Free Republic

The head of the Yemeni Ansarallah terrorist organization, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, boasted in a national address on Thursday that his jihadists had turned American aircraft carriers into “obsolete weapons.” Houthi’s group, which controls the Yemeni capital of Sana’a and received significant backing from state sponsor of terror Iran, declared war on Israel in October in support of fellow jihadist terrorists Hamas. The Houthis’, as they are commonly known, main contribution to terrorism in the Middle East has been a campaign against commercial shipping in the Red Sea in which they use drones, missiles, and other often rudimentary weapons to attack random...

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday that the Greek-owned coal carrier MV Tutor, struck by Houthi missiles and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) on July 12, has sunk in the Red Sea. The Tutor became the second ship sunk by the Iran-backed Yemeni terrorists since they began their campaign of wanton attacks on commercial shipping in November. It also appears to have been the first ship to be severely damaged by a Houthi USV attack. The weapon was evidently a remote-controlled small boat packed with explosives.

On this date in 1891, Chinese authorities beheaded 15 at Kowloon, including the leaders of the then-notorious Namoa pirates. They were nicknamed for the steamer they had infamously commandeered six months before. The tale is related by an English maritime official’s orientalist (and now public-domain) memoir, The Mystic Flowery Land: The most daring and disastrously successful piracy of late years … was the “Namoa” piracy in 1890. The startling news of this outrage created a general feeling of unsafety and consternation among the foreign communities in China, mingled with grief and just resentment for the cold-blooded murder of Captain Pocock...

An Iranian warship has embarked on a mission in oceanic waters, Iran’s state media reported, in the wake of a warning by Houthi rebels that they could renew their attacks on vessels transiting the region. The aircraft carrier Shahid Mahdavi, operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has reached southern hemisphere waters, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, without specifying its exact location

Security camera footage shows the moment a suspected porch pirate walked into a Queens homeowner’s trap by trying to steal a fake parcel deliberately left on the stoop. Carlos Mejia said he was “done” with thieves following FedEx and UPS trucks and raiding his parcels, and decided to take matters into his own hands last week by leaving out “decoy packages” outside his door with the aim of catching one of the bandits in the act. “I was just trying to make an example for those out there doing the same thing … stealing from others,” Mejia told Storyful. Video...

The major disruption caused by Yemeni Houthis in the Red Sea is hardly the only trouble spot in the world’s increasingly dangerous seas. An Indian navy warship has intercepted a hijacked cargo ship in the Indian Ocean, safely rescued all 17 crew members, and detained all 35 Somali pirates. The Indian navy vessel INS Kolkata came to the rescue of the Bulgarian ship MV Ruen, which was hijacked by pirates back on December 14, 2023. The operation lasted no less than 40 hours. The hijacking of the Ruen was the first successful action by Somali pirates in the past six...

CAIRO (Reuters) -Ships will have to obtain a permit from Yemen's Houthi-controlled Maritime Affairs Authority before entering Yemeni waters, Houthi Telecommunications Minister Misfer Al-Numair said on Monday. Houthi militants have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel's offensive in Gaza.

The Russians have warned us over and over again that they will use nuclear weapons if they are forced into a direct war with western powers. So why are most western leaders not taking those threats seriously? Ukraine is not worth fighting a nuclear war over. Both sides would be wise to try to find a peaceful resolution while it is still possible to do so. But instead, we continue to see escalation after escalation. In particular, the Biden administration seems determined to see how close it can go without pushing things completely over the edge. This is very foolish,...

Ninth Circuit panel unanimously orders FBI to destroy records it created during searches of US Private Vaults boxes.. PASADENA, Calif.—This morning, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously ruled against the government in a long-running class action lawsuit from the Institute for Justice (IJ) on behalf of people who rented security deposit boxes at US Private Vaults. The decision slammed the FBI for overstepping its authority when it opened up hundreds of renters’ boxes, conducted criminal searches of them all, and attempted to permanently keep everything in the boxes worth more than $5,000, all without charging any box...

