Free Republic

On Friday June 19 a trove of 269GB of data was posted to the internet by a group calling itself 'Distributed Denial of Secrets'. The link above leads to a popular Twitter hashtag on this topic. What was leaked were secret law enforcement documents that detail numerous practices of law enforcement. A lot of this is really scary police state stuff like some people here on FR post. Things like how Google keeps user files on all Google users and then passes them to law enforcement. License plate readers are used to track activists left and right. Nevada police used...

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, who has cycled through eight "permanent" managers and two interim managers since buying the team in 2002, on Thursday landed the man he targeted in his latest skipper search: former New York Yankees star Don Mattingly, sources said. Mattingly, as expected, agreed to a four-year contract to replace Dan Jennings, who was reassigned to the front office but instructed not to return to work until he has more conversations with Loria. Mattingly, 54, and the Dodgers parted ways recently after he led the team to three consecutive National League West titles but no World Series...

The first perfect game in American League history was thrown by a pitcher who ended it with a taunt, defending his teammates against an insult, screaming at the final batter, "How do you like that, you hayseed?" The year was 1904, and the pitcher was Cy Young. On Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, imitating that long-ago barb with an inside fastball, a battling Clayton Kershaw proved worthy of winning the award that carries Cy Young’s name. Although Kershaw will never admit it, his pitch that plunked the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Gerardo Parra in the elbow in the sixth inning of the...

With Grady Little out of the way, Joe Torre is the Dodgers' first choice to take over the club. According to sources, Torre has agreed in principle to a three-year deal worth $14.5 million and could be introduced Thursday, the same day the Yankees are holding a press conference to welcome Joe Girardi, Torre's successor, at Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers are denying a deal is complete. Alex Rodriguez could be following Torre from The Bronx to Hollywood. One of the reasons Rodriguez opted out of the last three years on his Yankees' contract was he wasn't sure what Yankees life...

Welcome news comes out of Yankee- land this week as one of the team's great players of the last two decades returns: Don Mattingly will be the Bombers' hitting coach next season. The Yankees certainly need his assistance: For the second time in the last three years, the team failed to hit during the World Series (news - web sites). If there's one thing Mattingly knows, it's hitting. In a career sadly cut short because of back pain, Mattingly was, in his prime, a virtual hitting machine. In 1985, he led the league with 145 runs batted in. He followed...

Each year since Don Mattingly retired in 1995, the Yankees have had a "We'll take whatever we can get from Donnie Baseball" approach. They've always wanted him to join Joe Torre's coaching staff, but he's always wanted to stay at home in Indiana with his family. So they've used him as a spring training instructor and invited him to be a midseason breath-of-fresh-air for hitters. They've even dangled the hitting coach job before him, at least three times. Finally, Mattingly has accepted. The Yankees are expected to announce today that Mattingly is the team's new hitting coach, a baseball source...