Free Republic

If you didn’t know what was going on inside pro-abortion world, the Huffington Post piece Planned Parenthood Executive VP Dawn Laguens postedon July 30 in response to the July 28 New York Times article, “Advocates shun ‘pro-choice’ to expand message,” would seem out of left field. As I explained in a blog last week, the NYT article simply elaborated on a decision Planned Parenthood made 18 months ago to abandon the term “pro-choice” as antiquated.This is where Laguens seemed to go off on a tangent: I was sorry to see that the Times had not included those voices and missed the rich history...

10) In six short years as president, Obama has taken the Democratic Party from the One to done. While it’s way too early to write off the party even for 2014, the wounds created by supporting this colossal bozo will be even longer to heal than the wounds inflicted by Jimmy Carter. Obama said way more then he knows when he admitted that the problem is he’s president not emperor. 9) Remember when the Fawning News Media said that comedians would have a tough time making fun of Obama because he was so serious, so perfect, so black? Well the...

A South Side pastor who is highly visible in Chicago’s black community endorsed Republican candidate Jim Oberweis on Thursday in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. The Rev. Corey Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago, said some Democrats had taken the African-American vote for granted and that black voters shouldn’t rule out candidates simply because of their party affiliation. Brooks, who is known as the “rooftop pastor” because he once slept for three months atop a shuttered motel to protest violence, cited Oberweis’ views on education and job creation as well the state senator’s visits to...

In 1831, a French aristocrat named Alexis de Tocqueville arrived in America and spent several years travelling and studying life in the communities of the new nation. He produced a book called Democracy in America which Harvard professor of government Harvey Mansfield calls “at once the best book ever written on democracy and the best book ever written on America.” Tocqueville looked at America with open eyes and saw its strengths and its flaws. He reported with honesty about the human damage caused by slavery. But he also saw the beginnings of a great country in which human potential could...

As Obama kicks off his “You're Too Stupid to Understand” campaign tour, I’d like to make the following observation as a public service reminder: It's not that Obama started believing his press clippings; it's that Obama never for a moment doubted his press clippings. Generally, buying into the fables that the press tells about you-- both good and bad-- is a loser's proposition, especially in politics. Because when reality bumps up against the storyline, the storyline is unsustainable. The government lied about Vietnam. Bill Clinton lied about the Bible: oral sex, it turns out, is still sex. We’re losing the...

In January of 2013 T.W. Shannon established two milestones. He became the first black speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. And, at the age of 34, he became Oklahoma’s youngest House speaker in history. Also noteworthy is that this young black American is a Republican. Now T.W. Shannon is making new headlines. He has stepped down from his position as House speaker to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) has just joined Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Dr. Ben Carson and Sarah Palin in endorsing Shannon. Should Shannon...

Bowman posted the video, taken on a helmet-mounted camera, to YouTube, leading cyclists around the city to recount on social media similar experiences they had in the area. "I thought I'd just outrun the attackers," he wrote. "Wrong. Unless you're going downhill or already have some major speed, they will block your escape routes and grab any part of your bike or clothing to try to bring you down."

DETROIT — A suburban Detroit man was in critical condition Thursday with severe head injuries after a neighborhood mob beat and kicked him when he stopped to check on a 10-year-old boy who stepped from a curb into the path of his pickup. The 54-year-old man, whose name was not released, was being treated at a Detroit hospital as police scoured the east side neighborhood where he was attacked Wednesday afternoon. The boy, David Harris, was expected to recover from his injuries, according to Desmond Key, who said he was the 10-year-old’s uncle. The driver — who lives just north...

The U.S. Army is coming under fire for changes to its appearance and grooming standards, which some say discriminates against black women who wear their hair natural...Within and outside of the Army, women of color have been calling the guidelines racially biased. A White House petition has amassed more than 3,000 signatures to date requesting that the Army reconsider...Unauthorized hairstyles now include twists, dreadlocks, Afros and braids that are more than a quarter-inch thick – styles commonly worn by many African-American women...Army veteran "Tonya" [name has been changed to protect identity], who has dreadlocks...

