Free Republic

Democracy, by definition and in its most general form, is a system of government in which the people ‎have the power to choose their rulers. Of the main indicators for democracy is the existence of free and ‎fair elections. In addition, a free press, freedom of expression, and adherence to freedom of religion and ‎beliefs are some of the other pillars of democracy that enable the people of a country to consciously and ‎voluntarily elect government officials. There are democratic or parliamentary governments in which the ‎president or prime minister is determined by parliamentary elections or by direct popular vote.‎...

Women’s march organizer Linda Sarsour says Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women “puts us to shame” Linda Sarsour organized the recent women’s march.Below is a screen capture of a tweet that she made, which says the following:“10 weeks of PAID maternity leave in Saudi Arabia. Yes PAID. And ur worrying about women driving. Puts us to shame.” And this woman is a role model for millions of U.S. women?In my opinion, that’s pretty scary.She also made this tweet, which says“shariah law is reasonable and once u read into the details it makes a lot of sense. People just know the basics”and this...

"How many dead bodies on the streets of Europe will it take for leftists to realize that we are at war?"

Communism sucks. Socialism does too. Ask the people who survived both systems. As Fidel came to power in 1959, how many Americans slid onto rafts to get into Cuba? Or took the last ship to Havana? I'll need actual names. Attention to all you college kids out there so starry-eyed for Bernie - are you serious? But you're young. Far and wide you've been educated by Liberal pro-BDS professors, so you're not expected to know too much except that the two most reliable beacons of tolerance and liberty, the United States and Israel, are on the wrong side of history....

Foreign ministers from 22 Arab countries agreed to form a unified military force on Thursday, approving a draft resolution designed to counter growing security threats in the region. "The Arab ... ministers agreed on adopting an important principle, which is forming the unified Arab military force. The task of the force will be rapid military intervention to deal with security threats to Arab nations," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby told reporters after the meeting, Reuters reported. The agreement, which Elaraby described as “historic,” came shortly after airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and its Arab...

India’s largest state-owned bank will launch an Islamic equity fund next month aimed mainly at attracting investments from the country’s 170 million Muslims.The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the country’s capital markets regulator, recently allowed the government-owned State Bank of India and three mutual funds to launch Shariah funds. […] A large section of India’s Muslim population remains outside the banking system, partly because Islamic law known as Shariah prohibits interest. Shares of companies linked to alcohol, tobacco, gambling and casinos and financial institutions that earn interest would be excluded from the fund. […] India’s stock exchanges have between...

Middle East studies expert Dr. David Bukay of the University of Haifa ridicules intelligence experts trying to downplay the danger posed by the extremist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), which has captured large swathes of Iraq and Syria in recent months. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Bukay explained "today they have nearly 20,000 fighters; it's a contagious phenomenon, they cast fear and dread and many join them." "There's no clear strategy against them," added Bukay, noting on US President Barack Obama's statements last Thursday that he has "no strategy" to combat IS in Syria. "Today they're already waving their flags...

Swedish police have opened a hate-crime investigation after swastikas were spray-painted on the entrance of a mosque in downtown Stockholm. Omar Mustafa, the head of Sweden’s Islamic federation, says employees discovered the vandalism as they arrived to open the mosque Thursday morning. He posted pictures of the graffiti on Twitter. …

Dear Comrades, To affirm the USSA’s commitment to Islamic Socialism in the Middle East through the establishment of a Islamic Socialist Caliphate, as well as demonstrate her loyalty to the Socialist Democratic Party, Comrade Commissarka Hillary Hughovna Clinton has converted to Islam so as to become America’s first Muslim presidential candidate. Commissarka Clinton has been instrumental in the Party’s successful support of Islamic Socialism throughout the Middle East, from Libya to Syria. Now, with the renewed need of the Free Syrian Army to receive both armaments and encouragement, our heroic Comrade Hillary has offered herself, and through her the entire...

