Free Republic

Pismo Beach residents came face-to-face with a group "stress-testing" their First Amendment rights.Police in the California coastal community of Pismo Beach received an influx of calls earlier this week about people filming citizens at the local post office. It turns out they were First Amendment auditors. These people consider themselves to be citizen journalists and exercising their First Amendment rights by filming others in public areas. They often do this at government buildings to hold public servants accountable. Angel Ramirez was one of the individuals at the post office on Monday and said the auditors were clearly making people feel...

The Boston Arts Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to remove a public monument depicting President Abraham Lincoln standing before a freed slave. The Emancipation Memorial in Park Square — a replica of the original standing in Washington, D.C. — will be taken down with an art conservator “to document, recommend how the bronze statue is removed, supervise its removal and placement into temporary storage,” the motion reads. “As we continue our work to make Boston a more equitable and just city, it’s important that we look at the stories being told by the public art in all our neighborhoods,” Boston...

Tens of thousands have gathered for the deranged nine-day festival of excess, which is unique among others in frowning at any hint of commercialism. Incredible photos show attendees donning outrageous Mad Max-style outfits, or even forgoing clothes at all, under the relentless sun. Some are seen traveling around the temporary city in post-apocalyptic "art cars" and bicycles. And the ritualistic burning of a giant human-shaped effigy is seen sending smoke and flames billowing into the empty skyline.

A former Florida police officer has pleaded guilty in a civil rights case regarding false arrests in which he admitted to framing innocent black men. Guillermo Ravelo, 37, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Miami federal court to conspiracy to deprive a person of his civil rights and deprivation of civil rights under color of law. Ravelo is accused of making the false arrests while working for the Biscayne Park Police Department in Miami in 2013 and 2014. Prosecutors say Ravelo falsely arrested 35-year-old Clarens Desrouleaux in January 2013 for two residential burglaries, claiming at the time that he had confessed...

The Austin based Anti-fascists group, Red Guards Austin, has been gaining prominence in the Texas Antifa movement. As we have previously reported, they are a self described autonomous Marxist-Leninist-Maoist collective and their website contains multiple reports on their confrontational and often armed demonstrations. They also openly advocate for violent revolution against capitalism. “we must seriously take up the task not only of self-defense on the personal and community level, but we must also struggle to unite all genuine antifascists behind the necessity of revolution. Revolution means the long fight for communism and nothing less.” In a recent blog titled...

Donald Trump’s challenge on August 15 — “what about the alt-left” — has stirred silly arguments. Claiming there is no “alt-left” because no one calls themselves “alt-left,” ignores the long, colorful history of political nicknaming. And claiming there is no “alt-left” because all leftists hate Neo-Nazis mistakenly defines the “alt-” modifier as being about racism not fanaticism. With 100 goons from the Left having attacked peaceful demonstrators from the Right as recently as this Sunday afternoon in Berkeley, we must stop viewing the growing epidemic of political brutality through myopic, partisan lenses. The real question remains: Is “alt-left” a useful...

Four people were shot at an elementary school in San Bernardino, California, Monday just after 10:30 a.m. Pacific time – and at least one leading anti-gun activist wasted no time before she blamed the National Rifle Association for “trying to force guns into schools across the U.S.”

Author, founder of Salon.com, and Bernal Heights resident David Talbot recently made a speech at Stanford which was then published in 48HillsOnline.com decrying “Stanford douchebags”, gentrification, and Mayor Ed Lee. Talbot’s strong words for Stanford students have struck a chord up north in San Francisco, and his speech is rapidly going viral.

It was, perhaps, the day the media died. Next week marks the fifth anniversary of the bitter night-January 21, 2011-when progressive Americans, and indeed Americans of all political persuasions who value honor, truth, respect, intelligence and decency, were shocked to learn that MSNBC had decided to end Countdown with Keith Olbermann, perhaps the single best news program ever to air on cable television in the United States. The abrupt cancellation of Countdown was a victory for the dishonest political forces Olbermann had forcefully condemned during his nearly eight-year run-and a demoralizing defeat for democracy. Things just haven't been the same...

