Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Protesters were set to gather Monday in downtown Los Angeles to urge the owners of the Los Angeles Times not to sell the newspaper to “political propagandists”. Members of the self-described “progressive” Courage Campaign along with MoveOn.org and Daily Kos launched an online petition demanding the Tribune Company, publishers of the L.A. Times, to reconsider a rumored sale to billionaire businessmen David and Charles Koch. Protesters were expected to deliver some 100,000 Californian signatures calling on Tribune Company President Peter Liguori “to refuse to sell the paper to political propagandists” to the company’s headquarters near City...

PHOENIX - Attorneys for Gov. Jan Brewer told a federal judge Monday there is no legal basis to order the state to provide driver's licenses to certain illegal immigrants immediately, since they are not being harmed. Douglas Northup, the lead counsel for the governor and the state Department of Transportation, said those who qualify for the Obama administration's "deferred action" program want U.S. District Judge David Campbell to require the state to issue licenses, even before the case goes to trial. The governor directed ADOT last year not to give licenses to those granted the right to remain in this...

Tea Party Re-Flexes Its Muscle By Janie Lorber Roll Call Staff Jan. 7, 2013, 6:55 p.m. The state of the tea party evokes Mark Twain: Reports of its death were an exaggeration. Tea party activists who say they deliberately sat out the fiscal cliff debate are ready to reassert themselves as Congress and the Obama administration take up the debt ceiling and automatic spending cuts under the sequester. The Tea Party Patriots, a national umbrella organization that claims 15 million supporters, is urging its members to confront lawmakers in their districts. They want Congress to let the $109 billion in...

President Obama is hosting a closed-door White House meeting Tuesday morning with labor leaders and liberal activists to discuss his stance in negotiations with House Republicans on the looming budgetary fiscal cliff. One day later, Mr. Obama plans to have a similar private discussion with business leaders. Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the Tuesday's gathering, which is being billed as a discussion of "the actions we need to take to keep our economy growing and find a balanced approach to reduce our deficit," according to a White House release. Several labor leaders plan on attending, including Mary Kay...

Here they come again. California unions are once again meddling in Arizona politics on behalf of illegal aliens, and against the interests of their own American workers. The deceptively-named "Campaign For Arizona’s Future" - which was funded by the national mega-labor unions AFL-CIO and UNITE HERE is spending millions to try and defeat Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The group, which calls its campaign "Adios Arpaio", is mostly comprised of the same Los Angeles-based activists which protested in 2010 after the passage of S.B. 1070. They claim to have registered over 36,000 - mostly Hispanics - in Maricopa County, AZ to...

PHOENIX — Civil rights groups are dropping their bid to stop police from enforcing the "papers please” provision of SB 1070, at least for the time being. Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center said it makes little sense to spend time appealing last month’s order by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton letting the law take effect. That followed a Supreme Court ruling in June saying there was no basis for her original 2010 injunction declaring the provision was pre-empted by federal law. And Bolton specifically denied a request by the civil rights groups for a new preliminary...

The California sea otter, whose luscious coat was so coveted by fur traders that the species was nearly wiped out, is holding steady in its west coast sanctum despite a record number of deaths, including an alarming uptick in shark attacks. .... The number of bite wounds found on the otters, almost all of which appear to be from great white sharks, were perplexing to scientists considering that only 339 of the toothy predators were recently counted in local waters, far fewer than researchers expected. In addition to the increase in adult otters, there were also more otter pups in...

"...A pro-gun group claims it flipped the script on Chicago's firearms buyback program by selling old, broken rifles to the city and then using the money to buy guns and ammo for an NRA-sponsored shooting camp for kids..."

Activists Seek to Reignite Debate Over Elizabeth Warren's AncestryBy Meghan Kiesel | ABC OTUS News – 3 hrs ago Despite Republican attempts to turn Elizabeth Warren's Cherokee heritage - or lack thereof - into a campaign issue, her self-identification with the tribe despite a 1/32 share of ancestry has not affected her standing in opinion polls. A recent Boston Globe poll suggested more than 70 percent of voters said the controversy wouldn't affect their vote. That hasn't stopped a small but committed group of Cherokee women from dogging Warren on the campaign trail, irked that she has called herself Cherokee....

Remember when the Boston Globe prematurely declared this political scandal over last May? Good times.  Four outraged Cherokee activists who say Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has ignored their emails and phone calls will trek to Boston this week in hopes they can force a meeting with the Democratic Senate candidate over her “offensive� Native American heritage claims.“It’s almost becoming extremely offensive to us,� said Twila Barnes, a Cherokee genealogist who has researched Warren’s family tree. “We’re trying to get in contact and explain why her behavior hurts us and is offensive, and she totally ignores that. Like we don’t exist.� Late...

