Free Republic

Well I didn’t win the Powerball drawing last night. And apparently you didn’t either. With no winners in Saturday night's record $949.8 million Powerball jackpot, the next jackpot could reach an estimated $1.3 billion, lottery officials said early Sunday. What would you do if you won $1.3 billion? And since we’re playing make believe, let’s pretend that you don’t have to first give half your winnings to the IRS. I’d buy new appliances and spend the rest buying the 2016 American presidential election. At least I think $1.3 billion would be enough to Make America Great Again (MAGA).Alternatively, if it...

It sounds like Sean Penn has given up guns for good. It was at his annual pre-Golden Globes gala for J/P HRO that he revealed that girlfriend Charlize Theron convinced him to have his collection of nearly 65 firearms turned into a sculpture by artist Jeff Koons and then auctioned off for the Haiti relief organization. Penn told me at this year's benefit on Saturday night that he's not missing the weapons. "I think guns are not something to be missed," he said.

The recapture of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman took a surprise, Hollywood twist when a Mexican official said security forces located the whereabouts of the world's most-wanted trafficker thanks to a secret interview with U.S. actor Sean Penn. -snip- A Mexican federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to comment on the issue, told the Associated Press it was the Penn interview that led authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October. -snip- There was no immediate response from Penn's representatives to the Mexican official's comments.

Actor Sean Penn's interview with drug boss Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman was one factor that led to Mexican security forces capturing the kingpin, a government source told Reuters. Mexico's government was aware of the October interview with the legendary boss of the Sinaloa drugs cartel and was closely monitoring Penn's movements, a second government source told the news agency. -snip- Penn also wrote that he was aware the Mexican government and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration likely knew of his movements.

Sean Penn's secret interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman helped law enforcement authorities to locate El Chapo's whereabouts. A Mexican official insisting on anonymity said Saturday it was the Penn interview as well as the drug lord's contacts with other celebrities that initially led law enforcement to authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October. At that time the official said they called off their raid because Guzman was was with two women and a child, according to the Associated Press. Officials in Mexico earlier in the day suggested it was the allure a potential...

Mexico Seeks to Extradite ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán to U.S. José de Córdoba and Dudley Althaus Updated Jan. 9, 2016 5:24 p.m. ET MEXICO CITY—Mexico will act on U.S. requests to extradite captured drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, the government said Saturday. Mr. Guzmán, known as “El Chapo” or “Shorty,” was recaptured Friday after escaping from a maximum-security prison in Mexico in July. Mr. Guzmán faces federal indictments in Chicago and in six other U.S. cities for drug trafficking, money laundering and other crimes, such as homicide. The U.S. has filed two extradition requests with the Mexican government, which has ruled the...

Mexico's government aims to fulfill a request from the United States to extradite the newly-recaptured drug lord Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman to face drug trafficking charges, sources familiar with the situation said on Saturday. The Mexican Attorney General's office will be working as fast as possible to establish the path to extradition, and Chapo could be extradited by mid-year, one of the sources said. However the timing will likely depend on any injunctions filed by Guzman´s lawyers.

Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been recaptured and sent back to the maximum-security prison he escaped from six months ago. He was paraded before cameras before being bundled into a helicopter to Altiplano prison in central Mexico. He escaped from there in July through a tunnel dug in the showers. ...

Six months ago infamous Mexican drug kingpin and billionaire Joaquin El Chapo Guzman "escaped," for the second time, from a prison in Mexico. He escaped the first time by hiding in a laundry basket. The second time, he left the prison through a tunnel in his cell.  Pro-tip: El Chapo isn't "escaping," they're letting him out. That's how things work in Mexico.— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) July 13, 2015 Now, El Chapo has been recaptured and the United States, specifically the Drug Enforcement Agency, is demanding he be extradicted to the United States. The navy said in a statement that marines,...

“Mission accomplished : we have it. I want to inform Mexicans Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested,” President Pena Nieto said in a tweet from his verified Twitter account.

Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been captured, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday via Twitter.

