Free Republic

The president of the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, Indonesia, has called the actions of Islamic State militants "embarrassing" to the religion and urged Islamic leaders to unite in tackling extremism. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the scale of the slaughter wrought by the extremists in overrunning large swathes of Iraq and Syria and the level of violence being used was appalling. "It is shocking. It is becoming out of control," he said in an interview with The Australian, a day after IS released a video showing a masked militant beheading US reporter James Foley, provoking worldwide revulsion. "We do not...

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in the country, said on Tuesday the militant groups Islamic State and al Qaeda were "enemy number one of Islam" and not in any way part of the faith. Although the mufti and other senior Saudi clerics have condemned Islamic State, al Qaeda and other groups before, the timing of Al al-Sheikh's statement is significant given the gains by militants in Iraq. "Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilisation, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number...

LOUISVILLE— In the first exchange of ideas between the two candidates in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race, Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes stuck to campaign messages during a discussion on agriculture issues. At the 2014 Farm Bureau “Measure the Candidates” forum, McConnell and Grimes were asked about issues ranging from agriculture policy to the Affordable Care Act Wednesday in Louisville. At the same time, the candidates each managed to stay on their messages of their campaigns while trading jabs over recent stories about the campaigns. To begin the forum, each candidate was able to give...

Then he was turned over to the Islamic State as a token of this Free Syrian Army group’s allegiance to the new caliphate. The Free Syrian Army are the “moderates” to whom the Obama Administration has given weapons in Syria. Thus the incoherence of the Obama foreign policy is laid bare: he is funding what he considers to be heroic freedom fighters in Syria who, when they cross over into Iraq, become bloodthirsty terrorists.“James Foley Allegedly Used As Token Of Allegiance By Group That Joined ISIS,” by Erin Banco, International Business Times, August 20, 2014: According to Syrian sources who...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a bulletin drawing attention to the hactivist group Anonymous’ plans for nationwide protests against the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.The group has called for a “National Day of Rage” on Thursday to span 38 major U.S. cities.The Threat Management Division of the Federal Protective Service issued the bulletin.“Currently there is no indication that protests are expected to become violent. However, recent protests in Ferguson have resulted in violence, property damage and subsequent arrests,” the bulletin reads.Brown was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Wilson...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ IN LINE U.S. Navy sailors walk a line during a replenishment with the Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler ship USNS Tippecanoe in the Arabian Gulf, Aug. 24, 2013. The sailors are assigned to the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey, which is supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Billy Ho Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)In Washington 21/2 years ago, the nation's top civil-rights enforcer, Thomas Perez at the U.S. Department of Justice, sat down with Sanford's mayor, city manager and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and promised to investigate whether Trayvon Martin was the victim of something more heinous than a homicide. Was he also the victim of a killer intent on harming him because he was black? That was March 20, 2012. The Department of Justice still has no answer to that question. Civil-rights investigators are due back in Central Florida this week to continue their work on the case. The agency has repeatedly...

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinian Arabs to return to the negotiating table to quickly agree on a lasting truce in Gaza. In a unanimously adopted statement quoted by AFP, the 15-member council "offered full support to the Egyptian initiative and called upon the parties to resume negotiations to urgently reach a sustainable and lasting ceasefire." The statement drafted by France was agreed after negotiations in Cairo teetered on the verge of collapse amid a fresh flare-up of violence. The measure fell short of a full resolution, but diplomats signaled they would be ready...

Jeff Smith, a New School professor and former Missouri state senator, had a sensational op-ed in this weekend’s New York Times that dived into the economic forces that have helped shape the strife in Ferguson. His big point is that the local police have a strong financial incentive to arrest, ticket, and otherwise harass the city’s black residents for minor offenses, because that’s how the department funds its budget. How so? From Smith: St. Louis County contains 90 municipalities, most with their own city hall and police force. Many rely on revenue generated from traffic tickets and related fines. According...

..... "Jim was taken from us in an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world," he continued. "He was 40 years old - one of five siblings, the son of a mom and dad who worked tirelessly for his release. Earlier today, I spoke to the Foleys and told them that we are all heartbroken..." Obama then turned to the subject of IS itself. Over the past day, the terror group threatened to not only 'drown Americans in blood,' but also to kill another journalist, Steven Sotloff. The Sunni Muslim group follows Al-Qaeda's hard-line ideology, but...

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — The father of a North Texas teenager who killed four people in a drunken-driving wreck has been arrested for impersonating an officer.

After days of street battles and weeks of shelling, Ukrainian troops made a significant push Wednesday into rebel-held territory, claiming control over a large part of the separatist stronghold of Luhansk and nearly encircling Donetsk, the largest rebel-held city.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Protesters are expected to gather Thursday evening at the White House as part of a national “Day of Rage” over the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teen earlier this month in Missouri. The planned rally is among dozens around the nation organized by the group Anonymous, which is demanding the “immediate arrest and prosecution” of officer Darren Wilson. Wilson has been identified as the officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9, touching off violent protests in the streets of Ferguson, Mo. “We call upon the citizens of the United States to collectively gather in support for...

A number of "espionage" activities have been reported in China recently, including a Canadian missionary couple who were investigated by the bureau of state security in Dandong in Liaoning province on the border with North Korea; a college graduate in Harbin in Heilongjiang province investigated for collecting confidential information for "offshore intelligence operatives," and a Guangdong citizen surnamed Li who was given 10 years in prison for having college students collect confidential military information in return for rewards ranging from several hundred to thousands of yuan per item, before passing the information to foreign intelligence units. The high-profile publicity these...

PJ Media has been covering the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division for years. This is the unit that will be investigating the shooting in Ferguson and deciding whether to charge the police officer with civil rights crimes. PJ Media had to sue Eric Holder to obtain the resumes of the lawyers he hired to populate this unit. No wonder. The “Every Single One”series at PJ Media revealed that all of Holder’s attorney hires were leftists, some even with a history of anti-police activities. Read the detailed biographies of the lawyers here. Why does it matter that the DOJ...

Libertarians warned for years that government is force, that government always grows and that America’s police have become too much like an occupying army. We get accused of being paranoid, but we look less paranoid after heavily armed police in Ferguson, Missouri, tear gassed peaceful protesters, arrested journalists and stopped some journalists from entering the town.

Some officers were ashamed that looting took place days ago in #Ferguson while police stood by, says Capt Ron Johnson.

Douglas Edwards CBS World News Today

Full title: Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist: Transgender is a ‘Mental Disorder’ – Sex Change is ‘Biologically Impossible’ Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry. (Photo: Johns Hopkins Medicine) (CNSNews.com) -- Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospitaland its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder. Dr. McHugh, the author of six books and at...

A top Saudi Muslim cleric called on Friday for a global code of conduct for leaders, scholars and young people to halt a further slide into violence and "terror" in the Middle East. The U.S.-allied kingdom has grown increasingly alarmed since militants from an offshoot of al Qaeda captured large areas of neighboring Iraq and Syria and declared an Islamic caliphate. At his Friday sermon in Mecca, the imam and preacher of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais, decried "mass massacres against humanity" in Gaza, Syria and Iraq.