Free Republic

Someone is attacked by a complete stranger every 30 seconds in Binge Britain, figures revealed last night. When Labour came to power, only a third of violent crimes were carried out by an attacker the victim did not know. That has now jumped to half as random violence - fuelled by alcohol and round the clock opening - has become commonplace.

Tom Donohue sits for an interview with POLITICO. CEO and President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donahue, talks with POLITICO about his relationship with the White House, the health care debate and the Chamber's membership. Photo: John Shinkle U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue says a campaign by the White House and its allies to undermine his $200-million-a-year association has largely failed — and actually has helped raise even more money for its pro-business efforts. In a 75-minute interview with POLITICO, Donohue dismissed recent defections by Apple and at least four other companies, which quit over the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2009 – The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad strongly condemned today's terrorist attacks in Pakistan, vowing continued U.S. support to help Pakistan combat violence. The embassy issued the condemnation of the attacks as President Barack Obama signed a law that provides $7.5 billion in nonmilitary aid to Pakistan over the next five years. The funds are part of a comprehensive plan that recognizes the importance of confronting the root causes of extremism as well as extremists themselves. The new law will provide $1.5 billion each year from 2010 to 2014 for schools, hospitals, roads, agricultural aid, roadwork and...

ISLAMABAD – A week of terror strikes across Pakistan, capped by a stunning assault on army headquarters, show the Taliban have rebounded and appear determined to shake the nation's resolve as the military plans for an offensive against the group's stronghold on the Afghan border. The 22-hour attack on Pakistan's "Pentagon" in the city of Rawalpindi, which ended with 20 dead Sunday, was the third terror attack in a week to shake this nuclear-armed nation. It demonstrated the militants' renewed strength since their leader was killed by a U.S. missile strike in August and military operations against their bases. The...

Terrorist Attacks 1968 - 2004 1968 June 5 - U.S. presidential candidate Robert Kennedy murdered by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan, in Los Angeles, which causes further terrorist attacks, as Arab terrorist groups demanded his release. 1969 Feb. 18 - Boeing 707 attacked at Zurich, Switzerland, killing the pilot and 3 passengers. Aug. 29 - TWA 707 hijacked from Rome to Damascus, released with only wounded. Nov. 27- EL AL office in Athens, Greece attacked. Innocent bystanders killed. 1970 Feb. 21 - Swiss airliner blown up over Switzerland, killing all 47 people on board. Feb. 23 - PLO terrorists open fire...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Al-Qaeda has staged the majority of violent attacks in Iraq since the end of June, when US troops withdrew from the country's cities, a top US officer said on Thursday. "In the period that we're looking at right now, post-30 June, I consider most of the attacks, the high-profile attacks that you are seeing and that are getting the publicity, are Al-Qaeda attacks," General Charles Jacoby, the number two ranking US officer in Iraq, told reporters via video link. The general spoke after at least 22 people were killed and 45 wounded on Thursday when a suicide...

We are about to honor the victims of September 11, 2001 on the eight year anniversary of the slaughter of the innocents, perpetrated by men whose religion promises them 72 vestal virgins, if they murder non-believers. But enough of the murderers, still labeled “Terrorists” and their handiwork aptly described as “Terrorism,” in my book. On September 11, 2009, my focus will be on the murdered ones, the ones who lost limbs, and the ones who lost their liberty. I am hoping to join my fellow citizens in a period of reflection and respect for those who were murdered. The significance...

From CNN's Political Ticker: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says that the state Ethics Commission probe into his travel expenses reminds him of the flood of ethics complaints filed against Sarah Palin before she resigned the Alaska governorship. "I think I now know what Sarah may have been feeling," Sanford told The Washington Times in an interview published Wednesday.No, Gov. Sanford, you don't have any idea what Sarah Palin may have been feeling, and neither does anyone else. But wait until they photoshop devil's heads on a photo of your youngest child and spread it around the internet, along with...

