Free Republic

Newly confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Iran’s “continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion” and urged the release of an American Christian pastor imprisoned for his religious beliefs. In a written response to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to questions during his confirmation hearing last week obtained by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), Kerry, a liberal Massachusetts Democrat, said he is “deeply concerned” about Saeed Abedini, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his Christian faith on Sunday. … Abedini, 32, who is from Boise, Idaho, has been jailed in Iran...

Israeli officials have been holding talks in Jordan with Syrian opposition officials “in advance of a possible Israeli-U.S. operation in Syria to protect the Golan Heights,” Western intelligence sources reported Tuesday, Jan. 1. There was no further information about this operation or how rebel commanders were involved in military plans “to protect the Golan Heights.” Altogether, the goings-on on the Israeli and Jordanian borders with Syria are in deep hush. But European intelligence sources, some of them French and Russian, reveal nightly clashes taking place between US, Jordanian, Israeli special forces and Syrian rebels, on the one hand, and Syrian...

Before Donald Trump was even elected president and throughout the entire period of his administration, the Leftist establishment that is entrenched in Washington officialdom and among the propaganda outlets that are known as the major news organizations inundated us with nonsense about how he had improperly colluded with Russia in order to gain the White House, and was still in Vladimir Putin’s pocket. There was, as is now well-known, nothing whatsoever to it; it was all a hoax designed to discredit Trump and destroy his presidency, although like the Japanese soldiers found hiding in the woods in the 1970s, not...

Dick Morris is spearheading a campaign to stop presumed Secretary of State John Kerry from tapping an “overt Castro sympathizer” to be in charge of U.S.-Cuban policy. Morris says one of Kerry’s closest confidants is Fulton Armstrong, who has served for years as his assistant for Cuban and Latin American relations on the Senate staff of the Foreign Policy Committee. … Morris said when John Bolton was up for Ambassador to Cuba, he said there was evidence Castro was amassing biological weapons for use against the U.S. and moved to declassify a report about it. “Fulton Armstrong opposed that and...

Iran announced Wednesday that it had begun to install a new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges to produce nuclear fuel at its Natanz facility. The announcement coincided with Wednesday’s talks between Iran and senior UN nuclear inspectors seeking to expand probes into suspected weapons-related tests. It also could add pressure to planned negotiations later this month between Iran and world powers in Kazakhstan. The official IRNA news agency quoted Iranian nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi as saying that Iran began installing the new, more advanced centrifuges at the Natanz site in central Iran about a month ago. He said they would...

As lawmakers ponder ways to bring back U.S. manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, their raw materials, medical supplies, and devices, it must be remembered a major part of this problem which has come back to bite us was created by the Obama/Biden administration and the medical device tax that was included in ObamaCare that was supposed to defray the costs of this doomed-to-failure new entitlement program. As part of the Orwellian-named Affordable Care Act, sales of medical devices from implants to MRIs, research equipment and surgical instruments were to bear a 2.3 percent tax. The tax would be on gross sales and...

A group of anti-Israel activists and journalists are engaged in a coordinated campaign to stifle criticism of controversial secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel by attacking the former Republican senator’s critics, according to emails obtained by the Free Beacon. Fenton communications chief executive officer David Fenton, the Atlantic’s national correspondent James Fallows, former diplomat Charles ‘Chas’ Freeman, Just Foreign Policy director Robert Naiman, and American Conservative founding editor Scott McConnell participated in a recent email exchange dedicated to silencing Hagel’s critics, the emails reveal. The emailers targeted recent comments made by Elliott Abrams, a former Bush administration National Security Council...

When Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss announced Friday that he wouldn’t seek a third term in 2014, a race that already was likely to feature a contested Republican primary exploded into a free-for-all. Several Republicans, including several congressmen, are eyeing the seat. The more crowded the field, the more likely the GOP race will pit mainstream conservatives against the hardliners who had grown disenchanted with Chambliss for working with Democrats to find common ground on budget and tax issues. Democrats, meanwhile, hope for exactly that kind of Republican fracas. They view the 69-year-old Chambliss’ decision as an opportunity to reverse the...

Seems Ilhan Omar isn’t just a flaming communist and anti-Semite. Omar is also a criminal. Other than marrying her brother in Minnesota, which is against state law, Ilhan Omar was arrested in January of 2013 for trespassing too! She even has a mugshot, without her hijab. I guess Minnesota doesn’t only like flaming anti-Semites, but they like criminals too.

