Free Republic

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks argued that in the discussions after the shooting of police officers in Dallas, and the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, “it doesn’t help that we have an American political debate with basically one all-white party.” Brooks began by saying, “The question, to me, is, are we going to speak out in a way that is actual dialogue and conversation, or are we going to drift into tribal thinking? There’s been a lot of rancid overgeneralizations in our society, that all African men behind the wheel are dangerous, that...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Novelist Peter Carey warns against the demise of American democracy and culture in his latest book, targeting what he sees as factors that have led to rise of the conservative Tea Party movement...

"Sometimes the leak is so bad that even a plumber can't fix it." This was the concise summation of a cable political strategist the other day, after the third and final presidential debate. That sounds about right, and yet the race in its final days retains a feeling of dynamism. I think it is going to burst open or tighten, not just mosey along. (snip) But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for,...

As one who has seen these hurricanes up close as a Gulf Coast resident, news reporter and member of Congress — where I got a behind the scenes look at how to run relief operations — I have been trying to connect the dots for those of you who have not been so intimately involved in hurricane recovery efforts. With so many trying to figure out why so few acted professionally in the first days of this epic crisis, I offer an insider's view of who is to blame for this national disgrace. We begin with Harry Truman who famously...

Bring on the Bias, Bring on the BlusterBefore the CRTC's decision to allow the Fox News Channel into Canada, there was some speculation about whether conditions might be attached. I wonder what conditions might possibly apply -- that it be less hilarious? After all the fuss and anticipation, I think most Canadians who are curious about the Fox phenomenon will be a tad disappointed with the alleged news coverage. What they'll see is a lot of blustering and badgering, a good deal of boasting, and not a lot of news. But they will be entertained. This is, after all, the...

WASHINGTON -- Supporters of President Bush are less knowledgeable about the president's foreign policy positions and are more likely to be mistaken about factual issues in world affairs than voters who back John F. Kerry, a survey released yesterday indicated. ....The polls results, said Steven Kull, the head of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which conducted the survey, showed that Americans are so polarized two weeks before the election that many lack even a common understanding of the facts. ...According to the survey, the difference doesn't reflect lack of access to information about Iraq....

Why Can’t Bubba Vote Democrat? by Allen Snyder OpEdNews.Com ‘Bubba’, you may recall, is the generic name for the guy Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean appealed to; the blue-collar white guy with the pick-up, Confederate Flag (if he’s a Southerner – the North has its Bubbas, too), gun rack, spit cup, NASCAR ball cap, ‘I Pledge to One Nation Under God’ bumper sticker, and big chip on his shoulder. It’s false that people who like NASCAR, Confederate flags, and guns are Bubbas and, being a professional critical thinker, I see the gross overgeneralization involved in saying so. Instead, we’ll say...

Greek composer and cultural icon Mikis Theodorakis added his contribution to the anti-Semitic miasma rising in parts of the world by characterizing the Jews as the root of the world's evils. Theodorakis, a towering figure in Greek music best known outside his native land for scoring the music for the film Zorba the Greek, took his shot at the Jews at a press conference to launch a new book. "We, the Greeks, did not turn aggressive like them because we have more history," Theodorakis was quoted by Y-net as saying. "Today it is possible to say that this small nation...

SOFTWARE TYCOON USES STREISAND'S NAME TO PROMOTE HIS WEBSITE DESPITE HIS GRANTING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER HOME OWNERS ANONYMITY A software tycoon has prominently featured Barbra Streisand's name on his website along with photos of her home and has been sued by the artist who is seeking the same anonymity he provided to thousands of other owners. His website's 12,000 digital pictures allow substantial technological enhancement, bringing into close observation security details of properties on the California coastline and well inland, including high security defense and nuclear sites. The website owner himself states in his description of his project,...