Free Republic

Keith Ellison Supports BDS, Admires Louis Farrakhan. So Why Are Jewish Democrats Supporting Him for Chairman of the DNC? In late 1993 and early 1994, Keith Ellison and I were both deeply involved in politics and policy, he as a civil rights lawyer and radio talk-show host in Minnesota, and I as legal counsel to a United States senator. During that time, Louis Farrakhan’s national adviser, Khalid Abdul Muhammad, gave a speech at Kean College in New Jersey in which he attacked Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and others in the most shocking and violent way. Here’s a sample of what Muhammad...

A prominent Obama administration trade advisor is one of the central players in a series of scandals and ethical rows that have reportedly placed him in cahoots with corrupt Congolese warlords and other questionable figures. Kase Lawal, an oil mogul with longstanding ties to the Clinton family, was appointed in 2010 as a member of Obama’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. Since his selection to the trade board, Lawal has become enmeshed in a pact to purchase large quantities of illegal gold from a violent Congolese warlord, according to a U.N. investigation and various reports. The crooked gold...

KINSHASA (Reuters) - United Nations attack helicopters hit rebel positions in eastern Congo on Saturday after insurgents gained ground in heavy fighting with government troops, the U.N. said. The clashes to the south of the town Kibumba mean the rebels have advanced to within 30 km (18 miles) of Goma, the closest they have been to North Kivu's provincial capital since a rebellion exploded in the eastern provinces eight months ago. North Kivu governor Julien Paluku said the army retreated to the southern outskirts of the town after M23 rebels - a group of soldiers who mutinied in April -...

BUKAVU, Congo — Rwanda-backed rebels have "occupied" a second major city in mineral-rich eastern Congo, Congo's government said Sunday, as M23 rebels positioned themselves at the governor's office in Bukavu and pledged to clean up after the "old regime." Associated Press journalists witnessed scores of residents cheering on the rebels after they entered Bukavu following a dayslong march from Goma, a city of 2 million people they seized last month. The rebels saw little resistance from government forces against the unprecedented expansion of their reach after their years of fighting. Congo's government vowed to restore order in Bukavu, a city...

Today, we learn that the veteran’s name is David Willoughby, the son of Naples, Florida Tea Party founder Barry Willoughby. Early this evening, he released an email statement concerning his arrest and detainment which was sent by his father to Jan Morgan, an Associated Press Award winning veteran television journalist. In relating his experience, he said, “My name is Dave Willoughby. I am the one in the video.” “Without being told what I had done, I was handcuffed and escorted off premise. Placed in a squad car and taken to a police station. I asked if I should have my...

1976"Human Rights Internet reporter," 1987, vol. 12, p. B-107 In 1970, during 'Black September,' Jordan itself killed 3,400 Palestinians in just 10 days. In 1976, the Syrian army killed more than 23,000 Palestinians. 2011-2012Mathieu Rabechault: US says Iran forming pro-regime militia in Syria," AFP, August 14, 2012 Rights groups say more than 23,000 people have been killed in 17 months of fighting between troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces, including civilians killed in the regime's brutal crackdown.

In the wake of increased tension with Japan over disputed islands, China’s soldiers have been directed to be ready for a war in 2013 and also win it. Government Chinese media disclosed this in a report. The report also said the soldiers are being prepared to the best possible level and that they are being trained for the purpose. According to reports, in 2012, no such directive- of getting ready for a war and winning it- was given. The Chinese army has also been told to improve its activities and enhance information and intelligence gathering techniques. In 20th century, Japan...

Even though the Communist Party of China is officially atheist, and the central government was once wary of religion, subtle signs and increasing activities show there is a changing attitude towards religion in order to unite China and its neighbors. In March last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping stood in the offices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, and extolled the profound impact Buddhism has had on China. "Buddhism originated in ancient India," said Xi, the leader of the officially atheist Communist Party of China. "After it was introduced into China, the religion went...

When Attorney General William Barr stated "spying did occur" against the 2016 Trump campaign, most attention was focused on the FBI's surveillance of former junior foreign policy aide Carter Page. But the spying Barr was thinking of, and which he said may or may not have been legally authorized, is more likely to be that carried out by Stefan Halper, a former Republican operative and White House aide who became a foreign policy academic with close ties to both American and British intelligence. One could be forgiven for believing Halper was a creation of the spy novelist John Le Carré....

A US government laboratory mistakenly mixed a common flu strain with a dangerous and deadly type of bird flu and shipped it to another lab, authorities said Friday. The latest news followed admissions of mishandled anthrax and forgotten smallpox vials at separate US government labs, and raised new concerns about the safety of dangerous agents which could be used as bioterror weapons. No one was endangered by the mixed flu strain, said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Tom Frieden, who nevertheless said he was "astonished" that protocols could have been violated in that way. "Everything we have looked...

