Free Republic

An unmanned aircraft was shot down by the Israeli air force Saturday after it crossed the southern region of the country, Reuters reported. The report said it is unclear where the aircraft originated. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tells Fox News the unmanned aircraft did not depart from the Gaza strip. The aircraft flew over Israel for less than thirty minutes and did not carry any explosives on board, sources told Fox News. IDF spokesperson Yoav Mordechai said the aircraft was monitored and accompanied by fighter planes throughout its flight and it was possible to shoot it down at any stage....

On Wednesday September 12, 2012 blogger Speak With Authority discovered that five days before 9-11, the US State Department sent out a memo announcing no credible security threats against the United States on the anniversary of 9-11. The Overseas Security Advisory Council, who posted the memo, is part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security under the U.S. Department of State. The OSAC memo said: Terrorism and Important Dates Global 9/6/2012 OSAC currently has no credible information to suggest that al-Qa’ida or any other terrorist group is plotting any kind of attack overseas to coincide with the upcoming anniversary of September...

This is a somewhat famous campaign speech from Al Gore in 1992 that seems more relevant today than it was in 1992. He starts out telling his supporters to imagine how they'd feel if they woke up on a cold November morning, opened up their newspapers and read "Four More Years" (of George H.W. Bush). Then he goes into his riff which I am trying to transcribe here: Unemployment around the country has gone up. The number of jobs has gone down. The trade deficit has gone up. Personal income has gone down. The budget deficit has gone up. The...

LONDON (AP) — People around the world briefly experienced problems accessing Twitter on Thursday, a day before the 2012 Olympic Games are expected to cause a spike in use of the micro-blogging site. About three hours after the San Francisco-based company first acknowledged the problem by saying its engineers were "currently working to resolve the issue," Twitter said in a statement that the "site issue" had been resolved. It did not go into further detail on what caused the glitch — the second time in just over a month that the site has been hit by problems. Visitors to the...

The November election between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Connie Mack in Florida is set to be a close race, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. Sen. Bill Nelson edges Rep. Connie Mack, 43 to 39 percent, in the Sunshine State contest for Nelson’s Senate seat, a new Quinnipiac poll says. “The projected November election between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Mack looks like it could go down to the wire,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Nelson has gained the slight edge since being tied with Mack in a May 24 poll....

Down, down, down.

NOGALES, Ariz. — The number of illegal immigrants arrested by the Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector fell by more than 40 percent last year, a significant drop that indicates illegal immigration has slowed considerably in Arizona. Official statistics won’t be released for several weeks, but Alan Bersin, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, told Border Patrol agents in Nogales this week that arrests in the Tucson Sector fell to 123,000 last fiscal year. Arrests in the Nogales station, the largest in the Tucson Sector, fell by 43 percent to 18,000. “Ladies and gentlemen, know that you are engaged...

The NYPD is capable of shooting down planes in the event of another 9/11-style attack on New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday, but it's unknown exactly what weapons the police have at their disposal, and whether their arsenal includes surface-to-air missiles. "The NYPD has lots of capabilities that you don't know about and you won't know about," Bloomberg told reporters Monday, echoing recent comments by police commissioner Ray Kelly. "Do you mean to say that the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?" Kelly was asked by "60 Minutes" on Sunday . "Yes," he replied, "I...

Prenatal testing for Down syndrome should not be considered preventive medicine. Such tests cannot prevent the presence of Down syndrome in a child; but they can decrease the likelihood of a child with Down syndrome surviving beyond the womb. Expectant parents need accurate information, including the many positive outcomes, about life raising a child with Down syndrome. Last month, my daughter Juliet began second grade, where her mother and I expect her to maintain her B+ average on spelling tests and straight A’s in Chinese. In addition to being a loving daughter and big sister, Juliet also is endowed...

