Free Republic

A fire has broken out at Iran's notorious Evin prison, with footage posted online showing flames and smoke billowing from the area. Gun shots and alarms have been reported as coming from the jail, the primary site for detaining political prisoners. An official quoted by state media said "troubles" involving "criminal elements" were to blame for the blaze. The fire comes as Iran continues to be rocked by its most intense unrest in decades. Anti-government monitoring group 1500tasvir posted videos of the fire online, in one of which chants of "death to the dictator" - one of the main slogans...

A woman who was escorted off an Amtrak train by police this weekend after she allegedly refused to stop talking loudly on her cell-phone has the Internet cheering her fate. Civilians and quiet-car champions are supporting her ejection for violating policy at high volume during the 16-hour journey. It doesn't help her cause that she became belligerent when confronted about it by one of her fellow passengers. KOMO News reports that Lakeysha Beard says she felt "disrespected" by the incident, though passengers said it was Beard who was being rude by refusing to stop yapping while sitting in one of...

Some Pittsburgh-area steelworkers are being warned that taking off to watch the Steelers in the Super Bowl could cause "severe disciplinary action." The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works has issued a notice to employees (below right) which states that missing work on Sunday or Monday without just cause will result in a Super Bowl-sized penalty.

BAGHDAD (AFP) – US Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday he had come to Baghdad "to help Iraqis celebrate" progress, as he met Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital. Biden's unannounced tour of world hotspots had previously taken him to Kabul, where he met Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and to Islamabad, where he had talks with top Pakistani officials.

I know I'm not the very first FReeper to see 2011 come in, but I beat a lot of y'all in the US (neener, neener) and just wanted to post a fun, albeit completely useless vanity thread. (I really ought to be ashamed, but sorry to say, I feel no remorse.) :-) Yes, it just became 2011 on the Weird Side of the World and so far, it doesn't hurt and I'm rather enjoying that new year smell.

Today, some of the Pimpbusters held a social event at Blogger Overlord Central Command (BOCC.) One of the topics discussed (and tested) was new and innovative techniques for Blogpimp Deterrent Systems (BPDS). Please see the video here. Excerpt. Read more at Just kidding! No excerpt! We're not blogpimps.

At least 10 explosions rocked mainly Shi'ite areas of Iraq's capital Baghdad on Tuesday, although the number of casualties was unclear, an official said.

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday among hundreds of army recruits who had gathered near a military headquarters in an attack officials said killed 60 and wounded 125, one of the bloodiest bombings in months in the Iraqi capital. The massive strike just outside a major division headquarters and recruitment center is an embarrassment to Iraqi security forces and casts doubts on their ability to protect themselves and the nation just two weeks before all but 50,000 U.S. troops head home. Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for enlisting the bomber, whose...

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden landed Saturday on what appeared to be a dual mission in Baghdad: to visit U.S. troops during the July Fourth weekend and coax Iraqi leaders into ending their government impasse. Top Obama administration officials have been reluctant to visit Iraq since its deadlocked March election failed to produce a clear winner. Biden's trip may signal the U.S. is stepping up its efforts to hammer out an agreement among Iraqi political rivals and get a new government in place as soon as possible.

They're just all slimy and gross. I like most other veggies, but Brussells sprouts are disgusting.

WASHINGTON — In D.C. political circles, Texas Rep. Ron Paul is the quirky icon of libertarian conservatism, a cult figure on American college campuses with a national following large enough to help him capture the presidential poll at the nation's pre-eminent conservative action conference last weekend. But while Paul basks in the applause of conservatives at a Washington hotel, he can't afford to ignore the three self-described conservatives who are assailing his conservative credentials back at home. “He's as bad as the rest of them,” says Gerald Wall, one of three Republicans challenging the incumbent in the March 2 GOP...

I'm visiting my sister in England and we see stuff like this. I took this photo just a little ago. This is what happens when you aren't paying enough attention. Oh...and this is my sister (wazoo1031).

The British security contractor accused of murdering two western colleagues in Baghdad and critically wounding an Iraqi appeared in court today and "made a full confession" about his role in the alleged rampage, according to a senior Iraqi official. Daniel Fitzsimons, a former Paratrooper, appeared before an investigative judge who told him he faces the death penalty if convicted. Interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Kareem Kalaph said last night that Fitzsimons had confessed during the brief hearing to shooting dead his colleagues.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials tightened security around churches in Baghdad and in two mostly Christian towns on Monday and braced for possible violence this weekend when huge crowds visit a holy Shiite shrine in the capital.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi forces detained five U.S. security contractors in connection with the killing of a fellow American contractor last month in Baghdad's Green Zone, an Iraqi government spokesman said on Sunday. Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said the five men were being held at an Iraqi police station in the capital's heavily-fortified central district while a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee investigated. The detainees could become the first Americans to face local justice since a bilateral security pact came into force at the start of this year making U.S. contractors subject to Iraqi law. "There are no...

BAGHDAD (AP) — A roadside bomb struck a U.S. convoy in western Iraq, killing three Americans, including a senior State Department official, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The blast killed Terence Barnich, the deputy director of the State Department's Iraq Transition Assistance Office in Baghdad, as well as a U.S. soldier and a civilian contractor as their convoy left a construction site near Fallujah on Monday, military and government officials said. Two others were wounded. Insurgents once held sway over the western province of Anbar, which was the scene of some of the deadliest fighting of the war. But violence fell...

Once again, Achmed the Terrorist tries to terrorize Huffman. Video here.

Ahmed fails again. He couldn't light his nuke.

Five years ago today on January 18, 2004, I arrived at Baghdad International Airport on a charter flight from Dubai with about 60 other people to begin working in Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was a mild and cloudy afternoon as we descended onto the tarmac for the short walk into the terminal. The dreary, desolate airport was not operational and didn’t even have electricity, aside from a few lights here and there powered by a generator. We were the only people in the airport, except for a few local national employees wandering around as we lined up just inside to...

The dear mother of one of my close friends and co-workers needs our prayers. This lovely Catholic widow is the beloved mother of 11 children from a very close family. She has recently had medical tests come back that revealed something that is likely cancerous in her lung, as well as a couple of questionable appearances in her heart cavity and spine. ( am not good at medical terminology.) Marcella is lively, energetic and full of life. When her youngest daughter of the same name (my friend and co-worker) proposed that the two of them meet up in Italy last...