Free Republic

The Department of Homeland Security, which under Secretary Janet Napolitano has shown a keen interest in monitoring and warning about outspoken conservatives, takes a very different approach in monitoring political Islamists, according to a 2011 memo on protecting the free speech rights of pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists. In a checklist obtained by The Daily Caller entitled “Countering Violent Extremism Dos and Don’ts” the DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties notifies local and national law enforcement officials that it is Obama administration policy to consider specifically Islamic criticism of the American system of government legitimate. This policy stands in stark...

Recently, Politico ran an article piquantly entitled “Calvin Coolidge, civil rights pioneer?” One might surmise such an opinion piece might be penned by Amity Shlaes, author of the recent best-selling biography of Silent Cal—but even more remarkably it had been authored not by the ubiquitous Ms. Shlaes but by Kurt L. Schmoke, the black former Democratic mayor of Baltimore. Schmoke, taking note of Senator Rand Paul’s April visit to Howard University, reminded readers of Coolidge’s June 6, 1924 commencement address there. “Coolidge gave the commencement . . .,” noted Schmoke, now vice president and general counsel at the school, “and...

The prosecution in the George Zimmerman murder case has asked a judge to prohibit testimony about shooting victim Trayvon Martin's personal life, including whether he had been suspended from school, used marijuana or been in a fight. The information is irrelevant and would prejudice a jury, the state contends in the motion, filed late Friday. The motion also asks the judge to disallow: •Screen names used by Trayvon on social media. •The fact that he wore or owned a set of gold teeth. •The contents of text messages received or sent by Trayvon before Feb. 26, the day he died....

When the "Senior Citizens Committee" of Birmingham got together late on Tuesday May 7th the business leaders who had defeated Bull Connor felt defeated by the civil rights protests and the demands for integration in the city. At least one of them suggested asking Governor George Wallace for a martial law declaration. But the pressure was on for a negotiated solution. The official line from the Kennedy Administration was that the President was "monitoring" the situation in Birmingham but in reality his people were leaning on the business leaders and Dr. Martin Luther King for a negotiated solution. The negotiations...

Frank Rich, writing in New York magazine, has taken issue with my pieces on Goldwater, Republicans, and civil rights, calling it part of “the most insidious and determined campaign to rewrite racial history on the right.” If you can dig through Mr. Rich’s characteristically limp and emotive prose, you will discover that his argument amounts to: “Nyah, nyah! Strom Thurmond!”

I am troubled by Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s crackdown on florist Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, for refusing to make a flower arrangement for a same-sex wedding. #I’m not arguing here against gay marriage. I voted for it. I’m not even sure that Stutzman has a legal right to refuse the business. Ferguson says that under Washington’s anti-discrimination statute, she doesn’t, and probably he’s right. She might, however, have a superior right under the state constitution, depending on how you interpret it. #The constitution has nothing in it about freedom from private discrimination. But Article 1, Section...

Earlier this week, Eric Holder had this to say to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund: Creating a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in this country is essential. The way we treat our friends and neighbors who are undocumented–by creating a mechanism for them to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows — transcends the issue of immigration status. This is a matter of civil and human rights. (emphasis added)

A generous estimation of the crowd size would have been about 100 people, including members of the media.

Impact of Boston on gun control

A high-ranking police official at a Massachusetts hospital and a former high-school librarian were charged on Monday in a plot to kidnap, torture and kill women and children, federal prosecutors said. Richard Meltz, the 65-year-old chief of police for the Bedford Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts, and Robert Christopher Asch, a former librarian at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, were held without bail after appearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and charged with conspiracy to kidnap, torture, rape and kill women and children—including the wife and children of a cooperating witness. Peter Brill, an attorney for Mr. Meltz,...

LAKE WALES | The Arabic word, translated simply, means "unbeliever." Ever since Eddie Bryant had it inked across his right calf, the former National Guard member has gotten positive reactions, he said, until last week. Bryant walked into Florida Skydiving Center on April 3 in shorts, his tattoo of the word "kafir" exposed. A group from Qatar, a Middle Eastern country with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, also was visiting. A staffer tapped Bryant, 27, on the shoulder as he stood under a hangar at the Lake Wales business. Would he mind seeing the manager, Betty Hill? Hill, 59, and Bryant...

