Free Republic

American intelligence agencies are to conduct a major investigation into how the Kremlin is infiltrating political parties in Europe, it can be revealed. James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, has been instructed by the US Congress to conduct a major review into Russian clandestine funding of European parties over the last decade [...] Officials declined to say which parties could come into the probe but it is thought likely to include far-right groups including Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece, the Northern League in Italy and France's Front National which received a 9m euro (6.9m pound) loan...

Elon Musk's SpaceX managed to launch a satellite into orbit Sunday, but suffered another setback in its attempt to retrieve a rocket stage by landing it on a sea-going platform. SpaceX officials said the Falcon 9 rocket first stage experienced a "hard landing" and broke one of its stabilizer arms designed to hold it upright. The fate of the rocket stage was not immediately known, and there was no video footage of the landing immediately available, those officials said. This was the third time the Hawthorne-based company failed to accomplish a clean sea landing, although the company brought a Falcon...

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders would raise income taxes across the board -- and by substantially more on high earners -- to pay for an ambitious single-payer health-care plan, under details released Sunday night. Under the plan, which was outlined before a Democratic debate here, those making more than $250,000 a year would pay a top marginal income tax rate of 37 percent, up a few percentage points from what they now pay. Those making more than $10 million a year would pay a new top rate of 52 percent -- significantly more than the current top rate of 39.6...

However, the debate did highlight a distinction between GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and the rest of the GOP field on trade. As Trump called for cracking down on Chinese currency manipulation, other candidates-most notably, Marco Rubio-argued against Trump's corrective measures. As Trump explained: "China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies... They send their goods and we don't tax it-they do whatever they want to do...[But] when we do business with China, they tax us... I'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed......

Last night's #GOPDebate was a barn-burner. Filled with a crap ton of excitement, drama, infighting, and, frankly, plenty of Donald Trump. Fox Business, they take his calls. Sure there were a few freindly faces missing from the stage, mainly Rand Paul aka Toilet Brush Hair, and Carly "Honey badger" Fiorina. They were missed. Sadly John... Ketchup? Katnip? Katniss? No, that's someone else... well, that guy, the son of the mailman, he was there. Watch!

Main Card Fox Sports 1 (10pm ET/ 7pm PT/ 3am UK) 135lbs TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz {bantamweight title} 155lbs Eddie Alvarez vs. Anthony Pettis 265lbs Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione 155lbs Ross Pearson vs. Francisco Trinaldo Preliminary Bouts FOX Sports 1: (8pm ET/ 5pm PT/ 1am UK) 170lbs Patrick Cote vs. Ben Saunders 155lbs Chris Wade vs. Medhi Baghdad 145lbs Maximo Blanco vs. Luke Sanders 185lbs Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman Early Prelims (UFC Fight Pass) (6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT/11:30pm UK) 155lbs Daron Cruickshank vs. Paul Felder 205lbs Ilir Latifi vs. Sean O’Connell 145lbs Charles Rosa vs. Augusto Mendes

Sen. Marco Rubio says people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally but haven’t committed any major crimes could be allowed to stay. In an interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Florida contender for the Republican presidential nomination said felons shouldn’t be allowed to stay, but those who commit lesser crimes could still qualify. In this interview, he didn’t specify whether those allowed to stay would ever be able to become citizens. “If you’re a criminal alien, no, you can’t stay. If you’re someone that hasn’t been here for a very long time, you can’t stay,” he said....

Muhammad Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish Islamist, writer and preacher with a secret plan for bringing Shariah law to America. Arguably Turkey's most influential spiritual leader of the past 50 years, Gulen left that country in the late 1990s and now directs his cult-like Islamic movement from a guarded compound in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Part of his empire consists of a thriving network of more than 140 charter schools in 26 states that sell themselves to parents as a secular and more academically rigorous alternative to public schools. As the second largest chain of charter schools in the...

In a rare interview, Linda Tripp, a pivotal figure in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, revealed on Sunday it was common knowledge while she worked in the West Wing that Bill Clinton had affairs with “thousands of women.” Speaking on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” Tripp for the first time divulged that she personally knew another White House staffer aside from Lewinsky who was also having an affair with Clinton. That unnamed staffer was mentioned by Tripp in various depositions but she has not spoken about it publicly. She charged that Hillary Clinton not only knew about her husband’s exploits, “She made...

