Free Republic

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga) says "no one is illegally crossing our border with Mexico. President Biden invited them to come. The Border Patrol is cutting the barbed wire Texas illegally installed to try to keep migrants out." Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass) told CNN's Jake Tapper that "the border is secure. The Republican claim that it is not is a lie. No one is entering illegally. The Administration is setting aside land in the National Park Service's (NPS) Gateway National Recreation Area to build housing for the people the President has authorized to enter the US." Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) has...

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A man who gave a loaded gun to his suicidal friend to "snap her out of it" and then watched in shock as she killed herself was sentenced Friday to up to five years in prison for his role in her death. Christopher Burda, a lighting company owner with no previous criminal record, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday for the November 2005 suicide of Nancy Choquette of Stamford, Vt. He wiped away tears throughout his sentencing, then apologized to Choquette's family and his own. "My deepest condolences and most heartfelt apologies," he said haltingly, often...

WASHINGTON - In Jack Abramoff's world, prominent Washington tax-cut advocate Grover Norquist was a godsend. Moving money from a casino-operating Indian tribe to Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition founder and professed gambling opponent, was a problem. Lobbyist Abramoff turned to his longtime friend Norquist, apparently to provide a buffer for Reed. The result, according to evidence gathered by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, was that Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform became a conduit for more than a million dollars from the Mississippi Choctaw to Reed's operation, while Norquist, a close White House ally, took a cut. Without citing any specific...

Science Journal: Caveman crooners may have aided early human life Friday, March 31, 2006 By Sharon Begley, The Wall Street Journal In Steven Mithen's imagination, the small band of Neanderthals gathered 50,000 years ago around the caves of Le Moustier, in what is now the Dordogne region of France, were butchering carcasses, scraping skins, shaping ax heads -- and singing. One of the fur-clad men started it, a rhythmic sound with rising and falling pitch, and others picked it up, indicating their willingness to cooperate both in the moment and in the future, when the group would have to hunt...

Federally funded consultants hired by Secretary of State Kevin Shelley spent time registering voters for largely Democratic constituency groups and at partisan rallies, including one to "take back the White House," according to staff activity reports released Thursday. Other contractors, paid thousands of dollars through federal funds from the 2002 Help America Vote Act, described outreach efforts at, among other things, the NBA All-Star week festivities, a reggae festival, a Janet Jackson "salute" and a community event on behalf of Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles. In several cases, consultants delivered "letters of commendation" from the Democratic secretary of state...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - An immigrant who was cleared of suspicions of terrorism but convicted of aiding illegal immigrants has lost his fight to remain in this country and will be deported, a federal official said Tuesday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied the request by Ansar Mahmood to defer a removal order. The department cited the 2002 conviction for harboring illegal immigrants as the primary reason for the decision to send Mahmood back to Pakistan. The order comes despite public support for the 27-year-old who settled in Hudson, about 100 miles upriver from New York City, and delivered pizza...

US Believes Pakistan Aided N.Korean Nuclear Program By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States believes Pakistan helped North Korea develop a nuclear weapons program, U.S. officials said on Friday, as the White House urged North Korea's trading partners not to help it build such weapons. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, strongly denied a report in the New York Times that Pakistan aided North Korea's enriched uranium program, calling it "absolutely baseless." U.S. officials on Thursday said they believed Russia and China also helped North Korea's secretive Communist government develop the...