Free Republic

Colorado State University has included the words “American” and “America” on its list of language to avoid because they are not inclusive. The school’s Inclusive Communications Task Force compiled a list of words in its Inclusive Language Guide that serve to help those on campus foster “inclusion, respect, and social justice.” The guide states that it is not about being politically correct but instead is there to help “communicators practice inclusive language” and make everyone on campus “feel welcomed, respected, and valued.” CSU lists both “American” and “America” as non-inclusive words "to avoid," due to the fact that America encompasses more than just...

Miss World America has stripped beloved conservative commentator Kathy Zhu of her Miss Michigan title over “insensitive” political tweets and her refusing to wear a hijab during a leftist campus event in 2016. The heartbroken 20-year-old University of Michigan student posted screenshots of the email and text exchanges that she had with MWA’s State Director Laurie DeJack on Twitter. In the exchanges, DeJack continuously declared that there was a “problem” without explaining the situation to a clearly increasingly worried Zhu. Eventually, she finally revealed that one of the issues was a tweet in which Zhu declared that the majority of...

A Berkeley City Council member rebuked an invitation on Thursday to appear on Tucker Carlson's show, calling the Fox News host a "white supremacist goblin." Rigel Robinson shared a screenshot on Twitter of an email exchange with Chelsea Gilman, a booker for Carlson's show, who asked him if he would appear on the show to discuss the city's decision to rename manholes "maintenance holes." Robinson, who co-sponsored an ordinance to remove all gendered language from the city's code, thanked Gilman for her offer before offering a scathing criticism of Carlson. "Unfortunately I won't be able to come on the show,"...

The city of Berkeley, California, is updating its municipal code to exclude gendered words like “manhole” and “manmade” in favor of more inclusive language, according to a new ordinance. The City Council voted Tuesday night to adopt the new ordinance eliminating “gender preference language” in its code. “Manholes” will now be called “maintenance holes,” “firemen” will become “firefighters,” “manmade” will be “artificial” and all instances of “men and women” will be replaced by “people.” Gendered pronouns, such as “he” and “she” will also be replaced with “they.” “There’s power in language,” the bill’s primary author, Berkeley City Council member Rigel...

At a Tuesday night city council meeting, Berkeley became the first city in America to ban the use of natural gas piping in new construction. But that was not the only utility-related issue they saw fit to attend to. No, there was another matter on deck: Eliminating the gendered connotations of words like "manhole" in the city municipal code. No longer will the streets of fair Berkeley be dotted with manholes, nary a womanhole or nonbinaryhole in sight. With Tuesday night's vote, they have all been transmuted into "maintenance holes," that highest, hardest glass manhole-cover finally shattered.

Berkeley became the first city nationwide to ban the use of natural gas in new low-rise residential buildings in a unanimous vote Tuesday by the City Council. The ordinance, introduced by Councilwoman Kate Harrison, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020, and phases out the use of natural gas by requiring all new single-family homes, town homes and small apartment buildings to have electric infrastructure. After its passage, Harrison thanked the community and her colleagues “for making Berkeley the first city in California and the United States to prohibit natural gas infrastructure in new buildings.”

I don’t give a damn where you were 60 years ago on civil rights. I don’t care if your great grand-pappy owned slaves or you grew up in rural Louisiana and used the “N” word as often as a contemporary rapper. I can’t get vexed about 2000 children at the border not getting enough facial tissue and diapers when tens of thousands of American children are sleeping on the streets and in shelters of our cities. What I want is a president who is going to work for America, whose reputation is grounded by the present, and whose concerns are...

The Second Amendment covers magazines holding more than 10 rounds, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez says, because they are commonly used for lawful purposes. On Friday evening, a federal judge in San Diego blocked enforcement of California's ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, deeming it inconsistent with the Second Amendment right to keep arms for self-defense. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez concluded that "California's law prohibiting acquisition and possession of magazines able to hold any more than 10 rounds places a severe restriction on the core right of self-defense of the home such that it amounts to...

A sign on an upside-down dumpster spelled the end of Pearl Pai’s long romance with plastics recycling. For years, Pai and her family generated almost no trash. She carefully washed, sorted and bagged hard-to-recycle items and drove them two towns over from her home in Berkeley, California, to the area’s best recycling center. But on a gray morning in late May, when she pulled up with a bag of flimsy plastic clamshell-style containers, yogurt tubs and meat trays, the sign informed her that, “due to poor market conditions”, these items would no longer be accepted for recycling. This is a...

The state of California has made no secret that it wants to let as many people out of prison as possible. From the early release of inmates through AB 109, to filling parole boards with felon friendly commissioners, to decriminalizing a litany of felonies and drug offenses with Props 47 and 57, Sacramento lawmakers are bending over backwards to dramatically reduce the state’s inmate population. Despite all of these efforts, the number of inmates hasn’t dropped dramatically enough to satisfy the state’s ruling Democrats, so they’re kicking tires on a new approach — rigging the jury system so no one...

