Free Republic

Israel’s determination to attack Iran and the certainty that US troops would be targeted in response forced the Trump administration to take pre-emptive strikes, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said, in a new explanation for Washington’s surprise entry into the conflict. The rationale drew divided reviews from top members of Congress who on Monday evening received the first briefing by the Trump administration since it ordered the air campaign to begin over the weekend. Rubio; the CIA director, John Ratcliffe; and joint chiefs of staff, chair Dan Caine; spoke to the lawmakers behind closed doors in the Capitol ahead...

GREENFIELD — Orange and white traffic barrels, detour signs and construction equipment stretch as far as the eye can see through the heart of Greenfield, indicating a major construction project is underway. Road improvement work along State Road 9 on the south side of Greenfield officially started this week, and despite numerous warnings to drivers about the road closure, the work is creating chaos as many drivers are disregarding the construction signs and driving through the closure area. Greenfield Police Department officers stopped nearly 50 drivers who disregarded construction warnings and went around “road closed” signs and barricades on Tuesday,...

TALLAHASSSEE, Fla. (News Service of Florida) - Bondholders have gone to a state appeals court as they seek to force the Florida Department of Transportation to pay damages because of lost toll revenues on a long-controversial Panhandle bridge. UMB Bank, which represents bondholders, filed a notice last week that it was taking the dispute to the 1st District Court of Appeal after a Leon County circuit judge ruled in November that the department could not be forced to pay damages. As is common, the notice of appeal does not provide detailed legal arguments. But the appeal is the latest move...

The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks. The effort includes secretive projects to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries, as well as one operation out of a spy novel in a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of young entrepreneurs who look as if they could be in a garage band are fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype “Internet in a suitcase.”

Ann Savage, 87, who had a large cult following due to movies like the 1940s hit "Detour" died in her nursing home on Christmas Day. Ann Savage was suffering several strokes and according to her manager died from the complicatiosn of the strokes according to reports. Savage was most well known for her role in Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 movie called "Detour" in which she played as a woman who ruthlessly blackmailed a stranger. From this movie she had the start of a cult following. She was forgotten later in the 50s and 60s but as of late has gotten...

FORT HUACHUCA — The red, white and blue American Airlines plane was about two hours from the East Coast. Flight 49, a Boeing 767, was heading from Paris to Dallas. But this day the aircraft would not make its final destination. Like many planes on Sept. 11, 2001, the flight was ordered to land — but not in the United States. Barbara Fast, then a brigadier general, was on the flight. She planned to make a connecting flight to Tucson and then drive to Fort Huachuca to attend a conference of senior Army intelligence officers. It turns out Fast, who...

The fat man's walk across the United States has taken him from Oceanside to Ohio, and now on a detour to North Hollywood. The reason is simple: He isn't looking the part. Despite losing weight, Steve Vaught still has a prodigious gut. Vaught's walk has attracted worldwide media attention that promises to intensify as he approaches his destination of New York City. His book chronicling his quest to regain control of his life by crossing America on foot is scheduled to be published soon. Which he said means he needs to slim down – and fast. “Visual impact is everything,”...

KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) -- Retired Maj. Wesley Schierman finally landed his last sortie with the 67th Fighter Squadron here Sept. 19 after a 40-year detour. Originally, he began his flight as a captain with the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron during the Vietnam War flying an F-105 Thunderchief out of Korat Air Base, Thailand. But while leading a formation of four aircraft Aug. 25, 1965, on a mission to attack a military barracks near Hanoi, something happened. His gun jammed. He bailed out. He became a prisoner of war. "I was captured within an hour of ejecting from the...