Free Republic

For much of this decade, Charles Johnson was one of the right's leading bloggers. His blog, Little Green Footballs, was famous for its focus on Islamic terrorism, but also for the role it played in "Rathergate" and in exposing various faked photography.... On Monday, Johnson made the split official, with a post headlined, "Why I Parted Ways With The Right." In it, he gave a list of reasons for the break... Johnson concluded the post saying, "The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff. I won't be going over the cliff with...

(LEAD) 11 N. Koreans defect to S. Korea through East Sea SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap)-- Eleven North Korean defected to South Korea through waters off the South's east coast on Thursday, a government source said. The source said the 11 North Koreans -- five men and six women -- expressed their willingness to seek asylum in the South after crossing the sea border in a ship around 6:30 p.m. and arriving in the South Korean port city of Jumunjin on the east coast. The Ministry of Defense is expected to announce details on their defection soon, according to the source.

/begin my summary N. Korea's Kim Jong-nam May Defect to China [Japanese Newspaper] (Tokyo = Yonhap News) Choi Irak = Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-il's eldest son, is currently staying in Macau, and could defect to China, Sankei Shimbun in Japan reported on June 5, quoting intelligence sources. According to the paper, the purge of Kim Jong-nam's associates has started as a part of rapidly laying the foundation for Kim Jong-un as the successor. N. Korea's State Security Department detained several associates of Kim Jong-nam around 8pm on Apr. 3 in Pyongyang. Upon hearing the news, Kim Jong-nam investigated on the...

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky's embattled junior senator is blaming GOP leader Mitch McConnell for losing Arlen Specter to the Democrats and costing the party Senate seats. Sen. Jim Bunning has been at odds lately with McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator. McConnell hasn't publicly asked Bunning to retire but hasn't endorsed him for re-election next year. Bunning says he's still in the race but Republican leaders have been sending not-so-subtle messages that he should retire rather than face a strong Democratic challenge.

As can be expected, John ‘F’in Kerry (who I’ve heard served in Viet Nam) is still trying to appear presidential and act as if the world revolves around his treasonous butt. It took but a few short hours for the Senator to issue a welcome statement to former RINO, Arlen Specter as he returned home to the Democrat Party, where he has belonged for some time now. Kerry’s statement said, “This is a big moment. When Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party, he was the canary in the coal mine warning of Bush era ideological excess, and Senator Specter’s decision...

Family of N. Korean trade representative in Shanghai defects to South SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- The wife and children of a North Korean trade representative in Shanghai have recently defected to South Korea and are being questioned by Seoul intelligence officials, a local report said Thursday. The Kyunghyang Shinmun cited an unidentified official of the ruling Grand National Party who said the wife, identified only by her family name Ri, defected with her son and daughter through a South Korean embassy in Singapore and arrived in Seoul about a month ago. A spokesman for South Korea's National Intelligence Service...

/begin my translation N. Koreans Going South by Boat: 6 times in this Month alone Only one out of ten wanting to return..."N. Korea beefing up shore surveillance" (Seoul=Yonhap News) Kim Kwi-geun = N. Koreans came down to the South by boat, 6 times in June alone, it has been disclosed. A government source said on June 26, "N. Korean people came into our territorial water 6 times in this month alone, both in West Sea(Yellow Sea) and East Sea(Sea of Japan.) This is highly unusual, and we are closely monitoring N. Korean reactions." He said, "In four of those...

Myanmar military officer defects to Thailand Agence France-Presse BANGKOK (AFP) - A Myanmar military officer has fled to Thailand to seek asylum, apparently because he refused orders to attack Buddhist monks in anti-junta protests, a senior Thai intelligence official said Wednesday. Major Hla Win entered Thailand with help from a non-government organization, and he hopes to apply for asylum in Norway, the official told AFP. "He is not a senior general, but is mid-ranking," the official said. Hla Win's defection is the first known case of a military official fleeing the country since the junta last week ordered a crackdown...

