Free Republic

Mike Bloomberg is jumping into the Democratic presidential race because he believes that Joe Biden is fading, opening the moderate lane next to Elizabeth Warren, sources close to the former New York mayor tell Axios. Why it matters: "Mike will spend whatever it takes to defeat Donald Trump," a Bloomberg source said. "The nation is about to see a very different campaign than we’ve ever seen before." I'm told there's no way he'll later run as a third-party or independent candidate, partly because of ballot-access hurdles. Theory of the case: Bloomberg, who according to Forbes is worth $52 billion, will...

"The top Ukraine expert at the White House will tell impeachment investigators he twice reported concerns about President Trump’s pressure tactics on Ukraine, acting out of a “sense of duty.”

Gorny, 93 miles north of the border with Mongolia. Two of those killed were officers and the others were enlisted men. The two wounded soldiers reportedly were in serious condition. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder case against the suspect, whom it identified as 20-year-old Ramil Shamsutdinov. The Defense Ministry said the soldier apparently opened fire in a “nervous breakdown over personal problems unrelated to his military duties.”

egendary cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to walk in space — an experience that almost killed him — and later the commander of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that docked with a NASA Apollo capsule, symbolizing a historic thaw in the Cold War, has died after a long illness, the Russian space agency confirmed Friday. He was 85. An accomplished amateur artist and a widely respected statesman in the international space community, Leonov remained a lifelong friend of his Apollo-Soyuz Test Project crewmates and a source of inspiration to a younger generation of cosmonauts who carried his photo to the...

A Haverford College student who used a campus computer to attempt to hack into an IRS database to obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns days before the 2016 presidential election pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor crimes in federal court. Justin Hiemstra, 22, who finished his studies in May but will not get his degree until he completes a study-abroad program next May, told Judge Cynthia Rufe that he did not know what he would have done with the tax returns if he and classmate Andrew Harris had succeeded in obtaining them on Nov. 2, 2016. “It was a time when...

President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the country’s vast intelligence apparatus fell into favor with the White House as a longtime, vocal critic of the Russia investigation and the officials who launched it. But John Ratcliffe, the congressman Trump has tapped to fight the “deep state” from within, has worked closely with one of the men Russian President Vladimir Putin wants most to see in prison: Bill Browder, an American-born businessman who has been on a decade-long campaign to expose Russian corruption. Ratcliffe was one of our lawyers at Ashcroft dealing with the fallout from Magnitsky,” Browder told POLITICO...

FULL TITLE: "The baby space race: Moscow scientist vows to ensure the first child born in space is Russian - but admits she is struggling to find volunteers for the project" Dr Irina Ogneva, lab head of cell biophysics of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of Russian Academy of Sciences, revealed the ambition this week. 'We have always been first in space, and would want the first human to be born in space to be a citizen of Russia,' she said. But she admitted that so far Russian cosmonauts have refused to donate sperm obtained in space for...

The US and Russian warships came somewhere between 50 feet and 165 feet of each other, according to the two opposing reports, with both sides alleging their ships were forced to perform emergency maneuvers to avoid a collision, which can be seen in video and a picture of the event obtained by CNN. "A Russian destroyer .... made an unsafe maneuver against USS Chancellorsville, closing to 50-100 feet, putting the safety of her crew and ship at risk," US Navy spokesman Cmdr. Clayton Doss told CNN in a statement. "This unsafe action forced Chancellorsville to execute all engines back full...

Roger Stone asked a judge on Friday to suppress certain evidence in the case against him, claiming that it was improperly obtained. Stone's lawyers wrote in a filing that because federal prosecutors said they will not need to prove that Russians were behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), or that Russian gave hacked materials to WikiLeaks, any search warrants issued asserting that those scenarios took place were approved on an "inadequate basis." The filing states that the search warrant applications about Stone showed that the FBI initially investigated him for...

Russia's online community has been abuzz over the past week with praise for popular YouTuber Yury Dud's documentary about life in the land of the gulag labor camps. His documentary, “Kolyma — Birthplace of Our Fear,” was viewed 9.5 million times in seven days. It’s a departure for the 32-year-old sports editor, whose 5.1 million subscribers tune in to watch him interview personalities from all walks of life about their personal lives. “Why is it that — after rappers, comedians, musicians, actors and directors — we approached this difficult and alarming subject?” Dud asks at the top of the show....

