Free Republic

The spying by the Obama administration on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump reportedly was even worse than what he has alleged. And it had nothing to do with Russia but everything to do with politics. Sources in the intelligence community claim the potentially illegal revealing of names, or unmasking, of people in the Trump camp who were under surveillance was done purely “for political purposes” to “hurt and embarrass (candidate) Trump and his team.” The bombshell revelations come from rank and file members of the intelligence community who are fighting back against a stonewall by the leaders at the nation’s spy...

A challenging, years-long survey has uncovered 14 new species of U.S. tarantula, including one named after Johnny Cash. Some, like Aphonopelma madera, live on forested "sky islands," mountains surrounded on all sides by Arizona's deserts. Others, like the tiny Aphonopelma atomicum, nestle themselves in silk-lined burrows near Nevada's nuclear test sites. And Aphonopelma johnnycashi, named for the legendary country musician, makes its home near Folsom Prison, California. True to form, adult males are mostly black, a getup of which Cash--the Man in Black--would have no doubt been proud. (Also see "New Tarantula (Not Beetle) Named After John Lennon.") To uncover...

State and federal authorities have three men in custody here in what investigators describe as a possible terrorist plot by an obscure Islamic group in California state prisons. FBI officials, who are overseeing the investigation, say they are not convinced that the three men posed a serious threat of violence on their own. But the bureau is continuing to investigate the possibility that they were part of a larger group planning to attack National Guard installations, synagogues and other locations in Southern California. The latest suspect to be arrested is Hamad Riaz Samana, 21, a Pakistani citizen who was taken...

NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- A former Norwin homecoming queen accused of attacking her sister with a prosthetic leg and threatening to burn down a neighbor's trailer was ordered on Wednesday to go to rehab. Donna Sturkie-Anthony showed up for her preliminary hearing before District Judge Douglas Weimer, but the 41-year-old woman's hearing was continued so she can go to Greenbriar Treatment Center. Police said Sturkie-Anthony's sister came to visit her at Lincoln Mobile Home Park on Route 30 in January, and the two started arguing about her alcohol abuse. Then, police said Sturkie-Anthony pulled off her sister's prosthetic leg and...

A Johnny Cash tribute band will recreate the singer's legendary Folsom Prison concert 40 years to the day. The country star's performance in front of inmates at the US prison on 13 January 1968 won him critical acclaim. Cashback will perform Cash's greatest hits during a free, hour-long gig at Suffolk's Highpoint Prison on Sunday. A prison spokesman said Highpoint had agreed to allow the Cambridgeshire band to perform as "music has a positive impact on prisoners". Cashback's lead singer Lee Gillett told BBC News: "We wrote to the prison but we were not expecting a reply, but we got...