Free Republic

Movie star Ben Affleck has another nine slaveholder ancestors from Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, according to publicly available Census records and genealogy research conducted by Breitbart News. Last week, Affleck admitted that he successfully pressured Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates to edit his Georgia slaveholding ancestor, Benjamin Cole, out of an episode of the PBS series “Finding Your Roots” that featured his family history. This brings the number of Affleck’s known slaveholder ancestors to 12, who owned a total of 214 slaves. The relative ease with which Breitbart News was able to find these nine additional slaveholding...

The young couple wanted really special invitations made up for their wedding, something that looked like a train ticket to fit with the railroad theme of their big day. So bride-to-be Paige Beckwith turned to a Suwanee printer who’d been recommended to her. But the printer rejected the job because of his religious beliefs, the parent company of the printing business said Monday. Beckwith is gay. *** However, a company spokesman at AlphaGraphics confirmed Beckwith’s story. The company also released a statement: “We do not condone discrimination of any kind, and wish to make clear that customers of any race,...

The former public face of Bill Clinton’s White House—and current host of ABC News’ This Week—George Stephanopoulos was floored as two prominent journalists and the Republican Speaker of the House from his Clinton days, Newt Gingrich, laid out for him just how bad the “Clinton Cash” book is for his old bosses. During the show’s roundtable panel after Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer appeared on the show for a lengthy interview, Stephanopoulos teamed with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile in an attempt to discredit Schweizer. But it started with Stephanopoulos making a shocking admission: Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign wouldn’t send out...

On Sunday, journalists and political analysts across the ideological spectrum blasted Hillary and Bill Clinton’s actions as revealed in the forthcoming bombshell book all of Washington is buzzing about, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.Fresh off the heels of the White House Correspondents’ dinner Saturday night, Sunday’s political shows were flooded with commentary on Clinton Cash.Here are some highlights (all emphases added):Bloomberg Politics’ Mark Halperin: The Clinton Cash revelations are “extraordinarily serious,” said Halperin. “Here’s why you know this is serious because any Democrat, almost any Democrat,...

This midlife identity crisis comes at what may be the zenith of Republican influence in the state, courtesy of a race for state GOP chairman. . . . Incumbent John Padgett, the owner of an ambulance company, is seeking re-election to a two-year term. He faces Alex Johnson, a 30-year-old DeKalb County attorney with libertarian leanings. It is something of a rematch. In a final ballot at the 2013 convention, the young Johnson surprised many by receiving 40 percent of the vote — this at a gathering of delegates whose average age is somewhere south of the Mesozoic Era. *****...

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal says he will respect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage when it rules. Georgia has a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but the high court is expected to hear arguments on the issue next week. “Federal constitutional issues trump state constitutional issues, " Deal told "A Closer Look" host Denis O'Hayer. "So we will abide by whatever the Supreme Court rules as an interpretation of the United States Constitution.” On Wednesday, State Attorney General Sam Olens said he'll follow the U.S. Supreme Court's order. Deal also spoke about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,...

A group of women soldiers made history this week after earning a place in the first gender-integrated Ranger Course Assessment at Fort Benning in Georgia. The U.S. Army Ranger School at Fort Benning opened Monday to a class of 19 women and 380 men, according to Stars and Stripes. Over the last four months, 20 women had secured a spot in the course assessment after passing one of four sessions of gender-integrated Ranger Training Assessment Courses (RTAC). One female soldier chose to withdraw. Only eight women and 184 men successfully completed the first four days of Ranger School, after a...

A college in Georgia that featured a protest last week where demonstrators trampled on the American flag has canceled classes in advance of what is expected to be a huge pro-flag rally. Valdosta State University students were told that all classes on Friday, April 24 were called off because of a counter demonstration to support the US flag. The protest last week got interesting when an Air Force veteran picked the flag up off the ground and wouldn't give it back to the demonstrators. Police cited her for tresspassing when she wouldn't give up the flag or leave the scene....

Protests have been going on all week (after) Air Force veteran Michelle Manhart, was briefly detained during the flag-trampling protest for taking the flag and refusing to return it. Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress told the Valdosta Daily Times that thousands of people who "just want to come down here and support the American flag" are expected to descend on Valdosta State University.

