Free Republic

Everyone should respond thee way they feel. IMHO this may not be the best time to post, discuss what's on your mind. My reaction to seeing it was to just look at it, ponder the terrible, unbelievable irony, tragedy of what the future, fate had in store for all those involved and beyond.

SANFORD (CBSMiami/AP) —The man acquitted in the shooting death of a Florida teen has been arrested again. This time he is charged with aggravated assault, Florida authorities said. The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office says the 31-year-old George Zimmerman was arrested in Lake Mary about 10 p.m. Friday and is being held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility. The facility’s website says Zimmerman is scheduled for a court appearance at 9 a.m. Saturday.

A 19-month-old boy critically injured when a police device was tossed into his bed has a 50 percent chance of surviving, his parents said today. But a northeast Georgia sheriff defends the officers’ actions, calling it a tragic accident. “The last thing you want is law enforcement to injure someone innocent,” Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There was no malicious act performed. It was a terrible accident that was never supposed to happen.” Hours after a confidential informant said he bought methamphetamine from Wanis Thometheva at a Habersham County home late Tuesday, officers returned to the...

A Harvard University student club is hosting a satanic black mass on May 12 to be staged by The Satanic Temple. The Cultural Studies Club characterizes the event as a "reenactment" to be "performed" by The Satanic Temple, but reportedly, the group has obtained and will be using a Consecrated Eucharistic Host - making the event as real as it gets as far as the Catholic Church is concerned. The Black Mass is "a magical ceremony and inversion or parody of the Catholic Mass that was indulged in ostensibly for the purpose of mocking God and worshipping the devil; a...

Former vice presidential candidate and current House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., gave a little more oxygen to the idea that he’ll run for president in 2016. “I’m going to make my mind up later,” Ryan said on CNN today, as NBC’s Kasie Hunt noted. “I will give it serious consideration.” That remark goes beyond his comments earlier this month on Fox News. “We look back at it as a very positive experience,” Ryan told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “We actually enjoyed it. We got to meet hundreds of thousands of people who care so much about their country....

Michigan siblings killed in gasoline-soaked bonfire explosion at high school graduation party A celebration ended in sadness Saturday night in St. Clair Township, when recent high school graduate Savannah Blewett and her older brother died in a large bonfire explosion. St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said in a release that 27-year-old Christopher Blewett poured a large amount of gasoline on a two-story pile of wood in his backyard and, according to witnesses, invited his sister to light it on fire. When she did, the gasoline exploded, scattering wood up to 100 yards and blowing out windows in the back...

A six-year-old boy who wanted to help his father clear timber ended up losing his life due to his altruistic urge, in one of the more gruesome recent tragedies. Jeffrey Bourgeoiff, who was helping his father throw branches into a wood chipper, decided to throw a few branches in himself while his father’s back was turned

A three-year-old girl fended for herself for two days by eating cheese and leftover lasagne after her mother died suddenly. Shylah Silbery, from Wellington, New Zealand, hugged her favourite toy - a teddy bear named Possum - as she waited alone in the house near her mother's body. She was rescued when 28-year-old Lauren Silbery's brother alerted the authorities when he did not hear from his sister, whom he talked to every night.

In hard times, as in war, questions arise that were once considered taboo. As we approach $15 trillion run up in aggregate national debt, and confront the reality of a welfare state that is predicated on flawed assumptions about everything from demography to human nature, a rendezvous with brutal reality is now upon us. Indeed, an entire array of tragic questions arises in a bankrupt but suddenly open-minded society in a way unimaginable in a reactionary, affluent one with endless credit: Should those on welfare who have more than three children still qualify for increased assistance for each additional offspring?...

Three and a half years ago, Terry Pratchett, the beloved author of the Discworld series, announced that he has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Now he's made an even more startling announcement. Pratchett, who has campaigned in his native United Kingdom for the right of assisted suicide, has begun the formal process of assisted suicide in Switzerland, one of the few countries in the world to legalize euthanasia. Specifically, this would take place at Dignitas, a clinic that provides qualified doctors and nurses to assist with the patients' suicides. Dignitas has sent Pratchett the paperwork he needs to sign to begin the...

Though the 1983 movie “Christmas Story” did not make much of an impression when it was initially released, it has since become a perennial holiday favorite with families across the country, as we are not only treated to Ralphie’s hilarious quest to obtain a Red Ryder BB gun, but as the film reminds all of us of our own childhood memories of Christmases past. While most of us are familiar with the cult classic, many may not know the tragic way in which the director of “Christmas Story,” Bob Clark, died…He was killed by an illegal alien drunk driver. On...

