Free Republic

A State Department spokesperson on Friday said embassies and consulates have received guidance that allows them to recognize Pride month. "Advancing the human rights of vulnerable groups including LGBTI persons is a core component of U.S. foreign policy," the spokesperson told the Washington Blade. "All people should be protected from discrimination and violence, and must be allowed to exercise their human rights, including their rights to the freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief." "LGBTI Pride celebrations are an expression of these rights," added the spokesperson. "As such, the department has issued guidance to embassies and consulates...

Comedian Kathy Griffin held a press conference Friday with her attorney regarding the backlash surrounding the image of her holding up a faux severed head of President Donald Trump.During her opening statement, Griffin said the reaction from the White House is something that has never been seen before."A sitting president of the United States and his grown children and the first lady are personally—I feel—personally trying to ruin my life forever. Forever," the comic said. "You guys know him, he's never going to stop."Since images and video of her controversial photo shoot were posted earlier this week, Griffin has been...

Kathy Griffin INSANE Press Conference with Lisa Bloom 6/2/17. Kathy Griffin and is holding a press conference on Friday in order to react to the continued outrage over her controversial photo shoot with a likeness of President Trump‘s head. Griffin has hired attorney Lisa Bloom, who announced that today’s event will “explain the true motivation behind the image, and respond to the bullying from the Trump family [Griffin] has endured.” Griffin’s photo shoot became an instant source of controversy this week, and it was strongly condemned from figures on both sides of the political aisle. The backlash has cost Griffin...

(CNN) — Kathy Griffin is fighting back against the abuse and "death threats" she has received in light of controversial images released earlier this week that showed the comedian holding up a bloody head resembling that of President Donald Trump. In a news conference on Friday, Griffin's attorney Lisa Bloom accused Trump and his family of "using their power to target her." "If you don't stand up, you get run over," Griffin said. "What's happening to me has never happened in this great country. A sitting president of the U.S. ... is personally trying to ruin my life forever." Bloom...

The science-deniers are running the LGBTQ show over at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and dissenters will not be tolerated. The department’s new “enhanced” policies promoting the “well-being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) children and youth in the Department’s care” ratchet in one direction only: encouraging children towards LGBTQ identities. DCFS has drawn a rainbow-colored line in the sand, announcing it “will not tolerate exposing LGBTQ children and youth to staff/providers who are not supportive of children and youths’ right to self-determination of sexual/gender identity.”

The cycle is now all too familiar: A radicalized Islamist commits an atrocity in which he murders dozens of innocent victims in a public space; first responders rush to the scene and treat the event as a law enforcement matter; even though everyone on the face of the earth recognizes the nature of the event (the fingerprints are by now ubiquitously recognizable), officials keep the name of the evil loser secret on the pretense of attempting to determine a “motive” for his actions; snowflakes and social justice warriors all over Twitter and Facebook agree on a common avitar and hashtag...

It’s still surreal—horribly surreal—and we aren’t about to wake up. The Trump presidency confronts the majority of Americans with a situation that has rapidly degenerated from shock and disbelief to rage and dread. The op-ed page of the New York Times has been reduced to perpetual teeth-grinding. Faint signs of hope from Donald Trump’s lips have proved to be illusions, the vagaries of a flimflam artist soaking up adulation for what amounts to a despicable regime. The last slender thread of hope, that the Republican-run Senate will stand up to him, is likely to snap soon. When there’s no escape,...

In theory, two intelligent people who disagree on something, should be able to discuss the matter and resolve the issue. In practice, I have (to my dismay) found this not to be the case. Some people seem never to learn from experience. For example, no matter how consistently liberal economic policies fail, progressives continue to believe that by doing the same thing repeatedly, they will get a different result. There are too many anecdotes to recount here, but two of them, from my personal experience, should suffice. I was employed in an office with mostly liberal coworkers. About two or...

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) reportedly caused a scene at a New York City restaurant on Sunday, where he was seen yelling at a wealthy and well-connected supporter of President Donald Trump, calling Trump "a liar." Schumer was dining at Upper East Side restaurant Sette Mezzo Sunday night with friends, according to Page Six. During the dinner, Schumer encountered former secretary of health, education, and welfare under President Jimmy Carter and domestic policy adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Joseph A. Califano Jr. Califano was dining with his wife Hilary, the daughter of the founder and current chairman of CBS....

Bing. Bing. Bing. Bing. You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind — a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone. Or, more formally, the United States Court for the District of Hawaii. That’s where Judge Derrick Watson has just blocked President Trump from suspending travel to America from certain Muslim countries seething with Islamist terrorism. Watson issued on Wednesday his own nationwide ban against Trump’s plan to stem migration from specific war zones. The president’s aim is to beef up the vetting...

