Free Republic

Prince released his much-anticipated protest song about “Baltimore” on Saturday — one day before his scheduled “Rally 4 Peace” concert in the troubled city.

Prince will share his feelings on the unrest in Baltimore in the way he knows best -- in song. The legendary artist has recorded a “tribute to all of the people of the city of Baltimore,” a spokesperson tells Billboard. Though release plans haven’t been announced, it's understood the track will address Freddie Gray's death in Baltimore police custody, and the socio/political issues around the nation following a spate of killings of young black men.

TMZ is reporting that Prince has died in Minnesota. Prince’s publicist has confirmed the news to his hometown newspaper. The site first reported the news that authorities responded to a medical emergency at his Paisley Park home and studio on Thursday morning. According to Carver County Sheriff Chief Deputy Jason Kamerud, deputies responded to Paisley Park at 9:43 a.m.

Target Corp. made it clear that transgender people in its stores are welcome to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. The statement Tuesday by the Minneapolis-based retailer comes amid debates in many state legislatures over restricting public restroom use to the sex listed on a person’s birth certificate. While many of those conversations have centered around restrooms in public schools and government buildings, Target appears to be one of the first big-box retailers to take a proactive stance in declaring its position on the matter when it comes to its own restrooms. While they may not be...

One hour into a presentation on the perceived threat posed by Muslim immigrants, St. Cloud car salesman and anti-immigration activist Ron Branstner ramps up his pitch. The United Nations, he begins, sends Muslim refugees to the United States and to such cities as St. Cloud, “to divide and conquer, get rid of our Constitution, get rid of our way of life and implement it with another way of life called. …” Branstner pauses for effect, and a few people in the crowd of 100 shout the answer: “sharia law!” The speaker nods. “Sharia law.” Branstner’s radical message made up of...

An exchange between Neil Cavuto and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) regarding a lawsuit filed by the House against the Obama administration grew so contentious, that the former cut to commercial in the midst of Bachmann furiously admonishing him.While Bachmann was on Fox to defend the lawsuit, which claims that the administration has abused his powers via over-using executive privilege and wants to defund him, Cavuto exasperatedly pointed out that the timing of the lawsuit seemed too political to make sense. “You’ve been bemoaning it for a long time. Why now the suit?” he asked. “Why not just fix things...

Do you think the ACLU will be suing any time soon?  Because there’s a catch.  Brendan of Supreme Patriot noticed something: Buried deep in a PBS article about how the St. Cloud, Minn., school district is accommodating a large Somali population was a telling example of religious bias. While public schools have appropriately been barred from leading students in corporate Christian prayer, this district is going out of its way to satisfy the desires of the Muslim community. PBS approvingly writes: In St. Cloud’s middle and high schools, the district allows prayer time for students, including Muslim students, as...

Protesters blocked traffic and light rail trains Monday afternoon as the Twins home opener was getting underway at Target Field. The activists from Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and Catholic Workers staged demonstrations around the stadium — one blocking traffic on N. 7th Street and Glenwood Avenue and another on the light rail tracks near the Target Field Station. There were about 30 activists participating in each demonstration. The gathering on N. 7th Street ended when demonstrators left less than 15 minutes after it began.

To the frantic manager of a Coon Rapids Burger King Friday night, the choice was to act fast or face disaster. A caller who said he was a fire department official said there was a gas leak in the building and that unless the windows were smashed, a gas buildup in the building would cause an explosion. So the manager and Burger King employees evacuated the restaurant and started smashing ground floor windows. Every single one. Problem was, it was a hoax. The caller was no firefighter. There was no gas.

We received disappointing news this week: Taxpayer funded abortions jumped more than 16 percent to a total of 3,957 in 2014, costing taxpayers $953,187 (Minnesota Department of Human Services latest figures). And guess which abortionist was responsible for virtually all of the increase? Planned Parenthood—no surprise. Abortion numbers have been trending down as more women in the state turn away from abortion. Since 2007, abortion numbers have decreased every year but one. Likewise, in only two of those years has the number of taxpayer funded abortions increased. But 2014 saw a bigger spike than has occurred since 2000. Just as...

After 19 years of taxpayer-funded abortions, Minnesotans are paying for 39 percent of all abortions performed in the state. Taxpayers have funded more than 73,000 abortions at a cost of $22.5 million, according to a just-released report from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). Taxpayer-funded abortions numbered almost 4,000 in Minnesota in 2014; nearly all of those abortions were elective. Taxpayers are forced to fund abortions due to a successful 1995 challenge to Minnesota’s law which prohibited funding of most abortions. Since then, abortion advocates have steadily marketed taxpayer-funded abortions to low-income women. Taxpayers now pay for 39 percent...