Authorities have confirmed that an apparent bomb addressed to Maricopa, Ariz., County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was uncovered and diverted, and now investigators are beginning to look into a list of his enemies for any links or connections. Those who have had conflicts with him, those who might be coming under investigation, those who have been unsuccessful in fights with him. That should be a job. Arpaio, who has described himself as the “toughest sheriff in America,” has had conflicts over the past few years with advocates for illegal immigration, those who don’t like his enforcement of state laws in Arizona,...

In a surprising turnaround, New York State Police have admitted that they made a mistake when they confiscated the guns and suspended the permit of an Erie County resident on the grounds of mental health. Late Wednesday, Erie County, NY, released a statement (posted below) blaming the New York State Police for giving them bad information regarding the suspension of a pistol permit and demand to surrender firearms sent to Amherst resident David Lewis. (Mr. Lewis was not identified in our original story, his name has since been released in conjunction with court documents filed by his attorney, Jim Tresmond.)...

As recently as 1956, nearly 39 percent of blacks voted Republican in that year's presidential election. After the Civil War, Abe Lincoln's Republican Party easily carried the black vote -- where blacks were allowed to vote. Unwelcome in the Democratic Party, most blacks voted Republican and continued to do so through the early part of the 20th century. It wasn't until 1948, when 77 percent of the black vote went to Harry Truman, who had desegregated the military, that a majority of blacks identified themselves as Democrats. Yet, as a percentage of the party, more Republicans voted for the passage...

Has the nation lived down its history of racism and should the law become colorblind? Addressing two pivotal legal issues, one on affirmative action and a second on voting rights, a divided Supreme Court is poised to answer those questions. In one case, the issue is whether race preferences in university admissions undermine equal opportunity more than they promote the benefits of racial diversity. Just this past week, justices signaled their interest in scrutinizing affirmative action very intensely, expanding their review as well to a Michigan law passed by voters that bars ‘‘preferential treatment’’ to students based on race. Separately...

Civil rights activist Rev. William Owens, who is founder and president of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, said Tuesday there is no comparison between the civil rights movement and the gay community’s fight for same-sex marriage. “I marched and many other thousands of people marched in this same location years ago on the claim that we were being discriminated against, and today the other community is trying to say that they are suffering the same thing that we suffered, but I tell you they are not,” said Owens, who gathered on the National Mall with other traditional marriage supporters in...

As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in a landmark case that seeks to establish “marriage equality” as the law of the land, my thoughts turned to Kody Brown, David Epstein and Kenneth Pinyan. Brown, who appears with his four brides and 17 children in the TLC reality show “Sister Wives,” faces prosecution for violating Utah’s ban on polygamy. Epstein, a Columbia University political science professor, was charged last year with one count of incest for his three-year consensual sexual relationship with his 24-year-old daughter. And Pinyan, the subject of a documentary film, “Zoo,” which won an award at...

--IMAGE HERE-- “There are certain times we should infringe on your freedom.” These words, or ones very much like them, are powerful words indeed. They have been spoken countless times throughout history by pharaohs, and kings, and emperors, and men with far too much power over the weak and defenseless. And once spoken, they have shaped the blood-spattered history of mankind. They are the words of tyrants … of dictators … of slaveowners. And always … what followed was misery, and suffering, and then ultimately … horror and death. Most recently, these words came from the mouth of New York...

Within the next few months, Justice Anthony Kennedy will likely rule that same-sex marriage is mandated by the Constitution of the United States. The ruling will offend both common sense and Constitutional law. But it will nonetheless become the law of the land. With it, states will be forced to recognize same-sex marriages; same-sex marriage will enter the public school lexicon; religious institutions will be forced to recognize same-sex marriages or lose their tax-exempt status. Religious Americans will be forced into violating their beliefs or facing legal consequences by the government. The First Amendment's guarantee of religious liberty will largely...

Sometime in the new millennium, "global warming" evolved into "climate change." Amid growing controversies over the planet's past temperatures, Al Gore and other activists understood that human-induced "climate change" could better explain almost any weather extremity -- droughts or floods, too much heat or cold, hurricanes and tornadoes. Similar verbal gymnastics have gradually turned "affirmative action" into "diversity" -- a word ambiguous enough to avoid the innate contradictions of a liberal society affirming illiberal racial preferencing. In an increasingly multiracial society, it has grown hard to determine the racial ancestry of millions of minorities. Is someone who is ostensibly one-half...

