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Achilles, the main character of the Iliad, remains one of the emblematic heroes of Greek mythology and modern literature for his bravery and fierceness in avenging the death of his best friend, Patroclus. Homer’s epic poem, along with The Odyssey, has retained enormous influence on Western literature to this very day, and this is also true for Achilles, the fearless warrior who became the very symbol of gallantry. “Sing, Goddess, of the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,” is the opening line of the Iliad, the poem that describes a few weeks of the ten-year Trojan War, mainly the many feats...

Susan Leger and her granddaughter had to walk in their pajamas to a new hotelThey were kicked out of the Baymont Inn in Helen, Georgia for leaving a bad review on booking site Hotels.com after checking inLeger said in her write-up that the hotel was run-down, and that its toilet didn't flush properly Manager Danny Vyas told a 911 dispatcher that he wanted her out because, 'I know that you didn't like the room and you have reviewed us'The booking website only refunded Leger after questions from reporters A grandmother says she was kicked out of a Georgia hotel by...

It took some time, but the United States now has a gold medalist in women's wrestling. And to earn it, Helen Maroulis had to beat a woman who knows a thing or two about gold medals: Japan's Saori Yoshida, a 13-time world champion and three-time reigning Olympic champion. It was a gold medal showdown that the wrestling world had been looking forward to for a long time. Maroulis, the reigning world champion at 55kg, versus Yoshida, the reigning world champion at 53kg. The first period ended with Yoshida leading 1-0 after Maroulis failed to convert when put on the 30-second...

Archaeologists discover palace with archaic inscriptions built during the Mycenaean period 'Archaeologists in Greece have discovered the ruins of an ancient palace with important archaic inscriptions dating back to the Mycenaean age, the culture ministry said Tuesday. The palace, likely built around the 17th-16th centuries BC, had around 10 rooms and was discovered near Sparta in southern Greece. At the site, archaeologists found objects of worship, clay figurines, a cup adorned with a bull’s head, swords and fragments of murals.'

Ongoing excavations at a site in the southern Peloponnese are offering rare insight into the ancient past of Laconia, about which very little physical evidence exists, the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency cited the Culture Ministry as saying on Tuesday. Covering an expanse of 3.5 hectares, the site on Aghios Vassilios Hill near the village of Xirokambi on the Sparta plain has been under excavation since 2009 and is believed to contain valuable evidence that will shed light on life in the area during the 17th to 16th centuries BC, the announcement said. A palace complex found on the site and...

In a blow to the constitutional rights of citizens, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Heien v. State of North Carolina that police officers are permitted to violate American citizens' Fourth Amendment rights if the violation results from a "reasonable" mistake about the law on the part of police. Acting contrary to the venerable principle that "ignorance of the law is no excuse," the Court ruled that evidence obtained by police during a traffic stop that was not legally justified can be used to prosecute the person if police were reasonably mistaken that the person had violated the law....

In a decision issued this morning, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the police in a case arising from an officer’s “mistake of law.” At issue in Heien v. North Carolina was a 2009 traffic stop for a single busted brake light that led to the discovery of illegal drugs inside the vehicle. According to state law at the time, however, motor vehicles were required only to have “a stop lamp,” meaning that the officer did not have a lawful reason for the initial traffic stop because it was not a crime to drive around with a single busted brake...

President Obama on Saturday said he and first lady Michelle Obama were saddened by the death of longtime White House journalist Helen Thomas, calling her a “true pioneer” who opened doors and broke down barriers for generations of women. Thomas died on Saturday after a long illness. She was 92. Thomas covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Obama and long held the informal title of "Dean of the White House Press Corps." In a statement, Obama said Thomas “never failed to keep presidents – myself included – on their toes. What made Helen the ‘Dean of the White...

Did you know that Helen Thomas and The "Preezy" shared the same birthday?

Former journalist Helen Thomas told an interviewer for a pornographic magazine recently that her anti-Zionism is fully intended. The 90-year-old modern-day Haman was fired from her long-time job as a White House correspondent for Hearst Corporation for virulently anti-Israel remarks. Not exactly a fluffy bunny herself, she told Playboy magazine she “knew exactly what she was doing” when she said that “Jews don't belong in Palestine,” and they should all “go home to Poland, Germany and the United States.”

