Free Republic

"On May 27th, KCSO Special Operations Division intercepted a message indicating that Blevins was preparing to proceed with a mass shooting. In the message, Mr. Blevins made a specific threat that included WalMart. Working with the FBI, KCSO Investigators confirmed Mr. Blevins' capability of following through with the threat and moved immediately to arrest him,"

There is a cancer among most conservative websites that devalues and glosses over the importance of history. This glossing leaves a conservative in a position to assert that x is true, because they heard it or saw it or read it somewhere. But then we look foolish, I look foolish because while yes, x is in fact true, what I read didn't carry the necessary follow through. That's how truth becomes a lie while lies remain true. Case in point is this article from The Federalist which glosses over what is arguably the most important fact of the article. The...

Florida Senator Lauren Book (D) reintroduced legislation that would eliminate Florida’s recognition of Confederate holidays. It would repeal provisions penalizing the destruction and damage done to the Confederate flag. The Sunshine State is one of five states that have Confederate Memorial Day as a national holiday. In a statement, the Florida lawmaker commented that Florida “must underscore diversity and undercut tributes to the Confederacy, which upheld the institution of slavery.” She added that “with the hate and divisiveness we’re seeing today, it is more important than ever to condemn racism and reaffirm that we are indeed ‘one nation, indivisible, with...

The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to rename military bases that honor the Confederacy, naming half of the panel charged with leading the effort.Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller on Friday appointed Sean McLean, a White House associate director; Joshua Whitehouse, a White House liaison to the Defense Department; Ann Johnston, acting assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs; and Earl Matthews, principal deputy general counsel for the Army.They will serve on the ponderously-named Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the...

They Were Not Traitors By Philip Leigh on Sep 16, 2020 A typical calumny directed at Confederate soldiers is that they don’t merit commemoration because they were traitors. It is a lie for two reasons. First, the Confederate states had no intent to overthrow the government of the United States. They seceded merely to form a government of their own. The first seven states that seceded during the winter of 1860-61 did not “make war” on the United States; they accepted it when the Washington government decided to coerce them back into the Union. The four upper-south states that remained...

Beyond Ridiculous! (Public Facebook page) This happened in Falls Church, Virginia on 9/20/20.

Michael Goodwin of the New York Post published an extensive investigative article on Sunday claiming that ancestral members of the family that owns the New York Times likely included slaveowners. Moreover, Goodwin recounted, the extended family also included members who fought for the Confederacy; contributed to Confederate memorials after the Civil War; and perhaps even engaged in the slave trade.

The late 60s saw a number of great artists looking back into the American past to find a new musical direction. Bob Dylan started the trend releasing John Wesley Harding, the album that produced All Along the Watchtower. The Byrds followed with Sweetheart of the Rodeo, a classic of Americana, and the Band released Music from Big Pink, the record that influenced countless musicians. For me the song that best symbolizes that chapter in music history is The Band’s The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down from their second album released in 1969, The Band.

Unlike the long-dead figures whose statues and other honorifics have been assailed in recent weeks, Robert Byrd, a former Ku Klux Klan organizer, remains basically untouchable. CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While monuments and building names said to be stained by racism are being erased across the country, one former Ku Klux Klan organizer remains virtually untouchable.The late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat and Senate majority leader who organized a Klan chapter in 1941 and filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is celebrated in the state, his name gracing over three dozen public works projects, including two federal...

For a century, Monument Avenue has showcased some of the Confederacy’s most revered figures. Soon, there will be a blank canvas. Over the past week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch asked demonstrators, residents, artists and community leaders what they'd like to see on the new Monument Avenue. There were suggestions of new statues, honoring a more inclusive set of heroes. Others wanted a space for performance or reflection, while some felt the empty pedestals should stay as a historical testimony of their own. One point of agreement was that it must be a communitywide conversation. Through restrictive covenants, real estate companies long...

