Free Republic

A news editor for a small, independent newspaper was in support of the protests-turned-riots, until they broke into the paper's office and she had to take cover from looters and vandals in the basement. Leigh Tauss, an editor for the progressive news outlet Indy Week in North Carolina, was stunned to find that the protesters-turned-rioters did not look favorably upon her business when they swept the area. She tweeted out on Saturday, saying "the crowd is extremely peaceful and groups and many are wearing masks and trying to keep distance." The crowd is extremely peaceful and groups and many are wearing masks...

AVIGNON, France, July 21 (AFP) - This year's edition of one of Europe's top summer arts events was described as a pretentious catastrophe Thursday after angry audiences booed or walked out of a series of performances. Critics attending the three-week Avignon theatre festival in southern France said it had plumbed new depths of intellectual obscurity and warned that a contempt for the mainstream public was placing the future of a prestigious national institution in jeopardy. "What purgatory!" headlined the news magazine Le Point on its culture pages, "Loyal spectators are sad, disorientated and haggard," while a commentator for the Communist...