There is a 46-year-old woman, born in Texas, who should be dead right now. In fact, she should have never been born. Forty-three years ago, the Supreme Court decided that the Texas law that prevented Jane Roe from ending the life of her unborn daughter was unconstitutional. But by the time the Supreme Court issued its decision in 1973, she had already been born and adopted by a family—likely not knowing that all that ink spilled in Roe v. Wade was about her. Norma McCorvey is “Jane Roe.” She claimed then that her pregnancy was the result of a rape,...

WASHINGTON - "I will gladly accept the mantle of anger." Thus did Donald Trump react last week to South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who in her Republican response to the State of the Union address bravely called on Americans to resist the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." And nobody wears the mantle of anger as well as Trump. The rest of the Republican presidential contenders, acolytes in anger all, seem happy to help him on with the cloak, to hem the sleeves and let out the waist until the fury fits perfectly. Republicans like to...

Protesters from the group Black Lives Matter plan to meet on a Mississippi River bridge that connects Minneapolis and St. Paul during a Martin Luther King Day rally. Activists plan to meet at 3:30 p.m. Monday on the Minneapolis and St. Paul sides of the Lake Street-Marshall Avenue Bridge. The two groups then will march toward each other and meet in the middle of the bridge.

If you ask most Republicans what they like about Marco Rubio, you usually hear some combination of admiration for his sunny outlook, charisma, and boyish good looks. In the Fox Business GOP presidential debate last night, he showed off a new look: a down and dirty political smear artist. In what Ted Cruz described as "dropping your oppo research folder on the debate stage," Rubio went on an extraordinarily misleading tirade of complaints about Cruz, hitting him for allegedly changing positions on immigration, ethanol subsidies, Edward Snowden, defense spending, and other issues. Rubio's eagerness to go this route may surprise...

U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898) United States v. Wong Kim Ark No. 18 Argued March 5, 8, 1897 Decided March 28, 1898 169 U.S. 649 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Syllabus A child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicil and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or...

HOLLIS, N.H. - After months of predicting a comeback for their preferred candidates, Republican establishment leaders now concede the first two contests of the presidential race, in Iowa and New Hampshire early next month, are Donald Trump's and Ted Cruz's to lose. That leaves many GOP traditionalists, who fear each candidate would be a disaster in the November general election, pinning their White House hopes on a feat no Republican has pulled off in modern political history: securing the nomination without winning at least one of the first two states on the calendar. It's a risky strategy at best, and...

<p>What boxer Sonny Liston's manager said of him (Sonny had his good points, the trouble was his bad points) is true of Marco Rubio. His strengths include intelligence, articulateness, and, usually, cheerfulness. His misjudgments involve, in ascending order of importance, the Senate immigration bill of 2013, sugar, Libya, and S-590.</p>

Ted Cruz has reached top-rank popularity among Republicans and Chris Christie’s favorability rating is most improved in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, while Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush all have stumbled in the battle for GOP hearts and minds. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton continues to far surpass Bernie Sanders in favorability among party regulars, and she’s vastly more popular within the Democratic Party than are any of the Republican candidates within the GOP base. Still, gender and racial gaps mark Clinton’s standings, and Sanders pushes back among young adults, independents and the better-off. Movement is...

This is really bad. From the Associated Press: BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad confirms that “several” Americans are missing in Iraq after local media reported that three Americans had been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital. U.S. Embassy spokesman Scott Bolz said Sunday that “We are working in full cooperation with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans.” His comments came after the Arab news channel, al-Arabiya, citing its own sources, reported that three Americans had been kidnapped by militias in Baghdad. The incident comes after a week that has seen a deterioration of security in and around...

COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America . ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible Times. It's 5.6%. COSTELLO: That many people are out of work? ABBOTT: No, that's 23%. COSTELLO: You just said 5.6%. ABBOTT: 5.6% Unemployed. COSTELLO: Right 5.6% out of work. ABBOTT: No, that's 23%. COSTELLO: Okay, so it's 23% unemployed. ABBOTT: No, that's 5.6%. COSTELLO: WAIT A MINUTE. Is it 5.6% or 23%? ABBOTT: 5.6% are unemployed. 23% are out of work. COSTELLO: If you are out of work you are unemployed. ABBOTT: No, Obama said you can't count the "Out of Work" as the...

Enough, already, with the Trump this, Cruz that. CAM NEWTON FOR PRESIDENT!!!!