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Civilians in Gaza sheltered in fear amid constant bombardments targeting residential buildings and communications infrastructure on Monday, as Israeli officials vowed to further tighten a punishing siege of the densely populated enclave. “I can see the plumes of smoke from the bombings through my window,” said Rama Abu Amra, 21, from south of Gaza City. She screamed as the bang of a nearby explosion could be heard. “The bombs are falling all around us, we can’t even tell where they’re hitting. I can even smell the gunpowder now,” said the university student. “It’s so scary. We don’t know what’s happening...

The ex-lawyer once represented Stormy Daniels against the former president. Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for defrauding his clients and for obstructing IRS efforts to collect payroll taxes from his coffee business. He was also ordered to pay $7 million in restitution. The sentence will run consecutively with his combined five-year sentence in New York for stealing from Stormy Daniels and for extorting Nike.

The program, which now has fewer than 600,000 enrollees, never offered a pathway to citizenship.

Chinese officials summoned U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns in the middle of the night for a meeting to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan. Burns was summoned to appear by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng, who is specifically in charge of managing China's relationship with the United States. Pelosi's visit infuriated Beijing, who repeatedly warned Pelosi not to make a stop there during her South Asia tour. Chinese officials called the visit a 'violation of the one-China principle.' In the summons, Xie stressed the 'nature of Pelosi's visit is extremely vicious and the consequence is very grave. The Chinese...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., a veteran prosecutor overseeing a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump, said Friday that he won’t seek reelection, opting against a primary fight with progressive candidates who say he’s a relic and not a reformer. Vance made the announcement in a memo to staffers, ending months of speculation about his future and almost certainly guaranteeing it’ll be a brand-new D.A. who sees the Trump case through. His term expires at the end of the year. Vance, a Democrat, counted Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction a year ago among his crowning achievements but faced withering...

Matt Damon is moving his family to Australia — in part because the liberal star’s fed up with President Trump.

California State University faculty announced today that they have approved a measure to give their union leaders the power to authorize a strike next fall that could delay the beginning of school for thousands of students across the 23-campus university system. At a noon press conference at Cal State Long Beach, the California Faculty Association announced that faculty had approved the measure by 95 percent of those who voted . . .

Justice Minister Eisuke Mori announced on Tuesday that two death-row inmates have been executed, marking the first executions under the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso formed in late September and breaking a record high for the number of people executed per year. According to the Justice Ministry, the two are Michitoshi Kuma, 70, who was at the Fukuoka detention center, and Masahiro Takashio, 55, at the Sendai detention center. They were the first executions since Sept. 11. They bring the annual total of people executed by the government to 15, the most since 1999 when the government started publishing...

After 30 years, Navratilova's Czech again Tue Mar 11, 3:12 AM ET Tennis legend Martina Navratilova said Tuesday she has regained Czech nationality more than 30 years after fleeing communism in the country of her birth to live in the United States. "I lost it at the time I defected. I got it back on January 9," Navratilova told a news conference on a visit to Tokyo. The 51-year-old former world champion said she was maintaining dual nationality and keeping her US passport. Born in Prague, Navratilova fled to the United States in 1975 at the height of the Cold...

Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico. She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix, but now she figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes in central Mexico. "The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options left for us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters. The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States who...

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee ripped the Bush administration's war against terrorism Friday, delivering a bold and potentially risky speech that could establish the former Arkansas governor as the maverick among top Republican candidates and test his party's loyalty to President Bush. ''This administration's bunker mentality has been counterproductive both at home and abroad,'' Huckabee said in opening a broad indictment of Bush's style and policy. The speech came after several top Republican candidates started distancing themselves from Bush, vowing change on such issues as illegal immigration and federal spending even as they endorsed Bush's foreign policy. By...

NEW YORK - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday switched his party status from Republican to unaffiliated, a stunning move certain to be seen as a prelude to an independent presidential bid that would upend the 2008 race. The billionaire former CEO, who was a lifelong Democrat before he switched to the GOP for his first mayoral run, said the change in voter registration does not mean he is running for president. "Although my plans for the future haven't changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our...

Republican Reynolds Faces Strong Challenge in NY26 Rematch:In an election in New York's 26th Congressional District today, 9/28/06, Republican incumbent Tom Reynolds and Democratic challenger Jack Davis are in a fierce fight, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WGRZ-TV Buffalo. 40 days to the 11/7/06 election, Reynolds gets 45%. Davis gets 43%. Green Party candidate Christine Murphy gets 8%. This contest is a rematch of the 2004 election, when Reynolds, who was first elected to Congress in 1998, defeated Davis 56% to 44%. Reynolds gets 62% of Republican votes. Davis gets 64% of Democrat votes. 31% of Republicans,...

George W. Bush has talked openly about accomplishing the New World Order, which is a worldwide government that will lead to antichrist's rule and reign. In his Second Inaugural Address on January 20, 2005, President Bush said that he invaded Afghanistanand Iraq because he was attempting to complete an Ancient Plan based on an “Ancient Hope”, a Plan called the “New Order of the Ages”. His father, George Bush, while president, said on Sept 11th, 1990, that we are on the dawn of a "New World Order". That was 11 years TO THE DAY of 9/11/2001. Grandpa Bush, Prescott, was...

Three of the most prestigious [sic] newspapers in the United States, the New York Times, Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer, announced job cuts Tuesday. ... Like most other newspapers, the Times Co. and Philadelphia Newspapers have been hit by declining circulation and ad revenue as both readers and advertisers turn to the Internet.

The pro-Democratic 527 group America Coming Together (ACT)--which at its peak last year had nearly 80 field offices in a dozen swing states and 6,000 paid political volunteers--is essentially shutting down. the group's largest donor was billionaire George Soros, who poured nearly $20 million into ACT last year. ACT is going into a state of hibernation, cutting back to only a few staffers and with no set future plans.

Check out www.cowboymafia.com Fascinating true story of the largest marijuana smuggling operation in U.S. history.Cowboys,farmers and horse trainers smuggling with shrimpboats and vast horse ranches.Operated a fleet of five 80ft. shrimpboats.Gulfcoasts to Santa Marta,Columbia round-trip,18-days,40,000 pounds of Columbian red bud marijuana.Subject of best-seller and upcoming movie.The largest forfeiture of attachable assets in U.S. history.(RICO)Great true story. The Hardtwist news,Ltd.

Well Freepers, I am still gloating over the recent Republican pickups in this past election and I feel like partying, so I thought we could get several Freepers together and throw Tom Daschle a going away party. What would be better than a party for the Outgoing Minority Leader(GOD I love that title) of the Seante as he joins several of has fellow Democrats on the unemployment line. Freepers could bring balloons, cakes, cards and share their funniest Tom Daschle Story as we give him a Washington Farwell to long be remembers by those in Washington.

Left-leaning Californians say they would rather leave America than stay with George W Bush as president. "Do you think Great Britain would give us political asylum?" the woman in Starbucks asked. "It's just . . . I don't think I can stay if Bush wins again." In the heavily Democratic state of California, it has become an increasingly familiar refrain. At first, the threat was little more than a joke. Now, on the eve of one of the most polarised elections in recent history, some say they really do intend to leave should "the worst" occur. There seems little doubt...

Marlon Brando may have possessed the greatest talent of any American actor of the past 100 years, but for most of his career, he wasted that talent. Charley Malloy: Look, kid, I -- how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast. Terry Malloy: It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night....