Already two years history enthusiasts try to rescue pieces of evidence and remains from the WW2 plane crash. It crashed into swamps which makes it much harder to access it. This year they got advanced and found a pilot body, one of the two. They found his personal belongings including the driver license which helped to identify the pilot. The WW2 parachute raised from the swamp – in an almost perfect condition. Pilot’s hat spent 76 years in a swamp. His medical bag. And a bag with papers and a map. This is an actual place where they make...

Butina pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign official. She admitted to using her contacts in GOP political circles, in the National Rifle Association and at the National Prayer Breakfast to influence US relations with Russia. As part of her plea deal, Butina has cooperated extensively with the government. A source familiar with the situation said she primarily provided information about her boyfriend, GOP political operative Paul Erickson, who was allegedly involved in her scheme. So far, Erickson has not faced charges in DC. Erickson was indicted in February on...

In USSR special forces mainly used “tuned” army pistols and rifles. In late 1980s situation changed – special forces got “special” firearms.1. “Vintorez” rifle (above) – first use – Chechen war. 50-100 shots per min, target range 400m, still main rifle in spetsnaz. More: 2. PP-2000 – from Tula firearm making. Made for anti-terror force. Being called “First Russian pistol-machine gun”. Made from metal and plastic pieces so weight only 1500 gramm.–nextpage– 3. RGS-50M (hand grenade launcher 50 mm caliber). Made for special force of KGB. Use plastic capsule grenade shots. Choice between different action grenades. Has “feathers” for...

This hoax ruined a hero, a veteran, a leader who made administrative mistakes and was baited into misleading political activist FBI and DOJ officials. President Trump I call on you to pardon this hero right now. Get General Flynn back into your administration where you can count on him to have integrity, loyalty and most of all to help you MAGA. General Flynn I salute you sir and apologize that our nation has become so corrupt and disgusting that our leaders are perfectly ok with destroying anyone even to the point of outright conspiracy to maintain their power. I am...

The Soviet Union even went so far as to include the Katyn Massacre among the list of Nazi war crimes presented at the Nuremberg trials. Wikimedia CommonsOfficials examine the exhumed remains of the Katyn massacre. 1943. In 1940, Poland was caught between the military aggression of both Germany and the Soviet Union. The conflict climaxed that spring in Russia’s Katyn Forest when the Soviets murdered 22,000 of the best and brightest Poles of their generation en masse — then tried to blame the whole thing on the Nazis. The Katyn massacre and its ensuing cover-up shaped Russo-Polish relations for the...

On MSNBC now -- videos of "mysterious cannisters" that appear to be Russian in origin.

A St. Louis police officer has been charged with killing a fellow officer after a Russian roulette-style game went horribly wrong. Nathaniel Hendren, 29, was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action, according to Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and a probable cause statement. Hendren, who was on-duty at the time of the shooting, and Katlyn Alix were allegedly playing a game where all but one bullet was removed from a revolver and the two would take turns pointing it at each other and pulling the trigger, according to the probable cause document.

A Russian hooker in Thailand was granted a suspended sentence after she said she had information on Trump-Russia Collusion for the FBI. So the Mueller Special Counsel broke her out of jail. According to reports from Asia: The Russian escort going by the name Nastya Rybka (little fish) has received a suspended sentence and released for time served (9 months) in Thailand where her group was arrested for conspiracy to provide sexual services to a group. She and her sex-trainer partner will be deported to Russia. The pair admitted to hosting a ‘sex training’ class in Thailand. Rybka apparently...

In May 2018, the Russian military revealed it had combat-tested its Uran-9 robot tank in Syria. The diminutive remote-control tank is noted for its formidable gun and missile armament. However, just a month later Defense Blog reported that Senior Research Officer Andrei Anisimov told a conference at the Kuznetsov Naval Academy in St. Petersburg that the Uran-9’s performance in Syria revealed that “modern Russian combat Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) are not able to perform the assigned tasks in the classical types of combat operations.” He concluded it would be ten to fifteen more years before UGVs were ready for such...

A Russian consulting firm indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller plans to ask a U.S. court to allow it to share information that the U.S. government considers "sensitive.” In a joint scheduling motion filed on Tuesday, the firm, Concord Management and Consulting, LLC, said it plans to argue that the information should be shared with Concord officers or employees, and that the judge's decision on the matter will "significantly affect the defense position to how it can proceed." **SNIP** The handling of sensitive U.S. government information has long been a sticking point in the case. In October, ABC News reported...