This activist thinks women have the right to “bare” more than just arms. “I want people to know . . . it’s legal for a woman to be topless,” Johnston said. Moira Johnston, 29, drew a lot of attention during a topless protest yesterday in Union Square Park — and that’s exactly what the dancer wants.

Private pilots who may want to fly near Chicago on the weekend of May 19-20 have been warned they could be shot down, and a Red Cross memo suggests there could be mass evacuations of the city in the event of riots by left-leaning activists protesting the NATO summit. Less than a day’s drive away, however, near Jefferson City, Mo., at the same time there will be an event for Americans who also are worried about the nation. But instead of protests and riots, participants will focus on how to build up America, repair it and stabilize it for future...

Police detained two leftist activists Sunday at Ben Gurion International Airport Sunday afternoon after they held up signs that said "Welcome to Palestine." Forty anti-Israeli activists were refused entry into Israel in the hours between Saturday night and 3:00 p.m. Sunday. They were all taken to questioning in the Interior Ministry office at the airport, pending their repatriation. The two leftists unfurled the signs immediately after Police Central District Commander Maj. Gen. Bentzi Sau gave reporters a briefing on the situation. As they were led away, nationalist Israeli activists shouted at them: "Go see what is going on in Syria!"...

Syrians are voting Sunday on the draft of a new constitution that would limit the presidency to two seven-year terms, beginning with this year. The new constitution also theoretically calls for the creation of a multi-party system. Polls opened across the country at 7:00 a.m. Local time, and are scheduled to close 12 hours later. Some 14.6 million eligible voters have allegedly been asked to cast their ballots for or against the new constitution in more than 14,000 polling stations. The document was drafted to quiet the critics of the government's brutal year-long violent campaign against civilians protesting the regime...

Actress' claim to be gay by choice riles activistsLISA LEFF The Associated Press Posted: Sat, Jan. 28, 2012, 12:19 AM SAN FRANCISCO - Cynthia Nixon learned the hard way this week that when it comes to gay civil rights, the personal is always political. Very political. **SNIP** While the broader gay rights movement recognizes that human sexuality exists on a spectrum, and has found common cause with transgender and bisexual people, Nixon may have unwittingly given aid and comfort to those who want to deny same-sex couples the right to marry, adopt children and secure equal spousal benefits, said Jennifer...

Report: Undercover police had kids with activistsBy: The Associated Press | 01/20/12 6:22 PM Britain's Guardian newspaper said Friday that two undercover police officers have fathered children with the activists they were spying on. Key details were hazy but the revelations are the latest in a series of reports which has cast doubt on whether undercover police in the U.K. go too far in seeking to infiltrate environmental, animal rights and extremist groups. British authorities are already preparing a report into the use of undercover officers after one of them caused a trial to collapse when his cover was blown.

Dozens of anti-Israel activists attempted to barge into the Israeli consulate in Boston over the weekend in protest over Israel's seizure of the Canadian-Irish flotilla ships that attempted to sail to Gaza. Bearing PA flags, the activists attempted to storm the building but were turned back. They swore to return, shouting slogans about how the “apartheid regime in Israel must fall.” The activists were “spillovers” from the Occupy Boston protests, one of many being held in the U.S. demanding social justice. At least three people have been arrested on drug charges in the protests over the past several days, and...

[Editors' Note - Crowdsourcing: At the end of this post, you will find links to download the #OccupyWallStreet email archive described earlier today by Andrew Breitbart. Send your thoughts, observations, and findings to feedback@breitbart.com, or post them in the comment section.] On August 10, 2011, the hacker group “Anonymous” announced that it would join the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. That’s what sparked my interest in monitoring #OccupyWallStreet. I reached out to a colleague and asked if he would be interested in studying the protest with me. At first, it seemed disorganized, and we believed it would only be a few...

The debate on the intentions of Glenn Beck and other Christian evangelicals rages on, and Dr. Gadi Eshel, a Land of Israel activist, told Arutz 7 Tuesday that while he did not believe that Beck's intentions were improper, rejecting the friendship of evangelicals could cause anti-Semitism. Eshel was responding to comments by Jerusalem City Council member Mina Fenton Monday, who voiced vociferous opposition to Beck's appearance in Jerusalem on Wednesday, saying that his rally was designed to encourage missionary activity. Eshel told Arutz 7 that Christians like Beck supported Israel because they were strong believers in the Bible, and not...

