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photo: Ayatollah Khamenei (left) en Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right) (EPA) Reports from Iran indicate that the Supreme National Security Council has ordered a complete check-up of the jet which is on standby to fly Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei and his family to Russia should the situation in Iran spiral out of control. The order, to the Pasdaran Revolutionary Guard Corps, was dated on Sunday, 27 December. A fax containing the order was sent to Dutch-based Shahrzad News.   In Iran, tens of thousands of pro-government supporters took to the streets on Tuesday, calling for leaders of the opposition to be...

An Iranian opposition website today said the government was moving troops and armoured military vehicles to the capital on the day supporters of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi planned to hold a rally.

The U.S. government had intelligence from Yemen before Christmas that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda there were talking about "a Nigerian" being prepared for a terrorist attack, the New York Times reported Tuesday. A senior official told the Times that President Obama was told in a private meeting Tuesday while vacationing in Hawaii that the government had a variety of information in its possession before the failed bombing on a Detroit-bound flight last week that would have been a clear warning sign had it been shared among intelligence agencies. The newspaper said the information did not include the...

The US has released the leader of an Iranian-backed Shia terror group behind the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers in Karbala in January 2007.Qais Qazali, the leader of the Asaib al Haq or the League of the Righteous, was set free by the US military and transferred to Iraqi custody in exchange for the release of British hostage Peter Moore, US military officers and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. The US military directly implicated Qais in the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers in Karbala in January 2007. “We let a very dangerous man go,...

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GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld

The Oval Office, December 29, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

The CIA on Wednesday rejected accusations that it failed to share vital information with other US intelligence agencies that might have helped prevent last week's attempted plane bomb attack. The intelligence agency rejected charges that it possessed, but failed to disseminate, information about Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab that might have led to his being placed on a no-fly list. "We learned of Abdulmutallab in November, when his father came to the US embassy in Nigeria and sought help in finding him. We did not have his name before then," said CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano. "Also in November, we worked...

White House today released more than 25,000 records of visitors who came through the gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this year. Check out the names here, and TPMDC will update readers as we go through the names.

US Citizens Killed In Afghanistan Eight Americans have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in south-eastern Afghanistan, US officials say. The suicide bomber was wearing an explosive vest as he carried out the attack at a forward operating base in Khost province, CNN reported. Details about the attack are still emerging and it was not clear how many people had been injured. One unnamed US official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that all of those killed were civilians.

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A senior U.S. official tells CNN that the attack at a military base in eastern Afghanistan by a suicide bomber Wednesday killed eight Americans believed to be CIA employees.

Palestinian Authority Special Forces were praised this week by an American general for becoming the founders of a new Arab country within Israel's current borders. Addressing a battalion in Tulkarm that recently finished training in Jordan, US lt. General Keith Dayton said: "As I look at you, I couldn't be more proud of the fact that you stepped up to be the founders of a Palestinian state." The United States plans to expand a program to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces in the occupied West Bank, the general in charge of training and equipping them said Monday. "We...

OKLAHOMA CITY - The voters of Oklahoma will have the opportunity to preserve the existing health care system in Oklahoma under legislation sought by three state legislators. State Reps. Mike Ritze and Mike Reynolds and state Sen. Randy Brogdon announced today that they will file legislation enacting the "Freedom of Healthcare Choice Act," allowing voters to preserve the existing healthcare system in Oklahoma regardless of congressional action at the federal level. The legislation will allow a vote of the people to opt out of the proposed federal system. "It's clear the overwhelming majority of Americans want the current doctor-patient relationship...

WASHINGTON (AP) - After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.

A Minnesota judge has ordered the state to reinstate money for a food program that Gov. Tim Pawlenty cut from the budget, saying he acted unconstitutionally. Several people in the program for the poor sought an injunction to restore money while their court case proceeds Ramsey County District Judge Kathleen Gearin granted their wish in an order on Wednesday. Her temporary restraining order keeps the money intact indefinitely. The case stems from $2.7 billion in cuts the Republican governor announced this summer to balance the budget. He took the action using an executive power that allows the governor to trim...

Washington’s Handpicked Ringer Mr. Delasandro is making the following statement for immediate release: “The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) inserted its candidate into the CD-17 race this past week, Mr. William H. Flores. Flores apparently recently relocated to Bryan/College Station from Sugarland, TX (outside the district). Flores was chosen, not because he represents the values of Central Texas, but because he can self-finance. He has the wealth to self-finance a race for Congress in large part from his business ties to socialist investor George Soros. There is nothing wrong with making a profit and businessmen shouldn’t be required to vet...

<p>On December 26, two days after Nigerian Omar Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to use underwear packed with plastic explosives to blow up the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight he was on, and as it became clear internally that the Administration had suffered perhaps its most embarrassing failure in the area of national security, senior Obama White House aides, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and new White House counsel Robert Bauer, ordered staff to begin researching similar breakdowns -- if any -- from the Bush Administration.</p>

President Obama created by executive order Tuesday a National Declassification Center to oversee efforts to make once-secret government documents public. The order comes as part of Obama's promise to push government to err on the side of disclosure as it tackles the need to keep certain information from the public. In a post on the White House blog, William H. Leary, the senior director of records and access management at the National Security Council, writes that the effort is aimed at shifting the burden of defending secrecy to the government.

A suicide bomber penetrated a foreign army base in Afghanistan to kill eight U.S. CIA employees on Wednesday, one of the spy agency's largest death tolls, and a separate attack killed four Canadian troops and a journalist.

