Free Republic

Former Democratic Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich reportedly interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday.

In a secret meeting on Tuesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) hosted a bipartisan group of senators and House members in the Capitol’s basement. According to several participants, the lawmakers plotted ways to stop the use of U.S. military force in Syria. Since the diplomatic situation is fluid, there was no final consensus on how best to combat the administration, but potential legislative maneuvers, press appearances, and letters were discussed. Several undecided members asked questions. Aides say Paul planned the gathering over a week ago, and the list of attendees grew by the day. He is pleased, especially, by...

Secretary of State John Kerry to meet with Iranian foreign minister, others, for nuclear talks Iran’s new foreign minister will join talks with six key nations trying to rein in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program later this week at the United Nations, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Monday.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday will question outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller on investigations of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, the Boston Marathon bombings, and recent leaks of classified government information. Mueller was to undergo questioning by the committee on these and other issues in what will be his final appearance before the panel. His last day on the job is Sept. 4. The Justice Department revealed last month that it had secretly gathered emails of Fox News correspondent James Rosen and phone records of The Associated Press in an effort to crack...

The program also allowed agents to monitor calls the ruled out the possibility of foreign ties to the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building by American Timothy McVeigh. The program only recently shuttered, and was used for nearly two decades, with top Justice Department officials in four administrations - George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama - approving the data collections. The data collection did not however allow DEA investigators access to the actual content of calls, just the numbers dialed and time of the calls were all recorded. A 1998 request for Sprint...

The U.S. and Iran held their highest-level talks in 36 years on Thursday, in what some officials present described as a substantial meeting over Tehran's disputed nuclear program that could begin to counter decades of enmity. In the session, diplomats began the process of trying to establish programs to inspect, verify and curtail Iran's expanding nuclear complex, a process diplomats on both sides warned was arduous and uncertain.

Baack Obama and Hassan Rouhani held the first direct talks between American and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic revolution, exchanging pleasantries in a 15-minute telephone call on Friday that raised the prospect of relief for Tehran from crippling economic sanctions. Speaking at the White House shortly after the historic call, Obama said his discussion with Rouhani had shown the "basis for resolution" of the dispute over Iran nuclear programme.

A man was arrested in New York City's international airport with uranium destined for Iran hidden in the soles of his shoes, the US Justice Department said. Patrick Campbell, 33, who was arrested Wednesday as he arrived at the John F Kennedy airport from Paris, is accused of trying to act as an intermediary to sell Iran 1,000 tons of purified uranium, in violation of US law. The Sierra Leone-based Campbell had been under surveillance since May 2012, when he responded to an ad on the site Alibaba.com by someone looking to buy uranium 308, or yellow cake. The buyer...

Weeks after Maryland State Police and federal agents seized reporting files from a former Washington Times journalist’s home, a Homeland Security agent checked the materials out of the police evidence room for an hour, according to logs that shine new light on a case that has raised First Amendment concerns. The custody logs don’t state why the reporting materials were removed from evidence Sept. 3, about a month after they were seized from reporter Audrey Hudson’s home during a search in an unrelated investigation of her husband. But they do show that the Homeland Security agent checked out files and...

'Eyes gouged out, bodies hanging from hooks, and fingers removed with pliers': Horrific claims of torture emerge as soldiers reveal gory Kenyan mall massacre details Kenyan soldiers claim to find scenes of torture by mall terrorists They say children found dead in food fridges with knives still in bodies Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed By Paul Bentley Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2434278/Kenya-mall-attack-torture-claims-emerge-soldiers-Eyes-gouged-bodies-hooks-fingers-removed.html#ixzz2g8kwK3gd Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Just in case WHAT? Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, the Mutt & Jeff of American Defense policy. We are so screwed.

A British-born U.S. photojournalist and a South African aid worker held hostage in Yemen by al Qaeda militants have been 'murdered' in a failed rescue attempt. American citizen Luke Somers had been held hostage since September 2013 in Yemen's capital Sana'a having moved to the country two years earlier. The 33-year-old was reportedly shot by his captors as Navy SEAL Team six, made up of around 40 men, carried out a dramatic rescue bid in the Wadi Abdan region of the southern Shabwa province late on Friday night. It is the second attempted extraction by special forces in as many...