Free Republic

Economic markets in turmoil, billions upon billions in public debt, a nation poised to elect a radical, anti-war socialist president with a Muslim background, and a population seemingly no longer interested in or concerned about the ongoing war against radical Islamic terror. The climate could hardly be better for Al Qaeda, and with America’s famously fickle attention now focused on stock prices and financial bailouts, the time is nearly perfect for a major terrorist attack. In Tuesday’s debate, John McCain noted that: “history shows us that nations that are strong militarily over time have to have a strong economy as...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OBAMA CAMPAIGN BEGINS USING ADVERTISERS TO THREATEN BROADCASTERS ANDY MARTIN PLANS RACKETEERING LAWSUIT AGAINST OBAMA CAMPAIGN FOR INTERSTATE EXTORTION. "OBAMA AND HIS THUGS HAVE PASSED FROM HARDBALL POLITICS TO CRIMINAL ACTIVITY" SAYS ANDY CHICAGO TRIBUNE PASSES ON HANNITY AND MARTIN, UNLEASHES LOS ANGELES TIMES "FRONT" COUNTDOWN TO HONOLULU: "OPERATION ALOHA OBAMA" BEGINS IN 6 DAYS (NEW YORK)(October 8, 2008) "We learned today that the Obama campaign is threatening economic retaliation against news organizations that communicate with me," Andy Martin stated. "This is an extension of the terrorist tactics that were directed at WGN-AM in Chicago for featuring...

By Burt Prelutsky As you may have guessed, I don’t personally know the Republican candidate for president. I’ve never met him and I expect I never will. I’m sure that if I’d been in a position to fork over $5,000 for dinner at a fund-raiser, it could have been easily arranged. However, I have one unbreakable rule: If I pay $5,000 to have dinner with someone, he’s then going to have to cough up $5,000 pretty darn quick to have dinner with me. And, frankly, he’d get a lot more for his money than I’d get for mine. That’s...

A mother has told how she was mauled by two pitbull terriers and her baby knocked to the ground in his pram. Concert pianist Mary Duella, who was left with deep wounds to her arm and leg, is due to have a skin graft and faces permanent scarring. She is also unsure if she will be able to play the piano professionally again but is determined to resume her career. The 35-year-old was walking home with her 19-month-old-son Daithi after playing at a jazz concert nearby to raise awareness for an arts cafe. She was metres away from her home...

WASHINGTON — The federal government may need hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue the financial services industry — but it shouldn't come from raising taxes, Rep. John M. McHugh said Saturday. Mr. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, said he is still firmly behind extending the Bush administration's tax cuts even as Washington faces a heavy price tag for the Wall Street bailout. Some congressional Democrats have seized on the bailout as one more reason to criticize the tax cuts and to call for ending some of them as the federal government looks for ways to pay for the bailout, which could...

Any one heard of threats for oct 7. HomelandSecurityUS is reporting on chatter. Internet searches have a few other blogs discussing it.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2008 – President Bush today praised Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the outgoing commander in Iraq who oversaw a dramatic reduction in violence there, and thanked him for agreeing to lead U.S. Central Command. The president also denounced an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, that killed an unspecified number of security personnel. After meeting with the general at the White House, Bush credited Petraeus with helping to plan and implement a 33,000-troop surge that started in January 2007 and has been cited as a key factor in Iraq's improved security. "General David Petraeus...

U.S. State Department Sean McCormack said that the sophisticated attack "bears all the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda attack." One source told FOX News the apparent attack on the embassy in Yemen did not "happen in a vacuum." In the last two months, Yemen has broken up or arrested members of a significant number of cells — some related to Al Qaeda. A senior U.S. official earlier said the bombings were carefully orchestrated, with sniper fire and some attackers apparently dressed as soldiers. President Bush said the attack is a reminder that "we are at war with extremists." In mid-August,...

Yemeni security forces repelled a complex attack on the US embassy in the capital of Sana'a. More than sixteen were killed after terrorists detonated multiple bombs then launched a ground attack in an attempt to breach the compound. The attack begun after several bombs were detonated just outside the embassy. The terrorists then ambushed the first responders by using pre-positioned snipers. The terrorists were wearing uniforms of Yemeni security forces and driving what appeared to be police cars, which enabled them to get close to the heavily fortified compound. A sustained firefight then ensued between the terrorists and the embassy...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The woman who is the head of the Democratic Party in South Carolina has apologized for saying the only qualification vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has is she didn't have an abortion. The comment from Carol Fowler, whose husband previously ran the national party, caused controversy yesterday.

