Free Republic

Ukraine won't surrender Bakhmut, says Zelensky as Russia advances near…. That promise lasted one month. Limited shelf life. Russia’s long grind to take the strategically vital city of Bakhmut is nearing it ends, with the clean up and capture of abandoned Ukrainian units still inside the city as the priority tasks for the Russian military. Bakhmut is not as economically important as Mariupol, which fell to the Russians last May, but it is geographically significant. That is why Ukraine fought so desperately to hang on to it and expended the lives of tens of thousands of its soldiers in a...

US President Donald Trump declined to say the Confederate flag was an offensive symbol in an interview broadcast on Sunday, saying it is a source of pride for people who love the South. The Republican president was asked on Fox News Sunday if the flag, a symbol of US slavery and white supremacy for many Americans, was offensive. “It depends on who you’re talking about, when you’re talking about,” Trump responded. “When people proudly had their Confederate flags they’re not talking about racism. They love their flag, it represents the South. They like the South … I say it’s freedom...

In the wave of cancellations sweeping America, Confederate statues have been particularly hard hit. They have been graffitied, assaulted, and torn down, while authorities rush to remove them. For his part, President Donald Trump has been a steadfast defender of the statues and other forms of recognition of the Confederacy. He has come out in favor of preserving the names of military bases named after Confederate generals and pointedly said that we should build on our heritage rather than tear it down. Conservatives tend to think the same way. They reflexively oppose politically correct campaigns to destroy anything giving offense....