Free Republic

EXCLUSIVE: At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn’t be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.

Former national security advisor Michael Flynn spoke with a "senior official" in President’s Trump's transition team at the Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss what he should communicate to the Russian ambassador in a highly-scrutinized series of phone calls in December of 2016, according to federal prosecutors. Flynn and the senior officials discussed both the recently implemented U.S. sanctions on Russia, as well as the fact that they did not want Russia to escalate friction between the two nations, lawyers on special counsel Robert Mueller's team told a federal judge Friday.   After the discussion, Flynn telephoned the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Afterwards, he called...

Doctors in Miami faced an unusual ethical dilemma when an unconscious, deteriorating patient was brought into the emergency room with the words “Do Not Resuscitate” across his chest. The 70-year-old man was taken earlier this year to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where doctors made their startling discovery: a chest tattoo that seemed to convey the patient's end-of-life wishes. The word “Not” was underlined, and the tattoo included a signature. It left the medical team grappling with myriad ethical and legal questions. ... Holt said the patient, who had a history of pulmonary disease, lived at a nursing home but was found intoxicated and unconscious on the street and brought to Jackson...

“Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn,” said Ty Cobb, a White House attorney. “The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year,” Cobb said, adding that the plea “clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion” of the Office of the Special Counsel’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential collusion by Trump’s campaign.

After giving President Obama’s silence on Kate Steinle a pass in 2015, the networks are suddenly interested in what the current President has to say about her murderer’s recently released verdict, two years later. As a reminder, in July of 2015, President Obama ignored the shocking death of the 32-year-old Steinle, who was shot and killed by a five-time-deported illegal immigrant and felon, while she was walking with her father in a popular tourist area of San Francisco. But after the highly politicized deaths of black men killed by police officers, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, Obama spoke out...

Illegal immigration costs taxpayers in all 50 states a total of $89 billion, and California, where an illegal on Thursday was cleared of murdering Kate Steinle despite admitting to the shooting, pays the most at $23 billion . ... The costs cover added expenditures for education, welfare, law enforcement, and medical care. When federal costs are included, the price tag nationally soars to $135 billion a year. FAIR’s data also includes the offset of taxes paid by illegal immigrants, though the numbers are much lower. In the state and local column, they are $3.5 billion. Nationally they are $15 billion....

Kim Jong Nam, the murdered half-brother of North Korea's leader, was carrying an antidote to the nerve agent that killed him when he was attacked in February in Kuala Lumpur's international airport. Two women, Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian national, and Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese national, have been charged with conspiracy to murder Kim. They are alleged to have worked with four North Korean agents to smear the banned chemical VX on his face as he was transiting the airport in the Malaysian capital on Feb 13. Just prior to an extended adjournment, the courtroom in Kuala Lumpur heard testimony...

Important - Flynn says he was told to contact Russians: According the FBI statement, Flynn communicated with Kislyak after being asked by a senior Trump transition official to find out how foreign governments stood on the coming UN Security Council resolution about Israel. Crime of the Century here, folks.

Multiple reports surfaced this week that the White House was looking to ouster Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the next few weeks, with talk of replacing him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. When the press asked about the reports Friday during a meeting with Libya's prime minister at the State Department, the former Exxon Mobil CEO said the claims are “laughable.” The New York Times said the plan was developed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly ever since Trump’s relationship with Tillerson is said to have “soured.” Mr. Trump spoke harshly about Mr. Tillerson in front of...

Gregg Zaun, the former Orioles catcher, has been fired from his job as Toronto Blue Jays analyst for Rogers Sportsnet for “inappropriate” comments and behavior toward female co-workers at the company. The 46-year-old, who is the nephew of former Orioles great Rick Dempsey, started his career with the Orioles and played for 16 years. He also caught for the Marlins, Rangers, Royals, Astros, Rockies, Blue Jays, Rays and Brewers. He won a World Series ring with the Marlins in 1997. Zaun, who became a Blue Jays analyst in 2011, did not have physical or sexual contact with any of the...

Good Morning/Afternoon, MEGAWELCOMETo"Open Line Fridays"AndAdventSeasonDITTOS!

