Free Republic

Macklemore may be a darling of gay rights activists and feel-good lefty types, but he's in potential hot water after the popular rapper played a show in a questionable costume. At a secret show in Seattle, Macklemore hit the stage appearing dressed to look like a stereotypical Jewish man. Last Friday, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were the surprise performers in honor of a new exhibit at Seattle's EMP Museum. Although it's difficult to determine who exactly Macklemore is supposed to be in his getup, it's clear fans on social media are just as confused. But anyone expecting a rousing statement...

Nicholas Wade, a British-born science reporter and editor for more than 30 years with The New York Times, is no longer with the newspaper — just days after the release of his latest book, in which he depicts blacks with roots in sub-Saharan Africa as genetically less adapted to modern life than whites and Asians. Was The New York Times uncomfortable with Wade’s science or his conclusions? It’s unclear. Neither Wade nor his former employer returned requests for comment. Wade’s last Times article appeared April 24. His Penguin Press book “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History” arrived in...

The U.S. Department of Justice wants new authority to hack and search remote computers during investigations, saying the new rules are needed because of complex criminal schemes sometimes using millions of machines spread across the country. Digital rights groups say the request from the DOJ for authority to search computers outside the district where an investigation is based raises concerns about Internet security and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. “By expanding federal law enforcement’s power to secretly exploit ‘zero-day’ vulnerabilities in software and Internet platforms, the proposal threatens to weaken Internet security for all of us,” Nathan...

Full Title: FEC chair warns that conservative media like Drudge Report and Sean Hannity face regulation --- like PACs Government officials, reacting to the growing voice of conservative news outlets, especially on the internet, are angling to curtail the media's exemption from federal election laws governing political organizations, a potentially chilling intervention that the chairman of the Federal Election Commission is vowing to fight. Sign Up for the Paul Bedard newsletter! “I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers,” warned Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee...

Sixteen minutes into last week's botched lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the warden closed the blinds on the windows to the execution chamber and turned off the sound so that witnesses could not see Clayton Lockett writhe or hear him moan. The procedure, designed to resemble a medical treatment -- albeit one with an involuntary patient and a very low probability of recovery -- had begun to look uncomfortably like the cold-blooded killing of a helpless person. Since Lockett himself was guilty of such a killing, having been convicted of shooting a 19-year-old woman during a burglary and...

Controversy has once again hit the campus of UNC-Wilmington. This time it's not my fault. The controversy is actually the fault of a student. His crime is simple: He decided to behave like a feminist behaves every day on campuses all across America. Unfortunately for him, he chose to do so without the proper genitalia and without the approval of the UNCW Women's Resource Center. I was introduced to the controversy shortly after a student of mine finished taking her final exam of the semester. After she had left my 2 pm exam, she came into my 3:30 class and,...

Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm denied reports Tuesday that he had a kinky 17-minute sex romp with a woman in the unisex bathroom of a Brooklyn wine bar. The Republican congressman, who is single, said he didn’t score at The Owl’s Head in Bay Ridge on the Friday preceding the government shutdown two weeks ago. “I will not dignify this absurd distortion of the facts with a response,” the pol said, calling the accusations a “Democrat-led smear campaign.” A source said Grimm went to the bathroom only to check on the woman, who was upset. “It wasn’t 17 minutes,” the...

Bill Killian, a US attorney, claims that anti-Muslim speech violates Muslim’s Constitutional rights. Therefore, he argues, it should be illegal and punishable by law. Killian said, “We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected.” At this time, Obama’s DOJ is working to determine what, exactly, is considered illegal speech against Muslims. Guidelines and specific laws are expected to come soon. Currently, the government is not allowed to prevent speech that is hateful towards a religion, unless a specific threat is made. To prevent speech that is...

“Two Boys Kissing” will stay in Fauquier High School’s library. FHS parent Jessica Wilson made an official complaint to remove the book from the school library on Feb. 7, because she believed that the cover of the book condoned public displays of affection, which are against school policy. Marie Miller, a teacher at FHS and the advisor for the school publication The Falconer said that she believes that those opposing the book were doing so not because of it’s lack of appropriateness for the students, but because it is a story about gay teens. “If the focus of this book...

A watchdog group has found that IRS employees who owed back taxes were still paid $1 million in bonuses. Read more about this story below, via FoxNews.com: The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that while for the most part the reward program for IRS workers complied with federal regulations, employees who had themselves failed to pay their federal taxes and had discipline problems were also rewarded.

