Free Republic

Ansgar Graw and Frank Hermann were cuffed and jailed for three hours the day after arriving in the beleaguered suburb of St. Louis. […] The journalists had wanted to take pictures of a burned out gas station on Florissant Avenue, the street at the center of the week-long protest. […] “We felt there were no threats, everything is completely peaceful, and we said that we would stay on and take the photos we wanted,” Graw wrote. Then a young police officer says: “Okay, but only if you keep moving. The moment you stay standing, you’ll be arrested. That’s the last...

The ranks of non-teachers—such as administrators, counselors, teacher aides and cafeteria workers—has swelled 130 percent since 1970 and they now make up 50 percent of all public school employees according to a new study, The Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don’t Teach.Looking at data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that the growth of non-teaching staff has greatly outpaced student growth over the past four decades.From 1970 to 2010, the number of students grew by 8.6 percent, while the number of non-teaching personnel increased by 130 percent. Non-teachers now consume over a...

As students prepare to return to school in the next few weeks, there's no better time for a conservative freakout over education. The issue of the moment is a new outline, or “framework,” issued by the College Board for advanced placement classes in US history. The framework is here. According to a resolution passed at the recent summer meeting of the Republican National Committee meeting in Chicago, it “reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects.” The RNC calls the framework, which is to be implemented for some 500,000 AP history students this fall, “biased and...

Mayor Bill de Blasio says he won't reimburse the taxpayers for personal trips when his security detail is at the wheel, even though New York City's other top elected officials have said they would. For the first time Monday afternoon, Mr. de Blasio addressed criticism from government watchdogs and former elected officials who have questioned his ethics for allowing the public to fund out-of-town private travel, an issue raised in report published last week in The Wall Street Journal. Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, said he would abide by a March 2009 advisory opinion from the city's Conflicts of Interest...

Students at the nation’s second largest school district will be shielded from prosecution and sent to administrators for low-level offenses as part of a sweeping reform to the way school police respond to bad behavior. Zoe Rawson of the Community Rights Campaign says students caught fighting or possessing alcohol or marijuana will receive interventions by a guidance counselor or school administrator, a shift that will prevent students, especially minorities, from becoming mired in the criminal justice system. …

How young is too young to start teaching children about sexual health? According to a Georgetown University study, kids between 10 and 14 should be getting sex education because children at that age are susceptible to experimentation. …

The cost of a product that half the world’s population needs multiple times a day, every month for approximately 30 years, is simply too much.When I got my first period, I was in the most embarrassing place my then-11-year-old self could have imagined: my grandparents’ house. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just put on extra pairs of underwear and threw them away one-by-one, scrunched at the bottom of the bathroom trash bin, as I bled through them. Finally, with nary a pair of panties in sight, I was forced to tell my mother. I have never been...

Public relations (PR) is a powerful but unseen force in our society. Companies hire PR firms to make them look as good as possible. When the companies do something they are proud of, they do everything they can to make sure everyone hears about it (including, sometimes contacting reporters like us). When the companies do things that are not so great, they “spin” the news to make it sound harmless. PR firms make their money from fees paid by their clients and have typically been value-neutral, meaning that they promote whatever their clients want them to promote. So it’s a...

In a press conference Thursday, President Barack Obama commented on the fallout of the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown at the hands of Ferguson, Mo., police, saying there was “no excuse for violence against police,” the use of “excessive force against peaceful protests” or for police to bully or arrest journalists “just trying to do their jobs.” “There is never an excuse for violence against police or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or looting. There’s also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protesters in jail...

A Democratic congressman plans to introduce a bill to restrict a Defense Department program that provides machine guns and other surplus military equipment for free to local law enforcement agencies across the country. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said Thursday that the death of an unarmed teenager who was shot by a police officer in a St. Louis suburb highlights the need for the legislation, which has been in the works for months. The bill comes as members of Congress have called for the Justice Department to investigate the shooting of a black teen by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo....