Sean Penn met and interviewed El Chapo while he was on the run in October last year and got him to admit to being the world's biggest drug lord - but did not turn the fugitive kingpin in. The extraordinary meeting took place in the Mexican jungle and was arranged by Penn, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo and a fixer, with the permission of the Sinaloa cartel. In an article written by Penn for Rolling Stone, El Chapo says: 'I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes,...

By 15, he said in an interview conducted in a jungle clearing by the actor and director Sean Penn for Rolling Stone magazine, he had begun to grow marijuana and poppies because there was no other way for his impoverished family to survive. Now, unapologetically, he said: “I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats.” Though his fortune, estimated at $1 billion, has come with a trail of blood, he does not consider himself a violent man. “Look, all I do is defend myself,...

Sean Penn interviewed fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as “El Chapo,” who was captured and returned to prison Friday, for Rolling Stone magazine. Loera was said to have been captured when he reached out to producers and actors about making a biopic of his life. The interview published Saturday evening was conducted in October while the drug lord was on the run from Mexican and U.S. authorities. Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, star of soap opera “La Reina del Sur,” conducted the interview with Penn. It was arranged through a producer he calls Espinoza in the article....

GENEVA (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg in a bicycle crash Sunday, apparently after hitting a curb, and scrapped the rest of a four-nation trip that included an international conference on combating the Islamic State group. Kerry was in stable condition and in good spirits as he prepared to return to Boston for further treatment with the doctor who previously operated on his hip, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. He said X-rays at a Swiss hospital confirmed that Kerry fractured his right femur. "The secretary is stable and never lost consciousness, his injury...

Jeb Bush, a rumored 2016 Republican presidential candidate, just decided to publish hundreds of thousands of emails sent to him during his time as governor of Florida. On its face it seems like a great idea in the name of transparency, but there's one huge problem: neither Bush nor those who facilitated the publication of the records, including the state government, decided to redact potentially sensitive personal information from them. "In the spirit of transparency, I am posting the emails of my governorship here," a note on Bush's website says. "Some are funny; some are serious; some I wrote in...

Prince Charles has called for an end to capitalism as we know it in order to save the planet from global warming. In a speech to business leaders in London, the Prince said that a “fundamental transformation of global capitalism” was necessary in order to halt “dangerously accelerating climate change” that would “bring us to our own destruction”. He called for companies to focus on “approaches that achieve lasting and meaningful returns” by protecting the environment, improving their employment practices and helping the vulnerable to develop a new "inclusive capitalism".

Tom Cruise not only thinks he trains harder than Olympic athletes, he believes his job as a professional actor is as grueling as fighting the war in Afghanistan -- this according to legal docs obtained by TMZ. As we reported, Cruise recently sat for a deposition in his $50 million libel suit against a magazine publisher that claimed he abandoned daughter Suri -- and his quotes are GOLD. First, the Middle East -- Tom says his location shoots are just like serving a tour in Afghanistan, "That's what it feels like. And certainly on this last movie, it was brutal....

Tom Cruise has never been shy about expressing his beliefs, and in a recent deposition, the actor said he believed acting was as hard as fighting a war. Cruise sat with lawyers to be deposed for his case against Bauer Publishing for stories two of its publications printed following his divorce from Katie Holmes, articles that stated he had "abandoned" his daughter Suri. During the deposition, a lawyer questioned Cruise about remarks his camp had made equating his work and inability to see daughter Suri to fighting in Afghanistan. "That's what it feels like. And certainly on this last movie,...

How’s this for evil?Over at MSNBC a nit-wit talker opined that life begin not at conception, but rather when parents decide it begins (and we know that parents doesn’t really include the father!). Might I add that before this story I don’t recall of ever having heard of this person? MSNBC Host: Life Begins When Parents Say it Does, Not Based on Science by Steven ErteltMSNBC host Melissa Harris Perry drew negative reactions from people this past weekend when she wore tampon earrings during a broadcast, telling viewers they were made especially for her to wear to demonstrate her opposition...