Free Republic

Nearly two years ago, John Brennan worked hard to convince the Senate that he was no believer in torture -- and that if he was confirmed as CIA director, he wouldn't represent a return to George W. Bush-era tactics. He told Senators at the time that he'd read the Senate Intelligence Committee's summary of its investigation into those "enhanced interrogation techniques" and that it had "raised serious questions" in his mind about whether those techniques had been effective. Now, Brennan finds himself firmly on the other side, defending the CIA in the days after that report's summary was finally release...

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday morning slammed a provision in the pending spending bill that would repeal a piece of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and expressed doubt that enough Democrats could support the package if that rider remains. “I just spoke to Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats believe this is an odious provision that should not be included. Many of us feel the same way,” said Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “[Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)] can take it out in the bat of any eye, and I hope he will....

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In a rare break from President Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted the White House on Thursday for putting its weight behind the $1.1 trillion government funding package. In a speech decrying the “cromnibus” on the House floor, Pelosi, the minority leader, noted that Republican defections have given the Democrats significant leverage in the debate and wondered why the White House wouldn't use that power to fight the conservative policy riders that have sparked the Democrats' outcry. “I'm enormously disappointed that the White House feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this,”...

Liberal House Democrats are fighting tooth and nail against President Obama over the fate of an enormous year-end government spending bill. With just hours to go before a scheduled government shutdown, the Democrats launched a lobbying blitz to counter calls made by Obama and other White House officials urging passage of the bill. Leading the charge was Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, who is up in arms over the face that Obama has agreed to accept a GOP rider to undo parts of the 2010 Wall Street reform law as part of...

".....Yuma,Colorado, a farming town of 3,500 people near the Kansas border, celebrated last month as homegrown Republican Cory Gardner was elected to the U.S. Senate. Gardner, a high school football player and the son of a farm equipment dealer, defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall to help the GOP gain control of the Senate in the second-most expensive congressional race of all time.Gardner represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District for four years, an expansive territory that covers the mostly flat and rural eastern third of the state. Farmers there mostly grow corn to feed cattle, and water comes from the quickly...

A GOVERNMENT television channel dubbed Vladimir Putin’s latest state of the nation address “A Message from Above”. Dmitry Kiselev, Mr Putin’s chief propagandist, even likened it to speeches by Roosevelt, Churchill and De Gaulle. Mr Putin’s sermon had both messianic and defensive overtones. He called Crimea a sacred place, rather like the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. “It was in Crimea, in the ancient city of Chersonesus or Korsun, that Grand Prince Vladimir was baptised before bringing Christianity to Rus…this allows us to say that Crimea and Sevastopol have invaluable civilisational and even sacred importance for Russia. And this is how...

Christian Broadcasting Network reporter David Brody has been slowly releasing excerpts from his interview with likely Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, who has told Brody that liberals are responsible for “hate speech” and that he “feels fingers” from God telling him to make a run for the White House. Today, Brody released another segment from his interview where the conservative activist was joined by his wife, Candy, to describe how God is calling him to make a presidential bid. “We recognize that we are being instruments in the hand of God, he is the one who really orchestrates all of...

Two major law enforcement stings targeting Southern California gangs have rocked the Los Angeles and San Diego underworld. The FBI conducted raids against two major gangs this week, arresting more than 50 gangsters and associates involved in numerous rackets, from drug trafficking to underage prostitution. Members of East LA's Big Hazard gang were rounded up Wednesday morning, while Federal officials in San Diego Thursday indicted 22 members of the Tycoons syndicate, involving members from various local street gangs. Big Hazard, aka Hazard Grande, East Los Angeles In a massive undertaking dubbed Operation Resident Evil, more than 800 law enforcement officials from various...

As CIA chief John Brennan defended the spy agency's interrogation program for terror suspects Thursday, a senior senator whose committee published a damning report on the practice contested his claims. Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein's staff repeatedly used the hashtag #ReadTheReport on the senator's Twitter feed during Brennan's rare press conference broadcast live from CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Brennan said it was "unknowable" whether key information from suspects subjected to so-called enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs), which critics have equated to torture, could have been obtained through other methods. But Feinstein's staff responded: "Study shows it IS knowable: CIA...

