Free Republic

A Berkeley man has died thanks to protesters who claim they are protesting against unnecessary deaths. The man, who lived in a Kittredge Street apartment complex, collapsed several days ago while protests were going on in the streets around his home. Paramedics attempted to rush to his aid, but were slowed and sometimes stopped by protesters. The protesters were demonstrating in favor of Michael Brown, an African American teen who was shot and killed after he assaulted and charged at a white police officer. The protesters claimed they were in the streets to bring attention to unnecessary deaths caused by...

Comedian and pundit Bill Maher is this year’s commencement speaker at the University of California-Berkeley’s winter graduation ceremony. While Maher’s original invitation to address today’s event was uncontroversial, after an on-air argument he subsequently had with Ben Affleck about the nature of Islam, campus Muslim groups at Berkeley demanded that Chancellor Nicholas Dirks retract Maher’s invitation to speak.

Comedian Bill Maher delivered his long-anticipated and controversial speech at the University of California Berkeley winter commencement on Saturday–and it turned out to be a rather conventional liberal address. Though much debate surrounded Maher’s views on Islam, he largely avoided the subject, instead telling students to make climate change their generation’s priority. “I hope all of you here today consider the environment to be paramount among the many challenges we face.” Ironically, Maher would later tell students to think for themselves. “Be a free thinker. One reason our politics is so screwed up is that everyone has become so tribal....

A group of artists have claimed responsibility for hanging three effigies of lynching victims around the University of California-Berkeley campus this weekend. The artists, who say they are a 'collective of queer black and (people of color) artists, posted a message on a campus bulletin board today saying that the images - which many students and faculty found deeply offices - were part of an art project. The statement said the perpetrators are from the San Francisco Bay area - but does not state whether the people behind it are students. The artists did not identify themselves, but said that...

If you’ve been watching the news lately, you’d think that Berkeley is the national hub for anarchism. You can see photos of ski-masked anarchists all over the place. Masked bandits are breaking windows, starting bonfires, and robbing and looting banks, stores, restaurants, and the like. (1)But there is one problem with this narrative. There aren’t any anarchists in Berkeley. OK, maybe there are a few UC Berkeley professors who call themselves anarchists. But while they talk the talk, they don’t walk the walk. This elite group only gets their hands dirty when they are in their leafy backyards, composting.But after...

Three cardboard cutouts of black people were reportedly found hanged in effigy from nooses on the UC Berkeley campus on Saturday morning. The incident follows a week of protests on the streets of Berkeley, California, to denounce the grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers in the deaths of two unarmed black men in St. Louis and New York. Local pastor Michael McBride was the first to share the image on Twitter. One of the hanged figures, which appears to be a cardboard cutout of a lynched woman identified as Laura Nelson from 1911. The cutout includes the...

On Wednesday evening, in the very hall where the University of California at Berkeley had just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, demonstrators shut down a speech by billionaire tech guru--and noted libertarian--Peter Thiel. The activists who broke into Wheeler Hall were protesting the non-indictment of police officers in the deaths of black suspects Michael Brown and Eric Garner in Ferguson, MO and Staten Island, NY for the fifth straight evening.

BERKELEY (CBS SF) – A lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley who posted a tweet offering extra time on an assignment to students injured during anti-police brutality protests has received numerous threats, prompting her to delete her Twitter account. Kaya Oakes, an author who teaches writing at the university, tweeted Sunday, “If any of my #Berkeley students were teargassed, batoned or shot w/rubber bullets last night, you can have an extension on your essay.” Since then, Oakes and her colleagues at the university have received complaints and threats.

Update, 4 p.m. Tuesday: The latest fallout from a series of Berkeley protests against police violence: The Berkeley City Council has canceled its Tuesday night meeting. The decision was made as activists from Occupy Oakland called for a shutdown of the meeting. A statement from Mayor Tom Bates suggested the meeting was scratched because of capacity issues:

The widespread demonstrations led to the arrest of about 160 individuals, some of whom pelted police with rocks as they attempted to reopen Interstate 80. In the end, it appears the protesters experienced the inconvenience they had inflicted on others, resulting in what many are calling an ironic twist. Twitchy reported a number of those who took part in the demonstration were heard complaining that they were forced to walk back to their homes due to the shutdowns their actions caused.