Beginning in 1478, the Spanish Inquisition systematically silenced any citizen who held views that did not align with the king’s. Using the powerful arm of the government, the grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, and his henchmen sought out all those who held religious, scientific, or moral views that conflicted with the monarch’s, punishing the “heretics” with jail sentences, property confiscation, fines, and in severe cases, torture, and execution. One of the lasting results of the Spanish Inquisition was a stifling of speech, thought, and scientific debate throughout Spain. By treating one set of scientific views as absolute, infallible, and above...

How affordable is the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare? One just needs to look at the state of Minnesota. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota increased its individual health insurance premiums by an average of 49 percent in 2016. In Minnesota, many younger people may now have to pay for a portion of the health care assistance a dead parent received in the past. When Minnesota agreed to expand its Medicaid program, required asset tests were eliminated. Prior to that change, assets such as real estate were accounted for when determining eligibility. Now assets are not used...

Five individuals who have donated to Democratic politicians pleaded guilty to a scheme that drained Medicare out of $33 million dollars. Two physicians and three owners of hospice and home care companies based out of Detroit, Mich., were charged on June 18, 2015 as part of the largest Medicare fraud case in history for submitting fraudulent claims for home health care and hospice services that were either not provided or deemed medically unnecessary.The elaborate operation revolved around Muhammad Tariq, Shahid Tahir, and Manawar Javed—the owners of the home health care and hospice companies—paying kickbacks and bribes to physicians for referrals...

Gov. Mark Dayton (MN) has forbidden state employees from business travel to North Carolina as a reaction to that state’s recent law banning local anti-discrimination policies. The North Carolina law passed last week bans transgender people from using locker rooms and bathrooms designated for the gender with which they identify. The law enacts a statewide anti-discrimination policy, but one that not does specifically provide protections for gay and transgender men and women and prohibits local municipalities from enacting their own anti-discrimination policies. Arkansas and Tennessee passed similar laws in 2014 and 2011, respectively.

With the 2016 election season well underway, millions of voters across the country have already cast their ballots in primaries and caucuses. Republican and Democratic candidates are locked in close races for the highest office in the land, and every vote cast makes a difference.The Heritage Foundation’s voter fraud database catalogues over 400 cases of proven voter fraud throughout America. Whether it be vote-buying, ineligible voting, false registrations, or fraudulent use of absentee ballots, the database makes clear that voter fraud is a real issue and one that must be effectively addressed—not denied, as some voter reform critics have done—in...

A federal judge in Minneapolis is considering whether to remove one or more members of a defense team in the ISIL recruitment cases before him after prosecutors cited evidence that one of the men was “apparently preaching about jihad and related topics.” U.S. District Judge Michael Davis has ordered a hearing Friday to determine whether there are grounds to disqualify anyone representing Mohamed Farah, one of five co-defendants scheduled to stand trial on charges of conspiring to murder abroad and providing material support to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). According to Davis’ order, filed Monday, the...

Police arrested a 23-year-old suspect in a federal terror case Sunday. That’s after they say he was threatening to kill people inside a Twin Cities Walgreens. Abdul Raheem Habil Ali-Skelton is from Glencoe. Just last week, federal prosecutors said he was in contact with terrorists in Syria last year. Early Sunday morning, Ali-Skelton was arrested at a Walgreens in Brooklyn Park. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS contacted Ali-Skelton’s attorney in his federal case. Robert Richman said he’s “shocked” by the allegations of threats made at Walgreens. He went on to say that those actions would be “completely out of character” for his...

An intern principal in St. Paul, Minn., has been placed on leave after activists complained about allegedly offensive remarks he made on Facebook. Brian White Jr., an intern principal at John A. Johnson Elementary School, was suspended by St. Paul School District for criticizing crossdressing and making various posts criticizing welfare and indicating support for traditional male and female gender roles. The comments were all made on White’s Facebook page, which is public.

This is not a joke: Hillary needs someone like Franken if she’s going to beat Trump. Senator Al Franken should be the Democratic Party’s choice for Vice-President. If I had said that 10 years ago, or even six months ago, the notion would have been preposterous: a former Saturday Night Live writer, perhaps best known as the mock self help guru Stuart Smalley, Franken became synonymous with left-wing bombast thanks to his best-selling book “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot.” He took the presidency itself as a joke, writing a satirical campaign memoir, “Why Not Me,” in which Franken...