Free Republic

How paranoid were the Nixon-hating TV networks during Watergate? Far enough out there that, according to liberal former ABC correspondent Carole Simpson, they feared that instead of resigning, President Nixon would announce a military coup supporting him. [snip] CAROLE SIMPSON: I have to tell you, though, on the night he gave the resignation speech, I was a baby reporter then. But they had me out in Chicago, we were in major cities across America waiting for the riots or whatever that's going to happen after his announcement because people weren't sure that he wasn't -- the camera wouldn't pull back...

“I think being able to age gracefully is a very important talent. It’s too late for me.”You know that liberal Hollywood boycott about filming in Georgia because of its new fetal heartbeat anti-abortion bill?Legendary tough guy Clint Eastwood knows all about that Hollywood boycott. Anyway, he’s filming his next movie — in Georgia. “Now, you’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky?”The new film is called “The Battle of Richard Jewell,” about the security guard/police officer who discovered a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.Initially, he was hailed as a life-saving hero. But relentless suggestive...

Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” is a Jewel of a Film, a Grand Flourish for the 90 Years Young Director A friend of mine called this morning who’d seen Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell last night in Hollywood. She knew I was seeing it this morning in New York. “It’s going to upset your apple cart of an Oscar list,” she said. She was right. Eastwood, at 90, has made a jewel of a film in “Richard Jewell,” a real masterclass in filmmaking. Eastwood will have to be nominated for Best Director. The screenplay and music (by Arturo Sandoval) will have to...

Timing is everything for living legend Clint Eastwood. The actor/director served up “American Sniper” after Hollywood stopped firing cinematic shots at the U.S. Military. The results? “Sniper” earned $350 million at the U.S. box office. Two years later Eastwood directed “Sully,” just when movie goers craved a true American hero story. That movie hauled in $125 million domestically. He may have topped himself with “Richard Jewell.” The film, out Dec. 13, recalls how the FBI and media unfairly painted the portly security guard as the main suspect in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. The blast killed one and injured 111...

A friend of mine called this morning who’d seen Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell last night in Hollywood. She knew I was seeing it this morning in New York. “It’s going to upset your apple cart of an Oscar list,” she said. She was right. Eastwood, at 90, has made a jewel of a film in “Richard Jewell,” a real masterclass in filmmaking. Eastwood will have to be nominated for Best Director. The screenplay and music (by Arturo Sandoval) will have to be nominated. And the actors, the actors now roll right into the top 5 in their respective categories. Paul...

Clint Eastwood’s new film is titled “Richard Jewell” and tells the story of the security guard who was accused by the FBI and the media of responsibility for Centennial Olympic Park Bombing in 1996. The first trailer for the film was released today and it contains this description of the story:

Clint Eastwood points a stern finger at FBI investigators and the media in the first trailer for his new fact-based drama “Richard Jewell,” which explores the security guard who reported finding an explosive device at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics — and then was falsely accused of planting it himself.

There's one director who doesn't care what his peers think. While the rest of Hollywood is running away from the state of Georgia in protest of the pro-life "heartbeat bill," which bans abortions the moment a heartbeat is detected, Clint Eastwood and Warner Brothers are staying put for their new film, Richard Jewell. The studio has explained to the press that the film, based on the true story of the bombing at Atlanta's Centennial Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics, would be best served by geographical authenticity. “We have made the decision to tell this compelling story — based on...

EXCLUSIVE: Clint Eastwood is circling to next direct The Ballad Of Richard Jewell, and has been in discussions with Disney/Fox drama based on the life of a security guard whose life was turned upside down in a moment after it was leaked by law enforcement to a reporter that Jewell was a possible suspect in the Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. From the moment he was outed by an article written by an overzealous reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Jewell went from hero to one of the most hated men in America. The script is by...

