Free Republic

Once again we are ruled by a Dictatorship of Grief. Ever since the death of Princess Diana, we have been subject to these periodic spasms when everyone is supposed to think and say the same thing, or else. We were told on Friday that ‘politicians from all sides’ had lined up to attack Ukip’s Nigel Farage for supposedly ‘exploiting’ the Paris massacre. Mr Farage had (quite reasonably) pointed out that the presence of Islamist fanatics in our midst might have something to do with, a) uncontrolled mass migration from the Muslim world, and b) decades of multicultural refusal to integrate...

In an interview with the Daily Mail published this weekend, British Prime Minister David Cameron revealed the depths of his relationship with President Obama. "Yes, he sometimes calls me 'Bro,'" Cameron told the British newspaper, adding that the U.S. president also phones him.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that the key to ending sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict was the full implementation of September's Minsk agreement, between the government in Kyiv and pro-Moscow separatists. Speaking in Berlin at a press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Merkel said "the implementation of sanctions had certain causes, and these sanctions can only be lifted when the causes are eliminated again." "I think we need to see the entire Minsk agreement implemented before we can say that sanctions will be lifted," she added. Under the September deal, both sides agreed to...

Now that another cell of Islamist kooks have shown themselves to be at war with the entire West (and Israel), it seems the PC tripe Europeans have been fed for decades (by the European political elite) ain't cuttin it: a military-style assault with Kalishnikovs right in the heart of a major Western capitol makes clear to any thinking person that these maniacs would kill every last one of us, given the chance... Most obvious political beneficiary of any reality brought by yesterday's gruesome slaughter would be the Front National, which recently won France's election for the EU parliament (Euro-skeptic, anti-immigrant) and...

Fresh light has been shone on Norwich's grisly medieval history, after archaeologists uncovered evidence suggesting the site of a proposed £7m car park was once a 13th Century leather workshop... Archaeologists have already dug seven trials trenches, each four metres by four metres, to investigate the low-lying site near to the River Wensum. An eighth trench is set to be dug and evaluated after planned demolition works have taken place, with analysis of any finds to feed into a new report in early 2015. Evaluation of the site to date has identified activity from the prehistoric period to the modern...

The Duchess of York launched an extraordinary defence of her former husband Prince Andrew today, describing him as 'the greatest man there is'. Sarah Ferguson appeared in public for the first time since the Duke of York was accused of having sex with an under-age girl in a US court. The Duchess has kept a low profile at the luxury Swiss ski chalet where she has been holidaying with Andrew and their younger daughter Eugenie. But today she emerged from the £22,000-a-week chalet and went for a mountain walk dressed in black sportswear. Asked by the Daily Mail if she...

Russia has presented a startling proposal to overcome the tensions with the EU: The EU should renounce the free trade agreement with the United States TTIP and enter into a partnership with the newly established Eurasian Economic Union instead. A free trade zone with the neighbors would make more sense than a deal with the US.

[1]On Tuesday the Palestinians tried to get the UN Security Council to adopt a draft resolution to shrink Israel down to indefensible borders.They failed to get the nine votes from the 15-member council that they needed. Even if they had, the U.S. had promised to veto the resolution. But the Palestinians would have succeeded in painting Israel as a country almost friendless, hanging by the thread of U.S. support.The draft resolution demanded that Israel and the Palestinians wrap up all their disputes and reach an agreement within one year; that a Palestinian state be set up along Israel’s 1967...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/who-is-jeffrey-epstein-a-study-of-the-man-linked-to-worlds-of-celebrity-politics--and-royalty-9954397.html

Francis ‘Urbi et Orbi’ Pro-Life Words Censored by Translator According to a source at Priests for Life: Something I wanted to bring to your attention is the address that Pope Francis gave on Christmas day at noon during his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and to the world) blessing. He mentioned the babies in the womb, and his exact words in that section of his address were as follows: “The Child Jesus. My thoughts turn to all those children today who are killed and ill-treated, be they infants killed in the womb, deprived of that generous love of their...

