Free Republic

Bradley Birkenfeld was released from federal prison in August 2012 after serving 2 1/2 years for his role as a Swiss banker hiding millions of dollars for wealthy American clients. Five weeks later, he found himself in the kitchen of a small rental house in Raymond, New Hampshire. At that moment, Birkenfeld was an ex-con. He was out of work, infamous in a famously discreet profession, and probably unemployable as a private banker anywhere. But then his lawyer walked into the room, carrying a check from the U.S. Treasury to Birkenfeld for $104 million—minus taxes. On the face was a...

On the back of the new Apple Watch, there are two sets of lights and sensors. One sends out and receives visible light, while the other works in the infrared part of the spectrum. Together, they form the technical core of the watch’s coolest feature—a heart rate monitor. This kind of design—using optical sensors to measure pulse—is not unprecedented, but Apple, of course, claims to have improved the system over competitors like the Basis Peak, Samsung Gear Fit, or Mio’s line of activity monitors. Which would be a good thing, because these systems have struggled with their accuracy. “Everyone has...

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Researchers say it may be possible to slow and even reverse aging by keeping DNA more stably packed together in our cells In a breakthrough discovery, scientists report that they have found the key to keeping cells young. In a study published Thursday in Science, an international team, led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk Institute, studied the gene responsible for an accelerated aging disease known as Werner syndrome, or adult progeria, in which patients show signs of osteoporosis, grey hair and heart disease in very early adulthood. These patients are deficient in a gene responsible for copying...

State police investigating alcohol agents’ arrest of University of Virginia student Martese Johnson have forwarded a report including several hundred pages of documents to Charlottesville’s top prosecutor. Details on the findings were unavailable, and it’s unclear whether the report, which also includes hours of recorded interviews, will be made public. Requested by city Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman, the probe is one of two state police launched in the wake of Johnson’s arrest early March 18 outside a Corner pub. Gov. Terry McAuliffe also ordered an investigation. Chapman, who was prosecuting a murder trial Wednesday, was unavailable for comment. The law...

Man sentenced to 60 years for 'brutal' northwest branch trail rape ROCKVILLE, Md. (WJLA) – A man who plead guilty to raping a woman along a popular walking trail in Montgomery County has been sentenced to 60 years in jail. Joaquin Orellana Torres, 24, received his sentence in Montgomery County Circuit Court Thursday morning. The judge presiding over the case said he deviated from guidelines when sentencing Torres because of the brutality of the attack. Torres, a native of El Salvador who resided in Hyattsville, Maryland, was charged and convicted of first degree rape and robbery for attacking a female...

As Fox News’s audience continues to age, the conservative network inches close to death as in 2014 its median audience dropped to 1.1 million. > Pew Research State of the Media Report quoted < -but- Fox News is still racking up big profits due to the high carriage fees that they charge providers. Fox News earns $1.50 per subscriber. This is the third highest carriage fee of any network. Fox News trails on ESPN and TNT in the amount charged per subscriber. Any liberal or progressive that has cable or satellite is paying Fox News $18 a year per household....

Security researcher Seth Wahle of APA Wireless and Rod Soto of Hack Miami used a near-field communications (NFC) chip implant in his hand to demonstrate that it is possible to exploit Android devices and avoid detection by common body scanners located at airports and high-security environments. Wahle explained to Forbes that bought a chip designed to be injected into cattle and implanted the chip by an “unlicensed amateur” for $40 by using a needle which was larger than he had initially expected. --- [“But implants aren’t for the squeamish. Wahle says the needle was bigger than he’d expected when he had the chip implanted by an...

The FBI’s previously undisclosed role reveals a contradiction in the U.S.’s longstanding position against paying ransoms for hostages. While the White House sharply criticizes the practice in public and private, new details about the Weinstein case show how the FBI provides some families with guidance towards that end. In the Weinstein case, the FBI vetted a Pakistani middleman used by the family to transport the money and provided other intelligence to enable an exchange, actions that some senior U.S. officials said encouraged the family to go ahead with the transaction.

For the first time in 90 years, U.S. health officials say they have diagnosed a case of the plague that may have spread in the air from one person to another. Don't be alarmed — the plague these days is treatable with antibiotics and is exceptionally rare (just 10 cases were reported nationwide in 2014). And if the plague has become mostly a curiosity in the United States, this case is more curious than most. It starts with a two-year-old pit bull. The dog fell ill in late June 2014, so his owner took him to the vet. Four days...