Just an interesting personal anecdote I thought I'd share ... Early last week, only a couple of days after John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, I received one of those mass e-mails that often attacks unsuspecting “inboxes” from the depths of cyber-space. (I’d wager that many of you have seen this one already). It was a scathing attack on Governor Sarah Palin, written by someone who calls herself “Jackie S.” The authoress of this most passionate invective presented herself as a resident of Alaska – and a current college student (naturally) - and therefore qualified to articulate...

SIERRA VISTA — Fon B. Huffman, the last survivor from the international Panay Incident of 1937, died Thursday, his family announced. Huffman, born in 1913, celebrated his 95th birthday on Aug. 19. He died peacefully in his sleep at noon in Hacienda Rehabilitation and Care Center. His daughter, Nancy Ferguson, was by his side. The Iowa farm boy who joined the Navy at age 16 was a 24-year-old sailor aboard the USS Panay when it was attacked near Nanking, China, on Dec. 12, 1937, by Imperial Japanese warplanes. In those days, the American gunboat, part of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet,...

This is a rewrite from several sources for Free Republic Sep 4, 7:23 AM (ET) In MINNEAPOLIS A man named Matthew DePalma of Flint Michigan has been charged with a scheme to use bombs to attack the main arena of the Republican National Convention. He was also charged Saturday with possessing unregistered firearms. He was caught using undercover police sources.

“I guess someone must have finally told Gov. Sarah Palin just what it is that the vice president does.”

New mathematical attack works against a broad range cryptographic functions.Unless you're a dyed in the wool cryptographic geek you probably didn't know that there was a Crypto conference, or even a chain of worldwide crypto conferences that take place each year. Fortunately, for the most of us that aren't crypto geeks there are a handful of very highly skilled people who are; they can take the highly theoretical and complex mathematical proofs and arguments that make up most of modern cryptographic and cryptanalytic research and put it into plain language. Probably the best known is Bruce Schneier, who is a...

The child who was attacked by a pit bull this week remained hospitalized in critical condition as her father was making his way home from Iraq to be with her late this week, according to the girl's family. The fate of 6-year-old Isis Krieger, in critical care(snip) "They're still giving her all her fluids and she's been twitching and stuff like that," said Wanda Injasoulian, Isis' great-grandmother. "Her little heart's beating really good, so there's no telling...(snip) The attack by Dozer on Tuesday at Isis' East Anchorage home was not the dog's first, but it was the worst --

One of two brothers wounded in a Christmas Day tiger attack in San Francisco has been sentenced to 16 months in state prison, after a judge ruled he violated his probation in connection to an April 2007 incident in San Jose which he fled from police in a high speed chase. Last week, Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal was sentenced in Santa Clara County's felony violation court. The prison sentence comes after a series of probation violations. Not only did the underage Dhaliwal admit to having alcohol and marijuana, he was booked on several counts of felony shoplifting in Alameda County, said...

A pit bull that severely mauled a young girl inside her East Anchorage home Tuesday afternoon was shot by a neighbor who followed screams to the scene to find the girl's baby sitter fighting the dog in the front yard. The girl's injuries were so severe that witnesses at first told police the 6-year-old was dead, killed in the attack by one of her family's pets. The girl, however, was still alive and was rushed to Alaska Native Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Tuesday afternoon for what police called life-threatening injuries to her neck and head. Her mother was...

SEVIERVILLE - A father and his sons today detailed an attack by a black bear Monday night that left 8-year-old Evan Pala with staples in his head and stitches in his arms and back, binding the cuts and scrapes suffered when he was attacked from behind near the Rainbow Falls trailhead outside Gatlinburg. "I looked around and he was on his four feet," then reared up, said Evan Pala, 8, who was playing near a creek with his brother, Alex. "He came at me too fast. I called "bear!" He jumped on me. I was screaming." The boys' father, John...

Stand with Georgia!

American law enforcement agencies have expressed fear that US presidential candidate Barack Obama will be the target of a violent attack by white supremacists at the Democratic convention in Denver this month. The concern for Obama's security is because of racist threats made against him by neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups, since the Senator for Illinois emerged as the likely Democratic presidential candidate. Railton Loy, Grand Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan International, in an interview on Fox News said: "I'm not going to have to worry about him, because somebody else down...