LONDON (Reuters) – The deaths of no fewer than four people after being trampled by cows in the past two months has prompted Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals. Cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs, said the National Farmers Union (NFU). The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows. "The cattle are interested in the dog, not the walker," said Robert Sheasby, Rural Surveyor...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2009 – Recent high-profile attacks against civilians near Mosul, Iraq, reflect al-Qaida in Iraq’s continued desire to incite sectarian strife, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Caslen, commander of Multinational Division North, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference the attacks don’t indicate a statistical spike in violence. In fact, he said, the average weekly numbers of attacks committed in and around the northern city of Mosul actually have trended down over the past six months. About 40 to 42 weekly attacks occurred in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city,...

EAST ALTON - A pair of Russian wolfhounds that attacked and killed at least four animals last year struck again Thursday, injuring two dogs and an owner. The wolfhounds, which also are known as borzoi, escaped from their back yard in the 300 block of Washington Avenue about 10:30 a.m., attacked a man walking his dog and mauled a dog in its home. Sgt. Brent Wells with the East Alton Police Department said a 911 call was received from a woman at 10:33 a.m., stating her son was being attacked by two large white dogs. Kevin Bartles, 46, suffered 13...

North Korea celebrated America’s Fourth of July by launching a wide-ranging cyber assault on websites in South Korea and the U.S., including that of the Treasury Department and Secret Service. The attack is not only a significant escalation by the DPRK, but a demonstration of how the U.S. remains vulnerable to a covert operation by a rogue state or terrorists that can be as devastating as a WMD attack. The North Korean offensive began after Lab 110, a group of top hackers working for the military, were given instructions in May to “destroy” the communication infrastructure of South Korea. One...

President Obama is a bully, he doesn't like being questioned or crossed. Like most of the bullying kind if you disagree with him he will go after you with personal attacks full guns blaring. Just look at some examples of the people who have crossed the President and got a smack down by the`Bully-in-Chief, or his agents: * Gianna Jessen, a young woman who was born alive after a botched abortion. * Joe the Plumber * Retired Teachers and Cops who's pension funds were the primary investors in Chrysler. * The People at AIG who received contractually obligated bonuses. *...

SEOUL, South Korea - A state official says seven South Korean Web sites are under renewed cyber attack. Ku Kyo-young from the state-run Korea Communications Commission said the latest assault began around 6:30 p.m. (0930 GMT, 5:30 a.m. EDT ) Thursday. He said one of the affected sites belongs to the government, the other six are private. Some are still working normally despite the attacks.

By ROGER SIMON | 7/7/09 4:58 AM EDT Sarah Palin violated several commandments and is now getting roasted by political mandarins and media elites. Photo: AP Sarah Palin is a sinner. She has violated several commandments and thoroughly deserves the savage beating that she is now getting from political mandarins and media elites. If it were not for one simple fact, I would say she was through in politics. And that fact is that if the Republicans were picking a nominee today, they would pick Sarah Palin. No? Don’t believe me? Who would beat her? Tim Pawlenty? Bobby Jindal? Haley...

IsraelNN.com) In the wake of the brutal repression of Iranian public dissent following the highly-contested elections there, United States President Barack Obama’s administration is feeling the heat from reporters over his continued soft-talk approach to the Persian Gulf power. According to an analysis in TIME magazine, this could all work out for the best as far as the Jews in Judea and Samaria are concerned.

Out of the 250-plus replies I received regarding my recent article, "The Savage silence of the lambs" and the radio interview Dr. Savage did of me, about half of the respondents took up my challenge to answer the question: "Why have virtually the entire conservative and liberal media so hardened their hearts and closed their bowels of compassion against Michael Savage?" Here is a summary replies: * The reason why Fox News, Rush, Hannity, conservative talk radio and the mainstream media daily ignores the work of Michael Savage is because he calls them names all the time. * Savage has...

Analysis shows most attacks small, amateurish, non-lethal. Sept. 11 looms large as the defining example of a terrorist attack on the United States, but it was one of more than 1,000 in recent years and a very atypical example.

MELBOURNE (AFP) — Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on Thursday condemned a wave of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne after the latest assault left a 25-year-old fighting for his life. Indian student Sravan Kumar Theerthala was stabbed with a screwdriver early Sunday morning when a group of teenagers gatecrashed a party he was attending in the suburbs of Australia's second largest city. He remains in intensive care at the Royal Melbourne Hospital following the attack, in which police said other men were also assaulted. It was the latest in a series of attacks on students from the sub-continent which...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon's top Middle East adviser said Wednesday insurgent attacks in Iraq will probably increase as U.S. forces start to leave, but there's no plan now to delay troop departures. Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Colin Kahl told The Associated Press that the military will continue to watch whether increased violence may push back deadlines for U.S. troop withdrawals ordered by President Barack Obama.

