Free Republic

Black History Month in Baltimore is a busy, busy time. Every aspect of black life in this city is remembered and celebrated: Black schools. Black music. Black movies. Black churches. Black literature. Black clothing. Black politicians. Even black trains. Then Tracey Halvorsen had to go and spoil it all: She wrote an article about crime in Baltimore. How she and her mostly white neighbors live in fear. And no one seems to care. Or worse, lots of people think it is normal. “Baltimore City,You Are Breaking My Heart,” is going viral for an on-line magazine called Medium.com. A few quotes:...

Yesterday, Tracey Halvorsen published a post on medium.com called “Baltimore City, You’re Breaking My Heart: This is why people leave.” In it, she talks about her struggles living in Baltimore, in which she reels off a litany of things she’s “tired of,” mostly the crimes and perils of city life, for example: “I’m tired of answering the question, ‘Is Baltimore really like The Wire?’ Answer: ‘Yeah it’s a complete shit-hole war zone depending on what street you turn down’.” She describes what she loves about Baltimore and concludes by weighing the “Likes” and “Don’t Likes” of living in Baltimore City:...

Two Baltimore women are being held without bail after being charged with torturing and sexually assaulting another woman in Reservoir Hill, police said. According to a police charging document, a 23-year-old woman told police that a longtime friend, Shameka Davis, 29, invited her to an apartment on Lennox St. on Jan. 23. At the apartment, the woman said Davis tied her to a chair and duct tape was placed over her mouth, and a knit hat was pulled down over her eyes, police said.

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A violent attack in what’s considers one of the city’s safest neighborhoods. Now police have made an arrest in the brutal robbery in Canton that left one man severely injured. Investigators say they were able to identify the suspect after he was caught on surveillance camera using the victim’s credit card. Mustafa Eraibi, 19, could spend the rest of his life behind bars, accused in a violent attack in Canton. “Now today, for the Canton area, you can sleep well. This guy is in custody,” said Commissioner Anthony Batts, Baltimore City Police Department. Baltimore Sun Editor John...

Two years after someone fired 18 bullets into his body, we finally know the reason Gregory McFadden died such a brutal death at the age of 27 in West Baltimore. He turned his back on a guy. It was disrespect, a malady that inflames the male ego and makes young men do terrible things. Disrespect has been around for centuries, of course, but its consequences have been particularly lethal in the age of the high-powered handgun. Killing someone because he disrespected you is a phenomenon that no amount of police power or community vigilance can seem to stop. Some interventions...

"In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore -- equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird -- Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric. After gathering ingredients for that evening's dinner, they walked to the cash register and awaited their moments of truth." Those are two "hipsters", and the punchline is that they pay for their foodie porn with foodie stamps, which sounds like it should be a terrible thing, except it's in Salon.com, which means they're going to try and tell you how it's a good...

to Baltimore Museum where it was stolen more than 60 YEARS agoThe story began with one of those improbable tales of an artistic masterpiece uncovered at a flea market. It concluded Friday, the painting still a masterpiece but the story about the flea market all the more improbable. A federal judge has awarded ownership of a disputed Renoir painting to a Baltimore museum, citing 'overwhelming evidence' that the painting had been stolen from the museum more than 60 years ago. The judge's decision rejected the claims of a Virginia woman, Marcia 'Martha' Fuqua, who maintained that she bought the painting...

The Japanese government has promised to lend the United States half of the cost of building the first "Super-Maglev" train, reducing travel time between Baltimore and Washington DC to just 15 minutes. Tokyo is so keen to show off its technology that it will provide loans for half the estimated $8 billion (£5bn) cost of installing the tracks, Japan's Asahi newspaper said on Tuesday.Masahiro Nakayama, a general manager at Central Japan Railway Co, told The Daily Telegraph that the American federal government was keen, and that the state authorities were especially enthusiastic about the project."The national government has shown interest,"...

ABC This Week viewers were treated to a classic conservative versus liberal debate Sunday. When former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich tried to blame the increase in poverty in the past five years on Republicans, former Speaker of the House and current CNN host Newt Gingrich called it "baloney" firing back, "Every major city which is a center of poverty is run by Democrats" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary): Gingrich Schools Reich: 'Every Major City Which Is a Poverty Center Is Run By Democrats' JONATHAN KARL, SUBSTITUTE HOST: And let me ask you, Mr....

During the last city council meeting for 2013, Councilman Nick Mosby (D-District 7) introduced “Ban the Box,” a bill that would bar prospective employers from asking, in the initial job interview, if a job applicant has a record of criminal arrests or convictions. On Dec. 5, Mosby said omitting the criminal conviction-check for applications and interviews would help more Marylanders obtain employment and give them the opportunity to re-enter the workforce. “This legislation will provide a level playing field for people who have experienced criminal convictions in the past,” Mosby told the AFRO. “Many of our citizens have been convicted...

