Free Republic

Kimia Alizadeh, the sole woman to ever have won a medal at the Olympics for the country of Iran, has defected from the country and moved to Europe, she announced on social media. The 21-year-old, who won bronze at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio in the women's Taekwondo 57-kg competition, wrote on Instagram Saturday that she is "one of the millions of oppressed woman in Iran." "They took me wherever they wanted. Whatever they said I wore. Every sentence they ordered I repeated," Alizadeh said. "Whenever they saw fit, they confiscated me. They put my medals on the obligatory...

The man, who also had a car parked at Palm Beach International Airport, was arrested just over the Flagler Memorial Bridge at Bradley Park. A man arrested by Palm Beach Police this morning had $22,000, a machete and a pick ax, in addition to knives in his possession, according to an officer with the department.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Palm Beach police are investigating after they say a man believed to be an Iranian national was found with several knives on the Flagler Memorial Bridge on Friday. Police said the man had no known address and was detained by officers. In addition to the knives, police said the man had an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency on him.

"""Mar-a-Lago in the firing line: Iranian presidential adviser posts list of Donald Trump's properties in chilling hint of an attack on his real estate empire - after Iran put an $80million bounty on his head"" Hesameddin Ashena linked to an article listing properties owned by Trump It included Trump Tower in New York as well as his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida The adviser said that Tehran's 'sole problem is Trump' rather than Americans Iran has vowed revenge after the death of Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike Trump has warned of 'disproportionate' retaliation including on cultural sites An adviser to...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Monday that he warned President Trump against targeting Iranian cultural sites — a step the president has repeatedly threatened if Iran retaliates over the death of a top general killed in a U.S. strike. “I talked to him today. I said we’re not at war with the culture of the Iranian people. ... Cultural sites, religious sites are not lawful targets,” Graham said. “Putting cultural sites on the table as a military target, I think, undercuts what we're trying to do,” Graham added, recounting his conversation with Trump.

I saw my Iranian refugee friend Kaveh in church this morning and asked him what he thought of the killing of Qasem Soleimani. “I’m a little unhappy with it,” he said. “My wife’s unhappy, too. So are our parents in Teheran.” “Why”” “Because he didn’t suffer.” “You’re a Christian, right?” “Right.” “Trust me, brother, he’s suffering,” I said. I’m an ex-pat living next door to the Middle East, and I don’t think most Americans understand what a significant historic event this is. Most Iranians are completely fed up with the oppressive reign of the mullahs, and most Middle East countries...

""Pelosi Lashes Out at Trump Admin For Delivering “Classified” War Powers Act Notification to Congress, ‘Americans Are Being Left in the Dark’"" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lashed out at President Trump on Saturday after a formal notification of the drone strike was delivered to Capitol Hill. The White House informed Congress of the drone strike that killed General Qassim Soleimani, a top commander of Iran’s al-Quds Force at Baghdad’s International Airport. The White House delivered a formal, entirely classified notification to Congress on Saturday informing lawmakers of the airstrike that took out several Iranian military officials, fulfilling its duties under...

A multinational law enforcement investigation led to the arrest of three alleged human smugglers in Brazil. The ring is charged with trafficking migrants from East Africa and the Middle East to Brazil and then to the U.S. Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations announced on Wednesday, the arrest of three alleged human smugglers by law enforcement authorities in Brazil. Statements from ICE and the Department of Justice report that Brazilian authorities executed search warrants leading to the arrests of Abdifatah Hussein Ahmed (a Somalian national); Abdessalem Martani (an Algerian national); and Mohsen Khademi Manesh (an...

Authorities are investigating the social media posts made by the suspected gunman in a California festival shooting that killed three people and injured more than a dozen others in an effort to determine a motive in the attack. Gunshots rang out Sunday just before 6 p.m. local time at the popular Gilroy Garlic Festival in the city of Gilroy, some 80 miles southeast of San Francisco. Santino William Legan, 19, was identified as the alleged shooter on Monday, law enforcement sources confirmed to ABC News.

Iran has increased its offensive cyberattacks against the U.S. government and critical infrastructure as tensions have grown between the two nations, cybersecurity firms say. In recent weeks, hackers believed to be working for the Iranian government have targeted U.S. government agencies, as well as sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, sending waves of spear-phishing emails, according to representatives of cybersecurity companies CrowdStrike and FireEye, which regularly track such activity. It was not known if any of the hackers managed to gain access to the targeted networks with the emails, which typically mimic legitimate emails but contain malicious software....

