Free Republic

Robert Richards, Marine Guilty in Taliban Desecration, Dies at 28 Robert W. Richards, a former sergeant who helped provoke international outrage when he and three other Marines were seen on videotape urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2011, died on Wednesday at his home in Jacksonville, N.C., near Camp Lejeune, where he had once been based. He was 28. His lawyer, Guy Womack, confirmed the death, saying there were no signs of foul play or self-inflicted wounds, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Womack said he suspected that a combination of medications that Mr. Richards had been...

In giving a resounding "no" to proposed laws that would have allowed Saskatchewan marriage commissioners to opt out of uniting same-sex couples on religious grounds, the province's top court was very clear about the potential impact of such legislation. "It would be a significant step backward if, having won the difficult fight for the right to same-sex civil marriages, gay and lesbian couples could be shunned by the very people charged by the province with solemnizing such unions," Justice Robert Richards said, authoring Monday's majority decision for the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. Justice Gene Anne Smith, writing a second decision...