The world’s largest brick? Photo: Trucktrend In addition to Apple devices, noted security expert and The Mac Hacker’s Handbook co-author Charlie Miller has carried out some fascinating (and potentially terrifying) research into hacking vehicles. Last year, alongside fellow hacker Chris Valasek, Miller demonstrated that it is possible to hijack the steering and brakes of a Ford Escape and Toyota Prius using only a laptop connected to the car. Having done that, he has now moved onto exploring vulnerabilities in other vehicles — including his new 2014 Cherokee jeep. All that research comes at a high price, however, since Miller recently...

Adama Dieng, UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Prevention of Genocide, on Tuesday emphatically stated that Iran’s genocidal threats to “wipe Israel off the earth” are “totally unacceptable.” Dieng was at the UN’s headquarters in New York to commemorate the Anniversary of the Genocide Convention that was first adopted on December 9, 1948. Carmen Maria Rodriguez of Radio Marti asked the question that sparked Dieng’s direct censure of Iran’s recent waves of calls for Israel’s annihilation. Dieng went on to elaborate that not only are Iran’s genocidal threats to wipe Israel off the map “totally unacceptable,” but also that...

The United States Congress has passed a bill which would impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials found to have violated protesters' rights. The vote was passed by the House of Representatives and received similar approval by the Senate earlier this week. The bill is now likely to be signed into law by President Barack Obama. Venezuela's President Nicholas Maduro described the move as imposing "insolent imperialist sanctions".

It seems Russian President Vladimir Putin just found an ally. On Thursday, Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in New Delhi to improve the energy, military, and trade alliances between their two nations. For starters, Russia and India will be exploring a stronger relationship in the energy sector. The two countries will build at least 10 nuclear power plants in India over the next 20 years, and will have a joint venture in exploring hydroelectric power projects in Asia. Additionally, Russia's state-owned Rosneft signed a preliminary agreement to supply India with 10 million tons of oil over the...

Asteroid sourced hydrogen and oxygen will literally and figuratively fuel expansion of the space economy by providing a locally sourced fuel resource that will change how industry operates in space. While existing satellites cannot be refueled directly today, space tugs fueled by asteroids that are currently being developed, will maneuver Geostationary satellites into their assigned orbit. Thus, keeping them operating and generating revenue far beyond their current life expectancy. Water from asteroids can also be used for a plethora of other applications beyond fuels in space. It can be consumed, used as a radiation shield for humans during deep space...

NEW YORK — The highest-ranking Hispanic woman in a management position at Major League Baseball headquarters said in a lawsuit on Thursday she has faced discrimination there for two decades. Sylvia Lind’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks unspecified damages for what she describes as a failure by the league to consider, interview, appoint and promote qualified Hispanic women to managerial and executive positions. Lind, 48, says the league has created a hostile work environment for her because of her age.

Apple went on the offensive Wednesday with its own witnesses in the class-action antitrust trial in federal court in Oakland, California. The jury will start to deliberate as early as next week whether Apple violated antitrust laws by blocking songs sold by rival digital music providers from working on iPods. On Wednesday, Apple brought its first witness: John Kelly, a former University of California at Santa Barbara computer science professor, who has his own technology consulting firm. Kelly was very well-versed in the innards of the Apple iTunes software iterations, and spoke directly to the jury about how Apple had...

Stand on the sea wall next to the port in Varna and you can see the bits and pieces of South Stream piled up in front of you. Hundreds of long black sections of piping - some on the dockside, and others still stacked on cargo ships. They were supposed to have been laid beneath the gloomy waters of the Black Sea, bypassing Ukraine and bringing Russian gas directly to south-eastern Europe. But - suddenly and unilaterally - Vladimir Putin has declared the project dead. Gas, he said, will be sent to Turkey instead. "It's really not clear what's going...

Sydney (AFP) - President Petro Poroshenko on Friday said a "real" ceasefire was in place in Ukraine after the first 24 hours in seven months without a military casualty, although he admitted the truce was fragile. "I have positive news. Today is the first 24 hours for seven months... when we have a real ceasefire in Ukraine," he said in a speech during a trip to Australia. "You simply can't imagine how important it is for me. This is the first night when I don't have either a lost or wounded Ukrainian soldier." The ceasefire with pro-Russian rebels was introduced...

A Memphis man has been charged with theft of property after driving away with a truck full of 7,500 pairs of the newest LeBron 12 Nike shoes with a retail value of approximately $1.5 million. In early November, police say Charles Jennings, an employee of cargo transportation company Intermodal Cartage Group, used his ID card to get into a secure lot and drive away with the valuable shoes.