Free Republic

The refrain is heard almost as often as the fatal gunshots: The way to reduce Chicago’s gun violence is tougher prison sentences for repeat gun offenders, keeping them off the streets and decreasing the city’s mounting death toll. That idea, pushed by the mayor, police superintendent and others, shifts pressure from patrol officers of the city’s West and South sides to the Capitol, where legislators will consider how to balance law and order with finding alternatives to imprisoning young blacks and other minorities.In that building, in the same Senate seat where Barack Obama launched his political career and focused on...

It was late June and I was sitting in a café seven hundred miles from home, doing a little web surfing. There was plenty of room at mid-morning, so I could sit at the end of the coffee bar with my laptop. I was scanning the breaking news about the new mass-shooting. Like most people, I was morbidly fascinated with the deranged young man who was the killer. That is, the trigger puller. But I was looking over his shoulder for something else: signs of a guiding hand. Why? Because I know something about the subject. You see, being a...

Copenhagen - Police in Denmark arrested a suspected possible suicide bomber Friday following a small explosion at a hotel in central Copenhagen, media reports said. Danish daily Extra Bladet showed on its website a photo of the suspect, who had reportedly attempted to blow himself up. Police did not immediately confirm the report. No one was injured in the explosion at the Jorgensen Hotel. Police handcuffed the man after he was seen running away from the hotel and into the nearby Orstedsparken park. The park was evacuated and the surrounding streets were cordoned off as explosive experts were called in....

SANTIAGO, Chile — "Bon appetit," said Chilean artist Marco Evaristti as he presented his friends with his newest creation: meatballs cooked with fat from his own body, extracted by liposuction. "Ladies and gentleman, bon appetit and may god bless," said Evaristti, a glass in his hand, to his dining companions seated last Thursday night around a table in Santiago's Animal Gallery. On the plates in front of them was a serving of agnolotti pasta and in the middle a meatball made with oil Evaristti removed from his body in a liposuction procedure last year. "The question of whether or not...

See for example this thread first. Fidel Castro hands over power To his brother, Raoul, in this hour While under the knife (In risk of his life?) Should Cubans rejoice, or just cower?

WAR PROTESTER TAKES ACTIVE STANCE DAVE SOMMERS , Staff Writer 03/28/2004 When it comes to defending what he sees as President Bush’s correct stance in fighting the war on terror, Raoul Deming is about as proactive as one could be.

PRO-BUSH WAR PROTESTER EXPOSES ANTI-WAR PEACENIKS DAVE SOMMERS , Staff Writer 03/28/2004 When it comes to defending what he sees as President Bush’s correct stance in fighting the war on terror, Raoul Deming is about as proactive as one could be. In fact, he has attended nearly every rally on the East Coast in the past year, whether pro or con, and says he’s always ready to confront those who speak out against the president or scoff at any displays of patriotism. Just last weekend, Deming attended an anti-war rally in Fayetteville, N.C., where he argued with protesters and then...