NASHVILLE -- The Republican majority in the Tennessee Senate was short-lived: Sen. Mike Williams of Maynardville declared an independent today and no longer a member of the Republican Caucus. Williams blamed dissatisfaction over the arrival of what he called "Washington-style partisanship and gridlock" -- which he said he wants no part of -- for the switch. His move left the makeup of the state Senate at 16 Republicans, 16 Democrats and one independent. That won't have an immediate impact on the organization of the Senate -- Republican Ron Ramsey was elected to a two-year term as the Senate speaker in...

Excerpt - (Kyodo) _ North Korea's ruling party has ordered children of North Korean diplomats and other representatives stationed overseas to return home, for reasons unknown, a South Korean daily reported Tuesday. "The Workers' Party of Korea recently issued a directive to overseas missions that children of diplomats and representatives send their children home," the Joongang Ilbo newspaper quoted a source well-versed in North Korean affairs as saying in Seoul. The reason remains unclear, but another Seoul-based expert on North Korea was quoted as saying it may be related to preventing defection of diplomats. ~ snip ~

For many years, those who consider themselves to be libertarians have been fairly reliable members of the Republican coalition. Although no libertarian would consider himself or herself to be entirely in agreement with either major party, they have historically sided with the GOP. But the relationship today seems more deeply strained than any time in the last 30 years, and a divorce may be forthcoming. Basically, libertarians are allied with the right on economic issues and the left on everything else. They believe in the free market and freedom of choice in areas such as drugs, and favor a noninterventionist...

/begin my translationTaiwan Defense Ministry, "We don't want N. Korean missiles"(Taipei, Yonhap News) correspondent Pil Soo-yon -- Taiwan's Defense Ministry, in response to an allegation that N. Korea attempted to sell its missiles to Taiwan, commented, "It is absurd to say that we would buy from N. Korea, already designated as a dangerous country, what we can already produce. We don't want N. Korean missiles." According to July 19th reports from Taiwanese media, all pertinent government institutions, Taiwan's Defense Ministry, State Security Bureau, and Foreign Ministry , responded, "We know nothing (on the matter,)" when asked about the latest report from Wolgan Chosun (note: from its August issue....

/begin my summary3 N. Koreans, presumed to be a family, defected at Baek-ryong island[Yonhap News, 2005/06/26] Around 9:55 am on June 26, 2.9 miles away to the North East of Baek-ryong Island, a N. Korean barge indicated the willingness to defect. It was towed to Yong-ki-po Harbor at Baek-ryong Island at 11:40 am, according to the (S. Korean) Joint Chief of Staffs. Inside the boat were Mr. Hong(male, age:42), Mr. Moon(female, age:39), a 15-year-old boy. They are presumed to be a family. They reportedly left Yong-hyun, Ku-mi-po District, N. Korea.around 5:30 am, June 25. The barge is an 1.7-ton boat...

Three North Koreans Flee to South Three apparent defectors from North Korea were found on Friday morning, two in the West Sea and one in Gangwon Province, a day after a show of inter-Korean unity marking the fifth anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration came to an end in Pyongyang. Police and military officials are investigating how the three crossed the DMZ and whether they intended to defect. Soldiers on Friday patrol the village of Daema in Choelwon County, Gangwon Province where a North Korean defector was discovered earlier that day. Early on Friday morning, a 65-year-old Cheolwon...

Chinese defector says U.S. turned him away By Raymond Bonner The New York Times TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2005 SYDNEY The Chinese diplomat who defected here two weeks ago had sought political asylum at the United States Embassy, and was summarily turned away, the defector, Chen Yonglin, said in an interview on Monday. Chen, a career diplomat whose father was killed during the Cultural Revolution, said he called the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, the Australian capital, and followed up with a fax, after his asylum claim had been abruptly rebuffed by Australian officials, an action that has created a political storm...

Third Chinese defector turns up in Australia Thu Jun 9, 7:33 PM ET SYDNEY (AFP) - A third Chinese official has defected in Australia and already been granted refugee status after revealing he witnessed a dissident being tortured to death in China, his lawyer said. The unnamed official was a senior officer in a branch of the Chinese security service known as "610" and defected after witnessing repeated human rights abuses by other agents, lawyer Bernard Collaery said on ABC television late Thursday. Collaery, a prominent lawyer and former attorney-general of the Australian Capital Territory, said the official's assertions backed...