When you think of milk, what first comes to your mind? If you’re a millennial, you probably think of strong bones, Got Milk? commercials, or maybe eating your favorite cereal while watching cartoons on a Saturday morning. What about racism? White nationalism? If you’re having trouble finding the connection between these institutions and milk, you’re not alone. You, along with the rest of the nation, have been so accustomed to hearing the benefits of milk that you probably didn’t even realize the subtle racism hidden in our health facts. It may not surprise you that the United States was founded...

Merriam-Webster defines cognitive dissonance as "psychological conflict resulting from simultaneously held incongruous beliefs and attitudes (as a fondness for smoking and a belief that it is harmful)." Given all the hypocritical stances taken by liberals these days, one might expect to see them quivering uncontrollably with dissonance-related tremors, or at least losing a lot of sleep. But I can't say I've seen any signs that liberals are very troubled. A few examples of their contradictory positions will serve to make my point. In the March 6 edition of The Wall Street Journal, "above the fold" on page A8 was a...

This arsenal of firearms is among the dozens of weapons that have been taken off London’s streets during the Met’s latest gun amnesty. Since Monday 45 weapons have been surrendered across the capital as part of the Give Up Your Gun campaign, including shotguns, revolvers, rifles and handguns, Scotland Yard said. Detectives from the Met’s gang unit today urged anyone still in possession of an illegal firearm to hand it in before the amnesty ends on Sunday night.

United Airlines replaced a pilot before takeoff on Saturday after she boarded in civilian clothes and told passengers over the intercom that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were liars and that she was getting a divorce, witnesses said. The airline on Sunday declined to identify the pilot or comment beyond a previous statement apologizing to customers, many of whom left the plane out of concern for their safety. The flight from Austin, Texas, to San Francisco took off with a new pilot about 90 minutes late, passengers said. "She shows up dressed like a civilian and asked us to...

With everything going on in Richmond and Washington, you may have missed this, but it’s important: Republicans in the House of Delegates just passed a bill to make it more difficult to vote in the Commonwealth. The GOP voted along party lines to require proof of citizenship in order to vote -- something that courts have said is unlawful at the federal level. Not only that, but they argued for the bill using the same lies about “voter fraud” that Donald Trump has been using. But we know the truth: Voter fraud is a myth, and Republican laws that claim...

I don’t know anyone who is doing “well” right now. Have we entered an era of perpetual anxiety and deep uncertainty? Is this the beginnings of what some historians are calling the rise of an authoritarian regime in the US? Having been in power for less than two weeks, Trump has already reinstated the Global Gag Rule, pledged to revive the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines, banned federal agencies and scientists from publicly reporting their findings, halted immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, pledged to build a wall on the Mexico border and much more. Like many of you,...

Chelsea Manning saw injustice and stood up for what’s right. Now, she’s serving a 35 year sentence in an all-male military prison. She’s been systematically abused by the U.S. government, held in conditions that the UN considers to be torture, and has attempted suicide twice during her 7 years behind bars. But now there’s hope. NBC reports that she is on President Obama’s “short list” for commutation. The news has sparked a groundswell of support for Chelsea online. Hundreds of thousands of people have already taken action to support her, but now the message is simpler than ever. But now...

The Army says former private Chelsea Manning will lose her military healthcare benefits despite President Obama’s commutation of her prison sentence. “If Pvt. Manning is discharged with a dishonorable discharge, she will lose her entitlement to [military] benefits, including gender-transition care at [military] medical treatment facilities,” Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith told USA Today Wednesday. Smith said Manning’s dishonorable discharge was included in the terms of the 35-year prison sentence imposed on her in 2013. Manning was convicted of leaking classified information about U.S. national security activities that were later publicly disclosed by WikiLeaks. Smith said Manning could appeal her discharge...

Earlier this month, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to turn Donald Trump's signature line – "Make America Great Again" – against him by saying that Trump was trying to "make America sick again." Though Schumer was talking specifically about the Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare, this slogan is becoming increasingly appropriate for the entirety of the GOP platform.

A man ended up at the hospital Tuesday after he tried to light himself on fire outside the Trump International Hotel in Northwest D.C. Hotel employees called the police and D.C. Fire responded to a call of a man trying to set himself on fire around 9:30 p.m. NBC Washington reports that the man is from California and is protesting the election of Donald Trump. In a video the man can be heard saying he tried to light himself on fire as an act of protest. The man was taken to the hospital with burns. He is expected to be...