Free Republic

The New York Times is facing blowback on social media after publishing an essay by an African-American reporter who accused white women of racism for not ceding space on city sidewalks to black men. In a Wednesday essay titled "Was That Racist," reporter Greg Howard singled out white women for forcing him "off the sidewalk completely" when walking towards him, not allowing a straight path. "In seven years of living and walking here, I’ve found that most people walk courteously — but that white women, at least when I’m in their path, do not," Howard writes.

DEAR man on the street, I’m writing to ask for your help. As a female runner, I am constantly aware of my safety when I’m out on an evening run. What is behind me? Do I hear anything strange? Why is that man running towards me? What is making those bushes rustle? And I am always home before dark. Author Margaret Atwood said, “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” You may think that’s hyperbole, but I promise you, it’s not. Every woman I know has been in a situation at least...

“I’m an internationalist,” Kerry told The Crimson in 1970. “I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.”

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who has decried the failure of Congress to extend unemployment benefits before its December recess, is talking about changing the vocabulary of assistance. In a speech Jan. 8 on the House of Representatives floor, Jackson Lee suggested renaming government welfare. "Maybe the word 'welfare' should be changed to something of, 'a transitional living fund,'" Jackson Lee said, according to a post on The Minority Report blog. "For that is what it is - for people to be able to live," she said....

On Thursday, just hours after the FBI released blurry pictures of the two suspected Boston Marathon bombers, CNN anchor Erin Burnett assumed the suspects were "stereotypically" white Americans and not linked to any foreign terror group. It turned out that the suspects--Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev--are technically "white" as they are ethnically Chechen (although Dzhokhar recently became a citizen). But what Burnett, like many in the mainstream media who instinctively assume such acts are committed by those who look like Timothy McVeigh, was implying was that the suspects in the photos were white Americans who were born in this country. "They...

Small dog vs. big cat: US farmer shoots mountain lion after terrier trees animal By The Associated Press (CP) COLMAN, S.D. — A 150-pound (68-kilogram) mountain lion was no match for a squirrel-chasing terrier. Jack the Jack Russell weighs only 17 pounds (8 kilograms), and yet he managed to trap the cougar up a tree on Tuesday on a farm in the north-central state of South Dakota. Jack's owner, Chad Strenge, told The Argus Leader that the dog "trees cats all the time," and that the plucky terrier probably "figured it was just a cat." Professor Jonathan Jenks, who tracks...

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." According media reports, this quote keeping Obama company on his wheat-colored carpet is from King. Except it's not a King quote. The words belong to a long-gone Bostonian champion of social progress. His roots in the republic ran so deep that his grandfather commanded the Minutemen at the Battle of Lexington. For the record, Theodore Parker is your man, President Obama. Unless you're fascinated by antebellum American reformers, you may not know of the lyrically gifted Parker, an abolitionist, Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist thinker who foresaw the...

The "heavy lifting is over" when it comes to the Obama administration's legislative priorities this year, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday evening. Biden said that, now Wall Street reform is finished and signed into law, the administration could go out and make its political case for its accomplishment. “Now that the heavy lifting is over, we can go out and make our case,” Biden said at a fundraiser in North Carolina, according to a pool report.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Attorneys for a prison inmate accused of killing a guard while escaping from a Salt Lake City medical center are seeking to cover his neo-Nazi tattoos during his trial.

Vancouver, Washington. Beware the Beckies Dear Editor; I’m not quite old enough to be a hippie, but I have two older brothers who were; both went to Woodstock. It looks like we have a new anti-establishment movement, the Tea Party “Beckies.” Once they’ve smoked some Glenn Beck, had a dose of Rush Limbaugh, and gotten Sarah Palin-ized, they’re ready to tune-in (to Fox), turn-off (their brain), and reload. We’ve gone from Woodstock to Weirdstock, communes to militias, free love to open carry, long hairs to cross hairs, peace signs to the bird, from gurus to guns. We don’t sit-in; we...

"Does anyone recognize the red flag being carried at the Washington anti-health care demonstration in this video of the Rep. Emanuel spitting incident? I'm fairly sure this is a neo-Nazi flag, but haven't found the exact logo yet." --Charles Johnson Umm yeah, that's the Tennesee state flag...

In the 12 months since Governor David Paterson made Kirsten Gillibrand a senator, her poll numbers have done something rather remarkable: that is, nothing. There are several explanations for why Ms. Gillibrand’s statewide approval ratings have spent a year mired in the mid-20s, despite her superior title and elevated profile: Her appointment process was publicly bungled; her stance on issues like guns and gay rights evolved in disarmingly short order; and, since she’s never had to run a statewide campaign, many voters still don’t know who she is, or, for that matter, what she’s doing down in Washington.

Eating veggies shrinks the brain 14 Sep 2008 MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage. Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin. The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical...

There’s a reason some of John McCain's conservative supporters avoid discussing his record. They want to talk about his personal story, his position on the surge, his supposed electability. But whenever the rest of his career comes up, the knee-jerk reply is to characterize the inquiries as attacks. The McCain domestic record is a disaster. To say he fought spending, most particularly earmarks, is to nibble around the edges and miss the heart of the matter. For starters, consider: - McCain-Feingold — the most brazen frontal assault on political speech since Buckley v. Valeo. - McCain-Kennedy — the most far-reaching...

Monday, December 11, 2006 Incoming House intelligence chief botches easy intel quiz WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks. When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered...

It was a win-win situation for former President Bill Clinton and Fox News on Sunday. Fox News (my employer) won by getting all the attention, the highest ratings since the capture of Saddam Hussein and the most views on YouTube. The former president won by taking control of the national dialogue on the war on terrorism, such that he has everyone comparing President Bush's pre-9/11 record on hunting down Osama with his own, and in the process undercutting the Bush administration's claimed strength (the only one left) at fighting terror, which is why Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is most...

MP George Galloway has congratulated Hizbollah on its "victory" in Israel. At a news conference in a Beirut hotel, the controversial politician said: "I came here to extend my congratulations to the Lebanese people on a great and historic victory against this aggression. "I want to congratulate the Lebanese resistance and their leading edge, Hizbollah, whose martyrs and her s have achieved this great victory. "And in particular to their leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose name now rings in joy around the world." Galloway is in Beirut to present a phone-in radio show for a British radio station. He also...

DANBURY — A speech by television journalist Catherine Crier turned the 108th commencement ceremony at Western Connecticut State University on Sunday into an impromptu forum on free speech. "What better place than in a university setting to bring up discussion?" said Paul Simon, director of WestConn's Student Center/Student Life. Crier, a judge, TV journalist and author, addressed the 1,060 graduates with a speech about the government and laws passed to protect people from terrorism that she feel take away citizens' rights to privacy and freedom. The star of Court TV's daily "Catherine Crier Live," which discusses legal perspectives on breaking...

Demo candidate accused of showing Bush-bashing video to his students Parent says West science teacher showed eighth graders video with obscenities By Kelly Kazek kelly@athensnews-courier.com Christy Jackson does not want a teacher showing her 13-year-old son a video calling the president of the United States an a—hole during class. Nor does she believe her son should be shown Internet videos — which are barred to students by school system controls —that use obscenities. But that is what West Limestone High School eighth grade science teacher Steve White, a Democratic candidate for the District 4 seat on the House of Representatives,...