A SENIOR Chinese diplomat is on the run with his family after abandoning his post and seeking political asylum in Australia. Claiming he fears persecution if he returns to Beijing, Chen Yonglin, 37, the consul for political affairs at the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney, said last night consulate security staff were looking for him after he walked out of the mission seven days ago. "They are searching for me. I heard they are looking for me everywhere, especially in the Chinese community," Mr Chen told The Weekend Australian last night. "I feel very unsafe, so I seek protection." A Department...

Footage of Japanese TV from Beijing showing 7 North Koreans escaping LAST NIGHT over tall BARBED WIRE FENCES (some barefoot on the wire and all apparantly without gloves) to get into neutral territory in Beijing, in a Japanese children's school, to safety and the West. Shades of the East Germans getting out of Berlin through the wire or over The Wall. Video Stream Link above and here (brief, in Japanese):http://www.bcast.co.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20041217-00000051-nnn-int-movie-000&media=wm300kChinese Communists put up extra security afterward and are trying to prevent more escapes by North Koreans, currently underground in China, to Freedom.MUST SEE VIDEO.

Japanese Official Warns of Fissures in North Korea(130 generals defected?) Japanese Official Warns of Fissures in North Korea By JAMES BROOKE Published: November 22, 2004 OKYO, Nov. 21 - After weeks of reports from North Korea of defecting generals, antigovernment posters and the disappearance of portraits of the country's ruler, the leader of Japan's governing party warned Sunday of the prospects of "regime change" in North Korea. "As long as Chairman Kim Jong Il controls the government, we have to negotiate with him, but it is becoming more doubtful whether we will be able to achieve anything with this government,"...

LAS VEGAS - In what appears to be the largest mass defection of Cuban performers to date, 44 dancers, singers and musicians, here to stage a revue, plan to seek political asylum in the United States, members of the troupe said Sunday. Most of the artists intend to deliver their applications for asylum this morning at the federal building here, the performers said in interviews at the Stardust Resort and Casino, where their ''Havana Night Club'' revue is to have a three-month run. Seven other members of the ensemble have already sought asylum from United States officials in Berlin. Those...

LAS VEGAS, NEVADAIn what appears to be the largest mass defection of Cuban peerformers to date, 44 dancers, singers, and musicians, here to stage a revue, plan to seek political asylum in the United States, troupe members said on Sunday.

Bad news for despairing Democrats: Canada must wait. The Great White North, which allows Al-Jazeera but still bans Fox News, isn't as welcoming to Americans as you might have thought. After the drubbing Democrats took in yesterday's elections, many are probably feeling like Vietnam draft-dodgers of the 1960s — that Canada would be a better place to live. Well, for many Democrats that's probably true. If Canada is anything, it is a haven for left-wing, socialist-minded individuals who share a disdain for the freedom-minded, war-on-terror-fighting, tax-cutting Bush administration. But liberal Dems who are planning to "escape" the "tyranny" of President...

The conversion of Albany County Comptroller Michael Conners, whose family's Democratic roots in North Albany stretch back a century, into a Republican started Monday with a telephone call from a former aide to Rep. John Sweeney. In less than a week, it was done, with Conners sealing the deal Thursday to take the GOP endorsement against incumbent Democratic state Sen. Neil Breslin over a cellphone while watching a Red Sox game in Fenway Park. Gleeful Republicans welcomed Conners into the fold Friday, while stunned Democrats warned he is taking a gamble he cannot win in a county where Democrats outnumber...

Mystery Marine in Germany for DebriefingBy David ThibaultCNSNews.com Managing EditorJuly 09, 2004 (CNSNews.com) - Did Islamic terrorists kidnap Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, or was the videotape showing Hassoun blindfolded and a sword hanging over his head a hoax staged by a 24-year-old wanting out of the military? Following Hassoun's arrival Friday at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, American officials will debrief him and try to find out the truth. Hassoun came in on a C-17 transport plane from Beirut, Lebanon and was immediately taken in a green ambulance to the medical center. Hassoun was reported missing June...

