Free Republic

To learn or to teachSaturday 2nd April 2010 Dear Family and Friends,It has now been two years since the MDC won elections and were voted into power in Zimbabwe. There's not a lot to show for two years because every day and every week there's been another delay, excuse and stalling tactic to prevent real power being handed over to the MDC. To say that the MDC is in office but not in power is the most accurate description of our situation two years after elections. Because there wasn't a referendum to ask the people of Zimbabwe if they...

Out of sight is not out of mindSaturday 27th March 2010 Dear Family and Friends, The democratic space in Zimbabwe shrunk dramatically this week in a series of events reminiscent of our recent past. It's a familiar litany which instils fear, silences voices and closes doors that were just beginning to open: The Mayor of Marondera town together with a Ward councillor and two others were arrested after a rally at a football stadium. The Mayor was held overnight and released without charge. At the time of writing the others were still detained without charge. A 10 day photo...

I know someone who purchased this from RAND. By page 19 this report goes from discussing the need for a Special Police Force overseas to supplement interventions, to suddenly needing a force that can circumvent Posse Comitatus. Posse Comitatus exists for a reason and any attempt to circumvent it, not matter how nicely packaged, is a step on the way to "Special" police becoming "Secret" police. They call it :A STABILITY POLICE FORCE: This study asks several questions. First, is a Stability Police Force (SPF) necessary? An SPF is a high-end police force that engages in a range of tasks...

The Marxism Nightmare Spreads to the U.S.! By Antonio Sosa  |  Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 11:54 am In 2006, when Ecuadorians were electing a new president, Venezuelans such as Alejandro Peña Esclusa warned Ecuadorians that the young and charismatic Rafael Correa would use democratic institutions to impose “socialismo del siglo XXI” (Marxism) in Ecuador just like Hugo Chavez had done in Venezuela. (Reference — Carta abierta al pueblo ecuatoriano) How did Peña Esclusa know that Marxism would be imposed in Ecuador? Because the basic elements of Chavez’s campaign (lies, manipulation, intimidation, fraud) were identical to those of Correa’s campaign.  Even...

My second syndicated column of the week looks at Barack Obama’s Call to Strong Arms. Looks like the “in-your-face” brigade has already struck — and vandalized GOP offices in Indiana and Florida. Expect more. We’ve been here before. *** Obama releases his “in-your-face” hounds by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2008 Warning: If your neighbor’s got an “Obama ‘08″ bumper sticker or lawn sign, you might want to double-check your door locks at night. The One has commanded his Purveyors of Change to go forth and proselytize to the unbelievers. And they’re not going to be knocking gently like Avon...

By Michelle Malkin  •  August 12, 2008 11:38 AM Remember the Jeep Jihadi who attempted to mow down students at UNC-Chapel Hill in the name of Allah two years ago in a botched attempt to “avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world”? He finally pleaded guilty this morning to nine counts of attempted first-degree murder.Hat tip - Bob Owens.Reminder: A suspect who is accused of hitting students with a sport utility vehicle at the University of North Carolina made his first court appearance Monday.Mohammad Taheri-azar, a 2005 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, smiled and waved before his hearing Monday. Taheri-azar told the...

U.S. company: Blackwater Flight 61 crash lawsuit governed by Islamic law   To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes in Afghanistan, a sister company of the private military firm Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case using the Islamic law known as Shari’a.    The lawsuit “is governed by the law of Afghanistan,” Presidential Airways argued in a Florida federal court. “Afghan law is largely religion-based and evidences a strong concern for ensuring moral responsibility, and deterring violations of obligations within its borders.”.......(News Observer)

More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report. Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.

Several violent attacks in Mt. Clemens have investigators looking for a gang of young men. As FOX 2's Amy Lange reports, police are now releasing surveillance video of the suspects

FBI Monitoring 'Incident' At Ridley Township Plant RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS3/AP) ― Boeing Rotorcraft Systems temporarily shut down a production line for several hours Tuesday at its suburban Philadelphia plant because of possible irregularities discovered in two military helicopters. The company disclosed few specifics about why the shutdown of the H-47 Chinook helicopter line at the plant in Ridley Township, Pa., occurred. It said an investigation was under way and it was working with the Defense Contract Management Agency, which oversees military suppliers. Boeing officials said they discovered "irregularities" in two of the aircrafts that were being assembled at the...