Today the Department of Justice inspector general released a report on potential Labor secretary nominee Tom Perez’s DOJ Civil Rights Division. The timing of the release to coincide with his nomination was certainly accidental, because the report paints a damning portrait of the DOJ unit he managed. The full report is here. The 250-page report offers an inside glimpse of systemic racialist dysfunction inside one of the most powerful federal government agencies. The report was prepared in response to Representative Frank Wolf’s (R-VA) outrage over the New Black Panther voter intimidation dismissal. In response to the report, Rep. Wolf said...

From the early days of the Montgomery (Alabama) Improvement Association in which Dr. King became the first president in December 1955, to the March on Washington in August of 1963, the Civil Rights Movement went beyond giving blacks a chance to escape poverty. In an amazingly short time, employment, housing, and educational opportunities were abound. At the time of King’s assassination, the black quest for economic equality seemed achievable. King’s greater dream, however, of complete racial harmony remains quite elusive. A perennial question for me is: “What steps must be taken to eradicate the specter of racism from our...

“The Obama administration is basically saying there is no right to home school anywhere,” said Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. “It’s an utter repudiation of parental liberty and religious liberty.”

Vice President Joe Biden traveled today to "Selma for the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, honoring the 48th anniversary of the events of Bloody Sunday," according to the pool report. While there, the vice president offered "regret for not being a part of the civil rights movements in Selma and other parts of the Deep South." More from the pool report: SELMA, Ala. — During his remarks at two events Sunday in Selma, Vice President Joe Biden mentioned his regret for not being a part of the civil rights movements in Selma and other parts of the Deep South.

It was a historic moment at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the justices heard a challenge to the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The landmark law spurred exponential growth in minority voting and is credited with getting many more minorities elected to office. But opponents say its time has passed, and the court's five conservative justices voiced strong doubts about the law's ongoing validity.

The Senate majority leader said, “It's significant that 150 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, we are still considering in film, in photo, in art, and activism how to eradicate slavery's unsavory successors.” Reid was speaking at a ceremony unveiling Rosa Parks' statue in the Capitol...

A National Day of Mourning for African Americans -- March 4, 2013 by Robert Oliver The date of March 4 may not have any significance in the African-American community other than personal birthdays and wedding anniversaries. However, March 4, 2013 will mark the centennial of the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States. On that day President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration will be celebrated in Washington D.C. Why would March 4 and Woodrow Wilson be significant for African Americans? Wilson was a progressive Democrat and today is considered one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history. Many...

Washington DC - -(Ammoland.com)- The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has launched a new campaign titled, “Equal Gun Rights.” The Foundation aims to show that gun rights are being unequally protected, and actually infringed, in different areas of our country–particularly in areas with a high minority population. SAF accomplishes this by focusing on how residents in predominantly red states and red cities enjoy the freedom to defend themselves with handguns, shotguns, and AR-15s, while residents in blue states –and particularly blue cities– frequently lack the freedom to even own a weapon sufficient to mount a defense at all. The thesis is...

Liberals ignored my book “Mugged: Racial Demagoguery From the Seventies to Obama” throughout the fall. Now that I’m safely home from my book tour, they feel free to jabber on about their make-believe history of the civil rights movement with abandon. In the hackiest of all hacky articles, Sam Tanenhaus, the man responsible for ruining The New York Times Book Review, has written a cover story in The New Republic, titled: “Original Sin: Why the GOP is and will continue to be the party of white people.” MSNBC has been howling this cliche for a decade — or, as MSNBC’s...

I remember watching a gay rights activist on a television interview discussing the importance of “natural alliances” in the struggle for equality. He stated that “African-Americans” were a “natural ally” for gay people as a result of the similarities in our shared experiences. I also remember thinking to myself, “Good luck with that one.” While Blacks and homosexuals have clearly endured similar injustices and encountered innumerable expressions of hatred and disregard, there is a human tendency, in my opinion, to place one’s own plight and the plight of one’s own people above that of any other group, particularly when the...

