Free Republic

ow badly have US-Israel relations deteriorated in recent weeks? If Israeli media reports are any indication, tensions boiled over to the point where a phone call between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ended due to "communications problems" earlier this week. Both men have not spoken since, according to the State Department. Kerry's spokesperson, Jen Psaki, told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that the two men have not spoken since a brief phone call over the situation in Gaza ended because of "communications problems."

A phone call between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was mysteriously disconnected on Sunday, Channel 2 News reports. According to the report, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki admitted to reporters on Tuesday that the call was disconnected, though she said it was due to a “communications issue”. Psaki did, however, say that the two have not spoken since the phone call was cut off. …

A newly released photograph of the deadly Nevada air racing disaster suggests the pilot in the crash may have become dislodged in the cockpit. The NTSB is investigating what caused a WWII era P-51 fighter plane to crash in Reno during Friday’s race, killing 10 people and injuring 70 others.

What do plots to blow up National Guard armories and synagogues, 9/11, well-intentioned liberals, the War on Terror, and residue from the Vietnam era have in common? They all are playing out in California in three seemingly unconnected stories. The first story is about three men arrested for plotting to attack California National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and synagogues. The men, one a Pakistani national and the other two, American converts to Islam, were found with weapons and “jihadist” material. The second story involves a liberal Democratic California state senator who has been making headlines with his allegations that...

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - A woman who died when she fell or jumped from a burning fourth-floor apartment and was impaled on a wrought iron fence lived in a home where the smoke alarm had been disconnected, authorities said Wednesday. The woman, who has not been identified pending notification of family, was pronounced dead at the scene Tuesday night, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.</p>

Wowee, Walter Isaacson resigned the top job at CNN, to be effective after the fall of Saddam expected early in the spring. So what, you say. It's important to me, his resignation, because here's a guy with an immense reputation, former managing editor at Time, prestigious biographer, clearly a man of achievement, ability, and yet he couldn't figure out what to do with a thoroughly professional world wide news organization in order to meet the competition of Fox News Channel. There doesn't seem to be any question that during his two years at CNN, Isaacson was looking down his nose...