Free Republic

What the Dakota Access Pipeline Is Really About The standoff isn’t about tribal rights or water, but a White House that ignores the rule of law. Kevin Cramer A little more than two weeks ago, during a confrontation between protesters and law enforcement, an improvised explosive device was detonated on a public bridge in southern North Dakota. That was simply the latest manifestation of the “prayerful” and “peaceful” protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Escalating tensions were temporarily defused Sunday when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at the direction of the Obama administration, announced it would refuse to grant...

I wish this was a fake news satirical story, but sadly, it’s true. Liberal activists are outraged that the seasonal song Baby it’s Cold Outside should be banned because, wait for it, it promotes sexual harrassment and non-consensual sex.It’s a movement that started a few years ago and has been taken up with more fervor and passion every Christmas season. But this season, the movement has gained steam because, according to HuffPo, a pair of songwriters have offered up alternate lyrics to make the song more politically correct, socially acceptable, and completely awful: The duo, singer-songwriters Lydia Liza and...

Activists from the Arab village of Silwad, with help from leftists NGO Yesh Din, sent a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit requesting the government stop activists stop heading to Amona. They also asked that the temporary structures built to house activists be destroyed immediately. According to the Arabs, activists go to Amona for the express purpose of resisting the Israeli Supreme Court's orders. The Supreme Court has ordered that Amona's residents be expelled and their homes destroyed on December 25. In the letter, the Arabs "reminded" Mandelblit that he had requested to delay the expulsion and destruction of Amona,...

Three Thai human rights activists have been charged with criminal defamation over a report alleging torture by soldiers in southern Thailand. Allegations of military abuses in the south, home to a longstanding Muslim insurgency are nothing new. But there has been a sharp increase in the use of criminal defamation laws against government critics in recent years, BBC correspondent Jonathan Head says. Rights groups condemned the charges. The trio face up to two years in prison if found guilty of defaming the military, and a further three years if they are found to have violated the country's computer crimes act.

PHILADELPHIA – Over five hundred activists have pledged to risk arrest by engaging in nonviolent mass civil disobedience at the Democratic National Convention here in Philadelphia between Monday and Thursday, according to Kai Newkirk, mission director for the Democracy Spring activist group. During an in-person interview outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia, Newkirk revealed that, besides street protests, activists from his group will attempt to infiltrate and disrupt this week’s DNC events from the inside. Democracy Spring claims it is a movement attempting to “end the corruption of big money in politics and guarantee the right to vote...

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) -Hundreds of protesters and police took over Public Square in downtown Tuesday afternoon. Some of the larger groups dispersed just after 5 p.m., but about 10-20 new protesters arrived with masks on. Heavy law enforcement presence remained for several hours.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will quickly return to the delicate balancing act of supporting law enforcement while addressing concerns of bias from some of the communities they serve. Obama is meeting Wednesday with police officers at the White House - the second such session this week. This time it will be expanded to include mayors, academics and civil rights activists.

Greg Nash Black activists took aim at the financial arm of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) on Monday, with scathing accusations that the group is tied too closely to corporations undermining human rights and other black causes. In a letter to members of the CBC, the advocates –– including leaders of Black Lives Matter and ColorOfChange –– called on the lawmakers to overhaul the board of the CBC Political Action Committee in order to "end the dominance of corporate lobbyists in its decision making." The critics say the current board is too closely aligned with corporations they deem harmful...

A Chicago activist turned down an invitation to meet with President Barack Obama on Thursday prior to the annual White House Black History Month reception. Aislinn Pulley, who co-founded Black Lives Matter: Chicago, was among about 20 people invited to what the White House billed as an intergenerational meeting of black leaders to discuss criminal justice reform throughout the U.S., according to a White House official. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch also was expected to attend the event Thursday afternoon. Other invitees included the Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP President Cornell Brooks, University of Missouri student organizer DeShaunya Ware and DeRay...

CHICAGO (CBS) — In a symbolic gesture to urge the governor and state lawmakers to come up with a budget, a group of community activists on Monday purchased Illinois Lottery tickets, and pledged to donate any winnings to the state. A week after Gov. Bruce Rauner signed stopgap legislation to resume payouts for Lottery winners – most of which had been halted due to the state’s budget impasse – a group of community leaders bought Powerball and scratch-off tickets on Monday.

