Free Republic

The World Holocaust Remembrance Center — Yad Vashem – on Sunday expressed its dismay at reports of Holocaust memorials and monuments being covered in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom to shield them from marauding pro-Palestinian protesters. The Israel-based organization noted Holocaust memorials serve as “solemn reminders of the unparalleled horrors perpetrated, during one of the darkest chapters in human history.”

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

Political leaders, corporate executives, and everyday citizens need to call these activist causes what they are: distractions unworthy of our attention.Our flags seem perpetually at half-staff. They came halfway down in honor of the Atlanta shooting victims, and for when we crossed the somber total of an estimated 500,000 Americans who died with coronavirus. They were lowered in honor of U.S. Capitol Police Officer William “Billy” Evans, in honor of the Boulder, Colorado shooting victims, and in honor of the Indianapolis shooting victims. They fell for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Chadwick Boseman.Perhaps some of these memorial actions are warranted...

While the city of Washington, D.C. has openly promoted tearing down statues of America’s Founding Fathers, Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk stands in distinct contrast. Hillsdale College, a small liberal arts college in southern Michigan, hosts an increasing array of original statues honoring men and women who have stood courageously for freedom.Walking Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk, one sees statues erected to founders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as well as others who have fought for liberty and equality such as Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ronald Reagan, and Winston Churchill. Hillsdale also has the only statue in North America of...

Radical activist mobs toppling statues across the country aren't just wrong about the contributions of Thomas Jefferson, they're wrong about the Founding. It is believed playwright George Bernard Shaw once said “Every man deserves to be judged in the context of his times.” While that sentiment often goes unheeded, in our current moment it seems to be under full-blown assault. Hardly an hour goes by without demands — even preemptive actions — to topple a monument or statue memorializing someone from the past.A Thomas Jefferson statue is the latest target for my alma mater, the University of Missouri. Since 1885,...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Purpose.  The first duty of government is to ensure domestic tranquility and defend the life, property, and rights of its citizens.  Over the last 5 weeks, there has been a sustained assault on the life and property of civilians, law enforcement officers, government property, and revered American monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial.  Many of the rioters, arsonists, and left-wing extremists who have carried out and supported these acts have explicitly identified themselves...

"They’re tearing down statues, desecrating monuments, and purging dissenters. It’s not the behavior of a peaceful political movement; it’s the behavior of totalitarians and tyrants and people that don’t love our country." Donald J. Trump President of the United States DEFENDING OUR SHARED HISTORY: President Donald J. Trump is taking action to defend our Nation’s historical monuments, statues, and memorials. President Trump has signed an Executive Order that ensures that any person or group that destroys or vandalizes a monument, memorial, or statue is prosecuted to the fullest extent.United States law authorizes a penalty of up to 10 years...

Historic monuments and statues have become the targets of anger and vandalism during protestsPresident Trump announced Friday that he signed an executive order to protect American monuments, memorials and statues and threatened those who try to pull them down with “long prison time.” “I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and combatting recent Criminal Violence,” Trump tweeted. “Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!” The new order enforces laws prohibiting the desecration of public monuments, the vandalism of government property, and recent acts of...

""I'm here to speak on behalf of the legacy of Charlotte Scott," said Marcia Cole, a member of the Female RE-Enactors of Distinction (FREED) who portrays Scott. FREED is an auxiliary organization of the African American Civil War Museum. "I understand there's a big campaign trying to raise money to either take it down or mend it, and I say 'no' on behalf of Ms. Charlotte," she said. "People tend to think of that figure as being servile but on second look you will see something different, perhaps. That man is not kneeling on two knees with his head bowed....

Under fire from ignorant iconoclasts, the Emancipation Memorial shows a former slave 'exerting his own strength with strained muscles in breaking the chain which had bound him.' Black Lives Matter Protesters have threatened to tear down the Emancipation Memorial in Washington. District of Columbia Delegate to Congress Eleanor Holmes Norton also called for the “problematic” statue’s removal from Lincoln Park, alleging the statue fails to note how enslaved African Americans pushed for their emancipation. Norton said former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass “expressed his displeasure” at its unveiling.In truth, Frederick Douglass predicted members of his race looking back at its...

