Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anti-government extremists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States, the FBI warned on Monday. These extremists, sometimes known as "sovereign citizens," believe they can live outside any type of government authority, FBI agents said at a news conference.

THREE JUVENILES accused of assaulting a cabdriver and his passenger in Center City Saturday night while shouting racial slurs will not be charged with a hate crime, the District Attorney's Office said yesterday. The teens, who are black, were not charged with hate crimes because there was no evidence that the assault had been motivated by the race of the victims, who are white, said Tasha Jamerson, D.A. spokeswoman. Just shouting racial epithets during the commission of a crime doesn't rise to the level of ethnic intimidation, she said.

Nigeria imposed a 24-hour curfew Saturday in the northern city of Kano after assailants killed scores of people and wounded others in a hail of gunfire and coordinated bombings of eight government sites. The Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the blast....

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state radio says Tehran will give the United States a model of the American surveillance drone captured by the Islamic Republic. The report Tuesday said the toy model of the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone will be sent to the White House in response to a formal request from Washington last month asking Iran to return the aircraft that went down over Iran in December.

CAIRO (SANA): Egypt’s two main Islamist parties have scored a crushing victory in the seats declared so far. Egyptians were voting on Tuesday in second-round run-offs for the third and final phase of staggered elections to choose the first parliament since mass protests ousted Hosni Mubarak in February last year. Egypt’s two main Islamist parties have scored a crushing victory in the seats declared so far, reflecting a regional trend since Arab Spring uprisings overthrew authoritarian secular regimes. Under the complex electoral system, voters have been asked to cast three ballots — two for individual candidates and one for a...

Korean-American who holds a top position at the US Embassy shouted invectives at a young Filipino woman whom he nearly bumped with his car last Friday. Dean I. Chang, the American Embassy’s second secretary, cursed Princess Cordova, 22, after he got out of his Toyota Forerunner car with a Korean-looking woman, apparently his wife. “You’re a bitch, you’re a bitch!,” Chang was heard shouting at the shocked Cordova who was crossing the driveway of a Korean restaurant on Jupiter Street, Barangay Bel-Air, Makati City.

Today, Keisha Head is a wife and mother of three. But more than decade ago, she was the victim of a notorious human trafficker. At 16-years old, Head says she was being sold on the streets of Atlanta for sex. “I did not know that a normal, average man who was a preacher, who was a lawyer, who was a senator - could turn into this monster,” Head said. “That is the scariest moment when you are amongst people who claim to be normal yet they purchase you and they turn into these monsters. They rape you. They beat you....

According to MehrNews, the mouthpiece of the Islamic regime in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the Knesset’s decision to declare al-Quds (Jerusalem) the capital of Israel not only will not save the Zionist regime but also will speed up the regime’s annihilation. Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a meeting with the head of Turkey – Iran parliamentary friendship group, Murat Yildirim, in Tehran on Tuesday. He said that the Judaization of al-Quds (Jerusalem) is in line with the domineering powers’ colonialist policies to save the Zionist regime and dominate the region. Elsewhere in his remarks, Ahmadinejad said that...

A group of young Egyptians launched a page on Facebook entitled “The Egyptian Revolutionary Guard” and their profile pictures show the Iranian flag with modified colors to match the colors of the Egyptian flag. Other profile pictures show the Egyptian flag where the picture of Ayatollah Khamenei replaces the eagle. These young Egyptians declared on their page that the Islamic revolution in Iran, led by Ayatollah Khamenei, is their source of motivation and inspiration. … In a call to Al Arabiya, the reporter Mustafa Barakat affirmed that the movement is currently calling for people storm the U.S. embassy on the...

MAIDUGURI (AFP) – A purported spokesman for Islamist group, Boko Haram, has issued an ultimatum to Christians in the country’s north and threatened to confront troops after the president declared a state of emergency in hard hit areas. Abul Qaqa, who has spoken on behalf of the group blamed for scores of attacks in numerous times in the past, said he was giving southerners living in the north a three-day ultimatum to leave. “We find it pertinent to state that soldiers will only kill innocent Muslims in the local government areas where the state of emergency was declared,” he told...

