Free Republic

Facing a charge of possession of cannabis wasn’t enough to stop 22-year-old from Hanover from turning up at court with a bag of weed in his sock. But he didn’t reckon on the judge having such a refined nose. Serbuhan G. was facing a charge of possession of marijuana after being caught in possession of 14 bags of the banned substance in March, the Hannoversche Zeitung (HZ) reported last week. Nonetheless, the 22-year-old still decided to attend his court hearing with a bag of weed hidden in his sock. During proceedings Judge Koray Freudenberg smelled something unusual in the air...

They are grilled and eaten in some countries, but in Berlin crayfish have been scuttling across streets and pathways in and around Tiergarten park. Originally from North America, red swamp crayfish that grow up to 15 centimetres long have been creating quite a fuss amongst passersby in the capital. "We’ve been receiving telephone calls almost daily from people who report sightings of the migratory animals," Ulrike Kielhorn, an expert at the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) said last week. The calls have been in regards to a species of American freshwater crayfish known as Louisiana crayfish. The crustaceans have...

KHARTOUM - Russia's ambassador to Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinskiy, was found dead in the swimming pool at his home in Khartoum on Wednesday, the Sudanese police said. The ambassador, who was known to have suffered from high blood pressure, is believed to have died of natural causes, a spokesman for the police told Reuters.

If Republican Senate doesn't get rid of the Filibuster Rule & go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!

I like meals made up of lots of different, little things – I’m a fan of ‘tasting menus’, buffet parties, and can make a restaurant meal of appetizers. An appetizer recipe that’s been a party hit for us, is this one for Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts in Chili Sauce: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/bacon-water-chestnuts-50888.aspx^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I think we originally found the recipe for these little Garlic and Mushroom Tartlets about 15 years ago – perhaps from the Sorrento site, or off the bag. Sorrento seems to have turned into Galbani (?) and I haven’t seen this garlic-flavored Mozzarella cheese lately. Sargento used to have a similar...

Steve Bannon, the figure most frequently touted as the Machiavellian mastermind behind President Donald Trump’s connection with his populist base, left the White House late last week. But his absence has shown no signs of hampering the support Trump enjoys among those core supporters. All indication in the past five days has been that those voters like Trump for Trump and it makes little to no difference who stands beside him inside the White House. Rhetorically speaking, the president’s marathon address in Phoenix yesterday—in which he bashed the media, coyly suggested he’d pardon Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and threatened...

From The Hill: House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who was close to Trump during the 2016 campaign, is warning that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and McConnell could lose their jobs if they fall short on tax reform and funding the U.S.-Mexico border wall. “Bottom line: if Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell can get the president’s agenda done, they can probably keep their jobs,” Meadows said in an interview. “If Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell can’t get the president’s agenda done, I don’t know that they get to keep theirs, nor do I know if I get to keep...

Something went wrong—seriously wrong—in the Catholic Church in the years after Vatican II. Can we all agree on that much? Leave aside, for now, the familiar debate about the causes of the problem; let’s begin with the agreement that there is, or at least certainly was, a problem. Eric Sammons makes the point in a provocative essay that appeared in Crisis last week: If an entirely objective social scientist were to study the Catholic Church in the second half of the twentieth century, he would see one fact staring him straight in the face: the Church experienced a precipitous decline...

Eric Parker and Scott Drexler to be tried on charges where the jury was hung in the second trial. When the jury came down 'not guilty' on 34 of 40 charges for the defendants at the second Bunkerville Standoff trial. Rick Lovelien and Steven Stewart walked free found not guilty on all charges after spending 18 months in prison without bail. Eric Parker and Scott Drexler were released to a halfway house last night with not guilty verdicts on most of their charges and jury hung on some (four for Parker, two for Drexler). Today at a detention hearing in...

There are Trillions of Dollars at Stake. CTH has been highlighting the hidden motivation for years.  Opposition is all about the economics folks. Against President Trump’s promise to renegotiate trade deals, withdraw from TPP and TTIP, walk away from the fraudulent economic scheme within the Paris Climate Treaty, and renegotiate or pull out of NAFTA.  Well,… it’s called a strategy session folks: President Trump uses economic leverage as a national security policy; and to understand who opposes President Trump specifically because of the economic leverage he creates, it becomes important to understand the objectives of the global and financial elite who run and operate...

