Free Republic

ARLINGTON, Va. The perfect symmetry of alabaster headstones, majestically holding formation along this national cemetery's pastoral hills, reminds you that our soldiers are sentinels guarding our republic, even in death. On a sunny spring day, a lone figure held a tiny flag blowing vigorously in the wind as he knelt before a headstone. He held a conversation with a lost service member, perhaps a son or daughter, alternating between amusement and grief. Taps played from off in the distance. Only the heartless could fail to be touched by the raw emotion of that moment or by the somber presence of...

Tom Balek with Watchdog.org is doing the kind of local reporting that I hope we see more of. This story comes from the not terribly exciting sounding environment of a high school in South Carolina. Peyton Robinson is a senior at the local school who is also a volunteer fireman and drives his own pickup truck. Mounted in the back are two flags… one the American flag and the other a POW/MIA flag. Unfortunately, Peyton showed up for school one day and found that his display was no longer welcome. Peyton Robinson, a senior at York Comprehensive High School in...

Seventy-five years ago today, the House of Commons in London timidly welcomed the newly appointed Prime Minister of the British Empire, Winston Spencer Churchill. The outgoing Prime Minister,Neville Chamberlain, received ovations as they walked together down the long aisle, while the new leader endured a somewhat cool reception. The two men were adversaries. Chamberlain had declared upon returning from signing the Munich Accords in September, 1938, “Peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.” Churchill’s response had been, “You were given the choice between peace and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.” The Accords...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest that exploded in violence over the weekend in Texas was organized by Pamela Geller, a New Yorker who rails against Islam with such ferocity that one of the nation's top civil rights groups lists her in its "extremist files." WHO IS PAMELA GELLER? Geller, 56, is head of an organization called the American Freedom Defense Initiative. Through websites, books, ad campaigns and public events, Geller has been warning for years that Islam threatens to destroy the U.S.

Tim Chambers of Vista is famous for 5-hour frozen tribute to vets on Memorial Day weekend VISTA, Calif. — Every year on Memorial Day weekend, more than 800,000 motorcyclists rumble through the streets of Washington, D.C., in a display of respect for war dead and military veterans known as Rolling Thunder. And standing at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street to acknowledge each and every rider is “The Saluting Marine.” Veteran Marine Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers of Vista started his silent vigil on a whim in 2002. Today, he considers the annual effort both his civic duty...

A California school dispute that arose when students wore shirts emblazoned with the American flag on Cinco de Mayo could prompt the Supreme Court to take a new look at free-speech rules for high schools. Ever since students protested the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands, the justices have said the 1st Amendment protects the rights of students to peacefully protest at school, so long as their actions do not lead to a "substantial disruption." In recent years, however, some school officials have moved to curtail political fashion statements such as wearing T-shirts with Confederate flags or anti-gay slogans. They...

Patriotic teenagers in the birthplace of the American Revolution held their ground and fought back attempts by school administrators to cancel an “American Pride” dance on April 10 and replace it with a more inclusive event. (snip) Principal Laura Lasa told me the April 10th dance had never been canceled. They merely wanted to “dialogue” with students about inclusivity. “We were in a conversation with the kids about how the theme would be presented so that we could make sure that it was inclusive to all students,” Lasa said. “they took that as being told they could not.” (snip) Over...

When Republicans complained that Obama refused to talk about Islamic terrorism, he accused them of playing into the hands of ISIS by demanding that he identify the enemy we’re fighting.When they spoke out against his Iranian nuclear sellout, he accused them of “wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran”.Those hardliners would presumably toe a harder line than Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who responded to Obama’s outreach in his first term by saying, “The Islamic peoples all over the world chant ‘Death to America!’” and who stated last year that “This battle will only end when...

A friend recently sent out a link to an article in the Greensboro (NC) News and Record, in which a left-wing columnist by the name of Susan Ladd decries the notion of American exceptionalism. To her, the idea that the United States of America is better than anyone else, or has even been a positive force for good in world history, is "hypocritical" and just plain wrong. She is appalled that people would protest against the recent revisions of the AP History curriculum, a revision which was developed by left-wing activists and which leaves out large chunks of actual American...

The Star-Spangled Banner will once again wave at the University of California, Irvine, after student government leaders nixed a bid to ban the American flag from a campus lobby. Members of the executive cabinet of the Associated Students of UC Irvine met Saturday in an emergency session to reverse the flag ban.

March 4th was Presidential Inauguration Day from 1793 till 1933, when it was changed by the 20th Amendment to January 20th. Many presidents gave warnings in their inaugural addresses. James Monroe, March 4, 1817, Inaugural Address “It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. … Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. … The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin.” Franklin Pierce, March 4, 1853, Inaugural Address “The dangers of a concentration of...

Yes, we know that politicians are famous for making campaign statements and commitments that once elected, we never hear again. But there is one exception. See if you can identify who it is! On the CBS news program, “Meet the Press,” Sunday, September 7, 2008, this candidate was asked a number of questions: 1. Why don’t you wear an American flag pin in your lapel? “As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking sides. There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression.”...

We can’t say that Barack Obama hasn’t warned us. While running for his first term as president he clearly told us that he intended to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America. The naïve among us took that proclamation to mean something positive. Those who looked at Obama’s history with a little more discernment were very uncomfortable with exactly what Barack Obama intended to do if elected. Promising to “fundamentally transform” was a rather vague and ambiguous statement, unless one took a close look at who he associated with throughout his life. It then quickly sent chills down one’s spine....

WASHINGTON -- When former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he did not think that "the president loves America," was he right? Of course he was. The record is strewn with President Barack Obama's statements of contempt for America. In a quieter setting, I think Professor Obama would agree. He would then go on to brag about his love for higher things: for humankind, for the world community, for the planet, the green planet. Recall in 2009 when Obama told a European audience, "There have been times when America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive toward" Europe. I...

Last week former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed that President Obama "doesn't love America" at a fundraiser for potential Republican Presidential candidate Scott Walker. The comments caused a major controversy, and only this week has Giuliani partially walked back from his words saying in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that he didn't "intend to question President Obama's motives of the content of his heart". YouGov's latest research shows that Americans do tend to think that Barack Obama does, in fact, love America. 47% say that the president loves America, while 35% agree with Rudy Giuliani that the...

The poll numbers are narrow, but the results are still stunning.White people say by 42% to 41% that Obama does not love America. Now the results are within the margin of error, but if you believe the media, they should never have been this close.Obama’s favorables among whites are down to around a third.But Obama’s patriotism isn’t particularly convincing even to Hispanics, only 52 percent of whom believe that Obama loves America.How would Obama supporters care to explain that? Clearly he isn’t projecting his love too convincingly for anyone except black voters, many of whom continue to blindly support...

President Barack Obama’s love of country isn’t just a concern for Rudy Giuliani, according to a recent Huffington Post/YouGov poll. A plurality of Americans surveyed — 47 percent — said that Obama loves America, but the rest say the president does not or that they’re not sure. The responses break down an expected partisan line, with only 11 percent of Republicans saying Obama loves America, and 85 percent of Democrats responding the same way. Independents are mostly split, with 42 percent say Obama loves the U.S., while 38 percent disagree and 20 percent are not sure. Story Continued Below The...

Yesterday’s news became big news on the Fox News Channel last week when former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani brought up the name of President Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis. It was almost seven years to the day when we published our seminal piece about Davis, “Obama’s Communist Mentor.” Davis was a member of the Communist Party and a suspected Soviet espionage agent. He was included in the FBI’s security index, meaning that Davis could be arrested or detained in the event of a national emergency. The FBI file on Davis documents his anti-white and pro-Soviet views,...

MSNBC might like to replace "Lean Forward" with a new slogan: "Dissent Is Unpatriotic." On today's Morning Joe, discussing the Rudy flap, Mika Brzezinski said: "I question the patriotism of someone who questions the president's patriotism." Joe Scarborough retorted that for years on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann got away with saying much worse about W without criticism from Mika or others in the MSM. View the video here.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani says he is standing by his comments about President Barack Obama but has received death threats in the wake of the controversial statements. Facing criticism over his statements that the president doesn't love Obama, Giuliani says he is not withdrawing his words, even amid death threats he and his secretary received following the remarks, CNN reports. The former mayor did not say whether he contacted police about the threatening calls.