Free Republic

Burning Man is supposed to arrive and disappear like the desert breeze. Near the end of every summer, attendees of the multiday mega-festival venture to the Nevada wilderness. Their motto: “Leave no trace.” This year, thousands got stuck in the mud instead after about a half an inch of rain hit what is normally the driest state in the nation. Instead of leaving no trace, many self-described “burners” abandoned bicycles and vehicles on the drenched, muddy Black Rock Desert. Once an underground carnival for free spirits, Burning Man today is famous as a party spot for Hollywood stars, Silicon Valley...

President Barack Obama hoisted a beer with a white policeman and a black professor Thursday evening, aiming to cool a dispute between the pair that ignited a national debate and threatened to damage his reputation as a politician whose appeal transcends race. Speaking in the Oval Office earlier Thursday, Mr. Obama said he was "fascinated with the fascination about this evening," calling the meeting "so hyped and so symbolic." ..The White House billed the meeting as a "teachable moment" occasioned by the July 16 arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley after a...