Free Republic

RUSH: So what's a tea party, folks? The tea party, when you boil it down to its essence, is a backlash. It is a backlash from people who work and who expect their kids and grandkids to work, who want to work, who want their kids and grandkids to work, who understand what it is that's made this country great. That's who the tea party is.

JERUSALEM - Should Israel attack Iranian nuclear facilities, it would probably carry out precision strikes while making every effort not to hit the oil sector or other civilian sites. Past Israeli operations, such as the 1981 bombing of Iraq's Osirak atomic reactor and a similar sortie against Syria in 2007, suggest a strategy of one-off pinpoint raids, due both to military limitations and a desire to avoid wider war. A simulation at the Brookings Institution in Washington last December theorized that Israel, intent on halting what the West suspects is Tehran's covert quest for atomic arms, would launch a sneak...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Federal prosecutors have started a criminal investigation into the investment activities of the California Public Employees Retirement System, a newspaper reported Friday. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said Justice Department officials in Los Angeles are examining potential influence-peddling within CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund. At issue is whether the investment decisions of fund managers were influenced by bribes rather than the best long-term interests of pensioners. Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, declined to comment to The Associated Press. Brad Pacheco, CalPERS' chief...

2/12/2010 - MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) -- Information warfare was around long before the computer. Even in the days of homing pigeons, adversaries would attempt to intercept each other's messages to gain an advantage. Today, the enemy is still trying to steal our secrets, but they have devised new methods in this age of ones and zeros. One of these methods is known as spear phishing. Phishing is defined by Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations officials as "criminal activity using social engineering techniques." Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords, personal information, military operations and financial...

The shopping malls of America will be among the next major terrorist targets. Malls make such obvious high-value targets that it's difficult to grasp why they haven't been hit up until now. Shopping malls are America's marketplaces, constantly packed with people, with uncontrolled entry, and openly vulnerable to any given form of attack. We need only consider the darkest days of the Iraqi terror campaign of 2006-2007 to grasp how the jihadis view marketplaces. Scarcely a week went by without another Iraqi marketplace bombing, with casualties largely consisting of women and children, mounting from the dozens to the hundreds. We...

The shopping malls of America will be among the next major terrorist targets. Malls make such obvious high-value targets that it's difficult to grasp why they haven't been hit up until now. Shopping malls are America's marketplaces, constantly packed with people, with uncontrolled entry, and openly vulnerable to any given form of attack. We need only consider the darkest days of the Iraqi terror campaign of 2006-2007 to grasp how the jihadis view marketplaces. Scarcely a week went by without another Iraqi marketplace bombing, with casualties largely consisting of women and children, mounting from the dozens to the hundreds. We...

CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan, Jan. 4, 2010 – Adjusting his body armor, a designated marksman with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, tracked the progress of a patrol of Marines from his perch atop a rocky hillside. The marksman followed the line of tan figures as they plodded along toward the platoon attack course at Range 3 here Jan. 2. A Marine advances toward targets during a training exercise at Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2010. The targets marked with yellow represent civilians, while the solid green silhouettes are enemies. The platoon attack course focused on the positive identification of...

Snips: Dallas is now officially one of the nation's top 10 terrorist targets – a designation that sounds alarming but which state and local officials have sought for years, because it means millions in federal funds to beef up security. In Washington, homeland security officials had little to say publicly about the rationale for moving Dallas – along with Boston and Philadelphia – into the top tier of cities facing potential threat. The additions create a top 10 list for the first time. The Tier 1 list already included New York and Washington, which were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001,...

In his new book The Audacity to Win, Obama for America campaign manager David Plouffe recalls that Sen. John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate was a fundraising boon -- for the Obama campaign. "We had taken in millions of dollars in the three hours since Palin had started speaking," Plouffe recalls. "We hadn't even asked for most of it; we had sent out just a single unplanned fund-raising email highlighting her attacks on community organizers, but it was just starting to hit people's in-boxes as I checked the numbers. So the big response from...

On October 15, the State Security Court of Jordan imposed jail sentences of 15 to 20 years on 12 alleged Jordanian members of al-Qaeda accused of attacks against a church in the Kingdom last year (Al-Ghad [Amman], October 16; Al-Rai [Amman], October 16). In a reaction similar to those seen in trials of Salafi-Jihadis, plot leader Shaker al-Khatib and the rest of the convicted group prostrated themselves, thanking Allah as a sign of defiance against the court (al-Jazeera, October 15). Al-Khatib and four others in the group, aged between 19 and 28, received the death penalty, but the court commuted...

