Free Republic

Ben Roberts-Smith was taking his teenage daughters on a shopping day trip to Sydney when he was arrested getting off a Qantas flight and charged with war crimes. The Victoria Cross recipient had flown from Queensland to NSW with his 15-year-old twins and partner Sarah Matulin on the morning of April 7 and all four were holding return tickets to Brisbane. Roberts-Smith, who will apply for bail today in Downing Centre Local Court, had treated his girls to an Easter school holidays expedition and none of the group had checked any luggage. Federal authorities knew the 47-year-old was making the...

Ukraine says it has handed Russia a “memorandum” on a proposed ceasefire, urging Moscow to do the same in return, as fresh talks next week emerge as a possibility. Russia has proposed a second round of Moscow-Kyiv talks for Monday June second, calling Istanbul “the central location for talks”. The Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergey Shoigu thanked Turkey for its “significant efforts” to support talks, saying on Thursday they had ensured “security and creating favorable conditions for the delegations’ work”. Should these talks materialise, they would come over two weeks after the historic but unproductive first set of...

The New York City venue hosting an individual who attempted to assassinate former President Ronald Reagan says that the attempted assassin "didn't f---" as many lives as the Reagan administration did. John Hinckley Jr., who shot Reagan in 1981, announced he would be performing at the Market Hotel in New York City on July 8. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was 25 when he attempted the assassination, which injured two others and paralyzed Reagan's press secretary, James Brady.

by Laurie Azgard The DisHonorable Judge Thomas David Schroeder had finally been placed into checkmate in the judicial corrupt game of Chess that was rigged as to the federal criminal case of Brian D. Hill of USWGO alternative news. The chief judge of the “Middle District of North Carolina” had ordered the adoption of the U.S. Probation Office’s request to change venue [Probation 49 form waiver] of jurisdiction to the Western District of Virginia. No more judge Schroeder involvement in Brian’s federal probation as Brian is still actively seeking to overturn his conviction on the grounds of his actual...

BOSTON (AP) — There’s the windup, the pitch — and the vote. Election officials in Boston are expected to approve Fenway Park as an early voting venue when they meet Thursday, after Red Sox owner John Henry offered the storied ballpark for voters hesitant to cast ballots indoors. City officials toured the park and have said it meets their guidelines. If formally cleared as a venue, Bostonians could vote at Fenway on Oct. 17 and 18.

Harvey Weinstein’s defense team has asked again for a change of venue, arguing that his rape trial has devolved into a media circus. Weinstein’s team asked in August to move the case to Albany or Suffolk County, on Long Island, saying the intense media scrutiny in Manhattan would make it impossible to get a fair trial. The New York state appeals court denied the request in October. His defense lawyers filed a renewed motion on Wednesday to move to a “quieter jurisdiction,” saying that the media attention on the case has proven their earlier warnings correct. Of the 142 prospective...

Kasich: It's 'hard to say' if I'll support Trump (Then he support Hillary Clinton) It's "hard to say" whether John Kasich will support Donald Trump, the Ohio governor said Thursday, adding that it's "absolutely" possible he could go to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month and not endorse the billionaire businessman. "Hard to say," the swing-state governor said of whether he will back the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. "If you look at Twitter, they have this thing called 'trending.' It's trending poorly."................ Kasich said he knows what the U.S. needs in a leader -- or rather, what it...

Another business is facing retribution for declining service to a same-sex couple. Betty and Dick Odgaard, owners of Görtz Haus Gallery in Grimes, Iowa, are catching the ire of gay rights advocates after they declined offering their venue to Lee Stafford and his fiance Jared. Now the owners, who are Christians, are receiving vicious and threatening emails and phone calls — and they fear that their business could shut down because of the fierce reaction. It was less than one week ago that the Lee and Jared entered Görtz Haus looking for additional information about holding their wedding there. After...

For a black American president on a tour of Africa, it seemed an obvious opportunity for a speech about the evils of slavery. When Barack Obama visited Senegal on Thursday, he headed for Gorée Island, where a crumbling fort is said to have been the key departure point for millions of slaves shipped across the Atlantic. Yet as the president toured the 18th century building and later spoke of how the visit had allowed him to "fully appreciate the magnitude of the slave trade", historians pointed out that it was probably never used for that purpose at all.