Free Republic

One day after being charged with aggravated sexual battery, a longtime Tennessee pastor died by suicide in a hospital bathroom, authorities said. David Mark Baker Sr., 57, was serving at Family Baptist Church in Columbia, had been a jail chaplain, and once ran for Maury County mayor. On Sept. 10, Baker was charged with aggravated sexual battery in a case that involved a minor, according to Sheriff Bucky Rowland. Baker, released from jail on $200,000 bond, was scheduled to appear in court next month. Columbia Police Chief Jeremy Alsup said Baker walked into a local emergency room on Sept. 11,...

“They’re coming.” That’s what Miguel, a Venezuelan migrant who came to America with his wife and two daughters, told me about the gang, Tren de Aragua, earlier this year. “And they’re very bad.” The past few days have shown how far the Venezuelan gang appears willing to go. In Aurora, Colorado, Tren de Aragua has allegedly terrorized the local community. According to Mayor Mike Coffman, at least two buildings in the city “have fallen to” a group of armed men, suspected to be gang members. “This is an organized criminal effort. Whether it’s Tren de Aragua, that remains to be...

(CNN) An alleged multistate human trafficking ring forcing immigrant women into prostitution. The mysterious killing of a former police officer in South Florida. Attacks against police officers in New York. The arrest of a drug dealer in Chicago. Local and federal officials say these apparently unrelated crimes have a common denominator: Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang that originated in a Venezuela prison and has slowly made its way south and north in recent years. They say it’s now operating in the United States. The scale of its operations is unknown, but crimes attributed to alleged members of the...

“As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist” The radical, anti-Israel mob has returned to the campus of Columbia University, after taking the summer off. Despite having months to prepare for this, the school looked like it was caught flat-footed, as protesters picked up right where they left off last spring. What are these people going to have to do before authorities take them seriously? As Columbia resumes classes, student activists vow to carry on with protests against Israel Columbia University resumed classes Tuesday with students sunbathing and eating...

For second consecutive year, Harvard bottom ranked school with score of 0.00 The top five worst universities for free speech also all happen to be mostly Ivy League institutions, according to a major new student survey released today by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Harvard, Columbia, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College made up the bottom five schools, respectively. Conversely, the top rated school was the University of Virginia. Last year’s highest, Michigan Technological University, came in second best for free speech. In third place was Florida State University, and fourth and fifth were...

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An imam in upstate New York reportedly told supporters to “take out” Columbia University assistant professor Shai Davidai, who has led counter-demonstrators against pro-Palestinian protests, riots, and encampments. The New York Post reported Saturday: Vassar-educated, Utica-based imam Tom Facchine made the plea about business school professor Shai Davidai during an Aug. 20 webinar called “Islamic Political Activism” with various Columbia student groups which promoted and broadcast it. “That Shai Davidai guy: How do we get him in trouble? How do we create a situation in which he’s in jeopardy?” Facchine, 35, asked. “If you’re able to take out somebody like...

The notorious Shanghai-based Marxist millionaire behind a sprawling anti-U.S and anti-Israel disinformation network has a cadre of operatives embedded at Columbia University, The Post has learned. Neville “Roy” Singham poured the huge fortune he made off the $785 million, 2017 sale of his software company, ThoughtWorks, into at least a dozen nonprofits, including the communist People’s Forum in Midtown. The groups helped organized many of the protests that raged across the city and nation since Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid on the Jewish state. Documents The Post obtained show multiple apparatchiks from these organizations work at the Kairos Center for Religions,...

An upstate imam urged student activists to “take out” an outspoken, pro-Israel Columbia University professor who’s returning to the embattled Ivy this fall after a year of antisemitic hate. Vassar-educated, Utica-based imam Tom Facchine made the plea about business school professor Shai Davidai during an Aug. 20 webinar called “Islamic Political Activism” with various Columbia student groups which promoted and broadcast it. “That Shai Davidai guy: How do we get him in trouble? How do we create a situation in which he’s in jeopardy?” Facchine, 35, asked. “If you’re able to take out somebody like that and make an example,...

Columbia University has not only caved and failed to expel any of the students busted in the occupation of a building during a pro-terror riot, most of them are still “in good standing’’ there, a House report says. “The failure of Columbia’s invertebrate administration to hold accountable students who violate university rules and break the law is disgraceful and unacceptable,” fumed Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, in a scathing statement accompanying a panel analysis Monday. “More than three months after the criminal takeover of Hamilton Hall, the vast majority of the...

