Free Republic

In Courtland Milloy's "Washington's birthday got spotlight right: On his slaves," the intrepid race-scribbler fails to practice the ancient wisdom in the Latin phrase De mortuis nihil nisi bonum – "of the dead [say] nothing but good." Last Monday, on what would have been George Washington's 284th birthday, Milloy visited our first president's home, Mount Vernon.  And unlike the rest of us, who embrace the everyday tolerances of the 21st century such as generations of accepted interracial marriage – and newly established gay nuptials – only Mr. Milloy is surprised that the slaves' contributions are honored with a special...

President Barack Obama signed a bill Wednesday that includes a provision banning U.S. imports of fish caught by slaves in Southeast Asia, gold mined by children in Africa and garments sewn by abused women in Bangladesh, closing a loophole in an 85-year-old tariff law that has failed to keep products of forced and child labor out of America. An expose by The Associated Press last year found Thai companies ship seafood to the U.S. that was caught and processed by trapped and enslaved workers. As a result of the reports, more than 2,000 trapped fishermen have been rescued, more than...

We can ascend into freedom. But we must engage in local politics. Get involved and hold on--fiercely In the 1600s David Hitchborn migrated to America and spent his life in servitude. Within four generations, the family became free property holders, business owners and respected burghers. By 1734, David’s great-great grandson, patriot Paul Revere was born into the influential Boston family. This is the classic American saga of the rise from serfdom to freedom. Yet today, American freedom is in reverse. The choices bred from our forebears’ sacrifices are swirling down a cultural cesspit of renewed servitude. From Wilson’s progressivism and...

In May, the History Channel will air its remake of Alex Haley's Roots: The Saga of An American Family. Unsurprisingly, the advertising for the broadcast fails to mention that Roots is a fake, and a fake of the first order. First of all, the book upon which the successful mini-series was based was actually authored by Murray Fisher, Alex Haley's editor from Playboy magazine. Secondly, Roots wasn't just ghost-written: it was plagiarized: In 1978, Judge Robert Ward concluded that Haley had stolen the idea for Roots from Harry Courlander, the white man who authored The African. Courlander charged Haley with...

Scott Killerud was about to throw away a mailing about the 2016 enrollment period for MNsure last November when something caught his eye. "Just as I was going to drop it in the trash, I was like - wait a second. What did I just read?" the Pine County farmer said.

By global standards, the poor of the U.S. are fantastically rich, yet they die sooner than the poor of other lands. Again, look at the poorest part of Baltimore. In 2010 the median household income here was $17,000, whereas the median in India was $5,150 after adjusting for purchasing power. Yet men in this part of Baltimore have a shorter life expectancy--63 years--than the Indian average of just more than 65 years. These Americans have more than triple the median purchasing power of Indians and yet have nearly two years less to live. The U.S. problem is not limited to...

There are more slaves today than at any time in human history, reported Benjamin Skinner, a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. An estimated 27 million people in the world are forced to work, held through fraud, under threat of violence, for no pay beyond subsistence, in forced marriages, in sex-trafficking and prostitution.

A US judge ordered the Qatar military officer and his wife to be expelled immediately after he heard how the two servants were forced to live in squalor while they enjoyed the lap of luxury in their upscale San Antonio home. Hassan al-Homoud, 46, who received military training at San Antonio's Camp Bullis, and his wife, Zainab al-Hosani, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, pleaded guilty to federal charges in December. District Judge Orlando Garcia said he had hoped to hand down a harsher sentence than deportation in the case, since engaging in forced labour is a crime punishable...

Abraham Lincoln told an 1864 audience that "the world has never had a good definition of the word 'liberty.'" Different people can define liberty in different, even contradictory ways, so that both sides in a conflict can claim to the mantle of liberty. That was exactly the situation in the Civil War: Slaveholders defined liberty in such a way as to make themselves the guardians of liberty... The South's liberty was the liberty to hold other people as chattel slaves. What the slaveholders called liberty, the North quite rightly called tyranny; namely, the systematic deprivation of the natural rights of...

