Free Republic

CALABASAS, Calif. — Kobe Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, TMZ reports. Bryant was reportedly in his private helicopter with three other people when it crashed. Emergency personnel responded when a fire broke out.

He put the fat in fatwa. A morbidly obese ISIS fanatic dubbed “Jabba the Jihadi” has been captured by Iraqi forces — who loaded him onto a flatbed truck because he couldn’t fit in a police car. The 560-pound mufti Abu Abdul Bari, also known as Shifa al-Nima, was nabbed Thursday by an elite SWAT team of the Nineveh regiment in the city of Mosul, according to Stars and Stripes. The jumbo jihadist was known for “provocative speeches against the security forces” and is considered one of the top leaders of “ISIS gangs,” Iraqi security officials said in a...

Pete Buttigieg's pitch to Democratic donors in Chicago was overshadowed by protesters. During a fundraiser of more than 300 people at the tony Standard Club on Saturday, Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was interrupted by two demonstrators while he was trying to answer questions . . . “I need you to respect me, and respect my question, and respect the people of South Bend! You’re saying solidarity, you’re saying rules of the road, and you’re not following them yourself. You don’t love me; you won’t let me ask my question," shouted the protester, who also identified as...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s campaign is considering only participating in general election debates if an outside firm serves as the host, and his advisers recently sat down with the nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates to complain about the debates it hosted in 2016. The Dec. 19 meeting between Frank Fahrenkopf, a prominent Republican and co-chairman of the commission; Brad Parscale, campaign manager for Trump’s reelection effort; and another political adviser, Michael Glassner, came soon after Trump posted on Twitter that the 2016 debates had been “biased.

WASHINGTON, DC — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reviewing claims Rep. Ilhan Omar married her brother, The Post has learned. Two FBI agents held an hours-long meeting in Minnesota in mid-October with a concerned party who handed over a trove of documents regarding Omar’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a source with knowledge of the event said. At the meeting, first reported by website The Blaze, the agents discussed concerns the Somali-born Democrat married Elmi, a British citizen rumored to be her brother, so he could obtain a green card and study in America, the source said.

Both patients were identified as travelers from Wuhan, China. The Los Angeles County case was announced Sunday, when the patient, identified as a returning traveler from Wuhan, “presented themselves for care once they noticed that they were not feeling well.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) revealed Saturday he has drafted motions to subpoena former Vice President Joe Biden, his youngest son Hunter Biden, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), and the so-called “whistleblower.” Hawley will attempt to force a vote on the subpoenas if the Senate approves additional witnesses and documents as part of the upper chamber’s trial. The Missouri Republican’s pledge mirrors one made by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who earlier this month threatened to force a vote on subpoenaing Hunter Biden and the so-called “whistleblower” if Republicans grant the Democrats’ demand for more witnesses. Hawley’s motion is likely...

Florida man was arrested last week after he was caught on video pointing a laser — attached to an AR-15 — at a police helicopter flying overhead, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. The sheriff’s office chopper was working with Port St Lucie Police on an unrelated burglary last Saturday when the incident took place, the sheriff’s office said. A video camera onboard the helicopter captured Norman Flaxman walking outside his home, pointing the rifle directly at the helicopter and “deploying the laser two to three times,” deputies said.

Prince Andrew was so close to Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell he would secretly let her into Buckingham Palace up to four times a day, his former police protection officer claims. Former London cop Paul Page told the Sunday Mirror that even before the Epstein scandal blew up from his child-sex conviction, Maxwell’s visits to the palace were kept hush-hush. “We’ve got a guest coming for Andrew but the name is not to be entered in the book,” Page claims he was told by the Palace’s property managers the first time he saw Maxwell visit in 2001. “Half an...

The other matchup that jumps out at me is the possibility of Jennifer Rubin matching up with her Washington Post teammate Max Boot with the Final Four on the line.This is a parody. This is not meant to reflect any beliefs or statements of ESPN or the personalities named in this parody, nor any of the actual mannerisms of such people. Scott Van Pelt: So one of the most eagerly awaited moments of the 2020 election year has finally arrived. The selection committee revealed its brackets for the Comfortably Smug #LiberalHack tournament, sponsored as always by the private equity firm...

