Free Republic

San Francisco Mayor London Breed is facing criticism over a $1.7 million toilet that was announced over 15 months ago — and still has not been installed in the city. "The toilet project broke down the minute taxpayers realized the city was planning an event to celebrate $1.7 million in state funds that local politicians had secured for the lone 150-square-foot structure," The New York Times reported. "That’s enough to purchase a single-family home in San Francisco — with multiple bathrooms." California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to pull the funds for the toilet project after the story was initially made...

Authorities have recovered an eleventh suspected package in the widening investigation into a mass mail bombing campaign, with the latest target being Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, multiple sources told ABC News. The latest package addressed to Booker was found Friday morning at or near Opa-locka in South Florida, sources said.

James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence said he believes there could be "other shoes to drop" in the Russia probe, which took a dramatic turn on Friday after new charges against multiple Russian nationals and entities were announced. "I think there are other shoes to drop here — notably finances," Clapper said during a CNN interview Friday night. "I think that's going to be another profound thing that's going to come out about this." "What were the financial relationships between the Trump Organization before the election and the Trump campaign," Clapper said. He clarified that he isn't personally...

CNN contributor James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, said after watching President Trump's Tuesday night rally in Phoenix he questions his fitness for office. Clapper said Trump seems to be "looking for a way out" of the presidency. "I really question his ability, his fitness to be in this office and I also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for it," Clapper said. "Maybe he is looking for a way out."

<p>Technology companies stung by the controversy over the National Security Agency’s sweeping Internet surveillance program are calling on U.S. officials to ease the secrecy surrounding national security investigations and lift long-standing gag orders covering the nature and extent of information collected about Internet users.</p>

The LA Times reports that sales of the book, which concerns a discontented propagandist working for the Ministry of Truth in a time of endless war, are up 5,771 percent as of Tuesday morning. From a sales rank of 12,507 in the days before The Guardian published top-secret government documents provided by Snowden, "1984" has risen to crack Amazon's top 200.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is under fire for statements he made before Congress that suggested he had no knowledge about federal government programs that collected data on millions of Americans’ phone calls and Internet activities. In March, Clapper said at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that he was not aware that the National Security Agency was involved in such large-scale efforts. The questioning of Clapper’s statements follow blockbuster news last week that the federal government has since 9/11 been logging millions, perhaps billions, of calls and Internet activities and as the NSA’s top official goes before the same...

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – Valuable parts have been stolen from restrooms across the Denver metro area and then cashed in for money. Now investigators say they know who is responsible. Donald Allen Citron, 48, faces 18 charges, including burglary and theft. He’s accused of stealing toilet parts from several locations, including Southwest Plaza Mall, University of Denver, and Craig Hospital. Most of the crimes happened in just a few minutes, but police Citron is a plumber and all he needed was a wrench and a screw driver to steal pipes and the plumbing in toilets. The items he’s accused...

President Obama to hold news conference Fri.Amid the contentious meetings between Democratic and Republican leaders over the debt crisis, President Obama is scheduled to hold a press conference at the White House tomorrow at 11 a.m. EST.

As has been previously reported, the Democrats have come up with a snappy new logo. It's simple, it's blue, it's bad graphics. What was the inspiration for this genius work of rebranding? Here's the answer:

OTA CITY, Japan - Tired of an unsatisfying relationship, the sluggish economy or just your own bad habits? Now you really can flush it all down the toilet. The Mantokuji temple in Japan's central Gumma prefecture was once an asylum for women who wanted to cut marital ties with their husbands, a function now made obsolete by modern divorce laws and family courts. Now, the temple is a museum chronicling the history of divorce as well as a place to help people get rid of any bad karma, via a piece of paper they drop into latrines. Visitors are given...

Rapper Jay-Z has been caught up in a race scandal following allegations security at his BRIT Awards afterparty on Tuesday banned white people from entering the VIP area.

Philadelphia rapper Beanie Sigel was shot this morning in an apparent robbery in the city. He drove himself to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where his white Chevy Impala LT sat outside the main entrace all morning, roped off by police tape. Police spokeswoman Beth Skala said Sigel was shot at least once in the upper right arm.

A woman from St. Paul was wounded this week near Cincinnati during a freeway shootout that killed the assistant to top-selling rap artist T.I. Janice Gillespie, 22, part of an entourage that included T.I., was hospitalized in stable condition. The rapper, whose real name is Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., was not hurt. But Philant Johnson, 26, his assistant, was slain during a shootout Wednesday. The shooting was the latest in a string of violent incidents involving hip-hop artists during the past month. Cincinnati police said the 3 a.m. shootout between Harris' entourage and unidentified locals may have carried over from...

            Members of Greenpeace protest against the federal government's environmental policies while seated on a mock toilet during a demonstration in front of Mexico's finance ministry in Mexico City September 13, 2005. The banner reads ' Do not throw environmental policies down the toilet'.

Kanye West is way off base. During an NBC network fund-raiser Friday to help Hurricane Katrina victims, West, a hip-hop artist, let loose with an incredibly destructive diatribe. Among other crass comments, West said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." .....West certainly was not the only one to throw down the race card. Some other blacks also accused the federal government of neglecting New Orleans because it has a black majority and rampant poverty. The racial friction is unwarranted and counterproductive. I'm no fan of President George W. Bush, but here's a fact that can't be denied: He was...

FLASH: Al Franken has agreed not to draw a salary at AIR AMERCIA, hoping to keep the fledgling talk-radio network afloat... Developing...

Here is a phot shop a friend of mine sent me "illustrating" Larry King's dethroning from the ratings...kind of a metaphor for CNN as well. (as if I had to explain that)