Free Republic

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Michael Steele called former President Trump a “visceral animal” after Trump shared a video depicting President Biden tied up in the back of a truck and a string of attacks against judges overseeing his court cases. Steele, a political analyst for MSNBC, said Saturday the concept of thinking before speaking “is way above Donald Trump’s paygrade, or I think, intellectual capacity because he’s a visceral animal politically and in business.”

Quotable, controversial, anarchic, charismatic and handsome (in an ugly way), the zany avant-garde rocker Frank Zappa had everything one needs to be a star, except talent. The doc “Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words” cuts together concert and interview footage to make it clear that Zappa (who died in 1993) was once famous, though it doesn’t tell us why.

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 5 — Hundreds of American troops in Iraq have been infected with a parasite spread by biting sand flies, and the long-term consequences are still unknown, Army doctors said Friday. The resulting disease, leishmaniasis, has been diagnosed in about 150 military personnel so far, but that is sure to climb in the coming months, the doctors said. All have only the skin form of the disease, which creates ugly "volcano crater" lesions that may last for months, but usually clear up by themselves. None have developed the visceral form that attacks the liver and spleen and is fatal...