Free Republic

Thursday's New York Times has a report on how the highly suspicious dossier alleging that Donald Trump was compromised by Russian intelligence agents came into existence. Among the other interesting revelations was that the dubious opposition research report was put together by the research firm Fusion GPS: The story began in September 2015, when a wealthy Republican donor who strongly opposed Mr. Trump put up the money to hire a Washington research firm run by former journalists, Fusion GPS, to compile a dossier about the real estate magnate's past scandals and weaknesses, according to a person familiar with the effort....

Mr. Garfinkle of Garfinkle’s New Method Hebrew School in Milwaukee used to frequently echo King Solomon’s admonition; “There’s nothing new under the sun.” I was reminded of that this week when the rapidly unfolding “scandal” of Trump’s purported dealings with Russia hit the news. It has more than a few similarities with the Dan Rather faked-up story of GW Bush’s National Guard service where an anonymous, never-found source supposedly gave Bill Burkett a demonstrably fake report and Dan Rather ran with it. This time a Bush (Jeb) is involved but as an instigator of the story, not a victim. John...

James Clapper said to have frequent communication with military official who is said to be implicated in a Pentagon inquiry into manipulated intelligence Barack Obama’s intelligence chief is said to be in frequent and unusual contact with a military intelligence officer at the center of a growing scandal over rosy portrayals of the war against the Islamic State, the Guardian has learned. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, is said to talk nearly every day with the head of US Central Command’s intelligence wing, Army Major General Steven Grove – “which is highly, highly unusual”, according to a former...

Earlier this month, the SPLC launched a new initiative called "Erasing Hate," which "aims to identify and eliminate government-sanctioned symbols honoring the Confederacy." "There are numerous government-sponsored symbols of the Confederacy that are out in the public across the country, and, quite frankly, it's time for them be removed," said SPLC founder Morris Dees. "In Montgomery, Alabama, we have a Robert E. Lee High School that wasn't even named until [Brown v. the Board of Education], the desegregation case. We have government-sponsored holidays honoring Confederate 'heroes'." Flags, street names, building names, and statues honoring the Confederacy became public targets across...

With more than 50 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents assigned to investigate Hillary Clinton’s criminal use of a private email server, how did she avoid charges? Now, the smoking gun has emerged. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a long-time Clinton insider and former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman, steered at least $675,000 to the election of the wife of an FBI official involved in the Clinton probe. McAuliffe’s political action committee gave $467,500 to the state senate campaign for FBI agent Andrew McCabe’s wife. He is now the deputy director of the FBI. More money came to her through the Democratic...

‏@DevlinBarrett · 11 hours ago "doesn't mean they are connected. but don't misstate the order of events: server found, campaign launched, email probe, donations, promotion" @DevlinBarrett · 11 hours ago "apparently needs underlining: FBI probe of Clinton email was launched in July 2015. Big McAuliffe donations to FBI spouse 2 months later 1/2"

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton confidant, helped steer $675,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an FBI official who went on to lead the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email system, according to a report. The political action committee of McAuliffe, the Clinton loyalist, gave $467,500 to the state Senate campaign of the wife of Andrew McCabe, who is now deputy director of the FBI, according to the Wall Street Journal. The report states Jill McCabe received an additional $207,788 from the Virginia Democratic Party, which is heavily influenced by McAuliffe. The money...

From wikileaks email ID 27111 *From:* John Podesta [mailto:john.podesta@gmail.com] *Sent:* Saturday, September 26, 2015 4:39 PM *To:* Jennifer Palmieri *Subject:* Any sense of whether and when she wants to talk? How bad is her head?

WOLFSBURG, Germany—Two top Volkswagen engineers who found they couldn’t deliver as promised a clean diesel engine for the U.S. market are at the center of a company probe into the installation of engine software designed to fool regulators, according to people familiar with the matter. The two men, Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi ’s chief engineer, and Wolfgang Hatz, developer of Porsche’s winning Formula One engines, were among the engineers suspended in the investigation of the emissions cheating scandal that sank the company’s market value by 43% since Sept. 18 and triggered a world-wide recall to refit the engines to meet clear-air...

German Anti-ISIS Coalition Chief Found Dead in Iraq Hotel by Andy Eckardtand Sarah Burke MAINZ, Germany — A German army chief in the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq was found dead in his hotel room there Wednesday, officials said. Colonel Stephan Spoettel was found dead at 8:50 a.m. local time (1:50 a.m. ET) in the Cristal Erbil Hotel in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil, the German armed forces said in a statement. Spoettel was the head of the coalition's German training contingent in northern Iraq. There was no information to suggest suicide or "third-party involvement," the statement added....

