Free Republic

One man inspired millions and helped change a country. The other was a career criminal and drug addict who inspired criminals to riot in the streets and shake down businesses in the name of “equity.” This past Monday, we celebrated the birthday of the former, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now, a comment made by one Joseph Robinette Biden from June 2020 has been resurrected in which Biden said Floyd’s death had greater global impact than that of Dr. King. Newsweek reported that Biden’s original comments were made at an economic roundtable in Philadelphia in the weeks after Floyd’s...

In today’s urban America, if you are a thief, why wouldn't you smash a glass door or glass display case and grab all the merchandise you could? Seriously, why wouldn't you? In the old days you wouldn't because you would be scared that you would get caught. In the past, “smash and grab” robberies occurred, but it was a very infrequent occurrence. It was rare because thieves understood if they were caught there would be consequences, and even punishment, perish the thought! A criminal would have to raise bail to be released. If not, he would have to spend...

For many Americans, the last 24 months or so have likely comprised the most difficult span of time they’ve ever faced. Our nation was pummeled by a pandemic, economic downturn, and political and social upheaval.?Yet when the history of 2020-2021 is written, the most shocking and infuriating aspect should be that federal and state laws prevented Americans from protecting themselves against the violent riots that erupted around the country.? Imagine this scenario. You wake up coughing in the middle of the night. Your house is full of smoke. You rush your spouse and kids out to the street to escape...

If there is one lesson to be learned from the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, it is that lies that lead to rioting should no longer be tolerated. Far too often, Democrats have peddled numerous falsehoods resulting in chaos and destruction. While the trial focused on a teenager who decided to act when his government would not protect people, it started with the lie told by many Democrats that Jacob Blake was an innocent black man killed by police. As a country, we must say "no more" when it comes to these incendiary Democratic deceptions. After the Capitol riots on Jan. 6,...

Update (Saturday 0715 ET): The reports turned out to be correct. Protests were seen in multiple cities, and a riot was declared in Portland, Oregon, hours after Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal. Protests were observed in downtown Brooklyn, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and Portland, Oregon. Focusing on Portland, a riot was declared at 9 p.m. local (or 2400 ET) after hundreds of demonstrators unleashed their liberal rage by smashing windows and hurling objects at police. Police declare #riot in #Portland amid unrest over #Rittenhouse verdict#RittenhouseVerdict pic.twitter.com/zYyqbkurvK — Ruptly (@Ruptly) November 20, 2021After Kyle #Rittenhouse was found not guilty, #antifa in...

... police departments are preparing behind the scenes for what could be a weekend of chaos Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith, a retired 20 year veteran, said violence is 'likely' and it may start tonight The fact the verdict came in on a Friday means more people are likely to protest because they aren't at work It also came in late so it will be darker sooner in much of the country than it was in August last year She said forces must use a zero tolerance policy but that local, state and federal leaders need to urge calm too

Police fired warning shots, injuring an unknown number of people, as riots broke out Friday night in downtown Rotterdam at a demonstration against plans by the government to restrict access for unvaccinated people to some venues. Police said in a tweet that "there are injuries in connection with the shots" during the violent unrest. Riot police used a water cannon in an attempt to drive hundreds of rioters from a central street in the port city. Video from social media shown on Dutch broadcaster NOS appeared to show a person being shot in Rotterdam, but there was no immediate word...

Place to discuss riots, lootings, fires and gun shots tonight following the Rittenhouse verdict.

It appears police officers are opting for greener pastures after Florida cities have been recruiting personnel from blue states, particularly in the cities. This comes amid widespread anti-police sentiment that has been fomented by the hard left in places like New York City and Minneapolis.The New York Post reported:Lakeland — a community of 108,000 people 35 miles east of Tampa — mounted a social media campaign targeting NYC cops earlier this year, and in April dispatched a delegation to recruit in Times Square.Fourteen former Finest moved to Lakeland in the past year — 12 of them wooed over the past...

“The Chicago Police Department has canceled regularly scheduled days off starting Friday and through the weekend in apparent anticipation of civil unrest in the event that Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Allow me to translate that for you…. Because Chicago is run by Democrats, because the corporate media have been shamelessly lying about the truth of what’s been revealed in the Rittenhouse trial, Chicago police know that if Rittenhouse is acquitted (as he should be), the left-wing terrorists in Antifa and Black Lives Matter, these dangerous babies who can’t deal with things not going their way, are...

