Free Republic

@RepThomasMassie I condemn the barbaric attack on Israel and I affirm Israel’s right to defend itself. However, I will not be voting for House Resolution 771 today because: 1) It calls for sanctions on a sovereign country. Sanctions are a prelude to war and hurt the citizens of the country more than the government of the country that’s being sanctioned. And ultimately, sanctions create laws that will be used to prosecute American citizens (who engage in trade), not citizens of the sanctioned country. In short, sanctions do not achieve their stated purposes but do breed resentment of our country abroad....

Iranian general Qassem Soleymani was a master terrorist who orchestrated atrocities around the world that claimed thousands of lives, including hundreds if not thousands of Americans. That was the default position after President Trump took out Soleymani last week. The Democrats’ furious reaction overlooked realities about the Iranian regime in general and Soleymani in particular. Israel had also targeted the Quds Force commander, but according to the Kuwaiti Al-Jarida, the Obama administration tipped off the Tehran regime. Soleymani emerged unscathed and continued to spearhead the Islamic regime’s military and terrorist operations. Those were funded by criminal activity, and on that...

‘Trump’s dangerous shift on Iran’ author received approval from Foggy Bottom.' The U.S. State Department under former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vetted and approved the publication of fiercely anti-Trump news articles written by a current State Department official, Conservative Review has learned. On October 13 in the White House, President Trump announced that he had ordered a complete strategic review concerning the United States’ Iran policy. “Today, I am announcing our strategy, along with several major steps we are taking to confront the Iranian regime’s hostile actions and to ensure that Iran never, and I mean never, acquires a...

The Department of Justice is investigating whether expensive gifts were given to New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez and his wife, including a Mercedes-Benz, a luxury D.C. apartment, money and jewelry, sources familiar with the matter said. According to sources, investigators want to know if the gifts — which would be valued in the tens of thousands of dollars — came from the owner or associates of an Edgewater, N.J., business that won a controversial exclusive contract to perform Halal meat certification with the Egyptian government — even though U.S. Department of Agriculture officials complained that the firm had no previous...

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) could face new corruption charges as prosecutors meet with lawyers to weigh a decision...A report earlier this summer found that another person caught up in the probe...has ties to the mob....Menendez's wife sold $400,000 in gold bars shortly before his office was facing a federal corruption probe.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hit back on Wednesday after an ex-nuclear negotiator he accused of spying was cleared of espionage, calling for the publication of documents exposing the official. The Iranian judiciary the day before had cleared Hossein Moussavian on two counts of espionage and holding classified information, in direct contradiction of the government's accusations against the former atomic negotiator. "The full content of the negotiation of this ex-member of the nuclear negotiating team should be published," Ahmadinejad said after a cabinet meeting, according to the Mehr news agency. "It is very appropriate that the intelligence content...

University Middle East expert Hussein Mousavian was a former Iranian official A former Iranian official who is a faculty member at Princeton University recently bragged in an interview about how his hardline government’s death threats against a former top Trump administration official had him and his family "trembling" with fear. Hussein Mousavian, a former member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team who works as a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University, said in a recent interview that the Iranian regime’s threats to murder Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Iran, have heavily impacted Hook’s family...

Hussein Mousavian headlined STRATCOM's Deterrence Symposium U.S. military leaders earlier this month hosted a former top Iranian official who came under fire last year for bragging about the hardline regime’s efforts to assassinate American leaders. U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) tapped Hussein Mousavian, a former member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team who works as a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University, to headline its 2023 Deterrence Symposium, a high-level powwow that brought the former Iranian official shoulder-to-shoulder with America’s top military brass. Mousavian’s appearance at the mid-August gathering, which came to light on Monday after STRATCOM posted...

The Biden administration has made a deal with Iran to release $6 billion in frozen funds in exchange for the release of five American prisoners. The agreement issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer sanctioned Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions includes the release of five Iranian citizens held in the U.S. The Iranian-Americans include businessmen Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Shargi, 58, along with environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 67. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the deal late last week, but Congress was not notified of the decision until Monday,...

"Just this month Oberlin had to pay $36 million for defaming a local bakery with false accusations of racism. Oberlin has a track record of politically motivated dishonesty and can’t be trusted to give an honest assessment of Mahallati’s past. Our concerns have nothing to do with academic freedom or unorthodox views—they’re about Mahallati’s past and his apparent leading role in covering up the Iranian regime’s atrocities. I’d like to thank Ranking Member Foxx for her commitment to investigating higher education’s ties to hostile foreign regimes when Republicans retake the majority, "Republican Study Committee Chairman Banks told Fox News Digital....

