Free Republic

Intelligence officials informed President Donald Trump two weeks before he took office that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed his spying operation to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a new report. .... Intelligence officials informed President Donald Trump two weeks before he took office that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed his spying operation to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a new report.

“Our response to this situation matters. If we respond to this situation by casting aspersions on millions of people that adhere to a particular religion or if we increase our suspicion of people who practice a particular religion, we are more likely going to contribute to acts of violence than we are to prevent them.” Of course we should not cast aspersions on people who had nothing to do with this jihad attack. But this kind of talk is used to preclude any examination of the motivating ideology underlying such attacks, and that leaves us more vulnerable to more such...

It’s been 48 hours since Jah’Keem Yisrael — AKA Alton Noel — perpetrated a horrific terrorist attack on 54 year old co-worker Colleen Hufford, stabbing her repeatedly and then sawing her head off with a knife, and we have yet to hear any acknowledgment from President Obama of this worrisome incident. Why not? All the elements of an Islamic act of terror are present: the savagery,the shouting of Islamic verses during the act, the stated determination to carry out jihad, and a fanatical belief in Islam that, in his mind, justified everything. From a political standpoint, it’s a bad idea...

The Boston Marathon bombing attacks have not been certified as an “act of terrorism” by the US Treasury, an important point holding up some insurance payments. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Congress passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which created federally-backed insurance in cases of damage due to terrorism. Some Boston businesses were among those that bought the insurance. Those purchases became relevant after the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013. Of the 160 companies located near the marathon’s finish line that submitted insurance claims, just 14 percent had purchased terrorism insurance, Insurance Journal reported. But as...

FORT HOOD — The past few days have featured harrowing testimony from witnesses and victims who described the gruesome, blood-soaked scene inside the medical processing center where Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13. Yesterday columnist Ken Herman sat in the courtroom and described the scene in today’s Statesman: In a day of often harrowing testimony — “It was squirting across the room,” victim Mick Engnehl testified when asked how he knew he was bleeding — I found the most disturbing moments to be the silent ones, when prosecutors, in advance of offering them as evidence, handed Hasan small containers holding bullets...

Vice President Biden called the Boston Marathon bomber brothers “two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadis.” Speaking during a memorial service for Sean Collier, the MIT police officer slain by the Tsarnaev brothers Friday morning, Biden echoed the question of why anyone would seek terrorize a city. “Why, whether it’s al-Qaeda central out of the FATAs or two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadis here in Boston. Why do they do what they do?” Biden insulted the brothers a second time during an extended appreciation for police officers. “You are their worst nightmare,” Biden said. “All the things, these perverted jihadis, self...

FBI Was Warned 2 Years Ago of Alleged Bomber’s Radical Shift By Mark Arsenault, Bryan Bender, Milton J. Valencia and Maria Cramer Russian authorities warned the FBI in early 2011 that suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been a follower of “radical Islam,” a revelation that raised new questions in Congress on Saturday about whether the Boston Marathon attacks that killed three and wounded more than 170 could have been prevented. A senior congressional aide privy to the Boston Marathon terror investigation confirmed Saturday that the FBI received the warning after Tsarnaev’s apparently suspicious activities caught the attention of Russian...

Vice President Joe Biden said the middle class "has been buried the last four yeas" at a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina: "This is deadly earnest, man. This is deadly earnest," Biden said. "How they can justify--how they can justify--raising taxes when the middle class has been buried the last four years... How in Lord's name..." Of course, Barack Obama has been president the last four years, and Biden has been vice president.