Free Republic

It would have been just any mundane clash of civilizations with points thrown and missed until a Mad Hatter in the form of the gregarious Tea Partier appears in the thick of the stand off between Occupiers and Conservatives and says - hey stop shouting at each other - you got at least 60% in common - so lets have some beers (many beers) and discuss this. And so began the Beer Summit an initiative between possibly the minuteman wing of the Tea Party - attendees at the CPAC and some of the Occupiers who came to protest CPAC. At...

“There was greater controversy when President Barack Obama weighed in on the arrest of a Harvard professor in 2009. Obama said that Cambridge, Massachusetts, police “acted stupidly” when arresting Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in July 2009. Gates had locked himself out of his home and forced the door open; a neighbor called police, and a confrontation ensued after Sgt. James Crowley arrived and asked for ID. In a press conference several days later, Obama admitted he did not have all the facts, but still accused the officer of racism.”

NBC-owned television stations in cities across the nation just teamed up with a nonprofit “journalism” group funded by a billionaire husband and wife team who not only spent millions campaigning for President Obama but also topped donor lists to groups like ACORN and MoveOn.org. The nonprofit, ProPublica, will contribute to the news operations of all NBC owned-and-operated stations, including those in such cities as Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, the network announced Monday. The NBC affiliates will get early access to investigative reports from ProPublica, which describes itself as an “independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will quickly return to the delicate balancing act of supporting law enforcement while addressing concerns of bias from some of the communities they serve. Obama is meeting Wednesday with police officers at the White House - the second such session this week. This time it will be expanded to include mayors, academics and civil rights activists.

KRÜN, Germany — It is a tale of beer summitry gone awry. The day after President Obama clinked glasses of Bavarian ale with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in a picturesque village square at the foot of the Alps, the town’s mayor confirmed that his beverage had been nonalcoholic. Mr. Obama’s carefully choreographed sausage-and-beer moment with Ms. Merkel – complete with townspeople in traditional dress and long alphorns serenading them – was intended in part to showcase the leaders’ warm bond after a period of recent strains in their relationship. “It was a very fine beer,” Mr. Obama told reporters...

New Black Panther Party members are being urged in this new year to “go to the gun range, build up that army and go” by their leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, last year’s Party chairman and current head of Black Lawyers for Justice. Broadcasting on Black Power Radio, Shabazz is hoping to stir up more trouble for beleaguered police departments nationwide by calling on the Party to do “all of that,” meaning he’s urging his Black followers to not only improve their shooting skills, but to “lift weights, work out,” and prepare themselves by learning methods of self-defense. Shabazz is citing...

Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 92: When President Abraham Lincoln met with free black leaders in 1862, what did he propose? Today marks the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s “shot heard ’round the world.” I’m referring, of course, to the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation he fired off from the White House on...

For all his accomplishments, Henry Louis Gates might be doomed to being best remembered as the man whose arrest led to the "Beer Summit." But the Harvard prof had something surprising to say on today's Morning Joe: Gates questioned the need for affirmative action for affluent African-Americans, saying instead such programs should seek to help poor people, regardless of race. Gates made the personal political, citing the case of his own two daughters, whom Gates described as having a "privileged" life." Do they really need to benefit from affirmative action?", asked Gates rhetorically. View the video here.

A Bolingbrook man who allegedly attacked police with a metal pole and was shot earlier this month has been charged with attempted murder. Levan C. Davis, 21, also faces charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery against a peace officer in connection with the Aug. 7 incident, according to the Will County Circuit Court Web site.

The American public may be divided on "Obamacare," but when faced with choosing a candidate to care for them if illness struck, President Obama is their man. By a 13 point margin - 49-36 percent - registered voters polled by ABC News chose the president over Mitt Romney to nurse them back to health. When asked who they thought "would make a more loyal friend," the results were about the same. By a 50-36 percent count, respondents said Obama was more likely to stick with them through trying times. As for suppertime, still more ugly numbers for Romney. Fifty-two percent...

In an April 3rd appearance on the left-wing Democracy Now TV show, Van Jones has offered his own behind-the-scenes take on an incident that made race a political issue three years before the Trayvon Martin case. As Jones describes it, the infamous "beer summit" on the White House lawn was a case where President Obama was "forced" into a meeting with a "racist" police officer.

