Free Republic

DISILLUSIONED recruits who joined the Islamic State terrorist group have sought assistance from the Australian Government to leave the conflict zone in Syria and Iraq. A handful of young men who took up arms with IS to fight for an Islamic caliphate across the region have, either directly or through their families at home, contacted Australian authorities for help. It is believed up to a dozen Australians, most of whom flew to Syria to join militants fighting the al-Assad regime, found themselves in limbo after laying down their weapons but fearing they would be arrested under tougher counterterrorism laws if...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced on Sunday that the draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would set a two-year deadline for Israel to “end its occupation” will be submitted on Wednesday. "The Palestinian leadership took a decision to go to the Security Council next Wednesday to vote on their project to end the occupation," senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) member Wassel Abu Yussef told AFP after a meeting in Ramallah. The Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment ahead of Monday's meeting in Rome between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry...

There is some speculation about what may be said on 16 December in Rome about the Apostolic Visitation that was conducted of communities of women religious in these USA by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (aka Congregation for Religious).   Some suggest (hopefully, even triumphantly) that a rosy picture, or at least not a black picture, will be painted of religious life in female institutes and orders.  Or, perhaps, there will be the usual positive comments about the many “fruits”, just like all the “fruits” we have obviously been granted since the Second...

Turkish police on Sunday arrested the editor of Turkey's biggest-selling newspaper and 26 others in lightning raids on supporters of a US-based cleric who has become President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's top foe.

The head of the Teachers Association, Ran Erez, on Sunday sent a letter to members of the organization in which he instructed them to stop serving as chaperones on school trips after Chanukah. Erez claimed that despite the commitment of the Ministry of Education, no steps have been taking to regulate the criminal liability imposed on teachers in the event that a student is ...

In an impromptu sermon at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheik Omar Abu Sara called to slaughter the Jews, whom he called "the most evil of Allah's creations." The sermon was posted on the Internet on November 28, 2014. Transcript is pending. Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by Palestinian preacher Sheik Omar Abu Sara at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was posted on the Internet on November 28, 2014: Omar Abu Sara: Let me start by saying that talking about the traits of the Jews requires one to get into a special mode, because we are dealing with people to...

In this case out of New Mexico, a man was found not guilty, but only after the prosecution did everything they could to convict him.  It would have been a straightforward case of defense of self and others if he had refrained from making frivolous threats before the incident.  From daily-times.com: AZTEC — After six hours of deliberation Friday, a jury found David Markham not guilty on all criminal charges, including first-degree murder, in the 2011 fatal shooting of Christopher Lucero. Following a weeklong trial, the jury determined Markham, 60, acted in defense of himself and Leandra Tafoya when...

The environmental activist group Greenpeace has apologized after damaging the Nazca Lines, an ancient Peruvian site. The group placed a series of yellow banners very close to the hummingbird geoglyph spelling out a message calling for environmental awareness. In doing so, the members of the group trespassed on the area and disturbed the otherwise-pristine grounds around the lines with a series of footprints. The area around the Nazca Lines is so protected that even the president of Peru cannot walk around there without express permission, and those who are permitted to enter the site have to wear specialized footwear...

From Apple’s forthcoming smartwatch to the Fitbit, there is fierce competition to get consumers hooked on wearable devices. And soon there will be a bracelet that turns your skin into a touchscreen using a tiny built-in projector. Wearers of the of the Cicret bracelet will be able to check an email or watch a film that’s projected onto their forearm, and control the picture by using their skin like a touchscreen.

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said the House Republicans who passed $1 trillion-plus funding bill late Thursday “flipped American voters the bird.” “It’s baffling really,” Palin said in an interview with Breitbart News on Friday. “The Republican Leadership in the House just flipped American voters the bird by sidelining the new Congress we just elected.” Palin’s criticisms come the morning after the House passed a spending bill by a 219-206 vote. While the bill will keep the government open for another year, Palin and other conservatives are not happy that the legislation will fund President Barack Obama’s executive action...

