Free Republic

Radio presenter Michael Smith dumped after comments about the Prophet Mohammed,” ABC News Australia, June 29, 2014 Sydney talkback radio host Michael Smith has been told he will no longer be filling in on 2GB after making controversial comments about the Prophet Mohammed. The former 2UE presenter made the comments on Thursday during his regular guest spot with 2GB host Ben Fordham. Smith was discussing the recent controversy over a talk the Festival of Dangerous Ideas had booked – and later cancelled – with a Muslim activist, titled Honour Killings Are Morally Justified. He compared the festival’s invitation to Uthman...

Imagine if in America there were a coal mining magnate as famous as Donald Trump who was the founder of a political party named after himself (Trump United Party?). In addition, this well known person would be strongly opposed to a carbon tax. Obviously such a person would be considered an enemy by environmentalists. Well, think of the shock if none other than Al Gore held a friendly joint press conference with such a person. Many would suspect that money was the motive for such a strange alliance. Guess what? Something like this happened last week in Australia where Al...

Ninety-nine years ago today, April 25, in the very early hours before dawn, some 1200 kilometers from Jerusalem, members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps – or ANZACs – landed on the western shore of the Gallipoli Peninsula, in modern-day Turkey, at a place we now call Anzac Cove. At roughly the same time, British forces landed at the southern tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, at Cape Helles, whilst French forces went ashore at Kum Kale, on the Turkish mainland just opposite Cape Helles. Indian and Canadian troops later joined the campaign. This multinational invasion force was to...

LIBERAL MP and climate change sceptic Dennis Jensen claims Al Gore will personally profit from Clive Palmer’s new climate policy, saying the Nobel laureate “would do anything and say anything for a buck”. Dr Jensen also likened the former US vice-president and leading climate activist to a member of a fictional, profit-obsessed alien race in the Star Trek movie and TV series. Mr Gore last night commended the Palmer United Party’s policy of abolishing Labor’s world-leading carbon tax, while retaining the Renewable Energy Target and Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Dr Jensen, speaking in parliament, said the joint media announcement proved...

An Australian atheist campaigning to keep religion out of the education system won his second victory Thursday when the nation's highest court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to fund a program that provides chaplains to schools. Ron Williams began his legal battle against the multimillion-dollar program after his 6-year-old son came home from Darling Heights State School in Toowoomba city in Queensland state singing gospel songs in 2010. Williams won in 2012 when the High Court ruled that the government had exceeded its constitutional powers by funding the program, which began in around 2,700 schools five...

Australia on Tuesday urged Egypt's new leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to issue a presidential pardon for Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste to prove to the world Cairo is on a path to democracy. Australian Greste and his Al Jazeera colleague, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, were both sentenced to seven years in Jail by a Cairo court on Monday for aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood and "spreading false news".

Opera Australia have sacked soprano Tamar Iveri following the furore over "unconscionable" homophobic comments singer posted on her Facebook page. ... The post took the form of a letter to Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili in which she implored him to "stop vigorous attempts to bring West's ‘fecal masses’ in the mentality of the people by means of propaganda". The singer was responding to a gay pride parade that had been organised to pass through the yard of an Orthodox Church in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. On Saturday the singer blamed her husband for the comments ...

Scientists in Australia tagged a healthy 9-foot great white shark as part of program to track these animals. Four months later they found the tracking device washed up on a beach. Something—something really big—had eaten this apex predator. But what creature could dine on such ferocious prey?

While his government’s focus remains squarely on domestic issues, Mr Modi is also charting a rather ambitious foreign policy course. He has already visited Bhutan and his future destinations over the next few months are likely to include Japan, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Australia and Nepal. Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign minister has saluted the new Modi government for injecting “new vitality into an ancient civilisation”.

Friday, 23 May 2014 Stuart Gary ABC New Australian research suggests Martian minerals may have formed from biological rather than geological origins. The findings, reported in the journal Geology, indicate the mineral stevensite, which is found on both Earth and Mars, can be created either in hot, highly alkaline volcanic lakes, or by mineralisation in living microbes. Stevensite is a magnesium-silicate mineral, used a Nubian beauty treatment for several centuries.