About the only people having a Happy New Year in the Muslim world aren't the Christians who are huddling and waiting out the storm, but the Islamists who use a different calendar but are having the best time of their lives since the last Caliphate. The news that the Obama Administration has brought in genocidal Muslim Brotherhood honcho Yusuf Al-Qaradawi to discuss terms of surrender for the transfer of Afghanistan to the Taliban caps a year in which the Brotherhood and the Salafists are looking up carve up Egypt, the Islamists won Tunisia's elections, Turkey's Islamist AKP Party purged the...

This clip presents footage of an Egyptian soccer game, in which an antisemitic slogan appeared on a huge banner held by soccer fans. The footage was posted on the Internet on April 6, 2011. Slogan: "One Nation for New Holocaust"

The pyramids at Giza are the most stunning sight I have ever seen. True, their lonely eminence is threatened by Cairo's unlicensed building sprawl, with half completed houses inching their way towards them. Surveying them at night as the calls to prayer multiplied into a thunder of sound from central Cairo already told me a few years back what was coming. For now members of the Nour (The Light) Salafist party, which won 20 per cent of the vote in recent elections, are talking about putting an end to the 'idolatry' represented by the pyramids. This means destruction - along...

The Arabic School Textbooks Which Show Children How To Chop Off Hands and Feet Under Sharia Law By LEON WATSON 23rd December 2011 Barbaric textbooks handed out in Saudi Arabian schools teach children how to cut off a thief's hands and feet under Sharia law, it has emerged. The shocking books, paid for and printed by the Saudi government, also tell teenagers that Jews need to be exterminated and homosexuals should be 'put to death'. Recent editions were obtained by the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C., which says they should raise fears in the West over the use...

A wave of violence ripped across Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing at least 57 people and injuring nearly 200 in a coordinated attack designed to wreak havoc in the Iraqi capital just days after American forces left the country.

(The Australian) — At least 675 Pakistani women and girls were murdered during the first nine months of the year for allegedly defaming their family’s honour, a leading human rights group said today. The statistics highlight the scale of violence suffered by many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where they are frequently treated as second-class citizens and there is no law against domestic violence. Despite some progress on better protecting women’s rights, activists say the government needs to do far more to prosecute murderers in cases largely dismissed by police as private, family affairs. “A total of 675 women and...

A 1-year-old boy who was shot in the head during the filming of a rap music video in Oakland was taken off life support Friday. Hiram Lawrence, who would have turned 2 on Dec. 28, was pronounced dead at 3:05 p.m., the Rev. Roosevelt Taylor said. Hiram was being held by his father, also named Hiram Lawrence, when gunfire erupted as about 20 people gathered outside a west Oakland liquor store Nov. 28, police said. Six other people were wounded, including Hiram's father, who was shot in the hand. Investigators have said the shooting occurred after one group of people...

CAIRO, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The Muslim Brotherhood claimed its political party won the majority of runoffs in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary election. Meanwhile, representatives of several political parties and organizations said Wednesday they will move their demonstrations from Tahrir Square to outside a government building to protest the appointment of Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri, saying he doesn't represent them, al-Masry al-Youm reported. Ganzouri's cabinet was sworn in Wednesday. Official election results aren't expected until Thursday, but the Freedom and Justice Party said it had won 36 of the 56 seats available in the first round of voting...

by John HillStand with ArizonaThere was a time when farmers were just concerned with protecting their animals. That's no longer the case. "Now I'm worried about am I going to come home at night after work," said Scott Blevins. The Pinal County farmer and father has every reason to worry. A recent run-in with drug smugglers on his farm hit way too close to home. That's why this farmer isn't playing around. For safety he wears a bullet proof vest and packs a handgun and rifle to work. "I’m convinced somebody’s going to see something they shouldn’t see and somebody’s...

12/31/2010 9,390,476,088,043.35 4,634,739,130,665.17 14,025,215,218,708.52

Occupy Oakland protesters claimed victory after they shut down one of the nation's busiest shipping ports - escalating a movement whose tactics had largely been limited to marches, rallies and camps. In a five-hour stand-off protesters vandalised businesses and smashed bank windows, as they tried to shut down the city - and police appeared to respond using tear gas and flash bang grenades. The California demonstrators blocked operations at the city's port and stopped traffic on Wednesday in protests against economic inequality and police brutality, marred by scattered vandalism. Police in riot gear arrested dozens of protesters who had marched...

