Free Republic

Karin Quade, a terrific German who is a stalwart supporter of the United States and the U.S. military personnel serving in Germany, has been threatened with death in an online video. As of this writing, the video was still online. It refers to her as "The Bush activist" and shows the route to her home. It features a song with the lyrics, “I used to love her, but I had to kill her.” Karin writes about it in her blog anti-anti-americanism.com. She appeared in my piece on anti-Americanism in the European media. Karin believes she has been targeted for her...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Greenpeace said Monday it has disrupted the Japanese whale hunt off Antarctica by chasing the fleet's whale processing factory ship out of the whaling zone. The six-vessel fleet "scattered and ran" early Saturday when it realized the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza was "heading toward them at high speed," Greenpeace expedition leader Karli Thomas told New Zealand's National Radio. The fleet's three whale hunter vessels "can't operate without the (factory ship) Nisshin Maru there to process the kill," she added.

Jack Thompson has issued a press release suggesting the U.S. Department of Defense is involved in an "unholy alliance" with the gaming industry, with the aim of turning kids into violent, remorseless killers. According to a report by GamePolitics, Thompson said he will be training his guns on the U.S. military in the new year as a result of its continued collaboration with the game industry. In a press release, Thompson said one of the results of this partnership is "the increasing number of commando-style assaults by young gamers," citing the recent killings in Omaha, Nebraska as evidence of his...

The House of Commons passed emergency legislation late Tuesday night to reopen an Ontario nuclear reactor that produces most of the world's supply of critical medical isotopes, even though the site has been shut down for safety maintenance. To pass before Christmas break, the bill needed all party support. Both the Bloc Québécois and the NDP had said they could live with the government's plan to override the advice of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and restart the 50-year-old reactor at Chalk River, Ont. But Liberal deputy leader Michael Ignatieff said the Liberals would not sign off on the legislation...

PARIS, Dec. 6 — The leaders of France and Germany said Thursday that Iran remained a danger and that other nations needed to keep up the pressure over its nuclear program despite a United States intelligence report’s conclusion that Tehran was no longer building a bomb. Speaking at a joint news conference at the Élysée Palace, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel said they had not changed their minds despite the findings of the American intelligence estimate released Monday, which some believed would have eroded support for tougher new sanctions.

A man who had gone into a diabetic coma on a bus in Leeds was shot twice with a Taser gun by police who feared he may have been a security threat. Nicholas Gaubert has described how the incident happened in July 2005, just a week before the fatal shooting of Brazilian man Jean Charles de Menezes. Mr Gaubert, 34, said he was suffering severe post-traumatic stress as a result of the shooting. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating. Mr Gaubert, who lives in Leeds, said he had now decided to speak out after the Crown Prosecution Service...

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday she would be willing to support a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran if Tehran continues to resist demands to halt sensitive nuclear work. Merkel, in a visit to Bush's ranch in Crawford, also said she would consider possible cuts in her country's brisk trade flows with Iran should other efforts fail to secure Tehran's cooperation over its nuclear program. Bush agreed with Merkel that diplomacy was the best way to resolve the standoff with Iran. "We were at one in saying that...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. destroyer has entered Somali territorial waters in pursuit of a Japanese-owned ship loaded with benzene that was hijacked by pirates over the weekend, military officials said Monday. The guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke entered Somali waters with the permission of the troubled transitional government in Mogadishu, U.S. officials said. In recent years, warships have stayed outside the 12-mile limit when chasing pirates. The ongoing operation was confirmed to CNN by two military officials familiar with the details. Gunmen aboard two skiffs hijacked the Panamanian-flagged Golden Mori off the Socotra archipelago, near the Horn of Africa,...

VANCOUVER — Dazed and confused after more than 15 hours of travel, unable to communicate in English and scared because he couldn't find his mother, Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski was jolted by a taser just 24 seconds after being confronted by police in Vancouver International Airport. That allegation was made Thursday by a lawyer for Mr. Dziekanski's family who says video evidence will show that the RCMP took him down with a taser jolt moments after approaching him. "I've been in touch with witnesses. I have viewed a video, which was taken by a bystander, which is not going to...

WHILE we have seen the apparent death of Communism, ways of thinking that were either born under Communism or strengthened by Communism still govern our lives. Not all of them are as immediately evident as a legacy of Communism as political correctness. The first point: language. It is not a new thought that Communism debased language and, with language, thought. There is a Communist jargon recognizable after a single sentence. Few people in Europe have not joked in their time about “concrete steps,” “contradictions,” “the interpenetration of opposites,” and the rest. The first time I saw that mind-deadening slogans had...

