Free Republic

The leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has told a Moscow audience that his country's forces are "finding it difficult" and are fighting a war "against NATO" in Ukraine. A fierce loyalist of Vladimir Putin, the leader of the Caucasus republic, announced his forces had been deployed to the battlefield in Ukraine soon after the Russian president invaded on February 24. -snip- At a filmed educational forum in Moscow, Kadyrov addressed Russia's faltering invasion of Ukraine, in which his militias have suffered heavy casualties. "We're fighting not against Ukraine, against Banderites—we're fighting against NATO," Kadyrov told the...

A lawsuit filed Monday by a former Bell police officer makes a variety of serious allegations about city officials and suggests voter fraud in a 2009 election. According to the lawsuit, filed by James Corcoran, off-duty police officers in Bell distributed absentee ballots in a 2009 municipal election and told would-be voters which candidates to support. The former police sergeant alleges in the suit that he was forced out of his job of 25 years in retaliation for informing state and federal authorities about the officers’ actions and reporting alleged misconduct involving City Administrator Robert Rizzo and other city officials....

A new poll shows Arizona Sen. John McCain widening his lead over his Republican challenger ahead of next month's GOP primary. The Rocky Mountain Poll released Wednesday shows McCain leading former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth 64 percent to 19 percent. Political newcomer Jim Deakin had 5 percent. McCain's margin has widened from a 54 percent to 28 percent lead he held over Hayworth in the same poll in April. The telephone poll was conducted by the Behavior Research Center between June 30 and July 11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4 percentage points. Pollsters surveyed...