When the IRS revokes tax-exempt status of a 501(c)(3) organization, the sanction is considered so severe that tax practitioners refer to it as the “death penalty.” The IRS recently gave the death penalty to the Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty. As reported at The Blaze, “The IRS said the group forfeited its status by promoting regularly politically charged articles written by Patrick Henry Center founder Gary Aldrich, a former FBI agent.” Aldrich is a best-selling author, considered a hero or an enemy, depending on one’s view, for exposing Bill Clinton’s escapades. He’s also a friend to many constitutional conservatives....

The federal government wants to extend its oversight of tobacco to include cigars, hookah, nicotine gels, pipe tobacco and dissolvable tobacco products. The Food and Drug Administration proposal being issued Thursday would ban sales to minors and require approval for new products and health warning labels. …

Sure… Sunday was Easter Sunday (the most important day of the year for the world’s 2-3 billion Christians). But, c’mon! It was 4:20 dude! And while millions of Americans flocked to their churches and Cathedrals, the Denver Post thought the front-page story of the day ought to be Colorado’s annual “toke-out” at Civic Center Park in Denver. Heck… The 15 year anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting was even pushed back to accommodate the “high times” of Civic Center potheads. Living a mere handful of blocks from Denver’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, I can personally attest to...

Left Silent as Muslim Cabbies Reject Gay Games Ads By Julio Severo According to FoxNews, 25 Muslim drivers dispatched to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport are refusing to drive cabs adorned with advertising for the Gay Games, which will be held on Aug. 9-16 in the region. The drivers said that their decision was based on their religious convictions. Ann Gynn, a spokeswoman for the Gay Games, said the protest is an “isolated” case, meaning that drivers of other religions (especially Christianity, considering that this religion is still dominant in the U.S.) did not complain about making involuntary propaganda for...

Mayor Bill de Blasio is the first New York City mayor to release his tax returns in 12 years, according to the WSJ. de Blasio earned $165,000 as public advocate last year and brought in an additional $52,000 in rent on a second home he owns in Park Slope, according to his 2013 tax returns. Mr. de Blasio’s effective tax rate was 8.3%. As WSJ reports, Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who served as mayor from 2002 through 2013, released highly redacted copies of his return that gave scant information about his net worth. In 2001, during...

The left’s rainbow coalition has a problem. But the left deals with it by ignoring it. The same people fuming over Eich, won’t talk about this. A gay assistant head teacher has been forced to resign after Muslim parents complained that they did not want their children learning that it’s OK to be homosexual. The dispute at Birmingham’s Chilwell Croft Academy, which mainly involved Muslim parents, is the latest controversy surrounding a secular state school in the city. Liam Nolan, the high- profile gay head teacher at Perry Beeches Academy in Birmingham, told the Sunday Times he had been ‘incredibly...

Above: El Presidente is shocked -- shocked -- that the U.S. doesn't want his poorest and most criminally-minded citizens.by John Urban | Top Right News Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he is "indignant" at the United States' deportation of Mexican migrants and described U.S. lawmakers as demonstrating a "lack of conscience" in failing to pass immigration reform.Translation? Mexico's head Conquistador is sore that the peasants they have worked so hard to export to the chumps in El Norte are being sent back to them. There I said it.Mexico does everything it can to rid itself of its poorest and brownest...

De Morgen, a Belgian newspaper, found itself in the middle of a firestorm over the weekend after it ran an image depicting President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes just days before Mr. Obama is scheduled to visit the country. http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/03/belgian-newspaper-fire-depicting-president-mrs-obama-monkeys

The town of Longview, Texas has reportedly paid conservative rocker Ted Nugent $16,000 to make sure he does not play at their annual 4th of July concert this summer. That figure represents half of the amount Nugent would have been guaranteed if the performance happened as scheduled. -snip- “I’m sad the City of Longview has done this. I think it was done by a great deal of political correctness, political pressure,” Gregg County Republican Party Chair Keith Rothra told KLTV. “We have various performers who have made all kinds of statements that rattled people’s conscience and yet they are still...

Bill Donohue comments on his exchange with officials from New York’s Heritage of Pride parade: For the past few days I have been engaged in an e-mail conversation with officials from the Heritage of Pride parade, New York’s annual gay event; the dialogue has been cordial. I asked to join the parade under a banner that would read, “Straight is Great.” The purpose of my request was to see just how far they would go without forcing me to abide by their rules. It didn’t take long before they did.Today, I informed Heritage of Pride officials that I objected to...