N. Korean Missile Engineer in South Applies for Asylum in U.S. It was learned Saturday that a couple that came to South Korea as defectors from North Korea has applied for exile in the United States. A diplomatic source in Washington said 58-year-old Lee Bok-gu and his wife Lee Sun-hui (not their real names), who fled North Korea in 1997 and came to the South in 1999, have applied with U.S. authorities for exile. There have been cases in which defectors who have escaped from the North have applied for asylum in the U.S. through a third country, but this...

/begin my translation A Former S. Korean Intelligence Agent Filed for Political Asylum in U.S. (Who Exposed Scandals of Kim Dae-Jung Government) May 19, 2004 By Joo Yong-joong Kim Ki-sam(age:39), the former agent of NIS(S. Korean intelligence agency) who exposed (political) scandals of Kim Dae-jung government via Internet, and his family reportedly filed for a political asylum on 18th (of May, 2004) at the New Jersey Asylum Office of Dept. of Homeland Security. Such a request for the political asylum by a former intelligence agent is quire rare, which is expected to create a diplomatic row between S. Korea and...

Tales of torture Raed Ahmed, the Iraqi champion in the 99-kilogram weight category from 1984 to 1996, defected to the United States while competing at the Atlanta Olympic Games. He now lives in the U.S. with his wife, whom he later smuggled out of Iraq by paying for an Iraqi passport that allowed her to travel to Jordan using a different name. Ahmed is among several former Iraqi athletes who say they were tortured under orders by Iraqi National Olympic Committee chief Uday Hussein. Three, including Ahmed, agreed to tell their own tales of abuse for ESPN.com: Sharar Haydar:...

http://newsandnews.com/article/view.php?id=headline_1&no=120 /start my translation N. Korea developing lethal a race-sensitive bioweapon? Selectively kills white people Kim Sung-jin, a member of editorial committee (former Minister of Culture and Information) Researcher Lee Chae-woo disappears in China In addition to nuclear weapon and missile development, N. Korea, which has been already branded as "Axis-of-Evil" and raising the tension in N.E. Asia, could now further escalate the tension level of the world thanks to the new allegation that the state is working on "race-sensitive" (biological) weapon. Race-sensitive bioweapon means that it is designed to selectively attack people according to their genetic make-up and pigmentation...

Cuban ballet dancers have brought their fiery passion and Russian-based technique to American audiences for decades, despite political tensions between the two countries. That tradition continues this week when the Ballet Nacional de Cuba launches an American tour - its first since November 2001 - and Cuban superstar Jose Manuel Carreño debuts with the Boston Ballet in "Don Quixote." Prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso set the stage for Cubans dancing in the US in the late 1930s. She performed with Ballet Caravan, the predecessor of the New York City Ballet. Now she is general director and choreographer for the Ballet...

N. Korea Weapons Expert Said Detained in China 1 hour, 27 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! BEIJING (Reuters) - A North Korean biological weapons expert has been detained while trying to slip into the Australian consulate in China's southern city of Guangzhou to seek political asylum, an anti-Pyongyang activist said on Saturday. Reuters Slideshow: North Korea Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor-turned-activist, said plainclothes security agents had detained Ri Chae Woo, who planned to testify in the United States against Pyongyang's chemical and biological weapons program. Vollersten, quoted on a human rights Web site, said Li had...

<p>MONTEBELLO, Calif. - A female Cuban gymnast has joined two of her teammates by defecting during the World Gymnastics Championships.</p> <p>Janerky De La Pena, 20, left her team's hotel in Anaheim late Saturday and was picked up by the uncle of 24-year-old teammate Michel Brito Ferrer, who defected Aug. 17.</p>

Rep. Juba Diez Switches Parties Citing That Republicans Are the Party of Economic Development At the Stampede to Victory reception Friday night, the Republican Party picked up yet another state legislator as Rep. John "Juba" Diez switched parties becoming the 51st state Republican legislator. The trend of switching to the Republican Party continues as elected officials are beginning to realize that a century of Democrat control over state government has brought nothing but economic populism, which continues to cripple Louisiana's economy. "We need to start looking at new ways to strengthen our state's economy, not the old ways of more...