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were seen engaging with children at a school during the start of their tour in Colombia, but the royal was stopped in his tracks when his wife brazenly "shooshed" him as he was attempting to speak... Professional lip reader Nicola Hickling noted that Harry was about to say something when Meghan cut him off and spoke first to the boy. As shown in the video, Harry quickly shuts his mouth and turns to his wife... "Meghan's eyes are closed and she clasps her hands together, it's almost like she is straining to speak at first...."...

None of this year’s graduates of an elite Upper East Side Jewish high school will be attending Columbia University’s premier liberal arts college for the first time in decades at least partly because of antisemitism. “For the first time in over 20 years, we will not have a Ramaz graduate enrolling in Columbia College,” Ramaz said in a statement Sunday to The Post. One Ramaz student enrolled at Columbia’s school of General Studies, and three students enrolled in Columbia-affiliated Barnard College for women — but none at the college, it said. Ramaz indicated that anti-Israel protests and hostility toward Jewish...

Columbia University’s new school year starts Sept. 3 — and some professors are already worried about another semester of chaotic protests, after activist groups have declared they “will be back.“ And with news on Wednesday that university president Minouche Shafik has stepped down to be replaced by interim president Katrina Armstrong, the next semester is even more uncertain. Last spring, raucous protesting, an illegal encampment and an occupation of Hamilton Hall sent classes remote and upended final exams and the main commencement. In a July statement, Minouche Shafik said the university is undertaking “community-building” efforts to quell the tensions —...

Columbia University President Dr. Minouche Shafik announced her resignation on Wednesday, following months of criticism for her handling of campus antisemitism. "I write with sadness to tell you that I am stepping down as president of Columbia University effective August 14, 2024. I have had the honor and privilege to lead this incredible institution, and I believe that–working together–we have made progress in a number of important areas,” Shafik wrote in an email to students. “However,” she continued, “it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period...

Columbia University President Dr. Minouche Shafik resigns following months of criticism for her handling of campus antisemitism.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned, according to the Washington Free Beacon. In a letter to the Columbia community, Shafik wrote that her tenure has been “a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.” "This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” she added. In recent months, Shafik has come under fire for her handling of anti-Semitism on campus following Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel that began last October. “I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and...

Claiming that their anti-Israel rhetoric lit the fuse that convulsed Columbia University this spring, five Columbia students are suing a collection of far-left lawmakers over their support for anti-Semitic encampments at the college. Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and fellow progressive “squad” members Reps. Jamal Bowman of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota were named in the lawsuit as well as several anti-Israel organizations, .. “The Gaza Encampment was extreme and outrageous conduct. It was illegal. It violated university rules. Its occupants harassed, followed, physically blocked, intimidated, and bullied Jewish students,” .. “During the protests, I witnessed...

We’re barking up the wrong trees. A new study reveals that a majority of the 7 million trees in New York City are emitting “volatile compounds” that do more harm than good for our air quality — especially during scorching heat. “We’re all for planting more trees. They bring so many good things,” said study coauthor Róisín Commane, an atmospheric chemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “But if we’re not careful, we could make air quality worse.” The arbors in question include oaks and sweetgums which produce high volumes of a chemical composition called isoprenes — and they’re rooted...

Three of the “Squad” members — Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — have been hit with a class-action lawsuit for “inciting and encouraging” the anti-Israeli protests and chaos at Columbia University, the New York Post reported on Saturday. Columbia made international news in April when pro-Palestinian demonstrators broke into Hamilton Hall, resulting in dozens of arrests following a large-scale police operation. In late June, the city of New York dropped all criminal charges against the protesters. The three high-profile Democrats were among the most visible lawmakers who sided with the...

Lefty “Squad” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Ilhan Omar have been slapped with a class-action lawsuit for “inciting and encouraging” the anti-Israel encampment and protests at Columbia University earlier this year. The trio of radical Democrats were among the “outside champions” who also slammed law enforcement for breaking up the hateful demonstrations — which included masked protesters taking over a campus quad, chanting “Free Palestine!” and burning an Israeli flag and throwing rocks — resulting in the violent April 30 takeover of the school’s Hamilton Hall, according to court papers. “If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall...