Free Republic

First, they came for the Confederates. And that purge is far from over. Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington, named for the president of the Confederacy, has been re-christened Richmond Highway. An Arlington group is calling for the removal of Robert E. Lee's name from Lee Highway to be replaced by "Mildred & Richard Loving Avenue." The Lovings were an interracial couple who challenged and helped overturn Virginia's anti-miscegenation law in the Warren Court. This month, the statue of Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was removed from the campus of Virginia Military Institute, where Jackson taught before leading Confederate troops at...

A 115-year-old Confederate monument that was the subject of protests in Alabama this year was removed from outside a county courthouse early Friday. News outlets reported that a small group of onlookers cheered at the Madison County Courthouse in Huntsville as crews took away the stone memorial, which was topped by the likeness of a soldier, in pieces. Music blasted during part of the work. “I’m speechless, literally speechless. It’s an amazing time for our culture and for people of all colors. I’m excited that I’m able to watch this event happen during this time,” said Joretha Wright. […] Madison...

My great-great grandfather was a hero of the Civil War--a soldier of the Ohio Cavalry who was wounded and captured. He almost died in the most notorious and horrific Confederate prisoner of war camp. As a child, each Memorial Day, I heard the stories about the War Between the States as my dad put flowers on his great granddad’s grave. The stories were not told with animosity. Just facts. But I developed my own prejudice against Southerners based on those facts.As time went on, I delved into study about the horrors of slavery and spent a great deal of time...

The Confederacy has been the excuse for some of today's rioting, property destruction and grossly uninformed statements. Among the latter is the testimony before the House Armed Services Committee by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley in favor of renaming Confederate-named military bases. He said: "The Confederacy, the American Civil War, was fought, and it was an act of rebellion. It was an act of treason, at the time, against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the U.S. Constitution." There are a few facts about our founding that should be acknowledged. Let's start...

Something remarkable happened over the weekend after President Trump gave his address at Mount Rushmore. As was to be expected, the mainstream media deplored the speech as “dark and divisive,” but it was also immediately effective. Here’s how. In order to absurdly portray Trump’s speech as a racist appeal to disaffected white voters, the media and the Democrats had to pretend that Trump was only defending confederate statues when he spoke about our nation’s monuments. Now, this is obviously an outright and outrageous lie, but in this case the perfidy of fake fact outfits like the New York Times and...

Celebrities, public figures and fans alike have signed a petition to replace a Tennessee statue of a KKK leader with one of Dolly Parton, a native of the state and a beloved pop culture figure. The online petition has collected over 16,000 signatures and calls for the state’s officials to honor “a true Tennessee hero, Dolly Parton.” The page continues saying, “Tennessee is littered with statues memorializing Confederate officers. History should not be forgotten, but we need not glamorize those who do not deserve our praise.” The statue in question resides in the Tennessee Statehouse and represents Nathan Bedford Forrest,...

They want a statue of heavy metal. More than 50,000 people have signed a petition to replace Richmond, Virginia’s statue of Robert E. Lee with a memorial to the late frontman of heavy metal band GWAR. “Robert E. Lee is a failed war general that supported a racist cause. For too long, the city of Richmond has been displaying statues of him and other loser civil war veterans,” reads the Change.org petition, which had 50,247 signatures as of Tuesday night. “We the scumdogs of the universe call on the city of Richmond to erect a statue of great local leader...

A newly-unearthed clip of Joe Biden shows the then-senator referring to members of a female Confederacy group as “fine people” during a 1993 Senate hearing. During the Senate confirmation hearing for then-nominee to the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Biden, the sitting Senate Judiciary Chairman, made a surprising comment about the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization committed to preserving Confederate statues with ties to the Ku Klux Klan.

WASHINGTON — The GOP-led Armed Services Committee has approved a motion requiring the Pentagon to rename military bases and assets named after Confederate leaders — defying President Trump, who warned them not to support the Elizabeth Warren-introduced measure. The committee on Wednesday approved the amendment to the annual defense bill which will establish a commission to rename all Pentagon assets — including ships, planes, buildings, military bases and equipment — that bear the name of Confederate generals within the next three years, Roll Call reported. Cities across America have begun removing statues honoring Confederate leaders as the nation engages in...

Washington (CNN)Former FBI Director James Comey called Thursday for the removal of Confederate statues in Virginia's capital in the wake of blackface scandals involving top statewide elected officials, in an op-ed for The Washington Post. "Expressing bipartisan horror at blackface photos is essential, but removing the statues would show all of America that Virginia really has changed," Comey writes. "There is no doubt that Virginia's leaders need to be held accountable for their personal history, but every Virginia leader is responsible for the racist symbols that still loom over our lives," Comey writes.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the effort to remove the Confederate monuments in Dallas began--behind closed doors in City Hall--long before it surfaced in the Dallas media, and in public meetings of the Dallas City Council. The question “Will Dallas join the 2017 Great Purge of American History?” was posed in the first of a six-part series recently posted on the Canada Free Press. The answer is—Yes, and it has. In his book Rules for Radicals, legendary Chicago-based, community-organizer Saul David Alinksy (1909-1972) wrote the playbook for America’s alt-left assault on Confederate Monuments. Alinsky Rule 13 is...

