Free Republic

Governor DeSantis's wife took the stage to deliver a speech, presumably on a topic close to her heart — their three-year-old child. Admittedly, it was dull and she should fire her speechwriter. But hubby Ron should have at least pretended to care about what she was saying. Instead, the mean-spirited Presidential candidate failed to exhibit even a hint of interest. Rather than lending a supportive presence at the side of his wife, DeSantis looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else. Standing on the extreme side of the stage, his body language revealed boredom, annoyance, and a general disconnection from...

n the late 1960s and 70s, droves of hippies and freaks bounced back from various countercultural bummers by embracing the “One Way” of Jesus Christ. Though they rejected many aspects of the underground scene—fun stuff like drugs, free love, and the occult smorgasbord—the Jesus Freaks kept others very much alive. They had a strong yen for intense spiritual experiences and communal tribes, as well as an apocalyptic sense of imminent global transformation. In stark contrast to previous generations of American Christians, who largely rejected popular culture as the devil’s work, these hirsute believers also embraced countercultural media—street newspapers, bumper-stickers, coffee...

Three schools in Texas, North Dakota and Ohio were evacuated today after bomb threats apparently linked to the "Innocence of Muslims" YouTube video freakout prompted officials to issue evacuation orders. More at Associated Press. And here are our archives.

CHICAGO -- Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's green initiative is gaining ground yet again -- this time with two new infrastructure technologies. Cheri Heramb with the Chicago Department of Transportation said the aim of the initiative is to become the "greenest city in the world." Chicago is taking one more step toward that goal with new green infrastructure technology. The DOT has kicked off a pilot program to test 550 feet of recycled rubber sidewalk over the next year, right across the street from the Chicago Center for Green Technology on the city's West Side. Sadhu Johnston, with the city's...

From recycling electronics to shredding sensitive documents, now recycling old tires can become easily maintained sidewalks. Sixty-five cities are reducing the number of old tires dumped in landfills. Companies shred them, bake the fine particles and the use the material for sidewalks. These interlocking panels have cracks between them to allow water and air to reach tree roots, which delays the upward thrust of the roots. When the roots do rise, the panels will not break, making repair easier. The cost of the rubber sidewalks is three times more than concrete, but in the long run it is less expensive...

The Law of Mushing Crap Together on The Internet: when you chop up the corpse of one horribly stupid movie and smash it together with the guts of another stupidly horrible movie, you end up with something kinda funny: Snakes on United 93. (Thanks, hexc290)