Free Republic

Wasn’t it just last month our country (and the media) celebrated and honored the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King baiting, inciting and setting a mousetrap for hate-filled savages on a bridge in Selma, Alabama?

Repeated demonization can inspire violence.There’s an important history behind America’s free speech laws to which the anti-Islam hate group behind the “Draw Muhammad Contest,” is wholly ignorant. While the Islamophobe leading this hate group believes she’s a free speech champion, remarkably comparing herself to Rosa Parks, in reality America’s current free speech model developed as an attempt to protect — not demonize — religious and racial minorities. “U.S. law only began to protect hateful speech during the 1960s,” writes Garrett Epps. “Southern state governments were trying to criminalize the civil-rights movement for its advocacy of change. White Southerners claimed that...

He has put a campaign against excessive rent rises at the centre of his election campaign. And as this newly unearthed footage shows, Ed Miliband has form when it comes to protests against private landlords... Labour leader Ed Miliband -- who called himself 'Ted' at university -- led a 'rent strike' when he was a student 24 years ago, archive footage revealed today The clip, from the Spring of 1991, went undiscovered in the archives of ITV Meridian because of Mr Miliband's name change. He is interviewed in his grey jumper and sports a pudding bowl haircut, but the nasal...

As a public service, here is a brief guide for Americans to tomorrow's British elections. Not that you really need one. The operating principle is easy enough to understand -- like the British taste for delicacies like toad in the hole, bubble-and-squeak and spotted dick. Not to mention specialties like kippers salty enough to make the Dead Sea seem alkaline. As I said, easy to understand. Like the game of cricket, whose rules are as clear to an American as a London fog. Once the election returns are in tomorrow night, it's just a matter of coalition-building, a game that...

MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin of Labor – or, as it is formally known, the Zionist Union – reacted vociferously Wednesday to the decision to appoint Jewish Home's Ayelet Shaked as Justice Minister. “I was not concerned by the appointment of Ayelet Shaked as Culture Minister,” Verbin said, “but a person who expressed radical opinions against the Supreme Court and tried to pass a law that would circumvent the High Court cannot head the justice system.” "Shaked will be an anti-law and justice minister, a minister who will fight the legal system instead of strengthening it, a minister who might push the...

Full title: Md. Atty Claims Gray’s Knife Was ‘Lawful,’ But Says Evidence ‘Collected Cannot Ethically Be Disclosed’ to Public (CNSNews.com) – As questions mount about what type of knife Freddie Gray reportedly was carrying when he was arrested on April 12, Maryland State Attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby said such “evidence” could not “ethically be disclosed,” although she accused six Baltimore police officers of illegally arresting Gray by claiming the knife in question was “lawful.” “While the evidence we have obtained through our independent investigation does substantiate the elements of the charges filed, I refuse to litigate this case...

E&P earnings are coming in and the impression we’re left with is that natural gas investment in Marcellus is being reduced, while oil overall appears to be incrementally ramping up versus prior guidance. Also, production overall for 1Q15 has exceeded sell side expectations as well, as reported by many public companies. Noble (NBL) reported that it’s cutting investment in the Marcellus by some $200M in response to the Nat Gas price crash. This is on top of prior production reductions at Chesapeake (CHK) & Range Resources (RRC). However, the Ponzi game in shale oil, having to continuously drill to replace...

Washington (CNN)Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee defended renting out his email list to a group selling hidden cures for cancer embedded in Bible verses, saying it was no different than CNN allowing advertisers for catheters or adult diapers to air alongside programming. "My gosh, that's like saying, 'You run some ads on CNN. Do you personally agree with all the ads that run on CNN?' Huckabee said Wednesday to CNN's Jake Tapper on The Lead. "I doubt you do. I'm sure there are some for maybe, I don't know, catheters or adult diapers. They're not products that you use or...

Okinawa's ground battle began April 1, 1945, when four American divisions simultaneously assaulted the 65-mile-long island. With two U.S. Marine and two U.S. Army divisions debarking, the attack was one of the Pacific theater's largest amphibious assaults. U.S. commanders, however, were planning another Pacific D-Day, one that would far exceed Okinawa and the Philippines' invasions in scope, complexity and -- yes -- casualties. That would be the war-concluding assault on Japan's home islands. Okinawa's 660 square miles provided America with a big logistics dump and staging area only 350 miles from Kyushu's Southern tip. Japanese leaders knew defeating the U.S....

