Free Republic

Some of the “IS newbies” complain they have been misled into journeying to the Middle East. “I have done almost nothing except distributing clothes and food. I also helped clean weapons and transported the bodies of fighters killed in the clashes. Winter is beginning. It's getting very hard,“ wrote one of the militants from a base in Aleppo in northern Syria. Some messages look like they have been written by homesick schoolboys who are waiting for their moms in summer camp rather than brutal extremists responsible for mass executions of innocent civilians. “I'm sick and tired [of being here]. My...

A French left-wing MEP has hit out at the creators of video game Assassin's Creed over their portrayal of Maximilien de Robespierre. A slight artistic liberty from the creators sees the character of Robespierre presented as a psychopathic mass-murderer, which has enraged the French left, Jean-Luc Melenchon claims the depiction of Robespierre, considered by many to have been the architect of the French Revolution, in the latest installation of the game is 'propaganda against the people'.

Mitchell ProtheroOctober 5, 2014 IRBIL, Iraq — A former French intelligence officer who defected to al Qaida was among the targets of the first wave of U.S. air strikes in Syria last month, according to people familiar with the defector’s movements and identity. Two European intelligence officials described the former French officer as the highest ranking defector ever to go over to the terrorist group and called his defection one of the most dangerous developments in the West’s long confrontation with al Qaida. The identity of the officer is a closely guarded secret. Two people, independently of one another, provided...

Someone obviously read Obama’s handbook on governing. Crisis-hit France is “sick”, the country’s new economy minister said.“France is sick. It’s not well. We have to describe the situation as it is,” Emmanuel Macron told French radio.Added to its economic woes, the country is weighed down by a political crisis that has seen President Francois Hollande plumb record lows in opinion polls and a shock cabinet reshuffle in August to purge dissenters.The government’s unpopularity “is due to a lack of results”, said Macron. But President Hollande, the garden gnome of European politics, has the cure. More Global Warming ecoscam spending. French...

Watch this — what would draw these women to this hellhole entirely cloaked in body bags? Religious fervor. These French women stand with the beheaders of the French tourist in Algeria. Why? Because nationality is irrelevant.

Pro-ISIS fighters in Algeria released a video today of a hostage who was kidnapped this weekend. The hostage delivered a message to President Francois Hollande: “I am in the hands of Jund al-Khilifa, an Algerian armed group. This armed group is asking me to ask you (President Francois Hollande) to not intervene in Iraq. They are holding me as a hostage and I ask you Mr President to do everything to get me out of this bad situation and I thank you.” The pro-ISIS group gave France twenty-four hours to stop “the aggression against ISIL” or they will behead their...

TheBlaze TV The 100-Year-Old Agreement You Need to Know About to Understand What’s Driving the Islamic State Sep. 18, 2014 8:45pm Erica Ritz Glenn Beck broke down the history of the Middle East on his television program Thursday, focusing on a nearly 100-year-old agreement that he says is integral to understanding the motivations of the Islamic State: the Sykes-Picot Agreement. If you do not understand the Sykes-Picot Agreement, Beck said, you cannot fully understand the Islamic State, or why the Israelis and the Palestinians will never reach a two-state solution. Though many go back to 1948 and the creation of...

<p>The French government was dissolved Monday amid turmoil among top ministers.</p> <p>President Francois Hollande asked Prime Minister Manuel Valls to form a new government, which will be announced Tuesday...</p> <p>"The crisis in the heart of the government is clear, and it promises to be bloody," reported Le Figaro, a right-leaning national newspaper.</p>

In recognition of Bastille Day, I, in this special Monday episode, discuss "the book that caused the French Revolution": Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Dangerous Liaisons), written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The book -- perhaps somewhat unintentionally -- set off pious sentiment against the Ancien Regime, and its influence carries on today. WATCH ON YOUTUBE(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start off the show with a brief primer on Bastille Day and immediately begin a summary of the characters and events in this novel, breaking down its story of lust and love. I then cite some of its distinctively Catholic elements....

In recognition of Bastille Day, I, in this special Monday episode, discuss "the book that caused the French Revolution": Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Dangerous Liaisons), written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The book -- perhaps somewhat unintentionally -- set off pious sentiment against the Ancien Regime, and its influence carries on today. WATCH ON YOUTUBE(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start off the show with a brief primer on Bastille Day and immediately begin a summary of the characters and events in this novel, breaking down its story of lust and love. I then cite some of its distinctively Catholic elements....

