Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked war with Ukraine could come to a conclusion this year, according to a former US Army general who warned that the Kremlin would likely turn to the dire option of nuclear weapons if Moscow faces defeat in the conflict.Retired US Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan told Insider on Tuesday that he believes that Russia "would use a nuclear weapon before it allowed its military to be defeated in the field."Putin has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Ryan said that the Kremlin may...

The Justice Department announced temporary replacements Thursday for two recently ousted U.S. attorneys in San Diego and San Francisco. Outgoing San Diego chief federal prosecutor Carol Lam will be succeeded by Karen Hewitt, a career federal prosecutor who is currently the executive assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. In San Francisco, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan will be replaced by Scott Schools, a career federal prosecutor who currently works for the Justice Department overseeing legal guidance and personnel matters for all 94 U.S. attorney's offices across the country. Hewitt's appointment was announced as staff and local law enforcement...

SAN FRANCISCO - Kevin Ryan may not be a household name, but two criminal investigations that the departing U.S. attorney for coastal Northern California is overseeing are widely known: steroids in sports and stock options backdating by corporate America. Ryan, who was among a handful of top prosecutors nationwide who announced their resignations Tuesday to the backdrop of pressure from the Bush administration, leaves his office with both issues still squarely in the public's attention. Last July, Ryan became the nation's first U.S. attorney to file charges against company executives for allegedly violating securities laws by backdating stock options without...