Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Newly released material raises the possibility that Russian disinformation made its way into a dossier of opposition research that the FBI relied on when applying for warrants to eavesdrop on a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump. The new material, contained in footnotes to a Justice Department watchdog report that were recently declassified by the Trump administration, indicates the FBI was advised even as it sought the warrants that some of the information included in the dossier was not accurate or was potentially influenced by Russian disinformation. It may add to accusations that the FBI did not...

Two protests are planned for the Capitol Hill area in downtown Denver on Sunday, April 19. Both are aimed at urging Governor Jared Polis to allow closed businesses to reopen, and both are touting their commitment to gather peaceably and maintain social distancing. Called Operation Gridlock Denver, the first protest is planned for 1 p.m. on Sunday and has 1,700 interested followers on its Facebook event page. The event is being organized by members of Peace, Love, & Hippie Juice. "Drive to the Capitol in Denver and gridlock the roads in protest to the mandatory lockdowns and violation of constitutional...

Poland’s parliament has deferred a final decision on a bill that seeks to tighten the country’s already strict abortion legislation. The bill would outlaw abortion on the grounds of serious foetal abnormalities, one of a small number of exceptions to a near-total ban on abortion currently in place in the country. It has been sent back to a parliamentary committee for further work. The proposed new restriction was proposed by an ultra-conservative Catholic group, under a regulation that allows citizen’s initiatives that gain more than 100,000 signatures to be debated. Parliament, dominated by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party,...

A speeding enforcement operation spanning the 5 Freeway from Kern County to the Mexico border nabbed hundreds of offenders Wednesday, according to the California Highway Patrol. Officers from 10 Southern California stations patrolled the freeway from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., searching for motorists taking advantage of light traffic during statewide coronavirus restrictions, the CHP’s Santa Ana office said in a Facebook post. A total of 356 speeding citations were handed out, as well as 94 verbal and written warnings, officials said. Fourteen of the offenders were traveling in excess of 100 mph, while the fastest was clocked at 119...

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) finds herself at the center of the news cycle amid COVID-19, on account of her far-reaching stay-at-home order. Gov. Whitmer’s order is one of the most strict, and is being criticized as a constitutional overreach. Michigan lawmakers, including Democrats, are evidently frustrated with Gov. Whitmer’s harsh order. Democrat Mike Duggan, Mayor of Detroit, called his state’s system for reporting COVID-19 “not reliable,” as hospital officials also blame the state government for an inefficient system that ultimately leads to longer wait times. Michigan State Rep. Karen Whitsett, a Democrat representing Detroit, alleged that Gov. Whitmer was...

India has brought charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the head of a Muslim seminary for holding a gathering last month that authorities said led to a big jump in COVID-19 infections, police said yesterday. The headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat group in New Delhi has been sealed and thousands of followers — including some from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh — have been placed in quarantine after it emerged that they attended meetings there in the middle of last month. Police initially filed a case against Tablighi Jamaat head Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi for breaching a ban on...

Health authorities in Wuhan, China have revised the death toll from the coronavirus upwards by over 50 per cent. Wuhan’s Epidemic Prevention and Control Center said on Friday that 3,869 people had died from the disease in the city as of Thursday, according to state media. Fatalities are up by 1,290 compared to previous data. The number of cases overall in Wuhan was revised 50,333 – an increase of 325. The authorities said the revision was made in order to include patients who were not treated at hospitals and passed away at home, since medical facilities faced a shortage of...

Former Vice President Joe Biden has made limited public appearances ever since the coronavirus outbreak has sent virtually the entire country into quarantine, but in the several interviews he has done for various television networks, he has yet to be asked about the sexual assault allegation made by his former staffer Tara Reade. On March 25, Reade came forward in a podcast interview with progressive commentator Katie Halper about the alleged 1993 assault after having made previous claims last year about Biden's pattern of inappropriate touching. While his campaign has denied that the assault occurred, Biden himself has yet to...

Former Vice President Joe Biden this week dismissed the idea of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as his running mate, doubling down on his previous vow to have a woman on the ticket. During the coronavirus outbreak, Cuomo has been seen by many as a political star among Democrats for his handling of the crisis in his state. Some have even floated the idea that he should be Biden's vice presidential pick. Appearing on CNN's coronavirus town hall on Thursday, a virtual attendee brought the possibility of a Biden-Cuomo ticket to the former vice president and presumptive nominee's attention.

Disgraced lawyer Michael Cohen will be released from an upstate New York prison over coronavirus concerns, sources said. President Trump’s former fixer must first complete a 14-day quaratine period at Otisville Federal prison that begins Friday, before he’s let out on home confinement, according to sources. Cohen, in March, had unsuccessfully argued he should be released from prison because of the pandemic.

