Free Republic

Is Russia's Syria intervention a 'holy war'? Russian Orthodox Church: 'yes' The church fully supports the Kremlin's decision to intervene in Syria, both as a 'war on terrorism' and to protect Middle Eastern Christians it sees as its responsibility. Christian Science Monitor By Fred Weir 18 hours ago For many in the West, the idea that a church would take an overtly hawkish stance in the conflict in Syria is an utterly foreign concept. But then, the Russian Orthodox Church is not of the West, says Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the church's most recognizable spokesperson, in his spartan downtown Moscow office....

Remember "clock boy," the bespectacled Texas adolescent who proudly brought a disassembled pre-digital era Radio Shack (remember them?) clock to school and showed it to his teacher? Cultural misunderstanding followed. Supposedly. In the post-September 11 but pre-Paris, pre-Mali (remember that?) era, the teacher was concerned because the clock was packed in a briefcase with wires dangling from it. Could it be a bomb on a timer? The student's name was Ahmed Mohamed. The boy's father was a local agitator. And so the teacher said something, dutifully reporting his suspicions to the police. The police questioned the student, receiving evasive answers....

Israel will revoke the work permits for families of terrorists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday during a visit to the Gush Etzion Junction, where four people have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in the last five days. Netanyahu said that terrorists' families "know that it has in its midst someone who is extreme or someone liable to attack, and a family like that does not have the right to work in Israel." Netanyahu enumerated a number of other steps that the government was taking to deal with the wave of terror from individual attackers that has extended now for...

Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:06am EST Syria insurgents destroy Russian helicopter with missile Syrian fighters destroyed a Russian helicopter with a missile, shortly after they forced it to make an emergency landing in a nearby government-held area in Syria's Latakia province on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rami Abdulrahman from the Observatory, which tracks the conflict in Syria though a wide network of sources, said at least ten people were on the helicopter when it was hit by the insurgents but they were all evacuated when it landed and before the missile destroyed it. Read more at...

Filmmaker Ami Horowitz recently returned from Europe after embedding himself with a group of refugees traveling from Turkey to Greece. Horowitz joined The Sean Hannity Show to share what he learned from his journey. "Do you think those statistics are somewhat accurate, that there’s a very strong support for ISIS?" Sean asked about the 2014 study that shows 13% of Syrian migrants have a somewhat positive view of ISIS. "The anecdotal evidence is yes, those numbers seem accurate maybe even a touch low," said Horowitz. Horowitz recalled his experience walking through Izmir, a Turkish coastal city that has become a...

"A Russian pilot," a voice is heard saying as a group of men gather around him. "God is great," a voice says. They spoke Arabic with Turkmen accent. According to Reuters, the video was sent by a rebel group operating in the northwestern area of Syria, where groups including the Free Syrian Army are active but Islamic State has no known presence.

The scandal involving about 50 intelligence analysts for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) who were pressured to downplay the effectiveness of the Islamic State while it was a growing threat is at critical mass.  The Pentagon's inspector general has in his possession emails and other documents that prove there was pressure to doctor the analyses of the Islamic State in order to minimize the threat and talk up the White House "narrative" that the military was doing a good job in degrading the abilities of the terrorist group. Fox News: Fox News is told by a source close to the...

Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Jerusalem and is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today as terrorism stabbing attacks continue to roil the Jewish State. "Clearly, no people anywhere should live with daily violence, with attacks in the streets, with knives or scissors or cars. And it is very clear to us that the terrorism – these acts of terrorism which have been taking place – have deserved the condemnation that they are receiving. And today, I expressed my complete condemnation for any act of terror that takes innocent lives and disrupts the day-to-day life of...

Entry Without Inspection = Entry Without Vetting The dire threat to our national security and public safety. November 24, 2015 Michael Cutler    In the wake of the horrific November 13th terror attacks in Paris, coming on the heels of the downing of the Russian Metrojet airliner on October 31, 2015 in Egypt, many of America's political leaders are finally coming to the inevitable realization that we need to be careful as to who we let into the United States because of the clear and present danger posed by ISIS and other terror organizations. However, even as many of these...

