Free Republic

Five Morgan Hill students sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts 2:11 PM By Lindsay Bryant Five male students were asked to leave Live Oak High School this morning because they were wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. Officials at the school could not be reached for comment, but one student said administrators called the T-shirts "incendiary." "They said we were starting a fight, we were fuel to the fire," said Matt Dariano, a sophomore. The five teens were sitting at a table outside during their brunch break around 10:10 a.m. when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two...

The night the NYC car bomb attempt went down, I was so grateful that, once again, the diligence of the public and the swift action of the NYC Police thwarted yet another potential attack. Shortly thereafter, while still incredibly grateful obviously, I became angry. I’ve had it. Firstly, because the current strategy of homeland security seems to be “Hey, guys, we’ve totally unclenched our fists. We can haz cookie now?” Secondly, because the left and their media lackeys are not only dangerously naive, but also purposefully misleading.They are so deeply invested in both political correctness and in their violent, racist...

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration is releasing a major statement on nuclear weapons policy that will herald a further shrinking of the U.S. arsenal, even as it rejects some sweeping steps advocated by arms control advocates. The statement, to be released Tuesday, will announce that the arsenal will shrink by thousands of warheads, and it will further restrict when the weapons may be used, U.S. officials say. But the administration has rejected proposals to declare that the "sole purpose" of nuclear arms is deterrence, nor will it promise that the United States won't be the first to use...

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons, even in self defense. But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for “outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation. Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to...

A longtime budget hawk and currently CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, David Walker says America's growing long-term debt is dangerously close to passing a "tipping point" that could trigger soaring interest rates and a plummeting dollar. In a worst case scenario, that could trigger a "global depression," he says, warning: "Nobody's going to bail out America." With the U.S. facing $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities and around $62 trillion in total long-term debt, what worries Walker most is what happens after the recession dissipates, as detailed here. "I'm less concerned with the short-term deficits than I am the...

EDITORIAL Swiss Ban On Minarets Is Pure Discrimination Sunday's referendum is a reminder that cultural anxieties can be inflamed even in the most tolerant country. December 2, 2009 Integrating Islamic immigrants has proved to be a multifaceted challenge for European nations unaccustomed to religious and cultural diversity. But there's nothing complicated about the decision of voters in Switzerland to prohibit further construction of minarets. It's religious discrimination pure and simple. Sunday's referendum, in which 57.5% of voters approved the ban on minarets -- a traditional feature of mosques -- is a reminder that cultural anxieties can be inflamed even in...

Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government. The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes California-based Icann towards a new status as an international body with greater representation from companies and governments around the globe. Icann had previously been operating under the auspices of the American government, which had control of the net thanks to its initial role in developing the...

THOMSON, Ill., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Thousands of jobs would be created in Illinois if the U.S. government purchases a nearly empty prison there to house terror detainees, a study indicates. The study, performed by the Obama White House Council of Economic Advisers and obtained by The Chicago Sun-Times, asserted that 2,290 to 2,960 jobs would be created in and around Thomson, Ill., in the first year after its conversion to house some of the prisoners now held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, the newspaper reported Sunday. Local residents in the Illinois-Iowa border town would be "good candidates"...

New Citizenship Guides Spells It Out The Canadian government has just revamped its citizenship guide for immigrants. The document is titled “The Rights and Responsibilities of Canadian Citizenship.” According to Canada’s National Post, “In Canada, men and women are equal under the law,” the document says. “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,’ female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws.” Western governments are beginning to wake up to dangerous or “barbaric” practices among immigrants—especially among Muslim immigrants. Whether...

As President Obama belatedly appears at Fort Hood today, will he dare to speak the word "terror?" He won't use the word "Islamist." If he mentions Islam at all, it'll be to sing its praises yet again. We've already learned that Islamist terrorist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan attended the Northern Virginia mosque of Imam Anwar al-Aulaqi, a fiery al Qaeda supporter who later fled the United States. We know that Hasan's peers, subordinates and patients repeatedly raised red flags that his superiors suppressed. We know he was a player on Islamist-extremist Web sites. The FBI's uncovering one extremist link after...

President Barack Obama's display on Thursday made my point more clearly than it usually can be made, for he turned on a dime. He assumed the "presidential grieving tone" over the Fort Hood massacre, the moment after he'd just done an equally scripted segment of light joking banter for the benefit of the Tribal Nations Conference he was addressing. Millions in the television audience must have watched this incredibly cynical "quick flip." I wonder how many noticed it? We should not allow ourselves to be moved by the cold hearts of professional tear-jerkers because when we reward that kind of...

