Free Republic

In his 2012 re-election campaign, President Obama repeatedly said that al-Qaeda's terrorist forces were "decimated" and we "had them on the run." But the events of the last few days demonstrated anew what we've known for a long time. Al-Qaeda metastasized into larger terrorist groups that have grown stronger and more deadly striking at the heart of Europe, blowing up a Russian passenger jet in Egypt, and plotting right now to attack America. Obama, who won a second term to a large degree on his naive victory claim, had misjudged the powerful reach of the Islamist death squads that have...

As the hunt for the terrorists and those who helped them carry out the ISIS attack in Paris last week continues, it was a bloody night in France overnight as authorities conducted a seven hour long raid on a radial Islamic neighborhood. Two people are dead after a woman detonated her suicide vest and seven others have been arrested. According to reports the raid was conducted in search for the Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 27-year -old Belgian mastermind behind last week's attacks.Residents said an initial explosion shook the neighborhood at about 4 a.m. (10 p.m. EST). "Then there was second big explosion....

PARIS, France - Slowly but surely as Paris has returned to normality some of the people affected by Friday's terrorist attack have returned to Boulevard Voltaire, to see just how lucky they had been. Many lit candles and others followed the French tradition of chalking messages on the pavement as a act of defiance. One British tourist told me the cafe she was in was so close to the gun fire that it could be clearly heard. Perhaps because of the Charlie Hebdo massacre the cafe owner knew what was going on and herded his customers into the cellar in time....

Turkish fans boo and Chant ALLAH AKBAR during the moment of silence for the victims of the Paris Terror Attacks, before the start of the Turkey vs Greece soccer game.

While sipping their cafes in the cafe, partying in the now, what was once considered an event which could never happen exploded across the Quartier Latin, at a well-attended soccer match, and a popular music venue. An American rock band lost one of its members, and other American citizens died from the gun shots and explosions from Islamic militants. ISIS is assuming credit (and blame) for these horrific, atrocious attacks. Frankly, my dear Frenchmen, the terrorists have been living and thriving or at least striving to get by in run-down banlieux (suburbs) outside of Paris and in nearby urban areas...

France imported cheap foreign labor (Muslim in this case) for decades and didn't care too much about the culture clash. Then the Muslims did what they've always done for 1400 years in the middle east, in Africa, Asia Minor, Asia, Europe, etc.: Infiltrate, immigrate, increase in numbers, make demands, activate politically, implement Sharia law, take over militarily and or via violence and terrorism. France has now lost their sovereignty, lost their culture, lost their religion, lost their freedom. If they don't wake up and kick out the Muslims soon, they're going to lose their nation and their heads. Islam is...

The left's reactions to the terror attack on Paris are in keeping with its tradition of getting almost everything wrong. Take Bernie Sanders, for example. At the Democratic presidential debate, one day after the Paris attack, the democratic socialist candidate made this observation about al-Qaida: "I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely, and led to the rise of al-Qaida and to ISIS." That a U.S. senator, let alone a man running for president of the United States, believes that the American invasion of Iraq led to the rise...

Just hours before the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility, "Good Morning America" broadcast an interview with President Obama. In it, the president told host George Stephanopoulos, "I don't think they're gaining strength. What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq, and in Syria they'll come in, they'll leave, but you don't see this systemic march by ISIL across the terrain." Maybe, but they've gained ground in Europe and most likely in America. Incredibly, the...

If, before the Democratic presidential debate in Iowa Saturday night, a Republican operative had been told that, in the wake of the Paris attacks: 1) Hillary Clinton would refuse to apply the phrase "radical Islam" to ISIS; 2) Bernie Sanders would maintain that climate change is a greater threat to national security than ISIS or Islamic terrorism in general; and 3) Martin O'Malley, with Clinton's agreement, would insist that the U.S. stick to a proposal to admit 65,000 Syria refugees into the country -- he would have been delighted at the prospect of future ads portraying Democrats as in denial...

