Free Republic

President Trump has returned a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Oval Office, which had been removed by his predecessor in 2009. *snip* A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed last week that Trump had personally asked if England would loan the bust of Churchill to the U.S. once he took office.

Actual Title: Box Office: ‘Hidden Figures’ Soars (Again) as Ben Affleck’s ‘Live by Night,’ ‘Monster Trucks’ Tank

BEAVER TOWNSHIP, OH - A suspected prostitute from St. Clairsville is behind bars after an undercover sting by police in Ohio. Police say Crystal Hotlosz, 36, of St. Clairsville agreed to meet an undercover officer after posting an advertisement for sex services on Youngstown’s Backpage website. She allegedly agreed to meet for a sex act for the price of $50 and nachos.

As its economy started to recover in 2010, progressives began to hail California as a kind of Scandinavia on the Pacific — a place where liberal programs also produce prosperity. The state’s recovery has won plaudits from such respected figures as The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson and the New York Times’ Paul Krugman. Gov. Jerry Brown, in Bill Maher’s assessment, “took a broken state and fixed it.” There’s a political lesson being injected here, as well, as blue organs like The New Yorker describe California as doing far better economically than nasty red-state Texas. But if you take a look...

A bust of U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been erected in Albania’s southernmost city of Saranda to honor what officials say is her contribution to Albania in the international arena. […] The city council took a unanimous decision more than a month ago to put up the bust to depict Clinton’s “dimension as a woman in politics, as a representative of the old Albania-U.S. friendship, for her contribution to the Albanian nation in different historical moments.” …

President Obama defended his decision to evict a bust of Winston Churchill out of the Oval Office during his first term, telling Britons today that he loves the legendary prime minister but wanted to keep tables from "looking a little cluttered." After Obama took office, he returned a Churchill bust that the White House said had been lent to President Bush by Prime Minister Tony Blair. That replaced a Churchill bust that had been in the White House since the 1960s, which the administration said was being "worked on at the time and was later returned to the residence." In...

Once again, police met up with Johnny Manziel about an alleged assault -- and once again, it involved a young woman. This incident was in Texas, the state where Manziel earned the nickname "Johnny Football." Fort Worth police put out a press release about officers being dispatched an apartment in that Texas city around 2 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) Saturday "in reference to a report of a possible assault."

wo African-American pastors––one of whom attended Donald Trump‘s meeting earlier today––clashed on CNN tonight over whether anything was actually accomplished from that meeting. And things got pretty personal. Pastor James Davis, who attended the meeting and is supporting Trump, said he didn’t feel pandered to. Reverend Jamal Bryant responded by telling Erin Burnett that Davis is a “pawn.” After going through all the reasons he can’t support Trump, Davis hit back and brought up how Bryant called him and all the pastors in the room “prostitutes.” Bryant said, “I want to apologize, because prostitutes get money. And the 100 that...

Two archaeological discoveries led to the identification of the creator of Nefertiti's bust. The first was uncovered at Tell el-Amarna near the artists' workshop where the bust was created. (The bust was unearthed in this workshop during excavations in December 1912.) Outside the workshop, the excavators discovered a horse's blinker -- used to prevent the horse from looking toward the rear and sometimes to the side -- inscribed with the name Thutmose, who was identified by the following titles: "favored by the King," "Chief of Works," and "seankh" (a designation that means "he who gives the final touch of life"2...

Amid a raging national debate on guns, a bust in New York City highlights a problem for police in crime-plagued urban areas. While officers can control illegal gun sales in their cities, they have been at a loss to stop the flow of firearms from places with looser laws. Eight people from three states have been arrested and charged with buying guns legally in Atlanta and Pittsburgh and bringing them to New York, sometimes aboard low-cost Chinatown buses. “I sell guns,” alleged trafficking ringleader Michael Bassier was caught saying on a wiretap, according to prosecutors. “I’ve got two Mac 10s

Based on projections, China's population will start shrinking in 2026. It will then be a nation in decline. After all, no economy can grow robustly when it is getting smaller and its population is aging. Just don't tell that to Chinese officials, who are doubling down on interest rate cuts and stimulus plans that will go nowhere. Printing money always sounds good at the time, but it just ends up paying off past debts — not creating investments or consumer-led growth. The big problem is that half of China's debt is tied to its overbuilt real estate market — so...