At a luxury Miami hotel last month, one of Jeb Bush’s chief strategists stood before hundreds of top GOP fundraisers to deliver an unsubtle message: The former Florida governor will not be one of the “presidents of August.” During his closed-door presentation at the 1 Hotel in South Beach, Mike Murphy dismissed buzz-fueled candidates who rise fast early only to flame out once the primaries begin. Murphy ridiculed the early spate of presidential polls — many of which show Bush lagging, particularly in Iowa — as “noise meters.” And he insisted that the Bush team is patiently playing a long...

Link only, due to copyright issues: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/may/06/experts-support-base-growth-still-chall/?f=news-arkansas

The left was unhappy on Tuesday with the possibility that Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked would be appointed Justice Minister, hours after Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett delivered an ultimatum to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, demanding that Shaked be named justice minister or Jewish Home would go to the opposition. Yariv Oppenheimer, head of the Peace Now organization, tweeted, "Shaked as Justice Minister is like placing an idol in the Temple. No less.” MK Nachman Shai (Labor) also condemned the possible move, saying, "The demand to give Ayelet Shaked the Justice portfolio is like giving the Fire and Rescue Services...

Seventy-three years ago today. Here's some covers in commemoration, with the last report sent by Irving Strobing, who survived the war. A nice detailed of the report here. Right up to the end we kicked butt and took names. [excerpt] The Americans and Filipinos on shore, unaware of the confusion in the Japanese ranks and still reeling under the effects of the bombardment, met the enemy with every weapon they could muster. One 2-gun 75-mm. battery near the tail of the island, just east of North Point, had never disclosed its position and it opened fire, together with some 37-mm....

A North Carolina store owner is fighting to recover more than $100,000 from the IRS. The feds reportedly seized Lyndon McLellan’s life savings under a banking law designed to stop drug dealers and money laundering. The IRS accused McLellan of structuring – repeatedly depositing money in increments just under $10,000. The IRS had said it would no longer target deposits unless the money was involved in a separate illegal activity. McLellan, who owns L&M Convenience Mart in Fairmont, hasn’t been charged with anything, yet he hasn’t gotten his money back. “It took 13 years to get it and less than...

Conservatives in Florida were aghast: State documents said that Gov. Jeb Bush and other overseers of Florida's pension system had shifted retirees' money into a company called Movie Gallery, one of the largest film rental firms in America. Most of the titles were standard comedy and action fare, but a fraction were X-rated titles. In short, the state of Florida was investing taxpayer money in pornography. Bush recently released 280,000 emails from his two terms as governor (1999-2007), and buried in the trove are exchanges about the Movie Gallery investment that highlight the tension between Bush’s stance as a firm...

In case you missed it yesterday, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announced another run for the White House. In an already crowded GOP field, there are many questions surrounding whether Huckabee can successfully make it through the primary. Putting the horse race aside, pundits seem to be forgetting a very important and devastating decision Huckabee made during his time as governor. In 2000, despite objections from prosecutors, Huckabee granted clemency to a man named Maurice Clemmons. Background from the Arkansas Leader: Several prosecutors around the state are upset with Gov. Huckabee for grant- ing clemency to violent criminals, but he...

The wife and son of all but declared presidential hopeful Jeb Bush hit Chicago on Thursday for a fundraiser where the ask ranges from $2,500 for one ticket to $250,000 to give or raise. The money is for the Bush super pac, “Right to Rise,” which is underwriting the initial stages of the former Florida governor’s 2016 presidential run. The headliners for the Chicago event are Columba Bush and Jeb Bush Jr

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The current issue surrounding personal aircraft is the cost factor. Not only do private jets that seat under a dozen people cost millions to buy, but fuel for a flight will set you back a few thousand pounds each ride. NASA is working on a way to fix that, by creating a four man battery-powered airplane capable of working as a pseudo-drone and a short flight carrier. The electric plane features 10 engines and is capable of taking off vertically, similar to a rocket. The current prototype is focused on crop overview and personal surveillance. Instead of having a...

Jeb Bush is not yet an official Republican candidate for president, but that doesn’t mean he can’t take the opportunity of Cinco de Mayo to show off how good he is at speaking Spanish. From what appears to be aisles of Home Depot, Bush recorded a short message to “the entire Hispanic community around the country” from his super PAC, Right to Rise. He put special emphasis on his “profound” relationship with Mexican-Americans, most notably his wife, Columba Bush, who was born in Mexico.

Currently the Crane Independent School District "does not offer a curriculum in human sexuality,” according to its student handbook, but does offer a three-day course in sex-ed each fall semester. Texas law mandates that such courses emphasize abstinence, and indeed a district committee recommended Scott & White’s “Worth the Wait” Abstinence Plus curriculum three years ago. “If kids are not having any sexual activity, they can’t get this disease … That’s not a bad program,” said Jim Rumage, the district’s superintendent. But residents say they’re not too thrilled with the results: