Free Republic

Walls rattled and pieces of plaster fell from the ceiling of a basement converted by Ukrainian troops into a forward outpost. Russian shells hit again and again the crumpled building above. Images on a surveillance monitor, linked to a camera outside in the deserted village, showed plumes of black smoke rising all around the compound. “The Russians are very angry today because yesterday we killed two of their tanks,” said Marian, a platoon leader in the volunteer Carpathian Sich battalion deployed on the front line near the Russian-held Ukrainian city of Izyum. Like most military personnel, he is only allowed...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Yakov Smirnoff. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Yakov Smirnoff is an entertaining comedian from Ukraine. His routines generally reverberated with Americans who championed the individual at the expense of Soviet and American bureaucracies. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into...

What a country! as the Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff would say. Smirnoff came to the U.S. in the days when people from the old Eastern Block would risk life and limb to try to get here. Today the only limbs at risk when we allow political sanctuary are our own. There was a lot more freedom in the U.S. then: Freedom from fear, freedom from foreclosure, freedom to work, freedom to run a marathon, freedom to love the country without being called a tea bagger; freedom for citizens to do their part with the government staying out of the way....

<p>Comedian Yakov Smirnoff's Ground Zero art installation, which served as an iconic backdrop for Sept. 11 commemoration ceremonies, has been removed from a downtown Manhattan skyscraper.</p> <p>Just days before the finalists for a permanent World Trade Center memorial were unveiled last month, the 200-foot tall patriotic mural was torn in a wind storm. It had hung for over a year from the scaffolding that encases 90 West Street, a damaged building across from where the south tower stood.</p>