The region of present-day Georgia contained the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Kartli-Iberia. The area came under Roman influence in the first centuries A.D. and Christianity became the state religion in the 330s. Domination by Persians, Arabs, and Turks was followed by a Georgian golden age (11th-13th centuries) that was cut short by the Mongol invasion of 1236. Subsequently, the Ottoman and Persian empires competed for influence in the region. Georgia was absorbed into the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Independent for three years (1918-1921) following the Russian revolution, it was forcibly incorporated into the USSR until the...

denver and the west Mountain lion snatches dog from owners' bedroom By Ann Schrader The Denver Post A mountain lion slunk into the master bedroom of an Idledale home early Monday, snatched a yellow Labrador retriever and vanished. Officers are hunting the mountain lion and have set a trap, said Jennifer Churchill, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "A lion that will brazenly go into someone's bedroom . . . we need to be careful of," Churchill said. The dog's body was found near the property. Churchill said the residents had left open the French doors to their...

Were There More? Did DBKP@Blogger's Shutdown Come from Same IPs? Click on image to enlarge. At least one of the attacks in the latest wave of blog shutdowns this past week came from IPs assigned to barackobama.com. We have reported twice in the last two weeks about the attacks on anti-Obama websites. ["Google, Blogger, Obama: Obamanation Shut Down My Blog!"]] & [BabbaZee's "Anti-Obama Blogs Shut Down by Google, Obamabots"] Speculation on who was behind the attacks has ranged from "Obama supporters" to "it's no one, just a glitch" "to "it's a browser problem". [Site Meter causing Internet Explorer failure ]....

On a day typical in its heat and humidity, with the end of summer vacation fast approaching, a swim in a neighborhood pond seemed a fine idea to 11-year-old Devin Funck and two of his friends.Big Joe had other ideas.At 10 feet, 8 inches long and weighing an estimated 500 pounds, the alligator was a familiar sight in the ponds abutting Kingspoint and Fox Hollow subdivisions near Slidell, familiar enough that locals long ago gave the reptile its ominous nickname.As Devin and his companions splashed and frolicked in Crystal Lake on Wednesday afternoon, they spotted the imposing creature swimming toward...

St. Tammany Parish authorities caught and killed a large alligator that attacked an 11-year-old boy near Slidell Wednesday afternoon, slit open the animal's belly and retrieved the boy's arm that the gator had bitten off at the shoulder.As soon as Devin Funck's arm was rescued from the stomach of the alligator, it was wrapped in a wet towel, stashed in an ice chest and rushed by a sheriff's deputy and a Slidell 1st District firefighter to Ochsner Medical Center, where the boy had been taken by helicopter two hours earlier.Devin's condition was undetermined, but authories near Slidell were hopeful that...

In today’s edition of Time, there was an interesting analysis of the potential problems of an Israeli strike on Iran.

Bears Trap Geologists In Russia By Sky News SkyNews - Tuesday, July 22 03:07 pm At least 30 hungry bears have trapped a group of geologists at their remote survey site in Russia's far east after killing two of their co-workers last week. (Advertisement) The team of geologists on Russia's seismically active Kamchatka peninsula refused to leave their camp after the bears showed up, a spokesman for the region's emergency services ministry said. He said: "In the interests of safety they didn't come out to work - the people are scared by the invasion of bears." A bear killed two...

KABUL -- U.S. troops have pulled out of a remote outpost in northeastern Afghanistan, the NATO-led security force has said, three days after Taliban militants tried to overrun the base and killed nine U.S. soldiers. NATO played down the significance of the withdrawal, but Taliban militants are sure to claim victory in driving foreign forces out of the wooded valley, close to the Pakistani border. Taliban militants briefly breached the incomplete defenses of the newly established base in the Wanat district of Konar Province on July 13 and hours of fierce fighting ensued that killed nine U.S. soldiers and many...

An animal tracker hired by city officials was heading into Foothills Park in Palo Alto tonight to hunt down and kill a mountain lion that attacked a man over the weekend, authorities said. Foothills Park and the adjacent Pearson-Arastradero Preserve were closed today after officials learned of the incident, the first known mountain lion attack in Palo Alto, said Palo Alto Police Agent Dan Ryan. The 50-year-old hiker was uninjured but narrowly escaped with his life after the cat leaped onto him from behind about 4 p.m. Saturday, sending man and beast tumbling down an embankment, Ryan said. The Portola...

