Free Republic

British and American intelligence services have identified the man suspected of beheading US journalist James Foley as a UK citizen who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State, the Sunday Times reported. Government sources said the masked man seen in a video of Foley’s death is known as “Jihadi John” among Islamic State fighters. In the video, released by IS last week, a man with a London accent can be seen brandishing a knife while standing next to a kneeling Foley before beheading him. The gruesome clip ended with footage of Foley’s decapitated body lying on the ground. Although...

After a man in his 60s was beaten by a group of teenagers in Pat­erson on Wednesday night, a city councilman said it looked like an example of a supposedly trending national game called “knockout.” Fears that the game, blamed for at least one death in New Jersey, had taken root locally were fanned earlier in the week when a lone assailant randomly punched three people in separate incidents in Hackensack. On Thursday, authorities said neither case appeared to fit the criteria to be called the knockout game, which they said typically involves a group of people approaching a victim...

Following two cycles where it was GOP missteps and subpar candidates who cost them winnable races, the tables have turned and it’s now Democrats who are scrambling to right Rep. Bruce Braley’s flagging campaign before it’s too late. Recent polls find a coin-flip race between Braley and Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst(R), and but the national party increasingly worries it could be the tipping point for Senate control. “If the Democrats lose Iowa, of course it becomes much harder to keep the majority,” said one national Democratic strategist. “The race could very much go either way. We feel like the...

In every cartoon I’ve seen with an ostrich, there comes a scene where it gets scared and buries its head in the sand. Ostriches don’t do this in real life, but it came to symbolize, in cartoons at least, the concept of thinking something bad will go away if you simply ignore it. It’s foolish – some would say stupid – but it appears to be the crux of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. There are times when a president has to be president, even on vacation. This is the part of the job President Obama seems to hold in...

Boca Raton-based Office Depot said Tuesday it would close 165 stores during 2014 — up from the 150 estimated earlier this year — but stuck with a total count of 400 store closures through 2016, the company said. The office-supply retailer, which merged with OfficeMax last year in a $1.2 billion transaction, said it has completed its analysis of which stores will be closed across the U.S. and Canada. Locally, the retailer has closed two OfficeMax stores, in Coral Springs and Deerfield Beach. The company also announced on a conference call following its second-quarter earnings announcement that it has settled...

An earthquake with magnitude 6.1 occurred near American Canyon, CA at 10:20:44.00 UTC on Aug 24, 2014. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

ILION — Herkimer County officials vowed to help affected Remington Arms employees Monday afternoon as news spread the gun manufacturer will layoff more than 100 of its employees by the end of the week. Herkimer County Legislature Chairman Vincent Bono said he learned about the 105 layoffs through county Administrator James Wallace and then from Karin Zipko of Herkimer County Working Solutions. “We're gearing up our programs that are offered, including retraining and job searches,” said Bono, R-Schuyler, during a telephone interview Monday. “It's unclear whether some will be called back. That's unknown.” “It's unfortunate,” added Bono about the layoffs,...

MI5 and MI6 have identified the British fighter suspected of murdering the American journalist James Foley, senior government sources confirmed last night. The masked man with a London accent, who is said to be known to fellow fighters as “Jihadi John”, was seen in the shocking video of Foley’s death released by the Isis extremist army last week. While sources gave no details of the man they have identified, a key suspect is Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 23, who left his family’s £1m home in Maida Vale, west London, last year. He recently tweeted a picture of himself holding up a...

Moderate shaker felt in East Bay 3 min ago.

Pretty damn strong shake here in Lafayette, strong enough to wake me from sleep.

The Gospel today sets forth the biblical basis for the Office of Peter—the Office of the Papacy—for Peter’s successors are the popes. The word “pope” is simply an English version (via Anglo-Saxon and Germanic tongues) of the word “papa.” The Pope is affectionately called “Papa” in Italian and Spanish as an affectionate indication that he is the father of the family, the Church.That Peter receives an office and not simply a charismatic designation we will discuss later. As to certain objections regarding the Office of the Papacy, we will also deal with them later. But for now let’s look at...

