Free Republic

In their final encounter during the transition following the 2016 election, Donald Trump’s incoming national-security adviser surprised Barack Obama’s outgoing national-security adviser. Susan Rice writes in her memoir that the Michael Flynn she was dealing with had nothing in common with the firebrand she had watched leading a “lock her up” chant against Hillary Clinton at the Republican National Convention a few months earlier. Flynn, a retired general and the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was respectful and subdued, eager for her advice. When Rice extended her hand and wished him the best of luck, Flynn asked her...

Dan Bongino has come up with a knock-your-socks-off theory about why Flynn’s December 29, 2016, telephone call with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak didn’t need unmasking. He also offers a surprising twist on the charging papers against Flynn, something that may expose the DOJ's con on the court. A lot of people noticed something interesting in the newly released list showing Obama-era people unmasking Flynn communications: No one unmasked Flynn’s call with Kislyak. There were no unmaskings between December 28 and January 4. The next unmasking, on January 5, took place after Comey had admitted that he already knew about the...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The flag of the Dominican Republic was raised over Springfield City hall Saturday afternoon honoring the growing Dominican community here in western Massachusetts.

The replica of a wooden Phoenician ship, which visited Lyme Regis last year, has completed its 6,000 mile voyage across the Atlantic. The Phoenicia visited Lyme Regis last July before setting out on its voyage from the old port of Carthage, Tunisia, in September. It called in at Cadiz (Spain), Essaouira (Morocco), Tenerife (Canary Islands) and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) before arriving in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club on Thursday, February 4... The ship's trans-Atlantic voyage was part of the Phoenicians Before Columbus Expedition, designed, with the help of the US-based Phoenician International Research Center, to...

Toxicology tests done by the FBI have confirmed that three American tourists found dead this spring in the Dominican Republic died of natural causes, the U.S. State Department said. The results were consistent with the findings of local authorities, according to a statement from the State Department on Friday... Schaup-Werner died of respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, according to the hotel. An autopsy performed on Holmes and Day determined that they died of the same causes, according to the Dominican Republic National Police.

A homeless man wielding a long metal pipe rampaged through New York City early Saturday attacking other homeless people who were sleeping, killing four and leaving a fifth with serious injuries, police said. A 24-year-old suspect was in custody but has yet to be charged. Police recovered the weapon that was still in the suspect’s hands when he was arrested, officials said.

Yankees pitcher Domingo German has been suspended by Major League Baseball under its domestic violence policy. The Yankees pitcher, who is currently second in the majors in wins with 18, has been suspended for seven days, "barring an extension," according to the league. The 27-year-old from the Dominican Republic has been a surprise star for the Yankees this season and carries a league-leading 18-4 win-loss record. He has a 4.03 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 123 innings pitched

John McAfee of antivirus software fame has arrived in London from the Dominican Republic, where he had been detained for several days with his wife and several others for entering the Caribbean nation with a cache of weapons on his yacht, his lawyer said Friday. Authorities “asked him where he wanted to go, and he decided on London,” his attorney Candido Simon told Reuters. News of his arrival in the UK came two days after McAfee, 73, the eponymous founder of the PC software security giant, said on Twitter that he was released “after four days of confinement” along with...

A Denver dad was so sick that he was booted off his return flight from the Dominican Republic, and has spent the past three days there in critical condition — vomiting, alone and screaming in pain in a hospital bed, his relatives said. Khalid Adkins became so ill on the trip with his daughter that he wasn’t allowed to fly home Sunday — and has been forced to stay on the embattled Caribbean island, news station KDVR reported. “He said, ‘They pulled me off the plane and made me go to the hospital,'” his sister-in-law, Marla Strick, told the news...

A teenage girl from Argentina has gone into a coma while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, with doctors pointing to a life-threatening diabetic condition — even though her family says she has no history of diabetes. Candela Saccone, 15, had been scheduled to return home from Punta Cana on June 19 after traveling there earlier in the week, but she reportedly got sick that morning. Her mother, Natalia Knetch, told CNN’s Spanish-language news channel that she rushed the teen — who was displaying symptoms of dizziness, dehydration and vomiting — to a local medical center, where doctors diagnosed her with...

