Free Republic

The Justice Democrats political action committee have expelled The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur and his business partner David Koller over a number of sexist blog posts written in the early 2000s, reports say. The Wrap revealed on Friday that Uygur and Koller, who are best known for their roles on The Young Turks network, authored a number of sexist blog posts. In the posts, Uygur argued that women were genetically “flawed” for not wanting to have more sex and claimed that he was “done” dating any woman if he hadn’t felt their breasts by the third date. Koller meanwhile recounted an experience of...

House Democrats reportedly will not strip Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of her committee assignments after she apologized for tweets suggesting that American lawmakers were motivated to defend Israel by money. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told Roll Call that "of course" Democrats would not strip Omar of committee assignments like Republicans did to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa.) after he questioned how terms like "white supremacy" became offensive. “I don’t think she’s anti-Semitic,” Hoyer reportedly said. “She did apologize. The key will be that when we make a mistake like that, conscious or unconscious, that we don’t repeat it. That...

Rep. Dan Kildee defended fellow Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s controversial weekend tweets regarding U.S. politicians who defend Israel, saying Monday morning that they were not anti-Semitic. "I wouldn't take it as anti-Semitism,” Kildee told CNN when asked what he thought of the criticism that Omar insinuated that Jewish money was controlling lawmakers. Kildee, who represents a Michigan district, said that he believes Omar was trying to bring light to the fact that there are people who make campaign contributions specifically based on Israel policy.

They’re not just in Oregon. University students from Saudi Arabia have vanished while facing criminal charges here and in at least seven other states as well as Canada — evidence that a growing number of defendants from the wealthy Persian Gulf kingdom have fled justice in the United States. There are likely more to be discovered. The Oregonian/OregonLive uncovered five examples in Oregon and began searching other states in late January. We’ve found similar cases in Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. We also found two cases in Nova Scotia: Saudi students in two separate incidents skipped bail...

Responding to congressional efforts this week to sanction Saudi Arabia over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the kingdom's role in the bloody conflict in Yemen, top Saudi official Adel Al-Jubeir accused legislators of "providing ammunition to the 'death to America' crowd." "I find it very strange that members of Congress would try to curtail allies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in trying to push back against terrorist organizations supported by Iran and Hezbollah," Al-Jubeir, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan as part of an interview that will...

For the first time ever, The Washington Post is airing a Super Bowl commercial during Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams. The 60 second spot will air during the fourth quarter, shortly before the two minute warning. According to the news outlet , the ad is narrated by actor Tom Hanks and the message focuses on the danger journalists face. The theme is, "Democracy Dies in Darkness." Hanks was chosen as the voice for the ad because of his role as former WaPo Executive Editor Ben Bradlee in "The Post," which focused on...

Anyone who continues to question whether [manmade global warming] is happening should be ostracized from the public debate. They should not be invited on cable news or the Sunday Shows to spread misinformation and outright lies. These voices have been granted legitimacy for far too long.

Several liberal Democrats are speaking out against the Trump administration's stance against Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro -- even describing the support for opposition leader Juan Guaido as a “US backed coup” -- despite bipartisan support elsewhere for the administration's actions. The Trump administration announced last week that it was formally recognizing Guaido as the country’s legitimate leader, and this week announced billions of dollars in sanctions against Maduro and the state-owned oil company. Republicans and some Democrats have backed Trump’s move, noting the appalling human rights conditions in the country as well as the dire economic situation fueled by...

A key US senator on Saturday said the Saudi crown prince was responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's murder and must be "dealt with", as he threatened new sanctions. Republican Lindsey Graham, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, has previously said that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the grisly killing of Washington Post contributor Khashoggi in October. "I have concluded that the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States cannot move forward until MBS has been dealt with," Graham said, using the initials for the crown prince. Graham also threatened new sanctions against those suspected of involvement...

This week's engagement of Tim Tebow demonstrated how judgmental media continue dismissing male behavior at both ends of the spectrum. Respectable Christian role models like Vice-President Mike Pence and Tim Tebow are often insulted for upholding honorable standards, right along with the disgraced abusers who spawned the #MeToo movement. While some media responded politely, Tebow's recent engagement also sparked another round of personal attacks by biased media who deem him "polarizing." None more so than from Deadspin's Tom Ley. Ley's story on Tebow, who has chosen to remain celibate until marriage, is crassly headlined: "Tim Tebow to have sex soon."...

