Free Republic

Veteran character actor Joseph "Joe" Turkel has passed away. The actor is best known for his key roles in genre classics Blade Runner and The Shining, but had an immense body of work stretched across five decades. Per Variety, Joe Turkel passed away at ​​St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., survived by his two sons Craig and Robert, and his brother David. While his cause of death is not currently public knowledge, the actor was 94 years old. Though he had not actively been in films or television since the late 1990s, his impact on popular culture was enormous.

Two lawmakers of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party appealed Thursday to let Uighurs locked up at Guantanamo Bay move to the United States, saying they were victims of injustice. The plea came despite an overwhelming Senate vote a day earlier to block money to transfer inmates out of the deeply controversial "war on terror" prison in Cuba, which Obama on Thursday vowed again to shut down. US authorities four years ago cleared 17 imprisoned Uighurs -- members of a largely Muslim group in northwestern China who the State Department says face worsening persecution by Beijing. But they are stuck at...