In 'Playboy' interview, veteran US journalist stands behind anti-Israel comments that led to her resignation: "I knew exactly what I was doing." Talkbacks (70) Veteran US Journalist Helen Thomas said that Jews have "total control" over the White House and US Congress, telling Playboy magazine in an interview to be published in April, "Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies." Thomas, who covered the White House for more than six decades, was forced to resign from her position at Hearst Corp. last year, after saying in an interview that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and...

Of all the things this guy theoretically should apologize for, calling out one of the left’s heroes for telling Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine” doesn’t even crack the top million. “I want an apology from the president,” Thomas, 90, said Tuesday to the hundreds of student journalists and their advisers attending the keynote session of the annual spring convention of College Media Advisers (CMA) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City… “Her comments were offensive,” Obama said [at the time]. “It’s a shame because Helen’s someone who has been a correspondent through I don’t know...

Veteran reporter Helen Thomas turned up in Playboy magazine this month (fully clothed, don’t worry) as part of her ongoing anti-Semitic publicity tour. The former “dean” of the White House Press Corps sat down for an interview (link is to the Sun Herald’s summary) about her recent controversy. First she weighed in on the aftermath of her remarks about Israel last May (“I went into self-imposed house arrest”) and her views on the situation in the Palestinian territories (“the Palestinians have been shortchanged in every way”). But then the interview took an uglier turn.

Noel Sheppard's picture If you thought Helen Thomas telling Jews to get the hell out of Palestine was anti-Semitic, you ain't seen nothing yet. The disgraced former White House correspondent is Playboy magazine's interviewee in April, and some of the hate-filled nonsense she spewed to her Jewish interviewer should shame those responsible for ever putting this woman in such a powerful press position: I knew I’d hit the third rail. You cannot say anything about Israel in this country. But I’ve lived with this cause for many years. Everybody knows my feelings that the Palestinians have been shortchanged in every...

Helen Thomas waxing poetic on Israel...

Society of Professional Journalists board of directors votes to retire Helen Thomas awardBy The Associated Press (CP) – 23 hours ago INDIANAPOLIS — The board of directors of the Society of Professional Journalists has voted to retire a lifetime achievement award named for longtime journalist Helen Thomas, who has made a series of controversial statements about Jews over the past year. The board of the national journalism group made the decision on Friday. The Detroit News says the SPJ's move follows one by Wayne State University to shelve the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media Award over similar...

Helen Thomas's latest may be too much for the Society of Professional Journalists. If your lifelong ambition is to win the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award from Detroit's Wayne State University, you might as well end it all now. Thomas's alma mater terminated the award Friday "after she made controversial remarks in Dearborn on Thursday... As you might expect, Thomas is not happy with Wayne State's decision. "The leaders of Wayne State University have made a mockery of the First Amendment and disgraced their understanding of its inherent freedom of speech and the press," she told the Free Press....

When Helen Thomas said that Israel's Jews should just GTFO and return to Germany and Poland, I suggested her comments were not anti-Semitic per se but merely very blunt anti-Zionism. But her latest comments suggests that, no, she really has a problem with Jews: Thomas, who grew up in Detroit the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, was in Dearborn today for an Arab Detroit workshop on anti-Arab bias. ... In a speech that drew a standing ovation, Thomas talked about "the whole question of money involved in politics." "We are owned by propagandists against the Arabs. There's no question about that....

As Martin Solomon writes, “I guess she’s taken back her apology,” but then, did anybody buy it in the first place, after she attempted to save her Palpatine-esque face in the immediate aftermath of her spectacularly anti-Semitic meltdown back in June into a Flip video camera? The Detroit Free Press reports, “Defiant Helen Thomas defends remarks that led to exit:” Striking a defiant tone, journalist Helen Thomas, 90, said today she absolutely stands by her controversial comments about Israel made earlier this year that led to her resignation. But she stoked additional controversy with new remarks, claiming that “Zionists” control...

Dear Helen Thomas: With a great deal of disappointment I watched your interview, replayed over and over on television, in which you said that Jews should “go back home to Poland and Germany.” I find it both appalling and unsettling that someone with your level of journalistic accomplishment would lack a basic knowledge of Middle Eastern history. So please allow me to make the case as to why Israel has a historical, legal and moral right to exist as a Jewish state in the Middle East. According to the Arab-Palestinian-Muslim narrative, Israel is an alien colony recently planted in the...