Free Republic

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Supporters of seven people charged Sunday with breaking into an unoccupied building in downtown Chapel Hill on Monday denied the allegations of a break-in. Police said more than 70 attendees from an anarchist book fair broke into the former Yates Motor Co. building, at 419 W. Franklin St., on Saturday. Police monitored the group until the crowd reached a more manageable size, and then a tactical team moved in late Sunday and arrested seven people.

Paying close attention to the news these days might lead some people to believe that the Middle East is more chaotic and unpredictable than it has been in many years... and those people would be right. That part of the world is displaying ever-increasing signs of moving toward a level of sociopolitical turmoil, the likes of which has not been attained in the region for centuries. Recent events there mark the beginning of what may well prove to be a cultural tempest of extraordinary ferocity, however, the swirling winds of change to which I refer are not born of despotic...