Free Republic

What a handy time for a leak. There stood the Trump defense team, ready to lay out the rationale for why investigating Ukrainian corruption was a thoroughly fitting pretext for sending aid money—not despite the prospect of Biden family involvement, but in fact because of it. By what logic is an American president supposed to turn a blind eye to misdeeds because a political rival may lie at the root? The defenders laid out their case dutifully Monday, from Ken Starr’s historical walk through impeachments past to Pam Bondi’s enumeration of Hunter Biden’s curious connections to the previous examples of...

Today’s CG is from The Arkansas Democrat Gazette ZBJ VZBULZN OBE WTZ’J CB DBFMJSLZN LD DBFMJLFMD TAA LJ JTVMD JB CB LJ. —TAAO WTQJMQ You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general comments, but DO post your time and any tips...

President Donald Trump’s legal team is raising a broad-based attack on the impeachment case against him even as it mostly brushes past allegations in a new book that could undercut a key defense argument at his Senate trial. Former national security adviser John Bolton writes in a manuscript that Trump wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until it committed to helping with investigations into Democratic rival Joe Biden. That assertion matters because Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly insisted that he never tied the suspension of security aid to political investigations. The revelation clouded White House hopes for a...

In the middle of a muddle, there's minimal sense in predicting outcomes. In other words, is the president's former national security advisor speeding the president toward removal from office? (I strongly doubt whether John Bolton's version of President Donald Trump's Ukrainian diplomacy -- so to call it-- will slow down the necessary process of Senate acquittal on vastly overblown impeachment charges. But what does some hack journalist understand? Beyond the reality of how much trouble even a president can get in by talking before thinking?) A more vital matter practically shrieks at us as we ponder how much Trump did...

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience! One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, ' You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down! 'How in the world did you...

We finally got a taste Sunday night of what former national security adviser John Bolton might tell President Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial -- if he's called to testify, that is. What we learned reinforced the potential peril for Republicans if they refuse to let him do so. The New York Times reported Sunday that Bolton makes a series of very big Ukraine-related claims in an unpublished manuscript of his upcoming book, which is now slated to be released in March. (snip) -- Bolton is naming names - lots of names - and directly contradicting what top administration officials are...

The Gilroy Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying and locating a man accused of trying to kidnap a 2-year-old boy on Saturday. A Gilroy family was shopping at the Gilroy Goodwill when the father realized his 2-year-old son was no where to be seen, police said. He searched the store and found his son holding an adult man's hand, being led away. Advertisement "Let's go buddy," was the phrase the father heard this stranger say to his son as he appeared to lead him away. The father confronted the man and the culprit let go of...

At least eight people have died after an explosive fire broke out along the Tennessee River in Alabama and it could take authorities four days to recover all victims, authorities have said. At least 35 boats docked along the Tennessee River were destroyed by the blaze at Lake Guntersville, Jackson around 12.30am Monday but authorities said divers need to locate each one and search them individually to be sure. All eight people who were earlier reported missing were confirmed dead, later on Monday morning and a local fire chief said 'that number could go up, because we don't know how...

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials confirmed at least six wolves were spotted in Moffat County, the northwestern most corner of the state. The pack was found about two miles from a trail of wolf tracks they discovered earlier this month. The discovery is notable: It's the first pack spotted in Colorado for nearly 100 years. Colorado Governor Jared Polis said he's honored to welcome the animals back to the state after "their long absence." "While lone wolves have visited our state periodically including last fall, this is very likely the first pack to call our state home since the 1930s,"...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT TRUMP and VICE PRESIDENT PENCE and for AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Great is the LORD, and Greatly to be praised. His Greatness is unsearchable. One generation will commend Your works to another, and will declare Your mighty acts. Of the Glorious Splendor of Your Majesty they will speak ....

A nighttime rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad injured at least one embassy personnel member, staffers there said Monday. The two staff members, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, did not specify the injured person’s nationality or the severity of their wounds. They said the rocket slammed into a restaurant inside the embassy compound. Violence between Iraqi security forces and anti-government protesters also continued to seethe overnight, with one protester shot dead in a violent crackdown in the country’s south. Unrest was also ongoing in the capital Baghdad with...

