Free Republic

<p>JERUSALEM, Israel – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that Jerusalem belongs to his country during an address to Turkish lawmakers in Ankara on Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.</p> <p>“In this city that we had to leave in tears during the First World War, it is still possible to come across traces of the Ottoman resistance. So, Jerusalem is our city, a city from us,” he said. “Our first qibla [Islamic direction of prayer] al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem are the symbolic mosques of our faith. In addition, this city is home to the holy places of Christianity and Judaism.”</p>

Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said she resented anyone claiming President Donald Trump was not a racist on Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Live.” In a video clip from lastnight’s Minnesota rally, Trump said, “What is going on with Omar? I have been reading the reports for two years about how corrupt and crooked she is. Then she tells us how to run our country. Can you believe it? How the hell did Minnesota elect her?”

Retired four-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal has endorsed Joe Biden for the White House, citing his time working with the former vice president under the Obama administration and saying the Democratic nominee is "someone that you can trust." McChrystal, speaking on MSNBC Thursday morning, said Biden “is humble enough to listen to experts, is humble enough to respect people who serve and have served.” “I think that he would surround himself with an effective team of good people, I think he would set a tone in which he would bring out the best of people. Again, not everyone will agree with...

When police pulled a Jeep Wrangler over for running a stop sign in Philadelphia’s Belmont section Monday morning, officers made a horrifying discovery. The front seat passenger, Mia Green [black transexual man], 29, was suffering from a gunshot wound to her neck. She was pronounced dead at Penn-Presbyterian Medical Center within a half-hour. On Tuesday, authorities charged the driver of the vehicle, Abdullah lbn El-Amin Jaamia [heterosexual? Muslim?], with the murder of Green, who was a Black transgender woman, according to a statement from the city’s Office of LGBT Affairs. “This latest act of violence against a member of our...

President Trump took to Twitter just after midnight on Monday and demanded that the Justice Department investigate Democratic House Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota for alleged ‘ballot harvesting.’ ‘This is totally illegal,’ the president tweeted on Monday morning. ‘Hope that the U.S. Attorney in Minnesota has this, and other of her many misdeeds, under serious review???

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Tuesday night fired back at President Trump, who went after her at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump on Tuesday said Omar, a refugee from Somalia who came to the U.S. as a child, is “telling us how to run our country” and taunted her, asking, “How is your country doing?” Omar was quick to respond on Twitter. “Firstly, this is my country & I am a member of the House that impeached you,” Omar shot back. “Secondly, I fled civil war when I was 8. An 8-year-old doesn’t run a country even though you...

Democrat Joe Biden leaves little doubt that if elected he would try to scale back President Donald Trump’s buildup in nuclear weapons spending. And although the former vice president has not fully detailed his nuclear priorities, he says he would make the U.S. less reliant on the world’s deadliest weapons. The two candidates’ views on nuclear weapons policy and strategy carry unusual significance in this election because the United States is at a turning point in deciding the future of its weapons arsenal and because of growing debate about the threat posed by Chinese and Russian nuclear advances. […] Biden...

Video has surfaced of former Secretary of State John Kerry adamantly insisting Middle East peace was not possible without the Palestinians. The comments, viewed in the prism of President Trump’s recent historic peace deal between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the Kingdom of Bahrain, led to mockery on social media . The Abraham Accords, which President Trump aptly described as “the dawn of a new Middle East,” were signed earlier this week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalif, and will involve establishing...

Two campaign staffers for Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s challenger, Lacy Johnson, were reportedly shot Monday in Minneapolis. One victim, a 17-year-old man, died at the scene, MPR News reported. The other victim was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A suspect was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the crime after a police pursuit, the Minneapolis Police Department told the Daily Caller. The two victims were standing outside of a service station Monday afternoon when they were approached and shot by the suspect or suspects, who then fled on foot, a preliminary police investigation found according to the Minneapolis...

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday decried the U.S.-enacted limits on importing cotton, apparel, hair products, and other goods from companies reasonably believed to be engaging in slave labor in China, calling the sanctions a “naked act of bullying.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in tandem with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), announced five new Withhold Release Orders on products from Xinjiang, China’s westernmost province, believed to be home to over 1,000 concentration camps. China has imprisoned as many as 3 million Muslims, most of ethnic Uyghur descent, in the camps, where survivors say they...

