Free Republic

A large study confirms one in five Americans believes violence motivated by political reasons is—at least sometimes—justified. Nearly half expect a civil war, and many say they would trade democracy for a strong leader, a preprint posted today on medRxiv found. “This is not a study that’s meant to shock,” says Rachel Kleinfeld, a political violence expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who was not involved in the research. “But it should be shocking.” (snip) He and his colleagues surveyed more than 8600 adults in English and Spanish about their views on democracy in the United States, racial...

EIJING (Reuters) - China’s military said on Wednesday the latest U.S. navy sailing near Chinese-claimed Taiwan was “extremely dangerous” and stirring up such trouble was in neither country’s interests. The U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin sailed through the narrow and sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the U.S. navy said, in what have become relatively routine trips in recent months, though they always anger China. The Eastern Theatre Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army said its air and naval forces followed and monitored the U.S. ship throughout its voyage.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction espouses the same ideology of destroying Israel as Hamas, with which it signed a unity deal last Wednesday, according to newly revealed video segments of a senior Fatah official. Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi last week posted a video to YouTube of his comments from a pro-terrorist ceremony in Gaza. In his speech mere days before the unity deal, Tirawi said Gaza "will return to the bosom of legitimacy." Tirawi added "the homeland...is...all of Palestine, from its [Jordan] River to its [Mediterranean] Sea," describing a map that effectively wipes out the...

Foreign-born service members can now speed up the process to obtain American citizenship. The immediate eligibility for service members to become a naturalized citizen is based on Executive Order 13269 signed by President Bush on July 3, 2002. Section 329 of the 8 U.S. Code allows the president to authorize expedited citizenship during periods in which the United States is engaged in armed conflict with a hostile foreign force. For example, members who have served honorably for any period of time beginning on or after Sept. 11, 2001, are eligible to apply for expedited U.S. citizenship, Air Force Col. Michael...

Official PA TV: Israel will be destroyed through violence by Itamar Marcus Introduction While the Palestinian Authority (PA) gives lip service in English to condemning PA terrorism, in Arabic its official TV continues to promote and glorify violence, presenting it this openly last week as the means to destroy of Israel. PA TV started re-broadcasting a short clip that reaffirms the fundamental PLO- PA message, that the goal and end result of Palestinian violence will be Israel's destruction. In this visually powerful clip, the PA conquest of Israel is depicted by visual symbols accompanied by verbal messages in song. The...