Free Republic

The U.S. Senate under the guidance – or, if you prefer, the thumb – of Harry Reid isn’t interested in getting to the bottom of scandals involving the IRS, Benghazi or the Veterans Administration. But half the Senate—50 members, count ‘em, 50 – decided that the worst problem facing us was that their hometown football team continues to call itself the Washington Redskins. Even though a poll has shown that 80 percent of actual Native Americans have no problem with the name, Harry Reid and his coven of chowderheads have decided that something must be done. The very idea that...

There comes a point where the Left’s calumnizing of conservatives, its endless quest to delegitimize ordinary words, and its determination to criminalize religious expression all combine to make me want to offend as many leftists as I can, in response, just for fun. But not only for fun: Deliberately choosing to offend them, and thus trying to shred their ideological straitjackets, is occasionally a necessary endeavor. We on the right must show that we need not cower; we can and must fight back. In that spirit: To 50-year-old men, 20-year-old females are indeed “girls.” Not women. Get over it. If...

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson says the White House wanted him to apologize for “offending” President Obama after he famously delivered a conservative message at the National Prayer Breakfast last year. Carson, the former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, recalls the events surrounding his 2013 speech in his new book, One Nation: What We Can All Do To Save America’s Future. The Daily Caller obtained an advance copy of the book, which is set for release May 20. “He did not appear to be hostile or angry,” Carson writes of Obama, “but within a matter of minutes after the...

A fed-up Attorney General Eric Holder is accusing congressional critics of launching "unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive" attacks on him and the Obama administration. During a speech to the National Action Network in New truthYork on Wednesday lauding the organization's effort to advance racial equality, a heated Holder went a little off-script. "Forget about me [specifically]. Look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee," Holder told the crowd. "What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that...

A first grader in California has been told she’s not permitted to talk about the Bible at school. A teacher at Temecula Valley School told her first grade class to bring an object to school that represented a family Christmas tradition and then give a one-minute presentation. Brynn Williams brought the star that tops her family’s Christmas tree and shared how her family remembers Jesus’ birth at Christmas. “The star is named the Star of Bethlehem,” Brynn said. “The three kings followed the star to find the baby Jesus, the Savior of the world.” Brynn had planned to end her...

...a Northern Ireland politician has said. The attraction in Sichuan province, about 930 miles from the sea, will let hundreds of people at a time experience the shipwreck. The Titanic was built in east Belfast. Former Lord Mayor of Belfast Jim Rodgers said he had asked the Chinese firm behind the 1bn yuan (£100.7m) project to reconsider their plans. He said that while it was a "great idea" to build the Titanic replica at the Romandisea Seven Star International Cultural Tourism Resort, "to have a simulation of an iceberg collision is going a step too far".

After decades of controlling America’s energy narrative, on January 5, CBS’s 60 Minutes fired a shot that has put the green lobby on the defensive. The next day, two very different media outlets lobbed blows that could represent a new trend; a change of tone in Washington. The 60 Minutes piece, featuring correspondent Lesley Stahl, aired, perhaps intentionally, at a time when it may have had the lowest possible viewership, as it aired opposite the NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. You may have missed it. But environmental/renewable-energy believers took the hit—and they...

Has society really become quite thin-skinned, or is acting “offended” a new tactic that is being used to shut down legitimate political debate? Progressives are increasingly claiming to be offended whenever those on the right disagree with their left-wing positions. It doesn't matter what the issue is; the left will divert a legitimate political debate into an accusation that the right disagrees with them because they are full of hate towards them. This puts the right on the defensive, and removes the real debate from discussion. It then becomes difficult for the right to ever prevail with their position, because...

Why aren’t Christians allowed to be offended? We’re reminded of this issue every year at this time as we observe the War on Christmas. And this sensitivity to offense doesn’t stop with Christmas. Why is it that we’re required to be silent while the gay agenda, feminism, multiculturalism, radical environmentalism, and globalism are deified and taught to our children, while the Christian worldview is vilified by the same government officials?

Barack Obama said he was very offended that critics have accused him of a coverup. This is despite the fact that the administration called the terrorist attack a protest for weeks… Even though they watched 150 jihadists attack our consulate and murder our ambassador. The Politico reported: President Obama fired back at critics who have accused his administration of orchestrating a cover up over the September attacks in Libya.“I do take offense with some suggestion that in any way, we haven’t tried to make sure that the American people knew as the information was coming in what we believed,” Obama...