Computer activist Aaron H. Swartz committed suicide in New York City yesterday. The news was first reported by the MIT newspaper The Tech, citing both his uncle and his attorney. Swartz was 26.

Former FBI agent missing in Iran photographed in Guantánamo jumpsuit By Barney Henderson 8:44PM GMT 08 Jan 2013 The family of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran in 2007, have released pictures of him dressed in an orange jumpsuit like a Guantánamo Bay prisoner, as they continue to hold hope that he is still alive.

As the families of U.S. hostages currently held in Iran have struggled for years to rally the determination to bring their loved ones home, newly released emails from the former secretary of State reveal the infuriating truth that those with connections get their case raised to the top. In 2009, Iason Athanasiadis was covering the protests of the disputed election win of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over Mir-Hossein Mousavi for the Washington Times. The Greek citizen was detained by Iranian authorities on June 17, 2009, as he tried to fly out of the country. Athanasiadis was thrown in Evin prison and released...

One evening in January last year, Joel Eriksson, a 34-year-old computer analyst from Uppsala in Sweden, was trawling the web, looking for distraction, when he came across a message on an internet forum. The message was in stark white type, against a black background.

Guardian – Conflicting reports have emerged from Iran over an explosion heard in the central city of Isfahan, close to the country’s sensitive nuclear facilities. Iran’s semi-official Isna news agency quoted a judiciary official in Isfahan, saying that an explosion had been heard. “We heard a sound similar to that of an explosion but we have received no reports about its causes and the consequences so far,” said Gholamreza Ansari, in quotes carried by Isna. He said the explosion did not appear to be of any significance.

Former Senator Al D’Amato (R-NY) dropped a bomb on Sunday Morning Futures this AM. D’Amato told Maria Bartiromo that Hillary allowed Russia to take ownership of US uranium so they could sell it to Iran. Hillary made it possible for the Russians to take control of one of our huge uranium producers and allow them to own the company, export the uranium and who do they sell the uranium to? Iran! Now if people knew that and that the foundation as a result of that got $135 million. I think people would start saying, “What?” Former Senator Al D’Amato (R-NY)...

Sidney Blumenthal emailed Hillary Clinton at least two intelligence reports about Libya which were not included in the trove of 296 emails released by the State Department on Friday. Clinton has claimed that in December she turned over all official government emails she sent or received from her personal account while in office. In turn, the agency has claimed it turned all Clinton emails related to Libya or Benghazi over to the House Select Committee investigating the Benghazi attack. But a screenshot of Blumenthal’s email inbox, which the Romanian hacker Guccifer published in March 2013, shows two reports about Libya...

Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is joining Fox News Channel as a regular contributor, the channel announced Wednesday. Kucinich, the liberal firebrand and former two-time presidential candidate, will make his first appearance on the channel on Thursday night during "The O'Reilly Factor," according to The Associated Press. Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/277595-kucinich-joins-fox-news-channel#ixzz2IB1Dxtg8

Islamic regime fears poisonous fallout clouds could hit cities Radiation is leaking from Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow, which suffered devastating explosions on Jan. 21, WND has learned, and the regime has ordered millions of antidote iodine pills from Russia and Ukraine amid fears the radioactivity will spread. Many of the personnel, who arrived after the explosion to assist with the cleanup at the site, have been taken to a military hospital suffering from headache, nausea and vomiting, according to a source in the security forces protecting Fordow. A special team of nuclear experts was ordered to the site days...

Judicial Watch today released more than 35 pages of emails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin revealing that Abedin advised Clinton aide and frequent companion Monica Hanley that it was “very important” to go over phone calls with Clinton because the former Secretary of State was “often confused.” The emails, from Abedin’s “Huma@clintonemail.com” address, also reveal repeated security breaches, with the Secretary’s schedule and movements being sent and received through Abedin’s non-governmental and unsecured Clinton server account. The emails document requests for special State Department treatment for a Clinton Foundation associate and Abedin’s mother, a controversial...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Judicial Watch has just today released 35 pages of e-mails from Huma, from Huma Weiner, Huma Abedin. What they reveal is that Huma advised Hillary aide and frequent companion Monica Hanley that it was very important to go over phone calls with Clinton because the former secretary of state was often confused. This is an e-mail, a series of e-mails in a document dump that Judicial Watch got, 35 pages, e-mails from Huma warning State Department staffer that Hillary is often confused, so make sure you go over with her on the phone whatever it is you...