Free Republic

A former Green Beret has taken responsibility for what he claimed was a failed attack Sunday aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and that the socialist government said ended with eight dead. Jordan Goudreau’s comments in an interview with an exiled Venezuelan journalist capped a bizarre day that started with reports of a pre-dawn amphibious raid near the South American country’s heavily guarded capital. An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general now facing U.S. narcotics charges to train dozens of deserting Venezuelan soldiers at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia....

Republican Brian Kemp’s campaign declared victory Wednesday in the Georgia governor’s race, though Democrat Stacey Abrams insists that enough ballots remain to leave open the possibility of a runoff.The Associated Press has not called the contest. Ryan Mahoney, a top Kemp campaign adviser, told reporters in a conference call that the numbers show Abrams can’t win and a runoff won’t happen — but stopped short of declaring victory until pressed by an Associated Press reporter. Only then did Mahoney say Kemp is certain of victory and preparing to take office in January. “We are declaring victory,” Mahoney said. Another campaign...

A commission established to review homicides in Baltimore has stalled because its leaders say the city's top prosecutor isn't sharing information that's needed for the program to work. The city spent nearly $200,000 last year to launch the Homicide Review Commission. It was meant to bring together elected officials, police leaders, academics, public health officials and others to identify trends that leads to slayings and how best to respond. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, was tapped to lead the project. He tells The Baltimore Sun (http://tinyurl.com/pehu9nb) that State Attorney Marilyn Mosby's refusal...

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, June 22 (UPI) -- Blasts from two female suicide bombers at a crowded fish market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri killed at least 20 people Monday, witnesses said. Sources told the BBC that the two women, who were wearing suicide bomb vests, had disguised themselves as beggars in an attempt to enter the market unnoticed.

Three masked men allegedly broke into a 33-year-old lesbian woman’s home, bound her arms and carved anti-gay slurs into her arms and abdomen. A vigil was held in support of the woman who was allegedly attacked for her sexual orientation. A 33-year-old Nebraska woman said three masked intruders tied her up, carved homophobic slurs into her skin and then set her house on fire in a shocking case that police are reportedly classifying as a hate crime. A spokeswoman for the Lincoln Police Department told CNN on Monday investigators found a derogatory slur used against lesbians spray painted inside her...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening. Perry’s campaign told state election officials it had submitted 11,911 signatures, but a Virginia Republican familiar with the situation said that the Texas governor did not submit the required 10,000. Earlier Friday, the Republican Party of Virginia certified former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) to appear in the March ballot. Four candidates — Romney, Perry, Paul and former House speaker Newt Gingrich — turned in thousands of signatures by the deadline. State...

An outspoken critic who believes President Barack Obama's birth certificate is a forgery visited the Hawaii Department of Health on Monday. Dr. Orly Taitz and two document experts were hoping to examine the president's original long-form birth certificate, but their request was denied. Taitz then headed to U.S. District Court.

GulagBound.com is live blogging beginning this Sunday morning, as events of critical importance are planned in the Sur del Lago region of Venezuela (translated "South Lake" with its key city, Santa Barbara). Just last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans gathered in Caracas and in cities around the world, to peacefully protest against the Marxist dictatorship of Hugo Chavez and to demand their land and freedoms be returned to them. It has not happened. One week later, they will be taking as yet unspecified measures at the farms of Sur del Lago and are planning for confrontation with Venezuelan military....

<p>THERE'S nothing genteel about this finger food. Corporate bigwigs are forking over as much as $700 a head for dinner parties where guests are served sushi off a naked woman.</p> <p>The secret gourmet trend has taken off in the past six months in L.A., and now New York is getting on the act.</p>

A Vietnamese man died and three of his co-workers nearly suffered the same fate after trying to rescue a colleague who fell into vat of fish sauce. The state-run Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said the accident happened Monday in southern beachside Phan Thiet town when a man at a fish sauce factory fell into a 2.2 meter (7.2 foot) sauce tank. Four other workers, including the man's wife, who came to his aid also fell in, and all lost consciousness after inhaling the gas from the fish being fermented to make the sauce, the article said. A doctor at the...