Tea party activists confronted Barack Obama in Decorah, Iowa tonight during one of his stops on his Magical Mysery Tour. The tea party activists asked Obama about Joe Biden’s comments that tea partiers were “terrorists.” Obama refused to answer the question.

(And you wonder why Britain is in trouble ....) After just one day of classes at her summer school of choice, Emily Birkenshaw had already learned a crucial lesson: how to "go floppy" when facing arrest. "You're heavier then, so you can't be carried," she said, with the genuine delight of a new recruit. The 24-year-old been practising by linking arms with her classmates and singing loudly at a pretend policeman. "It just felt really empowering," she said. "If that happened [in real life] – and I hope it wouldn't – I'd know how to do it without getting hurt."...

Israel has turned the tables on flotilla activists and is conducting a “fly-out” deportation of activists who tried to sail to Gaza Wednesday, less than two weeks after a “fly-in” by activists succeeded in little more than gaining a blub in the media. One of the pro-Hamas supporters who was on the “fly-in” will participated in the “fly-out” Wednesday after the Interior Ministry completes deportation procedures. The 15 foreigners aboard the French "Dignity” boat were stopped en route to Gaza by Navy commandos, who overtook the boat without opposition and brought the crew and passengers to the port of Ashdod....

Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists taken from EasyJet, Alitalia flights for police interrogation; activists arrive on five different planes; Danino says police have met gov't goals at Ben-Gurion Airport. Police diverted two passenger aircraft that landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Friday, detaining at least 60 suspected pro-Palestinian activists for questioning. Participants in the "Air Flotilla" arrived on three other flights as well. Police said that some 69 activists have been denied entry. The flights, one EasyJet from Geneva and one Alitalia, were diverted to Terminal 1, where police combed passengers for pro-Palestinian activists expected to attempt entry into the country...

European authorities are preventing some pro-Palestinian Authority Arab sympathizers from participating in the “fly-in” to Israel, at Jerusalem's request. Eight activists were prevented from boarding a Malev flight from Paris to Budapest, where they intended to pick up a connecting flight to Israel. Three other activists were already arrested at Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday. Earlier in the day two Dutch journalists were prevented from boarding an El Al flight from Amsterdam, although they claimed that they only wanted to cover the fly-in. They insisted that they did not intend to take part in demonstrations that have been planned...

Military sources tell the 'Post' they have intelligence showing that some participants in upcoming flotilla plan use chemical weapons against troops; say IHH members will participate in flotilla. Talkbacks (89) IDF sources said Monday night that new intelligence information obtained in recent days shows that participants of the flotilla planning to break Israel’s sea blockade over the Gaza Strip later this week plan to kill IDF soldiers who board their ships. According to the information obtained by the IDF, some of the participants have prepared sacks with sulfur, which they plan to pour on the soldiers as they board the...

WICHITA, Kansas — The Justice Department under President Barack Obama has taken a harder line against anti-abortion activists accused of trying to block access to clinics, suing at least a half-dozen of them under a federal law that lay mostly dormant during the Bush administration. The law, written to protect people who seek or provide abortions, was revived after Obama took office and in the wake of the 2009 slaying of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, who was shot to death moments before Sunday services were to begin at his Wichita church. Since Obama's inauguration, federal lawsuits have been filed...

Jewish activists refused to leave the Tomb of Joseph compound Tuesday morning after being allowed in by the IDF, and demanded that Israel retake control of the Tomb. Border Police evicted them by force. One activist had to be hospitalized after being beaten. Thirty-five people were arrested and taken to the Ariel police station. Anger and pain is high following the recent gunning down of Ben Yosef Livnat by Palestinian Authority terrorists in uniform. Local Arabs subsequently vandalized the newly-renovated Tomb (see picture below). The Shechem nucleus Jewish community issued a statement in which it explained that "following the events...

Is this another site that is affiliated with left-wing activists, Marxists, anarchists, and socialists?

* Home / * News / * Local / * Mass. The Boston Globe Activists prepare for battle over districts Demand voting maps increase minority clout By Michael Levenson Globe Staff / April 10, 2011 E-mail this article To: Voting rights activists, 10 years after the Massachusetts House enacted a redistricting plan that illegally diluted minority voting power, are dramatically revamping their strategy, pressuring the Legislature sooner and more aggressively than they have in past decades. Emboldened by census data showing an increasingly diverse Massachusetts and by the successful lawsuit against the House’s 2001 redistricting plan, the activists are planning...

