Free Republic

Ammaad Akhtar, 33, is accused of trying to give money, guns and ammunition to someone he thought was part of the terror group, and of making antisemitic threats. Menachem Wecker, Izzy Salant ... The LinkedIn profile of Ammaad Akhtar identifies him as a resident of Stockton, Calif., and a “mechanical engineering graduate” who is “outgoing and friendly,” a “great team player” and a “great leader.” A very different picture emerges about Akhtar, who remains listed as a hazardous substances engineer at the California Environmental Protection Agency, in the criminal complaint accusing him of trying to give money, guns and ammunition...

COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. — The suspect accused a murdering the pastor of a church in New River admitted to the crime in a jailhouse interview with 12News. Before reading further, 12News wants to warn readers that the content of this story may be disturbing. The suspect, Adam Sheafe, said he planned to "execute" and "crucify" a total of 14 priests in 10 states across the country before being caught by police after the murder of his first victim, Pastor William "Bill" Schonemann of New River. Sheafe is currently in custody in Coconino County and 12News spoke to him from his...

A suicide bomber attacked a Greek Orthodox Church service in Syria’s capital on Sunday, killing at least 20 people and underscoring the new government’s challenge to maintain stability after more than a decade of civil war. The Syrian authorities said the assailant had opened fire on congregants at the Mar Elias Church in Dweila, a neighborhood of Damascus, before detonating an explosive vest. More than 50 people were wounded. The attacker appeared to have ties to the Islamic State, the extremist group that once controlled large areas of Syria, the authorities said. It was the first known suicide bombing in...

In what the FBI is calling an “intentional act of terrorism,” an explosive device inside a car was detonated on Saturday outside the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California. The explosion, felt more than a mile away from the blast site, killed one person and injured four others, and is being referred to as the “largest bombing ever investigated in Southern California.” Los Angeles FBI field office assistant director Akil Davis said at a news conference on Sunday that the suspect is believed to be 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, whom law enforcement said had “stated in writings...

Three months ago, upon the overthrow of Boy Assad, I wrote:Ah, but Arab Springs eternal. The jihadists now in charge of Damascus were, not so long ago, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Isis, but don't worry, the expert analysts assure us the leadership has become far less 'ideological' and far more 'nuanced'. Is John Kerry doing a little light consulting work for them..? We are tourists in the heart of darkness: we know nothing and we learn nothing.Well, that didn't take long. As I write, the gleeful smiling men of the new regime are going to the Alawite and Christian neighbourhoods,...

Minnesota: Charges dropped against Christian pastor arrested at Mall of America for talking with Muslims A small restoration of sanity in Minnesota, and a speed bump in the path of the Sharia train there. “Charges Dropped Against Christian Pastor Arrested at Mall of America,” by Anthony Gockowski, Minnesota Sun, March 9, 2019 (thanks to Creeping Sharia): Ramin Parsa, a Christian pastor who was arrested at the Mall of America in August and charged with trespassing, was cleared of all charges during a court hearing Thursday. “Praise the Lord! The prosecution is suspended, no more criminal charges, pleaded not guilty. Thank...

May 20, 2020, 7:21 p.m. EST: BREAKING: The Minnesota Catholic Conference and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in Minnesota sent Governor Tim Walz separate letters today announcing that they will resume worship services on May 26 despite Governor Walz’s current COVID-19 executive order which allows retailers to operate at 50 percent capacity but caps church worship services at ten people. Governor Walz’s latest re-opening order allows the Mall of America to open its doors to those seeking retail therapy but disallows churches from providing spiritual healing to their congregations. At the same time, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sent Governor...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a truly Orwellian society where there is absolutely no freedom of speech, absolutely no freedom of religion and absolutely no freedom of the press? You may think that the rules that you are currently living under are bad, but the country that I am about to discuss exercises total control over the population. In this nation, you can only choose a haircut off a pre-approved list, and smiling on the wrong day can literally get you sent to a prison camp. Unfortunately, once you are sent to a...

They were reportedly hostages of the Islamist group ADF— an ISIS affiliate Why isn’t the MSM covering this story??

Thirty-three-year-old pro-life activist Bevelyn Beatty Williams has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison by a Manhattan federal court for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act by protesting outside an NYC abortion clinic.The Christian was convicted of “interference, including by threats and force, with individuals seeking to obtain and provide” abortions in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, according to a statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).The Tennessee wife and mother was sentenced after preaching the Gospel outside an NYC abortion clinic and allegedly injuring a clinic worker’s hand and...

This ruling, concocted without legal precedent or constitutional justification, is nothing short of judicial sabotage. Worse, it was issued ex parte—meaning Trump administration lawyers weren’t given notice, weren’t allowed to argue, and weren’t even in the room. Only Democrat attorneys general were heard, ensuring a predetermined outcome. Engelmayer’s order is legally indefensible. He cites no statutory basis because none exists. He offers no constitutional rationale because the Constitution directly contradicts him. Instead, he fabricates a fiction: that the duly appointed Treasury Secretary is nothing more than a ceremonial figurehead, akin to a powerless monarch, while unelected bureaucrats—who answer to no...