Note: Jewels Green is a former abortion clinic worker who also had an abortion herself. She recently spoke out about her experiences as an abortion clinic worker for the first time. September 20, 2011 (LiveAction.org) - After supporting abortion my entire life and working in an abortion clinic for years, my Ah-HA moment seemed to come from an unlikely place. I did not have a profound, sudden shift in my worldview. After years of ignoring the little voice inside me questioning the death around me—the nightmares and the regret—the truth snuck up on me. I was involved in an online...

Turns out Keith Olbermann's fans may not be willing to follow him to the ends of the earth. Or in this case Current TV. The Daily News reports that Olbermann's show has lost nearly half its viewers since its June Debut. Current doesn't make Olbermann's ratings public (unless the show has a particularly good week as it did in the last week of August), but the NYDN got its hands on some numbers and they're not great.

As we consult our quotes, we see the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 2.11% this morning, having been open a mere two hours. That must have been some jobs speech!

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Private businesses added a modest number of jobs in August, according to a report released Wednesday. Private-sector jobs in the U.S. rose by 91,000 this month, ... had expected ADP would report an August gain of 100,000. The July data were revised down to show a rise of 109,000 versus 114,000 reported earlier. ...Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect total nonfarm payrolls rose by only 80,000 slots in August. This month's number is expected to be held down by workers on strike at Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) in mid-August and layoffs in the state and...

In an embarrassing defeat for the Obama administration, a federal court ruled on Wednesday that Secret Service White House visitor logs are agency records that are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act! U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued the decision in Judicial Watch v. Secret Service, (No. 09-2312). Here’s the bottom line: The Obama administration will now have to release all records of all visitors to the White House – or explain why White House visits should be kept secret under law.

President Barack Obama made two fundamental mistakes today in his press conference which was intended to calm the markets. First, he did not lead off with a moment of reflection on the loss of American military lives in Afghanistan over the weekend. Second, he completely missed the boat on why Standard & Poor’s (S&P) lowered the credit rating of the United States. The President should have led off his press conference with prayers and condolences for the families of the 30 members of the U.S. military who lost their lives in Afghanistan over the weekend. Instead, the President waited until...

McAllen, TX -- Gone are the days when a kid could make a few extra bucks by selling lemonade on the corner of their street. These days, it's against the law. A 12-year-old girl and her little brother were just trying to earn a few dollars for their two hermit crabs when a city code enforcement officer in Texas came and shut them down. The officer told their grandmother that the children needed a permit to sell lemonade, and their grandmother was ticketed for the offense. "I was mad," the 12-year-old said. "I don't understand why someone would want to...

Borders Group Inc. said it would liquidate after the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain failed to receive any offers to save it. Borders, which employs about 10,700 people, scrapped a bankruptcy-court auction scheduled for Tuesday amid the dearth of bids. The chain said it will ask a judge Thursday to approve a sale to liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group. The liquidation of the company's remaining 399 stores could start as soon as Friday, and the chain is expected to go out of business for good by the end of September, the company said.

During the past few weeks, something of a back-and-forth has developed between New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and conservative talker Mark Levin. The topic: disparaging comments Friedman made about the government of Israel. Last month, in an appearance on Bloomberg’s “The Charlie Rose Show,” Friedman said, “Israel today — I’m sorry — it has the most inbred, unimaginative government I think it’s ever had.” And on Monday’s “Imus in the Morning” show on the Fox Business Network, Friedman clarified those remarks. “The right words Don, are inbred, brain dead and completely, I would say, indifferent to the situation that...

I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth – Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, and talent. --- We destroyed the Chosen People, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world. --- The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. --- These are the people we burned. --- And under the pretense of tolerance, and...

The rate of infiltration into Israel from Sinai has dipped by 50% in the past year, a senior security source told Arutz Sheva's Haggai Huberman. "Last year we counted 6,000 infiltrators in this season. This year we are at 2,500 infiltrators." "The Egyptians are making efforts to prevent the entry of infiltrators," the security official said. "There is good cooperation with the Egyptians." The Sinai desert, however, is "turning into a black hole, an area without a country [in charge of it] and with many terror elements," the source added. "The Egyptians are focusing their anti-terror efforts on Rafiah, El...