More than one in four U.S. renters have to use at least half their family income to pay for housing and utilities. That's the finding of an analysis of Census data by Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit that helps finance affordable housing. The number of such households has jumped 26 percent to 11.25 million since 2007. Since the end of 2010, rental prices have surged at nearly twice the pace of average hourly wages, according to data from the real estate firm Zillow and the Labor Department.

House Speaker John Boehner plans to present Prime Minister Netanyahu with a gift when Netanyahu speaks to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. The gift is a bust of a politician whom Netanyahu greatly admires: Winston Churchill. House Speaker John Boehner plans to give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a bust of Winston Churchill when he speaks to a joint meeting of Congress about the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran. The gift was chosen because Netanyahu and the former prime minister of Britain are the only foreign leaders who have addressed Congress three separate times. ... Boehner also...

When Obama first entered the White House, he had the bust of Winston Churchill removed. It was assumed it was because of British Colonialism in Kenya. Maybe it was due to things said about Obama’s religion. Quoted from Churchill over 100 years ago: "How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce and insecurity of property exist wherever the...

Made-in-America marijuana is on a roll. More than half the states have now voted to permit pot for recreational or medical use, most recently Oregon and Alaska. That number also includes the District of Columbia. As a result, Americans appear to be buying more domestic marijuana, which in turn is undercutting growers and cartels in Mexico. "Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90," says Nabor, a 24-year-old pot grower in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa. "But now they're paying us $30 to $40 a kilo. It's a big difference. If...

Original Title:Sen. Hillary Clinton's 'Bust' To Be Unveiled at Museum of Sex *SNIP* Speaking of Clinton, her first "Presidential Bust" is set to be unveiled this week — at New York's Museum of Sex. Sculptor Daniel Edwards says the work portrays Clinton's "youthful spirit and a face matured by wisdom," adding, "Presented in a low cut gown, her cleavage is on display prominently portraying sexual power which some people still consider too threatening." Edwards says he was inspired by actress Sharon Stone, who said Clinton shouldn't run for president because she had too much sexuality.

The toll-road authority of Orange County, Calif., is nearing the biggest municipal default since Detroit's record bankruptcy ... The Foothill-Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency... risks default on $2.4 billion in debt, according to a consultant to the Debt and Investment Advisory Commission of California Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

The Missouri Capitol no longer has the only bust of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. Now, the front office of Limbaugh's Florida studio has one, too. Today, Limbaugh told his listeners that he received a giant replica of the statute from friends in honor of the 24th anniversary of his EIB Network radio show. Like the original, the copy was made by Kansas City sculptor E. Spencer Schubert, Limbaugh said. "You know, we ought to call the White House and tell ‘em we have this bust of me that we’d like to donate. We’d like to lend them a...

In a statement posted on the White House’s website on Tuesday afternoon, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer revealed an email he sent to Charles Krauthammer offering an apology to syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel regular over a back-and-forth about a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Krauthammer asked that the apology — which even included an endorsement for Krauthammer’s favorite Major League Baseball team, the Washington Nationals — be made public, and Pfeiffer obliged: Charles, I take your criticism seriously and you are correct that you are owed an apology. There was clearly an internal confusion...

In a statement posted on the White House’s website on Tuesday afternoon, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer revealed an email he sent to Charles Krauthammer offering an apology to syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel regular over a back-and-forth about a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Krauthammer asked that the apology — which even included an endorsement for Krauthammer’s favorite Major League Baseball team, the Washington Nationals — be made public, and Pfeiffer obliged: Charles, I take your criticism seriously and you are correct that you are owed an apology. There was clearly an internal confusion...