Drug trafficking, gang wars, political instability, corruption, and poverty have combined to make Latin America by far the most homicidal region of the world. The region has 40% of the world's murders, despite having only 8 percent of the population, according to the U.N. The highest murder rate of all is in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with 169 homicides per 100,000 people, according to a study published earlier this year by Mexico's Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. The ranking is based on 2012 data, except for San Pedro Sula and Distrito Central in Honduras, where authorities would...

On the Chuck Brooks Law-Call hour, 12:00-1:00 pm, Saturday October 10, on the Baltimore station WCBM, two separate callers stated that the "Food Stamp System" was not working at several Baltimore grocery stores. The second caller mentioned that folks in the store were blaming Republicans. I cannot personally confirm these reports. Are other Freepers noticing this in their locations?

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has a message for Washington: It’s time to move on. Rawlings-Blake said she is concerned the federal budget debate, which has hinged on President Obama’s landmark health care law, and the resulting partial government shutdown will negatively impact Maryland’s efforts to reduce its uninsured rate. The mayor was fired up at an event to advertise the state’s new online insurance marketplace, calling the federal debate “ridiculous” and saying she was “extremely disappointed that we can’t do better.” She encouraged people to evaluate their health insurance options a safe distance from the political crossfire surrounding the issue. “Its...

(Vatican Radio) The death of several hundred migrants off the Italian island of Lampedusa this month has focused international spotlight on the broader, complex questions of EU policies regarding immigration and integration. According to one American Muslim leader, the United States model of integration has much to teach European countries at the present time. Syrian-born Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat is founder and president of the Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, which is based in Baltimore, in the United States. The organisation works to promote cooperation, rather than confrontation, between young people of different religions, cultures and backgrounds. He spoke to...

Susan Reimer is a columnist for the the Baltimore Sun- a paper so liberal that Chris Mathews of MSNBC once laughed when a Philadelphia paper was incorrectly called centrist and he commented "About the only paper more liberal in America is the Baltimore Sun!" Her latest piece for the Sun is an article entitled "The moral consequence of watching football" In her column, she asks: "Is it morally acceptable to watch football when it is clear that the game is irretrievably harmful to those who play it?" and "How can you watch football when you know — and the players...

Shortages of beds, doctors and nurses in the Baltimore VA Medical Center’s emergency room resulted in nearly half of a sample of patients spending more than 6 hours at the facility, including one who waited more than 24 hours, according to a critical inspection report released this month. … The Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general’s office detailed the shortcomings in a report that criticized the hospital’s leadership for lacking policies to provide on-call doctors and nurses to boost staffing when patient volume surged. Backups in treating patients led to some being examined in the emergency department’s triage area, without...

Rush-hour commuters could pay nearly $5 a day in tolls to travel back and forth on a seven-mile stretch of express toll lanes set to open next year along Interstate 95 east and north of Baltimore, according to proposed pricing approved Thursday by the board of the Maryland Transportation Authority. The new lanes, scheduled to open late next year, would offer a quicker travel option for commuters willing to pay. The suggested tolls vary by the time of day and the type of vehicle, but a car traveling on the toll lanes during peak hours would pay between 25 cents...

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Kids in Baltimore City may soon need to be home earlier at night. A new proposal is on the table for a stricter curfew in the city. The current curfew for children in the city of Baltimore is midnight on weekends and 11 p.m. on weekdays. Now Councilman Brandon Scott has proposed legislation to make it earlier. Young people tore into a 7-Eleven in upper Fells Point around midnight in February. City leaders are trying to stop teens involved in incidents like that. “We don’t want kids to harm anyone [or] to be harmed themselves,” said Mayor...

On September 3, 1838, Frederick Bailey undertook the riskiest journey of his life. The 20-year-old slave made a daring escape from his master in Baltimore, and with his newfound freedom came a new name -- Frederick Douglass... After Douglass’ attempt to escape slavery two years prior was betrayed by a fellow slave, he had been jailed, sent to Baltimore by his master and hired out to work in the city’s shipyards. Undeterred, Douglass vowed to try to escape again on September 3, 1838, although he knew the risk. "I felt assured that if I failed in this attempt, my case...

One of the architectural quirks of certain cities on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. is the solo row house. Standing alone, in some of the worst neighborhoods, these nineteenth century structures were once attached to similar row houses that made up entire city blocks. Time and major demographic changes have resulted in the decay and demolition of many such blocks. Occasionally, one house is spared - literally cut off from its neighbors and left to the elements with whatever time it has left. Still retaining traces of its former glory, the last house standing is often still occupied.