The Obama administration may not be lending arms to dissidents in the Middle East, but it is offering aid in another critical way: helping them surf the Web anonymously as they seek to overthrow their governments. Federal agencies - such as the State Department, the Defense Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors - have been funding a handful of technology firms that allow people to get online without being tracked or to visit news or social media sites that governments have blocked. Many of these little-known organizations - such as the Tor Project and UltraReach- are unabashedly supportive of...

"The called-for reform does not come via protests and (the clerics) have forbidden protests since they violate the Koran and the way of the Prophet," Faisal said. Protests by a disgruntled Shi'ite majority in neighboring Bahrain are being closely watched in Saudi Arabia, where Shi'ites make up about 15 percent of the population. Faisal warned foreigners to stay out of Saudi's internal affairs: "Change will come through the citizens of this kingdom and not through foreign fingers, we don't need them," he said, adding: "We will cut any finger that crosses into the kingdom."

The revolution in Egypt is being masterminded by a phalanx of young Internet executives in the Big Apple’s SoHo specially set up for fomenting revolutions, and the unwitting American taxpayer is paying for it. When it comes to Revolution, today’s third world, digital activists are being better trained than anything to be found in Sun Tzu’s famed Art of War,

Activists slowly chip away at health-care lawBy Amy Gardner Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 3, 2011; 5:32 PM **SNIP** Operatives are also playing an inside game, advising members of Congress on how to bring up repeal. Before the Senate vote Wednesday, they urged new members elected on the tea party wave to keep the pressure on Republican leaders. Former House majority leader Richard K. Armey, now chairman of FreedomWorks, met directly with Republican House leaders to urge a vote on the issue earlier this year. The most passionate objection to the health-care measure is to the individual mandate -...

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Half-naked women standing on the street do tend to raise some eyebrows, regardless of their cause. And the pair of scantily clad animal-rights activists at the corner of Third Street and Yakima Avenue on Thursday certainly drew more attention from pedestrians and more honks from passing cars than the labor demonstrators directly across the street. "I kind of like their sign better," said Nicholas Kinzel, one of the Carpenters Local 770 demonstrators in front of Chase Bank.

Small explosion in Davos hotel, nobody hurtBy Emma Thomasson Friday January 28, 2011 DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Left-wing activists claimed responsibility for a small explosion on Thursday that broke windows at a hotel in Davos, close to where top executives and world leaders were meeting, but nobody was hurt. Devin Wenig, CEO of Thomson Reuters' Markets division, was in a breakfast meeting of senior executives at the hotel when the explosion happened shortly after 9 a.m. (0800 GMT). "A huge boom went off. The whole ceiling lifted. Everyone was convinced it was a bomb," he said, adding participants were told...

As President Barack Obama prepares for Tuesday's State of the Union address -- considered by many to be the real kickoff of his 2012 presidential campaign -- a group of vocal progressive activists have launched what they promise is an aggressive campaign to fight his re-election. The group of 150 liberal activists, authors, and academics -- including Code Pink's co-founder Medea Benjamin and author Daniel Ellsberg -- Tuesday released a petition announcing early opposition to Obama's re-nomination by Democrats. Many of the names included are Greens and indies, not necessarily Democrats themselves, but they said they intend to "actively seek...

Maturen, 22, had been a volunteer at the sanctuary for more than three years. She recalls the events of Feb. 12 [2010] in great detail. [snip -- she relates the horror in detail next] No one from the sanctuary called 911...Just before 11:30 a.m., someone else did call. A man told the dispatcher..."Something's happening over there," he said. "I don't know if one of those apes got loose, but we had to run out of there real fast, and there were women screaming over there." Deputy Gregory Mason arrived at 11:37 a.m. and found the gates locked.... [snip -- she...

Maria Neal, 21, was part of a gang which attacked four branches in Hampshire in 2008 by daubing graffiti including the words "murderers" and "scum" on doors and gluing post boxes and cash machine slots. .... Miss Neal has the online identity "vegan23" on the website myspace. On it, she lists her reasons for wanting to defend animals and claims her aim is to become a political leader and cites her mood as "mischievous". ..."im very in to all aspects of animal rights! im anti everything that inflicts creuelty upon innocent animals as everyone should be. things such as using...

Link only - Tea party activists seeing red over Delaware's green initiatives

Grass-roots activists organizing boycotts against large corporations like Target stores and BP now find themselves directing some of their ire at another corporate monolith: Facebook. The boycotters turned to the popular social media site to spread word about their pressure campaigns, but those efforts became much more difficult last week when Facebook disabled key features on the boycott pages. As the number of Facebook members signed up for the “Boycott Target Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics” page neared 78,000, Facebook locked down portions of the page — banning new discussion threads, preventing members from posting videos and links to...