The most curious facet of the debate over gay marriage is its violation of our usual requirement that social change occur at a pace that can only be detected with time-lapse photography. On Wednesday, Attorney General Sam Olens indicated that, should the U.S. Supreme Court rule the way many suspect it will this summer, Georgia’s formal, legal antipathy to same-sex unions will vanish as quickly as the flick of a light switch. *** “There’s a distinction between me defending the law and the order from the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court rules on an issue, we’re going to follow...

Authorities at Fort Benning, the U.S. Army post in west Georgia, say they're dealing with an ongoing "emergency situation" at the post's Warrior Transition Battalion. Fort Benning officials said Wednesday afternoon on the base's official Facebook account and on Twitter that officials have secured the area and that personnel were safety evacuated as a precaution. Officials at the scene have determined that there is no longer a threat to anyone on base, according to a Facebook post. Base officials said in the social media posts that children in a child development center were safe but were being moved to another...

WASHINGTON - When two Russian immigrants and their American financial backer needed marketing help for their innovative electric motor, they turned to a merchant banker at one of the nation's largest investment houses - retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark. The meeting at the Washington office of Stephens Inc. in late 2001 proved fortuitous for both Clark, the former supreme commander of NATO, and the principals in WaveCrest Laboratories, at the time a small research and development company in Dulles, Va. "They hit it off pretty much right away," said WaveCrest spokesman Tom McMahon. Clark signed on as a consultant...

To understand what feeds former president Jimmy Carter's anti-Israeli frenzy, look at his early links to Arab business. Between 1976-1977, the Carter family peanut business received a bailout in the form of a $4.6 million, "poorly managed" and highly irregular loan from the National Bank of Georgia (NBG). According to a July 29, 1980 Jack Anderson expose in The Washington Post, the bank's biggest borrower was Mr. Carter, and its chairman at that time was Mr. Carter's confidant, and later his director of the Office of Management and Budget, Bert Lance.

VALDOSTA -- An Air Force veteran and former Playboy model who was banned from Valdosta State University Friday after taking an American flag from a group of demonstrators is now organizing her own demonstration that she said is to show support for the military and the flag. Michelle Manhart was detained but not arrested by VSU police after she took the flag from a group of protesters. She said she was not planning to take the flag from the protestors, but she had heard about the group's recent campus demonstrations and wanted to take action. "I did not want anything...

Jeb Bush on Friday in New Hampshire called for the U.S. "to work with the rest of the world to negotiate a way to reduce carbon emissions.” The remarks at a "Politics & Eggs" event brought praise from billionaire Tom Steyer's group NextGen Climate, which has spent millions in recent elections blasting Republicans on climate change. "Jeb Bush demonstrated leadership today on the issue of climate change—distancing himself from the other Republican presidential hopefuls and demonstrating why climate change doesn’t have to be a partisan issue," the group said in an email to reporters. "Today in New Hampshire, Bush expressed...

Did Georgia just pull the plug on the electric car market? Many people are wondering after state legislators voted to eliminate a tax credit that last year helped catapult metro Atlanta to the highest U.S. market share for plug-in electric vehicles. The same bill will impose a $200 registration fee -- the nation's highest -- on noncommercial EVs. When the governor signs the bill, as expected, Georgia will go from first to worst on its support for the EV market. The electric vehicle tax credit ends June 30; the EV fee starts the next day. Local car dealers say they're...

In an announcement likely to rewrite the book on early colonization of the New World, two researchers have proposed a location for the oldest fortified settlement ever found in North America. They believe that the legendary Fort Caroline, a long-sought fort built by the French in 1564, is located near the mouth of the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia.

<p>A military veteran was reportedly detained and charged by Valdosta State University police in Georgia Friday after she took an American flag from a group of protesters who were walking on it.</p>

A military veteran was reportedly detained and charged by Valdosta State University police in Georgia Friday after she took an American flag from a group of protesters who were walking on it. The Valdosta Daily Times reports Michelle Manhart, an Air Force veteran, said she wanted to take action after hearing about the group’s demonstrations, but did not want to take the flag from them.

Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation Thursday that legalizes medical marijuana in Georgia, though tremendous hurdles remain for patients who want to get the drug. House Bill 1, which took effect immediately, makes it legal for people who suffer from cancer, sickle cell disease and other illnesses to possess up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil if a physician signs off. The state estimates hundreds of thousands of residents could be eligible for the drug, and at least 17 Georgia families have had to temporarily move to places like Colorado where the cannabis oil is legal. The biggest obstacle for those...