Armed men have opened fire from a vehicle outside the U.S. consulate in Istanbul killing four people, according to CNN-Turk. CNN-Turk initially reported that at least three of the attackers were killed and one police officer later died from his injuries in a hospital. Police returned fire on the gunmen who were traveling in a white car ..."

Falmouth, July 08: A man was ordered held without bail Monday for allegedly beating a New York man with a baseball bat because he thought the man was a Yankees fan. As it turned out, the New Yorker allegedly beaten in the land of the Red Sox isn't even a big baseball fan. Police say Robert Correia, 20, and others spotted a car with New York license plates leaving a fireworks display Friday. The group approached the car and began yelling about the Yankees, according to the police report. Police did not identify the victim, but the New York Post...

TEHRAN (AFP) — The head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards has warned that any Israeli or US attack on its nuclear sites would mean the outbreak of war, the official IRNA news agency reported on Friday. "Any action against Iran will be interpreted as the start of a war," General Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying late on Thursday. "Iran's response to any military action will make the aggressors regret their decision." The United States has never ruled out an eventual resort to force against Iran over its contested nuclear programme, which the West fears is cover for a...

Husam Taysir Dwayat, the 30-year-old east Jerusalem man who carried out Wednesday's terrorist attack in the capital, was "a murderer and not a terrorist," according to his family's attorney, Shimon Kukush. Dwayat "went berserk and ran over everyone in his vicinity," Kukush told Israel Radio, pointing out that "We're talking about the center of Jerusalem, and Arab residents could have been there as well. He could have killed anyone and there is no evidence that it was terrorism." According to Kukush, Dwayat's family was "hurting and aching" over their son's action and condemns the killing of innocents. He insisted that...

Hours after three people were killed when a terrorist in a bulldozer went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the attacker’s east Jerusalem home must be destroyed. Olmert held consultations in his office following the attack, and Jerusalem officials said that the prime minister was expected to discuss the possibility of destroying the terrorist’s home with Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. He is also set to discuss taking away National Insurance Institute (NII) rights from the terrorist’s family. Following the attack, U.S. President George W. Bush phoned Olmert and offered his condolences to the Israeli...

George W Bush 'raised $400 million for action against Iran' By Toby Harnden in Washington Last Updated: 12:28AM BST 30/06/2008 The White House has been reported to have secretly stepped up covert operations inside Iran with the aim of destablising its leadership. President George W Bush requested and received funding of $400 million (£200 million) for the plan after he made a secret appeal to Congressional leaders last year. The money is likely to be used for operations carried out by the CIA and other intelligence agencies, according to the New Yorker magazine. The appeal for funds "was focused on...

Boat passengers witness shark attack June 28, 2008 CHATHAM — Fourteen passengers on a seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island. The island, which is a national wildlife refuge, is home to hundreds of seals and also a favored feeding ground of several species of sharks. Capt. Bob Littlefield is sure the shark he saw rip a seal in half yesterday afternoon was a great white. "It was a quite a bloody mess," said Littlefield, who has been a captain on Cape Cod for 32 years. Littlefield was steering...

A DRUNKEN teenager who took part in a vicious gang attack on an Anglican clergyman has walked free from court. Babul Islam, 19, was one of three Asian youths who assaulted Canon Michael Ainsworth in his churchyard at St George-in-the-East Church in Shadwell. Father-of-four Mr Ainsworth, 57, spent 12 days in hospital after he was kicked and punched in the head in what was described at the time as a "faith-hate" attack on March 5 this year. It was claimed one of the yobs shouted "f***ing priest" during the attack which only stopped when another group of youths intervened and...

Israel 'will attack Iran' before new US president sworn in, John Bolton predicts By Toby Harnden in Washington Last Updated: 9:18PM BST 23/06/2008 John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, has predicted that Israel could attack Iran after the November presidential election but before George W Bush's successor is sworn in. Bolton: 'the argument for military action is sooner rather than later' The Arab world would be "pleased" by Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "It [the reaction] will be positive privately. I think there'll be public denunciations...