Welcome to Occupy Phoenix, the latest violent embarrassment to American society. This group of occupiers is asking, "When should you shoot a cop?" Pamphlets asking this question and laying out justifications for doing so were left at the Occupy Wall Street location in Phoenix, Arizona and found by a Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy. That's right folks, according to the OWS crowd, changing society "almost always requires" killing law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers in the Grand Canyon state have been placed on high alert and the Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center has published a safety memo in response to the threats...

A group of several dozen “Occupy Las Vegas” protesters camping on Clark County land located under the final approach to Runway 19 at McCarran International Airport today narrowly missed being injured when a 50 lb. slab of “blue ice” reportedly landed within feet of their tents. According to witnesses, the slab fell to earth seconds after Air Force One passed overhead while landing.

Sarah Palin says although America should be “very glad” that Libyan despot Moammar Gadhafi is dead the United States needs to be wary of who will replace him. The former Alaska governor also told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday she finds it “ironic” that those on the left who condemned President Ronald Reagan for his 1986 Libyan air strikes now are lauding President Barack Obama for his contributions to Gadhafi’s demise. “Certainly we need to be cognizant of the evolving situation and who will replace Gadhafi — what government will replace that regime — we are very glad that this...

Muammar Gaddafi's 'trophy' body on show in Misrata meat storeLibyans queue to see dictator's body as wounds appear to confirm he was killed in cold blood Andrei Netto in Misrata, Ian Black in Tripoli and Luke Harding Friday 21 October 2011 15.13 EDT Bloodied, wearing just a pair of khaki trousers, and dumped on a cheap mattress, Muammar Gaddafi's body has become a gruesome tourist attraction and a macabre symbol of the new Libya's problems. Hundreds of ordinary Libyans queued up outside a refrigerated meat store in Misrata, where the dead dictator was being stored as a trophy. A guard...

MISRATA, Libya (AP) -- Moammar Gadhafi's blood-streaked body was on display in a commercial freezer at a shopping center Friday as Libyan authorities argued about what to do with his remains and questions deepened over official accounts of the longtime dictator's death. New video emerged of his violent, chaotic last moments, showing fighters beating him as they drag him away.

Latest estimates on Gaddafi’s wealth, could even top Mubarak, making him one of the richest people in the world, now estimated could exceed £80 Billion ($128 Billion). He has widespread business activities and financial investment assets in many countries, including Spanish real estate, of course many Italian investments, including their media, sport and banks. Also in excess of $1.6 Billion of assets in UK alone...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared a laugh with a television news reporter moments after hearing deposed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi had been killed. "We came, we saw, he died," she joked when told of news reports of Qaddafi's death by an aide in between formal interviews. Clinton was in Tripoli earlier this week for talks with leaders of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC). The reporter asked if Qaddafi's death had anything to do with her surprise visit to show support for the Libyan people. "No," she replied, before rolling her eyes and saying "I'm sure it did" with a...

*****WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO OF QADDAFI'S BODY SHOWN IN THE VIDEO BELOW******RAW VIDEO

Disturbing images of a blood-stained and shaken Moammar Gadhafi being jostled by angry fighters quickly circulated around the world after the Libyan dictator's dramatic death near his home town of Sirte. Related content Biggest killers of Americans now are dead ‘Our martyrs' blood did not run in vain’ Picture apparently shows captured Gadhafi A look at Gadhafi's children Who killed Gadhafi? Conflicting stories emerge NBC correspondent answers questions about Gadhafi With warped vision, Gadhafi maddened Libya, West Captured Gadhafi, bloodied and dazed, shown on TV . . The exact circumstances of his demise are still unclear with conflicting accounts of...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, according to reporters on the ground in Libya, Colonel Khadafy's body -- there's one good thing about this guy's death, and that is the tombstone. We're finally gonna find out how he spells it. There are about 120 different versions of the spelling of Khadafy's name. (interruption) Oh, they did? AP's got a story on how he spells it, it's in the stack here? Oh cool, we know that. So we don't have to wait for the tombstone. Fine. Not what I was going to say anyway. That was just a random thought. According to reporters...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hailed the reported death of Muammar Qadhafi as a “victory” for President Obama. “This is a victory for the president, the Obama administration but most importantly” for the Libyan people, McCain said on Fox News Thursday morning. At the time that the senator make these remarks, the White House had not yet confirmed reports of the former Libyan ruler’s death. McCain said he believed “there’s very little doubt” that Qadhafi had been killed. In a statement released earlier in the day, the Arizona senator said Qadhafi’s death “marks an end to the first phase of the...

