Free Republic

This morning, when she kisses all five of her beautiful deductibles on the cheek, straps on their backpacks and nudges them out the door for the school bus, Thelma Ward will relax and wait for her reward in the mailbox - all $54,242.

A New Zealand anti-whaling activist who boarded a Japanese harpoon ship has been charged with five offences, including trespass and causing injury.

A strange story surrounding a North Carolina city council election has suddenly become national news. Cecil Bothwell won his election fairly, a fact no one disputes. However, the former head of the Asheville NAACP has attempted to block Bothwell’s seating by pointing out an obscure clause in North Carolina’s state constitution that bars atheists from holding public office. The dispute will likely have to be settled in federal court:

#5 Jim Thompson POW and Legendary Badass Who was he? Jim was just a store clerk, until he decided he could probably impress more girls by telling them he was a Green Beret, which he became. How He Stared Down Death: During the Vietnam War, Jim was captured and held as a prisoner of war, at which time he was beaten and tortured. The time we're speaking of by the way was a period of nine years, giving him a pretty bittersweet record for being held as a POW.

<p>Some Freeper named Jim Robinson has an off the deep end post up at Free Republic that illustrates in a nutshell why no one is taking conservatism very seriously these days.</p> <p>You have to read the whole thing to grasp the underlying hysteria, the exaggeration, the misperceptions, and the paranoia, but a few choice passages should suffice.</p>

Steve Eves broke two world records Saturday, when his 1/10th scale model of the historic rocket—built in his garage near Akron, Ohio—lifted off from a field on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The 36-ft.-tall rocket was the largest amateur rocket ever launched and recovered successfully—and at 1648 pounds, also the heaviest. Eves' single-stage behemoth was powered by nine motors—eight 13,000 Newton-second N-Class motors and a 77,000 Newton-second P-Class motor. (Five Newton-seconds is equivalent to about a pound of thrust.) All told, the array generated enough force to chuck a Volkswagen more than a half-mile—and sent the Saturn V more than 4440 feet...

Lacrosse accuser to speak To address justice system, the media Rachel Coleman, Staff Writer Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Updated: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 The woman involved in the Duke University lacrosse team scandal more than three years ago will make a rare public appearance today at UNC as part of an event about social injustice. Crystal Gail Mangum, who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006, will speak in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center about “the harsh realities of minority treatment both in the justice system and the media,” according to the event’s press release. The lacrosse...

iPhone game saves a family's home Matt Ehlers - Staff Writer WAKE FOREST -- With unexpected medical bills piling up and his employer suspending its bonus program, Ethan Nicholas and his family faced a financial crisis. So he struck a deal with his wife, Nicole: If she took on more responsibility in caring for their two young boys, he would devote the hours before and after his regular job to building a video game for the Apple iPhone.

Duke Lacrosse Rape Accuser Insists She Was Attacked in Memoir The woman state prosecutors determined falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape maintains in a memoir that she was attacked. [snip] Click on the link near the bottom Click here to see the release.

By Tamara Gibbs DURHAM (WTVD) -- Since three former Duke Lacrosse players were declared innocent of rape and assault charges, the alleged victim in the highly publicized Duke Lacrosse case has remained out of public view until now. In a press release, Crystal Mangum's manager has announced plans to release a tell-all memoir entitled "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story." According to the book's co-author Vincent Clark, the book will be released in October.

Banned From Church Reviving an ancient practice, churches are exposing sinners and shunning those who won't repent. By ALEXANDRA ALTER January 18, 2008; Page W1 On a quiet Sunday morning in June, as worshippers settled into the pews at Allen Baptist Church in southwestern Michigan, Pastor Jason Burrick grabbed his cellphone and dialed 911. When a dispatcher answered, the preacher said a former congregant was in the sanctuary. "And we need to, um, have her out A.S.A.P." Half an hour later, 71-year-old Karolyn Caskey, a church member for nearly 50 years who had taught Sunday school and regularly donated 10%...