Trump administration deserves credit for its part in this positive news. https://t.co/bwpbDe0WT3— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 15, 2020

The United Kingdom’s fourth largest party suspended a candidate for mayor of London who was filmed in 1997 telling voters not to support a Jew. The Liberal Democrats suspended Geeta Sidhu-Robb, who was vying to become their candidate in London’s 2021 mayoral elections, the Jewish News of London reported. Over the weekend, a video emerged on Twitter showing her during her 1997 general election campaign for the constituency of Blackburn in northern England. In that campaign, Sidhu-Robb was running as a member of the Conservative Party against Jack Straw, a former Labour lawmaker. “Don’t vote for a Jew. Jack Straw...

It wouldn't be 2020 if a college didn't attempt to host a whites-only event intended to give white people a platform to discuss their feelings about being white — you know, without people of color around to make them feel uncomfortable. Well, according to a now-deleted event listing, the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Center for Social Justice launched a virtual discussion group for “non-POC” to “gather and to discuss their experience as students on campus and as non-POC in the world.” The group was advertised on the UM-Dearborn website and on Instagram as “the Non-POC Cafe,” which would take place recurring...

Fire broke out at Greece’s overcrowded migrant camp of Moria on the island of Lesbos in early hours of Wednesday, fire brigade officials said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear, with fires burning both inside and outside the facility, a fire brigade official said. A police official said that migrants were being taken to safety. People were seen leaving the camp, carrying their luggage in their hands, Reuters witnesses said. […] Lesbos, which lies just off the Turkish coast, was on the front line of a massive movement of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015-2016. Due...

Someone was playing 4D chess here.

A coalition of more than 350 faith leaders endorsed Joe Biden for president this week, citing a need for “moral clarity” to “restore the soul of this nation.” “Faith 2020 is raising awareness, mobilizing faith-rooted voters to get out the vote and doing our part to restore the soul of the nation,” the group wrote on its website. “We’re a group of progressives, independents and conservatives seeking change.” Faith 2020 received endorsements from faith leaders of various religions — Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Muslim and others. Its list includes well-known names, such as Nadia Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran minister who founded the...

A former St. Catherine University student accused of setting multiple fires on campus entered a guilty plea on Wednesday. According to federal court records, 22-year-old Tnuza Jamal Hassan pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely to al-Qaida. Her sentencing has been set for Dec. 17. Investigators say Hassan set several fires in buildings across the St. Kate's campus in St. Paul in January 2018. Hassan told investigators she "wanted the school to burn to the ground" and intended to hurt people. She's also accused of saying "you guys are...

One of the speakers for the second night of the Republican National Convention was pulled from the program after The Daily Beast surfaced a tweet from her, earlier in the day, urging her followers to investigate a supposed Jewish plot to enslave the world. “Do yourself a favor and read this thread,” Mary Ann Mendoza, who is a member of the Trump campaign’s advisory board, tweeted to her more than 40,000 followers Tuesday morning. Do yourself a favor and read this thread. https://t.co/BfxVokBE3k — Angel Mom Mary Ann Mendoza💥TEXT EMPOWER TO 88022 (@mamendoza480) August 25, 2020 Mendoza, an “angel mom,”...

The parents, uncle and aunt of a teenager of Bosnian Muslim origin will face trial in France on charges of violence against a minor for shaving her head over her relationship with a Christian Serbian boy, prosecutors said Friday. The girl had her hair shaven off and was also beaten in the eastern city of Besançon on Monday, judicial sources said. “Shaved and beaten because she ‘loved a Christian’. Deeply shocked by this act of torture on this 17-year-old girl,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter. “This barbarity calls for the most severe punishment,” he added. Police detained...

If you’re under the age of 40 and you’re reading this, chances are very good that your interest in the liberty movement was sparked by three-time presidential candidate and veteran Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Paul inspired an entire generation of Libertarians, Constitutionalists and limited-government Conservatives with his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. It might surprise you to learn that Paul is not originally from Texas, but Pittsburgh, where he was born to a dairy farmer and his wife. He graduated from Gettysburg State College in 1957, with a degree in biology. He earned his medical degree from Duke’s School of...