About the pit bull threads... Okay, I am going to ease off on the pit bull threads. The Admin Moderator has not asked me to, nor have I been threatened with banishment. Nor am I persuaded by the threads devoted to bashing me for posting these stories. I am just frankly getting tired of it myself. These attacks are basically unending, and it will only get much worse as school is out for Summer, and kids are around more, the temperatures rising, and what have you. I will certainly still post these from time to time, or maybe I'll do...

MANAMA, Bahrain, April 20, 2009 – The British military support ship Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight, working in support of the Combined Maritime Forces, thwarted two April 18 pirate attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, resulting in the release of 13 hostages and disrupting the activities of 14 Somali pirates. "This is a clear demonstration of how cooperation between more than a dozen international naval forces can result in the successful disruption of piracy activity," said Royal Navy Commodore Tim Lowe, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces. "In the last 72 hours alone, coordinated efforts of...

Former White House adviser Karl Rove's bare-knuckled response to recent statements by Vice President Joe Biden has brought into public view a growing resentment on the part of Bush administration veterans over what they regard as repeated and unwarranted slams from the Obama White House. The current president and his team are being "gratuitous, slightly petty, and slightly obsessive in blaming Bush for things," one former White House adviser told me. "Completely gratuitous," said another. "Unfair," said a third. The hard feelings surfaced after an April 7 interview on CNN in which Biden recounted a visit with George W. Bush....

Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed senior US official as giving the warning. No further details are known about the threat at the moment other than it reportedly came from Bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. The terror chief has issued more than 60 messages since the September 11 attacks in New York.

CAMP TROY, Iraq, March 24, 2009 – When an improvised explosive device is detected, most people run and take cover, but a team of servicemembers here heads straight to the site to start the crime-scene investigation. Members of the weapons intelligence team provide counter improvised explosive device intelligence through collection and analysis in support of Multinational Corps Iraq, in Iraq, February 2009. By collecting evidence and staying ahead of the enemy, the team helps prepare U.S. and coalition forces for future attacks. Courtesy photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The airmen, soldiers and sailors of the weapons...

An Allen woman said she got a painful reminder two weeks ago of the wild -- while jogging in a suburban neighborhood. The 39-year-old woman, who asked she not be identified, said a coyote took a bite out of her thigh as she rounded a curve on a popular Allen jogging trail. "I think I surprised it," she said. "That's what the problem was. It was dark, really quiet, and it probably thought I was attacking it."

Unprecedented attacks of wolves on deer herds have been reported in the Izhemsky region of the Komi republic; sometimes, the dreaded beasts even venture into villages. Director of the "Izhemsky Deer Farm" Ivan Kanev says that every day, 23 deer farming brigades try to defend their livestock against wolf packs, but in vain. To date, the damage caused by wolves to the deer farm is more than one thousand animals. Full-grown wolves are not even afraid of venturing into villages. For instance, wolves have ripped apart 15 watch dogs to pieces in one settlement since beginning of the winter. Deer...

This image issued by Britain's Community Security Trust on Friday Feb.... 'This Is Racism' LONDON (AP) - The number of anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews rose sharply after the start of the conflict in Gaza, a Jewish charity said Friday. The London-based Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism and works to safeguard the Jewish community in Britain, said 250 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the four weeks after Dec. 27, when Israel launched attacks on Gaza to stop Hamas rocket attacks. That compares to 40 incidents from the same period the year before. Dave Rich, a spokesman for the trust,...

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India has for the first time directly accused Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency -- the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) -- of involvement in last year's Mumbai attacks. "The perpetrators planned, trained and launched their attacks from Pakistan, and the organisers were and remain clients and creations of the ISI," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said in a speech in Paris on Thursday that was picked up by the Indian media. In January, India handed Pakistan what it said was evidence linking "elements" in Pakistan to the November attacks on India's financial capital, in which 10 gunmen killed 165...

