Free Republic

The interview below with Osama bin Laden was conducted by the Karachi, Pakistan, daily newspaper, Ummat and published on September 28, 2001, 17 days after the alleged, but unsubstantiated, al Qaeda attack of September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center twin towers and Pentagon. The interview was sensational. The alleged “mastermind” of 9/11 said that he and al Qaeda had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack. The British Broadcasting Corporation’s World Monitoring Service had the interview translated into English and made public on September 29, 2001. Osama bin Laden’s sensational denial was not reported by the US print...

At midnight on Thursday, the Stage Deli, a landmark New York institution that got its start 75 years ago, closed its doors. “It’s a sad day for New York,” said Paul Zolenge, who has owned the deli, on Seventh Avenue near 54th Street, with Steve Auerbach for 26 years. “We’ve been struggling to make it through these hard times.” Mr. Zolenge cited the cost of doing business in New York. The landlord erected scaffolding in front of the restaurant a year ago, he said, and even though it came down in September, “we lost a whole year.” The rent had...

On Dec. 1, 1862, Abraham Lincoln submitted his second Annual Message to Congress... “Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we...

Mixed emotions were inevitable for fans of Glen Campbell during the legendary singer-guitarist’s performance at the Paramount Tuesday night. One of the last concerts remaining on Campbell’s long-running “Goodbye Tour,” which the 76-year-old musician launched last year after announcing he suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, the Seattle show underscored the beloved artist’s strengths as a consummate crossover musician since the 1950s. At the same time, the ravages of Alzheimer’s were very much in evidence. Campbell sometimes stared at teleprompters, singing displayed lyrics as if reading from a book. (Even so, he lost his way on occasion.) His stage patter rambled: At...

From the moment that tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets to protest President Mohamed Morsi’s power-grabbing constitutional declaration, western journalists largely assumed that Morsi would back down. From their vantage point, criticism of Morsi’s move from within his own government, threats of judicial strikes, and the sheer magnitude of popular anger could force Morsi, in the words of The New York Times, “to engage in the kind of give and take that democratic government requires.” So when Morsi met with judges on Monday evening and promised that his newly declared powers only applied to ill-defined “acts of...

The U.S. Air Force drone, on a classified spy mission over the Indian Ocean, was destined for disaster from the start. An inexperienced military contractor in shorts and a T-shirt, flying by remote control from a trailer at Seychelles International Airport, committed blunder after blunder in six minutes on April 4. He sent the unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drone off without permission from the control tower. A minute later, he yanked the wrong lever at his console, killing the engine without realizing why. As he tried to make an emergency landing, he forgot to put down the wheels. The $8.9 million...

After a year of encouraging progress in the refitting of a late Soviet–era carrier, which Russia plans to sell to India, the vessel’s latest sea trials in September 2012 ended in failure and disappointment. The discouraging results point to substantial structural problems in Russia’s domestic naval defense industry and undermine the country’s reputation as a dependable arms supplier. The Kiev-class heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, completed in the late 1980s, has been what sailors call an “unlucky ship.” In 1992, she went into the dock yards at Murmansk for work on her steam pipes. But in those tight financial times...

It looks like the Iranian Navy really wanted people to see its new submarine. In a live broadcast on state TV on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic showed off a new Sina 7 submarine that is painted in an unusually bright turquoise blue hue...

a Jewish woman in Isfahan, Iran, was murdered and cut in half by Muslim extremists who wanted to take over her home. Israel Radio said that according to relatives, the woman lived next to a newly built mosque, and worshippers "had demanded that she and her family leave their home so the mosque could be expanded." The woman complained to authorities, and in response, a group of thugs came to her house, murdered her and allegedly cut her in two.

Some people believe that we are hurtling towards physical disaster with our delicate electrical grid. Just how that disaster might occur is open for debate, but we need only look at major power outages over the last few years to see how precarious our grasp on electricity is. It isn’t a matter of “if” the lights will go out, but a matter of “when”. Severe weather has given the grid a walloping over the past few years. For example, three years ago, parts of Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Missouri suffered through 3 weeks sans power after...

Homeland Security to deploy underwater drones that mimic tuna fish With even gossip magazines being (falsely) accused of wanting to deploy aerial drones, it seems like the only place you might be able to escape robotic scrutiny would be somewhere far off at sea. Turns out: not true. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has funded a new underwater robot that can find you even in your underwater lair. The BIOSwimmer was developed by Boston Engineering Corporation's Advanced Systems Group (ASG) as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) modeled after the shape and swimming mechanics of a tuna fish. According to...

(Reuters) - An actress who said she was duped into appearing in an anti-Islam film that stoked violent protests against the United States across the Muslim world on Friday lost her second legal bid to force the video off of YouTube. Denying a request by actress Cindy Lee Garcia for a court order requiring the popular online video site to remove the crudely made 13-minute clip, a federal judge found she was unlikely to prevail on her claims of copyright infringement. U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald of Santa Clara, California, also canceled a December 3 hearing he had previously set...

For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion. December 1, 2012   Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Rv 22:1-7 John said:An angel showed me the river of life-giving water,sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of Godand of the Lamb down the middle of the street,On either side of the river grew the tree of lifethat produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month;the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.Nothing accursed will be found anymore.The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,and his servants will worship...

Press one for demonic possessions, press two for visions of Hell ... Catholic Church sets up exorcist hotline • The hotline has been set up in Milan, Europe's biggest Roman Catholic diocese, to cope with growing demand for exorcisms • People ringing the hotline will be able to schedule a visit from one of a team of 12 on-call priests Help is at hand for Catholics in Milan who need to ward off evil at short notice. The diocese has set up an exorcist hotline to cope with growing demand for assistance in dealing with potential cases of demonic possession....

NBC Sports had it half right: When he is on the football field, Lafayette Pitts is one of the most dangerous men in America. Off the field, he is accused of being even more menacing. Pitts and two teammates from the University of Pittsburgh football team stand accused of playing the Knockout Game. The Knockout Game is just one form of the black mob violence and lawlessness documented in more than 80 cities with more than 400 examples in the book “White Girl Bleed a Lot: The return of racial violence and how the media ignore it.” Rules of the...

A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up lists of Jews who pose a "national security risk", stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust. Marton Gyongyosi, a leader of Hungary's third-strongest political party Jobbik, said the list was necessary because of heightened tensions following the brief conflict in Gaza and should include members of parliament. Opponents have condemned frequent anti-Semitic slurs and tough rhetoric against the Roma minority by Gyongyosi's party as populist point scoring ahead of elections in 2014. Jobbik has never called publicly for lists of Jews....

Imagine a demographic that has doubled its share of the population over the past two decades, is up by 25 percent over the past four years, and now accounts for as many as one in five Americans. Imagine that this demographic votes disproportionately for one political party—to the tune of 70 percent for Obama versus 26 percent for Romney in the 2012 election. Sounds like a demographic that ought to be of interest to politicians, journalists, and activists, right? That demographic consists of people who describe themselves as atheist, agnostic, or religiously unaffiliated—the “nones,” as they’re sometimes called. And it...

Stop the MSM from Pressuring Congress!!! We should not sit back and let the Main Stream Media continue "campaigning" for Obama!!! The lies: We want to give tax breaks to the 98% of Americans. Obama has a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthy. We can make a difference. History shows they had to back down some when we apply pressure via blogs and notifying conservative news outlets and hosts otherwise they look like fools or continue to appear even more untrustworthy which we know they are. We can't have the kind of news outlets that dictatorship countries have.

Stop the MSM from Pressuring Congress!!! We should not sit back and let the Main Stream Media continue "campaigning" for Obama!!! The lies: We want to give tax breaks to the 98% of Americans. Obama has a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthy. We can make a difference. History shows they had to back down some when we apply pressure via blogs and notifying conservative news outlets and hosts otherwise they look like fools or continue to appear even more untrustworthy which we know they are. We can't have the kind of news outlets that dictatorship countries have.

A large mob of Palestinians attempted to break through the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel on Wednesday, ignoring warnings to desist from IDF troops who fired shots at the legs of the rioters, leading to seven Palestinians being wounded.