Free Republic

San Francisco voters in November will be asked to weigh in on what was until now a private family matter: male circumcision. City elections officials confirmed Wednesday that an initiative that would ban the circumcision of males younger than 18 in San Francisco has received enough signatures to appear on the ballot. The practice would become a misdemeanor. Supporters of the ban say male circumcision is a form of genital mutilation that should not be forced on a young child. But opponents say such claims are alarmingly misleading, and call the proposal a clear violation of constitutionally protected religious freedoms.

Two men from East Elmhurst, Queens have been arrested and charged with plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was joined by top city law enforcement officials at City Hall earlier today in announcing the arrests of Ahmed Ferhani, 26, and Mohamed Mamdouh, 20. Ferhani, who is from Algeria, and Mamdouh, was is from Morocco, are both charged with engaging in terrorism, weapons possession and hate crimes. An arraignment is expected later today. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the men told undercover officers that they hated Jews and wanted to kill them. He also says they had...

Orange County prosecutors next week are scheduled to argue against a defense motion to keep them from speaking in public about their criminal case against 11 student activists accused of disrupting an Israeli ambassador's speech at UC Irvine last year. The motion, filed in Orange County Superior Court's Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on Tuesday, accuses Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner, police and representatives from the district attorney's office of tainting the jury pool with public statements against the 11 defendants. Defense attorneys are seeking a court order that would keep prosecutors from talking publicly to the media or...

Liberal GOP congressman Ron Paul has become the surprise choice by conservative Republicans to be the party’s presidential candidate for next year’s elections. The Texan took 30 per cent of the votes cast by the American Conservative Union, beating Mitt Romney into second place on 23 per cent. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich got a mere five per cent - but that was more than Sarah Palin, who managed just three per cent of the ballots. It was the second year in a row that Mr Paul had topped the CPAC vote, suggesting that support for him could be building...

A growing number of hate crimes — 24 percent — included white supremacy symbols, including swastikas. Jews were targeted in about half of these crimes, followed by blacks and Latinos. “We see the same groups — African Americans, Jews, gays and lesbians, and Latinos — victimized most frequently year after year,” said Robin Toma, executive director of the Human Relations Commission. The number of crimes, which dropped from 730 in 2008 to 580 last year, reflects one murder and two attempted murders, Toma said. It is the second lowest hate crime count in the past decade. Hate crimes occurred across...

Israel could have engineered the release of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents on WikiLeaks as a plot to corner Turkey on both domestic and foreign policy, according to a senior ruling party official. “One has to look at which countries are pleased with these. Israel is very pleased. Israel has been making statements for days, even before the release of these documents,” Hüseyin Çelik, deputy leader of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the party’s spokesperson, told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. Following initial reaction to the leaked U.S. Embassy cables, which have revealed diplomatic secrets...

October 22, 2010 John Stewart's 'Sanity' Rally to include Code Pink, Anarchists Jason McNew It is looking like John Stewart's "Restore Sanity" rally will define sanity rather peculiarly. Code Pink, Anarchists, and pro-abortion groups plan to attend at the Lincoln Memorial on October 30th.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, will campaign for Republican legislative candidates and speak at the University of Iowa Friday, Oct. 29, at 7:45 p.m. The group organizing Paul’s speech, the university’s Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty, are billing the event as “fueling speculation that he may challenge other Republican presidential hopefuls in Iowa’s 2012 primary.” “Dr. Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign threw him into the national spotlight as a different kind of Republican,” said Ani DeGroot, president of the Young Americans for Liberty chapter. “He has called for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a...

We must not mistake her: The Nobel peace prize laureate is no “peace activist.” She identifies in absolute terms with Hamas, despite the fact that she knows that it is an anti-Semitic organization that has insisted on continued violence, openly preaches for the annihilation of the Jews and supports global jihad and the Islamic conquest of the entire free world. I am merely worried about the children of Gaza, said Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire in court, and we almost wanted to send her flowers. Worry about the fate of children, as such, is important. But Maguire couldn’t...

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan delivered an impassioned speech on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, claiming allegiance with those who believe the terrorist attacks of that day were orchestrated by the United States government for political gain. “I am a 9/11 Truther,” Sheehan told a large crowd at the All Souls Church on the upper East Side of Manhattan, who endorsed her with a long standing ovation. “I do think it was an inside job,” Sheehan said. “We just don’t know – I don’t know – how far inside it went. But, you know, I’m sure Dick Cheney had...

Tehran on Thursday said that Israel was behind the plan by a United States pastor to burn copies of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the official news agency IRNA reported. "The software for this plan was made by the Zionists (Israel) following their defeats against Muslims and the Islamic world," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a meeting with foreign diplomats in Tehran. SNIP Mottaki also blamed former US President George W Bush, saying Bush's religious rhetoric after the September 11 attacks led to Islamophobia in the US. SNIP Ayatollah Safi...