COORDINATION CENTER FOR NATIONAL IRANIAN ARMED RESISTANCE FORCES DECLARES ITS EXISTENCE. This announcement was received via telephone from a high ranking Army officer of NIRU from Iran Start of announcement Saturday December 26th, 2009 In the name of God the Merciful & Forgiving Praise be to God and peace on the His Messenger (PBUH) and his family I take refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan The coordination center for National Iranian Armed Resistance Forces (NIRU) hereby declares its existence & accuses the current government and the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Mr. Sayyed Ali Khamenei of legal transgressions and...

This is a public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood Admin Moderators (Sidebar gave us some attitude so we shoved him in the closet for a while. He never recovered from the Yacht incident) For a while, we have noticed some things happening that we need your help with. The Free Republic community is strong; we are almost a family, albeit very dysfunctional at times. Like any community, we have new members joining us daily. Unfortunately, the air of suspicion and the desire to keep things “the way they are” has fostered a feeling of distrust with new members. Almost...

AT least three people have been killed in a shooting at a Finnish shopping mall. Reports by state broadcaster YLE, citing police sources, said four people were dead. Independent MTV3 television put the figure at three dead. Around six shots were discharged from about 08:20 GMT in the Sello shopping centre in Espoo, west of the capital Helsinki. One or more people were shot at the Prisma grocery store. At least one employee was seen lying on the floor on the upper level of the centre. A man, described as being in his late teens and dressed in black, was...

HONOLULU (AP) -- President Barack Obama has rejected his first piece of legislation from Congress, a stopgap spending bill that never had to take effect. The White House on Wednesday said Obama exercised his right to send back to the Capitol a temporary appropriations bill that lawmakers passed in case a winter storm about two weeks ago would have prevented them from approving a final measure to fund the Pentagon next year. The Dec. 19 blizzard didn't keep them away from the Capitol and they approved the $626 billion defense spending bill before the previous budget expired. The White House...

<p>The Transportation Security Administration is going after bloggers who wrote about a directive to increase security after the incident.</p>

Fox News is breaking the following story: A section of Times Square is being cordoned off and their bomb squad has been called in to investigate a suspicious 1992 Dodge Van, which has been parked on the street for at least 2 days. The windows are tinted and there is an interior tarp covering them as well. Other vehicles are being cleared from the vicinity. The Fox reporterette is pointing out that the police are being abundantly cautious due to tomorrow being New Year's Eve, with thousands of people gathering in Times Square.

Gannett-owned paper. Title and source link only.Click here for the brief article.

American-led troops were accused yesterday of dragging innocent children from their beds and shooting them during a night raid that left ten people dead. Afghan government investigators said that eight schoolchildren were killed, all but one of them from the same family. Locals said that some victims were handcuffed before being killed. Western military sources said that the dead were all part of an Afghan terrorist cell responsible for manufacturing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have claimed the lives of countless soldiers and civilians.

Notice: I've just been informed that a certain ex-poster is going to expose on a yet to be named MAJOR website somewhere on the Internet that FR is an anti-Catholic site. Of course, others have accused us of being anti-Mormon, anti-Jew, anti-Protestant, anti-Pentecost, anti-Baptist, etc, anti-atheist and anti-Darwinist among other things. Well, maybe we are anti some things. Knock yourself out, pal. Just make sure you spell my name and url correctly. Sincerely yours, Jim Thompson

U.S. embassy warns Americans in Indonesia's Bali island of possible New Year's Eve terrorist attack-AP

Jay McKinnon, a self-described Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist, has implicated himself in the production of fraudulent Hawaii birth certificate images similar to the one endorsed as genuine by the Barack Obama campaign, and appearing on the same blog entry where the supposedly authentic document appears. The evidence of forgery and manipulation of images of official documents, triggered by Israel Insider's revelation of the collection of Hawaii birth certificate images on the Photobucket site and the detective work of independent investigative journalists and imaging professionals in the three weeks since the publication of the images, implicate the Daily Kos,...

HONOLULU -- Conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital on Wednesday afternoon with chest pains, sources told KITV. Paramedics responded to the call at 2:41 p.m. at the Kahala Hotel and Resort. Rush Limbaugh AP Image Rush Limbaugh Limbaugh, 58, suffered from chest pains, sources said. Limbaugh was sitting in a chair in his ninth-floor hotel room at the Kahala when emergency crews arrived, sources said. He told medical crews that he was taking medication for a back problem, sources said. Paramedics treated him and took him to Queen's Medical Center in serious condition. He...

ALERT: Rush was admitted to a Honolulu hospital today and is resting comfortably after suffering chest pains. Rush appreciates your prayers and well wishes. He will keep you updated via RushLimbaugh.com and on Thursday's radio program.

HONOLULU -- Conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital on Wednesday afternoon with chest pains, sources told KITV. Paramedics responded to the call at 2:41 p.m. at the Kahala Hotel and Resort. Limbaugh suffered from chest pains, sources said. Paramedics treated him and took him to Queen's Medical Center in serious condition. He was seen golfing at Waialae Country Club earlier this week. The country club is next to the Kahala Hotel and Resort. The radio show host had been in the islands during the holidays. Coincidentally, his visit comes at a time when two...

Four days after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly failed to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet from Amsterdam to Detroit, government officials, security experts and members of the public are still trying to figure out what went wrong and how air travel security can be improved. After the botched attack, at least one member of Congress, Peter King, R-N.Y., has suggested that profiling by religion or race could improve security. In an interview on Fox News, King said, "The fact is, while the overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding people, on the other hand, 100 percent of the Islamic terrorists are...