The former chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence says President Obama has no coherent strategy to defeat ISIS, and he alleges one of Obama’s top advisers “lied to the American people” to perpetuate a misguided program allowing tens of thousands of refugees into the U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes appeared on multiples Sunday morning news shows. When asked whether the news that one and possibly two of the Paris terrorists came to Europe as refugees would alter the Obama administration’s plan to accept tens of thousands of refugees, Rhodes said there would be no re-evaluation....

Terrorism has vaulted to the nation's No. 1 issue as Americans say they are as concerned about attacks as they were after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, according to a new poll. A Reuters/Ipsos poll said that virtually everybody has heard of the ISIS attacks in Paris, pushing terrorism into a tie with the economy, not global warming as Democratic candidates have claimed. The poll also found that 60 percent of Americans want Washington to do more to attack ISIS, though they prefer air strikes over troop involvement. The details of the poll:

Desperate world leaders today lined up to try to woo Russian President Vladimir Putin to back global efforts to defeat ISIS. For more than a year after relations with Moscow have been in the deep freeze over Russian incursions in Ukraine. But now Mr Putin is seen as holding the key to resolving the bloody civil war in Syria which has given rise to ISIS fanatics. It has led to the spectacle of US President Barack Obama, British PM David Cameron and Saudia Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud posing for photos with the Russian President.

Over the weekend we learned that at least one of the ISIS terrorists who carried out the worst terror attack in France since World War II came into Europe by posing as a Syrian refugee. Despite this fact, President Obama has no plans to re-evaluate his calls to increase the number of Syrian refugees the United States accepts. "We're still planning on taking in Syrian refugees," White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on "Fox News Sunday." "We had very robust vetting procedures for those refugees." As a reminder of Obama administration policy on this issue: In an...

What is it with people on the left that brings them to the conclusion that the Islamic State isn't evil, let alone be angry with the perpetrators of the horrific Paris attacks last Friday? In the 11th Arrondissement, or administrative district, of Paris, some residents aren't angry with ISIS, nor do they consider them evil (via Haaretz): A group of friends was standing near the candles that had been lit at the foot of the monument at the square, trying to find out if the waiter that had served them at La Belle Equipe, one of the restaurants attacked in...

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes was forced several times today to clarify a comment made by President Obama that aired Friday morning hours before ISIS terrorists murdered more than 125 in Paris. 'I don't think they're gaining strength,' Obama had said of the terrorist organization on Good Morning America. 'What is true is that from the start our goal has been first to contain them and we have contained them.' Contained, said Rhodes, was simply meant in terms of geography. 'The president was responding very specifically to the geographic expansion of ISIL in Iraq and Syria,' Rhodes told ABC...

Two days after the horrendous jihadist attacks in Paris, Pope Francis preached about the “end times,” encouraging his hearers to be vigilant and ready at any moment to meet God face to face.

Just a breaking news banner and video at link: http://go.cnn.com/?stream=cnn Full title: French air force conducting major bombardment against ISIS targets in Raqqa, Syria, the French Ministry of Defense says. Watch CNNgo.

The murder of some 127 innocents in Paris by a jihadi gang on Friday has again shocked the French and led to another round of solidarity, soul searching, and anger. In the end, however, Islamist violence against Westerners boils down to two questions: How much will this latest atrocity turn public opinion? And how much will it further spur the Establishment to deny reality?As these questions suggest, the people and the professionals are moving in opposite directions, the former to the right, the latter to the left. In the end, this clash much reduces the impact of such events on...

As Paris law enforcement officials attempted to get a handle on the attacks in their city, multiple tweets were more than happy about the unprecedented violence in France. Users who appear to be Islamic terror sympathizers took to social media to express their support and congratulations to those involved with the attacks. They even created a hashtag that translates to "Paris Burns."

Greenville, South Carolina - Ted Cruz used the backdrop of the terror attacks in Paris as the latest evidence that Christians are under siege, making a pitch on Saturday to evangelicals here that tied together his take-no-prisoners foreign policy with his faith-driven domestic agenda. The Texas Republican, kicking off his most extensive trip yet in South Carolina, had planned for a month a large, highly-produced "Rally for Religious Liberty" that mirrored a similar event this summer... But Friday's attacks in France recalibrated Cruz's message and its overall tone: He began the event with a lengthy moment of silence, and Cruz...