Free Republic

Fact-checking journalists lean left, as Mark Hemingway documented in a canonical Washington Examiner analysis that is just as valid today as when it was published in 2011. But as John F. Kennedy once said, when asked why he wasn't supported by an odoriferous Massachusetts Democrat, "sometimes party loyalty asks too much." Case in point: the two solemn statements by Democratic presidential candidates. Last Friday at 2:24 p.m., Kamala Harris tweeted, "Michael Brown's murder forever changed Ferguson and America." Half an hour later, Elizabeth Warren got more specific: "5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in...

Vox tried teeing this up yesterday while distancing themselves from the truth, but the Washington Post delivers on its fact-check against Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. Both Democratic presidential candidates campaigned last week on the need to solve the “murder” of Michael Brown in Ferguson five years ago. Chief fact-checker Glenn Kessler calls them both out for their “galling” refusal to acknowledge that the Department of Justice found plenty of witnesses to contradict the charge that Brown had been “murdered”: Witness 102, a 27-year-old biracial man: “Brown was ‘wrestling’ through the window, but he was unable to see what...

Investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson fired back at Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren over a tweet memorializing the 2009 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown’s death on August 9, 2009, at the hands of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, sparked nationwide protests as the public seized on later-debunked claims that Brown had thrown up his hands in surrender prior to Wilson shooting him.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — On the fifth anniversary of Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, his father is urging the top St. Louis County prosecutor to reopen the investigation into the white police officer who fatally shot the black and unarmed 18-year-old. Michael Brown Sr. spoke Friday outside the St. Louis County Justice Center. "Justice has not been served," Brown, 41, said as he was surrounded by about three dozen supporters. "My son deserved to live a full life. But a coward with a badge ... chose not to value his life.

FERGUSON, Mo. – It has been five years since Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson. In that time, Ferguson has grown as a city. The mayor has said he doesn’t want the anniversary to reopen any scabs. Instead, he hopes the city will continue toward growing stronger together. As Fox 2’s Katherine Hessel reports, there are several events planned for the anniversary in Ferguson and across St. Louis County. 9 a.m. - Michael Brown Sr. will ask for his son’s case to be reopened. St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton 11 a.m. -...

There are some things so wrong that we cannot allow ourselves to get used to them. We must always be outraged over them. Always grieve over them. We can never accept them as the new status quo. The drag queen assault on our children is one of those things. I’m talking about the celebration of little children in drag. I’m talking about drag queens dancing for our children (and reading stories to them). I’m talking about children posing with naked (or nearly naked) drag queens. This is unacceptable. This is perverse. This is outrageous. It was bad enough when this...

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the argument put forth by the National Police Association in the amicus brief it filed on behalf of the City of Ferguson, Missouri; former Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, and former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, supporting their motion to dismiss in the case of Johnson v. City of Ferguson, et al. The issue was whether the plaintiff, Dorian Johnson was seized at the time that Officer Wilson had only ordered him to get off the street, and whether the qualified immunity rule applied to Officer Wilson. The brief argued Plaintiff Johnson...

For several decades, I have drawn attention to the Church’s historic persecution of the Jews in Jesus’ name. It is one of the ugliest and longest chapters in Church history, and it cannot be downplayed, forgotten, or ignored. With God’s help, I will continue to call out “Christian” antisemitism wherever I see it today. But I will not ignore Jewish persecution of Christians. It too must be called out. In the Gospels, Jesus and His followers, all of them Jews, were persecuted by hypocritical Jewish leaders, ultimately leading to the Lord’s death on the cross. And that pattern continued in...

Dr Michael Brown speaking at Southern Evangelical Seminary APRIL 13, 2019

The mother of Michael Brown, the unarmed black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a police officer in 2014, is considering running for City Council in her home city of Ferguson, Missouri. “What I’m contemplating is running for City Council of Ferguson,” Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden, said during a panel on police brutality at Harvard University on Monday. McSpadden’s announcement was met with a roar of applause from the crowd and a “Run, Lezley! Run!” chant, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Michael Brown’s mother could soon have oversight over the police department connected to her son’s death, if voters in Ferguson, Missouri, elect her to the City Council. Lesley McSpadden, 39, is among three candidates running in Ferguson’s 3rd Ward on Tuesday. She faces incumbent Keith Kallstrom and Fran Griffin, who has been active on several boards in the St. Louis suburb, where two-thirds of the 21,000 residents are black. […] “I wanted to go back and do something right in a place that did something so very wrong to my son, and I think that’s what my son would want...