A police sweep at Oceanside High School East in Rockland last week has stirred up a passionate debate over how to balance the individual rights of students with "zero tolerance" drug policies. Principal Renee Thompson said that although there have not been any specific drug problems at the school, she organized the raid by the Rockland Police along with the Knox and Lincoln County Sheriff's Departments in an effort to "send the message that we have zero tolerance for drugs, tobacco and paraphernalia brought on school grounds." According to Rockland Police Detective Sergeant Chris Young, it's the first time in...

NASA's picture-perfect Orion launch to Mars was all the rage last week. Praise was heaped upon key NASA contractors Boeing (NYSE: BA ) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT ) -- and deservedly so. Between Orion's success, and the companies' announcement that their United Launch Alliance joint venture will develope a "next-generation liquid oxygen/hydrocarbon first stage" rocket to power launches to near-Earth orbit, Boeing and Lockheed are on a hot streak. But amid all the hullaballoo at ULA, you might have forgotten there's another space launch company that is building even more innovative products. Its name is SpaceX. It goes up,...

WJHL.com: Liberia postpones elections again because of Ebola 2 hours ago "MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - Officials in Ebola-stricken Liberia have postponed senatorial elections elections until the end of the week, while some urged calling off the vote for fear the results would not be credible. Ebola …

The White House insists that the public break between President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) over a government funding bill won't damage the relationship between the two top Democrats. "The president has always had not just a good working relationship but an open line of communication with Leader Pelosi, and that didn’t change yesterday, and it’s not going to change in the future," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Friday. Earnest said Obama values Pelosi because she has proven more persuasive to her members "than I think probably any other leader in either party in...

This week, oil fell through the price floor of $60 a barrel and gas at my local filling station was $2.26 a gallon. That’s great news for commuters and almost every business, but wonderfully bad news for our ugliest enemies. If oil prices remain low through next year, the effect on rogue governments, from the Russian Federation to Venezuela, will go from damaging to devastating. But Western economies (and China’s) stand to benefit, with cheap oil possibly tickling Europe’s snoozing markets awake. Even most underdeveloped states will get a welcome break.

FYI for fans

The California High-Speed Rail Authority will officially break ground next month in Fresno on construction of its statewide bullet-train route. The Jan. 6 groundbreaking ceremony, announced Friday afternoon, comes about a year and a half after the agency awarded its first construction contract, a $1 billion deal to design and build the first 29-mile section from Madera to the south end of Fresno... ~~snip~~ California voters approved Proposition 1A, a $9.9 billion bond measure to help finance a high-speed rail system, in November 2008. But it wasn’t until the fall of 2010, when the Obama administration and the Federal Railroad...

Friends, it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen LiveInfo *tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.Official OTR blog of "The Big Broadcast" thread: http://kallmansalley.com/

VIENNA (AP) — A Russian loan to France's National Front. Invitations to Moscow for leaders of Austria's Freedom Party. Praise for Vladimir Putin from the head of Britain's anti-European Union party. As the diplomatic chill over Ukraine deepens, the Kremlin seems keener than ever to enlist Europe's far-right parties in its campaign for influence in the West, seeking new relationships based largely on shared concern over the growing clout of the EU. Russia fears that the EU and NATO could spread to countries it considers part of its sphere of influence. And it has repeatedly served notice that it will...

On Monday, 28 Russian military planes including TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers were intercepted over the Baltic Sea near Latvia's border. On Tuesday, a Russian plane violated Estonia's airspace. Poland's defense minister later accused Putin of launching "unprecedented activity" around the Baltic Sea. Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the recent Russian flights were "of a different nature than we've seen in a while." The warplanes were intercepted by NATO in international airspace. "For the past 19 years, we have been trying to treat Russia as a partner, trying to bring the nations of Europe back together...