Free Republic

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called Wednesday on Muslims to attack U.S., European, Israeli and Russian targets in a speech on the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity of jihadist groups, reported that in a video released by the militant group, the 68-year-old al-Zawahiri also criticizes "backtrackers" from jihad, referring to former jihadis who changed their views in prison and called the 9/11 attacks unacceptable because innocent civilians were harmed. "If you want Jihad to be focused solely on military targets, the American military has presence all over the world, from the...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A piece of the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will serve another 25 years in the Navy. The former Enterprise carrier (CVN 65) was decommissioned in 2017 after several years of inactivation work was completed at Newport News Shipbuilding. Now one of the anchors from the Enterprise has been installed on another aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington. That ship just reached the midway point of its midlife Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) at Newport News Shipbuilding. During the overhaul process, shipbuilders inspecting the Washington found that one anchor on the carrier needed to be replaced....

China’s Global Times regime newspaper used the 18th anniversary of the jihadist attacks on America on September 11, 2001, to call America a “disgrace” and complain Washington has prevented “greater achievements” in “global governance” since. In an article titled, “U.S. Disgraces World Since 9/11 Attacks,” the Global Times chided the United States for identifying China as a national security threat, claiming the administration of President Donald Trump “has seriously undermined the post-Cold War major power relations centered on cooperation.” “The US is the most powerful country in the world. We believe it has special responsibilities in making the world more...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis welcomes honest criticism: ‘This is loving the Church’ ROME, September 10, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis returned to the topic of his critics in America today, saying that he values honest and constructive criticism but not those who dispense “arsenic pills” or “throw a stone and then hide their hands.” He also said that while he prays a schism will not occur, he is not afraid of it as it has always been part of the Church’s history. The Pope’s remarks were in response to a question from the New York Times on Tuesday, during an inflight press conference on...

The film is "Joker," and while it comes in the form of a comic-book movie, it is the opposite of light. The movie focuses on the pre-Joker Arthur Fleck, circa early 1980s Gotham - a sad-sack clown slowly unraveling u At the Venice premiere, a moviegoer approached Phillips and said he thought Paris would burn as a result of the movie. Stephanie Zacharek wrote that Phoenix's character "could easily be adopted as the patron saint of incels," referring to the "involuntary celibates" group of frustrated males whose beliefs have come up in several mass killings. "In America, there's a mass...

The extraordinarily contentious gun debate has one major flaw limiting it from attaining successful discussion and potential solutions – honesty. Honesty when applying standards, interpreting meaning and definitions within our founding documents, and assessing the reality of our rights. Our inability to successfully discuss guns in this country lies in the collective’s fundamental misunderstanding of the Constitution. As flawed human beings, we tend to let our subjective worldview skew objective fact. If context doesn’t fit our narrative, we like to analyze the subject in question until we come up with a rationale that fits our ideals. The Bible is a...

Donald Trump recalled Wednesday during a speech at the Pentagon that he personally saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terror attacks that claimed more than 2,600 lives in New York City on September 11, 2001. He said he had been watching a financial news channel in his penthouse apartment at Trump Tower when news of the first crash broke, and then watched from a window as the second plane epxloded in a fireball as terrorists flew it into the South Tower. 'I was sitting at home watching a major business television show early that...

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office says a witness told police that Hatcher gave her friend “a lot of money” to find someone to kill her parents, according to an arrest affidavit. Hatcher’s boyfriend had told police he saw Hatcher Monday morning “at a known drug house” where she told him “she wanted to kill her parents,” the affidavit says. While being interviewed by police, Hatcher admitted to stealing the card and making the transactions. She went on to say she used $100 to buy cocaine and gave $400 to her friend to give to someone to kill her parents, according...

The Toledo Lucas County Port Authority has confirmed that two people were killed when a cargo plane crashed just outside of the Toledo Express Airport early Wednesday morning. The Ohio State Highway Patrol identified the victims as Douglas R. Taylor, 72, and Donald C. Peterson Sr., 69, both of Laredo, Texas. According to crews on the scene, that plane was a Convair cargo plane flying from Millington, Tennessee which crashed on top of at least two semis at Bubba's Auto and Deisel near the airport just after 2:30 AM Wednesday morning. According to a release from the Ohio State Highway...

The vandals apparently waited for congregants to enter the temple just before 5:30 a.m. when they spray-painted the walls outside, according to Bookstein. “It seems that the [perpetrators] waited for congregants to enter and then sprayed the [graffiti], so that when they come out they should see it”, Bookstein said. The graffiti... was being painted over by midday.

Lightning-rod Rep. Ilhan Omar — who previously sparked outrage with a comment minimizing the 9/11 terror attacks — posted a somber video on Twitter on Wednesday commemorating the anniversary and recounting the “complete horror” she and her family felt following the terror attacks. “On September 11th we experienced one of the most horrific terrorist attacks that we have ever lived through as a nation. Today, we remember the victims, the first responders and their loved ones. #Neverforget,” the Minnesota Democrat wrote on the post, which included the nearly minute-long video.

Contemporaneous statement by Donaldus Magnus

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson cautioned Democrats on pivoting too far to the left on immigration issues, warning that it could cost them in the 2020 election. “Look, most Americans want to be fair and treated in a humane way, those who have migrated here who are desperate, who are fleeing really bad conditions … We want to take care of the Dreamers, but Americans also want secure borders. They want to get control of illegal migration,” Johnson, who served as DHS secretary during the Obama administration, said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

An Egyptian court has sentenced 11 Muslim Brotherhood leaders to life in prison on charges of espionage with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. They included the Brotherhood's supreme guide Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat al-Shater who were both handed life sentences - 25 years in Egypt. This is the latest of several sentences against Badie, who received a life sentence last week on charges related to mass prison breaks during the 2011 uprising. Five other Brotherhood members were sentenced to jail terms ranging from seven to 10 years while six were acquitted, the source said. The defendants were accused...

Philadelphia’s interim police commissioner has apologized for wearing a T-shirt in the 1990s that mocked the notorious Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King, saying she’s “profoundly sorry.” The photo, from 1994, shows Christine M. Coulter, who is white, wearing a shirt that read: “L.A.P.D We Treat You Like a King,” a pointed slogan stemming from the 1991 videotaped beating of King by LAPD cops, whose acquittals sparked riots a year later. An anonymous source sent the photo to the Philadelphia Inquirer in late August. Coulter, the first female commissioner of the 6,500-member department, said during a city council hearing...

A new sexual fetish has emerged where couples repeatedly get pregnant then have multiple abortions. Every day we stray further from God’s light. In a Reddit post entitled ‘Question regarding abortion and breeding fetish’, one user reveals how she has “a female friend who has a really powerful fetish for breeding” and never used birth control. “She is with a male partner currently who is just like her, into breeding and they have been practising their fetish for quite a few abortions,” the post reads. Another male respondent then shared details of his own abortion fetish lifestyle. “I know this...

“Last year, the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) mid-year report suggested that CD sales were declining three times as fast as vinyl sales were growing. In February, the RIAA reported that vinyl sales accounted for more than a third of the revenue coming from physical releases...This trend continues in RIAA’s 2019 mid-year report, which came out on Thursday. Vinyl revenue grew by 12.8% in the second half of 2018 and 12.9% in the first six months of 2019, while the revenue from CDs barely budged. If these trends hold, records will soon be generating more money than compact discs...”

Former ICE director Tom Homan appeared before a House subcommittee Wednesday ready for a fight – and he got one. During a hearing held by the House Oversight Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee, Homan insisted that Democrats were pushing a false narrative that the Trump administration was ending deferred action -- a type of deportation reprieve -- for illegal immigrants with medical issues. The hearing room erupted when Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., challenged his account, in starkly personal terms. “I think it’s important to really make sure that the jingoistic, bigoted testimony of Mr. Homan is called out...

The idea behind fast food is speed and efficiency. When it comes to fast-food chains, McDonald’s is always on the cutting edge of getting people fed quickly—too quickly, some say. In the rush to gobble down food, much of the joy of eating is lost. Fast food is a soulless commodity that neglects the spiritual appreciation of flavor and taste. It can turn what should be a dining place into a biological fueling station. The bad news is that it has just gotten worse. Just when you think the fast-food giant has reached a peak of efficiency, it comes out...

Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SPH), a national distributor of propane, fuel oil and related products and services, as well as a marketer of natural gas and electricity, announces its first national hiring event during which the Partnership expects to hire Drivers, Service Technicians, and Customer Service Representatives at operating locations throughout the country. Job seekers can visit a participating location on Friday, September 13th from 10AM to 6PM, and Saturday, September 14th from 10AM to 3PM for an immediate on-site interview and to learn more about a career with Suburban Propane. For additional information and a list of all...