Portland was rocked by a violent, 100-person protest that caused $500,000 in damage Police stood idle as rioters destroyed the city, citing a new law that prevents law enforcement from using means of crowd control like pepper spray, tear gas or incapacitating projectiles Cops added they have not received full clarity on the bill's limits, so are following the most restrictive interpretation of it Antifa rioters tore through the city following a memorial for an activist killed in October 2019, whose mother organized the protest and called it a 'night of rage and anger' SNIP

The wealthiest person in Illinois said the state's governor refused to deploy the National Guard in Chicago during civil unrest in the summer of 2020 because of the optics doing so would create, the Chicago Tribune reported. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin said he implored Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., to declare a state of emergency and deploy the National Guard as more than 2,100 businesses across Chicago were damaged following the killing of George Floyd. "I told him to deploy the National Guard and he goes, 'It won’t look good for there to be men and women on Michigan...

This column is co-authored by Jim McCoy.It is a sign of our partisan political times that whites can’t address racial issues unless they are progressives hopping on the “racist” bandwagon. They even devote an innumerable amount of time in the fool’s errand of somehow being anti-racist. Looking back on America’s 2020 summer of hate, stretching to the present time, it has become clear this racial hate was manufactured by a cacophony of progressive factions and interests. Abetting this summer of protests and violence was the ever-present MSM love child, America’s racial instigator-in-chief, Reverend Al Sharpton. In his eulogy at George...

Another Portland, Ore., official quits after laboring to defend the indefensible. Some intolerable events simply cannot be spun, even by the most talented of message massagers. A recent Journal editorial summed up the mayor’s appalling message to his community: Anarchy is tolerable as long as you’re merely shooting at each other. Photos obtained by The New York Times show him sitting with about a dozen people — almost all unmasked — testing the limits of the strict new mask rules. Who can blame them? For more than a year Portland’s mayor has been asking citizens to accept both limits on...

In the summer of 2020, the increasingly partisan and left-wing corporate media refused to acknowledge the nation was being consumed by violent riots. Because there were thousands of protests, many of them lawful and small, the media chose to call them “mostly peaceful” — even though several hundred large protests were documented as violent riots.... ...In many cities, mayors and police chiefs deliberately had their police patrols stand back and let the damage happen. They wanted to give the rioters, including the violent fascists ironically known as antifa , room to wreak havoc, set buildings on fire, and beat up...

But Americans don’t need to travel 7,500 miles to get a first-hand glimpse of the end of American order. In many of our own country’s major cities, gangs of masked thugs and criminals do what they please — and our far-better-armed police aren’t allowed to stop them and protect the rest of us.Take one August Sunday in Portland, Oregon, where two days ago political gangs roamed freely, beating people, including women, and even opening fire downtown. Meanwhile the police, who have been threatened with government action if they intervene, were nowhere to be seen.

Screenshot from embedded video of Australians pushing past police barriers in protest of more draconian COVID lockdowns.The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting illness, COVID-19, has caused mass hysteria on global scale. Perhaps no response is as shocking as what we see in Australia. The country is included in the group of western democracies globally and among the Five Eyes intelligence community members. Yet, the nation’s response to the pandemic can only be described as authoritarian.A COVID-19 Delta outbreak emerged in Australia in June. The country adopted a “Covid-Zero” strategy early in the pandemic. The government has repeatedly imposed draconian...

The Minneapolis Greek Festival says its 2021 Taste of Greece event won't go on next month as officials cite unrest in Uptown. In a message on the festival's website, officials say: "Due to the recent unrest in the Uptown district and the realization that we would be unable to find a successful solution to ensure the safety and security of our Festival guests, volunteers, and grounds, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Festival. We have every intent of holding our Festival next year." The 2021 festival was scheduled to run from Friday, September 10 through Sunday,...

In a move that is likely to get noticed by politicians at Seattle City Hall, Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht has informed her professional staffers who work at the sheriff's headquarters to work from home because of unsafe conditions in and around the King County courthouse. The order was delivered in a memo to all sheriff personnel on Tuesday, and takes effect immediately. Last week, a court employee was sexually assaulted by a homeless man say prosecutors in a women’s bathroom not far from the sheriff’s headquarters in the building.... For years, courthouse personnel have complained of random attacks surrounding the courthouse...

Last week, the president of the United States delivered a bizarre address in support of the so-called “For the People Act,” which presumes to take away the discretion of state legislatures over elections in their states. President Joe Biden described as “vicious” the recent voting laws passed in Georgia and Texas, saying they were meant to “intimidate poll workers.” The president condemned the proposed laws of these two states as “21st-century Jim Crow.” Biden hearkened back to the violent days of the student riots of the ’60s when he reused their battle cry: “The whole world is watching.” Then, Biden...