Free Republic

A group of tourists, including children, was attacked today in the Old City of Akko today by a group of Arabs. The Arabs tried to push the hikers from a high wall within the Old City such that one of the tourists, a career soldier, was forced to pull out his gun to defend the other hikers. After the incident, the soldier - of all people - was taken into the local police station for questioning, and his weapon was confiscated. Attorney Adi Kedar of the Honenu Legal Rights Organization is providing legal council to the soldier. "We were touring...

At ad hoc memorial for the victims, Muslim man rants against Israel and shouts ‘Palestine’ - but the locals are having none of it. Video In Belgium, a Muslim man disrupted a memorial for the victims of last week’s massacre in Brussels Sunday, but he was promptly knocked down by a local man, and led away by police. The incident was captured on a Facebook video embedded above. Belgians had transformed the Place de La Bourse in Brussels into a memorial for the 35 people who were killed last Tuesday in a series of suicide bombings at the capital city’s...

Ahead of meeting with Netanyahu, president says unprecedented ‘aggressive settlement construction’ detrimental to peace process Israel can expect to face international isolation and possible sanctions from countries and companies across the world if Benjamin Netanyahu fails to endorse a framework agreement with the Palestinians, US President Barack Obama cautioned on Sunday ahead of a meeting with the Israeli prime minister. In an interview with Bloomberg, Obama stressed that time was running out for Israel to achieve a peace deal, and added that he believed Netanyahu had the capacity to rally Israel’s citizens behind an agreement. But if Netanyahu “does not...

NEW YORK — Members of the United Nations met with distinguished astronauts and cosmonauts this week in New York to begin implementing the first-ever international contingency plan for defending Earth against catastrophic asteroid strikes. Six of the space travelers involved in these U.N. discussions discussed the asteroid defense effort Friday (Oct. 25) in a news conference hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson at the American Museum of Natural History. Their goal: to drive home the very-real threats posed by near-Earth objects (NEOs), or asteroids traveling within the radius of Earth's orbit with the sun. You can see a video of...

A soon-to-be-released book by Mark Leibovich reveals in excruciating detail the White House’s efforts to defend longtime Obama friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett in the run-up to a New York Times profile that ran in September 2012. Leibovich, himself a reporter for the New York Times, got ahold of a White House memo titled “The Magic of Valerie” that included 33 talking points circulated throughout the administration. Here are the talking points excerpted in Leibovich’s forthcoming book, This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral-Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!-in America’s Gilded Capital: The magic of Valerie is her intellect and her...

<p>The Boston marathon bombing suspect has added to his legal defense team a prominent death penalty lawyer who has worked on high-profile cases such as the Unabomber and the gunman who killed six and wounded 13, including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in Tucson in 2011.</p>

Ottawa - In his first public comments on a North American visit that will include talks with US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday Israel reserved the right to defend itself against Iran. Netanyahu will meet with Obama on Monday to address growing differences over what Washington fears could be an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites. (Snip) "As for Israel, like any sovereign country, we reserve the right to defend ourselves against a country that calls and works for our destruction," he told reporters in Ottawa at the start of a meeting with Canadian Prime

David Petraeus pledged to confront the many threats facing America as he took the reins of the CIA, a decade after the 9/11 attacks that led to two wars where the former general made his name. Petraeus was sworn in to lead the civilian covert war against Al-Qaeda having hung up his army uniform less than a week ago after a 37-year career that ended with years of difficult command roles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wearing a business suit and burgundy tie, Petraeus took the oath of office on a Bible at a ceremony led by Vice President Joe Biden...

A 27-year-old Jewish man was yanked out of his car and beaten by an Arab mob Sunday afternoon in a Jerusalem neighborhood, according to police. The Cellcom employee made a wrong turn and entered the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. He was moderately wounded as dozens of Arabs hurled rocks at his car, and then pulled him from the vehicle and savagely beat him up. Other Arabs who live in the same neighborhood rescued the Jew, police said, and protected him until an Israel Police patrol car and Border Police officers arrived. The victim, reportedly was led to the area...