In a secret meeting on Tuesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) hosted a bipartisan group of senators and House members in the Capitol’s basement. According to several participants, the lawmakers plotted ways to stop the use of U.S. military force in Syria. Since the diplomatic situation is fluid, there was no final consensus on how best to combat the administration, but potential legislative maneuvers, press appearances, and letters were discussed. Several undecided members asked questions. Aides say Paul planned the gathering over a week ago, and the list of attendees grew by the day. He is pleased, especially, by...

What do we call me? I’m a 26-year-old writer who lives in a gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’m a straight white man with a single-speed bike and a mustache. I studied liberal arts in college, and I have ideas about stuff, you guys. Millennial? Hipster? Yuppie? All of these, or none? We don’t have a term that quite encapsulates this corner of the despicable millenn-intelligensia. And like any other privileged member of a so-called “creative class,” being called a hipster offends me for its inaccuracy. I demand to be snarked in precise terms. Let's consider something new: Yuccies. Young Urban...

While rock 'n' roll is necessarily classified as a form of pop music, it is actually an idiom whose radical, destructive primitivism established a new type of socio-cultural disorder. It's about rejection of the status quo and celebration of the dis-imprisonment it instills. Always exploited for profit, rock's unmanageable aspects have been steadily diluted by a sinister, commercially driven course of revisionist myth-making. There is no acceptable role in the marketplace for radicals like Charlie Feathers, Poly Styrene, Lux Interior or Roky Erickson, but there's always room for the homogeneous, money-hungry, play-it-safe phonies on this list. These douchebags all have...

Funny really is money. Bill Maher, the host of HBO's "Real Time," announced on Sunday at Citi Field that he had purchased a minority stake in the Mets earlier this year — and the sometimes controversial, always funny comedian wasn't kidding. Maher, a lifelong Mets fan, says he thinks he made a "great investment" by purchasing a share in the team. "I think people sometimes forget there's only one National League franchise in New York City, and they're not making anymore," he said. "I just thought it would be a great place, especially after I've seen some of the ways...

Markos has a new book coming out calling the American Right the Taliban, and the cover looks oddly familiar ...

What is up with CNN's insatiable hammering of ObamaCare all day today? The feeding frenzy begins?

VIRGINIA - The objective of a new video game is to stop the spread of Christianity and Islam by brutally killing biblical prophets, says the game’s atheist creator. A graduate student at the University of Virginia created the game --which has not yet been released-- in order to give a voice to atheists, according to WSLS Television News. The grad-student wishes to remain anonymous for “fear of his safety.” His request is understandable --considering at one point in his game players win by beheading the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Nearly a year ago, an even less bold stunt resulted in death...

Call it a metaphor for a prosperous, risk-embracing age or just call it bad driving. Auto makers are turning out a new breed of supremely fast sports cars that sell for upwards of $250,000 and share many characteristics of purebred racecars. But as more of them hit the road, often in the hands of inexperienced drivers, a growing number are ending up wrapped around trees, smashed into guardrails or otherwise totaled in accidents. In the past 18 months, drivers across the world have cracked up at least six rare $1 million Ferrari Enzos -- only 400 of which were built....

Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and other celebrities gathered Sunday to protest a natural gas facility proposed for a site 14 miles off the Malibu coast. "We have to use our voices and band together and stop this," said Oscar winner Halle Berry. The gathering _ also attended by Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke and Tea Leoni _ was intended to raise awareness about how the energy industry has invested billions to liquefy and ship natural gas across oceans. There are five facilities proposed for California, with three along the Southern California coastline. One of the world's...

"Would it kill you, 'Godless' author Ann Coulter, to do us all a favor and kill yourself? (Oh, well, yeah, I guess it would kill you.) "After her recent rabidly hateful, foaming-at-the-mouth, sub-human 'Today' show appearance -- in which she reiterated her assertion that 9/11 widows are "enjoying their husband's deaths" -- even her former supporters began to fantasize about how much nicer the world would be if it were Coulterless."

Red vs. Blue: The Aftermath Seattle Weekly readers sound off on the election. I feel like someone has died, and I guess that someone is my country and its shining ideals. The people have voted, cowering in fear and ignorance, and now retreat to their caves with the same mentality . . . playing right into the hands of this despicable bunch that will control our country for another four years. I'm shocked and appalled, fearful, and more than a little ashamed of my countrymen, and I'm worried about what the next four years will bring. Because it's "open season"...