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Two young men were found dead inside torched cars. Three others died of apparent suicides. Another collapsed on a bus, his death ruled an overdose. Six deaths, all involving men with connections to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, drew attention on social media and speculation in the activist community that something sinister was at play. Police say there is no evidence the deaths have anything to do with the protests stemming from a white police officer’s fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, and that only two were homicides with no known link to the protests. But some...

Two young men were found dead inside torched cars. Three others died of apparent suicides. Another collapsed on a bus, his death ruled an overdose. Six deaths, all involving men with connections to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, drew attention on social media and speculation in the activist community that something sinister was at play. Police say there is no evidence the deaths have anything to do with the protests stemming from a white police officer’s fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, and that only two were homicides with no known link to the protests. But some activists say their concerns...

In a recent Christian Post editorial, Napp Nazworth claims that evangelical Christians who voted for Donald Trump have compromised their witness and hurt the work of the gospel. He also believes that evangelical leaders who have been brought into Trump’s inner circle have become nothing more than useful idiots (my words), being duped by the allure of power. With all respect to Napp, whom I honor as a committed Christian and fine journalist, I believe he has overstated his points and confused the roles of politics and the gospel. Before sharing my perspective, however, let me make clear that: 1)...

The new St. Louis County prosecutor, Wesley Bell, has fired the lawyer who presented the evidence in the case of Michael Brown, the black teenager whose shooting by police sparked violent protests in Ferguson, Mo. Bell was sworn in on Tuesday, and in one of his first acts, sent a two-page letter to assistant prosecutor Kathi Alizadeh firing her, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, A veteran of more than 30 years in the St. Louis County prosecutor's office, Alizadeh oversaw the 2014 Brown case. Alizadeh, along with former county prosecutor Robert McCulloch, was responsible for building a case and providing...

Everything wrong with the social justice movement is currently on display in Ferguson. Four years after Michael Brown’s death, a group of protesters are trying to shut down the store Brown visited just before he was killed. They blockaded the store until the police finally made them stop and continue to protest the store and verbally harass anyone who tries to shop there. My wife and I were present at a City Council meeting observing the protesters. Some threatened to burn the store down and to harm the owners, an Indian-American family. Others added a dose of racism, calling the...

Protesters have been gathering outside of Ferguson Market and Liquor since Aug. 9 — the fourth anniversary of the police shooting death of Michael Brown Jr. — calling on the convenience store to take more ownership of its role in the saga and submit to a list of requests. Brown had just left the store before the fatal skirmish with then-Officer Darren Wilson in the street near Canfield Green apartments in 2014. After the shooting, Ferguson police released a surveillance clip from the store indicating that Brown had stolen cigarillos and shoved a store clerk. Protesters believe that the...

Last week, a controversial conference was held in St. Louis with the goal of, “Supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.” It was called Revoice 2018, and it has created a stir among conservative Christians. On the one hand, the conference founder, Nate Collins, has made clear that, “We all believe that the Bible teaches a traditional, historic understanding of sexuality in marriage, and so we are not attempting in any way to redefine any of those doctrines. We’re trying to live...

What do you do when the biblical text is against your position, explicitly so? What do you do when not one single verse supports your viewpoint? It’s simple. You create new verses out of thin air. You rewrite the Bible to your liking. That’s exactly what biblical scholar Idan Dershowitz has done. In his New York Times op-ed piece, Dr. Dershowitz summarizes his 2017 academic article published in the journal Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel. (Is it any surprise that the Times decided to publish his piece?) Dr. Dershowitz claims that, “Before Leviticus was composed, outright prohibitions against homosexual sex...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The mother of Michael Brown and the maker of a documentary about his death will be speaking at Harvard University. Brown was an unarmed, black 18-year-old when he was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. The officer was not charged. Brown's death touched off widespread protests and a national discussion about race relations and police.