Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Gufran Ahmed Kauser Mohammed, 30, and Mohamed Hussein Said, 25, face an indictment charging them with conspiring to provide and attempting to provide material support to three U.S.-designated terrorist organizations that have operated in Iraq, Syria and Somalia, according to authorities." SNIPPET: "The defendants, while based overseas in 2011-13, allegedly sent thousands of dollars via Western Union to an al-Qaida terrorist affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, which is fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. They also allegedly sent funds to al-Shabaab, another terrorist group seeking to overthrow the U.S.-backed transitional government in Somalia."

You've got to hand it to Anthony Weiner and Human Abedin; they seem to have a real knack for getting other people to pay for their lavish lifestyle. Not only do they live in a $3.3 million Manhattan apartment owned by a Hillary supporter, they appear to have had their lavish wedding (estimated cost: a quarter million bucks!) paid for somebody else. And because Weiner failed to disclose this gift, he may face criminal sanctions. Charles C. Johnson of the Daily Caller reports: Anthony Weiner may have violated federal law when he failed to disclose his lavish six-figure wedding...

America’s energy boom is putting a scare into Saudi Arabia. According to the Wall Street Journal, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal warned in a letter to Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and others that the U.S. boom of shale oil and gas will reduce its thirst for Saudi crude oil. “With all due respect to your Highness’ viewpoint about shale gas and that it poses no danger on Saudi economy at ‘the present time,’” read a translation of the letter, dated May 13 but only recently tweeted on a Twitter page previously used by Alwaleed. “I was hoping that...

Saudi police are searching for an Indonesian housemaid accused by her employer of casting a magic spell on all his family, causing fainting and epileptic fits to them. The Saudi man said the maid joined his family in the capital Riyadh nearly three years ago and that she has been treated nicely by all family members. “Recently, all family members has started to suffer from fainting and epileptic fits. After the housemaid fled, we found magic items planted in various part of our house,” the unnamed man said, quoted by Sabq Arabic language daily. “I swear that we do not...

Nada al-Ahdal recounting how she escaped her parents who wanted to force her to marry. Nada comes from a modest family and is one of eight siblings. Fortunately for her, her uncle Abdel Salam al-Ahdal, a montage and graphics technician in a TV station, decided to take her in when she was three years old, to live with him and his aging mother, away from her parents. ... Nada grew up in this caring environment, went to school, and learned English during the summer vacation. She has her own Facebook page, was a gifted singer, and took part in musicals....

Saudi Arabian Airlines reportedly is discriminating against Israeli citizens by refusing to let them fly from U.S. airports. The New York Post reported that for customers booking on online, the airline’s website has no drop-down menu options for anyone holding an Israeli passport, even though, as the Post pointed out, there is a drop-down menu option for Antarctica citizens. The airline appears to prevent passengers simply looking to transfer in Saudi Arabia to another country, as well. “No city in the world has closer ties to Israel than we do, and yet Israeli citizens are being discriminated against right here...

The New York Post reported that for customers booking on online, the airline’s website has no drop-down menu options for anyone holding an Israeli passport, even though, as the Post pointed out, there is a drop-down menu option for Antarctica citizens. The airline appears to prevent passengers simply looking to transfer in Saudi Arabia to another country, as well. -------- When a member of de Blasio called the airline --trying to book a ticket from JFK to Mumbai, India -- identifying themselves as an Israeli passport holder, the caller was told by an agent that they would not be able...

Was Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, the much-discussed Saudi national once identified as a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombings, at the White House for a 4th of July celebration for military heros and their families?

This image show attendees at a conference in Saudi Arabia on the topic ‘women in society’ – and not a single one is female. The conference, reportedly held at the University of Qassim last year, was attended by representatives from 15 nations, apparently all men. The seats in the hall are filled with men in traditional Arab dress apart from one wearing a blue chequered shirt. The photograph was published in a Saudi newspaper last year, and has since been making the rounds on social networks. Twitter users have branded the image ‘absurd’, ‘the height of misogyny’ and ‘astonishing’ as...

A scary virus is sweeping Saudi Arabia. Six million religious pilgrims are about to descend on the country from across the world. The result could be disastrous. When the Black Death exploded in Arabia in the 14th century, killing an estimated third of the population, it spread across the Islamic world via infected religious pilgrims. Today, the Middle East is threatened with a new plague, one eponymously if not ominously named the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV, or MERS for short). This novel coronavirus was discovered in Jordan in March 2012, and as of June 26, there have been 77...

