Free Republic

MSNBC president Phil Griffin apologized Thursday after host Chris Matthews called Charles and David Koch “pigs” in a segment with Rep. Ed Markey Wednesday. Griffin apologized for Matthews’ “crass language” to Mark Holden, general counsel for Koch Industries, Inc., according to Newsbusters. Griffin said that Matthews would not be required to apologize to the Kochs. In the exchange Wednesday, Matthews called the Kochs “pigs,” and said he is in the “business of name calling,” after Princeton professor Michael Oppenheimer declined to join Matthews: MARKEY: The Koch brothers want Romney, and Romney has promised, to roll back those fuel economy incentives....

Cross-Cultural Advice To Obama: Do Not Apologize To Islamic Arabs In Libya, Egypt, YemenBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, The Capital of Israel --- September 13, 2012 ... As a professional, cross-cultural consultant who has trained dozens of diplomats in Israel, I can tell you that Barack Obama and the US State Department are making lethal cultural mistakes. Following the tragic murders in Libya of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three members of his staff, you don't apologize. An apology would be great for politically correct Washington, New York, Hartford, LA, Paris and London but not the Middle East....

The Drug Enforcement Administration has apologized to a San Diego college student who said he drank his own urine to survive after being left in a holding cell for five days without food, water or access to a toilet. The man, identified by news outlets as 23-year-old UC San Diego engineering student Daniel Chong, was “accidentally” left in the holding cell after he and eight other people were detained for questioning following an April 21 raid in which agents found guns, ammunition and an array of drugs, including 18,000 ecstasy pills, the DEA said. “I am deeply troubled by the...

On Sunday, Dan Savage took to his blog to apologize for some controversial comments he made at an anti-bullying event. Savage said he shouldn’t have used the term “pansy-ass” and noted that he was not attacking Christianity, but rather, he was attacking hypocrisy. (Snip) People often point out that they can’t help it, they can’t help with the anti-gay bullying, because it says right there in Leviticus, it says right there in Timothy, it says right there in Romans that being gay is wrong. We can learn to ignore the bull**** in the Bible about gay people.

Barack Obama is a nice guy who has degrees from prestigious institutions. He speaks well and writes well, but he is nonetheless an idiot because he sees things only through the lens of himself. Where others hold a window into the world, he holds a mirror. His supporters say he plays three-dimensional chess. He cannot even play checkers. Consider his apology to Afghanistan for the accidental burning of a few Korans. Instead of calming thing down, his apology was used by the enemy to rationalize a new wave of violence in Kabul. President Obama thinks that is all A-OK. From...

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Wal-Mart (WMT.N), the world's largest retailer, has apologized for selling duck meat past its expiry date in a store in southwest China's Chongqing region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. A store in the Jiulongpo district was caught by a local market regulator selling smoked tea ducks using the meat. The market regulator was tipped off by a consumer late in February, Xinhua said. Wal-Mart would pay the victims 10 times the price of the ducks as a penalty, the firm told the municipal consumers' association in a statement.

Tucson, Arizona -- Arizona shooting victim James Eric Fuller sent his apologies Monday for telling a Tea Party leader, "you are dead." Dorothy DeRuyter, a companion of Fuller's, provided CNN with a statement. "I would like to tender my sincerest apologies to Mr. (Trent) Humphries for my misplaced outrage on Saturday at the St. Odelia's town meeting," Fuller said in the statement. "It was not in the spirit of our allegiance and warm feelings to each other as citizens of our great country." Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed to a county mental health facility

INDIANAPOLIS – Cartoonist Jim Davis apologized Thursday for a Garfield strip that some veterans may have found offensive. The strip ran on Veterans Day in newspapers across the country. It shows a spider daring the pudgy orange cat to squash it. The spider tells Garfield that if he is killed, "they will hold an annual day of remembrance in my honor." The final panel shows a spider-teacher asking its students if they know why spiders celebrate "National Stupid Day."

A Massachusetts school district has apologized to parents after a group of schoolchildren participated in midday Muslim prayers during a field trip to a Boston-area mosque. The incident occurred in May when a social studies class from Wellesley Middle School toured the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, one of the largest mosques in the Northeast. Parents were told their children would be learning about the architecture of a mosque and they would be allowed to observe a prayer service.

