Free Talk Live

The kids in this volcano-rim village wear filthy, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They don't go to school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can spell words. The key to their success: 20 tablet computers dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a group called One Laptop Per Child.

Ypsilanti Township has filed a lawsuit against a man and a woman accused of pumping a strong marijuana odor from their home. According to a verified petition filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, the odor is so “overwhelming” that it has regularly disrupted next door neighbors’ life over the last year. The township is asking a judge to order the defendants, Deborah Klochubar and Michael Engle, to stop pumping the alleged marijuana fumes out of the home.

As [Westword] reported earlier this month, the shooting of Chloe, the beloved dog of Gary Branson, has caused quite a stir. The incident was caught on video, and footage showing an officer firing shots at the dog five times has led to an outpouring of support on a petition page and a Justice for Chloe Facebook page. And now the Adams County District Attorney's office has announced that Robert Price, the officer, is facing a felony charge of animal cruelty.

While the nation’s eyes are affixed firmly on the future tax implications of the fiscal cliff negotiations, few people realize that they stand to pay larger tax bills in 2012 courtesy of a little something Congress could have — and should have – taken care of long ago: the exemption to the alternative minimum tax (AMT). As a reminder, the AMT is a parallel tax system that was originally designed in 1969 to guarantee that 155 wealthy, enterprising taxpayers would pay some amount of federal income tax.

For the ancient Chinese masters, political awakening was complementary to spiritual awakening. In the martial arts, they saw more than a tool for war, that ultimate form of political conflict — they also saw a vehicle for reaching a superior state of consciousness, of connection with the cosmos that would spontaneously mold a virtuous character for the warrior. They called it the state of “effortless action” (wu wei), and was considered to be indispensable for reaching sociopolitical harmony, peace and prosperity among peoples.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced on Friday that the agency surpassed its record number of deportations in the past fiscal year, but also will enact reform of a controversial immigration enforcement program that could lead to fewer non-criminal immigrants being removed from the country.

Check out a Democratic gun control advocate trying to make her point on regulating guns, while not even understanding the very thing she's trying to regulate.

Louisiana woman in dispute with neighbors says F---you with Christmas light message. Police officer says it violates city obscenity statute... which doesn't exist. ACLU helps her in court. She's harassed by neighbors and police with other petty citations.

We've previously discussed some of the most hilarious ways grown adults, tasked with either the defense or expansion of their nation, have managed to dick things up so completely that it crosses into the realm of comedy. Here are a few more instances of people stepping onstage in the military theater and splitting their pants in front of everyone.