Free Republic

The three new Zumwalt-class destroyers are in trouble. Originally envisioned as a fleet of more nearly three dozen destroyers, and the weapons that justified them, the Zumwalts have faced delays, cuts and staggering cost increases. As the ships teeter on the verge of white elephant status, could they become relevant again by taking on a new role, that of a stealthy ship killer? The Zumwalt-class destroyers were originally envisioned as a fleet of thirty-two destroyers designed to attack targets far inland with precision-guided howitzer shells. Designed in part to support amphibious landings by the U.S. Marine Corps, the Zumwalts were...

Media critic Howard Kurtz used his CNN show on Sunday to point a finger at himself, apologizing for a story on gay basketball player Jason Collins that he said was riddled with errors and shouldn’t have been written in the first place. The extraordinary edition of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” contained not only his apology but also a session with two other media critics who sharply questioned Kurtz’s credibility. Kurtz wrote in The Daily Beast that Collins, the NBA center who made headlines last week by being the first active player in one of the four major U.S. pro sports leagues...

Two Metairie men are dead after the S.U.V. they were riding in fell off the Belle Chasse Highway Bridge on Tuesday night according to Louisiana State Police. Jose Gustavo Reyes, 31 and Ronaldo Jimenez, 29, died shortly after 8:30 p.m. after the 1995 Toyota 4Runner they were riding in with two other men fell 40-feet to the ground from the Belle Chasse Bridge.

Officials have charged four men Monday for their involvement in the shooting death of Leon Dewaun May on Dec. 11 in St. Paul. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has charged Lee Damien Murray, 30; Shaun Lamar Smith, 29; Damaine Daivone McClinton, 34; and Jerome Kinta West, 33; with homicide. Murray was arrested last week at a friend’s home in Maplewood. Murray, Smith, and McClinton all remain in custody at the Ramsey County Jail. West remains at large, according to police. Authorities believe the four St. Paul men shot and killed 32-year-old May at his home in the 400 block of...

A mother of 10 who says she experiences up to 40 orgasms a day due to a medical condition defrauded the UK's welfare system of $15,000. Ruth Leach, 50, was spotted by benefit fraud investigators when she appeared on British television and in magazines telling of her condition - persistent sexual arousal syndrome. The Times reports that the Department of Work and Pensions took a keen interest because she mentioned she had a 22-year-old lodger, Simon Leach. Their investigators found Leach - who she has since married - was her lover and that she had been claiming nearly $15,000 in...

I figured instead of an expensive subscription to the NYT, I would just publish the corrections every week. This way, you get the news without the bother of reading the lies, propoganda, and falsehoods so prevelant in the regular paper. Think of it; no more wondering if the story is accurate! Just read my paper that contains only their corrections! What do you guys think? Can I make any money with this idea?

Kenneth Dickerman for The New York TimesAlex Korves, an eighth grader from Manhattan, said that in Nashville, the hallways were filled with boys roughhousing, and that "when they find out you're on the opposing team, they're nasty." CHICAGO, May 15 - Suleidy Quesada, 14, said her chess coach has taught her a special strategy that goes beyond mastering openings and endgames: "I look straight in their eyes, I touch my hair, I lick my lips," explained Suleidy, who has been playing four years. "If you're losing and ask for a draw, they say yes." But at a tournament here...

Four years after it was "liberated" by a NATO bombing campaign, Kosovo has deteriorated into a hotbed of organized crime, anti-Serb violence and al-Qaeda sympathizers, say security officials and Balkan experts. Though nominally still under UN control, the southern province of Serbia is today dominated by a triumvirate of Albanian paramilitaries, mafiosi and terrorists. They control a host of smuggling operations and are implementing what many observers call their own brutal ethnic cleansing of minority groups, such as Serbs, Roma and Jews. In recent weeks, UN officials ordered the construction of a fortified concrete barrier around the UN compound on...

By accident, I stopped on CNN just as they were doing a story on the anniversary of the successful peace action at Nagasaki in 1945. They showed some older Japanese people as the female announcer, in a voice deep and wet with concern, told about today's moment of silence at 11:02 in commeration of the time in 1945 when "a B-52 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki."

Businessman denies charges Drywall installer angrily challenges illegal-alien claim By Heather Draper And M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News September 20, 2002 A Denver businessman accused of using illegal workers to remodel U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo's basement said Thursday he would welcome a visit from immigration officials. J.J. Fukunaga, who has owned and operated Creative Drywall Designs of Denver for 19 years, said he was blindsided by the accusations and frustrated that he didn't know who was making them. The Denver Post, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that illegal immigrants were used to finish Tancredo's basement and install a home theater...

Apr. 24 ? AOPA President Phil Boyer sent a strongly worded letter to Fox Broadcasting Company CEO Roger Ailes on Monday, denouncing a story that ran on Ailes's Fox News Channel last week. In the letter, Boyer said, "Your staff misrepresented themselves and the facts to obtain a sensationalistic story that unfairly alarmed a trusting public." Fox responded almost immediately and stood by their story. In the televised story, reporter Douglas Kennedy claimed he and his crew rented a pilot and plane from a flight school and were able to loiter over the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in New...