The Shiite Houthi terrorist organization warned on Friday that American President Joe Biden will pay “a heavy price” for authorizing airstrikes alongside the United Kingdom against Houthi assets in Yemen. The Pentagon and the British Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday that they had coordinated dozens of strikes against strategic Houthi targets intended to limit the terrorists’ ability to disrupt international shipping. The Houthis, who consider themselves the legitimate government of Yemen, declared war on the nation of Israel in October in support of fellow terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of the country on October 7, in which it engaged in...

US helicopters sank three boats carrying Houthi gunmen who attacked a container ship that was transiting the Red Sea, the US military said Sunday. A US warship also shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Yemen, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. It said that at 6:30 a.m. local time, the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned and -operated container ship issued a second distress call after earlier reporting that it was hit by a missile.

Civil rights attorneys argue FBI defied warrant by searching people's safe deposit boxes... FBI agents cataloged Cartier bracelets, Rolex watches and stacks of cash as they combed through safe deposit boxes seized from a Beverly Hills business accused of money laundering. But the owners of many of those boxes were not accused of any crimes. After hearing arguments from both sides Thursday, a panel of judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether the sweeping raid violated customers' Fourth Amendment rights. ... Agents took about $86 million in cash from the boxes, as well as a trove...

A US destroyer intercepted a hijacked Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden earlier today, freed the crew, and took the Houthi pirates into custody. My colleague Jeff Charles covered the piracy in this post, High Seas Drama: Another Israeli Tanker Seized by Unidentified Attackers Near Yemen.Shortly after dawn local time, the Central Park, a small Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker managed by an Israeli company registered in London, sent a distress call saying it was being boarded by armed men. The USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was operating in the area. According to reports, the Mason directed...

Houseboat and yacht residents in the San Francisco Bay have sounded off about incidents of piracy skyrocketing by marauders pillaging and plundering from their watercrafts — and even stealing entire boats as The Golden City faces a crime crisis.

Thieves are arriving at night aboard small watercraft and using bolt cutters and other break-in tools to gain access to unoccupied boats. Several sailboats have been stolen, as well as small watercraft, dinghies, tools, and outboard motors.

The White House said the US would respond to Iranian aggression together with allies and partners in the Middle East region.Iran tried to seize two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz early Wednesday, firing shots at one of them, the US Navy said. It said that in both cases, the Iranian naval vessels backed off after the US Navy responded, and that both commercial ships continued their voyages. “The Iranian navy did make attempts to seize commercial tankers lawfully transiting international waters,” said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, spokesman for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. “The US Navy responded immediately...

The U.S. Navy deterred Iranian forces from seizing two commercial tankers on Wednesday in separate incidents. First, at about 1 a.m. local time, an Iranian navy vessel approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. It departed when the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived at the scene, the U.S. 5th Fleet announced on Wednesday. Approximately three hours later, another Iranian vessel began harassing the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager in international waters roughly 20 miles off the coast of Muscat, Oman. It opened fire with both small arms and crew-served...

MILWAUKEE -- A bus driver was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence while transporting the Pittsburgh Pirates from Chicago to Milwaukee for their weekend series with the Brewers. Illinois State Police said the driver was traveling away from officers seeking to escort the bus on its trip to Milwaukee late Thursday night. Troopers said they observed more erratic driving and eventually stopped the bus on the right shoulder of Interstate 94 in Chicago. Police said the driver was arrested after they observed “multiple signs of impairment.” The driver isn’t a Pirates employee but was contracted to drive...

Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else. This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!

" Criminals are caught and arrested, turned over to local authorities for booking, arraigned before the local courts, charges are reduced to a misdemeanor or petty offense, and the criminal is released after paying a nominal fine.These individuals are generally caught and released back onto the streets in less than twenty-four hours. Even with all the arrests made, the no-cash bail policy and extended timeframe for suspects to appear in court is causing re-victimization to UP by these same criminals. In fact, criminals boast to our officers that charges will be pled down to simple trespassing – which bears no...