Three-quarters of teachers in Britain's schools believe they should warn pupils about the dangers of patriotism - which some regard as a form of 'brainwashing', researchers have found. A nationwide study found the majority of teachers felt they should not be promoting the subject at all in the classroom, with some preferring to instruct their pupils in the benefits of 'universal brotherhood'. And even those who felt positively about patriotism felt the need to qualify and tone down their support, stressing that they disliked 'jingoistic flag-waving'. The findings are a blow for the Government after Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke...

It is hot in Brussels. Ramadan has begun. The faithful in the predominantly Muslim borough of Molenbeek are not allowed to eat or drink from sunrise until sunset. Non-Muslim policemen, patrolling the streets of Molenbeek in their sweltering cars, are not allowed to eat or drink either. As every year during Ramadan, that they have been told by their superior, Philippe Moureaux, the Socialist mayor of Molenbeek, they have to respect Muslim sensitivities and not to “provoke” Muslims by violating Islamic Ramadan restrictions in public. In effect, Islamic or Sharia law is already applied - for everyone - in the...

Politicians in Colorado are split over the chance detainees from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, could be imprisoned at the Supermax federal detention facility in Florence. Some say Supermax can handle Gitmo suspects just fine, others warn it’s too dangerous. But the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado said in a statement to the Colorado Independent Friday afternoon that moving Gitmo detainees — including many only suspected of crimes — to the country’s most secure prison “is simply another form of torture, one which makes a mockery of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ ” While the Obama administration’s plans to shut...

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama confirmed on Tuesday that he plans to stick to the aggressive targets he had set earlier for fighting climate change and for spurring the development of clean-energy technology, saying, “Delay is no longer an option.” The remarks were striking for being made in what was billed as a “surprise taped statement,” before a bipartisan conference on climate change in Los Angeles that included governors who have battled the Bush administration by trying to pass stricter pollution standards than federal guidelines require. Officials from at least 10 other countries were also present, and Mr. Obama addressed...

It has been sixty years since George Orwell wrote his chilling dystopian classic, 1984, and it has been thirty years since we saw the creepiest example of educated and free people willingly walking into a living dystopia.  November 18, 1978, three decades ago, 918 people drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide.  Jim Jones, the communist leader of Jonestown, Guyana, had become "Big Brother." Soviet and Communist Chinese propaganda films and condemnations of capitalist and imperialist America blared continually to the subjects of this island of Leftist Hell. Jonestown ended in mass suicide, but the real horror was that ordinary people, Americans...

“Drink the Kool-Aid” has long been a part of the vernacular, used in both a positive and negative sense when we talk about following a mission or philosophy; that is, “buying the program” or “swallowing the party line.” But its origin lies in the 1978 tragedy at Jonestown, where over 900 members of Peoples Temple took poisoned fruit punch at the behest of their leader, Jim Jones. For those connected personally to this horror, the ubiquitous “Kool-Aid” metaphor, often used frivolously, recalls an unending nightmare. One little known footnote: the fruit drink actually used at Jonestown on that day was...

Why Barack Obama Is Good For Israel By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem --- November 4, 2008...... Israel by its very nature is a conservative nation. With the threat of terror attacks and war taking place at any moment, Israel deserves that status. So when many of my Facebook friends ask me how can I as an Israeli vote for Obama, I understand where they are coming from. Just Obama's name is enough to scare anyone walking the streets of Tel Aviv, Haifa or Jerusalem. And Barack Obama has had many friends in the past who helped create an...

A fast-growing anti-Republican wave threatens to significantly shrink the party's ranks in Congress, as Democratic challengers make headway against once safe incumbents including the Senate's minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Nearly a dozen Senate Republicans - many considered safe for re-election just weeks ago - are now in locked in tight races with Democrats. Analysts and operatives agree that such a change could put Democrats within reach of a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority. Democrats also are poised to make significant gains in the House, where they now have a 36-seat majority in the 435-member chamber. Analysts are predicting that Republicans...

A college has renamed the traditional Christmas and Easter breaks in a bid to avoid offending students from other religions. The college's new calendar shows that both of the traditional holiday periods have now been re-branded as 'end of term breaks'. Critics have complained that the decision by Yorkshire Coast College is nothing more than 'political correctness'. Tory MP Robert Goodwill said: 'I have heard that some people refer to the Christmas period as the Winterval, which is worse. This is absolutely barmy. 'We are a Christian country and, to be honest, religious tolerance in this country is about respecting...