In what many see as a foreboding sign about what Congress and President Barack Obama will try to do with the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," Democrats are continuing their attacks on talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh over his opposition to what he has described as "Obama's Porkulus Bill." Radio and television ads are being launched by MoveOn.org and other organizations condemning Limbaugh's opinion that such government spending is wrong, and then linking Republican lawmakers to Limbaugh through their opposition to Obama's massive $1 trillion "stimulus" plan.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2009 – The presence of partner nations and the newly formed task force to reduce the number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden seem to be working, the commander of Combined Task Force 151 said. “I think the combination of the coalition working together [with] the maritime community has decreased the pirate activity over the last couple of months,” Navy Rear Adm. Terry McKnight, also the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 2, told bloggers and online journalists during a Defense Department bloggers roundtable yesterday. The task force was formed earlier this month and comprises three...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 6, 2009 – Afghan National Police and coalition forces seized four suspected militants yesterday during operations targeting the Haqqani and Taliban terrorist networks in Afghanistan’s Khowst and Zabol provinces. Forces targeted a suspected Haqqani commander in the Nadir Shah Kot district, southeast of here. The suspect is believed to be responsible for suicide and bombing attacks against civilians and Afghan and coalition forces throughout Khowst province. During the operation, forces searched several compounds without incident and detained a suspected militant. In Zabol province, coalition forces targeted a suspected Taliban militant believed to be in contact with Taliban...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2008 – About 100 U.S. European Command soldiers, airmen and Marines deployed to Israel to help set up an early warning radar system reported no close encounters with air strikes or retaliatory attacks along the Gaza Strip, a Eucom spokesman said. The Palestinian militant group Hamas refused to renew a ceasefire agreement with Israel when it expired Dec. 19, and began stepping up rocket attacks on civilian targets in Israel. Israel, in turn, began launching airstrikes against Gaza Strip targets Dec. 27 in an effort to eliminate Hamas’ ability to fire rockets into Israeli territory. Air...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2008 – The number of daily attacks in Iraq has dropped nearly 95 percent since last year, a U.S. military official said yesterday. Iraq suffered an average of 180 attacks per day this time last year. But over the past week, the average number was 10, Army Brig. Gen. David G. Perkins, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said. “This is a dramatic improvement of safety throughout the country,” Perkins told reporters during a wide-ranging news conference in Baghdad yesterday. He added that the country’s murder rates have dropped below levels that existed before the start of American...

MURIDKE, Pakistan – Pakistan's vow to crack down on militants behind the Mumbai attacks may meet an early test with the Islamist charity accused by the U.S. of being the front group for the prime suspects. Washington and India view Jamaat-ud-Dawa as the successor to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant organization that India says trained the 10 gunmen who killed 171 people in India's commercial capital.

Mumbai’s “bloody week” has ended with shock and awe in India and around the world. Since 9/11, and even before, the jihadists have been leaping from one massacre to another, scarring democracies and civil societies with their violent imprints. From New York and Washington to Madrid and London; from Beslan and Baghdad to Islamabad and Bali, the seekers of a Taliban-like “Caliphate” continue to adapt their tactics and while staying the course. No civilization or continent has escaped their designs. But after Mumbai, one has to expect more and worse. Let’s look at what’s on the the horizon...

GLENDALE, Ariz. – A 26-year-old man faces criminal charges after being accused of using a pickax to attack a speed enforcement camera recently installed along a Phoenix-area freeway.

MUMBAI, India – India suspects that two senior leaders of a banned Pakistani militant group masterminded last week's three-day terrorist attacks that killed 171 people in Mumbai, an Indian intelligence official said Thursday.

International law enforcement officialdom has plenty of work to do as Indian “morning of terror” still unfold to this day.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11, 2008 – Coalition officials denounced three “cowardly” terrorist attacks in Iraq that left five Iraqis dead and 70 injured over the past two days. Two explosions occurred today in northern Baghdad at approximately 6 a.m. The attack left 18 Iraqis, including three Iraqi Police injured. All casualties were taken to local hospitals. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, helped secured the site and are investigating the scene with an explosive ordnance disposal team. “It is with a heavy heart to witness these attacks on innocent civilians who...