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi says that there will be no further privatization of state-owned companies. … Egypt privatized key companies in the 1990s under Mubarak, but the program stalled in recent years. Critics say the sales were tainted by corruption. …

As Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said that virulent anti-Semitic comments which he reportedly said prior to his election were taken out of context, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released another video which depicts him making similar comments. The latest video is an address delivered by Morsi, which was posted on the Internet on January 10, 2010. It was translated by MEMRI and published on Wednesday. In the newly exposed remarks, Morsi calls U.S. President Barack Obama “insincere” and calls for Arabs to raise their children on hatred of Jews.

It isn’t every day that the world gets to watch the birth of a new constitutional democracy. As the political drama in the land of the Pharaohs unfolds, the Western commentariat seems totally focused on the extent to which Egypt’s new constitution will be informed by Sharia law. Alas, nary a peep can be heard about a far greater threat to Egypt’s freedom and prosperity. The drafters of the new Egyptian constitution are blessed with having the history of two centuries of constitutional democracies to study. Evidence abounds on what works and what doesn’t, of which economic policies lead to...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won't testify to Congress next week on Benghazi, after fainting and suffering a concussion Saturday and due to her ongoing stomach ailment. "While suffering from a stomach virus, Secretary Clinton became dehydrated and fainted, sustaining a concussion," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines said in a statement. "She has been recovering at home and will continue to be monitored regularly by her doctors. At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office...

Hamas has set the destruction of Israel as its goal. Between September 2000 and April 2004, Hamas perpetrated 425 terrorist attacks against Israel and murdered 377 Israelis - nine every month. Hamas was founded by Islamic militant extremists in the Gaza Strip in 1988, shortly after the first intifada broke out. The word Hamas is an acronym for the Arabic words for "Islamic Resistance Movement." Though it is also involved in social and welfare programs, the organization is devoted chiefly to the obliteration of Israel. Its charter states, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate...

As clashes between Egyptian police forces led by Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi and Egyptian protesters angry at Morsi’s power grab escalated, the US embassy in Cairo weighed in. You may remember the embassy’s last embarrassing tweeting escapade on 9/11, when embassy staff tweeted apologies for a YouTube video even as the embassy was stormed. Today, as the embassy fell under assault, they tweeted:

The United States and Germany won a closely contested race Monday among western nations for UN Human Rights Council seats, while the likes of Venezuela and Pakistan secured places without a competitive vote. Rights groups condemned the “pre-cooked” arrangements by most continental groups at the 193-member UN General Assembly which gave council seats to countries whose records have been widely questioned. The United States, Germany and Ireland won the only open election among western nations. …

A mother murdered her young son and set his body on fire when he struggled to learn the Koran off by heart, a court has heard. Sara Ege used a stick to beat seven-year-old Yaseen “like a dog” if he couldn’t recite passages from the Islamic text. The beatings were so brutal that the boy died from his injuries, and his mother tried to burn the body to destroy the evidence, Cardiff Crown Court was told. …

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which monitors anti-Semitic incidents worldwide, has made a strong condemnation of Egypt’s new President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, after he attended a sermon where the preacher called for the “destruction and dispersal of the Jews.” A video emailed by the center showed Morsi at a mosque in the Mediterranean town of Marsa Matruh, where the congregation answers “Amen” to a cleric who recites a list of prayers in a traditional ritual. In one of the prayers, the cleric asked God to “destroy the Jews and their supporters and disperse them, rend them asunder.” Morsi...

Pakistani politicians, media, and civil society are pushing for a robust offensive to finish off the Taliban in the aftermath of the militants' shooting of a girl peace campaigner. The October 9 shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in northwestern Swat Valley has led to a groundswell of calls for Islamabad to abandon its long reluctance to take on extremist sanctuaries in the North Waziristan tribal region, on Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan. The region is home to Pakistani and Afghan Taliban factions and allied international jihadists. For years, Islamabad resisted considerable pressure from Western capitals to launch an offensive in...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he would seek to have the Palestinians' U.N. status upgraded to a sovereign country and cautioned that Israeli settlement expansion meant time was running out for a two-state solution. "Despite all the complexities of the prevailing reality and all the frustrations that abound, we say before the international community there is still a chance—maybe the last—to save the two-state solution and to salvage peace," Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly. But he warned the 193-nation assembly that Israel was "promising the Palestinian people a new catastrophe" if it continues with its current Jewish...