Free Republic

President Biden wants to transform the character of many American cities and suburbs by building more apartment buildings in quiet and frequently disproportionately White neighborhoods of single-family homes. The Biden administration sees remnants of America’s segregationist past in what it calls “exclusionary” zoning laws, which allow only single-family homes in large swaths of cities and suburbs. As part of a racial equity agenda the president is pursuing in his massive infrastructure plan, Mr. Biden would send federal grants to cities if they eliminate those zoning laws and allow more lower-income people, often minorities, in areas that typically have better schools...

The actual history of communism -- the agony of the millions whose lives were destroyed by it -- is almost entirely missing from American cinema. The reason for this rests in Hollywood's own convoluted political history, a history that includes the "back story" of communism's own largely uncharted offensive in the studios. The cinema's great potential for persuasion excited Joseph Stalin and the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), which Stalin controlled. "One of the most pressing tasks confronting the Communist Party in the field of propaganda," wrote the indefatigable Comintern agent Willi Muenzenberg in a 1925 Daily Worker article, "is...

Internet users in four swing states will begin to see a video that faults President Obama for allowing taxpayer dollars to finance communism based on reports that Shanghai GM backed a Chinese propaganda film. “The Chinese Government recently released a propaganda movie on the Founding of the Communist Party. And who was the movie’s primary sponsor? General Motors. Yes. Our taxpayer dollars that President Obama gave General Motors in the auto-bailout are helping promote communism,” the Let Freedom Ring (LFR) ad narrator says, citing the General Motors bailout. GM has denied any connection to the Chinese company that funded the...

President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a symbolic moment to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in the history of our country. . . and citizens partied only blissfully into the New Year. Ironically, in addition to breaking his promise not to sign the law, Obama broke his promise on signing statements and attached a statement that he really does not want to detain citizens indefinitely. Obama insisted...

LAS VEGAS, NV — While the federal government sinks deeper into debt than any time since World War II, former White House “green jobs” adviser Anthony Van Jones said it was time to stop worrying about budget deficits and pressure Washington to take more money from American businesses to fund larger social and infrastructure projects. “This is a rich country. We have plenty of money, and if you don’t believe me, ask Haliburton,” Jones told a group of progressive bloggers and activists at the Netroots Nation convention Friday. “There’s plenty of money out there; don’t fall into the trap of...

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a US missile defense battery exposes the country to attack, pointing out that Russian military doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons in such a situation, the Interfax news agency reported. *** Interfax said he added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia's military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them." Nogovitsyn said that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, according to Interfax.

Mikhail Gorbachev has accused the United States of mounting an imperialist conspiracy against Russia that could push the world into a new Cold War. With Dmitry Medvedev due to be inaugurated today as Russian president, the Soviet Union's last leader said that the White House's claims of peaceful intentions towards its former superpower rival could no longer be trusted. Delivering one of his most scathing attacks on the US, Mr Gorbachev told The Daily Telegraph that a US military build-up was under way to contain a resurgent Russia. From Nato's expansion plans in the former Soviet Union to Washington's proposals...

PRAGUE (Thomson Financial) - Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev attacked US plans to site an anti-missile system in central and eastern Europe, saying that it was aimed at Russia and China and not Iran. 'You believe that (the system) will be used against Iran? No, the whole system is aimed against Russia and China,' Gorbachev said in an interview broadcast by Czech public television today. He dismissed sustained US statements that the anti-missile system is aimed exclusively at countering the threat from 'rogue states' such as Iran. 'The US radar is a serious question and the Czech government has been...

CARACAS - A book published and distributed by the Venezuelan army argues that ''revolutionary Islam'' and U.S. religious extremism are moral equivalents and quotes approvingly from the Venezuelan terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal. The 250-page Peripheral Warfare and Revolutionary Islam was written by Spanish politician and academic Jorge Verstrynge and is being distributed on the personal orders of Army Chief Gen. Raúl Baduel, a long-time supporter of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Baduel's office said he's not available for an interview until January. Armed Forces Inspector General Gen. Melvin López Hidalgo said he was unaware of the book but...

Caracans split between boredom and business as usual CARACAS, VENEZUELA - Venezuela's capital has become a tale of two cities. The month-long strike aimed at ousting President Hugo Chávez has all but shut down Caracas's wealthier east side, home to most of the president's opponents. On the west side, however, where Mr. Chávez's support is strong among the city's poor, there's an equal determination to conduct business as usual. Milagros Corales's home on the east side, for instance, has never been cleaner. She's been baking up a storm and ironing every last T-shirt. She's no wonder woman, just a bored...

<p>AS BOSTON MARKS its first Christmas since 1984 without Bernard Francis Law, a story involving the cardinal, likely unknown in Massachusetts, is worth a few moments' reflection. The story has an almost Dickensian, Christmas-like feeling to it, at least to those of us who lived through it. Telling it now might put the dramatic, wrenching events of the past 12 months into a clearer Christian focus.</p>

HAVANA (AP) - President Fidel Castro led tens of thousands of people in a rally outside the American mission Monday to protest the U.S. government's decision to free eight Cubans who left the island last week on a stolen crop-duster plane. Mon Nov 18, 9:43 PM ET Cubans wave Cuban flags during a rally in front of the US Interests Section, Monday, Nov. 18, 2002 in Havana. President Fidel Castro led tens of thousands of people in a rally outside the American mission to protest the U.S. government's decision to free eight Cubans who left the island last week on...

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Latin America's largest nation was set to elect its first leftist government in four decades, with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva commanding a wide lead over the ruling party's candidate in opinion polls. Sunday's second-round vote pits Silva - a bearded former union boss - against Jose Serra, who left his job as health minister to run for office. At stake is stewardship over a resource-rich country whose economy is on the brink of recession, with soaring unemployment and staggering social inequalities. A Silva victory could put the brakes on free-market reforms, give leftist movements in...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Military officers demanding elections are desperately trying to incite a coup while cloaking themselves in the constitution and they will be defeated, President Hugo Chavez said Thursday. In his first reaction to the call to rebel by dozens of officers, Chavez dismissed the protest as "a show" and said he had foiled a coup plot linked to a Monday general strike against his government. "We will continue to defeat them, one after another," he said. Venezuela is deadlocked between Chavez, who defended his leftist revolution for Venezuela's majority poor, and a growing and increasingly frustrated opposition that...

BERN, Switzerland - Swiss authorities said Monday they had frozen dlrs 10,000 in a bank account linked to the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs refused to identify the account holders or provide other details, but said the money had been blocked following notification from the bank. The move follows a Swiss decision in March to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on Zimbabwe, including the freezing of assets and a ban on travel by senior government officials. This shadowed sanctions imposed by the European Union ( news - web sites), of which Switzerland is...

HAVANA (AP) - Venezuela has not yet resumed shipments of 53,000 barrels a day of oil that Cuba received before the failed April 11 coup against President Hugo Chavez, Basic Industry Minister Marcos Portal said Thursday. "It is possible that it will be re-established in the coming months," Portal told a news conference. Under an October 2000 agreement between Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro Venezuela was supplying the oil to Cuba on special terms, allowing it 15 years to pay and charging 2 percent a year interest on amassed debt. Venezuela signed similar agreements with other countries in Central...