President Trump's approval rating hit 38% in the latest IBD/TIPP poll after what pundits routinely described as a terrible month for the president. While still low, that represents a six-point gain over the previous month. Regionally, Trump's gains were strongest in the South, where his approval jumped 13 points to 48%. He firmed up support among Republicans as well, with an 8-point increase to 79%. He gained 14 points among those with a high school education, 10 points among conservatives, 7 points with white men, and 4 points among those living in rural parts of the country. What's more, Trump...

The Mayor of Dallas Texas called Confederate monuments symbols of injustice. So, what will a city task force on monuments say about the city’s namesake? Introduction: Dallas, Texas is among U.S. cities that have removed, or are considering removing, Confederate monuments from public lands. In Dallas, an appointed task force is deciding if that city joins the 2017 Great Purge of American History. The integrity of their deliberations requires they review the history of George Mufflin Dallas, Vice President during the James K. Polk Presidency (March 1845 – March 1849). In a series of 6 postings, a case will be...

I recently wrote about the controversy over removing Confederate era statues from public places, and in my column I acknowledged the concerns of those who don't want to honor or celebrate men who fought, at least in part, to preserve slavery. But then I asked a question: Where does it end? "Is taking down a statue of Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson or Jefferson Davis enough?" I wondered. Or after we scrub them from history do we have to move on to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, two presidents who owned slaves? I failed to mention Christopher Columbus in...

Dear Mr. President, After your initial remarks addressing the tragedy that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, I wrote that you were correct. I agreed with you, and honest scrutiny of the facts of what occurred there that day bear out, that bigotry and violence were on display on "many sides." But this effort to soothe and unify the nation unfortunately came up short. Many felt that you had not gone far enough in singling out the white supremacist, neo-Nazi, KKK elements. This was driven by lingering concerns, for various justifiable reasons, that you harbor a willingness to tolerate, and may...

The top marginal federal income tax rate in the United States – for businesses and for people who file as businesses – is 39.6%. As a result, businesses do not grow as they should. Businesses do not thrive as they should. Businesses do not produce, or invent, or add on, or hire, as they would if their tax burden were lower. International corporations therefore find that they must do more and more of their manufacturing abroad, where their profits are not so severely penalized. And domestic corporations do not prosper… and would-be entrepreneurs do not start-up new enterprises here, because...

One of the leaders in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) spoke out against the removal of Confederate statues, saying they are a part of history. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday at City Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, local NAACP chapter president Esther Lee expressed her frustration with the current state of affairs in the U.S., WFMZ reported. “I think it’s all senseless. All senseless,” Lee said. “You know, we’re 108 years in as NAACPers and we might think things would improve, but they do not. You know we still have this factor about black and white.”...

Former Obama administration official Jeh Johnson said the removal of Confederate statues was a matter of "public safety and homeland security" on Sunday. In the aftermath of deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., when a man with white nationalist ties was arrested for ramming his car into a crowd of counter-protesters last week and killing a woman, Confederate monuments across the country have been taken down. The furor in Charlottesville began with a protest by white supremacists against the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Johnson served as Secretary of Homeland Security under Obama, and he said on ABC's...

For a second week, Saturday headlines are filled with news of growing protest rallies calling for the removal of Confederate Monuments from public spaces. Earlier today, a Free Speech rally in Boston hosted by Confederate supporters, ended abruptly as thousands of counter-protesters showed up for the event. Tonight at 7 p.m. at Dallas City Hall the nation’s eyes will be on Dallas for the In Solidarity rally planned. Organized via Facebook, thousands are expected to attend the rally calling for the removal of Confederate Monuments on public property. ..... This afternoon, via his Facebook page Mayor Mike Rawlings called for...

RUSH: Mary in Raleigh, North Carolina. You’re next. It’s great to have you here. CALLER: Yes. Hello, Mr. Limbaugh. RUSH: Hi. CALLER: What an honor. RUSH: Thank you very much. CALLER: As you know, the left is attempting to dismantle and disengage from our country’s magnificent yet sometimes messy history. They’re tearing down Confederate monuments. In fact, just in Durham, 30 minutes away from here in Raleigh, they tore one down recently — RUSH: Yeah, you know what I found out about that? The woman that actually tore that down — CALLER: Is a communist. RUSH: Communist, pro-North Korea activist....