A number of 49-year-olds who turned up at Croke Park for Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Covid-19 vaccine appointments on Saturday were turned away due to being under the age of 50, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed. A HSE spokeswoman said the National Immunisation Advisory Committe (Niac) guidelines stipulate these vaccines are “not recommended for this age group [under 50] at present”. “When this error was identified we immediately made every effort to contact those affected by phone and text to advise them not to attend their appointment today… We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused,” she added. Niac...

Colin Kahl opposed sanctions on IRGC, condemned killing of Iranian terror chief Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee are meeting privately on Tuesday morning to discuss their growing policy concerns about Colin Kahl, President Joe Biden's nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon, according to sources close to the committee. Kahl, a former Obama State Department official, was a key architect of the Iran deal and has been at the forefront of a number of controversial moves, including, reportedly, the decision to remove a statement affirming Jerusalem as Israel's capital from the 2012 Democratic National Convention...

The Biden campaign over Halloween weekend released a list of bundlers who have raised at least $100,000 for the campaign, and the list includes the head of pro-Iranian organizations that Republican senators say should be investigated as foreign lobbyist groups. The list of campaign bundlers included Jamal Abdi, who is the president of the D.C.-based National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and executive director of its sister organization, NIAC Action. NIAC describes itself on its website as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002 to give voice to the Iranian-American community.” The group worked to get the Joint Comprehensive Plan of...

May 8, 2020May 8, 2020 by Evan GoughA Cool Idea to Catch Up With an Interstellar Visitor Poor, dim-witted humanity. We used to think we were the center of everything. That wasn’t that long ago, and even though we’ve made tremendous advancements in our understanding of our situation here in space, we still have huge blind spots.For one, we’re only now waking up to the reality of interstellar objects passing through our Solar System. In 2017, Oumuamua came for a brief visit, and was confirmed as an interstellar object. It’ll never return, and will spend an eternity travelling through the...

In early January the United States killed General Qassim Soleimani, a top commander of Iran’s al-Quds Force, in an airstrike at Baghdad’s International Airport. The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Seven people were reportedly killed in the airstrike. Following the death of Commander Soleimani Democrat Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) lashed out at President Trump for assassinating the Iranian al-Quds terrorist leader who was responsible for the deaths and maiming of HUNDREDS of US soldiers. It soon became apparent why Murphy was sooo upset with Soleimani’s death. Senator...

On Thursday the United States killed General Qassim Soleimani, a top commander of Iran’s al-Quds Force, in an airstrike at Baghdad’s International Airport. The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Seven people were reportedly killed in the airstrike. Following the death of Commander Soleimani Democrat Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) lashed out at President Trump for assassinating the Iranian al-Quds terrorist leader. Now we know why Murphy was sooo upset with Soleimani’s death. Senator Murphy has been has a history of supporting Iran’s mullahs. Murphy is a routine speaker...

Reza Aslan: “Is the world a better place or a worse place with Rush Limbaugh in it?” FEB 6, 2020 9:00 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER Aslan and every other Islamic spokesman in the U.S. with whom I’ve had any interaction is hate-filled and arrogant. Maybe they think this is a winning strategy, to show moral indignation against someone who opposes jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women. In any case, the Left is so corrupt these days that Aslan and his hateful colleagues don’t have to worry about paying any price for their ugly statements. After all, consider Aslan’s track...

Earlier this month, House Democrats sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, urging sanctions relief for Iran. Among other things, they criticized "the designation of Iran's Central Bank under terror authorities," arguing that "the efficacy of sanctions is questionable." An organization long described as a front group for the Iran regime sponsored the letter and has embedded staffers with many of the letter's supporters in Congress, including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). “Is Iran’s regime quietly infiltrating Congress?” M. Hanif Jazayeri, news editor at Free Iran, asked on Twitter. He pointed out that...

An optimal shielding configuration has been realized during the phase I study, and it is referred to as a Magnetospheric Dipolar Torus (MDT). This configuration has the singular ability to deflect the vast majority of the GCR including HZE ions. In addition, the MDT shields both habitat and magnets eliminating the secondary particle irradiation hazard, which can dominate over the primary GCR for the closed magnetic topologies that have been investigated in the past. MDT shielding also reduces structural, mass and power requirements.... During the phase I study MSNW developed 3-D relativistic particle code to evaluate magnetic shielding of GCR...

A holdover from the Obama administration who helped broker the Iran nuclear deal continues to work in the Trump State Department as a member of the “policy planning staff,” according to her biography on the agency website. “Prior to joining the Policy Planning Staff, she served as a Director for Iran and Iran Nuclear Implementation on the National Security Council Staff from 2014-2016,” Sahar Nowrouzzadeh’s bio states. “Sahar also previously served as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State and a Team Chief and Senior Analyst at the Department of Defense.” In an October 2016, Nowrouzzadeh was...