DEMOCRATS (109 VOTES) My party should support it: 97% My party should oppose it: 0% My party should avoid the issue: 2% Other: 1% "Marriage equality is a vote-getter for Democrats and a vote-loser for the party of the last century, the Republicans." "More and more states are adopting marriage equality, and it is time for the U.S.A. to lead on this issue." "No issue has changed more dramatically than support for gay marriage over the last 10 years. In 20 years, it won't even be an issue." "It's a nonissue. Americans support the concept. Let's move on!"... REPUBLICANS (99...

OK, raise your hands — how many of you are surprised by this? Governor Rick Perry gave Barack Obama a Texas-sized pushback on the new gun-control agenda at the White House: “The Vice President’s committee was appointed in response to the tragedy at Newtown, but very few of his recommendations have anything to do with what happened there.“Guns require a finger to pull the trigger. The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror.“There is evil prowling in the...

Talk about your strained analogies . . . Tom Brokaw has analogized people unwilling support measures aimed at limiting gun violence to those during the 1960s who were unwilling to speak out againt the likes of Bull Connor. Brokaw made his remarks on today's Morning Joe. While asserting that he favored a "holistic" approach to gun violence, including addressing video games and the coarsening of the culture, Brokaw did remark that "guns are the endgame." View the video here.

Bob Schieffer somehow topped Chris Matthews during CBS News's special coverage of President Obama's gun control press conference on Wednesday, as he became the worst caricature of a foaming-at-the-mouth cheerleader for the chief executive. Schieffer lauded "one of the best speeches I've ever heard him [Obama] deliver", and compared Obama's new gun control agenda to Lyndon Johnson's push for civil rights legislation in the 1960s. The CBS veteran even went so far to liken the President's cause to the ten-year hunt for 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and the difficult endeavor of winning World War II [audio available here; video...

When Charles "Chuck" Hicks does the Martin Luther King Jr. Day peace and freedom walks Saturday, he'll also be taking a step for what the National Rifle Association has dubbed "National Rifle Appreciation Day." That's because Hicks is the son of Robert Hicks, a prominent leader of the legendary Deacons for Defense and Justice — an organization of black men in Louisiana who used shotguns and rifles to repel attacks by white vigilantes during the 1960s. "The Klan would drive through our neighborhood shooting at us, shooting into our homes," recalled Hicks, 66, who grew up in Bogalusa, La., and...

<p>GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - The government won't seek the death penalty for a group of men charged in the 2010 death of a Lansing woman.</p> <p>The Grand Rapids Press reported Friday (http://bit.ly/WxWIie ) that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder notified West Michigan federal prosecutors of the government's decision.</p>

Racism: The once-proud NAACP has dissed a new African-American Republican senator as a token who knows nothing about civil rights because, well, he's a Republican — unlike, say, Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights Act. NAACP President Ben Jealous made the claim Wednesday concerning Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. — the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction and the first black GOP senator since 1979, when Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts retired. Indeed, Scott is only the seventh African-American ever to serve in the chamber. Jealous based his claim on Scott receiving an "F" on an NAACP scorecard of...

It’s not always fun and easy being a young Republican, let alone an enthusiastic Mitt Romney supporter. Whoa: The parents of the Charles Carroll High School student ridiculed and ordered by her teacher to remove a t-shirt supporting Mitt Romney sued the teacher and school district on Friday, claiming the act violated the girl's civil rights. Filed in federal court in Philadelphia, the suit says the district ignored Samantha Pawlucy's right to free speech, let other students threaten and harass her and subjected her "to emotional distress, simply because she exercised her First Amendment rights." Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for...

ERMELO, South Africa -- In a country cursed by one of the world's highest murder rates, being a white farmer makes a violent death an even higher risk. Whether attacks have been motivated by race or robbery, a rising death rate from rural homicides is drawing attention to the lack of change on South Africa's farms nearly two decades after the end of apartheid -- and to the tensions burgeoning over enduring racial inequality. Some of South Africa's predominantly white commercial farmers go as far as to brand the farm killings a genocide. 'Potentially explosive' issue On the other side...

They used to call them “swingers.” Not anymore. These days, like most “alternative lifestyle” groups, they’ve adopted a new, more clinical-sounding description – polyamorist – and incorporated it into the names of a small but growing number of advocacy and social networking organizations. As the battle over the true definition of marriage heats up nationwide, they want a place on the front line. Polyamorists now want a seat at the table of "equality" and "tolerance." “Polyamorist” means “lover of many,” and it’s exactly what it sounds like. Polyamorists maintain more than one sexual relationship at a time, with the full...

PAKISTAN Faisalabad: 24-year old Christian abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry her abuser by Shafique Khokhar Shumaila Bibi kidnapped by a 26 year old Muslim Muhammad Javed Iqbal on the way home. Subjected to sexual assault and forced to study the Koran. On a pretext she managed to escape and return to her family. Her captor denounced the girl's father for "kidnapping" her. Shumaila's future hangs in the balance.

Dear black voters, a picture to debuke all the "racist" claims

The Kickstarter web site shows that Dead Patriot Films has reached its funding goal for "Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire" This has the potential to become an iconic film about how California is and has historically deprived its citizens of the right to keep and bear arms. The goal for pledges to start the project was $65,000. That goal was reached nine hours ago. Current pledges stand at $71,140.

Business owners Dee and Gene Liboff of Woodland Hills, California, just wanted to show their support for Mitt Romney in the coming election by putting up a handmade sign in front of their home. But what they were shown in return is the ugly side of some Obama supporters. Ever since putting up the sign, the Liboffs, who are members of the San Fernando Valley Patriots, have been engaged in a running war with vandals who have cut, pulled down, torn apart and ripped the sign out of the ground. Every time it happens, the Liboffs get out the tape...

"Lawsuit follows Michigan Muslim mob attack on believers"Hundreds of angry Muslims threw chunks of concrete and eggs at a team of Christians, spraying them with urine and cursing at them – all while police stood by and then threatened the victims with “disorderly conduct.” Egypt? Saudi Arabia? Somalia? No. Dearborn, Michigan. So now a team of attorneys from the American Freedom Law Center is going to court on behalf of the victims of the violent Muslim mob at the Arab International Festival last June, an attack that was captured on video. The federal civil rights complaint in the U.S. District...

In a complaint filed Wednesday and settled the same day, Justice claimed that California-based Luther Burbank Savings violated the 1968 Fair Housing Act and 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act by setting a policy that had a "disparate impact" on minorities. Between 2006 and mid-2011, 5.2% of Luther's single-family residential mortgage loans went to African-Americans and Hispanics, compared to an average of 41.7% for other lenders in the area. The complaint doesn't cite evidence of intentional discrimination because there wasn't any.

Folk rock legend Bob Dylan has some strong words about America that many of his compatriots may not want to hear: He says the stigma of slavery ruined America and he doubts whether the country can get rid of the shame because it was “founded on the backs of slaves.” Dylan spoke to Rolling Stone for a cover story that coincides with the release of his 35th studio album, “Tempest.” Dylan has long been an outspoken critic of American culture and its inherent inequalities, particularly during the 1960s when his songs “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are...

An Open Letter to the Democratic PartyBy Lt. Colonel Frances Rice,U.S. Army Retired: Contributor to the LHI "We, African American citizens of the United States, declare and assert: Whereas in the early 1600's 20 African men and women were landed in Virginia from a Dutch ship as slaves and from that tiny seed grew the poisoned fruit of plantation slavery which shaped the course of American development, Whereas reconciliation and healing always begin with an apology and an effort to repay those who have been wronged, Whereas the Democratic Party has never apologized for their horrific atrocities and racist practices...

“For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights, health care, Social Security, workers’ rights, and women’s rights.” — from a history of the Democratic Party, on DNC Web site. A number of readers asked about this brief (20 paragraphs or so) history of the Democratic party, especially the first sentence. It certainly appears to ignore the party’s long and troubled history with race, literally leaping from the “200 years” phrase to 1920, when the women’s suffrage amendment was enacted. The Web history mentions the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson in helping pass the 19th...

If I were a Klansman, wanting to sabotage black education, I couldn't find better allies than education establishment liberals and officials in the Obama administration, especially Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who in March 2010 announced that his department was "going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement." For Duncan, the civil rights issue was that black elementary and high school students are disciplined at a higher rate than whites. His evidence for discrimination is that blacks are three and a half times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers. Duncan and his Obama administration supporters conveniently ignored...