The New York Times reported last week that Israel carried out a major military exercise in early June that appears to be a rehearsal “…to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran’s nuclear program.” More than 100 Israeli warplanes -- including F-16 and F-15 fighters, refueling tankers and helicopters for pilot rescue - participated in the maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean. The message of the exercise, concludes the Times, was that Israel is prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts fail to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Such an...

snip...A 17-year-old French Jew was attacked on Saturday night in Paris, an assault condemned by President Nicolas Sarkozy and said by Jewish organizations to be an act of anti-Semitism. snip...Police said five youths had been held for questioning, and one police source told Reuters the victim was suffering "serious neurological problems." snip..."The victim was wearing a kippa and was on his way back home when his attackers, after identifying him as Jewish, started to beat him," the union said. snip...Two police sources said the attack took place right after a skirmish between two groups of youths, one Jewish and the...

A 17 year old young man was attacked Saturday evening near the Buttes-Chaumont, in Paris, in what has been denounced as an anti-Semitic attack. The group said that the 17-year-old was wearing a kippa, and walking through a neighborhood where many Jewish families live, when he was beaten Saturday night in eastern Paris. Police said they detained five people for questioning, but were still investigating the reasons for the assault. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, leaving for a visit to Israel later Sunday, as well as the Minister of Interior, Michèle Alliot-Marie, expressed their indignation as well their support towards the...

Barack Obama said Thursday at a fundraiser in Chicago that the GOP is trying to make him and his wife Michelle appear "scary" and "too black." "They’re going to try to make me into a scary guy. They’re even trying to make Michelle into a scary person. Right?" Obama said at an event in the Hyde Park area, according to CNN. Obama said Republicans were trying to start a drumbeat questioning Obama's patriotism and whether he is "too black." "I don’t know, before I wasn’t black enough," Obama said. The Illinois senator then suggested Republicans might say, "'now he might...

Bo (woof) In Commentary: When I think dangerous, things like knives, guns and chocolate come to mind. The last thing I would think about is a tortoise, and apparently that oversight is what could get me killed. Check out the most dangerous turtle in Britain. (If you see this tortoise, do not approach him. He may be unarmed but he is certainly dangerous. Rupert, who has attacked children and dogs, is on the run after escaping through a hole in a fence.) I can see why a behemoth tortoise would take down a few kids, for they are generally loud,...

Men With Vitamin D Deficiency May Have Increased Risk Of Heart Attack ScienceDaily (Jun. 11, 2008) — Low levels of vitamin D appear to be associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in men, according to a new report. Studies have shown that the rates of cardiovascular disease-related deaths are increased at higher latitudes and during the winter months and are lower at high altitudes, according to background information in the article. "This pattern is consistent with an adverse effect of hypovitaminosis D [vitamin D deficiency], which is more prevalent at higher latitudes, during the winter and at...

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2008 – U.S. and Afghan troops used mortar fire yesterday to defeat insurgents who fired upon a forward operating base in Afghanistan’s Zabul province, military officials said. A group of insurgents attacked the base with small-arms and mortar fire. Afghan and coalition forces responded to the attack with mortar fire. One insurgent was killed in the exchange, which occurred near the province’s Deh Chopan district. No civilians, Afghan security forces or coalition forces were injured. The base incurred minor damage. In other news from Afghanistan, several militants were killed and one was detained by coalition forces during...

Bryce Lockwood, Marine staff sergeant, Russian-language expert, recipient of the Silver Star for heroism, ordained Baptist minister, is shouting into the phone. "I'm angry! I'm seething with anger! Forty years, and I'm seething with anger!" Lockwood was aboard the USS Liberty, a super-secret spy ship on station in the eastern Mediterranean, when four Israeli fighter jets flew out of the afternoon sun to strafe and bomb the virtually defenseless vessel on June 8, 1967, the fourth day of what would become known as the Six-Day War.......... .....Their anger has been stoked by the declassification of government documents and the recollections...

Exclusive: Limited US attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards bases in sight

KALISPELL (AP) — A man hunting black bear shot and killed a wolf near Olney, northwest of Whitefish. Zachary Harms of Kalispell was driving his truck up a forest road Tuesday when he saw movement. He walked along the road with his rifle, thinking he may have seen a black bear. Two wolves then ran out from the side of the road. One ran across the road and up the hillside. The other ran down the road towards Harms. The wolf closed to approximately 10 feet and Harms fired, hitting the female wolf in the front of the head. The...