"There is no doubt that we did exactly what we said we were going to do in Libya, and I believe it underscores the capacity of us to work together as an international community. The U.S. obviously has unique capacities and we were proud of the leadership we showed in that process. "But increasingly, whenever we have the possibility of working with outstanding partners like Norway, then I think we are going to be more effective. And the U.S. will always preserve its right and duty to protect ourselves, our allies and our interests. But what it shows is that...

That's certainly what the White House would like people to think. Much of the media seems to agree, at least in some degree. The New York Times says that the video of a beaten Moammar Qaddafi still alive at the time of his capture provided a “harrowing … vindication� of Barack Obama’s decision to push NATO into bombing Libya on behalf of the rebels: For President Obama, the image of a bloodied Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi offers vindication, however harrowing, of his intervention in Libya, where a reluctant commander in chief put strict limits on American military engagement and let NATO...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hailed Muammar Gaddafi's death on Thursday as a warning to authoritarian leaders across the Middle East that iron-fisted rule "inevitably comes to an end," and as vindication for his cautious strategy toward Libya. Obama joined U.S. politicians and ordinary Americans in welcoming the demise of Gaddafi, who was for decades regarded as a nemesis of American presidents, and also claimed some of the credit for the Libyan strongman's downfall. ... "This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya who now have the opportunity to determine their own...

President Barack Obama hailed the lifting of the "dark tyranny" over Libya after the new government confirmed Muammar Gaddafi had been killed, issuing a warning to other dictators in the Middle East – and particularly Syria – that they could be next. Although Obama did not name Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, it was he Obama had in mind when he said the rule of the iron fist in the Middle East is inevitably coming to an end. Those leaders that try to deny the push for democracy will not succeed, he predicted. Obama was speaking in the White House Rose...

Cliff, there is a lot of truth in what you say. No one should weep for the pock-marked old drag queen’s vicious end. But, if ‘twere done, ‘twere better it had been done by the Americans after Lockerbie, or by the Brits after one of his diplomats shot and killed a London policewoman, Yvonne Fletcher, in St James’s Square, or by any other western nation after one or other of his many provocations twenty years ago. The post-Iraq Gaddafi of the last eight years was seen throughout the Arab world as a western ally. As recently as this spring, his...

First allow me to establish that I am glad the world is rid of Gaddafi. He was a tyrant and a terrorist. “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” It cost Americans a little over a billion dollars to send Mr. Gaddafi to his eternal reward where, no doubt, he is stoking the furnaces as we write. But this is not the end. In fact, it is the “beginning of the beginning.” I have never been totally satisfied that a democratic form of government will actually work in an Islamic country such as Libya, or Iraq or even Afghanistan, for that matter. They are...

"Kampala 'mute' as Gaddafi falls," is how the opposition paper summed up the mood of this capital the morning after. Whether they mourn or celebrate, an unmistakable sense of trauma marks the African response to the fall of Gaddafi. Both in the longevity of his rule and in his style of governance, Gaddafi may have been extreme. But he was not exceptional. The longer they stay in power, the more African presidents seek to personalise power. Their success erodes the institutional basis of the state. The Carribean thinker C L R James once remarked on the contrast between Nyerere and...

Timing is everything. Qaddafi was not killed in retaliation for his attacks on American servicemen in Berlin in 1986, or the downing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1989. He was not killed for his central role in the USSR's terror networks going back to the 1960s and 1970s. He was killed after coming over to our side of George Bush's "war on terror" in the final phase of a civil war in Libya in which his regime fought al Qaeda affiliates. Horrific as it sounds, Qaddafi was killed because we and our NATO allies joined the other side...

Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a subpoena Wednesday to Attorney General Eric Holder as part of his investigation into the gun trafficking operation known as "Fast and Furious." "Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged," the California Republican said in a statement. "The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago. It's time we know the whole truth." The subpoena seeks, among other things,...

