Free Republic

Actor Sean Penn's interview with drug boss Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman was one factor that led to Mexican security forces capturing the kingpin, a government source told Reuters. Mexico's government was aware of the October interview with the legendary boss of the Sinaloa drugs cartel and was closely monitoring Penn's movements, a second government source told the news agency. -snip- Penn also wrote that he was aware the Mexican government and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration likely knew of his movements.

Sean Penn's secret interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman helped law enforcement authorities to locate El Chapo's whereabouts. A Mexican official insisting on anonymity said Saturday it was the Penn interview as well as the drug lord's contacts with other celebrities that initially led law enforcement to authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October. At that time the official said they called off their raid because Guzman was was with two women and a child, according to the Associated Press. Officials in Mexico earlier in the day suggested it was the allure a potential...

Sean Penn interviewed fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as “El Chapo,” who was captured and returned to prison Friday, for Rolling Stone magazine. Loera was said to have been captured when he reached out to producers and actors about making a biopic of his life. The interview published Saturday evening was conducted in October while the drug lord was on the run from Mexican and U.S. authorities. Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, star of soap opera “La Reina del Sur,” conducted the interview with Penn. It was arranged through a producer he calls Espinoza in the article....

Sean Penn met and interviewed El Chapo while he was on the run in October last year and got him to admit to being the world's biggest drug lord - but did not turn the fugitive kingpin in. The extraordinary meeting took place in the Mexican jungle and was arranged by Penn, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo and a fixer, with the permission of the Sinaloa cartel. In an article written by Penn for Rolling Stone, El Chapo says: 'I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes,...

By 15, he said in an interview conducted in a jungle clearing by the actor and director Sean Penn for Rolling Stone magazine, he had begun to grow marijuana and poppies because there was no other way for his impoverished family to survive. Now, unapologetically, he said: “I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats.” Though his fortune, estimated at $1 billion, has come with a trail of blood, he does not consider himself a violent man. “Look, all I do is defend myself,...

Top international global warming expert Sean Penn has given his verdict on the COP21 Paris climate conference: everythings going to be OK because both his kids drive Priuses and because climate change 'deniers' dont actually exist. Penn, who met with Frances President Holland in Paris last week in his capacity as co founder of the Haitian Relief Organization, has made his views known in an interview with Bloomberg Business. Asked what he would say to a 'climate denier' if he ran into one in a bar, Penn replied: Well, I dont believe there are climate skeptics. I think there...

Charlize Theron and Sean Penn's A-list romance has come to an end. The Oscar-winning actors have reportedly called time on their relationship just shy of a year and a half together, according to Us Weekly sources. Theron, 39, was allegedly the one to break up with the 54-year -old star, the mag noted. The two, who were rumored to be engaged, last stepped out publicly side-by-side in mid-May around the annual Cannes Film Festival. Theron and Penn first coupled up following a romantic Hawaiian getaway over the holidays in 2014.

Aspiring actors are being harassed by dodgy casting agents, say Equity Actors' union will draw up audition guidelines to stop probing questions Inappropriate behaviour by movie executives revealed by celebrities Helen Mirren said she felt 'like a piece of meat' after one casting call Actors are being increasingly pressured into having sex with sleazy casting agents to get sought-after parts, a union has warned. The president of Equity, which represents British performers, said the problem of the 'casting couuch' where actors are pressured into giving sexual favours in return for roles is getting worse and is 'completely out of order'....

Sean Penn sarcastically thanked former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday night for “inventing” the Islamic State terror group that is wreaking havoc across the Middle East. “You mentioned Dick Cheney, this kind of, you know, embittered bacteria of humanity,” the actor told TBS talk show host Conan O'Brien. “It’s always a surprise to me to remember that, through bionic technology and so on, this guy’s still here.” “These are the guys — he and President Bush and some others — who invented Daesh, or ISIS,” Mr. Penn said, using the Arabic name and the...

