Free Republic

An official timeline of the Office of Personnel Management breach obtained by FCW pinpoints the hackers' calibrated extraction of data and the government's step-by-step response. It illuminates a sequence of events that lawmakers have struggled to pin down in public hearings with Obama administration officials. The timeline makes clear that the heist of data on 22 million current and former federal employees was one sustained assault rather than two separate intrusions to steal background investigation data and personnel records. The document, which bears the seals of OPM and the Department of Homeland Security, is dated July 14 and was prepared...

TMZ has learned ... Scott's wife told investigators the rumor that Tony had inoperable brain cancer is "absolutely false."

"Top Gun" director Tony Scott fatally jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro on Sunday afternoon, according to Los Angeles police sources. His body was pulled out of the water by Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard officials. Investigators found a suicide note in his car, which was parked on the bridge. Law enforcement sources said several witnesses saw Scott, the brother of director Ridley Scott, climb over a fence on the bridge and jump off. The coroner's office identified him Sunday evening. Scott was a respected action-movie director who also made "Enemy...

Director Tony Scott died in an apparent suicide Sunday by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge near Long Beach, Calif. He was 68. Los Angeles County Coroner Lt. Joe Bell told TheWrap that investigators had identified the deceased, Anthony David Scott of Beverly Hills, as the director and producer. The British-born "Top Gun" and "Crimson Tide" director was also the brother and producing partner of director Ridley Scott. The U.S. Coast Guard told The Daily Breeze that a suicide note was found inside Scott's black Toyota Prius, which was parked on one of the eastbound lanes of the bridge. Officials...

Some 84 movie stars, film industry members sign statement condemning Hizbullah, Hamas activities in Middle East Heads of the film industry in Hollywood and prominent movie stars have signed a statement blaming Hamas and Hizbullah for terror activities in the Middle East, the war in Lebanon, and for harming innocents.  Some 84 senior film industry members signed the statement, published in the Hollywood Reporter newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, and the Variety newspaper.  Among the signatories: Sylvester Stallone, James Woods, Bruce Willis, director Ridley Scott, tennis player Serena Williams, Nicole Kidman, WASHINGTON - Heads of the film industry in Hollywood...

NICOLE Kidman has made a public stand against terrorism. The actress, joined by 84 other high-profile Hollywood stars, directors, studio bosses and media moguls, has taken out a powerfully-worded full page advertisement in today's Los Angeles Times newspaper. It specifically targets "terrorist organisations" such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine. "We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas," the ad reads. "If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people...

...Beginning today, Amazon plans to feature one original short film each week in a prominent spot on its home page for the next five weeks -- all commissioned by Amazon and available for free downloading by the site's visitors. The four-to-seven minute movies will star a variety of Hollywood actors in fictional stories fashioned loosely around a theme Amazon describes as "karmic balance;" characters, in essence, learn valuable life lessons.... Instead of a traditional advertising hard sell, the movies mark the escalation of an effort by Amazon to provide unique online content free of charge to its customers, some of...

... In general they advance where terrorism has blazed the way by revealing the impotence of law and government when they are not backed by the self-confident application of lawful force. The post-modern world lacks self-confidence and shrinks from using force. It places its trust in treaties and conventions that it enforces only against those who agree in advance to be bound by them. Thus, in the week that its citizens were pleading for their lives in Iraq, the European Union was mainly concerned to prevent Turkey from making adultery a criminal offense -- a droll illustration of "European values."...