The past few years have shown us that our political system is operating like a well-oiled machine, assuming that machine's primary purpose is to function horribly while producing nothing of value.. Stubbornness and disagreement have been raised to art forms, and the American people have made it clear they rate Congress only slightly more favorably than "scorpions in pants." The president isn't viewed much better, with an approval rating hovering around a dismal 40 percent. There's ample blame to go around — leftward, rightward, centerward (which isn't a word, but should be) — but a new poll homes in on...

Thursday on Ora TV's "PoliticKing with Larry King," left-leaning actor and director Rob Reiner compared the designated terrorist group Hamas to the American political conservative movement, the Tea Party.

Israel’s Right of Return also gives citizenship to spouses of the same sex when Jews choose to immigrate to Israel together, Interior Minister Gidon Sa’ar (Likud) decided Tuesday. According to Sa’ar’s decision, gay and lesbian Jews married abroad wishing to immigrate to Israel could do so—even if one of the partners is not Jewish—and both would receive Israeli citizenship. “The gates of Israel will be open to every Jew and his family without any discrimination against his lifestyle,” Sa’ar stated, in the precedent-setting decision. […] The landmark decision surfaces amid ongoing tension over what defines a “family” in Israel, and...

Pennsylvania has turned its back on small business owners, according to a recent survey. […] “After a two-month survey of thousands of small business owners nationwide, we’ve heard directly from Pennsylvania’s small businesses that the state could do more to support them,” said Jon Lieber, chief economist of Thumbtack.com. “Creating a business climate that is welcoming to small, dynamic businesses is more important than ever, and Pennsylvania’s small businesses think the state could do a better job.” […] Marie Page, owner of Marie Page Cleaning Service in Reeders, said […] “We are taxed like crazy. It is hard to get...

<p>The moral crisis of our age has nothing to do with gay marriage or abortion; it’s insider trading, obscene CEO pay, wage theft from ordinary workers, Wall Street’s continued gambling addiction, corporate payoffs to friendly politicians, and the billionaire takeover of our democracy," Reich wrote in a separate FacebookBut a professor who earns a one-percenter's income for a relatively easy workload has a tough time complaining about how unfair the economy is, according to some critics.</p>

“We can’t waste the spotlight. Time is short. Change is needed. And women are smarter than men,” Obama said during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit to a laughing audience, according to White House Press Pool reports. She continued, “And the men can’t complain because they are outnumbered today.”

Did anyone see the ad for this film?God,how pathetic!"It's Deliciously Funny",according to some far left critics."Can't Wait To Taste The Movie"!Well,more or less,something like that.The movie promo is making it sound like it's going to be the next Forrest Gump or Titanic.We can only hope that "The Hundred Foot Journey" debuts at number 10.America gave up on Oprah way back in 2007/08 when she had declared that Obama was our modern day Jesus and was going to bring World Peace!&Will Keep Putin In Check!

When asked at a press briefing on Thursday why her party’s message is “not resonating with the electorate,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told a room full of reporters, “(W)e need you to be messengers.” […] … “But, apart from that, we have come forward with our middle-class jump start. Over the month of August, we go forward with how the jump start talks about bringing jobs home. The Republicans have tax breaks to send jobs overseas. Democrats want tax breaks to keep jobs here at home.” …

The U.S. Treasury Department has raised by $22 billion its estimate of what it needs to borrow in the third quarter to keep the government operating. Treasury said Monday that it expects to borrow $192 billion in the July-September period, up from an estimate of $170 billion announced in April. The borrowing increase is mainly due to the government taking in less in revenue than previously expected. Treasury also said it expects to borrow $187 billion in the fourth quarter of the year. …

Australia’s government has made its strongest criticism yet of its staunch ally Israel over the monthlong war in Gaza, with the Australian foreign minister calling the shelling of United Nations schools “indefensible.” Foreign Minister Julie Bishop welcomed the announcement of a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire to begin on Tuesday, and urged Israel to take all necessary steps to prevent civilian casualties. …