Al Gore .. has levied his global warming activism from a net worth of $700,000 in 2000 into an estimated net worth of $172.5 million by 2015. He is not alone in his financial endeavor. Funding of science, in this particular case, climate change science, is dominated by the federal government. We assert that this will cause recipients of [government] grants to publish findings that are in-line with government policy preferences (i.e., do not bite the hand that feeds you ... Studies that receive financial support from the public sector do not have to disclose it as a conflict of...

Black Lives Matter and pro-illegal alien Latino activists were forcibly removed by Virginia State Police officers after disrupting a rally held Wednesday evening in Richmond by leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. There were reports that ‘small fights’ had broken out between the protesters and Trump supporters. A cellphone video shows an apparent Trump supporter arguing with and then spitting on a protester. One report said the disruptions lasted for around thirty minutes. When the protesters first made their presence known in the capacity crowd of about 5,000, Trump responded by saying, “That’s why we have freedom of speech, folks!”,...

"Priest attacked by activists, media, and even his diocese for calling homosexuality a ‘disorder’ - but he won’t back down" After being viciously attacked by media last June for saying homosexuality is a “psychological disorder,” Mexican priest Fernando Ovalle, chancellor for the Archdiocese of San Luis Potosi, has recently confirmed he stands by his previous comments and is not backing down. “I didn’t say any lies or anything false,” he said, according to media reports. “That is my stance, it is a disorder, because I’m sharing my view as a pastor from people that come, that ask for help and...

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said it was "disgusting" how Sen. Bernie Sanders let a protester take over the Democratic presidential candidate's rally in Seattle – and vowed "that will never happen to me." "I don't know if I'll do the fighting myself or other people will," he said at a campaign event in Michigan. (Watch video at link) -snip- "I would never give up my microphone," Trump declared when asked about the incident. "I thought that was disgusting. That showed such weakness, the way he was taken away by two young women." -snip- #BlackLivesMatter tweeters immediately jumped on Trump's challenge,...

A national women's organization is challenging Gov. Bruce Rauner's appointments to the Illinois Tollway, saying he is violating state law by creating an all-male board. Over the past three months, Rauner has named five male directors and re-appointed another to the nine-member Tollway board, which already included three men. In addition, Rauner backed Greg Bedalov as the agency's new executive director. Bedalov replaced Kristi Lafleur, who had held the post under the tenure of former Gov. Pat Quinn. The National Council of Women's Organizations is charging that Rauner is violating the Illinois Gender Balanced Appointments Act. The 1991 law is...

RAW VIDEO: Activists disrupt rally featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders

Walker handled it pretty much perfectly. During the summer of 2013, we began to see immigration amnesty activists use the Why do you want to deport my daddy? tactic against Republicans. The tactic involves sending children to confront candidates — with the video rolling. It all was a set up, in the hope the candidate would do something stupid or mean. Most famously, Speaker John Boehner was confronted by well-coached children while eating at his usual breakfast spot: (video at source) A similar confrontation just happened to Scott Walker, and it was all a set up by a “social justice”...

Michelle serving up her trademark malicious menu of malcontent Okay, we get the picture the mainstream sends. First Lady Michelle Obama is so much in demand as a celebrity that she gets to sip tea at will with Prince Harry at Kensington Palace and merits “an affectionate reunion” with Barack “bro” Prime Minister David Cameron and his Mrs. on the steps of Downing Street. Oh, the powers protocol bestows on the wife, daughter and even the mother-in-law of a president. Just as the rarified gentry of the Victorian era, when matrons waited at home for other mavens to come calling,...

The president of the Louisville police union caused a backlash when he issued an open letter calling unspecified activists “sensationalists, liars and race-baiters.” Dave Mutchler is the president of the River City Fraternal Order of Police and a sergeant in the Louisville Metro Police Department. He distributed the two-page letter six days after a police officer shot and killed 35-year-old Deng Manyuon, a Sudanese refugee who attacked him with a flagpole. …

Modern progressive college students have become so militant they’re frightening their own like-minded professors, according to an account posted by one such professor on the website Vox. The professor, using the pseudonym Edward Schlosser, claims to have taught for nine years and currently works at a midsize state college. Over that time, he says, students have decisively shifted to become so protective of their fragile emotions that defying their sensibilities can be “suicidal” for one’s career. “Things have changed since I started teaching,” Schlosser writes. “The vibe is different. I wish there were a less blunt way to put this,...