Free Republic

(Source, Charles F. Adams, ed., The Works of John Adams [1851] Vol. 6, p. 3-4)There have been three periods in the history of England, in which the principles of government have been anxiously studied, and very valuable productions published, which, at this day, if they are not wholly forgotten in their native country, are perhaps more frequently read abroad than at home.The first of these periods was that of the Reformation, as early as the writings of Machiavel himself, who is called the great restorer of the true politics.  The "Shorte Treatise of Politick Power, and of the True Obedience...

THOMAS JEFFERSON ON CHRISTIANITY & RELIGION Compiled by Jim Walker "Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong." -Thomas Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782) It spite of Christian right attempts to rewrite history to make Jefferson into a Christian, little about his philosophy resembles that of Christianity. Although Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence wrote of the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, there exists nothing in the Declaration about Christianity.Although Jefferson believed in a Creator, his concept of it resembled that of...

George Orwell might have been amused. Academia is well on its way to quite literally becoming Animal Farm. Indeed, the very first day of the latest Modern Language Association (MLA) convention featured a panel on "New Animals: Critical Theory After Posthumanism." "The animality of the dog is very different from the animality of the whale," Moira Weigel, a Ph.D. candidate from Yale explained. She is trying to "present alternatives to the language of domination and violence that still dominates the treatment of animals in films." "Moira's academic interests revolve around the intersections of film, literature, and philosophy," her web site...

In last year’s roundup of the top stories of the year, I argued that 2014 was the year we were all drafted into the culture wars. “This is the year when we were served noticed that we won’t be allowed to stand on the sidelines, because we will not be allowed to think differently from the left.” The signature story of the year was the comet shirt guy, a mild-mannered scientist caught wearing the wrong shirt on television. That case served notice that “To be targeted by accusations of misogyny, you don’t have to be a beer-chugging ‘bro’ who spends...

Academics are still using the Halloween costume controversy at Yale as a teachable moment. One wonders what they will learn. "A white Ivy League lecturer has resigned following an uproar over an email she sent in October suggesting students should have the freedom to wear whatever Halloween costumes they like, including those that may be culturally insensitive," Michael D. Reagan reported in The Christian Science Monitor on December 8, 2015. "Yale University announced on Monday the lecturer, Erika Christakis, would not be working at the school during the spring semester." "Ms. Christakis's email was sent in response to [a] statement...

Yale students are either going to be very embarrassed by what conservative filmmaker Ami Horowitz just did to them, or they’re going to nod their heads in agreement. Whatever the reaction, the American purists among you are liable to be downright frightened. For what reason, you ask? In short, because of how many Yale students saw no problem with getting rid of the First Amendment — the amendment that entitles Americans to freedom of speech, religion, and assembly as well as a free press and the freedom to petition. Speaking of that word — petition — Horowitz was able to...

Yale University was nationally embarrassed earlier this week when political satirist Ami Horowitz released a video showing students happily agreeing to sign a "petition" that calls for the repeal of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.According to Horowitz, he got 60 signatures in less than an hour.Now Yale’s spokesperson has suggested the video doesn’t show what it shows."There are a number of heavily edited prank videos like this one circulating lately in which someone surreptitiously records people while pretending to support a position that they actually oppose, and trying to get the individuals they speak with to agree with...

Trigger warning! This story and video may be unsuitable viewing for the “safe space” crowd. Looking to understand just how controversial the debate over free speech on our college campuses really is, filmmaker and satirist Ami Horowitz recently traveled to Yale University, one of our nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning, to speak directly to students. “I decided to take this campus free speech debate to its logical conclusion,” said Horowitz, who asked students if they’d sign a petition calling for an outright repeal of the First Amendment. “The result was this unbelievable display of total stupidity.” In fact,...

Trigger warning! This story and video may be unsuitable viewing for the "safe space" crowd. Looking to understand just how controversial the debate over free speech on our college campuses really is, filmmaker and satirist Ami Horowitz recently traveled to Yale University, one of our nation's most prestigious institutions of higher learning, to speak directly to students. "I decided to take this campus free speech debate to its logical conclusion," said Horowitz,...