When looking at Obama and the Administration he leads, it is best to look at the big picture. What we can infer from the Administration's hidden actions is evident most clearly their public actions. What we see can best be described as "Scandalpalooza", a seeming rock-concert of nonstop scandals. Witness: We have the IRS targeting the political opposition, namely the T.E.A. Party, to suppress their ability to fund candidates It has been revealed that the NSA tracks the communication habits of virtually all American citizens, creating a large encyclopedia of every citizen's communications There is the matter of Benghazi, with...

Today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Ambassador James B. Smith and Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Director of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Dr. Faisal bin Hamad Al-Sugair, signed an Open Skies air transport agreement. The United States-Saudi Arabia Open Skies agreement will, following a transition period, permit unrestricted air service by the airlines of both countries between and beyond the other’s territory, eliminating restrictions on how often the carriers fly, the kind of aircraft they use and the prices they charge. This agreement will allow for the strengthening and expansion of our strong trade and tourism links with Saudi Arabia,...

A Saudi prince is suing Forbes magazine for libel because it said he was only worth $20billion in its annual rich list instead of $30billion. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest businessmen, claims the magazine underestimated his wealth by £9.6billion when it placed him at 26th in this year's list. Being listed as worth $29.6billion would have placed him in the list's top ten. Alwaleed accused Forbes of 'flawed and inaccurate, displays bias against Middle East investors and financial institutions' in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph in March.

A Missouri college student, who was arrested in connection with the murder of a local bar owner, posted $2 million bond, but the judge still refuses to let him go. Ziyad Abid of Saudi Arabia is accused of paying his roommate to murder William “Blaine” Whitworth, who was shot and killed in Warrensburg on Sept. 2, 2012, according to Yahoo. The 24-year-old aviation student at Central Missouri State could not afford $2 million bond alone, so the Saudi government posted the money for him. But Circuit Judge Michael Wagner refuses to release Abid and admits he could be in violation...

The United States and Saudi Arabia have signed an Open Skies agreement that will "permit unrestricted air service by the airlines of both countries between and beyond the other’s territory." The agreement means Saudi airlines may fly from any point in the kingdom to any point in the United States, and that U.S. airlines may fly from any point here to any airport in Saudi Arabia. The deal was signed May 28 in Jeddah by U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James B. Smith and Dr. Faisal bin Hamad Al-Sugair, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Director of the

One year ago, in June 2012, the "National Security Five" -- five members of Congress led by Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) -- called attention to U.S. government infiltration by Muslim Brotherhood (MB) operatives. Based on disturbing information from court evidence and documents, correspondence, media reports, congressional briefings, and public statements, they found that individuals with questionable loyalty to the United States held high-level security clearances and worked in key national security positions. Tragically for the security of the United States and the safety of its citizens, these five earnest members of Congress, armed with ample evidence, were roundly criticized by both...

The Muslim Issue presents truth to power: Did Buddhists invade Muslim land or did Muslims force themselves, like always, on the Buddhists of Myanmar? Why are they refusing to leave? Remember the rules of the game: while Muslims slaughter, attack, invade and force their ugly fascist ideology on innocent people – they are always the victims. Be it in Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Israel, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Israel, Chechnya, Kosovo, etc. etc. the scenario is always the same. There never exist any responsibility or consciousness for personal conduct within the Muslim community. Islam is an ideology based on...

Asians were accused of practicing witchcraft on their employersA Saudi court sentenced two Asian housemaids to 10 years in jail and ordered their lashed 1,000 times each after they were found guilty of indulging in sorcery at their employers’ houses in the Gulf Kingdom, a newspaper reported on Monday. Their Saudi employers reported the two maids to the Gulf country’s feared religious police, saying they had discovered that their families had been harmed because of sorcery practiced by the maids against them. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who searched the two houses...

Just days after announcing an order to block the execution of convicted killer Nathan Dunlap, Governor John Hickenlooper’s administration is once again courting controversy, this time in the form of convicted sex offender Homaidan al-Turki... Hickenlooper’s parole board will decide this week on whether or not to release al-Turki, a Saudi national who was originally sentenced to 28 years to life in 2006 for imprisoning and sexually abusing his housekeeper over a period of years in the basement of his Aurora home. ... federal and state officials are still investigating any ties between al-Turki, Evan Ebel and the white supremacist...

What infuses British governments with a mania for thrusting their sticky hands into other people’s messes that are absolutely no responsibility of ours? Foreign Secretary William Hague spent the Bank Holiday at an EU meeting in Brussels, striving to persuade his European colleagues not to renew their arms embargo against Syria, and instead ship weapons to the anti-Assad rebels. Hague, like the Prime Minister, is panting to do a good deed in a wicked world. Enthusiastically backed by the Old Etonian boy scout troop that passes for Downing Street policy advisers, they are eager to follow their 2011 ‘success’ in...