County man is accused of driving drunk twice in the same day. CHP officers arrested 53-year-old Sanjeev Grover for DUI twice on Sunday. First in Solano County, then again in Sacramento County hours later. Grover’s first arrest happened in Solano County where CHP officers arrested him for DUI around 3 in the morning on Sunday. He was later arrested a second time for DUI near Greenback Lane and Interstate 80 around 2:30 in the afternoon Sunday in Sacramento County. According to CHP officials, after being released from the Solano County Jail, Grover picked up his car from a tow yard...

Louise Linton, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, displayed her support for environmental activist Greta Thunberg in a now-deleted Instagram post just days after her husband mocked the Swedish teen for her views on climate change. “I stand with Greta on this issue,” Linton wrote on her page. “(I don’t have a degree in economics either) We need to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels. Keep up the fight @gretathunberg.” The Scottish-born actress, who describes herself as “Not a Republican. Not a Democrat. Humanitarian & Animal welfare activist. Pro-Environment. Vegan ” removed the posting on Saturday but screenshots...

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Philadelphia police are searching for the suspect accused of stealing $500,000 worth of jewelry belonging to former Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson, Action News has learned. The incident happened Monday morning around 10:30 a.m. at the Sofitel Hotel located on S. 17th Street. Sources confirm the suspect removed $500,000 worth of jewelry from Iverson's backpack before getting away. Iverson was not present at the time of the theft. The suspect is described as a 20-year-old man, standing 6-feet inches with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a dark-colored jacket, red shirt, dark-colored pants and black and white sneakers....

Wilson mocked the voters. "'You elitists with your geography, maps, spelling,'" Ali joined in. "'Yeah, your reading. Your geography. Knowing other countries. Sipping your latte.'" "All those lines on the map,'" Wilson added as Lemon continued his uncontrollable laughter. "'Only them elitists know where Ukraine is,'" Ali said as Wilson was also laughing. "Sorry, I apologize," Ali jokingly said. "It was Rick’s fault. I blame Rick." "That was good. Sorry," Lemon said as he tried to regain his composure.

In the 40 years since Diana Munson lost her husband, Thurman, in a plane crash, she’s had countless conversations with fans who tell her where they were when the accident happened and she never stops them. Rarely, though, does what happened on Aug. 2, 1979, come into focus as much as it did Sunday, when Diana and the world learned that Kobe Bryant had been killed — along with his daughter Gianna and seven others — in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles. “[Sunday] opened up a lot of wounds for me,’’ Diana said by phone Monday. “It brought...

As a fifth case of the coronavirus was confirmed in the U.S., the mayor of Wuhan has warned that the world should expect infections to keep climbing. On Sunday, Zhou Xianwang, the Mayor of Wuhan, said that 5 million people had left the city before travel restrictions were imposed ahead of the Chinese New Year. Ma Xiaowei, the director of China's National Health Commission, said that the virus had an incubation period of 10 to 14 days, during which the virus can be contagious but the patients does not display symptoms.

A search is underway for a vehicle that struck and killed a 27-year-old man that was lying in the middle of the road after being kicked out of a bar in Fair Oaks on Friday night, authorities said. The California Highway Patrol said the incident happened at approximately 10:36 p.m. in front of Players Pub located on Fair Oaks Boulevard, just east of New York Avenue. Witnesses told officers the deceased man was asked to leave the bar due to intoxication. CHP said they determined the man was lying in the right lane of westbound Fair Oaks Boulevard when he...

Three little pawpsicles were rescued last week in Canada by a quick-thinking man who used his coffee to thaw them out. On Wednesday morning, oilpatch worker Kendall Diwisch of Alberta, heard the tiny cries of three kittens in the snow. In a video shared on Facebook, which has since gone viral, Diwisch records himself approaching the cats and discovering their tails were frozen to the ice. The fast-acting man then goes to his car and grabs a still-warm coffee to use to free the kittens from the ice.