Free Republic

Dear Amy: Four months before my daughter’s wedding, she told me that her uncle (my brother, “Dave”) would make her feel unsafe if he was a guest. She asked me not to invite him. My daughter is very politically progressive, as are many of her friends, and although she and Dave have always had a good relationship (I thought), he is a conservative voter and has supported candidates we all abhor. Dave has always been very nice, so my daughter’s request surprised me.

A grocery store. A hair salon. A church. In less than a week, these everyday settings have become the tragic backdrops for the latest outbreak of what has become the quintessential American expression of deadly violence — a mass shooting staged by a lone gunman armed to the teeth with guns and grievances. Experts who have studied the phenomenon said the three shootings, which have left 11 people dead and 11 more wounded since Wednesday, underscore a sad fact that most of us already understand on some level — that no place is safe anymore. “They are targeting people in...

Seattle Public Libraries (SPL) is reporting $434,000 in damage over the last 18 months, citing an increase in loitering, vandalism, and homeless encampments surrounding several of their branches. SPL laid out the most recent data in a memo to Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez. That includes reports of $170,000 in damage to the Central library branch on Fourth Avenue, in the form of seven shattered window panels damaged by a pellet gun. Other damage to that branch included one instance where an uninsured motorist ran into the building on its Madison Street side, breaking four large window panes and bending...

I didn't walk out of my classes or forsake my responsibilities as an act of defiant protest. I will perform my daily duties to the best of my ability, as a sign of commitment to the values I hold dear.Four years ago, students across America walked out of class (if they had shown up in the first place) in protest of the perceived horror that was the inauguration of President Donald Trump.Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill walked out of class to protest Trump’s inauguration. More than 100 students at Boston’s Northeastern University walked out of...

America has traditionally been known as a haven for free speech. Yes, you can’t scream “fire” in a crowded theater and cause a panic, but you can always stand up for what you believe in. Students, for better or worse, stood up against the government to protest the war in Vietnam. African-Americans marched for Civil Rights. Conservatives advocate for reduced taxes and less gun control. But the issue of free speech on college campuses never crossed their minds. They were free to say what they thought. Our system has been strengthened by that free speech because it brings debates into...

Any tax-funded bailouts for higher ed need to be contingent upon urgent structural reforms, and a new paper from the National Association of Scholars provides the blueprint. Should universities receive taxpayer-funded bailouts? The answer depends on who you ask. According to Universities U.K., the lobby group for British universities, the answer is an unequivocal yes, even when the suggestion has caused some dithering and calls for a further probe into the Conservative-led government.The Russell Group Universities, the British version of the American Ivies, will be the hardest hit due to the latest crisis, according to one study. In the United...

Multiple forms of socialism, from hard Stalinism to European redistribution, continue to fail. Russia and China are still struggling with the legacy of genocidal communism. Eastern Europe still suffers after decades of Soviet-imposed socialist chaos. Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, and Venezuela are unfree, poor, and failed states. Baathism—a synonym for pan-Arabic socialism—ruined the postwar Middle East. The soft-socialist European Union countries are stagnant and mostly dependent on the U.S. military for their protection. In contrast, current American deregulation, tax cuts, and incentives, and record energy production have given the United States the strongest economy in the world. So why, then,...

About 15 years ago, I started noticing a change in the world around me. It started out very subtly: a movie with an obvious liberal slant – the media, schools, government and even churches pushing social justice themes whenever they could slip them in without ruffling too many feathers. But this insidious march toward an unremitting takeover of our social fabric and American culture was never obstructed or even mildly opposed. As with most things in life, the reasons for the success of this situation were multi-faceted. Conservatives by nature are respectful of individuality and others’ opinions. We are the...

Photos of three McMurtry College sophomores wearing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement costumes to the Halloween event at Willy’s Pub drew student outrage on Twitter last night, leading to responses from university leadership. The photos show the students in line for Willy’s Pub wearing police uniforms with “ICE” prominently displayed on the back and breast with white tape. Two of the students who held college leadership positions as committee heads agreed to step down and all three will participate in a McMurtry town hall facilitated by their Diversity Council, according to McMurtry president Joyce Chen. The event will be held...

