Free Republic

The same mafia-style Chicago thugocracy that got Obama into his state senate seat (by elbowing all his opponents off the ballot with an army of lawyers seizing on bogus technicalities) is now using the same brutal gutter tactics to silence an electrifying black conservative. State senate candidate Cedra Crenshaw of Bolingbrook, Illinois is a brilliant, Tea Party-backed patriot who champions the free market, limited government, and legitimately got herself on the ballot with the required number of signatures. But the Chicago Machine is threatened by her, so it hired some of Barack Obama's lawyers to force her out. The will...

Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti has pushed through parliament a new 25% tax on all hardcore pornography. Previous attempts to raise new revenue by taxing pornography have failed. Objections from the porn industry that they are already paying VAT and it is illegal to tax them twice have now been overruled by the minister. Rome is desperate to find new revenue because it has to trim its budget deficit to meet EU rules. Moreover, the government cannot raise general taxation only months before a general election. The new tax is similar to one imposed in France and will apply to...