Free Republic

Despite the billions spent since 2001 on intelligence and counterterrorism programs, sophisticated airport scanners and elaborate watch lists, it was something simpler that averted disaster on a Christmas Day flight to Detroit: alert and courageous passengers and crew members.

DETROIT (AP) -- They heard a pop that sounded like fireworks. They saw a glow of flame followed by a rush of smoke. And that was enough for passengers on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to pounce. From several seats away, Dutch tourist Jasper Schuringa says he jumped to extinguish a fire ignited by a quiet man who just moments before allegedly told passengers his stomach was upset and pulled a blanket over himself. Schuringa said his first thought wasn't to signal a flight attendant or wait for an air marshal to break cover, but rather, "He's trying to blow up...

An al Qaeda terrorist tried to blow up a plane packed with Christmas travelers yesterday as it was about to land in Detroit -- but was thwarted by heroic passengers who tackled the madman, authorities said. The 23-year-old Nigerian suffered serious burns, and at least two other passengers were injured in the terrifying violence aboard the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam. "This could have been catastrophic," Rep. Peter King (R-LI) told Fox News. "We were lucky." President Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, ordered his national security team to ensure that "all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air...

State Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, attempted to clear up the Twitter controversy he ignited by likening the President to one of the September 11 terrorist hijackers. Schultheis took to a friendly venue, Peter Boyles’ talk-radio show, where the soon-to-retire senior-citizen right-wing Schultheis came off as more in tune with contemporary life than the host. Earlier this week Schultheis tweeted: “Don’t for a second, think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the U.S. Plane right into the ground at full speed. Let’s Roll” “Let’s roll” is what 9/11 United Airlines Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer called...

State Sen. David Schultheis said he didn't intend for a Twitter post accusing President Barack Obama of "flying the U.S. plane right into the ground" and ending with "let's roll" as a threat or a reference to United Flight 93, which crashed during the 2001 terrorist attacks. "Let's roll" reportedly were the last words of Todd Beamer before he and other passengers tried to gain control of their hijacked jet. The plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field short of its intended target. The tweet stirred ire and some support for the Colorado Springs Republican, whose standard eschewal of political correctness...

Two Arrested at New York City Demonstration Marking 8th Anniversary of Afghan War By Alex Kane Two members of the New York City War Resisters League (WRL) were arrested this evening as part of an anti-Afghanistan War demonstration in Grand Central in Midtown Manhattan. 64-year-old Ed Hedemann and Eric Laursen were taken away in handcuffs by the New York Police Department during a protest marking the 8th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan.Hedemann was arrested and then picked up and brought downstairs by four officers after attempting to drop an anti-war banner in Grand Central, while Laursen was apprehended for...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is telling representatives from 16 major world economies that the United States is moving quickly to address global warming. At an international forum on energy and climate change Monday, Clinton said the U.S. is fully engaged and no longer doubts the urgency or magnitude of the climate change problem. She cited the recent finding by the EPA that six greenhouse gases pose threats to human health and welfare as a sign that the Obama administration was taking action.

The Obama administration has argued for the end of the Michigan v Jackson ruling that requires police to provide an attorney for a suspect once one has been requested. They argue that the benefits are “meagre,” as the Telegraph puts it: The effort to sweep aside the 23-year-old Michigan vs Jackson ruling is one of several moves by the new government to have dismayed civil rights groups. … The Michigan vs Jackson ruling in 1986 established that, if a defendants have a lawyer or have asked for one to be present, police may not interview them until the lawyer is...

This past election showed that Republicans in America are in trouble.  The culprit may simply be the public's fatigue with an eight year Republican administration (not to mention the fact that McCain ran a singularly inept campaign).  President Obama's startling ascendency, though, a career trajectory that took place despite the absence of any meaningful resume and the presence of some very eyebrow-raising associates, indicates that the Republican Party's problems run deeper than fatigue and campaign ineptitude. So let's start with a question:  When was the last time America had more registered Republicans than registered Democrats?  1955?  1928?  I don't know...

The Republican base is behaving like a guy who just got dumped by his wife.If conservatives don't want to be seen as bitter people who cling to their guns and religion and anti-immigrant sentiments, they should stop being bitter and clinging to their guns, religion and anti-immigrant sentiments. It's been a week now, and I still don't know what those "tea bag" protests were about. I saw signs protesting abortion, illegal immigrants, the bank bailout and that gay guy who's going to win "American Idol." But it wasn't tax day that made them crazy; it was election day. Because that's...