NEW YORK – ...........The details of Cain's 15-minute presentation to 500 or more movers and shakers in the Big Apple were considered "off the record," but WND can report that after the presentation, Cain received a standing ovation from the assembled crowd. ......Cain drew parallels to former President George H.W. Bush, who in 1980 lost the nomination to Ronald Reagan but signed on to become his vice president: "If it is the right nominee, someone that I can respect and that I believe I can work with," Cain said of accepting the vice presidential nomination, "then I would obviously seriously...

The president's end run on the War Powers Act is a missed opportunity to define his foreign policy and put congressional rivals on the spot. To put the hypocrisy of Republicans into context when it comes to Libya, it's worth pointing out that two of the congressmen joining Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich's suit to stop President Barack Obama's prosecution of the ongoing NATO action in Libya's civil war -- North Carolina Reps. Walter Jones and Howard Coble -- both backed the 2002 U.S. invasion of Iraq. At the time, you'll recall, Jones even frivolously coined the term "freedom fries" to...

WASHINGTON -- Well, it is official. The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, has asked the Norwegian Nobel Committee to take back President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize owing to Obama's missile strikes in Libya. The head of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, also has weighed in, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is really in a snit. This is the best news Col. Moammar Gadhafi has had in weeks. President Obama, who ordered airstrikes against Libya and then took his wife and the girls on a sightseeing and official junket to South America, probably took little note of the...

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? [taken from October 2010 articles/blog posts]NASA's Islam Outreach Minister Charles BoldenGOP lawmakers are critical of Charles Bolden for leaving last week on a trip to China just as the agency he leads begins pursuing an ambitious new agenda. It is the latest in a series of controversial moves that some speculate could result in Bolden's ouster. A law signed a week ago gives NASA four months or less to develop a dozen different plans for the future, including a detailed report on how it would replace the retiring space shuttle.It's an ambitious schedule, one that NASA...

"The wife of US Representative John F. Tierney is poised to plead guilty today to federal tax charges for managing a bank account that her brother allegedly used to deposit millions of dollars in illegal gambling profits raked in from an offshore sports betting operation in Antigua." Of course Big Brother’s not really mad at Mrs. Tierney for dabbling in illegal offshore gambling… They’re just pissed it’s being done where they can’t get their cut... ...In other Massachusetts news, perhaps you thought the Beer Summit of 2009 and all its attendant brouhaha had finally faded out of public consciousness. [Cambridge]...

Shirley Sherrod said she'd like President Barack Obama to reach out to her, not for an apology but for a conversation about what life is like where "the rubber meets the road." "He hasn’t lived the kind of life I've lived," she said on CNN's morning show. "I know he's African-American or part African-American, and many of us are not totally black in our genes. I'm one of them. But when you get down to where the rubber meets the road, I think he needs to understand a little more of what life is like at that level."

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama owes his Canadian counterpart a case of beer. Obama made the friendly wager with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper before Sunday's U.S.-Canada gold medal game. Canada beat the United States 3-2 on Sidney Crosby's overtime goal. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama had a case of Yuengling, a Pennsylvania regional brew, riding on the game.

GOP rock star Scott Brown’s victory train rolled into Southie last night where the senator-elect hoisted a frosty beer with a local radio host to live up to one his first campaign promises. “We made a bet and they said if they endorsed me and I won then we’d have to get together for a few beers,” Brown, a Wrentham Republican, said at The Stadium in South Boston last night. “After it was over, they called and reminded me.” Brown, who drove himself to the pub in his now-legendary green GMC Canyon truck, turned the beer summit with WAAF [website]-FM...

President Barack Obama, who has a tendency to stick himself into the middle of racially biased conflicts that are of essentially no importance, owes that courtesy to one that captured national headlines for nearly a week. In understanding the vital importance of genuine issues of equality in a post racial (a.k.a. "Obamian") age, he owes it to the NFL, DeMaurice Smith, Donovan McNabb, Jennifer Lopez, Serena Williams, Fergie, and Ja Rule to invite them, along with Rush Limbaugh, to come enjoy a beer on the White House lawn with he and that Vice President of his. Of course, given Biden's...