On its southern border, Mexico is detaining record numbers of migrants. Human rights advocates complain of dismal conditions in overcrowded detention centers, where migrants are forced to sleep outside or in kitchens or hallways. Among López Obrador’s major policy shifts in immigration was to bow to U.S. demands that Mexico house asylum-seekers from Central America and elsewhere who are awaiting hearings in U.S. immigration courts. The arrangement was a Trump administration request that López Obrador’s widely unpopular predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, had flatly rejected. More than 50,000 non-Mexicans seeking asylum or other relief in the United States have been expelled...

Soap operas are earning more viewers than the steadily over-hyped impeachment trial. More people would rather watch the predictable, fake melodrama offered by soap operas than the predictable, fake melodrama currently being peddled by the Democrats.According to Nielsen data, just over four million people across the big three broadcast networks of CBS, ABC, and NBC tuned into the Democrats’ opening arguments in President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday. In contrast, nearly 11 million continued watching soap operas, such as “The Young & The Restless,” “The Bold & The Beautiful,” “General Hospital,” and “Days of Our Lives.” Impeachment coverage...

In one of his many campaign ads airing across California, presidential candidate Tom Steyer has touted the work of a nonprofit-owned bank he founded, portraying it as a counterweight to Wall Street corruption. But while the Oakland-based institution has a well-regarded record of making socially responsible investments, its auto loan program has left behind a long trail of defaults and lawsuits against low-income borrowers in the state, a Bay Area News Group review of financial and legal documents found. Beneficial State Bank — which Steyer co-founded with his wife, Kat Taylor, and served as board chairman until joining the presidential...

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's hoping 2020 is the best year yet!! President Trump should take the win in the Senate trial without dragging it out, then concentrate on winning the 2020 election with wide coattails, then bide his time as the cases against the various coup plotters wind their way through the justice system. Win the election, hold the senate, take back the house!! And then continue the work of making America great again: Build the wall, enforce the law, deport them all!! End DACA!! End sanctuary cities!! End anchor babies!! Continue cutting regulations, cutting government, cutting spending and...

Former Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan said Sunday that U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made “dangerous” and “idiotic” statements regarding ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at a campaign rally for 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Iowa. “She's disgusting,” Homan said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday morning, reacting to Ocasio-Cortez’s comments the night before. On Saturday, with Sanders, I-Vt., tied up in Washington at President Trump's Senate impeachment trial, Ocasio-Cortez addressed his supporters in Ames, Iowa, calling for the abolition of ICE and CBP. The New York Democrat also urged Sanders'...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that National Public Radio reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to him and broke an off-the-record agreement. “NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice,” Pompeo said in a statement. “First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record.” Pompeo and his staff said Kelly agreed that an interview with the secretary would be about Iran but that she asked questions about Ukraine and United States Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Kelly revealed on NPR that Pompeo afterward berated her...

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Democratic lawmaker leading the impeachment case against him, Representative Adam Schiff, has “not paid the price, yet” for his actions, a statement Schiff said he viewed as a threat. The vitriol from Trump against Schiff and other Democrats followed three days of their arguments in his impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate on charges he abused the power of his office by pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival, and then tried to obstruct an investigation by Congress. “Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very...

In an editorial published Wednesday at National Review, the editors argue that an “unspoken consensus” has emerged among Republican senators that what President Trump did was wrong but it doesn’t warrant his removal from office. The editors think this a “reasonable” position and that Republicans should make the case for it publicly, but they can’t because of the president’s “obstinacy” in defending his actions vis-à-vis Ukraine.Instead of insisting that Trump “cannot be impeached for any abuse of power unless that abuse took the form of a criminal violation of a statute,” they write, “Republicans would be better off arguing...

Bernie Sanders leads the race for the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Overall, 25% of likely Democratic primary voters back the Vermont senator, with former Vice President Joe Biden (16%), former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (15%) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (12%) battling for second place. Behind these four, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (6%), Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (5%) and businessman Andrew Yang (5%) make up a third tier of candidates. Sanders' edge in New Hampshire, a state he won by more than 20 points...

Last week the New York Times endorsed Liawatha, this week the Des Moines Register follows along. Neither endorsement matters much in the world of actual voting; however, when the Iowa progressive media support is combined with CNN’s previously coordinated hit against Bernie Sanders, to the specific benefit of Warren, these endorsements start to highlight where the institutional DNC is aligned.