I am offended, just like an old-fashioned feminist. So, I’m sure, is Mother Gaia herself. Offended, because Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just officially declared carbon dioxide (CO2) to be a poison. (Sigh.) You can’t even expel air anymore without ticking off our PC commissars. Did you know you can die from drinking too much distilled water? Or from breathing too much pure oxygen? Oxidation products actually kill people — they cause a huge variety of fatal diseases. The only solution is to stop breathing. All the molecules of life are also molecules of death. The old medicos used...

You see it when tens of thousands of citizens turn out to protest in “Tea Parties” across the U.S.; you see it in military personnel compelled to form “Oath Keepers,” outlining orders they will not obey; you see it in a number of states debating sovereignty resolutions, in some cases even calling for secession; you see it in the number of people joining gun rights organizations; and yes, you see it in the number of people buying guns. Simultaneously, just as during the Clinton administration, malcontents have increasingly inflicted mass homicides on the American people. Is it part of the...

Numb. At some point, that's about how one feels, isn't it? Didn't rogue nuclear power North Korea, in violation of yet another United Nations resolution, test-fire a long-range missile? Didn't this occur while President Barack Obama delivered a speech on nuclear disarmament? Isn't North Korea the same country that helped Syria build a nuclear reactor, showing North Korea's clear intention to sell and export its nuclear technology? And in response, didn't the President call for the United Nations Security Council -- the one that provides Russia and China with a veto -- to … take action?! Did the traditional media,...

Breaking. Per CBS radio news.. the crew has regained control of the ship throwing three pirates overboard and capturing one.. Will post more.. Breaking

Cavuto interviewing several tea party organizers. Cavuto says he has info that a well-organized and well-funded effort is underway to place Obamatrons inside tea party groups to then destroy the demonstrations when they occur through instigating violence and confusion. This in concert with the MSM to film only violence at such events so as to discredit anyone who opposes Obama. The guests are down-playing Cavuto's news, responding that the tea party movement is too large to be stopped in this way, estimating crowds of 10-15,000 at each demonstration on April 15.

The basic bargain is sound: countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them.” -- President Barack Obama, Prague, April 6, 2009 As far as nuclear weapons are concerned, the President of the United States wants America to disarm: “Countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament.” It is hard to imagine a more destructive goal. A nuclear disarmed America would lead to massive and widespread killing, more genocide, and very possibly the nuclear holocaust worldwide nuclear disarmament is meant to prevent. There is nothing moral, let alone realistic, about this goal. Here...

Just when you thought it was safe to start checking your e-mail and snail-mailboxes again, possibly the two biggest names in political fundraising today are hitting the money trail again. President Barack Obama. And Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Is this a very early pre-season matchup for 2012, at least moneywise? The new president will headline an event for the Democratic National Committee in Washington on March 25, just before he starts his first overseas trip as chief executive. It will be an early test of Obama's presidential moneyraising skills, given the complications of a sour economy and what D.C. Democrats...

Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) will keynote the Republican campaign committees' top fundraiser in June, a sign of her enduring popularity with the Republican base and a signal that she has not foreclosed on the possibility of a run for president. The annual "Senate-House" dinner is scheduled for June 8 at the Washington Convention Center. A joint release calls Palin "a breath of fresh air from the business-as-usual crowd."

Musician Chris Llewellyn was among those who sprang into action after a man shoved a flight attendant and tried to open an exit door. Chris Llewellyn was staring out the window of Delta Airlines Flight 110, watching the landscape of Los Angeles rise up toward the plane, when he heard the screams of a male flight attendant: "Help me! Help me!" Turning quickly, he saw that a passenger had pushed the attendant to the floor and was trying to open the rear emergency exit. Chris Llewellyn Video: Passengers take down man..."Don't come near me," the man warned. "I have a...

My Fellow American, Once upon a time it was September 11, 2001, and our homeland came under attack. On that fateful Tuesday morning 40 free people, the passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93, seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack against our enemy. Though each of the 40 - including our son Todd - was killed in action, together they succeeded in preventing the additional loss of life on the ground and, most likely, further disaster in our nation’s Capital. This day, this event, this true story of courage in action needs to be remembered and told to future...