Free Republic

"Two suspects were released yesterday who were involved in a violent crime against my daughter," "These criminals are not only being allowed to walk around among the tourists and citizens of Aruba, but there were no limits where they could go." Statement by Beth Holloway Twitty, Natalee's mother, upon release of brothers, Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Stish Kalpoe, 18, for lack of evidence. This is the desperate cry of a mother who has witnessed six suspects in the disappearance of her daughter released for lack of evidence. Only Joran van der Sloot remains behind bars, and Beth Twitty is terrified...

Obfuscatory testimony, blaming the victim "highly-developed" in islanders This crime scene delineation belies the stark truth about Aruba: the the congenital obfuscatory penchant of the islanders. This alone clutched the Rand McNally pennant in its category. Aruba—In a surprising-yet-gratifying result, the island of Aruba was honored as the place “with a silent, cooperative population” conducive to committing unrequited rapes and murders of Americans. “This was a tough competition,” said one Rand-McNally researcher. “A lot of places have the populous engaged in the silent mode, but usually it’s also contained within a coercive environment. The voluntary and obvious desire to impede...

Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital received a $50 million donation last week from one of the people born there – famed Jewish actress Natalie Portman. Portman’s donation is earmarked for an improved and expanded emergency trauma center being funded by the Hadassah Women's Zionist movement. The expansion will enable three times as many victims to be treated at once. At a ceremony Thursday evening at the Jerusalem Theater, Dr. Kobi Assaf, Hadassah Hospitals’ director of surgery and shock trauma said the expansion of the trauma center will save many lives. "One of the most crucial things we can do for trauma patients...

NATALIE Portman has apologized for a quote in Allure magazine she says was taken out of context. "I'm not black, but I know what it feels like." The magazine got a flood of reader mail blasting Portman's insensitivity. Now she's backtracked. "If I had spoken more articulately, I might have conveyed what I truly feel," Portman writes. "I could never know what it is like to be a black American ...