The first trailer for the remake of Roots was released on Thursday, promising all of the drama and heartbreak that captivated audiences nearly thirty years ago. The History Channel's remake of the 1977 miniseries, based on Alex Haley's novel of the same name, is due out on Memorial Day and features an all-star cast including Forest Whitaker, Anika Noni Rose, Anna Paquin and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Roots follows the struggles of one African American family told over several generations, starting with Kunte Kinte, an African warrior sold into slavery, through to his great-grandchildren fighting for their freedom during the Civil...

Anyone have strong enough stomach and information junkie brain to dare watch with me?

The 280 South Koreans who had remained in Kaesong rushed to vacate the industrial park on Thursday evening, completing the pullout at 11:05 p.m. (1405 GMT), said the South's Unification Ministry, which handles ties with the North. A few minutes before midnight, the South shut off the supply of electricity into Kaesong that powered the factory zone, the ministry said early on Friday. The action also cuts off water supply, it said. ... The Kaesong project employed about 55,000 North Koreans, who were given a taste of life in the South, working for the 124 mostly small and medium sized...

Gov. Jack Markell signed a resolution Wednesday apologizing for Delaware's role in slavery and wrongs committed against blacks during the Jim Crow era. Calling slavery an "egregious sin," Markell said it cannot be separated from the challenges facing modern America in ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to pursue his or her potential. "A candid acknowledgment and acceptance of our past is the only way to understand our present and to take full responsibility for our future," he said. Along with signing the resolution, which was passed by state lawmakers last month, Markell presented a proclamation recognizing African American History...

I am in a discussion with a secular humanist who wants to know why, if our Founding Fathers believed in the inalienable rights of man, they allowed slavery. Can anyone recommend a good, honest book on the subject to share with him?

Peterborough, New Hampshire (CNN)Ted Cruz told a New Hampshire audience Sunday that requiring women to sign up for the draft is "nuts," breaking with the views of several Republican presidential rivals. Two days before the New Hampshire primary Cruz veered off his stump speech to blast his GOP competitors on the issue, which came up at the ABC debate Saturday. Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie all said or suggested they'd support women being required to enroll in Selective Service and be eligible for the draft, since female service members can now serve in combat roles. Cruz was not...

A proposal allowing Utah to execute someone convicted of human trafficking even if the criminal didn't actually kill the person would be unjust, costly and likely unconstitutional, opponents of the death penalty argued Tuesday. The bill from Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, would make human trafficking a capital crime in Utah if the victim dies. Under current state law, someone convicted of trafficking that results in a victim's death faces five years to life in prison. Ray said trafficking is a terrible crime, and the state has to do something to try and deter it. [...] The American Civil Liberties Union...

Less than 24 hours after its roaring arrival at the Sundance Film Festival, “The Birth of a Nation” has made history with the biggest deal in the festival’s history. Fox Searchlight has acquired world-wide rights to the Nat Turner biopic for $17.5 million — a whopping amount that reflects the movie’s critical and commercial prospects and the crowded field of bidders hitting festivals now.

Latin America holds the undesirable distinction of having the most cities on the Mexico Citizens Council for Public Security's annual ranking of the world's most violent cities. Of the 50 cities on the list, 41 are in Latin America, including 21 in Brazil. The lion's share of the elevated violence in the region is due to drug trafficking supplemented with gang wars, political instability, and the deregulation of economies triggering widespread poverty. "Narcotics are the biggest black market earner of all. Estimated to be worth more than three hundred billion dollars a year, the global industry has pumped huge resources...

“Without an honest confrontation, there is no healing.” That’s from Birth Of A Nation director-producer-star Nate Parker today onstage at the Sundance Film Festival. In what I have to say was one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had at a movie theater, Parker world premiered what he called his seven-year “passion project.” His telling of the early 19th century slave revolt led by Nat Turner had audience members crying in their seats and jumping to their feet in a prolonged standing ovation at the film’s conclusion.

Hillary Clinton is one bad South Carolina poll away from a full-scale embrace of radical racial insanity. On Thursday, CNN-ORC released a new poll from Iowa. Back in December, Hillary Clinton led socialist Vermont Senator Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) 16% by a margin of 54 percent to 36 percent. Today, Hillary Clinton trails Bernie Sanders by a margin of 51 percent to 43 percent. And in New Hampshire, it’s even worse. A CNN/WMUR poll this week shows Hillary getting blown out in New Hampshire by a margin of 60 percent to 33 percent. Her national poll numbers are now dropping...