Recently Sohrab Ahmari, op-ed editor of The New York Post, saw something online that left him shaken. “This is demonic,” he tweeted. “To hell with liberal order.” His moral indignation led him to write a much discussed essay in the religious journal First Things. Castigating conservatives who see a possibility of coexistence with the left, he called for a religious Reconquista of American politics. The right, he argued, should “fight the culture war with the aim of defeating the enemy and enjoying the spoils in the form of a public square reordered to the common good and ultimately the Highest...

Update: 7.25pm: Gardaí believe three men wearing balaclavas were involved in today's shooting in Coolock. They understand that the three left the scene in a silver Toyota Avensis with a registration number 04-D-71806, which was found burnt out in the Castletymon Gardens area of Coolock at around 3.45pm. The scene has been preserved for a forensic examination and a post mortem will take place tomorrow.

CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour identified Haifa in northern Israel as being located in the 'West Bank,' the Jordanian name for Judea and Samaria, in introducing a Palestinian Arab human rights lawyer. Amanpour made the gaffe on Wednesday during her global affairs interview program on CNN. She introduced human rights lawyer Diana Buttu to respond to an interview with Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon, who discussed the as yet unveiled United States peace plan. “Diana Buttu is a human rights lawyer and she joins me from Haifa, on the West Bank,” Amanpour said. In a...

A former U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist accused of espionage for Iran, Monica Witt, was allegedly radicalized in part during a stint at a George Washington University, which has taken $100 million from Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries. Certain American universities have received funding from .... Middle Eastern countries. In some cases, the programs have been staffed by academics who are critical of U.S. policy and who publicly espouse fringe positions. Witt was charged Feb. 13 by the Department of Justice with sharing government secrets with Iranian officials. She was allegedly helping create a cyber-hacking operation on fellow former...

Police have identified the suspect who opened fire at a Walmart store in Amarillo this afternoon as Mohammad Moghaddam, 54. Mohammad Moghaddam, an immigrant, came to Amarillo with his family eight years ago from Iran. Immigrant services from Amarillo would not discuss with reporters whether they helped relocate the family to the Amarillo area. Police say Mohammad was upset he was passed over for a promotion so he took his manager and another person hostage. He was shot dead by police.

On Monday Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) sent a letter to the FBI Director regarding phony Steele Russia dossier. Explosive new e-mails show FBI brass discussed dossier briefing details with CNN. Senator Johnson accused the FBI of having a “sensitive matter team” as reference by FBI Chief of Staff Jim Rybicki in an January 6, 2017 email to unspecified recipients.Senator Johnson outlined the time line of events and communications between FBI officials, President-elect Trump and CNN. 1. January 6, 2017, 9:44 a.m. FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki sent an email to unspecified recipients stating, “the director is coming into HQ briefly now for...

OH BOY! Iranian Regime Threatens to Release Names of Western Officials Who Took Bribes to Pass Nuke Deal. (Full title). ... Earlier this week President Trump withdrew from the sham Iranian nuclear deal. President Trump knew the deal with the Iranian mullahs was not working. This was despite former Secretary of State John Kerry working against the Trump administration to salvage the weak deal with the Iranian regime. ... Of course, the Iranian regime is very upset with President Trump’s decision. Now this… Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari warned Western officials this week that if they do not...

IDF warns Syrian military not to interfere as it pummels Iranian targets in largest direct exchange between Jerusalem, Tehran By Today, 4:38 am 1 Some 20 rockets were fired at Israeli military bases by Iranian forces from southern Syria just after midnight on Thursday, sparking the largest ever direct clash between Jerusalem and Tehran, with Israeli jets targeting numerous Iranian-controlled sites across Syria. The Israeli army said the initial missile barrage was carried out by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Forces. This appeared to be the first time that Israel attributed an attack directly to Iran, which...

If confirmed, this is the first time since 1981 that the Iranian regime has targeted a defector on U.S. soil. Iranian dissident Mansoor Osanloo, the exiled former head of the bus driver’s union in Tehran, was savagely attacked on Tuesday, May 1, while traveling on a PATH train into New York City, and left for dead. Multiple assailants sprayed him with a corrosive chemical, then clubbed him in the back of the neck with what appears to have been a tire iron. He lay in a coma for several days and required 17 stitches in his neck. I spoke with...

Several Iranian women have caught people's attention by revealing the lengths they go to to attend a football match. Donning beards and wigs, they disguised themselves as men so they could watch their team, Persepolis, play rivals Sepidrood at the Azadi stadium in Tehran last Friday. Images of the women at the stadium have been widely shared on both Persian and English social media.Although there's no official ban on women going to sporting events in Iran, it is rare for them to attend as they are often refused entry. Prior to the Islamic revolution of 1979, women were allowed to...