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will remove an art installation featuring a nine-foot tall statue of Saudi Arabia’s flag from the World Trade Center campus. “We have been in contact with the 9/11 Memorial and various stakeholders, and in full collaboration with the artist will relocate the exhibit from its current location,” a spokesperson for the organization told Observer on Monday. “We believe this solution respects the unique sensitivities of the site and preserves the artistic integrity of the exhibit.” Created by French sculptor Laurence Jenkell in 2011, the exhibit ‘Candy Nations’ depicts countries in the...

The oceans are warming faster than previously estimated, setting a new temperature record in 2018 in a trend that is damaging marine life, scientists said on Thursday...."Global warming is here, and has major consequences already. There is no doubt, none!" the authors wrote in a statement.

The gruesome murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi shredded the idea that Saudi Arabian royalty should be praised for reforming itself. Princes who chop political opponents into little pieces are not nice people. That said, puh-leeze stop it with the adoration of a man who deserves none of it. Politico ran a gushing headline that read, "Jamal Khashoggi: The Free Thinker Whose Murder Shook the World." Time magazine named him one of "the Guardians," the journalistic muckrakers who became its 2018 Person of the Year. Time's Karl Vick laid on the praise, and thick, writing: "Khashoggi put his faith...

Less than two months after he was given prominent op-ed space in the Washington Post, a video has surfaced of Houthi rebel leader Mohammad Ali al-Houthi launching a shoulder-fired missile and then reciting the Houthi slogan, which calls for “Death to America.” The Washington Post contributor chants, “Allah is the greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse the Jews. Victory to Islam.” He has also taken to his unverified but media– and think tank-cited Twitter account to repeat the infamous Houthi slogan. Ali Shihabi, the founder of the Arabia Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based Middle East think tank, confirmed to...

Netflix rarely finds itself thrust into political debates like other internet giants, but it won't enjoy that luxury in 2019. The streaming service has pulled the second episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj in Saudi Arabia after the country alleged that it violated a cybercrime law barring content that threatens "public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy." The episode is critical of the Saudi government's apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as well as the war in Yemen, and suggests that both tech companies and the US as a whole should "reassess" their connection to the kingdom.

Netflix has taken down an episode of a satirical comedy show critical of Saudi Arabia in the country after officials from the kingdom complained, sparking criticism from Human Rights Watch, which said the act undermined the streaming service’s “claim to support artistic freedom”. Hasan Minhaj was critical of the Saudi heir in an episode of the standup show Patriot Act, delivering a wide-ranging monologue mocking the Saudis’ evolving account of what happened inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul in October, when the journalist was killed. … Human Rights Watch said artists whose work is broadcast on Netflix should be outraged,...

During a Q&A hosted by the Washington Post, House Speaker Paul Ryan positioned Mitt Romney as John McCain’s moral successor. In one of the last interviews Ryan will have given as House Speaker, he praised his long-time friend, former running mate, and Utah senator-elect. “It’s great that he’s coming,” Ryan said. “Mitt believes there’s a role for him … as a standard-bearer for our party.” McCain was a maverick GOP element in public perception, often resisting his own party’s majority stance on key issues as a matter of principle. Before his death, McCain famously voted against the repeal-and-replace Republican health...

When Donald Trump announced that his first trip abroad as president would take him to Saudi Arabia and to Israel, it was a signal that the new administration had returned America’s traditional alliances in the Middle East to their privileged status. For the prior eight years, the Obama White House had, in contrast, prioritized relations with these countries’ regional adversary in Iran and embraced the Islamic Republic’s regional allies, Turkey and Qatar, as key interlocutors and partners. The Obama administration also supported Islamist movements in the Middle East, principally the Muslim Brotherhood, that threated to topple regimes and instigate more...

Jamal Khashoggi’s op-eds published in the very influential Washington Post certainly qualify as attempts to change U.S. policy against Saudi Arabia and in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Washington Post has caused itself a major scandal since it has come to light they and their martyred “reformer” Jamal Khashoggi were publishing anti-Saudi propaganda for Qatar. They tried to bury this in a pre-Christmas Saturday news dump, but that can’t stop the damage this will do to their reputation.“Text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the...

Saudi Arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money needed to help rebuild Syria, instead of the United States. See? Isn’t it nice when immensely wealthy countries help rebuild their neighbors rather than a Great Country, the U.S., that is 5000 miles away. Thanks to Saudi A!