A human rights organization says that a jailed Iranian Instagram star — known for her transformation into a “zombie Angelina Jolie” — is currently on a ventilator after contracting the coronavirus in custody. Lawyers for Fatemeh Khishvand, known on Instagram as “Sahar Tabar,” had asked for her to be released amid the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, but a judge refused to grant bail, according to the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. “We find it unacceptable that this young woman has now caught the coronavirus in these circumstances while her detention order has been extended during all this time in...

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough used a portion of Thursday’s show to mock Sen. John Kennedy’s Southern accent and accuse the Louisiana Republican of “playing dumb on TV,” adding the senator was "dumb as dishwater." During the segment, Scarborough dismissed Kennedy’s way of speaking as “corn-pone, made-up,” claiming the 68-year-old Mississippi native, who has served in Louisiana public life for more than two decades, “actually talks like Sherlock Holmes when he’s behind closed doors in his house – and he has an eyepatch and a top hat and smokes a pipe.” Scarborough was reacting to Kennedy’s Wednesday appearance on...

U.S. stock futures are signaling a strong start to Friday's session adding to the momentum seen on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 900 points or 3.8 percent while the S&P 500 was higher by over 3 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 2 percent plus as of 1:30 a.m. ET. Earlier in the evening, President Trump outlined the early-stage, phase approach as part of the “Opening Up America Again" coronavirus come back plan and there was also positive news on Gilead Sciences.

Several friends posted seeing lights in the sky tonight. Apparently Elon Musk is sending hundreds of satellites into Space to create a worldwide Internet. So we can have access to the Internet? Or so the Internet can have access to us? Combine this with Bill Gates wanting to chip everyone and you have the perfect storm. The chips will need Internet to work.

Chicago hospital treating severe Covid-19 patients with Gilead Sciences’ antiviral medicine remdesivir in a closely watched clinical trial is seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms, with nearly all patients discharged in less than a week, STAT has learned. Remdesivir was one of the first medicines identified as having the potential to impact SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, in lab tests. The entire world has been waiting for results from Gilead’s clinical trials, and positive results would likely lead to fast approvals by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies. If safe and effective, it...

"My housemate came back to the flat at midnight, during lockdown, with two women." Having difficult housemates is something a lot of us have probably experienced at some point. But with the government telling us to stay inside because of coronavirus, it's not the best time to have a housemate who breaks the rules. "He doesn't seem to think having people over is a problem," Helen* tells Radio 1 Newsbeat about the man she lives with, who's also her landlord. She says he's not been following any of the government rules regarding social distancing and staying inside during lockdown.

There are a lot of people who are ruining the country right now, according to Michael Savage. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Liberal mayors in big cities like San Francisco. Undocumented immigrants. Homeless people. But for the past two months, listeners to Mr. Savage’s conservative radio show have heard him howl with unabated contempt about another menace: “The pimps” in the right-wing media “who tell you what you want to hear.” They are “intellectual dwarfs” and “science illiterates,” he says, who spent weeks downplaying the threat from the coronavirus epidemic and accusing President Trump’s opponents of exaggerating it to hurt him politically....

Israel has no role in the Palestinians' medical supply shortage. The real story is a shortage of leadership -- and rampant corruption We are in the midst of a global health crisis unlike any we have faced in our lifetime. A pandemic has filled the future with uncertainty and the world community is scared, but even dark times have a silver lining. All over the world, people are uplifting and supporting each other from a distance. Now is a time to come together. Sadly, Israel’s enemies are a clear exception to this. They never miss an opportunity to criticize the...

China’s muscular coronavirus PR campaign in Europe may end up backfiring.Ever since the World Health Organization declared Europe the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic on March 13, China has seized the opportunity to provide relief to some of the worst-hit European countries as part of a concerted PR offensive aiming at polishing up the Communist Party’s image internationally and — above all — domestically. Although China’s aid offers have generally been welcomed by those leaders struggling to contain the outbreak, it is still far too early to conclude that Beijing is actually winning over any European hearts and minds....

Announces dedicated webpage related to Committee oversight efforts WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), today released declassified confidential human source transcripts related to the Crossfire Hurricane operation. In addition to the transcripts, the Committee released other material related to the Committee’s investigation into Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) actions leading up to and during the Crossfire Hurricane operation, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant process. “I’m committed to being as transparent as possible about the circumstances surrounding FISA abuse. The goal is to make sure it...