Free Republic

A plane carrying Americans was forced to land in Iran by the Iranian Air Force. It was allowed to leave early Saturday. It isn't known if all are still aboard. Link only.(Excerpt) "A charter airplane carrying military contractors, including Americans, took off early Saturday from Iran, hours after its pilots were ordered to land because the flight plan was out of date, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said."

Honorable Mentions: Sheldon Adelson, Roger Ailes, Brent Bozell, Ben Carson, Tucker Carlson, Todd Cefaratti, Chris Chocola, Jim DeMint, Jonathan Garthwaite, Trey Gowdy, Greg Gutfeld, Darrell Issa, Bobby Jindal, Matt Kibbe, Charles Krauthammer, Mike Lee, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Michelle Malkin, Alex Marlow, Jenny Beth Martin, Bill O'Reilly, Tony Perkins, Judson Phillips, Reince Priebus, Glenn Reynolds, Marco Rubio ,Christopher Ruddy, Sal Russo, Antonin Scalia, Thomas Sowell, Dustin Stockton, Erik Telford, Joe Wierzbicki 25) Paul Ryan: The former VP candidate has been a difference-maker in the House, although not in a way a lot of conservatives have been pleased to see. Ryan was...

An Iranian Christian pastor already imprisoned for his faith now faces the death penalty after being hit with a bizarre new charge called “spreading corruption on Earth.” Supporters fear the worst for Pastor Behnam Irani, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2011 for his Christian activities, including leading a 300-member evangelical congregation in Karaj, a city less than 15 miles outside the capital, Tehran. He is now being held in solitary confinement and suffering numerous health problems, including internal bleeding, according to advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide. …

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-05/mississippi-high-court-may-be-next-stop-in-senate-runoff-fight.html

If Ronald Reagan were president today, he would handle the Islamic State (ISIS) threat very differently, and he certainly wouldn’t be looking for “cover” from the “international community,” Michael Reagan tells Newsmax TV. In 1986, Reagan ordered airstrikes against terrorist and military targets in Libya after two American servicemen were killed in the bombing of a nightclub in Berlin that was linked to the North African country. Libya had also killed five Americans when it attacked airports in Rome and Vienna. “For us to ignore by inaction, the slaughter of American civilians and American soldiers, whether in nightclubs or airline...

We need a chief executive who can artfully make the compelling case to the country that we continue to be unfairly and unconstitutionally subjugated.Every so often, an incident symptomatic of deeper issues triggers a release valve for collective despair. The killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., sparked a movement much larger than concerns about the aggressive policing of black men. The marches and protests are a larger commentary about the economic and societal disenfranchisement of black people and the response to Brown’s death is a coalescing event, sounding the latest clarion call for America to revisit her unresolved original...

Bill Clinton is lending his political star power to Democrat Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor who is locked in a tight race for his old job in the nation’s largest swing state. The former president on Friday headlined a rally in Miami where he implored Democrats to defy historical trends and turn out and vote in November. “We’re great at doing what’s right if there’s a presidential election on the ballot, but we’re not nearly as good as our Republican opponents are at showing up in the midterm elections,” Clinton said. “The whole shebang is going to depend on...

NORFOLK Her attacker broke in through a back door while she was sleeping. He tied her up and held a knife to her throat. He said he wasn't going to rape her, that he was hungry and just wanted money. But he did rape her. A month later, he returned in the middle of the night to the same house near Ocean View. He bound the woman and her teenage daughter with duct tape and raped the girl. Norfolk police investigated, but the case went cold. Two years later in Kuwait, in 2010, an Army captain was showering when a...

Ahmad Abdi Godane, the late leader of Somalian militant Islamist group al-Shabaab, was killed in a U.S. air strike, both the Pentagon and Somalia’s premier confirmed on Friday. The demise of the reclusive leader—of whom very few confirmed photos exist—was hailed by the White House as “a major symbolic and operational loss” for the al-Qaeda linked group. Due to al-Shabaab’s activities under Godane’s leadership and his allegiance to al-Qaeda, the U.S. State Department had listed him as one of the world’s eight top terror fugitives, with a $7 million reward for information leading to his arrest, the third-highest level of...

A British woman who converted to Islam has joined ISIS forces in Syria and called for the beheading of Christians on Twitter. Sally Jones, 40, who left Britain for Syria last year, is thought to be using the name Umm Hussain or Sakinah Hussain, and uses the name Umm Hussain al-Britani on Twitter, the Sunday Times reported. In a recent tweet that has since been deleted she said: "You Christians all need beheading with a nice blunt knife and stuck on the railings at Raqqa... Come here I'll do it for you!" Her Twitter bio features a quote from Osama...

