Free Republic

Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has defended Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, saying Russia's leader was "pushed" into the conflict."The war in Ukraine is the tip of the iceberg of a conflict aimed at reshaping the world order," she said earlier this month. "So we have to fight this battle."

The rioter who was slapped with federal charges after sitting at a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the siege of the US Capitol claimed on video that he was “pushed” inside her quarters. “They started it! I came to peacefully protest! They Maced me,” Richard Barnett tells YouTuber Brandon Buckingham. “I didn’t break in — I got pushed in,” Barnett adds as he holds an envelope with Pelosi’s letterhead. “I paid a quarter for this. I’m not a thief! It had my blood on it.” Barnett, who goes by the nickname Bigo, also says he left the...

Jordan Holgerson, 16, was pushed off bridge above Moulton Falls in Washington She spoke out from hospital on Thursday saying she could have easily died Jordan suffered five broken ribs, a lung injury, and several abrasions as a result In the footage she is heard saying 'no' multiple times, but her pals ignore her A few seconds later, a female friends is seen shoving Jordan from the bridge Her mother is now urging the friend who pushed her to turn herself in to police

So three or four of Obama's advisers, all women, wanted war against Libya.   We'd like to think that women in power would somehow be less prowar, but in the Obama administration at least it appears that the bellicosity is worst among Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samantha Power. All three are liberal interventionists, and all three seem to believe that when the United States exercises military force it has some profound, moral, life-saving character to it. Far from it.

President Hosni Mubarak will meet the demands of protesters, military and ruling party officials said Thursday in the strongest indication yet that Egypt’s longtime president may be about to give up power and that the armed forces were seizing control. Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, told thousands of protesters in central Tahrir Square, “All your demands will be met today.” Some in the crowd held up their hands in V-for-victory signs, shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” a victory cry used by secular and religious people alike.

"Missouri governor was intended target of stabbing at MCC-Penn Valley," reads the headline of today's Kansas City Star. On Tuesday, mistaking the community college dean, Al Dimmitt, for Governor Jay Nixon, student Casey Brezik, 2 2, slashed the dean's throat, almost killing him. The governor, on the way to the college, cancelled his visit. Not surprisingly, the story has gotten almost no attention beyond Kansas City. The media do not want you to know Brezik's politics. As his Facebook page makes clear, he seems to have absorbed just about every left wing gripe in the academic ether

SACRAMENTO - Despite state laws that require government officials to seek competitive bids on large purchases, internal documents reveal that state officials held a series of private meetings with General Motors during which they agreed to buy "flex-fuel" vehicles from the automaker - a month before a bid for such vehicles was ever issued. --snip-- Soon after, the state solicited bids to buy an entire fleet of flex-fuel vehicles designed to run on high-grade ethanol. General Motors dealerships won all of the contracts for ... 1,300 cars and trucks and $17 million in sales, because they were the only automaker...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program was so questionable that a top Justice Department official refused for a time to reauthorize it, sparking a standoff with top White House officials that culminated at the bedside of an ailing attorney general, a Senate panel was told Tuesday. Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he refused to recertify the program because Attorney General John Ashcroft had reservations about its legality just before falling ill with pancreatitis in March 2004. The White House, Comey said, recertified the program without the Justice Department's signoff, allowing it to...

Start of banana farming in Africa pushed back 2000 years According to recent evidence from Uganda, the banana may have arrived on the African continent more than 4000 years ago, some 2000 years before the accepted introduction of the fruit on the continent. The finding was published in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science (Vol. 33(1):102-113). The authors base their claim on banana phytoliths - distinctive microscopic silica bodies that accumulate in plant cells - which they found in sedimentary layers estimated to be 4000-4500 years old. Earlier findings in Cameroon of 2500 year-old banana phytoliths...

Powell 'pushed out' by Bush for seeking to rein in Israel By Charles Laurence in New York and Philip Sherwell (Filed: 21/11/2004) Colin Powell, the outgoing US secretary of state, was given his marching orders after telling President George W Bush that he wanted greater power to confront Israel over the stalled Middle East peace process. Although Mr Powell's departure was announced on November 15, his letter of resignation was dated November 11, the day he had a meeting with Mr Bush. Colin Powell: the president's 'good cop' According to White House officials, at the meeting Mr Powell was not...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won his first legislative victory last year after the California Republican Party contributed $400,000 for a ballot signature drive that forced Democrats to repeal a law intended to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. But as state Sen. Gil Cedillo prepares to introduce his fifth license bill next year, the governor - who recently vetoed an Assembly version - and the GOP are distancing themselves from a ballot measure that could put the issue to rest. The constitutional amendment would bar the Legislature from granting licenses to illegal immigrants, and cut off their access to professional...

CBSNEWS did not inform its viewers last night that its parent company owns and has a direct financial stake in the success of the book by former White House terror staffer turned Bush critic, Dick Clarke, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal. 60 MINUTES aired a double-segment investigative report on the new book "Against All Enemies" -- but did not disclose how CBSNEWS parent VIACOM is publishing the book and will profit from any and all sales! ETHICAL BREACH CBS even used heavy promotion for the 60 MINUTES/book launch during its Sunday sports shows. It is not clear who made the...