John Daly has insisted he is not quitting golf, despite claiming that he was "done" with the game on Friday. After missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, Daly told the Golf Channel: "I'm done... I can't play like I used to." However, 24 hours later the two-time major winner said on Twitter: "I'm not retired and never said I was retiring. "The interview caught me after a tough two days and much frustration. All my sponsors want me to continue to play." The American, who shot rounds of 79 and 71 this week at Torrey...

Boy Falls Through Ice; Dog Gets HelpPOSTED: 3:29 pm EDT March 23, 2008 UPDATED: 5:56 pm EDT March 23, 2008 NOVI, Mich. -- A 13-year-old boy has his dog to thank for his rescue after falling through thin ice into the frigid waters of a pond in Novi. According to Novi police, the boy and his dog were walking in the area of Haggerty Road and Nine Mile Road when both fell into the water. The dog was able to escape, police said, and make its way back to the house and alert adults. A dive team from the Marine...

CARROLLTON, Ga. — Authorities said today that state Senator Jim Preuitt's grandson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The teen was reported missing last week and was found dead in Georgia. Carroll County, Ga., Coroner Sammy Eady said the cause of death of 17-year-old Benjamin Stanford of Lincoln, Ala., was "contact gunshot of the head." The sheriff's department said the investigation would continue -snip-

November 13, 2007 -- CBS News writers could be joining their enter tainment colleagues on the picket lines. The writers, members of the Writers Guild of America, East, are expected to vote unanimously Thursday to authorize a strike on both the national and local levels. They've been working without a contract since April 2005. It doesn't mean we will automatically call [a strike], but it gives us the authority to call it," said WGA spokeswoman Sherry Goldman. "It's been almost a year since the last vote. Last November, the contract CBS offered was rejected by 99 percent of [the WGA]...

Geopolitics: The "special relationship" linking America and Britain was key to defending the free world in the 20th century. Disturbing signs on both sides of the Atlantic suggest the alliance might soon end. After serving as a lonely backbench voice who warned against appeasing Germany, Winston Churchill led Britons through the dark days of Nazi bombers and rockets showering London with death. But it was his longtime friendship with Franklin Roosevelt that, long before U.S. entry into World War II, provided Britain with the food, oil and military hardware that helped it survive the early years of that conflict. Four...

Broncos running back Damien Nash dies By ARNIE STAPLETON, AP Sports Writer 7 minutes ago DENVER - Broncos running back Damien Nash collapsed and died after a charity basketball game in suburban St. Louis on Saturday, less than two months after the slaying of teammate Darrent Williams. "We have been informed of the passing of Damien Nash," team spokesman Jim Saccomano said Saturday night. "We are attempting to get more details. ... We do know it's true." Officials at Christian Hospital in St. Louis said the 24-year-old Nash died early Saturday evening. The cause of death wasn't immediately determined. Nash...

7/12/2006 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- With a knock on his door late one evening, 1st Lt. Kevin Lombardo's entire life changed. "One of my sergeants stood outside my trailer door clutching a note. My heart skipped a beat. He said I needed to call home now, something was wrong," the lieutenant said. "When I heard the sound of my wife Billie's voice, I knew it was serious." While deployed to Iraq, Lieutenant Lombardo, an operations officer for the 21st Security Forces Squadron, learned his 3-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, were being rushed to the...

Editor's note: On the evening of July 17, 1996, at 8:19 p.m., TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747, took off from Kennedy Airport, bound for Paris. At 8:31 p.m., over 730 people watched Flight 800 explode, killing all 230 of the people aboard. Not long afterwards, millions of Americans watched their televisions in fascinated horror as search and rescue crews looked for survivors among the flaming debris. Only dead bodies were recovered. Flight 800 is mostly an ugly memory for people these days. The U.S. government issued an explanation that a fuel tank had somehow exploded. Yet, they flatly denied...

The lawyer for a Marine being investigated in the deaths of two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, described the event as "tragic," but denied innocent people were killed intentionally and said troops followed military rules of engagement. No one has been charged in the Haditha case, which centers on allegations that a small number of Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including unarmed women and children, on Nov. 19 after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine. Lawyer Neal A. Puckett said Sunday that Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told him several...