Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Senior Iraqi officials have informed the United States that Baghdad has released a Hezbollah operative who has been accused by American military prosecutors of the killing of American troops, terrorism and espionage, among other crimes, American officials said Friday. The prisoner, Ali Musa Daqduq, was released despite the entreaties of the Obama administration. In a phone call on Tuesday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden told the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, that the United States believed that Mr. Daqduq should be held accountable for his actions and that Iraq should explore all legal options toward this end,...

Washington (CNN) -- Former CIA Director David Petraeus testified on Capitol Hill on Friday that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was an act of terrorism committed by al Qaeda-linked militants. U.S. Rep. Peter King of New York, who spoke to reporters after the closed hearing, which lasted an hour and 20 minutes. The account Petraeus gave was different from the description the Obama administration gave on September 14, King said. Then, the attack was described as "spontaneous," the result of a protest against an anti-Muslim film that got out of control outside the compound. Petraeus was...

The appeals chamber at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Friday overturned guilty verdicts against Gotovina and fellow Croat general Mladen Markac in what is being called the most significant reversals in the court’s history. The two had been sentenced in 2011 to 24 and 18 years behind bars respectively for crimes against humanity and war crimes relating to a 1995 attack on Serbian civilians. The pair’s original conviction hinged on the tribunal’s acceptance of the existence of a plan led by the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman to expel Serbs from Croatia. Three out of five...

Jill Kelley, the Florida housewife whose complaint over threatening emails revealed David Petraeus´ affair, has visited the White House three times in the past three months, it has emerged. In by far the most astonishing example of her determination to reach the top, the shrewd socialite and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, were invited to two ´courtesy´ meals in the Executive Mansion mess hall as a guest of a White House aide, an Obama administration official has revealed. She met the mid-level aide through her work with MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, where she also rubbed shoulders with the

Hurricane Sandy hadn't even touched down when liberals started blowing kisses to FEMA, or Federal Emergency Management Agency, the federal disaster relief agency. A New York Times editorial declared that the impending storm proved that the country needs FEMA-style "Big Government" solutions more than ever. Salon, New Republic and other liberal outfits heartily agreed. Why do liberals love FEMA so much? Certainly not for its glorious track record. Rather, FEMA has been a great vehicle for expanding the welfare state. FEMA's tragic missteps after Katrina earned it well-deserved disgrace. The Times blames those on the Bush administration, whose anti-government philosophy...

Vanessa Dobos is a gunner on board a USAF AC-130 gunship.  The blue-eyed blonde has seen action in Iraq and Afganistan, and enjoys long walks on the beach, men who aren't afraid to cry, and puppies. Vanessa's dislikes include feed-tray stoppages, tracer flareout of her NVGs and premature fixed-wing strikes scattering her high-value targets... The 19 year old former Ohio high school cheerleader is in-fact the Air Force's first female aerial gunner ever: Raised in the small town of Valley View, Ohio, her interstest in the military was sparked by her father. Described by Dobos as 'a history buff', her dad talked...

Most reporters haven’t been following Ambassador Susan Rice’s performance at the United Nations since her appointment in January 2009. To many journalists, Rice’s misleading interviews on the five Sunday Shows the weekend after the 9/11/12 terrorist attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were one of the first times they had heard from her. To veteran foreign policy observers, Rice’s shameful performance that Sunday was one of many blunders over the last four years. Rice’s refusal to answer questions about why she blamed the Benghazi violence on a YouTube video was met Wednesday with a feisty defense...

As the Twinkie Crumbles...Tim Collins of Ripplewood, a prominent Democrat, a position which allowed him to get involved in the first bankruptcy process in the first place, due to his proximity with the Teamsters' long-term heartthrob Dick Gephardt (whose consulting group just happens to also be an equity owner of Hostess). In other words, the traditional republican-cum-PE scapegoating strategy here will be a tough one to pull off since the narrative collapses when considering that it was a Democrat who rescued the firm, only to see it implode in a trainwreck that has resulted in the liquidation of a legendary...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday added his name to a growing list of Republicans who are rebuking Mitt Romney over his “gifts” comments. “You can't expect to be a leader of all the people and be divisive,” said Christie on MSNBC’s Morning Joe when asked if he agreed with fellow Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who was one of the first to criticize the former GOP nominee over the comments. In a conference call with donors Wednesday, Romney said that minorities and young people voted for Obama because he offered them “gifts.” Said Christie: “You have to...

How Things Are going In England. A light-hearted parody of the famous song Combine Harvester, Brand New Leather Jacket.

Election 2012 ‘A Valley Forge Moment for Conservatives’ By: Sen. Tom Cobrun Thank you for that kind introduction. It’s an honor to be with you tonight as we celebrate the American Spectator’s 45th anniversary. I especially want to thank Bob Tyrrell who has been with the Spectator since the very beginning. Bob, I want thank you and honor you for your commitment to telling the truth, and for reminding us to laugh, which is especially important in times like this.Like most of you I wish we had a different outcome last week. But it’s important to talk honestly about what...

With all of the action in Gaza right now, where's the Muslim outrage? Minister Farrakhan hasn't issued one statement about either the Palestinians or Israel. Not even a condemnation of his favorite enemy "Da Jeeeeeeewwwwwwssssss!" How the hell does that happen? Anyone else notice it?

Today was a close call for Edson Barrera Gonzalez. The 20-year-old Happy Valley man ended up just miles from the Mexico border when a Clackamas County Circuit judge signed an order that aids in his bid to stay in the country. Gonzalez has been held in an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Tacoma, Wash., for a year. Tuesday night, he contacted his parents and immigration advocates working on his behalf to say he was told to pack up. On Wednesday morning, the Dallas-based Isenberg Center for Immigration Empowerment frantically began trying to figure out where he was and...

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board is expected to decide on Friday whether to retabulate some or all early votes cast ahead of Election Day. This, on the same day a St. Lucie County judge hears a request from U.S. Rep. Allen West to recount all of the early votes cast in the race for the 18th Congressional district. West, the Tea Party favorite who appeared to be headed for defeat after Democrat Patrick Murphy was projected to win the race, has refused to concede. “We are within 249 votes of a mandatory recount,” West said...

A top Iraqi diplomat urged Arab states to “use the weapon of oil” against the United States because of its alliance with Israel, raising more questions about the Middle Eastern nation's allegiance to the nation that freed it from a ruthless dictatorship.

In a move that will draw ire among those who fear the ever-growing perils of the America’s preoccupation with Islamic-sensitivity, the administration made a bold step Wednesday — the day after President Obama won his re-election bid – of removing a convicted Hamas operative (and Chicago resident) from its designated terrorist list. 59-year old Muhammad Salah, who spent nearly five years in an Israeli prison for funding the terrorist outfit, was taken off the list by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The terrorist designation prohibited Salah from obtaining employment or allegedly to make simple purchases without seeking...

frithguild: Well Baron, thank you for your time today. I just want to let Radio Free NJ readers know that you have been a very valuable resource behind The Google Purge stories, especially as it relates to Dave Patraeus and Kip Ward. (Links appear at RFNJ) Baron Scepter: Well thank you frithguild, I must say that you first came on my radar when you connected the dots between the feds being the largest purchaser of information from Google, how the Obama campaign used strategies to target very small groups and is now using information as a weapon against individuals. That...

Green Bay 6-3 @ Detroit 4-5 at 1:00 p.m. (Line: PACKERS BY 3.5) Packers LB Clay Matthews is out of the lineup this week with a hamstring injury. The Lions are the only team in the NFC North with a losing record, but they are 2-1 at home this season. ---RJ's Pick: Detroit by 2

In a new development, Hamas today said it fired a rocket toward the Knesset in Jerusalem as residents in Israel’s capital city were preparing for Shabbat. Hamas also claimed to WND they were targeting the home of Israeli President Shimon Peres. Abu Abdullah, a spokesman for Hamas’s so-called military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, told WND: “This is not the end of the surprises we can have. In some circumstances, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem will not be the last station of our targets.” …

Top Florida Democrats sounded the alarm Friday over what they see as improper interference by Gov. Rick Scott in U.S. Rep. Allen West’s attempt to hold onto his congressional seat. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, flatly asserted in a statement that the Republican governor is attempting to interfere in the contest between Republican West and Democrat Patrick Murphy. A spokesman for Scott's secretary of state denied the Democrats' assertions. Unofficial results show Murphy as the winner, but the West campaign has asserted that counting irregularities in St. Lucie County – part of...