Free Republic

President Joe Biden plans to visit Capitol Hill to push for his $1.5 trillion infrastructure spending bill, the White House confirmed Friday. The president will meet with the House Democrat Conference, which suggests he will urge them to support his infrastructure bill.

Blackwater involved in Bhutto and Hariri hits: former Pakistani army chief Tehran Times Political Desk TEHRAN - Pakistan’s former chief of army staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg (ret.), has said the U.S. private security company Blackwater was directly involved in the assassinations of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Blackwater later changed its name and is now known as Xe. General Beg recently told the Saudi Arabian daily Al Watan that former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf had given Blackwater the green light to carry out terrorist operations in the cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi,...

Celebrities are teaming up to beg Republicans in the Electoral College to vote against President-elect Donald Trump, pledging their “respect” for potential “heroes.” A slew of other has-been and B- or C-list celebs have piled on, calling for 37 “conscientious Republican electors” to swing the Dec. 19 Electoral College vote away from Trump. The Republican is expected to win 306 votes — more than the 270 necessary to win — based on the results from last month’s general election. “Republican members of the Electoral College, this message is for you,” begins a preachy Martin Sheen. “As you know, our Founding...

Jesus asked God the Father to forgive others. He never asked anyone to forgive Him. Well, okay, he asked Mary Magdalen to forgive Him, but that was only a movie. To be serious, there is a simple and obvious reason why Jesus never asked anyone to forgive Him: He never committed a sin. That's because, while fully man, he was also fully God, and God doesn't commit sins, even, you know, small ones. Incredibly, the Pope (the Pope!) doesn't seem to understand or believe this. In his homily for the feast of the Holy Family he claimed (emphasis in red):...

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican leaders restarted budget talks Tuesday for the first time since Minnesota's government shut down five days earlier, but with no progress to speak of the focus shifted from the Capitol to a courtroom where recipients of government money pleaded for their services to continue. Dayton, House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch met for about an hour and said they would resume talks Wednesday. The possibility of a lingering shutdown raised the stakes for dozens of groups who spent Tuesday in a courtroom before a court-appointed special master. In the second...

<p>"Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time and they're not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That's not in my prepared remarks, but it's true," he told a crowd largely consisting of union members.</p>

The Blanco administration is still spending state money on lawmakers’ pet projects, six months after the governor officially pulled the plug on what critics call slush funds. Among those receiving money are the son and former daughter-in-law of a lawmaker. Rep. Arthur Morrell, D-New Orleans, acknowledged his family members are on the payroll of Forever Our Children, an after-school tutoring program he used his legislative clout to establish. He said he discounts any criticism of the arrangement. “I had a couple of comments about it, but I told them where to go,” Morrell said. Forever Our Children was one of...

So, any of you catch the hilarious op-ed in the NY Times today? The one where the author, upon hearing that Oprah has re-ignited her book club to include living authors again, basically begs to be on the show? Sounded familiar. Sadly familiar. This is me: "Please, Oprah! Pleeeeezzzzeee!" Yup. I've written to Oprah a few times. ... I've told her about following my heart to success. About putting my brother through school so he could follow his heart, too. About the sales of the book. The movie deal with Jlo and Laura Ziskin. The TV deal at Lifetime. About...

Sources: Equipment stolen from Pakistan's nuclear weapons lab went to Iran, North Korea, Libya and Malaysia ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The father of Pakistan's nuclear program smuggled out high-tech centrifuges used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and other equipment to Iran, Libya, North Korea and Malaysia through an international black market network, officials said Tuesday. "In some cases, chartered planes were used to smuggle out centrifuge machines and other sophisticated equipment to these countries," a senior government official told The Associated Press. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said two "individuals" from Sri Lanka and Germany...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's probe into its secret nuclear programme has revealed limited approval of cooperation with Iran by former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq while the fate of its father of atomic bomb Dr A Q Khan hangs in balance. The investigation of nuclear scientists, currently being grilled to determine allegations of proliferation of nuclear technology to Iran, pointed out that at least two Pakistani scientists acted inappropriately and exchanged information with Iran beyond the limit authorised to them by the government in late 1980s, the News daily reported on Saturday. It said one of them could be booked for violating Official Secrets...

WASHINGTON: Under tremendous pressure from the United States, Islamabad’s ruling dispensation appears to be zeroing in on Pakistan’s national hero, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, as the source of nuclear proliferation. Several people, perhaps up to 25, included some of Khan’s closest aides, have been detained in recent days. Some of them have been dragged out of their homes kicking and screaming, according to family members who have spoken to the Pakistani media. Khan himself has been treated more circumspectly, but he has also been questioned exhaustively and further steps against him seem imminent. The military government already seems to be...