Free Republic

The city of Dearborn, Mich., has agreed to pay Christians who were arrested at its Arab International Festival in 2010, remove all criticism of them from a city website and post a public apology that will remain online for years, according to a legal team on the case. The American Freedom Law Center said today that the settlement follows more than two years of court negotiations and resolves the Christians’ claims against the city. It does not, however, remove the Dearborn Arab Chamber as a defendant in the case, which will continue. The Christians were arrested in 2010 by city...

"'If we can't accurately describe who the enemy is, how can we win a war?'"The U.S. Army has further punished a highly respected and decorated officer in the wake of Muslim groups complaining about the approved course he taught on radical Islam at National Defense University. In October, WND reported Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley was fired from his position at the school for the way he conducted a class on how to respond to a variety of scenarios instigated by radical Muslims. A visitor to the class found the discussions offensive to Muslims and informed some 57 Islamic organizations, which...

The justices of the Supreme Court of Sweden have finished the destruction of a family that was begun in their lower courts, rejecting an appeal of a ruling that permanently separated a young boy from his parents because he was being homeschooled. “In a perfunctory order the Swedish Supreme Court rejected a desperate appeal by Christer and Annie Johansson, parents of Domenic Johansson, who was torn from his parents while minutes from takeoff on an international flight as the family prepared to move to India,” said a report from the Home School Legal Defense Association, which along with a team...

"Secretive delegation praised dictator after meeting in Havana"President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency went on a trip to Cuba in 2009 aimed at opening relations with the communist nation, WND has learned. According to the Cuban media, Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., along with his wife, was part of a delegation of five other lawmakers from the Congressional Black Caucus who held a four-and-a-half hour meeting in April 2009 with Cuban President Raul Castro, Fidel Castro’s brother. Raul Castro previously led the Cuban army and was a rebel commander in the 1950s. The meeting served as...

"New, horrific discoveries in New York, Washington, D.C."A Pennsylvania jury will soon render a verdict on whether abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell murdered four babies who survived abortions as well as a woman who was one of his patients, but a new series of videos from Live Action suggest that Gosnell’s actions are not out of the mainstream. Live Action President Lila Rose told WND her group has already released two videos showing abortion providers in New York City and Washington, D.C., explaining how they would do nothing to help a baby who survived an abortion to survive. The 10-year Planned...

The United States has indicted a former State Department employee now living in Sweden with conspiracy to commit espionage for Cuba, the Justice Department announced Thursday. In a statement, justice officials said that Marta Rita Velazquez, 55, allegedly helped to "spot, assess and recruit US citizens" in sensitive national security positions to serve as Cuban intelligence agents, the AFP news agency reported. One such US citizen was identified as Ana Belen Montes, 55, currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in Texas after pleading guilty in March 2002 of conspiracy to spy on behalf of Cuba's communist regime. If convicted, Velazquez...

"Attorney general promises government working to protect illegal aliens"U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in remarks that largely have escaped notice, has claimed that “creating a mechanism for [illegal aliens] to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows… is a matter of civil and human rights.” Holder also said that the federal government will work hard “to safeguard the rights of language minorities.” These claims are likely to add fuel to the growing controversy over the Senate amnesty proposal developed by the so-called “Gang of Eight.” Holder made these remarks in an April 24 speech to the Mexican American Legal...

"Rebukes author for citing crime problems after calling for conversation"If blacks can criticize whites, then whites should be able to say the inner city “needs to get its act together.” That was the bottom line of “Being White in Philly,” a controversial article written by Robert Huber and published in Philadelphia Magazine. What followed was predictable. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said the article was a “sin” and an “incitement to extreme reaction.” The mayor called upon the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission to “rebuke” the magazine and Huber. But not long ago, Nutter was calling for a “national conversation” about racial...

Members of Congress have expressed astonishment that the U.S. Army Reserve would use a training brief that slams Catholics, evangelical Christians and others and are demanding the practice come to a halt – now. “Our nation needs to have an honest conversation about religious extremism and what we can do to avoid religious violence. However, labeling these major world religions as extremists is wrong and hurtful,” said a letter by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., that was signed by dozens of other members. It was addressed to Army Secretary John. M . McHugh at the Pentagon. “We call on you to...

"Jeddah newspaper says first lady saw Alharbi in hospital"A Saudi Arabian newspaper is reporting that United States First Lady Michelle Obama visited in the hospital Saudi citizen Abdul Rahman Ali Issa Al-Salimi Alharbi, the young man who had been labeled a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombing. The newspaper accompanied its report with an image of Obama, although the background was generic and it couldn’t be confirmed immediately that she was at the hospital where Alharbi was being treated at the time. He reportedly suffered injuries in the Boston bombing. The newspaper’s Arabic-language report is being highlighted by...

