Free Republic

In the days following Donald Trump’s surprise election win, progressive Columbia University humanities professor Mark Lilla published a thought-provoking, viral essay that took direct aim at identity politics: In recent years American liberalism has slipped into a kind of moral panic about racial, gender and sexual identity that has distorted liberalism’s message and prevented it from becoming a unifying force capable of governing. Lilla’s essay became a book that has sparked debate, withering reviews, and general disdain across wide swathes of the political and academic Left. Yet as I read the attacks on Lilla, I was struck by the extent...

This morning Ed wrote about the anticipated (and delivered) crash and burn of the ratings for last night’s Emmys. I suppose I contributed to that in a small way since I was watching football. In my Twitter feed, I only saw two of the conservatives I follow commenting on the show so that seemed to be a fairly common practice among our tribe. The initial scoring put them in position to be one of the worst rated Emmys outings of the modern era. This led a few timid voices to meekly suggest this morning that just perhaps the show needs...

What images should appear when you Google “white couple”? Probably two people of European descent. If you search those words today, though, you’ll find almost exclusively black couples. The results are similarly skewed for “white man & white woman” and “white couple with children”. Try it. Strange, a bit annoying, and vaguely political – just imagine the reaction if a query for “black couple” turned up only whites. I suspect that wouldn’t fly at Google. What results would you expect when Googling “American inventors”? Likely a mix of great innovators from our past and present, from a variety of backgrounds....

ABC’s “The View” has denied a report that conservative co-host Jedediah Bila was removed from the show because she asked a tough question to Hillary Clinton last Wednesday. Citing a “source,” The New York Post reported that Bila’s exit had something to do with the way she treated Clinton during the recent interview. Bila asked the former Democratic presidential candidate how she felt about liberals who criticize her new book, “What Happened.” The source told the Post that there were, “a lot of staff who were upset about how that interview was handled.” The Post reported that “The View” executives...

Bestselling author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam regarding the left’s assault on monuments, including protesters who recently shrouded a statue of Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia in black. D’Souza said it’s important for conservatives to realize that it isn’t merely about taking down history, as some have claimed. “That’s actually not what they’re up to,” he said. “They’re not merely taking down history. They’re trying to promote their own very selective reading of history,” he went on. Said D’Souza, “What the left is doing is targeting the types of monuments...

A statue of St. Junipero Serra at the Old Santa Barbara Mission in California has been decapitated and splashed with red paint. The bronze statue was vandalized overnight between Sunday and Monday.

In this cradle of the free speech movement, from the very campus where the First Amendment has been tested time and again, a new poll from UC Berkeley shows California voters are split over the delicate question of whether white nationalist groups should be allowed to demonstrate.

A student government official recently resigned from his post due to the inclusion of “conservative students” in a discussion on “inclusive dialogue.” Lafayette College’s Intercultural Affairs Chair Jovanté Anderson, one of five student officials who chose to resign before the student government’s first meeting, announced his resignation via Facebook, saying it was was necessary to hold “student government accountable for the ways it failed students of color.”

"They fear that the development and building of People's (community) Organizations is the building of a vast power group which may fall prey to a fascistic demagogue who will seize leadership and control and turn an organization into a Frankenstein's monster against democracy." - Saul Alinsky responding to his critics, Reveille for Radicals; p. 199 When Saul Alinsky began building his community-organization movement in 1930s Chicago, observers were watching Alinsky with one eye, while with the other eye observing the building of communist and fascist movements in Europe.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday announced the 16-member committee that will review all "symbols of hate" on city property over the next three months. Announced in the wake of violence waged by white nationalists at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last month, the group is tasked with establishing guidelines for how to assess statues and monuments "seen as oppressive and inconsistent with the values of New York City." The group will also make specific recommendations for "a select few items," according to City Hall. This number undoubtedly includes the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle, which Mayor de...

As Sharia continues to descend over the Internet. Remember Google’s old motto, “Don’t be evil”? It sounds so ironic now, with the social media giants all rushing to implement Sharia blasphemy restrictions and choke off all criticism of Islam. Twitter is working so hard to do this that it should adopt a new motto: “Be evil.” Twitter certainly lives by that motto. It lets stand open death threats against me. It censors content to suit Iran’s Islamic authorities. It has flagged as “hateful” tweets stating the fact that Islam is not a religion of peace and reporting accurately about anti-Semitic...