Some people protest police brutality in ways that only remind us of why we need police. That’s how I feel about the Baltimore rioters who some news reports described as “protestors [SIC].” The label falsely flatters the thugs and hooligans who set fires and attacked police, merchants and journalists after the otherwise respectful funeral on Monday for Freddie Gray, 25, who died under mysterious circumstances in police custody.

Gray was arrested after he made eye contact with an officer and ran. Officers chased him down and handcuffed him behind his back. Bystander videos recorded police loading him, dragging his legs, into one of two metal compartments in the back of the van. Police earlier said the van stopped once so that officers could put Gray in "leg irons" because he had become "irate;" stopped again because the driver asked for an additional unit to check on Gray's condition, and then again to put an additional prisoner in the van's other compartment before arriving at the station. Now police...

The 16-year-old Baltimore teen who received the "slap heard round the world" from his mom for participating in Monday’s riots admits he’s “embarrassed.” "I understand how much my mama really cares about me,” Michael Singleton said in an interview with "ABC World News Tonight." "I just got to try to do better." Toya Graham, a single mother of six, was praised as “mom of the year” for her actions, which were caught on camera by ABC 2 News. "As long as I have a breath in my body, you will not be on the streets selling drugs,” Graham told ABC....

BALTIMORE (CBS BALTIMORE) — A Maryland sheriff who traveled to Baltimore to help law enforcement stop Monday’s riots told 105.7 The Fan that he was stunned when officers alerted him of the orders to stand down. Michael Lewis is the Sheriff in Wicomico County, and was also a Sergeant with the Maryland State Police. He joined Ed Norris and Steve Davis on Thursday to talk about the controversial orders the police were given during the riots. Lewis said it wasn’t his intention to come to Baltimore, a drive of about two hours, but he felt it was his duty to...

Former Gitmo Prisoners Demand Reparations from US A group of former Guantanamo Bay prison camp detainees have staked out the U.S. embassy in Uruguay in a demonstration meant to pressure the U.S. government to provide them taxpayer-funded reparations for their time spent in the terrorist prison, according to Uruguayan officials. Three of the six former detainees sent to Uruguay following their release from Gitmo have spent days camped in front of the U.S. embassy located in Montevideo, according to Uruguayan officials and regional reports.

BOSTON (AP) — Teachers who knew Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as a child described him as a hardworking youngster who seemed to have a bright future. Catheryn Charner-Laird, his third-grade teacher, said Tsarnaev was just learning English after moving to the U.S. from Russia in 2002 and cared very much about his school work. She said he “always wanted to do the right thing.” Other teachers said he got nearly all As in his classes, made friends easily and was an excellent soccer player. The testimony came Wednesday during the third day of the defense case in the penalty...

Baseball in Baltimogadishu Today's game in an empty stadium: Amid civil unrest in Baltimore, Wednesday’s game between the White Sox and Orioles at Camden Yards has been moved to a 1:05 p.m. CT/2:05 p.m. ET start and will be closed to the public, the Orioles announced Tuesday. The game had been scheduled for Wednesday night. This after two straight days of cancelled games and the organization locking 15,000 fans inside on Saturday night as riots spiraled outside. On the bright side, the Sox play in front of crowds about as big as today's scheduled attendance - it'll be like having...

JERUSALEM — A woman in need of a cigarette took her frustrations out on a man's car after he denied her a nicotine fix. Security footage from April 28 in Jerusalem shows the woman walk up to the man pumping gas and is apparently dismissed. She walks away but turns back around a few seconds later, pulls out what looks like a lighter, and sets the gas pump ablaze. The car catches on fire and is almost instantly engulfed in flames. The victim's brother was sitting in the car at the time but he managed to escape with no injuries....

Just heard it, fox news!

SYDNEY - Early adopters of the Apple Watch are complaining that a number of its key functions are disrupted by their tattoos. Users of the watch, which went on sale last week, took to social media on Thursday under the hashtag #tattoogate to air their frustration with the flaw from Apple's renowned design house. One anonymous user on Reddit, an entertainment, social networking, and user-generated news website, said the device's locking mechanism, which should disengage when the watch detects it is being worn, failed to work on decorated skin. "My hand isn't tattooed and the Watch stayed unlocked. Once I...