Free Republic

The plot thickens. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Jeffrey Epstein tried to blackmail Bill Gates after learning about an affair Gates had with a young woman. Epstein learned that Gates had an affair with a Russian bridge player and when Gates shot down a donation request from Epstein, Jeffrey sent him an email reminding the Microsoft founder what he knew. According to The Wall Street Journal: “The Microsoft co-founder met the woman around 2010, when she was in her 20s. Epstein met her in 2013 and later paid for her to attend software coding school. In 2017, Epstein...

A court in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday convicted a visiting American soldier of stealing and making threats of murder, and it sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city to see his girlfriend and was arrested last month after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. officials and Russian authorities. Russia's state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported that the judge in Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles ($115) in damages. Prosecutors had...