Free Republic

A newly disclosed surveillance video from the hours before the killing of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 has triggered fresh protests. A filmmaker has released the footage which he says shows Michael Brown did not rob a shop, as police claimed, but instead exchanged marijuana for cigars. He says it contradicts video released by police showing Brown threatening the shopkeeper as he walks out with cigars. The 18-year-old was shot dead by a police officer moments later. However, the convenience store maintains it was a robbery. Policeman Darren Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing by investigators but the...

*NEA conference call full audio and transcript here** Should the National Endowment for the Arts encourage artists to create art on issues being vehemently debated nationally? That is the question that I set out to discuss a little over three weeks ago when I wrote an article on Big Hollywood entitled The National Endowment for the Art of Persuasion?” The question still requires debate but the facts do not. The NEA and the White House did encourage a handpicked, pro-Obama arts group to address politically controversial issues under contentious national debate. That fact is irrefutable. But some have claimed that...