"The first Kenyan-born Muslim socialist ever elected to run this country." - Jimmy Kimmel, March 12, 2015

It was at his annual pre-Golden Globes gala for J/P HRO that he revealed that girlfriend Charlize Theron convinced him to have his collection of nearly 65 firearms turned into a sculpture by artist Jeff Koons and then auctioned off for the Haiti relief organization.

Sean Penn — a friend to the late Hugo Chavez and one of the most liberal stars in Hollywood — will be surrounded by top Republicans next Sunday at Cipriani 42nd Street.

Sean Penn is taking a page out of President Barack Obama's playbook but twisting it to his own socialist-friendly liking. Obama has gotten plenty of mileage for blaming his predecessor for the country's woes. Now, Penn is blaming Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's problems on what the leader inherited from his predecessor--Hugo Chavez. Only Penn doesn't blame his late friend at all, preferring to spin a yarn about paranoia and relationships meant to excuse the late leader from guilt. Confused? Wait until Penn compares Venezuela's collapsing economy with that of America's stagnant fiscal house. The Mystic River star talked politics with...

As I pointed out the other day, nothing says you care quite like a Hallmark greeting Tweet: Lady M shows her disappointment in us for not having done enough to bring the girls home. So get those hashtag selfies fired up! We’re launching another episode of hashtag diplomacy; because it worked so well in that Russia/Ukraine kerfuffle. Hollywood has jumped onboard with its own version called “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls.” That’s Justin Timberlake, left, and Sean Penn, right, in case you don’t care enough anymore to know. And this is Eva (Desperate Housewife) Longoria, Ashton Kutcher (Demi Moore’s former...

"...And Leo was never a card-carrying communist; he was a Democrat all his life...he went to some meetings (Communist Party USA) and was interested in what they had to say..." - Eileen Ryan Penn, mother of Sean Penn, on her husband and Sean's father, blacklisted Communist...meeting attender...Leo Penn

Latin America, long considered off-limits for Russian military outposts because of its proximity to Washington, is rapidly becoming the latest region targeted for Moscow’s expanding reach. As the Kremlin was secretly planning its invasion of Ukraine in late February, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Moscow’s plan to establish a permanent military presence in Latin America, including naval visits to ports in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Russia is also asking those countries to allow long-range bombers to refuel at their air bases.

It is rare that this site has to offer assistance to the Associated Press, but this is one such occasion. In November, 2012 the AP posted a story exposing the miserable failure that passes for a healthcare delivery system in Venezuela. The truth seeped into the AP’s website and archives but has since disappeared. This is where we can be of help. Thanks to the ever vigilant Wayback Machine the truth as originally posted by the AP lives on. The news organization’s story starts by following the misery of a 37 year old woman who has a huge cancerous tumor...

Sean Penn is an idiot. But you knew that. There are more idiots in Hollywood. But you knew that too. Here is a who's who of Hollywood idiots who were supporters of Hugo Chavez. Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Harry Belafonte and Don King. Belafonte has claimed that millions of Americans support Chavez. Of Chavez government King once said "To see what is happening here makes me feel good all over." If only someone would shove a microphone up his in his face and in the faces of all these idiots and see what they have to say about...

(BELOW IS THE MOST VOMIT-INDUCING PART OF THE STORY) Sean also paid tribute to South-African-born Charlize in a speech he made before auctioning off a Jeff Koons sculpture made out of 67 guns he previously owned. 'I'm a self-proclaimed Alpha male who owns 67 firearms,' he told the star-studded audience. 'But I've had my mind changed about guns by a strong woman, a beautiful South African woman. 'I don't need these cowardly instruments of violence and destruction, none of us do.'

Like father, like son. Hopper Penn, the 19-year-old son of Oscar winner Sean Penn, attacked a photographer yesterday. The assault brought back memories of his father's famous battles with the paparazzi. The young Penn upped his daddy's violent outbursts by hurling a homophobic and racial slur against the photographer in question, who is black, according to TMZ.