Astronomers have discovered that the planet Uranus has a blue ring - only the second found in the Solar System. Like the blue ring of Saturn, it probably owes its existence to an accompanying small moon. Scientists suspect subtle forces acting on dust in the rings allow smaller particles to persist while larger ones are recaptured by the moon. Smaller particles reflect blue light, giving the ring its distinctive colour, the US team reports in Science. All other rings - those around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - are made up of both large and small particles, making the...

The unlikely presidential run of Andrew Yang, who is proposing a $1,000-a-month “freedom dividend” to every adult in America, rolled Friday into San Francisco, where some 3,000 supporters listened to the New York tech entrepreneur warn about how artificial intelligence and robotics are taking jobs. The 44-year-old son of Taiwanese immigrants who met each other at UC Berkeley has already surpassed expectations — virtually nonexistent when he got into the race — by inspiring enough donations to qualify for the Democratic primary debate in June.

BERKELEY, Calif. - The Alameda County District Attorney's Office has filed three felony charges against an Oakland man who allegedly attacked a conservative activist at University of California at Berkeley's Sproul Plaza last month. Zachary Greenberg, 28, is charged with assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, battery with serious bodily injury and criminal threats for his alleged attack on Hayden Williams, an organizer with the conservative group Turning Point USA, while Williams was manning a table at Sproul Plaza on Feb. 19. Greenberg, who was arrested Friday but is now free on bail, also is charged with...

Conservative activist Hayden Williams confirmed he will press charges against Zachary Greenberg, the man arrested for allegedly punching him in the face at UC Berkeley, in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity Monday evening. A partial transcript is as follows: SEAN HANNITY: At CPAC, the president announced his plans to issue an Executive Order to ensure that America’s left-wing universities actually enforce freedom of speech or they don’t get money. On stage with the president was Hayden Williams. He was viciously, as you know, attacked while recruiting students for a conservative organization at UC Berkeley. Thankfully, the UC...

The Alameda County District Attorney’s office has filed criminal felony charges against a software engineer who allegedly attacked a conservative activist at the University of California, Berkeley campus on Feb. 19. The charges against Zachary Greenberg, 28, include three felony counts and one misdemeanor count, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News. The felony counts relate to assault and causing, or intending to cause, bodily injury, and criminal threats. A misdemeanor count is related to vandalism, the complaint shows.The charges come five days after police arrested Greenberg for allegedly attacking Hayden Williams, who is 26 and not a student, while he...

President Trump on Saturday invited Hayden Williams, the conservative activist attacked at Berkeley, to the stage to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Fox News)President Trump announced Saturday that he will sign an executive order to promote free speech on college campuses. Trump made the announcement at the Conservative Political Action Conference after he brought up to the stage Hayden Williams, the conservative activist attacked last month at University of California-Berkeley. Conservatives have accused some colleges of trying to supress anti-liberal viewpoints. “He took a punch for all of us,” Trump said of Williams. “And we could never allow...

Campus police have announced an arrest in the felony assault case involving a man caught on video punching another man on the UC Berkeley campus last week. The University of California Police Department announced the arrest by email at 2:10 p.m. Friday. Police said UCPD arrested Zachary Greenberg on a warrant involving a Feb. 19 assault on Sproul Plaza. Police said last week that they had identified the suspect in the case but did not release his name until Friday. Videos of the incident went viral last week after they were shared by conservative groups and figures calling the assault...

University of California-Berkeley officials say that campus police have reopened an investigation into the assault on a conservative activist who was manning a recruitment table on campus. Earlier this week, officials said the investigation had ended and police were seeking a felony arrest warrant from the Alameda County District Attorney Office. The new announcement, which offered no details, was the latest in a series of delays and cryptic messages from authorities relating to the Feb. 19 attack, which was captured on video and clearly shows the face of the apparent attacker. The new delay in the case drew the ire...

Notice is hereby given that Citizens United Foundation is offering a $50,000 reward in exchange for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the person who perpetrated an assault and battery on Hayden Williams, during the afternoon of February 19, 2019. This reward has been made possible through the generosity of an anonymous donor. Any person having information related to this crime is requested to contact Citizens United Foundation at the following email address: BerkeleyThugReward@citizensunited.org. In the email, please provide contact information and details of the information in your possession, including relevant facts. Any information provided will be promptly...

"Conservatives call out Berkeley police for lack of arrest one week after campus assault on activist" The head of a conservative activist group says it is shocking that no arrest has been announced in connection with an alleged assault last week on a conservative activist on at the University of California-Berkeley. The incident, which was captured on videotape, occurred as the activist, Hayden Williams, was manning a recruiting table for Turning Point USA, a conservative organization. On Friday, the university police announced that they had identified a suspect, adding that he was not a student or affiliated in any way...