Within the space of a few weeks the Abbott government has presided over a shake-up of the options for a fleet of submarines to replace the ageing ­Collins class. While an evolved Collins class was a short-price favourite at the end of the Labor era, an almighty spat between the Swedish government and German industrial giant Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems means a German design could now fall over the line. The nuclear option remains off the table despite the US indicating it would be amenable to an Australian approach on the Virginia class submarines. Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s enthusiasm for...

PARIS--Japanese defense contractors for the first time displayed their wares at the Eurosatory international exhibition, taking advantage of the Abe government’s move in April to lift the three-decade ban on weapons exports. But Japan still faces a number of diplomatic and technological hurdles before it can become a major arms exporter. About 1,500 defense companies from 58 countries will exhibit their latest weapons and other defense equipment at the Eurosatory in Paris through June 20. The trade show is expected to draw 58,000 military officials and industry participants from 90 countries. Participant companies displayed large items, such as tanks and...

Andrew Stevens talks with Angus Houston, the chief coordinator of the search for Flight 370, about the new search area.

On Tuesday, Barack Obama once again shared his desire for Australian-style gun control to be imported stateside. While participating in a Q&A session involving the social media website Tumblr, Obama described the failure to enact gun control legislation as the “biggest frustration” of his presidency. The president added, “A couple of decades ago, Australia had a mass shooting… And Australia just said, well, that’s it, we’re not seeing that again. And basically imposed very severe, tough gun laws.” Obama went on to share misleading and inaccurate comments regarding current U.S. gun regulations. “But the idea that, for example, we couldn’t...

After a slow start to the season, snow has finally begun falling on Victoria's alpine peaks. At Mt Hotham, 3cm of snow had fallen since Saturday morning ...

In 1996 Australia unloaded some of the most severe gun bans and gun confiscation programs on record. And for the guns that were not confiscated gun owners were forced to enter into license agreements and have their guns registered so the government knew what guns everyone had. Well, they really only knew what guns the law abiding had, since none of the criminals actually followed the program. Fancy that. Breitbart just reported some interesting developments in Australia that prove all the anti-gun lawmakers wrong. Gun control does NOT take guns out of the hands of criminals, it only disarms the...

Australian 1997 Gun Confiscation/Destruction in Progress In the Monash University Shooting, only two people were killed, so it does not make the list of mass killings, in which four people unrelated to the shooter are required to meet the definition of a mass killing. It was not for lack of trying.   The shooter had six handguns, which it appears that he obtained legally.   He killed two people and wounded five others before he was stopped by citizens who rushed him as he fumbled for one of the other five handguns on his person.  While the wounded lecturer of the...

THE United States will be able to build permanent military facilities on Australian soil and expand to locations across the country under a deal struck between Tony Abbott and Barack Obama. The deal — which initially covers up to 2500 US forces rotating through Darwin but can be expanded — will allow the US to bring warships, planes and troops in Australia. New bases can be set up across the country and the number of troops increased without limit over 25 years under the deal, senior US officials confirmed. ..... "The United States has paid a very high price to...

The image above is tantalizing and frustrating in its scope and lack of resolution. In writing articles about the great Australian gun confiscation of 1997, I have not found any images that I can easily use.   I found an AP source, but they are very careful with copyright protection.  I am sure that there are images of the destruction that are publicly available, but I am having a hard time finding them. If you have better luck, please contact me.   I would appreciate images that give the scale of the destruction and are clear enough to show details of...

Australians pride themselves on telling it like it is, but when it comes to gun laws, straight-shooting often takes a back seat to a determined effort at silencing debate. In 1996, Australia passed some of the most restrictive gun laws in the western world. They included bans on self-loading rifles and self-loading and pump-action shotguns, universal gun registration and a taxpayer-funded gun confiscation program costing over half a billion dollars. The ongoing costs of running the firearms registration systems are unknown but have been estimated at around $28 million per year, or $75,000 per day. That’s more than what the...