China is continuing its bold economic and geopolitical march through the Caribbean and Latin America, using its growing economic might to dole out grant aid and soft loans to win friends and influence governments, continuing its plans to displace the United States as the region's major trading partner in the not-too-distant future. For two days this week, a large Chinese delegation led by Vice-Premier Wang Qishan spent hours in talks with Caribbean leaders and business delegations. By the time the forum ended in Trinidad's capital of Port of Spain, Beijing had unveiled measures worth $6.3 billion aimed at sealing better...

At least 200 potential terrorists are actively planning suicide attacks while living freely in Britain, intelligence chiefs have warned ministers. A senior intelligence source has revealed that the figure is a "conservative" estimate of the threat facing the country from UK-based Islamist suicide bombers. The would-be killers are among 2,000 extremists who the security services have said are based in Britain and actively planning terrorist activity of some kind. The figures are contained within a secret government report on the "enduring terrorist threat" facing the UK from al-Qaeda and affiliated organisations, ... Earlier this year, classified intelligence documents disclosed by...

Pelosi: Wall Street protests are a Main Street reaction to bank bailouts By Jamie Klatell - 10/08/11 12:08 PM ET House Minority Leader Nancy Pellosi (D-Calif.) said the Occupy Wall Street protests are a reaction government putting "Main Street at the mercy of Wall Street" by bailing out failing financial institutions. In an interview for Sunday's "This Week" on ABC, Pelosi said that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which was passed in 2008 when she was House Speaker and signed by President George W. Bush, was one of the causes for the demonstrations. "I think one of the most...

(CNN) – If you're dissatisfied with the economy, or unemployed, Herman Cain thinks you should take a long, hard look in the mirror. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted Wednesday, the up-and-coming GOP 2012 contender and former CEO of Godfather's Pizza summed up his bewilderment about recent demonstrations on Wall Street.

Janet Napolitano spent much of the spring sounding like a broken record ensuring that the U.S.-Mexico border is safe when the reality is that stretches are controlled by drug-trafficking organizations. A new federal report exposing the ugly truth about the southern border has left President Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary with egg on her face. Published by the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, the document contradicts much of what Napolitano has preached in the last few months during highly publicized jaunts to the crime-infested region. Remember this? The Mexican border “is as secure as it has ever been.” Or what...

If the drought wasn’t enough for farmers and ranchers to struggle with, now they are facing a growing threat. Thieves are targeting pastures and barns for suddenly valuable hay bales. It’s the nature of ranchers like James Lockridge to give you something if you need it badly enough. “Come up and ask us. Surely we can work something out.” Mitch Waters runs a feed store that’s such a fixture, people drive 50 miles to shop there. “Got out of school in 77 and been here ever since.” But now both men, are putting their livelihoods behind locks. Signs are posted,...

Dozens of Palestinians protest in Ramallah, heeding officials' instructions to hold anti-Obama demonstrations in West Bank. US President Barack Obama will be held responsible for the failure of the Middle East peace process, members of the Palestinian Authority delegation to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York charged on Thursday. The latest allegation came as the PA called for anti-Obama demonstrations in protest against his opposition to the Palestinian statehood bid. RELATED: 'Palestinians are still pushing for full UN membership' NY: Obama tells Abbas US will veto Palestinians at UN Relations between the PA and the US were now...

Egyptian prime minister Isam Sharaf told Turkish television the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty wasn't sacred and was subject to change. Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Thursday said the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty is not sacred and is subject to change. "The Camp David agreement depends on what benefits the region," Sharaf said in an interview on Turkish television, adding, "Egypt will make changes to the treaty if necessary." Sharaf's statements follow the popular sentiments of the street in Cairo, but altering the treaty would require the consent of all three signatories - Egypt, Israel, and the United States. Contrary...

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Rebel forces and armed civilians are rounding up thousands of black Libyans and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, accusing them of fighting for ousted strongman Moammar Gadhafi and holding them in makeshift jails across the capital. Virtually all of the detainees say they are innocent migrant workers, and in most cases there is no evidence that they are lying. But that is not stopping the rebels from placing the men in facilities like the Gate of the Sea sports club, where about 200 detainees — all black — clustered on a soccer field this week, bunching against...