Free Republic

NEW YORK - Jam Master Jay, part of the pioneering rap trio Run DMC, was shot and killed, the group's publicist said. Publicist Tracy Miller confirmed the death of the 37-year-old rapper, whose real name was Jason Mizell. A legal source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the rapper was shot in the head Wednesday at a recording studio in the New York City borough of Queens. A second person was shot in the ankle and the shooter was at large, the source said. Run DMC is widely credited with helping bring hip-hop into music's mainstream, including the group's...

A friend asked me to share my experiences meeting the two men running for US Senate from Texas this year, Mayor Ron Kirk of Dallas and Attorney General John Cornyn. I met John Cornyn in the summer of 1999 at Red’s Gun Shop and Rifle Range in Austin, Texas, where a lawyer friend and I had gone to rent and shoot some guns we were thinking about buying. We had finished up on the range and were in the retail section of Reds looking at some gun cases and the like when my lawyer friend pointed out a white haired...

PETER ODIGHIZUWA shuffled into Buchanan County General District Court in leg chains, surrounded by police officers . . . Odighizuwa, a 43-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Nigeria, went to the Appalachian School of Law on Wednesday to talk to his dean, L. Anthony Sutin, about Odighizuwa’s dismissal for failing grades, officials said. He shot Sutin and professor Thomas Blackwell, who taught Odighizuwa’s contracts classes, with a .380-caliber pistol, authorities and students said. Also killed was student Angela Dales, 33, said State Police spokesman Mike Stater. STUDENT INTERVENTION Students ended the rampage by confronting and then tackling the gunman, officials said. ...

DIE EARLY IF you're looking for a bleeding-heart celebrity to get you off death row, don't ask John Malkovich. "America's left wing wants criminals coddled, and no one wants anyone punished," the actor tells the Chicago Tribune. "I would have no problem pushing the switch while having dinner." Malkovich says his only problem with the death penalty is its name: "We're all going to die, so it should just be called the early death penalty."

For non-Austinites, the Chronicle is the free entertainment weekly, like the Village Voice. Which means there are big bins filled with this filth all over the city, for young and old alike to see.

Pacifist War Song - 1917 by H.P. Lovecraft We are the valiant Knights of Peace Who prattle for the Right: Our banner is of snowy fleece, Inscrib’d: "TOO PROUD TO FIGHT!" By sweet Chautauqua’s flow’ry banks We love to sing and play, But should we spy a foeman’s ranks! We’d proudly run away! When Prussian fury sweeps the main Our freedom to deny; Of tyrant laws we ne’er complain; But gladsomely comply! We do not fear the submarines That plough the troubled foam; We scorn the ugly old machines - And safely stay at home! They say our country’s close ...

First some set up – I’ve got an academic background in journalism, advertising and public relations, though my professional career hasn’t utilized those studies. You learn in j-school and if you take public relations courses how simple and cheap an effective campaign can be, and how transformative it can be to public opinion. Recently, the organization I work for became aware of a negative PR campaign orchestrated in North America by our product competitors. It involves a very safe form of elective surgery that happens to negate the need for our competitor’s products. Understandably, they began to publicize the results ...

My friends and I, all early 30-somethings, have a question we are hoping the many Freepers in the military can answer for us. We have contacted some military recruitment phone lines and web sites with our questions, but they are clearly humming along with enlistment efforts and likely too busy to answer our questions. What are the age limits to enlist in the Army, Air Force and Coast Guard (three branches of service that interest me or my friends)? All of us are in fairly good shape, no outstanding health problems save I have seasonal allergies and my friend's shoulder ...

Age Before Beauty by Joe Pappalardo Not everyone in the Bronx neighborhood of the Rolando Paulino All-Stars rallied around the media darlings during their Little League World Series run. And when the "Baby Bombers" fell short, losing to Apopka, Florida, last weekend in the semifinals in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, there was sadness in the neighborhood for the team's kids, but it was mixed with smugness and hostility for some of the team's adult leaders. Call it sour grapes if you want, but many in this close-knit baseball community have been grumbling about the Baby Bombers since before the rest of the ...

Link to Feb. 3, 2001 Las Vegas Sun interview with Paula Poundstone Lots of weird stuff to chew over in this one. The most interesting stuff comes late in the piece.