Abortions outnumber live births among African American women living in New York City, according to a new health report. Newly released Department of Health and Mental Hygiene figures show black women had 31,328 'crude induced terminations' in 2012, compared with 24,758 'live births'. The terminations comprised more than 42 percent of the Big Apple's total number. The second highest number of abortions were for Hispanic at 22,917, with this group's live births reaching 36,642. Both groups outnumbered abortions for whites and Asian and Pacific Islanders, which had 9,704 and 4,493 terminations respectively. Women aged 20-29 had the most abortions among...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- With lots of room for growth, the Jefferson County Republican Party is aiming to widen its appeal to people of different ethnic and economic backgrounds. The GOP's "Party for the Party" event on Friday, Feb. 21, not only brings together five-term incumbent Mitch McConnell with Tea Party favorite Rand Paul, but as WHAS11’s Political Editor Joe Arnold reports highlights Paul's outreach to black voters.

Barbie gets a lot of heat nowadays. People shout at her for her figure. They complain about her plastic perfectness and general lack of realism. But they forget just how pivotal Barbie has been in helping challenge barriers in society. For example, the first African American President Barbie was released in 1992 - 16 years before Barack Obama took office. In 1992 Barbie released the Barbie for President African American doll. It took the United States another 16 years to elect one... a male one. Yay, Barbie, setting out good messages everywhere! In 1988 Dr. Mae Jemison completed astronaut training,...

Frederick Douglas, a former slave, made an interesting but accurate statement in 1861, saying: “It is now pretty well established, that there are at the present moment many colored men in the Confederate army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops, and do all that soldiers may to destroy the Federal Government and build up that of the traitors and rebels. There were such soldiers at Manassas, and they are probably there still.”

The biggest impediment to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, dream of a society in which color is not considered important is the continued used of the extremely racist term "African-American". The term implies the descendants of slaves are a separate race whose members belong in Africa rather than the United States even though many have ancestors who were living in North America long before the American Revolution. The term "African American" arbitrarily segregates people by skin color. The term treats people with dark complexions as if they only had African ancestors even if more of their ancestors came from somewhere...

Part of the Genius of the African American Spirituals is their ability to treat of serious themes, such as the final judgment, in a creatively compelling manner that steered a middle course between unproductive fear and prideful presumption.

The United States named a new Full Admiral in Washington, D.C. Friday--and it's an African American woman. She's will be the first ever female in Naval history to win a fourth star assuming the Senate approves President Obama's nomination. The Navy announced her nomination in an official release. Vice admiral Michelle Howard,53, is currently the deputy chief of naval operations, plans, and strategy.She will serve as the Navy's second ranking officer, vice chief of naval operations, just a single step below the Navy's top officer, the chief of naval operations.

In a March 2008 column, I criticized pundits' concerns about whether America was ready for Barack Obama, suggesting that the more important issue was whether black people could afford Obama. I proposed that we look at it in the context of a historical tidbit. In 1947, Jackie Robinson, after signing a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization, broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. He encountered open racist taunts and slurs from fans, opposing team players and even some members of his own team. Despite that, his batting average was nearly .300 in his first year. He led the...

I’m more than willing to give credit to leftists who come up with clever political satire. This cartoon about Fox News, for instance, is rather amusing, and this imagery about the greed of the developed world is effective even though it’s misguided. I’ve even shared funny videos, cartoons, and images that mock libertarians. So when Sarah Silverman put together a pro-gun control video mocking the idea of a “black NRA,” I was prepared to laugh. Having watched it, you can put me in the underwhelmed category. My computer skills are deficient and I only know how to embed YouTube videos,...

One potential benefit that can come from last week’s March on Washington 2013, which commemorated the 1963 civil rights event, is the various data publicized about the current state of affairs of black America vis a vis the rest of the country. In particular, it has been an eye opener for many to see how little progress has been made over the last 50 years in closing the economic gap, on average, between blacks and whites. I call shining light on the data a “potential” benefit because there is no benefit if real remedial action is not taken to improve...

Looking over the program for the coming festivities in Washington to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march on Washington, and Dr. King’s famous August 28, 1963 “I have a dream” speech, it’s hard to not feel sober about the whole thing. I say sober because there is good news and bad news. What’s the good news? There has been monumental progress in the quality of life, on average, that black Americans lead today compared to 1963. The bad news? Fifty years is a long time, and the progress that has been achieved is not nearly what it...