Goose Creek - Two men are being held in the Berkeley County Detention Center after police find explosive making devices in their car. The quantity of explosive making materials in that vehicle is unclear. The FBI (website) reports that there is no known link to terrorism. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office believes that among materials in the car's trunk were a bomb and bomb making materials that include chemicals, fuses, and igniters. The men 21-year-old Yousef Megahed and 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed were pulled over Saturday evening during a routine traffic stop near Myers Road and Highway 176. Few details about...

Washington - Local police outside Charleston, South Carolina stopped a vehicle in which they found what were suspected to be explosives, according to media reports late Saturday. Two men described as being of possibly Middle Eastern origin were in the vehicle, which was stopped on a highway. A police bomb squad was at the scene and preparing to examine the vehicle, a local television reported told the Cable News Network (CNN).

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia: In a precedent-setting case, a man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for lying to authorities about his participation in a terror training camp in Pakistan after prosecutors successfully argued that his lies obstructed a wide-ranging terrorism investigation. Under normal sentencing guidelines, Sabri Benkahla, 32, would have received at most a three-year term for his convictions earlier this year on charges of lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice and making a false statement. But for the first time, prosecutors were able to obtain a stiffer sentence by arguing that Benkahla's lies effectively promoted terrorism....

With doctors in custody over attempted terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow, British police have now discovered a group of 45 Muslim doctors threatened an attack in the U.S. with car bombs and rocket grenades. The threat was found in an Internet chat room run by Younis Tsouli, 23, of London, one of three members of a "cyber-terrorist" gang, according to the Daily Telegraph of London.

One of the unindicted co-conspirators of the FIRST WTC bombing, Siraj Wahhaj, will be a speaker at a local Islamic Conference to be held THIS SUNDAY in Hartford, Connecticut. All Freepers and Lurkers in good standing are requested to drop everything to be in Hartford for this event. This meeting is being held by known HAMAS supporters, also.

A teenager was charged with felony hate crimes yesterday, a day after he forced a 15-year-old Sikh schoolmate into a boys’ bathroom in Queens, tore off his turban and sheared his hair, the authorities said. According to the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, the teenager, Umair Ahmed, 17, walked up to the Sikh, Vacher Harpal, in a hallway at Newtown High School in Elmhurst shortly after noon on Thursday and said, “I have to cut your hair.” Mr. Ahmed was holding a pair of scissors, Mr. Brown said. Vacher replied: “For what? It is against my religion,” according to...

Rome, 3 April (AKI) - Prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Turin were scheduled to start investigating on Tuesday footage of an imam at the local Cottolengo mosque, Mohammed Kohalia, calling on Muslims to hate Christians and Jews and praying for their death. "The Prophet has said that the extremists [Jews and Christians] will be destroyed," the cleric is heard as saying in footage secretly filmed by a journalist. "Allah should kill the polytheists." Kohalia has denied making those statements. The DVD portraying Kohaila's sermon was filmed with a hidden camera by a faithful attending the prayers on behalf...

Yesterday afternoon, after wrapping up our vacation with a couple of pleasant hours in the Elliot Bay Book Company, Sheryl, Madeleine and I started back to our hotel to pick up our bags and head home to LA. We were with our friend and my Pajamas colleague Gerard. He proposed we take a cab; he would drop us by the hotel before continuing to his home. We found one quickly. It was driven by an African guy. We had to instruct him about the location of our hotel; it was new. In the course of this I asked him where...

Kismayo - Islamic religious police on Tuesday arrested 22 people for smoking in the Somali port of Kismayo, where they will be flogged if found guilty of violating a new tobacco ban, officials said. Those detained were nabbed just days after local Islamist officials announced a total ban on the use of tobacco in the key southern port, in a new sign of their increasingly strict application of Sharia law. "We started raids against tobacco users and we have arrested 22 people so far," Kismayo police deputy chief Mohmaed Abdulkadir Jibril told reporters here, about 500km south of the capital...

The Fascists Among UsOctober 17th, 2006 It’s no secret that hurling names about is as common in the political world as it is in a grammar school playground. One oft-used pejorative is “fascist,” which, along with racist, sexist, homophobe and others, tends to be least understood by those who utter it most. And because these damning terms are used wantonly, more to discredit than describe, they tend to be misapplied. Then, soon, calling someone a fascist becomes akin to calling him a snake: more a vague impugnment of character then a characterization of methods and goals. Rhetoric aside, however,...