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Hundreds of people marched through Berkeley for a third night a row, blocking a major highway and stopping a train as activists in this ultra-liberal bastion protested grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers in the deaths of two unarmed black men. Demonstrators blocked traffic on both sides of Interstate 80 in Berkeley, while another group stood on and sat on train tracks, forcing an Amtrak train to stop Monday night. At one point, a woman in a vehicle stuck in the traffic jam caused by the I-80 blockage went into labor, and the local...

Hundreds of protesters marched through Berkeley for hours Monday night, confronting police outside their headquarters before heading west and intermittently shutting down Interstate 80 in both directions near University Avenue. The rally, the third in as many nights, began on Telegraph Avenue near UC Berkeley around 5 p.m. as hundreds gathered to denounce police killings of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York. Now-familiar chants of “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” and “Out of the houses! Into the streets!” rang out as the march moved up Durant Avenue and protesters called for students to leave their dormitories and join the...

Protests over police killings in Missouri and New York turned violent in Berkeley, Calif., for the second night in a row as demonstrators vandalized businesses and blocked traffic on a freeway. "I did a few things that, you know, I'm not too proud of but, you know, I felt like it was all for a good cause at the time," protester Gary Leroy told KRON TV. Protesters threw rocks and bottles at police who responded with tear gas. The protests came in the wake of a grand jury's decision last week not to indict a New York police officer involved...

Demonstrators have gathered in Berkeley and Oakland, California for another night of protests against the non-indictment of police officers in the deaths of black suspects in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York.

Hundreds of protesters returned to East Bay streets on Sunday for a second night of raucous demonstrations against police killings of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York. Sunday’s protest started out largely peaceful in Berkeley, but by 9 p.m. crowds had climbed past lines of California Highway Patrol officers onto Highway 24 in Oakland, where they blocked multiple lanes of eastbound traffic. Even as the crowd chanted “peaceful protest,” a group of people jumped on top of two law enforcement vehicles and kicked at the sirens, and several set small fires nearby. Police eventually moved protesters away from...

Hating Jews at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley’s graduate student labor union (UAW 2865) is voting on whether the State of Israel should continue to exist. No one is waiting with bated breath for the tally of a vote whose implementation would violate both California and United States law. It is one of those exercises in academic hubris laced with ignorance for which Berkeley is famous. After all, students know slightly less American history after four years at the prestigious institution than before they crossed through Sather Gate. One of the leaders of the anti-Israel movement is Lara Kiswani,...

The city of Berkeley is considering whether to require local retailers to give out radiation-related safety sheets to cell phone customers who make a purchase. Customers could be advised not to hold or carry the phone near the body while using the device, and directed to consult the manual to learn the “recommended separation distance” between the phone and one’s body.

The San Francisco Bay Area city of Berkeley will decide whether to slap stickers on gas pumps warning that burning fuel contributes to global warming in a plan that’s a first of its kind in the country. […] A spokeswoman for the Western States Petroleum Association, an oil-industry lobbying group, has said the labels reflect the state’s and Berkeley’s opinions and would force “unwanted speech in violation of the First Amendment.” …

VIDEO Raw footage from DxE East Bay in Berkeley last week: "Next to us is the body of a mother, who bellowed in grief as she was dragged to the kill floor."

Voters in Berkeley, Calif., have passed the nation’s first soda tax with a resounding 75 percent of the vote. The measure aims to reduce the effects of sugar consumption on health, especially increased rates of obesity and diabetes. It will levy a penny-per-ounce tax on most sugar-sweetened beverages and is estimated to raise more than $1 million per year. Proceeds will go to the general fund; Measure D calls for the creation of a health panel to advise Berkeley’s City Council on appropriate health programs to receive funding. Campaign Co-Chair Jack Daniels called Berkeley’s win a tipping point. “I think...