Free Republic

HOUSTON – About 130 Houston student will attend a new Arabic immersion school next year, where they will learn to speak Arabic as they learn “to be truly global citizens.” “With kids who learn Arabic, as a parent you’re going to set them up for success, as a teacher you’re going to challenge them to do the best they can, but that skill of learning Arabic and being fluent in it really can be life-changing for a Houston kid,” Kate Adams, the principal of Houston Independent School District’s Arabic Immersion Magnet School, told Houston Public Media. “In addition to the...

Two men who opened fire outside a contest for cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad were killed by police Sunday at a Garland ISD events center. A senior FBI official confirmed that one of the suspects in the attack has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terrorism investigation, ABC News reports. FBI agents and a bomb squad reportedly converged on Simpson's apartment in Phoenix, where police were conducting an initial search with a robot. KPNX-TV (Channel 12), an NBC affiliate in Arizona, reported that the two suspects had been roommates. The...

The University of Maryland joins the University of Michigan in the ranks of educational institutions with an "American Sniper" controversy. Muslim student protests prompted the University of Maryland at College Park to announce the cancellation of the movie about deceased Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. "American Sniper only perpetuates the spread of Islamophobia and is offensive to many Muslims around the world for good reason. This movie dehumanizes Muslim individuals, promotes the idea of senseless mass murder, and portrays negative and inaccurate stereotypes," the university's Muslim Students Association said in its petition, Fox News reported Thursday.

Less than a year after I moved to the United States in 2006, I was asked to speak at the University of Pittsburgh. Among those who objected to my appearance was a local imam, Fouad El Bayly, of the Johnstown Islamic Center. Mr. Bayly was born in Egypt but has lived in the U.S. since 1976. In his own words, I had “been identified as one who has defamed the faith.” As he explained at the time: “If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is...

An Iranian journalist writing about the nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran has defected. In an interview Amir Hossein Motaghi, has some harsh words for his native Iran. He also has a damning indictment of America's role in the nuclear negotiations. “The U.S. negotiating team are mainly there to speak on Iran’s behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal," Motaghi told a TV station after just defecting from the Iranian delegation while abroad for the nuclear talks. The P 5 + 1 is made up of United States, United Kingdom, Russia,...

Opinion: White House Obama's Paris snub wasn't an oversight By Byron York | January 12, 2015 | 4:33 pm The uproar over whether President Obama or another top administration official should have attended the massive unity rally in Paris has obscured an important point about the White House's reaction to the latest terror attacks in Europe. The administration no-shows were not a failure of optics, or a diplomatic misstep, but were instead the logical result of the president's years-long effort to downgrade the threat of terrorism and move on to other things. "The analogy we use around [the White House]...

WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — White House aides are accusing soldiers who served with Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl are “swift boating” him following his release over the weekend after five years in captivity. NBC News’ Chuck Todd reported Monday that the White House did not expect this sort of vitriolic backlash exchanging five high-level Taliban members held at Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl, who left his Army post in 2009 in Afghanistan and was subsequently taken captive. “They did not expect this backlash on Bergdahl himself,” Todd reported on NBC’s “Today.” I’ve had a few aides describe it to me as we didn’t...

After the recent Bundy Ranch episode by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Texans are becoming more concerned about the BLM’s focus on 90,000 acres along a 116 mile stretch of the Texas/Oklahoma boundary. The BLM is reviewing the possible federal takeover and ownership of privately-held lands which have been deeded property for generations of Texas landowners. Sid Miller, former Texas State Representative and Republican candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, has since made the matter a campaign issue to Breitbart Texas. “In Texas,” Miller says, “the BLM is attempting a repeat of an action taken over 30 years ago...

Gohmert threatens to contempt for AG Holder. Holder snaps “you don’t want to go there." Gohmert: “I don’t need lectures from you” Holder is testifying at a House hearing on Oversight at the DOJ. Watch live below.. http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/04/08/watch-live-eric-holder-testifies-house-hearing-oversight-doj

George Soros, one of the world’s leading investors, has warned that the European Union is in danger of falling apart if it fails to confront Vladimir Putin’s naked aggression in Ukraine. ...