A federal court in Texas on Wednesday struck down the state's controversial voter identification law, granting an injunction that bars state officials from enforcing the measure. U.S. District Judge Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled that the law was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, saying that it violates the Voting Rights Act. Texas state lawmakers passed a watered down version of the voter ID law this summer. The judge issued an injunction barring enforcement of that measure as well. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said after the ruling Wednesday that he will appeal the ruling,...

Major League Baseball is implementing a league-wide fan code of conduct starting in the 2018 season, ESPN’s Scott Lauber reports. “We are working with the clubs on security and fan conduct initiatives at all of our ballparks. We will be issuing a league-wide fan code of conduct for the 2018 season,” says MLB spokesman Michael Teevan of the decision. Although teams handle things themselves right now, sources say MLB is looking to make things even across the entire league with set standards and consequences for misbehaving at all parks. A major precipitating factor for baseball’s shift seems to be Adam...

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake is in trouble from all sides. With a dismal approval rating of 18 percent, he faces a primary challenge from former state Sen. Kelli Ward. At the federal level, President Trump torched Flake for being weak on borders, crime, and being a “non-factor” in the Senate. The president also called him toxic. In July, the Arizona senator’s vulnerabilities were highlighted by FiveThirtyEight, where the publication said it might not be a bad investment for Democrats to find someone to run against Flake since the state is shifting left, he’s never been popular, and he barely won...

Workers in Charlottesville, Va. shrouded statues of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in black on Wednesday as the city grappled with an outbreak of deadly violence at a white nationalist rally earlier this month. Workers used ropes, poles and cherry-pickers to hoist what appeared to be a black tarpaulin over both statues as onlookers took photos and video. Some in the crowd surrounding the Lee statue cheered as the cover was put in place.

A confrontation occurred between Indian and Chinese soldiers along a disputed border in the western Himalayas, Indian officials said on Tuesday. The PTI news agency said soldiers threw stones, causing minor injuries to both sides, as Chinese troops tried to enter Indian territory near the Pangong lake. Beijing maintains that their soldiers were inside Chinese territory. [snip] The two nations fought a war over the border in 1962 and disputes remain unresolved in several areas, which causes tensions to escalate from time to time.

The NAACP's interim president Derrick Johnson has officially requested a formal meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss NFL players and their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights. According to a letter sent to the league by the NAACP, the meeting will specifically focus on Kaepernick's perceived "blackballing" by the league in light of his protests last season. It also questions the silencing of NFL players' platforms, citing Tommie Smith and John Carlos's black power salute at the 1968 Olympics, among other examples. Kaepernick's lack of a job has raised many eyebrows throughout the offseason, particularly with the...

Yesterday, we wrote about new developments in an exceptionally strange case involving a circle of former IT staffers for House Democrats who are caught up in a federal criminal investigation.  We noted that the New York Post's sources say that the FBI is now looking into whether the Awan cabal may have sold off sensitive data collected from the House servers they maintained to foreign intelligence services in Islamabad, Moscow, and potentially elsewhere.  Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy, whose summary of bizarre imbroglio mess we linked, knows a thing or two about how federal indictments work.  He's the man who...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A man attacked a 51-year-old woman and accused her of being racist in what police are investigating as a hate crime. The attack happened about 5:45 p.m. Sunday in the 2900 block of Archwood Avenue in the city's Brooklyn Centre neighborhood. The man, whose photo was released in the hopes that someone can identify him, is black and the woman who reported the attack is white, police said. The man walked up to one woman without saying anything and punched her, knocking her to the ground, police said. The man then yelled at the woman and accused...

A 96-year-old World War II veteran hailed as an American D-Day war hero after surviving a fierce battle against the Germans on the cliffs of Normandy has admitted he was actually in northern Ireland at the time, according to a French nonprofit organization. George G. Klein was treated as “one of the great celebrities” during the 73rd anniversary of the Normandy battle during a ceremony there last month, where he was honored as one of the 90 surviving members of the elite 2nd Ranger Battalion that battled the Germans on the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on June 6, 1944.

A ROCK concert by US band Allah-Las has been cancelled and the venue evacuated amid concerns over a terror threat after police discovered a van filled with gas bottles nearby. Police officers wearing bulletproof vests descended on the Maassilo venue in Rotterdam while an anti-terror unit was also on-site, according to local media. The gig was cancelled following a tip-off from Spanish police and the mayor of Rotterdam has now confirmed a small van with Spanish number plates and "gas bottles" was found near the venue. Dutch police officers stopped the driver of the van in Rotterdam and have taken...