Migration Talking Points for Social Justice Warriors Truth is that which serves the Party. November 24, 2015 Danusha V. Goska    Fall in, Social Justice Warriors. Let's review. Truth # 1: In American schools, we must not present Islam in a neutral fashion, as an object of scholarly inquiry; rather, we must unquestioningly promote it to our schoolchildren. Where Christian prayer is discouraged, students must recite the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith. Curricula must shield Islam from the kind of criticism that Christianity receives.  After all, the Muslim world stretches 11,000 miles north to south, from Kazakhstan to...

By Patrick Goodenough | November 17, 2015 | 4:29 AM EST .insert-box .insert-caption { max-width:315px; } @media (max-width: 315px) { .insert-box .insert-caption { width: 100%; } } Holding crosses painted in the colors of the Syrian opposition flag, Syrian Christians protest persecution in their homeland (Photo: Shaam News Network) (CNSNews.com) – President Obama said Monday that calls from some quarters for the U.S. to admit only Christian refugees from Syria were “shameful,” yet the reality is that today’s refugee system discriminates, not against Syrian Muslims, but against Christians and other non-Muslim minorities.Critics say this is because the federal government relies...

In a bid to pump up his anemic African-American support, Bernie Sanders very publicly chowed down yesterday with rapper Killer Mike, who at a subsequent rally endorsed Sanders. Reporting on the meeting of the unlikely duo, the Washington Post wrote that among other things they discussed "their mutual appreciation for the work of the philosopher Noam Chomsky." So Bernie digs Noam Chomsky. You remember Noam: condemned the killing of Bin Laden and said that George W.'s crimes "vastly exceed bin Laden's;" self-described anarchist-socialist; member of Marxist Industrial Workers of the World; agnostic on the Holocaust, doesn't think Holocaust denial is...

According to the president, the attack against Su-24 plane in Syria goes beyond normal struggle against terrorism, and it is "a stab in Russia's back" delivered by "terrorism accomplices" SOCHI, November 24. /TASS/. Russia will not tolerate crimes like the attack on the Russian Su-24 fighter jet shot down by Turkish AA-forces in Syrian skies, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at a meeting with King of Jordan Abdullah II. "I understand each country has its own regional interests, and we have always respected that. But we shall never tolerate crimes like today's one," the President said. He expressed hope...

Vladimir Putin has responded angrily after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border, describing the move as a "stab in the back" that would have "serious consequences" for the countries' relations.....

Russian tanks armored against anti-tank missiles and ground forces began to enter northern Syria via a military airfield in Aleppo, Lebanese newspaper "As-Safir" affiliated with Hezbollah reported . The newspaper estimated that the airport will be the third in which Russian Air Force aircraft will be deployed.

A 72-year-old woman was raped in her own backyard in Traiskirchen, Austria. The suspect was arrested, and is a 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. From today’s Kleine Zeitung.

I have a strong dislike of the current fashion among American's decrepit and unreadable newspapers for "fact-checker" columns, because the practice attempts to cloak run-of-the-mill hacks in an aura of dispassionate authority that they do not, in fact, possess. Case in point: The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, who has awarded "four Pinocchios" to Donald Trump, for claiming to recall seeing "thousands" of Jersey City Muslims celebrating on September 11th 2001. Mr Kessler wrote: Trump says that he saw this with his own eyes on television and that it was well covered. But an extensive examination of news clips from that...

Pentagon expanding internal investigation into altered military assessments.

Islamic State terrorists are seeking experts to repair captured military aircraft for future use in suicide attacks against U.S. and allied forces in Iraq.The terrorist group that occupies large areas of Iraq and Syria has two Russian-made Sukhoi aircraft and three Russian helicopters that it plans to use in the attacks, according to a recent report in a London-based Arabic language news outlet.The Oct. 22 report in Al Arabi Al Jadid quoted a high-ranking officer in Baghdad assigned to the command of the international military coalition in Iraq as saying the aircraft were obtained during Islamic State military operations in...

Yesterday on these pages, Barry Shaw ruined a perfectly good treatment of Islamic terrorism with a dollop of vicious anti-Catholicism. Referring to Islam's campaign against the infidel, Shaw wrote: It is their version of the Christian/Catholic Crusades that not only set out to conquer the Holy Land, slaughtering non-believers along the way.  It also drove out and slaughtered the Jews of Spain, Portugal, Britain, and other European countries.  It conquered and converted much of Africa, Central and South America, and spread into Asia. What was done on the name of Christ is now being done in the name of Mohammed...