Free Republic

The effects are being felt nationwide, with support for the war falling as Russians feel the financial pinch caused by sanctions... "Western sanctions seriously disrupt the Russian economy. At the very least, they increase production costs for Russian enterprises," Sonin said... "Sanctions cannot destroy the Russian economy — sanctions are not missiles or bombs — but they slow down the production and decrease the volume of what Russia produces," Sonin added... On August 23, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported gasoline shortages at fuel stations across the country. This happened in the cities of Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Ryazan, and Novosibirsk, as well...

In his new book, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) confirms that he gave a controversial dossier about President Trump to former FBI chief James Comey. “I agreed to receive a copy of what is now referred to as ‘the dossier,’” McCain writes in the upcoming book, titled The Restless Wave, referencing information compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. “I reviewed its contents. The allegations were disturbing, but I had no idea which if any were true. I could not independently verify any of it, and so I did what any American who cares about our nation’s security should have...

Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II, the subject of a nationwide manhunt after explosive materials were allegedly found in his San Francisco apartment, was taken into custody by the San Francisco Police Department and the FBI, an FBI spokesman said today. A law enforcement source briefed on the case told ABC News that Chamberlain was taken into custody "right under the Golden Gate Bridge," but he was not certain if he was in a car or on foot at the time. The capture came after a day of dramatic and cinematic cat-and-mouse with the hunted man. "We had been close to him...

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Area firefighters were responding to an explosion at manufacturing plant in Peterborough Monday afternoon. The explosion took place at New Hampshire Ball Bearings, at 175 Jaffrey Rd. in Peterborough, N.H., according to the Jaffrey, N.H. Fire Department. Read more: http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/24684158/2014/02/10/explosion-reported-at-plant-in-peterborough#ixzz2sxOkKDoT

HYDERABAD, India: The police continued to find and defuse bombs throughout the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Sunday, a day after a pair of synchronized explosions ripped through two popular gathering spots, killing at least 42 people and wounding scores of others. State and national officials are calling the blasts in Hyderabad, a city with a history of Muslim-Hindu tensions, acts of terrorism. After the attacks, the police defused 19 more bombs - all fitted with timers and placed in plastic bags - at bus stops, movie theaters, road intersections and pedestrian bridges. The police said each of the...

June 29, 2007, 1:10 p.m. McCain’s Courage A rare American politician. By Tom Coburn As the American people, elected officials, and commentators reflect on the heated immigration debate that came to a temporary close in the Senate this week many will ask, and have asked, why U.S. Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) staked out a position that may, in retrospect, be seen as devastating to his presidential ambitions. I hope the American people, at least, step back from the obsessive play-by-play pre-season election analysis and reflect on Senator McCain’s actions for what I believe they were: One of the purest...

MOST of the ball bearings that ripped through Terry Fitzgerald's body - partially severing his spinal cord, cutting nerves to two fingers and shredding his spleen - are still there. Doctors have been able to remove six but the other 26 will remain lodged in his back, arms and head, constant reminders of the Bali bomb blast in October that killed his son Brendan, badly injured his daughter Jessica and changed his life forever. "The one in the head went through the side of my neck here, missed all the important stuff and ended up at the top of my...

This is a very curious press conference just conducted by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. With his machine-gun delivery. He repeatedly flopped back and forth between saying that the “outing” of Valerie Plame, wife of discredited Ambassador Joe Wilson was a “serious matter,” and saying that he “reached no conclusion” whether she had been outed, and if so, when and by whom. The mood in the room among the reporters changed appreciably as the conference went on. Initially, the press was very interested in the charges made and reasons for them, and in the charges not made against other people, and...