In the years leading up to the Civil War, many Northerners and Southerners alike wanted the federal government to take a more aggressive approach toward acquiring new territory. In fact, some private citizens, known as filibusters, took matters into their own hands. They raised small armies illegally; ventured into Mexico, Cuba, and South America; and attempted to seize control of the lands. One particularly successful filibuster, William Walker, actually made himself president of Nicaragua and ruled from 1856 to 1857. For the most part, these filibusters were just men in search of adventure. Others, however, were Southern imperialists who wanted...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday ordered the removal of portraits in the Capitol of previous House speakers who served in the Confederacy as part of an effort to "appropriately observe Juneteenth" on Friday. Pelosi said she discovered the four portraits as she was taking inventory in the Capitol of Confederate statues, which she is also trying to remove but can't do unilaterally. "Tomorrow, Juneteenth, the clerk will oversee the removal of those Confederate speakers from the House," Pelosi announced at a press conference at the Capitol. "There's no room in the hallowed halls of this democracy, this temple of democracy,...

The British left’s flagship newspaper is facing the call to eat its own tail, after more than 12,000 people have signed a petition calling for the liberal, pro-Black Lives Matter Guardian to be shut down over its historical links to slavery and for siding with the Confederate states during the American Civil War. The Change.org petition to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) already has more than 12,000 signatures with the number growing hourly, spurred on by accusations against the newspaper of hypocrisy for backing the far-left BLM while having a history connected to slavery. The call comes after far-left...

A newly-unearthed clip of Joe Biden shows the then-senator referring to members of a female Confederacy group as “fine people” during a 1993 Senate hearing. During the Senate confirmation hearing for then-nominee to the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Biden, the sitting Senate Judiciary Chairman, made a surprising comment about the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization committed to preserving Confederate statues with ties to the Ku Klux Klan.

WALHALLA, SC (WSPA) – The city of Walhalla has enacted a curfew amid rival protests in front of a Confederate monument, Monday evening. The curfew runs from 9:00pm to 6:00am. Community activist Traci Fant said Mayor Danny Edwards and members of the city council enacted the curfew at the scene of the protests. Dozens of people, some representing Black Lives Matter and others carrying Confederate flags were gathered at the “Our Confederate Dead” monument on Main Street. The monument was the scene of another protest Friday evening which included one protester tying himself to the monument. Walhalla Police said several...

Republican senators rebelled against Donald Trump late Wednesday by voting to tell the Army to rename bases named after Confederate generals within the next three years. The Armed Services Committee, whose members include Trump ultra-loyalist Tom Cotton, voted behind closed doors for the move, Roll Call first reported. The voice vote was on an amendment to the annual Pentagon policy bill — the Defense Authorization Act — which was put forward by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat and former presidential candidate. It came hours after Donald Trump tweeted furiously that he will “not even consider” renaming Forts Bragg, Hood,...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Wednesday called for the removal of nearly a dozen Confederate statues from the halls of Congress, throwing her weight behind efforts to take down the figures linked to racism and the Confederacy following the death of George Floyd.

The city of Jacksonville’s inventory for Confederate memorials lists three monuments and eight markers on city property related to the Civil War. As of Tuesday morning, there was one less, and Mayor Lenny Curry said the others are coming down, too. Crews were seen overnight using a crane to remove a Confederate monument in Jacksonville’s Hemming Park, the downtown city plaza framed on two sides by City Hall and the Federal Courthouse. The statue and nameplate were hauled off well before daylight, leaving an empty pedestal.

The U.S. Marine Corps on Friday issued detailed directives about removing and banning public displays of the Confederate battle flag at Marine installations — an order that extended to such items as mugs, posters and bumper stickers. “Current events are a stark reminder that it is not enough for us to remove symbols that cause division — rather, we also must strive to eliminate division itself,” the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. David H. Berger, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced today that Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak are joining Washington, Oregon and California in the Western States Pact -- a working group of Western state governors with a shared vision for modifying stay at home orders and fighting COVID-19.