Andrew Slavitt, a former executive at the technology company tasked with saving HealthCare.gov and current second-in-command at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was granted an ethics waiver by the Department of Health and Human Services to begin working with his former company immediately.The waiver was granted despite Republican lawmakers’ concerns about Slavitt’s potential conflict of interest. The Daily Signal revealed those concerns in a story yesterday.Slavitt, a former OptumInsight/QSSI group vice president, left the company last month to work as the principal deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs Obamacare and HealthCare.gov. His...

On June 24, 2012, the body of Shane Todd, a young US electrical engineer, was found hanging in his Singapore apartment. The Singapore Police say it was suicide, but the Todd family believes he was murdered. -excerpt- ... Shane told his family that he was being asked to compromise US security and he feared for his life. Shane refused to do what he was being asked to do and turned in his sixty day notice at IME. Shane found a good job with a company in Virginia, and bought a ticket to fly back to the US on July 1,...

Author and Marine veteran Philip Klay on Thursday expressed concern about the role that Trump Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth played in lobbying him to pardon war criminals during his first term in office. Writing in the New York Times, Klay highlights Hegseth's efforts on behalf of 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, a convicted war criminal whom Trump pardoned in 2019.

We first wrote about the case of U.S. Army 1LT Clint Lorance of Texas last year. His was what I termed a seriously gross miscarriage of justice. Those of us who have been stationed in Afghanistan know the tactics and actions of the enemy. Any time two or more individuals are on a motorcycle approaching your convoy or position you can bet — if unarmed — they are scouts. And if they are scouts for a main attack, they are just as dangerous a threat. Herein lies the problem of our methods of prosecuting combat operations — not overseas contingency...

First Lieutenant Clint Lorance, 1st Platoon, C Troop, 4-73 Cavalry, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division U.S. intelligence and defense officials have recently estimated that 20 to 30 former Guantanamo Bay detainees have returned to the battlefields to fight alongside ISIS in Syria. While these monsters are free to terrorize minorities, rape and sexually enslave young girls, behead Western journalists, and plot to commit terror attacks on U.S. soil, an American soldier is serving 20 years at Fort Leavenworth for trying to protect his men while fighting in Afghanistan. With the holiday season upon us, it looks as though...

The twisted driver who massacred pedestrians celebrating the New Year on a New Orleans street and died in a shootout with police has been identified. Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S citizen, drove a rental truck brandishing an ISIS flag into the crowd on Bourbon Street, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens. He was killed by cops after he exited his vehicle and started shooting. The electric-vehicle-driving terrorist - who the FBI believes did not work alone on the horrifying attack - grew up in Texas and served in the U.S. Army. Jabbar worked for white-collar Deloitte as...

It has been seven years since Sam Francis died. But the years since his death merely show the accuracy of his insights. Francis’s writing was marked not only by loyalty to the people from whom he came but by an unswerving devotion to telling the truth about the way the world really is, not the way he wished it to be. Francis knew that it was not “morning again in America” but far closer to midnight. Conservatives could not hope to achieve anything by defending elites, as conservatives have done since the French Revolution, since today’s elites are implacably hostile...

President Biden pardoned two Chinese spies and the relative of a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party who was caught with tens of thousands of images of child pornography on his computer last month in a prisoner swap between the two countries that was made public Thursday when the three received clemencies. Yanjun Xu and Ji Chaoqun, who were both convicted of espionage, were granted clemency last month, along with Shanlin Jin, who was convicted of possession of more than 47,000 images of child pornography while a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 2021. Five days...

Hunter Biden once met with a controversial Russian oligarch who’s been sanctioned by the UK over the deadly invasion of Ukraine — but hasn’t faced any punishment from the US. An itinerary for a three-day visit to the US by billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov shows a breakfast scheduled with President Biden’s son at the swank Ritz-Carlton hotel near Central Park from 9 to 10 a.m. on March 14, 2012, investigative journalist Vicky Ward revealed on her Substack account Wednesday. -snip- Online reports, including one cited in a secret US government cable posted online by Wikileaks, have said he is married to...

President Biden's brother was hired to engage in secret negotiations with the Saudi government on behalf of a US construction company because of his relationship with the then vice president, legal documents claim. Jim Biden was selected because Saudi Arabia 'would not dare stiff the brother of the Vice-President who would be instrumental to the deal,' bombshell affidavits obtained by DailyMail.com allege. Joe's younger brother Jim, 73, was at the center of a $140million settlement negotiation between Hill International and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012.