New Jersey governor Chris Christie has landed himself in hot water after he was caught enthusiastically celebrating a victory for the Dallas Cowboys. Christie was filmed hugging Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones and his son Stephen in a garish orange sweater after Dallas defeated Detroit Lions in a match yesterday. A native of New Jersey, Christie follows the Cowboys despite his team having a long-standing rivalry with the New York Giants in his own state as they play in the same NFL conference every year. He also cheers for the Cowboys ahead of his state's other NFL team, the New York...

On the surface, this sex scandal involving Prince Andrew, second in the line of succession to the British crown, famed constitutional lawyer Alan Derschowitz, and former President Bill Clinton, would appear too bizarre to be true. But in a civil suit filed this past week in Florida, alleging that billionaire Jeffrey Epstein received special treatment from the government in a child sexual abuse case in 2008 in which Epstein served only 13 months in jail while avoiding far more serious charges, all three celebrities were named as persons having sex with underage girls at Epstein's estate on his Carribean island....

Papers filed against his pervert pal Jeffrey Epstein say he recorded VIP orgies he threw at his luxury homes using cameras hidden in the walls.... The woman known as Jane Doe 3 – said to be 30-year-old Virginia Roberts – claims she was held as a sex slave and forced to sleep with the Duke of York in London, New York and the US Virgin Islands. She says she was 17 at the time – under the age of consent in Florida.

Ed Miliband launches Labour’s election campaign on Monday by calling on supporters to knock on four million doors. The party leader will vow to fight the Tories and Lib Dems “house by house, street by street and town by town” until polling day on May 7. In a rallying call in Manchester, he will say: “Today is day one of our general election campaign. This is nothing less than a once in a generation fight about who our country works for.” Vowing not to be intimidated by the big-spending Tories, he will add: “We will offer hope, not falsehood. We...

Attorney Orly Taitz has continued to pursue all avenues to bring to light Barack Hussein Obama’s fraudulent IDs and history. While she has sought to have several cases involving Obama’s Social Security number, birth certificate and selective service form reviewed by courts, they have dismissed her attempts. Now, in light of recent reports that attorney and wife of actor George Clooney, Amal Almuddin Clooney, was threatened with arrest by Egyptian officials after she identified flaws in Egypt’s judicial system, Taitz has written to petition the London-based British-Lebanese lawyer to investigate Obama’s fraudulent IDs. “Amal is a human right attorney, known...

**SNIP** He is set to announce plans that will make it easier for Americans to but homes and attend college. It is a plan he is hoping will be carried by the momentum gained following the high-profile immigration moves with Cuba. On Wednesday he plans to stop in Michigan, Arizona and Tennessee aimed at highlighting how his own economic policies were contributing to the country's recovery. Obama, expected back in Washington on Sunday, has appeared energized by the end-of-the-year action on immigration policy and Cuban relations, suggesting continued presidential relevance despite a political landscape dramatically altered by deep Democratic losses...

Investigation after 328-foot turbine buckles at wind farm in County Tyrone despite only light winds A 328-foot tall wind turbine worth more than £2 million pounds has buckled and collapsed on a mountainside in Northern Ireland. Unconfirmed reports suggested the blades of the turbine had spun out of control - despite only light wind speeds - before the structure came crashing to the ground on Friday. Locals claimed the sound of the turbine hitting the mountain could be heard up to seven miles away from the Screggagh wind farm, near Fintona in County Tyrone.

A major operation is under way to free a car transporter ship that ran aground in the Solent, off the Isle of Wight. The Hoegh Osaka was heading to Germany when it ran on to the Bramble Bank, in the entrance to Southampton Water, at about 21:30 GMT on Saturday. The coastguard said 25 crew members were rescued from the vessel. Hoegh Autoliners said it was "currently assessing damage and stability issues on board". The ship's owner said one of the crew members was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Three senior officers stayed on board but have now...

More on breaking Prince Andrew story/'VIP orgies' here...

Buckingham Palace officials have again denied claims made by a woman who alleged that she was forced to have sex while underage with Prince Andrew, Duke of York. The second denial comes after two Sunday papers in Britain published interviews with the woman in which she claimed that she was forced by American financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew at least three times between 1999 and 2002. The woman alleges that the encounters took place in London, New York, and on a Caribbean island owned by Epstein. A Palace spokesman has said that the allegations are "false...