"Obama has unscheduled meeting with foreign minister"An expert on terrorism says the Saudi national who was the original “person of interest” in connection with Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing is going to be deported from the U.S. next week. The foreign student from Revere, Mass., is identified as 20-year-old Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi. “I just learned from my own sources that he is now going to be deported on national security grounds next Tuesday, which is very unusual,” Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism told Sean Hannity of Fox News Wednesday night. The Reuters news agency reported President Barack...

"Health officials work to diffuse fears of national epidemic"“Gay” sex is becoming even more dangerous. Health officials are warning sexually active “gay” men about an outbreak of potentially deadly bacterial meningitis in Los Angeles and New York. The disease has infected 22 people in New York and caused seven deaths since 2010. Health officials in Los Angeles are testing to see if the strain infecting “gay” men there is the same one hitting New York. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation began offering free meningitis vaccines today after a “gay” man from West Hollywood was declared brain dead on Friday. Thirty-three-year-old lawyer...

Last Friday, WND founder Joseph Farah floated the idea – not really anticipating significant reaction. “Was I ever shocked,” he said. “By 8 a.m. Friday, by email inbox was running over with enthusiastic support for the idea, with about 1,000 people letting me know they would be participating by enlisting friends, family members, church groups, Bible studies and neighbors. They were marking the date on their calendar. Their only reservation was that the date was nearly five months away. They wanted to do something sooner.” Because of the overall response by email now from thousands of Americans, Farah is asking...

"Lawyers eyeing liability of abortion providers who don't call police"In what has been called the worst child sex abuse scandal in American history, the abortion industry could soon find itself beleaguered by multiple lawsuits from trial lawyers representing hundreds of thousands of victims of statutory rape. “The abortion lobby is engaged in a pedophile protection racket and protecting pedophiles who rape underage girls,” Mark Crutcher, founder of Life Dynamics, said. “These abortion clinics receive money from the federal government. We are literally paying for the rape of our young daughters.” Life Dynamics conducted extensive research into why 60-80 percent of...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” organization was revealed last fall to include a long list of mayors who, because of their convictions, were no longer eligible to own weapons themselves. Now another embarrassment has surfaced for the organization. According to a report from the Second Amendment Foundation, Mayor James Schiliro, of Marcus Hook, Pa., now is facing a long list of charges for allegedly trying to force an underage boy to perform sex acts – and then firing one of three handguns he grabbed at a wall when the boy refused. “Mayor Schiliro is one more...

"Scientists probe puzzle at site made famous by Jesus, Peter"Some 2,000 years ago, the Sea of Galilee in Israel became famous as the Bible says Jesus and His apostle Peter walked on top of the water in a spectacular miracle. Now, a mysterious find from beneath the surface is bringing new attention to the ancient body of water. Scientists have discovered a massive, “monumental” structure on the sea’s floor, leaving experts puzzled as to what it actually is and how and when it became located there.The structure is basically a cone-shaped pile of boulders with an estimated weight of 60,000...

"Lawmaker: Some asking authorities, 'Where do we go to get our amnesty?'"Illegal border crossings have doubled, and possibly even tripled, since the latest congressional push began toward comprehensive immigration reform. In reporting first published by Townhall.com’s Katie Pavlich, border patrol agents in the Tucson/Nogales sector claim illegals are coming here in much higher numbers in just the past few months. “We’ve seen the number of illegal aliens double, maybe even triple since amnesty talk started happening,” an unnamed border agent said to Townhall. The data from Customs and Border Protection cited in the report shows 504 illegals were detected crossing...

"Court fight over 'Fast and Furious' papers ratcheting up"WASHINGTON – A court fight over documentation of the Fast and Furious scandal, where the U.S. government trafficked weapons to drug dealers in Mexico, is just ratcheting up now. But Katie Pavlich, author of the New York Times bestseller “Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up,”news editor of Townhall.com and an expert on the Fast and Furious scandal, says the documents will be “damning” for Attorney General Eric Holder, and possibly even President Obama. She said both politicians should be concerned “based on the evidence that Attorney General...

"Weatherman domestic terrorist finally spills the beans"Weatherman domestic terrorist Bill Ayers is now confirming what the White House has previously denied – that he held a fundraiser in his living room for Barack Obama. That 1995 meeting was said to have launched Obama’s political career. In an October 2008 interview on MSNBC host Chris Matthews’ show, Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Obama’s presidential campaign, categorically denied the fundraiser was ever held. Matthews asked Gibbs: “Did [Ayers] have a fundraiser for [Obama], or not?” Gibbs, who would become the White House spokesman, replied: “No, he did not have a fundraiser for...

"State senators ask about multi-media presentation criticizing parents"Members of the Texas Senate Committee on Education have asked representatives of the controversial “curriculum management system” called CSCOPE to explain why they targeted private citizens who have been critical of the program in a multi-media presentation delivered to superintendents and teachers in the state. The Texas attorney general previously found that CSCOPE is a public entity, despite its organization as a non-profit, since it is composed of government-funded and government-organized Education Service Centers. The centers previously held microfilm and videos for lease by classroom personnel around the state, and were slated to...