A coalition of Ferguson protesters met with reporters Friday to announce a list of demands related to the investigation of the shooting death of Michael Brown and to call for college students to participate in a national “Walk Out” from classes on Monday. The group says it doesn't yet have a name, but those involved include members of the Organization for Black Struggle and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment. Meetings are held at Greater St. Mark’s Missionary Church near Ferguson. Taurean Russell of St. Louis said this is the first time the group has issued an official statement. “We...

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SEATTLE - Popular online retailer Zulily is planning to add about 900 jobs in central Ohio as part of new tax credit deal from the state. The Seattle-based company says most of the positions at the new call center will be in customer service. The move is expected to generate $28 million by 2017. This comes in addition to Zulily’s existing facility in Obetz. As part of a tax agreement, the Ohio Development Services Agency says the company will receive a 75%, 12-year tax credit in exchange for operating in Ohio for at least 15 years. Zulily is an online...

We recently published a map showing how far $100 would take you in different states. For example, in states with low costs of living, like Arkansas, $100 had the same sort of purchasing power that $115 would have in an average state. We got a lot of requests – particularly from upstate New Yorkers - for a map of purchasing power that separates out cities from non-metropolitan areas. Fortunately, that data is available from the BEA’s interactive tables, and we have created an interactive map of purchasing power down to the city level.The orangest colors on the map, signifying the...

President Barack Obama is sending three White House officials to the funeral service of the Missouri teenager whose death in a police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, has sparked days of racial unrest. Leading the group for Monday’s service will be the chairman of the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force, Broderick Johnson. My Brother’s Keeper is an Obama initiative that aims to empower young minorities. Johnson is also the secretary for the Cabinet. Also attending will be the deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Marlon Marshall, and an adviser for the office, Heather Foster. The White House...

GROUP IDENTIFIES TOWNS ASSOCIATED WITH RELEASES OF IMMIGRANTS CONVICTED OF HOMICIDE Cities and Towns Associated with Convicted Murderers Freed by ICE in 2013 Alaska (2) Anchorage 2 Arizona (3) Phoenix 1 Buckeye 1 Tucson 1 California (48) Los Angeles 6 Pomona 3 San Jose 3 Glendale 2 Sacramento 2 Beverly Hills 1 Huntington Park 1 San Pedro 1 Montrose 1 Pacoima 1 Reseda 1 Burbank 1 N. Hollywood 1 Chino Hills 1 S. El Monte 1 La Puenta 1 Rosemead 1 Oceanside 1 Vista 1 Adelanto 1 Murrieta 1 Irvine 1 Westminster 1 Anaheim 1 Fullerton 1 Garden Grove 1...

Is your daughter a victim of male oppression? Blame Aladdin – as well as The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, The Lion King and Toy Story 2. Disney cartoons and other G-rated children’s movies are full of “gendered sexuality,” subjecting women to the male “objectifying gaze,” as “heterosexuality is constructed through hetero-romantic love relationships as exceptional, powerful, magical, and transformative.” These were the conclusions of Women’s Studies professors Karin Martin and Emily Kazyak in their 2009 research paper, “Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children’s G-Rated Films.” The sociologists examined “all the G-rated films grossing $100 million dollars or more between 1990 and...

Target [TGT -0.03%]. Chipotle. Sonic. Chili’s Grill & Bar. Jack in the Box. Starbucks [SBUX -0.25%]. Each time gun safety groups Moms Demand Action and new partner Everytown For Gun Safety have taken on a retail or restaurant chain in recent months, they’ve been successful. The pattern generally goes thusly: the groups, led by mother-of-five Shannon Watts and bolstered by $50 million from Michael Bloomberg, start a petition...

This not a hard one to answer. Once again we have lost another young, black man at the hands of a police officer. I really tried to find the best way to write this without seeming so over-the-top, emotional or making it an issue of race. Well as you can see that was not possible. Yes it’s probably over-the-top, but so are the numbers of our black men dying at the hands of police officers. Yes I am emotional because when I see the Michael Brown and the Trayvon Martin I also see my own 14 year old son. I...