The leaker who "revealed" to Carl Cameron of FOX News that Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent or which nations were in the North American Free Trade Agreement has outed himself. First of all the leaker turned out not to be Mitt Romney nor one of his associates as some have suspected. More importantly, the leaker's own revelation does not show that Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent nor that she didn't know which countries were in the NAFTA. Okay, so who is the leaker? Drum roll please, maestro! And the leaker is....Martin Eisenstadt,...

Here is video of Katie Connolly of Newsweek, being interviewed on CNN Headline News about the leaked attacks against Gov. Sarah Palin. Newsweek is where much of the story on these leaks has been first reported. She is asked if Mitt Romney supporters are the ones doing the leaking. She says they are not the ones doing the leaking. . . . (Watch Video)

--- Transcript: Joe: Was it patriotic for Joe Biden to say, "take my money and give it to other people?" That's patriotism? Colmes: Well, let me ask, you were on welfare once, was that taking somebody else's money and giving it to you? Joe: Paid into welfare. It something to be used, not to be abused like it often is. ~ Colmes: We looked at the numbers, you're going to get a tax break under Obama, you should be happy about that. Joe: It goes against my principles. I stand firmly on those. Taking someone's hard earned money and putting...

The McCain Campaign: Mistakes, But Hampered Ultimately By Both the Candidate and his Campaign Advisers--Not by Sarah Palin McCain Campaign is Responsible for McCain's Defeat Palin Was Attacked from the Inside from Almost the Moment She gave the McCain Campaign their First Realistic Chance at VictoryThe McCain Campaign Unnamed Aides vs. Sarah Palin UPDATES at end of post. FROM GOSSIP TO GOSPEL The McCain campaign made some shrewd moves, but it also was guilty of some moves that ultimately doomed its unlikely candidate--with the most momentous misstep coming from John McCain himself. Like any losing campaign, those in charge of...

by Gina L. DiorioBarack Obama may deserve a new address, but it sure isn’t 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In fact, Beverly Hills would be more fitting, as his actions in recent days and weeks are more suggestive of an egotistical – and rather spoiled – Hollywood starlet than a man who would be president of the United States. Take, for example, his confrontation yesterday with reporters while walking with his daughter in his Hyde Park neighborhood. When journalists approached the duo, an irritated Obama stated, “That’s enough. You’ve got a shot. Leave us alone…. Come on, guys. Get back on...

WASHINGTON — An ugly line has been crossed in this presidential campaign, one in which some people don’t mind calling Barack Obama a dangerous Muslim, a terrorist and worse. "To me, this all feels much worse than we’ve seen in some time," said Kathryn Kolbert, the president of People for the American Way, which monitors political speech. Experts agree on the reasons: Obama, the Democratic nominee, is different from any other major presidential candidate in history in many ways, and people often don’t accept such change gracefully. That different background fuels many fears, said Penni Pier, an expert on political...

WEST CHESTER, Ohio – Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Friday kept up the Republican ticket's attack on a community activist group that registers voters and cited an Ohio plumber's encounter with Democrat Barack Obama as indicative of his tax policies. Campaigning in one of the swing state's conservative strongholds, Palin said Obama hasn't been forthcoming about his ties to ACORN, the Association of Community Activists for Reform Now. The group faces allegations of voter registration fraud in Ohio and other states. Obama has said he doesn't have any significant links to the group. "You deserve to know," Palin told...

Sen. Joe Biden said Monday that the tenor of the presidential campaign has gone “over the edge” and that if John McCain continues to push some lines of attack against Barack Obama he may regret it “for the rest of his life.”

The political rhetoric continues to heat up in the U.S. presidential race. On Friday, Democrat Barack Obama accused Republican John McCain of trying to divide the country with angry remarks and negative television ads. For his part, McCain demanded that Obama answer questions about his relationship with a 1960's anti-war radical, William Ayers. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has the latest from Washington. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama waves at a rally at the Genoa Park and Amphitheater in Columbus, 10 Oct 2008 Democrat Barack Obama continued his campaign swing through the critical state of Ohio by focusing on...

Sen. Barack Obama says the personal attacks levied against him by the campaign of his presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, particularly references to his association with 1960s anti-war radical Bill Ayers, are an attempt to "score cheap political points." "I am surprised that, you know, we've been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days, that he wasn't willing to say it to my face. But I guess we've got one last debate. So presumably, if he ends up feeling that he needs to, he will raise it during the debate."