A chief Republican critic of a controversial U.S. anti-gun-trafficking operation was briefed on ATF’s “Fast and Furious” program last year and did not express any opposition, sources familiar with the classified briefing said Tuesday. Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), who has repeatedly called for top Justice Department officials to be held accountable for the now-defunct operation, was given highly specific information about it at an April 2010 briefing, the sources said. Members of his staff also attended the session, which Issa and two other Republican congressmen had requested. Fast and Furious targeted Mexican gun traffickers but was linked to the killing...

Transportation Safety Administration chief John Pistole and several senators from both parties defended the new, enhanced airport security screening procedures as necessary in the face of a persistent and evolving terrorist threat in a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Pistole, calm and confident in the face of an increasing public outcry against the procedures, talked extensively about the repercussions of last year's attempted Christmas Day bombing being the impetus for the enhanced screenings before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, TSA's oversight committee. "We know the terrorists' intent is still there," Pistole testified. "We are using technology and protocols...

Arizona has attracted more than $3.6 million of donations to help defend its law to crack down on illegal immigration, with one whopping contribution—and thousands of smaller ones—from out of state. Timothy Mellon, an heir to a Pittsburgh steel and banking dynasty, has donated $1.5 million to a legal-defense fund established by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, according to the governor's office. Mr. Mellon, who is identified on a donor list as a Wyoming resident, is among more than 42,000 people who have contributed to the border state's legal battle for the right to enforce the law, which Arizona's legislature

Money donated from all across the spectrum and country to defend Arisona against the O-bum-a-loser administration.

Washington (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to end violence and discrimination against gays and lesbians at home and abroad Tuesday, as the Obama administration moves to extend further benefits to gays working in the federal government. "We are moving together in the right direction," said Clinton. "We reaffirm our commitment to protect the rights of all human beings." Clinton drew several standing ovations from the standing-room-only crowd of several hundred during her address at an event co-hosted by the State Department's Office of Civil Rights and GLIFAA, the organization for Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies....

WASHINGTON -- As a domestic policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan helped defend the veto of a measure that would have banned late-term abortions with few exceptions. Files handed over to Congress by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library reveal Kagan's role playing defense against a Republican Congress that was trying to place new limits on abortion rights.

With his lie about serving in Vietnam exposed, Connecticut Attorney General and Democratic Senate Candidate Richard Blumenthal went into major damage control mode today trying to explain why he has claimed he "served in Vietnam" when he did not. In a press conference not-so-coincidentally held at a Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, Mr. Blumenthal surrounded himself with men who actually served in Vietnam, invoked his own son who is currently serving in the Marines and then tried to minimize his lie by stating, "Now on a few occasions, I have misspoken about my service and I regret that and I...

A blast from the past in regards to those who eagerly defend terrorists...And we are not allowed to scrutinize... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9kdgRDUu3U BTW: Stewart was disbarred and sent to prison for 26 months...The ACLU plague rat got off easy IMO.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – U.S. senators on Friday defended American drone aircraft strikes in ally Pakistan, an issue likely to become more volatile if Washington intensifies the attacks to hunt down enemies after the bombing of CIA agents in Afghanistan. Pakistan officially objects to the attacks on suspected al Qaeda and Taliban militants along its border with Afghanistan, saying they violate its sovereignty. And Islamabad has pushed Washington to provide it with the drones to allow it to carry out its own attacks on Taliban insurgents, a move that could ease widespread anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. "We don't agree on every...

Transcript of Elder Dallin H. Oaks speech given at BYU-Idaho on 13 October 2009. My dear young friends, I am pleased to speak to this BYU-Idaho audience. I am conscious that I am also speaking to many in other places. In this time of the Internet, what we say in one place is instantly put before a wider audience, including many to whom we do not intend to speak. That complicates my task, so I ask your understanding as I speak to a very diverse audience. In choosing my subject I have relied on an old military maxim that when...

Around the world, government-run health care is failing patients. Long waiting times, rationing or denying life-saving treatments and lower-quality care are common in government systems like Great Britain and Canada. Maybe that’s why major government systems are looking to the United States for innovations that make health care work better for everyone. Some policymakers in Congress want a public plan to “compete” with private health insurers. Everyone agrees that we can improve our health care system, but why would anyone expect government-run health care to work for patients in the United States when it doesn’t work for other countries? Click...