Free Republic

Ethel Kennedy has learned to stop worrying and love Che Guevara. The 92-year-old Kennedy clan matriarch’s late husband Robert and brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, may have faced off against a Russia-aligned Cuba in the infamous 1962 Missile Crisis — but that didn’t stop her from putting the face of the communist nation’s revolutionary hero on a mantle at her Palm Beach home, The Post has learned. In fact, her family says she’s been a fan of Guevara for years — and makes no apology about it. “My mom loves Che Guevara. Her dog is named Che,” her son, Robert...

Named Ledumahadi mafube, the new dinosaur species weighed 12 tons, stood about 13 feet high at the hips, and is one of the closest relatives of sauropod dinosaurs. Sauropods, weighing up to 60 tons, include well-known species like Brontosaurus. They ate plants and stood on four legs, with a posture like modern elephants.Ledumahadi mafube evolved its giant size independently from sauropods.“It shows us that even as far back as 200 million years ago, these animals had already become the largest vertebrates to ever walk the Earth,” said Professor Jonah Choiniere, a researcher in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University...

Calling her "a parent's worst nightmare," a judge sentenced former Hillsborough County schoolteacher Ethel Anderson to 38 years in prison Monday for performing oral sex and other lewd acts on a 12-year-old boy she tutored on weekends. Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe's severe punishment of Anderson seemed designed to send a message in a county that has attracted disproportionate attention for sex scandals involving female educators. The most notorious of them, Debra Lafave, managed to avoid incarceration completely after pleading guilty to sex with a 14-year-old boy. "There are those that believe that nothing's wrong if the defendant is a woman...

A judge denied Michael Skakel’s bid for a new trial Thursday, rejecting the latest startling claim that two other men committed a 1975 killing that sent the Kennedy cousin to prison, his attorney said. Stamford Superior Court Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. ruled against Skakel based on a week of testimony in April. The ruling was to be released at 11 a.m. Thursday. Attorney Hope Seeley said she was extremely disappointed, citing the quality of the evidence. “We believe Michael Skakel was wrongly convicted, and we will continue to pursue every legal avenue available to us,” Seeley said. Those avenues...

Site requires membership to pull up story but here is excerpt... Grandson Wants Russian Authorities to Investigate Stalin’s Death Joseph Stalin’s great-grandson has appealed to the Russian authorities with a request to investigate the circumstances of his great-grandfather’s death, news agencies reported Thursday. “When Stalin was disposed of, Khrushchev, who imagined himself to be a statesman, was able to come to power. His so called activities were nothing but a betrayal of the interests of the state that he headed,” Jacob Jugashvili said in a statement. The betrayal committed in the Kremlin should be judged in the Kremlin, too, he...

Clooney film faces censorship (But You Know The New York Slimes...) by Julia Wheeler The film which won George Clooney an Oscar may be banned in one of the countries where it was shot because of political sensitivities. Syriana was partly filmed in the United Arab Emirates. The authorities there are still deciding whether the film, which is a political thriller, will be shown.