The Olympia Food Co-op announced last week that no more Israeli products will be sold at its two grocery stores. Last week, the board of directors of the Olympia Food Co-op in Washington state decided that no more Israeli products will be sold at its two grocery stores in the city. "We met last Thursday for the board members meeting and a pretty large group – about 40 people – presented the boycott project and answered our questions," Rob Richards, a board member, told Haaretz. "A couple of board members were concerned about what will be the financial effect on...

For a while now, Torontonians have been wondering how, exactly, a “gay-rights” group like “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid” (QuAIA) could purport to demonize Israel — the only country in the entire Middle East where gay rights are honoured in the same way they are honoured in Canada. Now we know the answer: QuAIA doesn’t just hate Israel. It hates Canada, too!On Canada Day, July 1, here are the instructions that QuAIA was giving to supporters who wanted to help the group participate in Sunday’s Gay Pride parade: “Thursday, July 1, 2010 at Noon: Instead of celebrating this colonial country (which...

'The Jews worship the devil," the teachers tell 8th-graders. Later, in 10th-grade history class, students will learn that the Jews were responsible for the French Revolution and, of course, the Bolshevik Revolution. These are mild examples of the blatantly untrue "information" systematically taught in schools across Saudi Arabia. It is no wonder anti-Semitism is still alive and well. Every year, the Saudi education system breeds a new pool of extremists. Students are taught to hate Jews and Christians (as well as people of other religions) and encouraged to act violently against them. In a 9th-grade textbook on selected Hadiths, or...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tensions soared at City Hall on Tuesday over a nonbinding resolution calling for the condemnation of the Israeli military's deadly raid on a flotilla headed for Gaza. At least nine people were killed by Israeli naval commandos during the May 31 raid on ships carrying aid for the isolated Gaza region, which is under an Israeli blockade.The legislation, sponsored by Supervisors John Avalos and Sophie Maxwell, has more than two dozen "whereas" clauses. It attempts to localize the attack that took place a half a world away by noting San Francisco's "recognition and understanding of our population's...

From WKYT News in Louisville, Kentucky:"The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) eliminated 49 more jobs at its Louisville headquarters." "The Courier-Journal reported that the church, struggling financially, announced the cuts on Friday that included a combination of layoffs, voluntary severance and attrition." "The cuts come after the council's governing board earlier thisweek approved an $82 million budget for 2011 and $80 million for2012 - down from this year's budget of $93.8 million." "The newspaper reported that the denomination has been copingwith losses in membership, congregations, contributions andinvestment returns."No wonder,----- read the most the most recent previous post.For those who would like to protest...

LOS ANGELES – A University of California, Irvine, disciplinary committee ruled that a Muslim student group should be suspended for at least a year because of a protest that disrupted a talk by Israel's ambassador and led to the arrest of 11 students, according to documents released Monday. The letter from a student affairs disciplinary committee to Muslim Student Union leaders said the group was guilty of disorderly conduct, obstructing university activities, furnishing false information and other violations of campus policy. University spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon said the committee's decision will be a binding recommendation to the campus' office of student...

Helen Thomas has survived attacks from every president of the United States, from Eisenhower to Obama, but alas, the champion of Middle East truth could not stand up to this country’s fanatically pro-Israeli media and movement. It was an amazing display of what Israel and its power players consider important in this world. They didn’t hesitate to destroy Thomas’ outstanding career in journalism over a few exaggerated comments she made – Abe Foxman the bigoted head of the Anti-Defamation League celebrated in total rapture when he heard the news that Thomas had resigned. I mean, she’ll turn 90 years old...

His hate and obsession is on display here: http://mobile.twitter.com/PatrickBuchanan Buchanan links to nut jobs, self-haters, leftists, et al, in a pathetic defese of the terrorists, militants and leftists who seek to destroy our ally Israel, and us for that matter. I would encourage you to read Andy McCarthy's great book, Grand Jihad, which describes the common enemy we, Israel, and all freedom loving societies face. Buchanan is, in my view, a poisonous bigot.

Nine Speakers, the agency that represents Helen Thomas, has dropped her as a client. This comes in the wake of controversial remarks on the Middle East. The notice, obtained by POLITICO: It is with a heavy heart that Nine Speakers, Inc. announces its resignation as the agent for Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps. Ms. Thomas has had an esteemed career as a journalist, and she has been a trailblazer for women, helping others in her profession, and beyond. However, in light of recent events, Nine Speakers is no longer able to represent Ms. Thomas, nor can...