I recently was looking for an old quote and ended up assembling a list of FreeRepublic threads as the Duke lacrosse case broke. We had the whole thing nailed pretty quickly while the MSM floundered in their biases and preconceptions. Let's hear it for the decline of the dino media and hats off to all you Freepers.

By Tamara Gibbs DURHAM -- In a filing Tuesday in Federal Court, unindicted Duke Lacrosse players are suing Duke University, the City of Durham, Duke University professors, Mike Nifong and the DNA lab involved in the case. The suit also names doctors and nurses who treated the alleged victim the night she claimed she'd been raped at a party. The players are also suing City Manager Patrick Baker and former Durham Police Chief Stephen Chalmers. As part of the investigation, the unindicted players had to give up DNA samples and were named in the school paper. In the 404-page lawsuit,...

This is one vote Edwards never had Elizabeth gripes; neighbor is famous Leah Friedman, Staff Writer CHAPEL HILL - Monty Johnson was heading home Monday with a cooler full of catfish when he learned his new neighbor had turned him into a minor celebrity. The first calls on his cell phone came from two lawyers asking to represent him in a slander case. Elizabeth Edwards, they told him, had called him a "rabid, rabid Republican." That wasn't all. The Democratic presidential candidate's wife also told The Associated Press she didn't want her children near Johnson because, she said, he once...

Duke Lacrosse Suspect Arrives in North Carolina Reade Seligmann Posted: 13 minutes ago Updated: 8 minutes ago Raleigh — In what could signal a new development in the Duke lacrosse case, one of the three accused in the case was seen arriving at Raleigh-Durham International Airport Tuesday afternoon. Reade Seligmann and his family, arrived just after 3 p.m. on an American Air flight from Newark, N.J. Seligmann had no comment. The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has yet to announce whether it will proceed with the case against him, Collin Finnerty and David Evans. Has video

Steven Marcus LOCAL COLLEGES Duke looks within for solutions April 9, 2007, 4:21 PM EDT Whatever the state attorney general says and whenever he says it, do not expect Duke University to give the lacrosse players named in last spring's scandal any commendations from the university. Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Garden City's Collin Finnerty were indicated on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after a female dancer claimed she was assaulted at a team party. The rape charge was dropped by District Attorney Mike Nifong, who himself is under investigation for ethics violations. North Carolina Attorney General Roy...

By: Naureen Khan Issue date: 2/13/07 Section: News Last update: 2/13/07 at 5:57 AM EST Six members of the Duke faculty said Monday night that they refused to be silenced by what they termed as attempts by critics to intimidate them or censor their opinions. The charged panel discussion-entitled "Shut Up and Teach?"-addressed criticism toward academics who comment on controversial social and political issues. The panelists at the talk-five of whom were signatories of an advertisement called the "listening statement" that was published in The Chronicle April 6, 2006-said the problems of faculty repression go beyond the events of last...

Gov. Mike Easley said last month that picking Mike Nifong to be Durham's district attorney was the worst appointment of his career, and he said Nifong broke his promise not to run for the office. Easley told law students in New York that Nifong's decision to seek office in last fall's election almost prompted him to consider yanking Nifong from office. "I almost un-appointed him when he decided to run," Easley said. "I rate that as probably the poorest appointment that I've," the governor trailed off before adding "I've made some good ones."

(CBS) The three Duke lacrosse players indicted for a rape they say they didn't commit are indignant over the effect the charges are having on their lives and their families. In their first interviews, they speak to Ed Bradley this Sunday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

As the presumed “facts” initially associated with the Duke lacrosse case have melted away, those on campus who aggressively condemned the lacrosse players have found themselves in an uncomfortable position. While a few columnists (such as David Brooks and Nicholas Kristof) have revised their opinions in light of the Coleman Committee report and the recently released prosecution documents, no one at Duke has publicly done so. A small minority have ignored the new material, and even leveled new charges against the lacrosse players. But most still condemn the lacrosse players, though now with a focus on issues relating to alcohol—acting...