Elderly man jailed in Nepal for handing out bibles AN ELDERLY Christian who was arrested in Nepal for distributing bibles has ended up in hospital after spending two traumatic weeks in jail, as criminal treatment against the religion intensifies. Christian leaders in Nepal are issuing pleas for unity against the persecution which is rising to “near-genocide” levels in some parts of the world. Cho Yusang, 73, was arrested on July 23 for allegedly forcefully converting Nepali locals to take Christian literature. Pastor Sagar Baiju, a senior Christian leader in Nepal warns police and politicians are targeting Christians, he said: “When...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- The United States will take issue with the kidnapping of a Korean-American pastor by North Korean agents at future six-party talks over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, a South Korean interpreter close to the case said Tuesday. "U.S. State Department officials said they will raise the issue of the abduction of Rev. Kim Dong-shik with the North through various channels, including the six-way talks," said Chang Hak-keun, a South Korean interpreter who assisted Rev. Kim's wife during her visit to the State Department on Tuesday afternoon. Rev. Kim's wife, Chung Young-hwa, met State Department officials...

The case was over the abduction of Dong-Shik, a South Korean who was a permanent resident of the US and had spent seven years providing aid and proselytizing to North Korean defectors. An Israeli NGO announced on Monday that a US federal court in Washington, DC has granted it a historic $330 million default award judgment against North Korea in a civil damages trial for wrongful death, torture and kidnapping. The judgment, only announced Monday, but written on April 9, included $15 million dollars each to the son and brother of Reverend Dong Shik Kim, presumed dead, as well as...

An anonymous letter has made waves in Nicaragua, after it accused the country’s cardinal of being too close to the country’s dictator, President Daniel Ortega. While persecution against the Church in Nicaragua continues unabated, a debate has cropped up among clergy in the country about the controversial, anonymous letter, reportedly written by seminarians, which accuses Managua Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of fostering a culture of silence in the country’s seminary about ongoing religious persecution. The letter, published March 28 by Spanish Catholic outlet Religión Digital and reportedly written by three current and former seminarians, also claimed that the Nicaraguan dictatorship has...

NEW YORK, October 18 (C-Fam) The pro-abortion UN Population Fund (UNFPA) does not want pro-life critics in attendance when the agency convenes a conference in Nairobi in mid-November. UNFPA and the government of Kenya are co-hosting the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25: Accelerating the Promise to mark the 25th anniversary of the original and very controversial Cairo Conference on Population and Development. UNFPA’s website claims the conference “will offer an inclusive platform, bringing together governments, civil society, private sector organizations, women’s’ groups and youth networks to discuss and agree on actions to accelerate implementation” of the Cairo Program of Action. Pro-life...

Starring Andy Garcia and Peter O'Toole, "For Greater Glory" is a compelling war film based on the true story of the Cristero War -- a conflict caused by the brutal government crackdown on the Mexican Catholic Church in the 1920s. Released at a time when religious freedom, especially for Catholics, is being attacked in the United States and elsewhere, the picture is also particularly timely. Beautifully shot across the plains of northern and central Mexico and accompanied by a stirring soundtrack by Hollywood composer James Horner, the movie takes the audience through the harrowing violence and suppression of the Church...

A radical leftist has been arrested and charged with threating to kill conservative Christians if Donald Trump wins today’s presidential election. He also threatened to kill the former president. Isaac Sissel, a 25-year-old from Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been charged by the Department of Justice following an online threat of political violence. The FBI received an anonymous tip, allegedly from Sissel, threatening to carry out an attack targeting conservative Christians if former President Trump were to win the upcoming election Authorities are investigating, and Sissel is set to appear in federal court. This case is a part of the FBI’s...

Jubilant Republicans may imagine that the most significant harbinger for America’s future was the banging of a gavel on January 6, opening the 108th Congress. Finally, GOP partisans may conclude, they call the shots. But it may be that the Earth itself is in charge. In 2002, the second hottest year on record, scientists saw Arctic Ocean ice coverage shrink by more than at any time since satellite measurements were first made a quarter century ago. And, they say, continued melting could leave the Arctic nearly ice-free by summer 2050. Americans need to pay attention to the winds of change...

Pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter is everywhere — even the chorus of scandals around Mayor Eric Adams. The brouhaha began with the pint-size singer’s racy music video, showing her writhing in a little black dress at the altar of a Brooklyn church, moments after men bloodily killed themselves over her. An unholy uproar ensued, leading an “appalled” bishop to discipline the flamboyant Catholic priest who opened the church’s doors to the booty-baring Carpenter. And now, the sacrilegious saga has ended in an unlikely place — with the sultry Sabrina putting the hitherto unknown priest and church on the radar of feds...