This one falls under "too stupid to believe," but it's actually true. Twitter has banned writer Elizabeth Johnston, who writes at "The Activist Mommy," for her war of words with Teen Vogue editor Phillip Picardi Not only has Twitter banned her, but YouTube will not allow her video commentaries to be monetized. While Johnston's posts and views are controversial to some, none of what she has to say is new. Her views on homosexuality come from the best-selling book in the world — the Bible. The tweet that got her booted was a little salty and perhaps not the best...

RUSH: Mike Huckabee, he and his daughter went on The View yesterday. Did you know this? Why? Why do our people go on these shows and be insulted? Joy Behar, who’s, what, 84 now? (interruption) Me? No. Joy Behar looked at Mike Huckabee, and she said, “Let’s not pretend that Trump hasn’t said some horrible things about women. Let’s not pretend.” And of course Huckabee’s nodding and so forth and the audience of these crazy left-wingers is going nuts. And then she says, “How can you, how can you have your daughter, how can you send your daughter to defend...

IT IS INSUFFICIENT TO STATE the obvious of Donald Trump: that he is a white man who would not be president were it not for this fact. With one immediate exception, Trump’s predecessors made their way to high office through the passive power of whiteness—that bloody heirloom which cannot ensure mastery of all events but can conjure a tailwind for most of them. Land theft and human plunder cleared the grounds for Trump’s forefathers and barred others from it. Once upon the field, these men became soldiers, statesmen, and scholars; held court in Paris; presided at Princeton; advanced into the...

USA Today is touting a report out this morning that “ID’ed 4500 Trump golf-club members through” their social media accounts as well as an online service that lets golfers track their handicaps: Do they not see how awful this looks?

Comedian Steve Harvey said he ultimately regrets his decision to meet with President Trump, saying he should have listened to his wife's advice not to attend the meeting. "Here's the crazy thing: I'm supposed to be on a boat for my 60th birthday, so my wife says, 'Steve, just take off [and skip the meeting]. You'll meet with him some other time.' God, I should've listened," Harvey told The Hollywood Reporter. Harvey, who interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the campaign, met with Trump in January at Trump Tower before his inauguration. Former President Barack Obama's transition team facilitated...

ITV show Good Morning Britain has faced an angry backlash for giving a platform to an advocate of "gay cure" therapy. Dr Mike Davidson, who claims he was “cured” of homosexuality through prayer, took part in a heated argument with presenter Piers Morgan on the programme on Tuesday morning. While Morgan openly challenged Dr Davidson on the programme, many viewers vented their anger that the controversial doctor was even featured. Viewers on social media slammed his outing as “irresponsible”, while LGBT rights charity Stonewall said his appearance was "dangerous” as it gives "validity to the debate". Labour MP Wes Streeting...

The leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center said the organization condemns the antifa movement but won't brand it with the center's often-cited "hate group" designation. Richard Cohen, the president of the SPLC, told the Washington Examiner the loosely organized antifa movement, short for anti-fascism, is "wrongheaded" in opposing free speech and using violence. "We oppose these groups and what they're trying to do. We just don't think anyone should be able to censor someone else's speech," Cohen said, echoing and endorsing recent statements from progressive scholar Noam Chomsky.

The left has been pushing the notion that masculinity is “toxic” and must be rooted out. Classes of college students are propagandized to this point of view, often mandatorily imposed. “Feminist“ speakers and books for young girls promote it and women’s magazines are full of such drivel. This week it’s apparent that it’s this kind of nonsense that’s toxic, not masculinity. Often it’s a cover for jealousy and a corrupt search for power. Vogue Skunked Beginning with the less overtly significant, we have the Stiletto war. When stunningly gorgeous Melania Trump headed off for Texas to comfort the residents beset...

Yes, the MSM has admitted they got 2016 exactly wrong and that they are out-of-touch with the average American. What truly terrifies the media about 2016, though, is something that has remained largely unspoken. It is what Trump’s victory said so clearly about the MSM’s inability to influence public opinion and, by extension, the outcome of elections. What has also remained unspoken is the media’s desperate and dangerous reaction to this waning influence. As a 25 year media-watcher, I have never seen anything close to the propaganda campaign the national media launched to defeat Donald Trump last year. It was...