Free Republic

A Romanian national pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to his role in a “swatting” ring that targeted dozens of public officials, including a former US president. Going by the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher,” 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo took part in a years-long conspiracy to place bogus 911 calls, claiming emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and make bomb threats against government buildings and houses of worship, according to Justice Department. Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, allegedly targeted about 100 people, including members of Congress, governors, cabinet-level executive branch officials...

The process of restoring relations between Moscow and Washington is still in its “initial stages,” the Kremlin said on Monday, as bilateral contacts began after Donald Trump took over as US president in January. -snip- Peskov, however, denied media reports that top Russian and US officials will meet in Saudi Arabia this week, describing them as “not true.” On Sunday, CNN reported that top officials from the Trump administration will separately meet Russian and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, in a bid to reach a deal between the two warring countries.

One false Russian claim: that the U.S. rushed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine through the regulatory process WASHINGTON — Russian intelligence agencies have mounted a campaign to undermine confidence in Pfizer Inc.’s and other Western vaccines, using online publications that in recent months have questioned the vaccines’ development and safety, U.S. officials said. An official with the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which monitors foreign disinformation efforts, identified four publications that he said have served as fronts for Russian intelligence. The websites played up the vaccines’ risk of side effects, questioned their efficacy, and said the U.S. had rushed the Pfizer PFE,...

Washington, DC -- A new report from a pro-abortion group claims that family planning programs reduce the number of abortions. However, direct evidence from places where birth control and the morning after pill have been aggressively promoted show abortions increasing even with wider use.

About that pistol whipping...Safia Z. Jilani was indicted for faking an assault. She said a gunman pistol whipped her after she spoke at a diversity rally. An Elmhurst College student was indicted this week for lying about an assault on campus.The Daily Herald reported, via ROP: A DuPage County grand jury indicted a Muslim student at Elmhurst College on suspicion she lied when reporting a masked gunman assaulted her on campus, hours after she spoke at a diversity rally urging tolerance. Safia Z. Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook is expected to plead not guilty Monday when arraigned on a...

On the surface, it sounds like the story of 19-year-old Alicia Hardin is a bizarre twist in the supposed hate crime at Trinity International University. But actually, Hardin appears to have a sickness that is affecting middle-class families. I call it entitleitis. Last week, school officials removed African-American and Latino students from the campus after receiving three letters containing racial slurs and threats. The letters, addressed to different students, were sent through the campus mail system. About 43 non-white students were put up at hotels while Bannockburn Police and the FBI investigated, and nearly 260 other minority students went home...

Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) ART. 107. FALSE STATEMENTS Any person subject to this chapter who, with intent to deceive, signs any false record, return, regulation, order, or other official document, knowing it to be false, or makes any other false official statement knowing it to be false, shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. --end-- ============================================== John Kerry received medals in Vietnam. They are in the official records. George Elliot signed at least one of them. Here is the problem. Elliot signed off because he trusted the honor of the officer submitting the report. Who was that...