A “vibrant” Queens mom of four is the latest fatality to be reported at a Dominican Republic resort — where she died within hours of coming down with a mystery stomach illness. Donette Edge Cannon, 38, visited the embattled tourist destination on a family trip last year to Sunscape Bávaro Beach Punta Cana to celebrate her brother-in-law’s birthday. Enlarge ImageDonette Cannon Donette CannonCourtesy of the Cannon family Cannon, who owned a catering business, arrived at the all-inclusive resort on May 14, 2018. She spent the next four days in the sun and taking pictures — even partaking on a dune...

<p>A Pennsylvania man claims a pair of would-be robbers savagely attacked him at the same Dominican Republic resort where a Delaware mom claims she was savagely beaten.</p> <p>Robert Walker of New Castle said he was ambushed walking alone back to his room at the Majestic Elegance resort in Punta Cana, news station WPXI reported on Thursday.</p>

Two more Americans — a man from Kansas and a woman from Pennsylvania — died during vacations in the Dominican Republic, amid a recent spate of tourist deaths in the country, according to a new report. The families of Chris Palmer — a 41-year-old Army veteran from Kansas who died on April 18, 2018, and Barbara Diane Maser-Mitchell, a 69-year-old retired nurse from Pennsylvania who died on Sept. 17, 2016 — came forward to Fox News to report their deaths. The State Department confirmed the deaths to the network Thursday. Both Palmer and Maser-Mitchell died of heart attacks, according to...

LULING, La — A Louisiana woman died less than a week after returning from her honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, WWLTV reported, making her the 10th US tourist to die after visiting the Dominican Republic.

Dominican Republic health officials say the Maryland woman found dead last month with her fiancé in a hotel room likely died from the “shock” of seeing her partner dead. Ministry of Public Health spokesman Carlos Suero insisted that the Caribbean country shouldn’t be blamed for the series of tourist deaths on the island, which includes Cynthia Ann Day and fiancé Nathaniel Holmes. Suero claimed that Holmes died, then Day followed, “probably from the shock of seeing the person beside her dead.”

A graduation trip to the Dominican Republic for a group of Oklahoma teens took a turn earlier this month when part of the group became mysteriously ill during their stay in the Caribbean nation, where at least nine Americans have died while vacationing. About 40 seniors, who just graduated from Deer Creek High School in Edmond, traveled to the Dominican Republic on June 8 to stay at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, a parent told KOTV. The all-inclusive resort is the same location where two Americans have died and others have gotten sick. The group ate...

Adding to the rising numbers of people who have either fallen ill or died while visiting Dominican Republic hotels and resorts, a group of Oklahoma-based Jimmy Buffett fans allegedly grew violently sick while visiting the Dominican Republic’s Hotel Riu Palace Macao on an April group trip to Punta Cana. Dana Flowers, a member of the Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association (who also serves as the group’s travel agent), tells PEOPLE that 47 of the 114 people on the the trip got sick, with many unable to leave their rooms. He said some are still not feeling “normal” two months later. “We...

Dominican Republic (AP) Beloved in his hometown, David Ortiz traveled the dangerous streets of Santo Domingo with little or no security, trusting in his fans to protect him. Big Papi's guard was down even at hotspots like the Dial Bar and Lounge, where the Dominican business and entertainment elite can cross paths with shadier figures in a country where fortunes are often made in drug smuggling and money laundering.

FBI is now investigating SIX mysterious American deaths at two hotels in the Dominican Republic - all within the past year. Robert Bell Wallace, 67, (CA) April 14 after drinking alcohol ... minibar at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort in Punta Cana. Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, May 25 ... minibar at Bahia Principe ... Cynthia Day, 49, Nathaniel Holmes, 63, same resort in La Romana on May 30 ... Yvette Monique Sport, 51, Pennsylvania, ... minibar at that resort,... ... David Harrison (MD) Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort in Punta Cana. ...The CDC joined other international agencies in conducting...

After at least six U.S. tourists died under mysterious circumstances there in the last 12 months, Americans with plans to visit the Dominican Republic are reconsidering their vacations. The deaths include a California man, Robert Wallace, whose family told Fox News he became critically ill in April at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino resort in Punta Cana. They decided to come forward after learning of others recently who died in similar circumstances while vacationing on the island. Wallace's family says he was in the Dominican Republic for his stepson's wedding. He quickly became sick and died after drinking a...