President Obama fired back at critics who have accused his administration of orchestrating a cover up over the September attacks in Libya. “I do take offense with some suggestion that in any way, we haven’t tried to make sure that the American people knew as the information was coming in what we believed," Obama told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in an interview that aired Monday. (snip) “If we find out we that there was a big breakdown, and somebody didn’t do their job, they’ll be held accountable,” Obama said. “Ultimately, as commander-in-chief, I’m responsible, and I don’t shy away from that...

“Call me Ishmael”, is the opening sentence that opens the novel “Moby Dick” authored by Herman Melville. Ishmael, who is telling the story of Moby Dick, recounts that he is sailing to sea out of a sense of alienation and cultural inadequacy. ..... Ever since the days of Napoleon's landing upon the shores of Egypt at the very end of the 18th Century and bringing with him the modern era to the Middle East, Islam has been unable to free itself from the shackles of inferiority and self-destructive primal rage that typifies the hatred of modern day Islamic radicalism against...

It sounds like parody, but (this story) from Spain is evidently true: The parents of a Muslim boy who attends a secondary school in La Línea, Cádiz province, have reported their son's teacher for an incident in the boy's geography class which the child said caused him offence as a Muslim. The teacher, José Reyes Fernández, with more than 20 years in the profession, was explaining to the class how the cold climate in Trevélez, Granada province, aided in the curing of the village's most famous local product, jamón serrano. The boy told his teacher that hearing the word 'ham'...

So I was talking on the phone to a customer service rep at a major insurance company. I was dreading this ordeal because as I said, I was talking on the phone to a customer service rep at a major insurance company. Rarely is that a pleasant experience. But…this conversation was a good one. Most of all, I enjoyed it because this lady was a Chicago Cubs fan but she was also open to my overtures about church. Being familiar with her area, I asked if she had heard of “So and So Church.” She was drawing a blank at...

Images from a Saudi flag on a soccer ball are drawing complaints from Muslims in South Africa, host of the 2010 World Cup.(CNSNews.com) – An Islamic clerics’ group in South Africa is protesting the appearance of Koranic text in advertising and promotional merchandise for the soccer World Cup, which the country is hosting in 2010. At issue are soccer balls featuring images of flags of the world, including those of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. All three flags include words from the Koran. The Council of Muslim Theologians, based in Johannesburg, said in a statement that the use of text...

As explored here this past weekend, the Clarion Fund has paid dozens of newspapers across the country -- almost solely in "swing" election states -- and The New York Times to distribute the "Islam terror" DVD "Obsession" with their home delivery packages. Among the larger cities where this has taken place: Miami, Philadelphia, Denver and Pittsburgh. An estimated 28 million copies have been distributed so far, also through the mails and other magazines. An article at the group's site, www.radicalislam.org, all but endorsed John McCain this past week, then was pulled down. But at least one newspaper turned away the...

Jim Thrasher and his wife were enjoying the California State Fair this weekend until they came upon the Colusa County exhibit. For the African American couple from Sacramento, the exhibit's depiction of "Waldo Watermelon Seed" conjured up painful images of the Jim Crow era.

Sit down and shut up? Easier said than done, a Kern car dealer and the Oklahoma writer of the company’s controversial radio ad are finding. The spots have already finished a three-month run in eastern Kern and the Antelope Valley, but renewed interest prompted even the Ford Motor Co. to weigh in Wednesday. Kieffe & Sons Ford’s ads suggesting Christians “just tell the other 14 percent to sit down and shut up” had been Internet fodder for months, blog posts indicate. In recent days the topic suddenly resurfaced, said Tehachapi resident Dave Salyers. Numerous e-mails with the ad attached popped...

A Turkish lawyer is suing Inter Milan for taking to the field against Fenerbahce wearing a kit he claims is 'offensive to Muslim sensibilities'.

The National Association of Black Journalists urges Citadel Broadcasting chief executive Farid Suleman and Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes to halt negotiations to return former radio personality Don Imus to the radio and television broadcast airwaves. Recent reports that Imus is in informal talks with Fox Chairman Roger Ailes and is finalizing contractual details with Citadel Broadcasting are unimaginable. Imus was fired last April after the shock jock called members of the Rutgers women's basketball team 'nappy-headed ho's.' "NABJ remains outraged after the racially inflammatory insults made by Don Imus last spring. He used his free speech to broadcast hate...