<p>WELLESLEY — Wellesley’s school superintendent apologized today for allowing middle school students to participate in a prayer service during a field trip to a Roxbury mosque last spring. The apology to parents came after a group critical of the Islamic Society of Boston Community Center — New England’s largest mosque and Muslim cultural center — released a 10-minute long video featuring footage of Wellesley students bowing their heads during a prayer service.</p>

Jerry Brown answers a reporter's question.Jerry Brown is running for the 2010 California governorship, but he's spent much of the last week reliving the politics of the 1990s. And Brown's unfortunate lurch into the past culminated Monday with an apology to former President Bill Clinton for taking shots at Clinton's conduct during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "Bill Clinton was an excellent president," Brown, the state attorney general, said Monday at a news conference. "It was wrong for me to joke about an incident from many years ago, and I'm sorry." Brown's 1990s mystery tour began early last week when his...

CONCORD – A Democratic candidate for the New Hampshire House has apologized for posting a death wish for Sarah Palin on Facebook. Keith Halloran of Rindge made the comment in response to a Republican lawmaker’s post Tuesday about the plane crash that killed former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. When the lawmaker expressed disappointment that some news accounts of Stevens’ death focused on negative aspects of his career, Halloran responded: "Just wish Sarah and Levy were on board,"

WASHINGTON – An embarrassed White House apologized on Wednesday to a black Agriculture Department employee who was ousted for her remarks about race, acknowledging that officials did not know all the facts when she was fired. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the dismissal of Shirley Sherrod an injustice and a mistake. He said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was trying to reach her to extend the administration's apology.

WASHINGTON — A day after top BP officials met with President Barack Obama at the White House and agreed to set up a $20 billion compensation fund, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas called the money a "shakedown" of the company and apologized for the president's action. Barton, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce committee, told BP CEO Tony Hayward Thursday morning that he was sorry about what the president had done. The money is a "slush fund," Barton said, and "unprecedented in our nation's history." "I do not want to live in a country where anything a citizen...

On Friday, Pamela Geller received word her PayPal account for her website Atlas Shrugs had been restricted. The reason? She was told she had violated PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy and was promoting hate. “… [A]fter a recent review of your account, it has been determined that you are currently in violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy. Under the Acceptable Use Policy, PayPal may not be used to send or receive payments for items that promote hate, violence, racial intolerance or the financial exploitation of a crime,” the email read in part. “After five years of having PayPal on my site...

HARTFORD, Conn. – Criticized for saying he "regrets" misstatements he made about his military service during the Vietnam War, Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal is now apologizing. On Monday and late the night before, the Democrat told various media outlets that he made mistakes and is sorry for them. "I think he wants to put this behind him. He wants to start getting back to talking about the issues that matter most to the people of Connecticut and start talking about who is going to best represent the people of Connecticut in Washington," said Maura Downes, a campaign spokeswoman. The...

Tensions are rising at a California high school where five students were sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. A California high school principal has apologized for telling five students they couldn't wear U.S. flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo, the local superintendent said Friday.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California first lady Maria Shriver says she's sorry for breaking a state law that requires drivers to use hands-free devices while talking on cell phones. The celebrity Web site TMZ.com posted two photographs and a video Tuesday showing Shriver holding a phone to her ear while she was behind the wheel. That prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to write about it on Twitter, where he said "there's going to be swift action." On Wednesday, Shriver said she will donate her favorite old cell phone to a program that helps domestic violence. She added: "That's my version of swift...

Ambassador Speaks to Last 73 American Survivors of the MarchThe Japanese ambassador to the United States apologized in person today to the 73 surviving POWs of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines in April 1942 during World War II. "We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan peninsula the Corregidor Island, Philippines and other places," Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki said at the last convention of the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor POWs of the Japanese during World...

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with the American Legion on Friday to apologize for a right-wing extremism report written by her agency, and the veterans group walked away from the meeting mollified. Napolitano blamed one of her agency's analysts for prematurely sending out the intelligence assessment to law enforcement, according to Craig Roberts, an American Legion member who attended the meeting. The report says veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan could be susceptible to right-wing recruiters or commit lone acts of violence.