VIDEO Yes, there's MORE comedy gold from the Atlanta Democratic Socialists Convention of 2019. This time the inadvertent comedy is performed by a comrade who is laughably obsessed about the rules, especially those Trustafarian socialists who could be triggered by sensory overloads invading their safe spaces. JAZZ HANDS!!!

The First Amendment to our Constitution was proposed by the 1788 Virginia ratification convention during its narrow 89 to 79 vote to ratify the Constitution. Virginia's resolution held that the free exercise of religion, right to assembly and free speech could not be canceled, abridged or restrained. These Madisonian principles were eventually ratified by the states on March 1, 1792. Gettysburg College professor Allen C. Guelzo, in his article "Free Speech and Its Present Crisis," appearing in the autumn 2018 edition of City Journal, explores the trials and tribulations associated with the First Amendment. The early attempts to suppress free...

A new study out of Harvard—the first randomized controlled experiment designed to examine the effects of trigger warnings on individual resilience—may indicate that Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt were right about trigger warnings.In the fall of 2015, Greg Lukianoff, First Amendment Lawyer and president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (for which I work), and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business, published an article in The Atlantic. In it, they detailed how college campuses may inadvertently promote mental habits identical to the “cognitive distortions” that cognitive behavioral...

Advertised as a "rejuvenating and a safe space where women can reinvent themselves and their desires," an island off the coast of Raasepori in southern Finland is being touted as an all-inclusive, testosterone-free luxury resort. According to the Supershe website, the island can accommodate ten women in four newly-renovated cabins. German-American entrepreneur Kristina Roth, the driving force behind the project, has dispelled the contradictory reports that have come out recently about the businesswoman allegedly abandoning her cause. In an interview with Finnish national broadcaster Yle, she set the record straight by claiming that the resort will open its doors on...

When Palo Alto High School sophomore Jackson Druker wore his red "Make America Great Again" hat to school last year, he said he was bullied, harassed and even physically assaulted. Students took his hat and stepped on it. Others cursed at him. One student punched him in the back of his head, he said. Another told him "I literally want to shoot you right now if you don't take off that hat," he said during a class presentation on the experience. Druker's account with online schoolwork-management system Schoology was hacked and his contact information changed to hillaryclintonlover3@gmail.com, he said.

There has been a lot of buildup ahead of Ben Shapiro‘s speaking engagement at UC Berkeley. Between the university initially blocking him from its campus and its efforts to limit the crowd size, it’s becoming quite the anticipated event.

Universities are now factories of conformism; only the brave and resilient will survive them In a few weeks, a new intake of students will arrive, all fresh-faced and excited, at universities around the country. They’ll be thrilled at the prospect of escaping the wagging finger of mum and dad, eager to absorb new ideas. But I’m afraid they are in for a rude awakening. Unless they’re very fortunate, they will soon find themselves enveloped in a world that’s more censorious than stimulating and taught not to question ideas but to learn by heart the progressive creed. It will take...

Here’s what I was told during my freshman orientation at Haverford College: Ask for help when you need it. Speak up when you feel uncomfortable. Place your own well-being above all other concerns. In short, the school was ready to protect me from any personal slights or hurt feelings I might suffer. What counted as a personal slight or similar offense was up to me to define. This surprised me. It surprised me because at McDonald’s, where I worked before I started school, acting in this way would have probably cost me my job, a job I needed in order...

Friends in Safe Spaces. Chad Prather and Steve Mudflap McGrew aka Larry the Liberal A BIG Thanks to Jason McNabb and the Reign for PLAYING on our song Friends in Safe Spaces. You guys rocked!! And a big thanks to John Macy for producing it!!!! Chad Prather and I appreciate it!!

The advent of Safe Space on college campuses and public high schools is dangerous and was designed to make the next generation incapable of dealing with the real world. It is a long term project to ensure that more powers are given to Globalist governments because the individual will be incapable of managing the simple issues of daily life. What began as a project to “dumb-down” the population through grade school level television has moved on a stage. It is now important to ensure that the average citizen is completely incapable of dealing with the modern world. Part of this...

Recent surveys show that many college students feel “less safe” in the wake of Donald Trump’s election and consider safe spaces “absolutely necessary” to the functioning of college campuses. A LendEDU poll, for instance, asked 1,659 American college students whether they “agree with colleges campuses establishing safe spaces,” determining that 36 percent of respondents believe safe spaces “are absolutely necessary.”