Driving the Republican jihad was a claim, first reported in October 2012 by Fox News, that CIA personnel had wanted to respond more quickly to the Benghazi attack but were ordered to "stand down," perhaps by political higher-ups. Although this claim was promptly rebutted by CIA officials, it was repeated by Fox at least 85 times, according to a review by the liberal advocacy group Media Matters. This barrage fueled Republican charges that the Democrats were engaging in a cover-up.

Critics of President Obama's nominee to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division have described Debo Adegbile as “radical,” “dangerous” and “outside the mainstream.” Now he is facing heated criticism for his role in getting convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence overturned during his time as a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. However, both Adegbile's supporters and detractors believe he will successfully navigate the Senate votes necessary to be confirmed to head up the Civil Rights Division in the near future.

“Number sense,” courtesy of Common Core? We don’t know the source of that math problem, but based on what we’ve seen elsewhere, it has all the hallmarks of Common Core math. Now try your hand at this third-grade math problem, also reportedly from a Common Core lesson: Common Core: It’s For the Children™.

ust hours after the deadly shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, gun control advocates tried to reignite the national debate over gun laws that had only just subsided. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and a longtime gun control advocate, denounced “the litany of massacres” over the past few years and asked rhetorically, “When will enough be enough?” [snip] The National Rifle Association had no comment on Monday, and pro-gun groups generally take the stance that days of particularly shocking crimes are not the time to discuss policy. Popular conservative blogger and former CNN commentator Erick Erickson admonished the rush...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ari.) said Wednesday that the rebels engaged in a civil war with Syrian president Bashar Assad feel “abandoned” by President Obama. “I was very disappointed that the president did not mention the Free Syrian Army and our moral and material assistance for them, which is required,” McCain said on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe." “I think they do feel that they’re being abandoned.” “I feel badly, very badly for my friends in the Free Syrian Army today,” he added. In his Tuesday night prime time address, Obama asked Congress to put on hold resolutions to authorize a military strike...

George Washington would not be welcome in the modern U.S. military. Neither would Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin, according to Department of Defense training documents that depict the Founding Fathers as extremists and conservative organizations as “hate groups.” The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute training guide was obtained by Judicial Watch under a Freedom of Information Act Request. It was acquired from the Air Force but originated from the Pentagon. “This document deserves a careful examination by military leadership,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Fox News. “Congress needs to conduct better oversight and figure out what the heck is...

Yet another reason to find the Enzi/Cheney race fascinating. Tough call here for Maverick. Does he strike a blow for incumbency by backing his pal Mike, even though it means siding with “wacko bird” nemesis, Rand Paul? Or does he strike a blow for interventionism by endorsing the tea-party favorite Cheney? Here’s the answer, via the Corner. McCain endorsing anyone named “Cheney” at this point was a long shot, incumbent opponent or no. He’s been at odds with Dick sporadically for at least 10 years, dating back to the Bush tax cuts, then to the debate over enhanced interrogation, and...

Former President George W. Bush wants Republicans to consider immigration on its own merits, not just as a party saving piece of legislation, he said during an interview on ABC's This Week. "Sometimes, it takes time for some of these complex issues to evolve. And it looks like immigration, you know, has a chance to pass," Bush said.

Wow..be listening to Becks show this morning..you will understand what's going on. It is in fact the immigration bill. Bohner, Grahmn and McCain are threatening GOP members who are standing firm against immigration bill. There are 50 of them and some have chairs that are being threatened by GOP and Bohner.

In a Spanish-language interview Sunday with the network Univision, Sen. Marco Rubio, the leading Republican on the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform group, made his strongest statement yet that legalization of the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants must happen before any new border security or internal enforcement measures are in place, and will in no way be conditional on any security requirements. “Let’s be clear,” Rubio said. “Nobody is talking about preventing the legalization...