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Stem cell researchers Mario Capecchi, Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies won the 2007 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology for their work on gene changes in mice using embryonic cells, Sweden's Karolinska Institute said on Monday. The prestigious 10 million Swedish crown (755,000 pound) prize recognised the international team's work, saying the benefits to mankind would increase in many years to come. Capecchi was born in Italy and is a U.S. citizen. Both Evans and Smithies are British-born. Evans is a Briton while Smithies is a U.S. citizen. The prize awarders said the discoveries made by the...

Hollywood star Tom Cruise is planning to build a bunker at his Colorado home to protect his family in the event of an intergalactic alien attack, according to new reports. The Mission Impossible actor, who is a dedicated follower of Scientology, is reportedly fearful that deposed galactic ruler 'Xenu' is plotting an evil revenge attack on Earth. According to American magazine Star, a source said: "Tom is planning to build a US$10 million bunker under his Telluride estate." "It's a self-contained underground shelter with a high tech air purifying shelter." The facility is said to have enough room for ten...

The frequent video game critic, already facing professional misconduct charges from the Florida Bar which could see him stripped of his license to practice law, has outraged a U.S. District Court judge by including images of men having sex in a document filed with the court last week. .... His Honor was not amused. In an order issued on Monday, Judge Jordan directed Thompson to show cause as to why he should not face sanctions, including possible contempt charges. Judge Jordan wrote: The attached exhibit, which includes several graphic images of oral and genital sex between adult males, was filed...

His official blog seems to be overloaded with traffic right now, but his cousin posted earlier that James Rigney, the author of the Wheel of Time series, died earlier today after a year long fight against amyloidosis. Author Patrick Nielsen Hayden has a discussion on his blog. James Rigney was a good guy and his death is sad news for all of his fans. Not only was he a great author, he was a great patriot as well. He served in the army in Vietnam earning (from Wikipedia) the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star...

Jack Thompson has filed documents with a federal court in Florida requesting to subpoena President George W. Bush for a deposition to retain Thompson’s license to practice law. Thompson, the bane of gamers everywhere, is in the midst of two ethic complaints which were filed by the Florida Bar and will face a court appointed mediator on November 26th. Wacky Jacky is currently suing the mediator, Judge Dava Tunis, along with the Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Bar. Thompson’s reasons for subpoenaing The President are a bit esoteric and would make great fodder for an X-Files episode or anything...

A federal judge on Monday rejected the “everybody else is doing it” defense argued by an attorney on behalf of a restaurateur who staffed his business with illegal immigrants. “This is happening every day in Mexican restaurants,” attorney Charles Torres argued on behalf of Pun Wun Chan. “As an immigration practitioner, I see these types of situations every day. It’s hard for me to take it as a serious crime because it’s a constant ongoing (thing).” U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan sided with Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Mackie, who told the judge, “I don’t think there’s any justification because others...

Notice on Berkley Breathed Website: The Opus strips for August 26 and September 2 have been withheld from publication by a large number of client newspapers across the country, including Opus' host paper The Washington Post. The website also has what looks like part of one of the censored strips which shows Lola Granola in Islamic headgear claiming to be a radical Islamist!

A heavily pregnant woman is at the centre of an extraordinary legal battle with social workers after she secretly recorded them threatening to take away her newborn baby. Vanessa Brookes, 34, who is due to give birth early next month, smuggled taping equipment into a meeting with social services officials, fearing they would try to take her baby for forced adoption. She recorded a social worker telling her and her husband Martin, 41, that even though there was "no immediate risk to your child from yourselves", the council would seek a court order to place the child in foster care....

TORONTO (CP) - Microsoft Corp. plans to set up house in the Vancouver area this fall with a new software development centre that would attract talent without encountering U.S. immigration issues. The location will be one of only a few development centres outside the company's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft said Thursday in a release. Microsoft added Vancouver to its expansion list, which already includes plans to build new sites in Boston and Bellevue, Wash.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles residents were urged on Wednesday to take shorter showers, reduce lawn sprinklers and stop throwing trash in toilets in a bid to cut water usage by 10 percent in the driest year on record. With downtown Los Angeles seeing a record low of 4 inches of rain since July 2006 -- less than a quarter of normal -- and with a hot, dry summer ahead, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city needed "to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm." It is the driest year since rainfall records began...