Free Republic

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – A Saudi-owned newspaper has claimed that Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has moved to Afghanistan via Iranian territories. Quoting Pakistani security and other extremist group sources, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that Baghdadi arrived in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan after crossing Iranian territories via the eastern city of Zahedan. According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, IS manages a location to host its fighters in Zahedan in cooperation with the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Al-Baghdadi has been reported killed or wounded on a number of occasions. Last month, Baghdadi was reported to be...

It must have tested well with focus groups, because the Hillary Clinton campaign had one line it wanted to get out on Monday: Hillary Clinton was trying to power through her illness this weekend. Spokespeople Brian Fallon, Robby Mook and Kristina Schake all repeated the talking point ad nauseam in their cable appearances on Monday. The media picked it up as well, with reporters on CNN and MSNBC using the phrase to describe how Hillary Clinton bravely reacted to a pneumonia diagnosis on Friday.

The currency's decline is having a pronounced effect on Canadians' grocery bills. As Bloomberg reminds us, Canada imports around 80% of its fresh fruits and vegetables. When the loonie slides, prices for those good soar. "With lower-income households tending to spend a larger portion of income on food, this side effect of a soft currency brings them the most acute stress," Bloomberg continues. Of course with the layoffs piling up, you can expect more households to fall into the "lower-income" category where they will have to struggle to afford things like $3 cucumbers, $8 cauliflower, and $15 Frosted Flakes. Have...

Researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Lab have developed new radar technology that provides real-time video of what’s going on behind solid walls.The ability to see through walls is no longer the stuff of science fiction, thanks to new radar technology developed at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. Much as humans and other animals see via waves of visible light that bounce off objects and then strike our eyes’ retinas, radar “sees” by sending out radio waves that bounce off targets and return to the radar’s receivers. But just as light can’t pass through solid objects in quantities large enough for the eye...

As the Arabs in Judea and Samaria threaten to storm Jewish communities, the women at Pnei Kedem in Gush Etzion, in the Judean hills, are learning to shoot firearms. The extra precaution is due to concerns that Arabs will descend on communities en masse, spreading IDF forces too thin to effectively block them. In such a scenario, the civilians in some communities may have to fend for themselves.

RUSH: Here's the point, folks. In my humble opinion, class warfare is actually warfare against the middle class -- and I think this is largely misunderstand. The Democrats and the left have characterized class warfare this way. They've told their charges, "Stick with us, pal, and we're gonna get even with those rich people. Ha-ha! We're gonna make 'em people and we're gonna redistribute their wealth and you're gonna have more. Everybody's gonna be fine. We're gonna punish them big time," and, of course, I've always asked:

The democrats in congress are having their hat handed to them, and don't see it yet.

A brick was thrown through the window of the “Fix Michigan Center” in Genoa Township over the weekend in what they are calling “politically-motivated violence.” (WHM1) A brick smashed through the office today of the Michigan Republican Party in Howell. Freep.com reported: A brick hurled through the window of the Michigan Republican Party’s office in Howell has the words ”Long Live the USA” and “God Bless the USA” scrawled on it, according to Livingston County Sheriff’s investigators. The vandalism was discovered this morning by staff at the GOP’s Fix Michigan Center office, according to state GOP spokesperson Jennifer Hoff. No...

An Indian villager burrowed for 14 years with a hammer and chisel to cut a tunnel through a mountain so that his neighbours could reach nearby fields and he could park his truck outside his home. Ramchandra Das, 53, who lives in eastern Bihar state, carved a 10m-long, 4m-wide tunnel through the hill range from his village of Kewati. Das took up the Herculean task after villagers found the 7km trek over the mountain increasingly arduous. When the authorities refused to help to cut the journey time, Das began carving his way through the earth in the direction of the...

First it was a proposed ban on plastic bags. Now, a member of the influential Madison Plan Commission wants to ban the restaurant drive-through -- or at least restrict the ubiquitous symbol of America's auto-centric lifestyle. "Given the concern about all the carbon going into the atmosphere, I'm not sure we should be building more places for people to sit idling in their cars," says Eric Sundquist, who was appointed to the citizen panel by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz this spring. A former newspaper reporter in Atlanta now working as a researcher at the UW-Madison's Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Sundquist notes...

Ultra-lethal TB sends fear through Africa 10:30 17 September 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition. African countries last week agreed a plan to tackle a new and ultra-lethal strain of tuberculosis called Extensive Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB). It is especially harmful to people infected with HIV, killing 52 out of 53 HIV-positive people who caught it after attending a clinic in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, earlier this year. All were infected with the same strain, suggesting that one infected person spread it to all the rest. Most died within 25 days - long before the three months it takes to get...

OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 12, 2006 – With the sun hanging low in the western sky yesterday, Oklahomans of all ages assembled at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. They came to this sacred ground to remember those who lost their lives to terrorism. They came on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to participate in the Oklahoma City Freedom Walk, a commemorative event about remembrance of the Sept. 11 victims, reflection on the tragedy of that day, recommitment to the ideals of freedom that epitomize the United States its promise to “never forget,” and respect and support...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Aug. 28, 2006 -- As members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit here make last-minute preparations for their upcoming deployment, Staff Sgt. Danny Sava and his family are getting their own affairs in order so they’re ready for another long separation. Marine Staff Sgt. Danny Sava, his wife, Julia, son, Anthony, and daughter, Alyssa, stroll past a sign at the top of a stairwell in the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s command headquarters that marks the days until Sava’s upcoming deployment. “E-22” marks “Embarkation minus 22,” or 22 days until Sava and 2,300 fellow...

Saturday, 05 August 2006 Marine Sgt. Bryan E. Carter, a 23-year-old native of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, gives a class on improvised explosive devices for Marines traveling on the dangerous roads of Iraq, July 29. Story and photo by Cpl. Daniel J. Redding1st Marine Logistics Group CAMP HABBANIYAH -- Jenny is dead, another casualty in the struggle to stabilize Iraq. A robot used in counter-insurgency missions throughout the restive Al Anbar province, “Jenny,” met her fate aiding a team of Marine explosive ordnance disposal technicians trying to disarm a deadly improvised explosive device. These four men calmly and willingly put...

Town N Country, Florida – A woman is in stable condition after being ejected through the sunroof of her SUV during an accident. Thirty-seven-year-old Ruth Matthews told paramedics that another vehicle cut her off in traffic, and she took evasive action to avoid a crash. Her Isuzu Amigo rolled over and she was thrown through the sunroof and onto the roadway. Investigators say she was not wearing her seatbelt. Paramedics initially tried to fly Matthews to Tampa General Hospital, but her weight, estimated at 600 pounds, made it impossible. Emergency crews were able to transport her to St. Joseph’s Hospital,...

HIT, Iraq, June 6, 2006 – The soldiers and Marines here put up with more adversity in their deployment than most Americans will see in a lifetime. And they do it with a great attitude. These are not some goody-goody type servicemembers. They are profane to the extreme, and expletives make an appearance in most conversations. No one takes offense. "Busting chops" is a fine art, and people are always ready to tell or listen to a fine story that uses a buddy as the butt of the joke. But life in Hit, like the troops' language and jokes, is...

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Jorge Chavez, 447th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Vehicle Maintenance Flight mechanic, removes a roller on a loader. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Will Ackerman Airmen Keep Fleet Rolling Through Dust, Mud A team of U.S. Air Force mechanics overcome heat, mud and the challenge to obtain replacement parts, to keep more than 300 vehicles running. By U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Will Ackerman 447th Air Expeditionary Group SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq, May 16, 2006 — Working on vehicles in the desert presents challenges. Mechanics sometimes have to scrape off layers of dirt...

Scientists gain insight into invisibility through a complex superlens By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 03/05/2006) The Klingons used it to make their Bird of Prey spacecraft invisible. The Romulans used cloaking too and variants of this stealth technology hid the nasty alien in the Predator films and have been mentioned in Star Wars, Doctor Who and more besides. Scriptwriters will be pleased to discover that this science fiction idea is deemed today to be closer to science fact than we realised, according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences....

Pvt. Daniel Gorun secures an area Saturday while first aid is being administered to a fallen comrade during training on Fort Huachuca. At top, Pvt. Claudia Reynoso poses as an Iraqi woman working at a camp as soldiers approach during Saturday's training exercise. (By Mark Levy-Herald/Review)FORT HUACHUCA — A squad of Demon Dogs soldiers listened intently to three GIs who served in Iraq explain to them what they did right and wrong during training on Saturday. The knowledge imparted by their company commander, first sergeant and a drill sergeant was designed to increase their knowledge of what they may face...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2006 – Community members welcomed a new playground for the children of the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school in Taji, Iraq, April 19. Iraqi children from the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school, in Taji, Iraq, help disperse gravel April 19 at the new playground donated by Iraqi and U.S. companies. Iraqi army and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, along with children at the school, pitched in to help make the school a better place. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, USA   The playground was a result of hard work and determination by a combined...