-year-old archaeologist, rejecting accusations that the ancient citizens...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A U.S. Senate subcommittee sought to tie together the complex threads of Saddam Hussein's manipulations under the U.N. oil-for-food program in a hearing Tuesday, detailing how illicit Iraqi oil was sold to peddle influence and made its way to market - sometimes in the United States. The daylong hearing in Washington was reviewing three major reports from the subcommittee of the U.S. Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, which studied in great detail how Saddam made billions of dollars in illegal oil sales despite U.N. sanctions imposed in 1991 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Committee...

SACRAMENTO -- Accused of mismanaging a federal voting-rights program, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley disputed the allegations on Monday and blamed some problems on the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials says Shelley, a San Francisco Democrat, has failed miserably in administering California's Help America Vote Act program. HAVA was passed by Congress in 2002 in the hope of preventing a repeat of Florida's 2000 presidential election debacle. In a letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Shelley disputed the charges, though he made no mention of the group or its specific allegations....