The day after the deadliest example of Muslim terrorism to be carried out inside the U.S. since 9/11, President Obama told us not to “jump to conclusions” about the motives of the alleged shooter, in spite of the fact that several eyewitnesses reported that the alleged shooter, Maj. Malik Hasan shouted “Allah Akbar” as he gunned down his fellow soldiers. On Sunday, in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey Jr. also warned the public of drawing any conclusions about Maj. Hasan, and lamented that “It would be a shame — as...

The Blue Dog Democrats have 53 members who are deamed to be considered Fiscal Conservatives, but the analysis of their three votes on the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and Healthcare tell a different story for the vast majority. There are two members of the Black Caucus who are Blue Dogs: Rep Sanford Bishop (GS-02) and Rep David Scott (GA-13) both of who voted for all three bills. With so many people on here attacking Republicans for not doing more, decided to look into the numbers. Since the loss of a Republican seat on Tuesday to a Dem in NY-23, the...

SNIPPET: "Shopping malls stepped up security measures and terrorism awareness training after 9/11, but it’s unlikely they could prevent a shooting rampage by a terrorist hell-bent on killing, according to industry experts. Malls lack access control, and their civilian security officers usually are unarmed, making them much more vulnerable to an attack such as the one suspect Tarek Mehanna allegedly suggested, although they are less likely terrorism targets than more high-profile, class-A office buildings, other iconic centers or power facilities.

United States To Send 'Up To 45,000 More Troops To Afghanistan' The US is expected to announce a significant surge of up to 45,000 extra troops for Afghanistan after Gordon Brown said that 500 more British troops would be sent to the country. By James Kirkup and Andrew Hough 14 Oct 2009 Newsnight reported he would announce a surge in troop numbers. President Barack Obama's administration is understood to have told the British government that it could announce, as early as next week, the substantial increase to its 65,000 troops already serving there. The decision from Mr Obama comes after...

Tired of fighting, and largely losing, against the US in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, a group of Somali terrorists devised a strategy to take on the superpower in South Africa...the US's closure of its offices in the country was because of intercepted cellphone communication detailing planned attacks on American interests here. It is unclear whether American interests necessarily include a possible visit by US President Barack Obama for the official opening of the World Cup. Intelligence officers, according to two sources, intercepted a call made in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, to a group based in Somalia, and the conversation confirmed a...

Is it just me, or are Muslims causing more and more problems in our country? Didn't we recently see numerous other Islamic terror plots stopped here in America? Because according to the Islamic apologist crowd, this would never happen here. Oh yea....lets cue the Muslim victim card. DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case Documents: Man threatened to blow up NW DC Metro

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2009 – An indictment handed down yesterday in a North Carolina federal court charges three men with plotting to attack Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., with the intent to murder U.S. military personnel. The men -- two American citizens and a legal U.S. resident from Kosovo – are Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39; his son, Zakariya Boyd, 20; and Kosovo native Hysen Sherifi, 24, according to Justice Department and Marine Corps news releases. The three allegedly were involved in a plot to procure maps of the base and assemble weapons as a precursor to an attack, the releases...

Representative Aaron Schock (R-IL) is hoping the foiled home grown terrorist plot in Springfield, IL this week will cause the Obama administration to re-think its plans to close down the terrorist detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The terror plot disrupted by an FBI sting operation on Wednesday in Springfield, IL, had a federal courthouse and the Republican congressman's district office in its sights. Rep. Schock said that the FBI "outlined that the primary target for this individual was the federal court house building in Springfield but that my office which is located across the street was the secondary target."...

Rep. Aaron Schock's (R-Ill.) office in Illinois state capital of Springfield was one of the targets of a planned terrorist attack, his office said Friday. Michael C. Finton, known as Talib Islam, was arrested Wednesday after trying to detonate a van he believed was stuffed with explosives near the Paul Findley Federal Building in Springfield. Finton had been collaborating on the attack with an undercover FBI agent and is being charged with attempting to murder federal officers or employees and trying to detonate a weapon of mass destruction, according to the Associated Press.

Federal prosecutors say two North Carolina terrorism suspects plotted to kill U.S. military personnel. A superseding indictment returned Thursday against Daniel Patrick Boyd and Hysen Sherifi is the first time authorities have said the men had specific targets. Prosecutors said Boyd obtained maps of Virginia's Marine Corps Base Quantico in order to plan an attack. Prosecutors have previously said the man went on training expeditions in the weeks leading up to their arrests in July, practicing military tactics with armor-piercing bullets on a property in rural North Carolina. Seven men are awaiting trial in the case, and investigators say an...