Free Republic

* Insider has obtained a never-before-seen address book that appears to have belonged to Jeffrey Epstein in the '90s, connecting him to a new network of prominent financiers and political figures, including Melania Trump's best friend. * The book, which contains 349 names, offers a window into the late sex offender's social circle a full decade before the era covered by his previously known "little black book." More than 200 names listed in the book did not appear in Epstein's later address book. * Prominent entries not previously associated with Epstein include Morgan Fairchild, Suzanne Ircha, Carl Icahn, John A....

A year after being clumsily removed from the web following complaints, a controversial paper about “the possible role of conspiracist ideation in the rejection of science” is being retracted. The paper, “Recursive fury: Conspiracist ideation in the blogosphere in response to research on conspiracist ideation,” was authored by Stephan Lewandowsky, John Cook, Klaus Oberauer, and Michael Marriott, and published in Frontiers in Psychology: Personality Science and Individual Differences. Here’s the retraction notice, which isn’t live on the journal’s site yet: In the light of a small number of complaints received following publication of the original research article cited above, Frontiers...

In a display of the arrogance of power for which the left have become so well known, Democrat El Paso Mayor John Cook decided not only to overrule the results of a 2010 ballot decision, he is hoping to jail those who dared circulate a recall petition in response to his contempt for the will of the voters. In 2009, Mayor Cook and a majority of the El Paso city council decided that health insurance benefits should be provided for unmarried and homosexual “partners” of city employees, at taxpayer expense of course. Church groups and others opposed to the decision...

The AOL-owned site Daily Finance this morning retracted a passage in an article that falsely stated Free Republic hosted child pornography.The article was about reporter John Cook leaving Yahoo News to return to Gawker. Included in Cook's reasons for leaving, according to Daily Finance reporter Jeff Bercovici, was that Yahoo would not allow him to write about Free Republic "hosting child pornography." The Salon.com article that was linked to support that claim actually stated that Free Republic did not host child pornography.The offending Daily Finance passage now reads:"... On similar grounds, he was prohibited from writing about the conservative website...

The Internet giant AOL libeled Free Republic as "hosting child pornography" in an article published Wednesday, September 22, 2010, at their Daily Finance news site. The site's masthead reads: Daily Finance An AOL Money & Finance Site.Authored by Daily Finance media columnist Jeff Bercovici, the article entitled Muzzled Reporter Says 'Maw of Yahoo' No Place for Journalism tells the story about John Cook's reasons for leaving Yahoo News and returning to his previous gig with Gawker. According to the article, Cook was the senior national affairs reporter for Yahoo's The Upshot news blog. Bercovici notes that he and Cook are...