Washington File 21 April 2003 State Department Briefing Transcript(Korea, Australia, Syria, Russia, Iraq, Israel/Palestinians, Amb. Blackwill) (11340) State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher conducted the department's daily briefing April 21. Following is the State Department transcript: (begin transcript) Daily Press Briefing Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC April 21, 2003 INDEX: KOREA -- Multilateral Talks on April 23-25 in Beijing -- Participants and Agenda for Multilateral Talks -- Envoy to Stop in Tokyo and Seoul NAURU -- Defection of Top North Korean Nuclear Scientists AUSTRALIA -- Alleged Seizure of North Korean Ship SYRIA -- Possibility of Iraq Transferring Weapons to Syria...

Nuclear scientists 'defect' as North Korea defies AmericaFrom Elaine Monaghan in Washington NORTH KOREA has apparently thrown down the gauntlet in its nuclear standoff with the United States by claiming that it was reprocessing more than 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods that could be used to make atomic bombs. The country’s Foreign Ministry said that the American-led war in Iraq had taught Pyongyang “it was necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force”. “As we have already declared, we are successfully reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods at the final phase, as we sent interim information to the...

The CIA has stopped trying to persuade Iraqi generals and political leaders to defect after underestimating their "hatred" of America. A three-month campaign using telephone calls, e-mails and face-to-face appeals has failed to convince any help overthrow Saddam Hussein. "We misjudged their tenacity," an American intelligence official has told USA Today. "These guys are driven by a hatred of the US that we may have underestimated." Potential defectors were promised asylum, money and a position in a post-war Iraqi government. Some refused to desert until Saddam was captured or killed because they feared retribution. Others resisted changing sides because they...

---Filing Deadline Roundup--- President Pro Tempore Travis Little (formerly a Democrat) files as a Republican but faces a republican challenger.

Dickerson Converts... Republicans pick up one more in their quest to gain parity in the Senate as Dickerson qualifies

U.S. Returns Cuban Coast Guard Boat After Defection WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States returned on Sunday a Cuban patrol boat used by four members of the Communist-run Caribbean island's coast guard to defect, the State Department said. Cuba had earlier demanded the United States send back the boat and the crew, who slipped into the Florida resort town of Key West on Friday, docking their vessel at a hotel marina at and turning themselves into police. It was not immediately clear whether the men, who had handguns and rifles when they reached Florida, remained in the United States. But,...

Okay, uh, I ran across this site tonight, and it freaked me out, because it is ACTIVELY CALLING FOR MILITARY TO DESERT. Go look and judge for yourself. And it's located in *Washington (the state)*. Someone tell me this is government propaganda...*please*...whois information listed below -- it's hosted by EARTHLINK! If this thing is for real they should get FReeped HARD! Enter the site and check out: "Coming; "Who do you serve?" A page for military and law enforcement personnel." PUBLIC WHOIS INFORMATION: Organization: Roger Bullock Roger Bullock 2101 South 324th St. #16 Federal Way, WA 98003 US Phone: (253)...

<p>TOKYO (AP) -- An American serviceman who defected to North Korea later married a Japanese woman who had been abducted by North Korean agents, and both are now living in the North's capital, Pyongyang, a senior Japanese official said Wednesday.</p>

21 Korean defectors arrive by fishing boat INCHEON - A group of 21 North Koreans arrived in South Korea yesterday after a dramatic two-day journey aboard a small fishing boat in the Yellow Sea. The defectors, comprising three families, included 10 children aged eight to 18. 'Thank you for the warm welcome,' said Mr Soon Jong Sik, 70, representing the group after their arrival at the western port of Incheon. 'We prepared for this for a long time. I am from South Korea and my lifetime dream was to see my hometown again before I die.' The defectors looked...

MADRID, Spain - A group of Cubans seeking political asylum in Spain have been put up at Madrid's international airport while authorities decide their cases, officials said Tuesday. Two hundred Cubans, reportedly the most to seek asylum in recent years, arrived on separate flights over the weekend, Cadena SER radio said. It said 123 men, women and their children sought asylum on a stopover from Havana to Moscow. There was no immediate information on who the Cubans were. An Interior Ministry spokeswoman confirmed there was a large group was seeking asylum at the airport but would give no other details....