Free Republic

Abe Greenwald of Commentary magazine tweets: "Is there any chance that Mark Steyn won't use the Italian captain fleeing the sinking ship as the lead metaphor in a column on EU collapse?" Oh, dear. You've got to get up early in the morning to beat me to civilizational-collapse metaphors. Been there, done that. See page 185 of my most recent book, where I contrast the orderly, dignified and moving behavior of those on the Titanic (the ship, not the mendacious Hollywood blockbuster) with that manifested in more recent disasters. There was no orderly evacuation from the Costa Concordia, just chaos...

The culture of the passengers? Don’t want to generalize; just quoting. The food is horrible. Expect Europeans blowing smoke everywhere. My entire suitcase and clothing at the end of the trip reeked of smoke. They rarely cleaned the deck so I personally slipped 4 times and saw 20 people slip. There are inadequate warnings in place by the pool to indicate that the floor is slippery. If you are elderly, this is a walking death trap. Nobody ever lines up and expect people to push you out of the way or bite your hand off while trying to get food...

GIGLIO, Italy (WLS) - Audio recording of the conversation between Capt. Francesco Schettino and Port Authority officials after the doomed Italian luxury cruise liner Costa Condcordia struck rocks Friday was released Tuesday morning. At least 11 people were killed in the aftermath, according to Italian media, and dozens more are still missing. The following is a translation of the recording, which was posted on the news website Corriere della Sera: Captain Schettino: It's Capt. Schettino. Port Authority: Schettino, listen to me, there are people trapped onboard, now you go back, you will go with your rescue boat under the stern...

Francesco Schettino to appear before judge today Arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship Ignored order from coastguard to return to ship 'Offered to return to doomed cruise liner, but only to collect black box' Junior officers led a 'mutiny' after he dithered in giving orders Seventh person was found dead in shipwrecked vessel, rescuers say this morning 35 Britons on board reported safe and well, more than 60 people injured, 29 still missing Reports Schettino was dining with passengers when the accident happened The Costa Concordia's captain did abandon ship before hundreds of his passengers, it has...

(CBS/AP) The cruise ship captain under fire for abandoning his vessel while thousands of passengers scrambled for rescue has reportedly come up with an explanation for his flight - he accidentally tripped and fell into a lifeboat: Capt. Francesco Schettino stated: "I didn't even have a life jacket because I had given it to one of the passengers. I was trying to get people to get into the boats in an orderly fashion. Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60 to 70 degree angle, I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That's how I found...