In recent days, pro-al Qaeda jihadists claimed to confirm a recent news report saying that several senior al Qaeda leaders have been released from Iranian custody. Sky News reported earlier this week that five veteran jihadists were released in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who had been kidnapped in Yemen. Several jihadists on Twitter who are connected to al Qaeda have said the report is accurate. One of them is known as “Al Siyasi al Mutaqa’id,” who has relayed accurate information on al Qaeda in the past. The five jihadists who were reportedly freed are: Saif al Adel, Abu Mohammed...

The Taliban have seized the Bala Hisar fortress in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. The fighters achieved the victory, despite NATO airstrikes and government efforts. More than 40 people died and 330 were injured in the fighting, including civilians. Many others have fled from the provincial capital. This is the biggest coup for the Taliban since 2001, led by the group’s new leader Mullah Mansour. They have emptied safe deposit boxes at banks, seized weapons and vehicles, and released prisoners. It was also a public relations victory. Kunduz is one of Afghanistan’s richest cities. It is also a key...

War Is On The Horizon: Is It Too Late To Stop It? Paul Craig Roberts One lesson from military history is that once mobilization for war begins, it takes on a momentum of its own and is uncontrollable. This might be what is occuring unrecognized before our eyes. In his September 28 speech at the 70th Anniversity of the United Nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia can no longer tolerate the state of affairs in the world. Two days later at the invitation of the Syrian government Russia began war against ISIS. Russia was quickly successful in destroying...

Unseen by most of the world, the once tranquil port of Aden is being steadily infiltrated by jihadists from both al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) and the so-called Islamic State (IS). They are not in charge of the city, the military forces of the UAE are. But in the last few days disturbing reports have emerged of the summary executions of prisoners by the jihadists, along with their black flags hoisted onto public buildings.

(CNN)The French military has carried out its first airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, according to a statement from the office of France's presidency. The country had announced earlier this month that it would expand its aerial campaign against ISIS in Iraq -- which it began a year ago -- to include the militant group's positions in Syria.

Just ahead of the fourteenth anniversary of al Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on the U.S., the leader of the terrorist group took aim in an angry speech at a mortal enemy -- but not American “crusaders” this time. Rather, the object of his tirade was the leader of ISIS in a declaration of war that will “irreconcilably” divide the two terror groups in a way the U.S. may be able to exploit, experts say. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who replaced Osama bin Laden as the head of al Qaeda four years ago, in a new audio message accused ISIS top...

Don't put that popcorn-popper away just yet . . . On today's Morning Joe, Chuck Todd said he felt that in his Meet the Press interview of Hillary Clinton yesterday, she was signalling to her Dem supporters that there could be more damaging revelations to come on the email scandal. Todd was alluding to the moment in the interview in which Hillary agreed with his characterization of a "drip, drip, drip" aspect to the scandal. When Todd asked whether she could "reassure Democrats that there's nothing else here," Hillary's answer was a very un-reassuring "there's only so much I can...

Donna Shalala, the former president of the University of Miami who was brought in to lead the Clinton Foundation this year, had a stroke shortly after the closing ceremonies of the organization’s major fall event early Tuesday evening, officials said. Ms. Shalala, 74, fell ill after departing the closing events around the Clinton Global Initiative, which was held at the Sheraton New York hotel on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, according to a statement from foundation officials.

The FBI seized four servers from the State Department building a few weeks ago as part of the investigation into classified material improperly stored on Hillary Clinton’s secret email server, particularly the Top Secret documents that have been discovered in her email trove. This revelation comes from Bill Gertz at the Washington Free Beacon, citing anonymous sources familiar with the investigation. Gertz notes that the State Department referred questions about the seized servers to the FBI, which declined to comment on the matter. It would be interesting to know exactly what the FBI computer forensics team is looking for on...

Mike Gillette said Clancy called him Monday and said he was “very sorry,” and that the agency “did not handle the situation well.” A spokeswoman for the Secret Service confirmed that Clancy made the call. According to Gillette, Clancy offered to come to one of the group’s events to apologize in person and offered to have some of the children come to one of the agency’s training facilities in Maryland for a tour. ... In a statement e-mailed late Sunday, Brian Leary, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the closures on Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Square were “put into...