A Yale lecturer who came under attack for challenging students to stand up for their right to decide what Halloween costumes to wear, even to the point of being offensive, has resigned from teaching at the college, the university said Monday. The lecturer, Erika Christakis, an expert in early childhood education, wrote an email in October suggesting that there could be negative consequences to students ceding "implied control" over Halloween costumes to institutional forces. "I wonder, and I am not trying to be provocative: Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit...

Over the past two weeks, Harvard and Princeton have decided to stop using the word “master” in their residential college housing systems. On Tuesday, Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana sent an email to all Harvard students announcing that undergraduate residential “house masters,” with the support of Harvard President Drew Faust and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith, had unanimously expressed a desire to change their title. As such, Harvard College will soon launch a process that culminates with a suggested replacement title, to be announced at some point early next year. The Harvard announcement comes less than...

"From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia ... could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide." -- Abraham Lincoln The winning streak enjoyed by campus activists this fall was violently...

Recent events at the University of Missouri, Yale University and some other colleges demonstrate an ongoing ignorance and/or contempt for the principles of free speech. So let's examine some of those principles by asking: What is the true test of one's commitment to free speech? Contrary to the widespread belief of tyrants among college students, professors and administrators, the true test of one's commitment to free speech does not come when one permits people to be free to express those ideas that he finds acceptable. The true test of one's commitment to free speech comes when he permits others to...

Mayor de Blasio said his son Dante has been active in protests over racial issues at Yale — and they both agree the school should drop the name of a prominent defender of slavery. Dante, a freshman, is assigned to Yale’s Calhoun College, named for John C. Calhoun, a U.S. vice president and South Carolina senator who vehemently backed slavery as a “positive good” for the nation. “He’s very concerned, and he certainly notes the fact that the college he’s in, Calhoun College, is named for someone it shouldn’t be named for,” de Blasio told reporters Monday. “ That’s quite...

In the opening chapters of “Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning,” Yale professor Timothy Snyder forcefully acknowledged what he calls the “ecological” Anti-Semitism of the Fuhrer, “An instructive account of the mass murder of the Jews of Europe must be planetary, because Hitler’s thought was ecological, treating Jews as a wound of nature.” In spite of such an assertion, however, the great caveat of Snyder’s book is he inexplicably fails to discuss the Nazi ecological historical record that should have informed his thesis ...

Unhappy with a series of small concessions from the administration, protesters at Yale University have released a new list of demands that include firing people they don’t like and giving their favored programs a budget increase of at least $8 million a year. The new demands, released by a group calling itself Next Yale, were read aloud to Yale president Peter Salovey Thursday night by protesters who marched to his front door at midnight. The group says the demands are necessary to “reduce the intolerable racism that students of color experience on campus every day.” Salovey is given until Nov....

Come for free tuition, stay for the anti-Semitism. Seems other lefty college students are jealous of the Yale and University of Missouri kids, so on Thursday they launched a Million Student March at 100-plus campuses. On Fox News, one "Million" leader called for free tuition, a minimum-wage hike and cancellation of student debt (to be covered by new taxes on the 1 percent). But the rally here at CUNY's Hunter College came with an added, ugly twist, thanks to the NYC Students for Justice in Palestine. In a Facebook post, NYC-SJP added an anti-Semitic spin. It blamed tuition costs on...

Today, I would like to share an experience that is common amongst Veterans … that uncomfortable feeling we get when we see young – military aged – adults talk about changing the world and fighting the injustices they are experiencing on college campuses or on “main street” USA. We Have Seen the “Real World” – As Veterans, upon hearing this our minds flash first to young Americans who stood up and took an oath that had to be backed up with real action that placed their young lives in real danger. We can’t force out the images of places we...

Leftist activists interrupted and spit on Conservatives attending a free speech rally at Yale. One student, Edward Columbia, who did not register for the event, showed up near the beginning of the event and began displaying signs at the front of the room stating, "Stand with your sisters of color. Now, here. Always, everywhere."

Students at Yale University, a bastion of wealth and privilege, are angry because an employee at the university dared suggest that if white children want to dress up as the Disney character Mulan for Halloween, it would not be inappropriate but instead would be children dressing up as a favorite character. Clearly, this person is a white, privileged, racist bigot. Or at least she is in the minds of the college students as Yale. Never mind that an Ivy League university had people engaged in a debate on the appropriateness of Halloween costumes to ensure people were not offended. Students...