Record spending on judicial elections around the country has prompted calls for changes from a broad array of advocates, including moderate conservatives such as retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But a report issued Thursday by a small conservative group active in judicial elections alleges that the efforts to change such elections amount to a campaign to bolster liberals, with backing from financier and philanthropist George Soros. The report from the American Justice Partnership alleges that Soros has spent millions on "a highly coordinated, well-funded campaign" to "fundamentally alter the composition of America's state courts." Some advocacy groups say...

TOKYO – A Japanese court on Monday convicted two members of the environmental group Greenpeace of stealing whale meat they claim was intended for illegal consumption. The Aomori District Court gave suspended sentences to the activists after finding them guilty of stealing 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of whale meat from a delivery service company's warehouse in April 2008. The meat came from whales killed during Japan's government-backed research hunts.

Tea party groups converged on a remote section of the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday to show support for Arizona's controversial immigration law and hear from more than a dozen conservative speakers, many of them candidates running for office in crowded Republican primaries. Several speaking to the crowd of more than 400 demanded Congress and President Barack Obama devote more resources to increase border security in remote areas like the site of Sunday's demonstration southeast of Tucson. "We are going to force them to do it, because if they don't, we will not stop screaming," said former state Sen. Pam Gorman,...

If there are tensions between urban police departments and the African-American community, this kind of stuff won’t help one bit. An Indianapolis police officer was invited to give a presentation at a youth symposium where organizers staged a fight to see how the [white] officer would react. Full story...

The Washington Post reported yesterday on the frustration and anger among international AIDS charities with the White House. The groups argue that President Obama’s administration has reneged on pledges to fund antiretroviral therapy programs. The programs have been big successes in Africa, which faces epidemic levels of infection. “In sub-Saharan Africa, antiretroviral therapy, much of it paid for by the U.S. government, is resurrecting whole communities,” the Post reports. That progress is endangered, the charities say, by a shortage of funds. They now long for the good old days of ... the previous administration.

Activists disable some London BP petrol stations LONDON (Reuters) - Protesters from environmental group Greenpeace disabled some of BP's 50 petrol stations in central London on Tuesday in protest at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Greenpeace said its activists had managed to close down 47 service stations in the capital. BP confirmed 30 had been forced to close temporarily. The company branded the demonstrations an "act of vandalism" and said it would reopen the sites as soon as it was safe to do so. The protests coincided with BP's second-quarter results where the oil company reported a $17 billion...

For The Record - The IPT Blog "Arab Journalists Come Out in Support of Israeli Flotilla Actions" by IPT News • Jun 29, 2010 at 6:01 pm SNIPPET: "Journalists in the Arab world have come out in support of Israel in the aftermath of last month's flotilla incident, which left 9 dead after Hamas-tied "humanitarian activists" attacked Israeli commandos with clubs, knives, and other weapons. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released excerpts from an interview with Magdi Khalil, an Egyptian-American writer, aired on June 15 on Al-Jazeera TV. Khalil explains: "The Turkish ship, however, was organized by a...

Iran blinks, will not send "aid ship" to Gaza SNIPPET: "IRNA said that Sheikholeslam told reporters in the northern city of Rasht that the ship had originally been scheduled to depart for Gaza on Thursday, but that its departure was postponed until Sunday because of restrictions imposed by Israel. He added that officials then decided instead to cancel the trip altogether, shipping to Gaza the goods by other means, IRNA said."

(CNSNews.com) – At an event celebrating Gay Pride Month on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged State Department employees to let teenagers know homosexuality is okay. “We’ve come such a far distance in our own country, but there are still so many who need the outreach, need the mentoring, need the support to stand up and be who they are and then think about people in so many countries where it just seems impossible,” Clinton said. “So I think that each and everyone of you, not only professionally, particularly from State and USAID and every bureau and every embassy...

OAKLAND, Calif. – Hundreds of protesters condemning Israel's recent raid on an international flotilla bound for Gaza are picketing at the Port of Oakland, where an Israeli ship is due to arrive. The demonstrators gathered Sunday to prevent the incoming ship from being unloaded. The dock's day shift of longshoremen agreed to not cross the picket line. Meanwhile Sunday, Israel said it will immediately allow all goods into Gaza except weapons and items deemed to have a military use under its decision to ease its three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory. Israeli officials had decided last week to ease the...