The family of a Catholic school student at the center of a confrontation with a Native American elder in Washington, DC, has hired a high-profile attorney, according to a report. L. Lin Wood, who is known for aggressively pursuing libel and slander lawsuits against media outlets, “is committed to bringing justice to 16-year-old Nick Sandmann and his family,” the family’s other lawyer, Todd McMurtry, said in a statement, according to WCPO. The Atlanta-based Wood represented JonBenet Ramsey’s brother in a $750 million defamation suit that accused CBS of ruining Burke Ramsey’s reputation after a TV series suggested he killed his...

To Serve, to Protect, to Brag You could see it coming. Minutes after the news flashed around the nation, FBI agents, active and retired, were preening themselves before the TV cameras, once again basking in the limelight of an arrest they had absolutely nothing to do with. Let this be said loud and clear before it becomes part of the self-created image of an agency that, like the Mounties, says it always gets its man: Eric Robert Rudolph was nabbed by a local cop on the beat. The FBI didn't have a damned thing to do with the capture of...

Two years ago, the media reported that Trayvon Martin, a young, unarmed black man, had been gunned down by a white assailant named George Zimmerman, and racism was the reason. But then the facts started to dribble out, and many of the assumptions that drove the initial outrage turned out to be inaccurate. The Martin shooting wasn’t the first time the media has gotten it wrong. Many may not remember the case of Richard Jewell, the security guard who alerted police about pipe bombs left in a park during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He was wrongfully charged with the...

NEW ORLEANS — A former FBI director recommended Friday that the Justice Department investigate whether several lawyers plotted to corrupt the settlement program designed to compensate victims of BP’s 2010 Gulf oil spill.*snip* However, Freeh concluded that then-top members of Juneau’s staff engaged in conduct that was improper, unethical and possibly criminal. He recommended that his report be forwarded to the Justice Department.*snip* BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said the report “confirms what BP has suspected for some time: there has been fraud and unethical conduct within the facility itself and among various claimants and their lawyers —and immediate steps need...

Richard A. Jewell, whose transformation from heroic security guard to Olympic bombing suspect and back again came to symbolize the excesses of law enforcement and the news media, died Wednesday at his home in Woodbury, Ga. He was 44. The heavy-set Mr. Jewell, with a country drawl and a deferential manner, became an instant celebrity after a bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta in the early hours of July 27, 1996, Only minutes earlier, Mr. Jewell, who was working a temporary job as a guard, had spotted the abandoned green knapsack that contained the bomb, called it to...

Olympic park security guard Richard Jewell's long-standing libel suit against The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is over for now. State Court Judge John R. Mather on Tuesday dismissed the final claim that remained in Jewell's suit against the newspaper, said AJC attorney Peter Canfield. Mather had dismissed all but one of 22 claims in 2006. "We are pleased by the judge's ruling," AJC Publisher John Mellott said Tuesday, "which affirms what we always knew — that our reporting of the Centennial Olympic bombing investigation was fair, responsible and accurate." The case has taken 11 years to resolve, and it might be resurrected...

When people think of heroes, they typically think of a big man, and laugh at little guys. And while in seeking to subdue a violent character without recourse to a deadly weapon, bigger, as a rule, is better, there is no correlation between physical strength and physical courage. For instance, I’m fond of the late John Wayne, who was the most popular actor in screen history. And yet, when World War II came, the 6’4 ½” Wayne got himself a deferment from the draft, and stayed home. Meanwhile, America’s most decorated soldier was 5’5, 110 lb. Audie Murphy. Forty-four-year-old Richard...

Richard Jewell has passed away.

ATLANTA - Richard Jewell, the former security guard who was erroneously linked to the 1996 Olympic bombing, died Wednesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. Jewell, 44, was found dead in his west Georgia home, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.

bombing of the park during the 1996 Summer Games, was found dead Wednesday in his home in Meriwether County. He was 44.

ATLANTA -- Richard Jewell, the man once accused of being the Olympic Park bomber and then cleared of the attack, is dead. Check back with wsbtv.com for more on this developing story.