Obama administration moved Thursday to restrict prescriptions of the most commonly used narcotic painkillers in the U.S. in an attempt to curb widespread abuse.

Tucson police this week rescued a 16-year-old boy they say had been beaten, blindfolded and bound after being kidnapped for ransom because his captors believed he came from a wealthy family. The boy’s family called police Tuesday evening reporting that their son was taken and that his suspected kidnappers were attempting to extort money from them. “For whatever reason the suspects believed that the family, that the father, had a good deal of money,” Tucson police spokesman Sergeant Pete Dugan said. Detectives worked overnight to track the boy down to a house in the city’s south side. They were conducting...

You don’t honor a saint by encouraging a sin. No doubt there have been homosexual persons marching down Fifth Avenue every year in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There was never any ban on their participation; there was no test of sexual orientation for marchers. But next year the parade in New York will feature something new: a group of avowed homosexuals carrying a banner, promoting same-sex unions, supporting the gay lifestyle. Next year there will be only one story-line of interest to the reporters who cover the annual parade in the world’s media capital: the triumph of the gay...

Stricter rules for the country's most commonly prescribed painkiller were rolled out on Thursday by the FDA, the last step in a policy change that has been coming down the pipeline for years, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Hydrocodone will now be in a more serious and restrictive category. Doctors will be barred from calling in prescriptions by telephone, and patients will not be able to get refills on the same prescription, but will have to return to a physician for a new one. It will also have be to kept in special vaults in pharmacies. The Drug...

Sen. Barbara Boxer called rumors that she planned to resign "bizarre" during a news conference in San Francisco's Ferry Building late this morning. Boxer, 73, said she has no plans to leave a job she loves while serving her fourth term in the U.S. Senate and will decide next year if she will run for re-election in 2016. Speaking to a crowd of reporters, the senator highlighted multiple regional, state, national and international issues she will address when Congress returns to session on Monday following a five-week recess. She noted that this is the 54th straight month the country has...

Between the insulting defeat in 1962 at the hands of the Chinese and attaining the glorious heights with the victory in 1971 leading to the creation of Bangladesh, the Indian armed forces had a mixed-bag experience in the 22-day war with Pakistan in 1965. In the run up to the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war, dissection of the conflict has begun with the Indian Air Force (IAF) veterans gathering in New Delhi on Friday to dissect what was the first full-blown air battle between the arch-rivals. It was the test of the IAF's combat worthiness against the Pakistan Air...

A conviction on the attempted murder charge is punishable by up to life in prison. No court dates were immediately set for Englert. But her bail has been doubled, from $250,000 to 500,000, cash-only. She remains incarcerated at the Salt Lake County jail. According to court documents, Englert allegedly admitted to police that on Aug. 24, she gave birth to the baby in the bathroom of her Kearns home. She wrapped the infant in a towel, left her on the floor, and went to bed, according to charges. The next day, a Monday, she went to work, leaving the child...

After a satellite image revealed that Shenyang Aircraft Corporation has already produced eight J-16 multirole fighters, drawing complaints from the Russian aviation industry that its aircraft have been copied without permission, according to the Kanwa Defense Review published by Andrei Chang, a Canadian military analyst also known as Pinkov. As the eight J-16 fighters in the image were all painted in yellow markings, the article said it remains unknown whether the aircraft will be turned over to the PLA Air Force or Navy. However, it is certain that J-16 multirole fighters will replace J-11B fighters designed for aerial combat. China...

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — A serial arsonist was sentenced Friday for setting a series of nine fires in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. According to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Steven Taylor Rutherford, 49, of Banning was ordered to spend 45 years in state prison. “Serial arsonists like Mr. Rutherford present a continual danger and threat to everyone in the Inland Empire region,” Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach said. Rutherford was arrested June 28, 2013, after a lengthy investigation by California fire arson investigators. He was convicted of intentionally starting nine fires from Sept. 6, 2011, to June 28,...

AUSTIN — Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis reveals in a new campaign memoir that she terminated two pregnancies for medical reasons in the 1990s, including one where the fetus had developed a severe brain abnormality. Davis writes in Forgetting to be Afraid that she had an abortion after an exam revealed that the brain of the fetus had developed in complete separation on the right and left sides. The Associated Press purchased an early copy of the book, which hits stores Tuesday.