The Republican-held House of Representatives did its part by passing a tax overhaul earlier this month, with zero Democrats supporting the effort. That bill cut taxes and boosted after-tax incomes, on average, across every income group in the country, and is projected by nonpartisan analysts to grow the US economy and create close to one million new full-time jobs. It would also lower the tax burden on job-creating small businesses (key small business advocacy groups have endorsed the Republican push), and make America's extremely high statutory and effective corporate tax rates far more competitive internationally. But we've seen this movie...

LONDON — A prominent Anglican cleric and gay rights campaigner known for contentious gestures has urged believers to pray for Prince George — age 4, and third in line to the throne — to find the love “of a fine young gentleman” when he grows up so as to advance the cause of same-sex marriage in church. Coming just days after Prince Harry — George’s uncle, and fifth in line — announced his engagement to Meghan Markle, a divorced American actress, the suggestion by the Very Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth seemed to illuminate once more the role of royal romance in...

After a California jury found Jose Ines Garcia Zarate not guilty in the murder of Kate Steinle, the Depart of Justice is weighing federal charges against the illegal immigrant, Fox News reports.Zarate was found not guilty of first-degree murder, second degree murder, or manslaughter; he was only convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. While Zarate did not deny killing Steinle, he said the shooting was an accident.  U.S. immigration officials announced after Thursday’s verdict that they would deport the Mexican national, who had already been deported five times prior to shooting Steinle. Before the shooting, Zarate, also...

So the appalling Steinle decision will have unintended consequences that I will now predict: Attorney General Sessions, with the firm backing of the president, will redouble his efforts to do away with sanctuary cities both financially and legally. It may take some time, but the days of these sanctuaries are over. ICE will be set free to do its work. (It already has been, but even more so now with fewer complaints.) The border wall will be built, at least a good part of it, and Trump will find it far easier to get his way with border security. The...

MONTCLAIR, Calif. (KABC) -- Robbery suspects made off with thousands of dollars in human hair extensions at an Inland Empire salon last month, and police hope the public can identify suspects after releasing surveillance video Thursday. The incident happened at Baby Doll Luxury Hair in Montclair around 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, and it was caught on video. In the surveillance footage, an employee allowed the men inside assuming they were customers. But then one of them quickly throws her to the ground and ties her hands behind her back. Then the two suspects steal cash, rip extensions off the...

Full title..................Roaches in the dining room, mice in the Situation Room and Trump's broken toilet seat: How the White House is infested and falling apart....................... Roaches were infesting the West Wing's private basement dining room The high-stakes Situation Room had a rodent problem Chief of Staff's office had ants President Trump asked for a replacement toilet seat in his private bathroom Maintenance staff fields hundreds of requests including fixes for ceiling leaks

rest of headline: Here Are the Sleazy Democrats She Has Enabled.Finally, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s faux feminist veneer has fully cracked.[snip]So, feminists were aghast when Pelosi hailed Conyers as an “icon” and downplayed news of his secret sexual harassment settlement with a former female staffer—one of three former employees alleging sexual abuse.[snip]Former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York....[snip]Former Democratic Rep. Eric Massa of New York.[snip]Former Democratic Rep. David Wu of Oregon.[snip]Former Democratic Mayor Bob Filner of San Diego.[snip]The late Democratic Sen. Teddy Kennedy."Of the Democratic lion of the Senate whose public boorishness culminated in the infamous “Waitress Sandwich”...

A remarkable new book about the Francis papacy is set to be released in English this coming Monday, December 4th, after an Italian debut earlier this month that is rumored to have made quite a splash in Rome. Entitled, The Dictator Pope, it is described on the Amazon pre-order page as “The inside story of the most tyrannical and unprincipled papacy of modern times.” The book promises a look “behind the mask” of Francis, the alleged “genial man of the people,” revealing how he “consolidated his position as a dictator who rules by fear and has allied himself with the most corrupt...

WASHINGTON—Senate Republicans on Friday were confident that they had locked in enough votes to pass a sweeping tax bill later in the day. Wavering GOP senators offered their support and a holdout, worried it would add to the deficit, all but conceded defeat. Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said the party had 50 votes to pass the legislation. Republicans control 52 seats compared with 48 for Democrats. With no Democrats expected to support the bill and Vice President Mike Pence able to break a tie if needed, Senate Republicans have the majority needed to clear...