French authorities say they foiled an Islamic terrorist plot reportedly targeting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and a nuclear power plant last year. The revelation comes as the country unveiled new anti-terror rules which included a proposal to ban terror suspects from leaving the country if it is thought they intend to fight abroad, The Telegraph reported. French authorities revealed they arrested a 29-year-old Algerian butcher living in southern France June 2013, after they found coded messages between him and a high-ranking Al Qaeda member discussing how “to conduct jihad in the place you are currently,” according to Le Parisien....

As a Christian lawyer — even when I was engaged in the “commercial” practice of law rather than the nonprofit, constitutional work I do now — I always drew moral lines around my representations decisions. I was not going to use whatever meager talents God gave me to advance or celebrate causes or principles I knew to be wrong. In other words, I discriminated. But not on the basis of race, gender, disability, or sexual orientation, but rather on the basis of the action or legal principle the case would advance. I’d happily represent anyone, gay or straight, in a...

"Men are also allowed to receive extra credit, as long as they shave their bodies from the neck down. Student Stephanie Robinson said it was a “life changing experience.” Female Arizona State University students can receive extra credit for defying social norms and refusing to shave for 10 weeks during the semester. Women and Gender Studies Professor Breanne Fahs, encourages her female students to cease shaving their underarms and legs during the semester and document their experiences in a journal. "One guy did his shaving with a buck knife." Student Stephanie Robinson said it was a “life changing experience.” “Many...

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was held on Tuesday for questioning into suspicions that a network of informers kept him abreast of a separate inquiry into alleged irregularities in his 2007 election campaign, a legal source said. Local media said it was the first time a former head of state had been held for questioning in modern French history. The conservative politician denies wrongdoing in a string of investigations which could derail his hopes of a come-back after his 2012 presidential election defeat by Francois Hollande. Sarkozy arrived early Tuesday to be quizzed by investigators at their offices in Nanterre,...

o you've been feeling virtuous quaffing red wine, nibbling on dark chocolate and popping grapes, thinking you're reaping the life-extending, disease-fighting, health-promoting benefits of resveratrol. You'll need to think again, suggests a new study, which finds that high levels of resveratrol consumed as part of a regular diet are not linked to lower levels of cancer, cardiovascular disease or inflammation, and do not appear to prolong life. The latest research on the promising polyphenol was conducted on the senior population of two villages in the Chianti region of Italy -- 783 men and women 65 and older whose health and...

The number of French Jews emigrating to Israel rose nearly four-fold in the first quarter of the year and could touch a record in 2014, a Jewish organization said Monday. The Jewish Agency for Israel, a global body responsible for the immigration and absorption of Jews into Israel, said 1,407 people left France for Israel between January and March against 353 people a year earlier. "This phenomenon is speeding up" said Ariel Kandel, the head of the Jewish Agency's French chapter.

Excuse the pun, but Helene Darroze really is at the top of her game, and not just because she’s cooking in Burj Khalifa’s 124th-floor restaurant next week. The chef runs Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, London (at the Connaught hotel, where she took over from Angela Hartnett) and Moscow, is a mum-of-two and is evangelical about the local cuisine of her home region, France’s bountiful south-west. “I use my memories to cook,” she says; those memories might range from growing up in a cooking family (at her family’s Relais & Châteaux hotel in Villeneuve-de-Marsan) or taking the plunge into cooking at...

All primary schools will be expected to teach foreign languages to pupils from 2014 as part of a major drive to boost education standards, it emerged. At least one subject from a seven-strong shortlist – French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Latin and ancient Greek – will be offered to seven- to 11-year-olds. The move – outlined in a consultation document published by the Department for Education – could result in a major rise in the number of pupils studying the classical languages at a young age....

French leaders announced that there are significant reasons to believe that Syrian forces continue to use chemical weapons on their own citizenry in its effort to crack down on opposition targets. Appearing on the Europe 1 radio show this weekend, French President Francois Hollande indicated his government had "a few elements of information" that government forces in Syria are behind recent chlorine gas attacks in at least three towns, although he stressed that at the moment concrete proof was still lacking. While French intelligence officials work to substantiate the claim, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabuis told the radio station that...

Full Title:Cadillac fuels Parisian fury with 'anti-French' advert which takes a dig at countries who take the 'whole of August Off' U.S. luxury car maker Cadillac has provoked anger in France with an advert which pokes fun at countries where workers 'stroll home, stop by the cafe... and take the whole of August off'. The commercial features Desperate Housewives actor Neil McDonough as a successful businessman who compares 'hard-working' Americans to their counterparts abroad who in his words 'don't work'. He says: 'Why do we work so hard? For what? For this? For stuff? Other countries don't work, they stroll...