Statues and monuments related to the Confederacy have been vandalized and toppled in recent days across the country, and now a memorial has been destroyed in a church cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland. The memorial marked the graves of 17 Confederate soldiers, many unidentified. It was spray painted earlier in the week and then toppled over Wednesday night by vandals at Grace Episcopal Church.

The graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial and World War II Memorial has received the most attention, but a total of 12 statues and memorials were defaced by vandals during recent rioting that spread to the National Mall, according to the National Park Service. The other monuments vandalized were the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and the U.S. Navy Memorial, as well as eight statues, including the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India’s nonviolent independence movement.

#TakeEmDown Comes to Yankeetown By Lola Sanchez on Mar 27, 2020 From Dylann Roof to Harvey Weinstein Many of us predicted it. The war on American monuments and memorials wouldn’t stop with just stop with Confederate ones. It wasn’t hard to figure out, but the answer was always, ‘yeah, but they’re not going after Northern “civil war” monuments. And of course we said, “what about the 54th MA Infantry monument” which was vandalized in Boston with the usual red paint, and an extra touch of the breakage of the white officer’s sword on the bronze relief monument. And their response...

Low Hanging Fruit By Samuel W. Mitcham on Feb 24, 2020 Several months ago, I attended a speech given by Paul Gramling, the commander-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to the Northeast Louisiana Brigade of the SCV at the Lieutenant Elijah H. Ward Camp in Farmerville, Louisiana. In his oration, Mr. Gramling declared that the hoopla about removing the Confederate monuments was not really about the Confederate monuments. “We are just the low-hanging fruit,” he declared. He stressed that the attacks were just part of a neo-Marxist attack upon traditional American values. After I returned home, I contemplated Commander...

The city of Portland, Oregon, has been taken over by the scum of the Earth and the mayor and city police have allowed it to happen. The masked group of thugs who call themselves “antifa,” which is supposedly short for “anti-fascist” though their actions are as fascist as they come, was at it again on Saturday in another violent protest in the city. Three demonstrators were arrested in the fracas, but judging by the videos shared on social media, a lot more arrests should have been made. More suspects are being sought in the defacing of a war memorial where...

JUST IN: A Virginia judge in Charlottesville has ruled that the Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson statues in the city are Civil War Memorials and protected by law

This cemetery in Yekaterinburg is a final resting place for many local stars and war heroes. But one section of the cemetery surrounded by pine trees is special. It is full of huge granite grave-stones with giant realistic portraits of people – many of them wear leather jackets or expensive suits, have thick gold chains and tattoos, hold cigarettes or keys from a Mercedes… All of them belong to representatives of the criminal world murdered in the 1990s – early 2000s. –nextpage–

My New Years Playlist includes a number of memorial videos for both actors and characters: Sir John Hurt Memorial - Auld Lang Syne - Mitch MillerGareth Thomas Memorial - Auld Lang Syne - Susan BoyleCarrie Fisher Memorial - Auld Lang Syne - Mannheim SteamrollerDumbledore Memorial - Auld Lang Syne - Guy LombardoJeremy Brett Memorial - Auld Lang Syne - James TaylorJames Doohan Memorial - Rudolph - Gene AutrySnape Memorial - Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce

The Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of a towering cross-shaped memorial to Maryland men who died in the First World War. The Supreme Court agreed in early November to hear the case in which the American Legion is asking the high court to reverse a 2017 appeals court ruling that the memorial violates the First Amendment’s prohibition on governments establishing religion. Overturning a lower court’s decision, the Fourth Circuit panel said the memorial, which stands on public land, is unconstitutional because it “excessively entangles the government in religion.” The case may be a gauge for the conservatism of the...

The Russian Ministry of Defense is looking to install the 25-ton monument in Elizabeth City, which is the near the headquarters of a secret WWII mission called "Project Zebra," in which hundreds of Soviet aviators were trained at a time when U.S. and Soviet forces were allied in the fight against the Nazis. But the Elizabeth City council voted 5-3 on March 23 against a previously signed memorandum of understanding. If the plan had come to fruition, the Russian Defense Ministry would have paid for the monument, with the city then covering some $228,000 for improvements to the park where...