Free Republic

Were you upset with the “You’re next” tweet of LeBron James, targeting police officer Nicholas Reardon? Did you find it irresponsible and potentially dangerous? Would you agree that a man of LeBron’s massive influence should be more careful in venting his frustration and anger? Is it possible that the tweet, which LeBron deleted (while blaming others for the hatred), could jeopardize Reardon’s safety, along with that of his loved ones? Could it potentially incite some unstable person to try to take “justice” into his own hands?If you answered “yes” to all these questions, then I’m with you, 100 percent. There...

How will future historians explain this? From 2001 to 2014, majorities of Americans, including supermajorities of blacks and non-Hispanic whites, told Gallup pollsters that "race relations" were either very or somewhat good. Then, after the election and reelection of the first American president of African descent, each case with majorities of the popular vote and electoral votes, perceptions suddenly plunged. Only around 50% of non-Hispanic whites rated race relations as good in 2015, 2019 and 2020. And the percentage of blacks taking that view fell to 51% in 2015, before Donald Trump's election as president, to 40% in 2019 and...

America is on the verge of anarchy. Every time police kill a Black man, the community finds itself on the edge and the nation wonders if an inferno is about to erupt. This reality dovetailed with a meme I saw a few days ago: “The Biggest Change Since Rodney King is the Video Quality.” While video quality has improved, one thing that hasn’t changed is negative outcomes from resisting arrest. Some of the names Americans know that demonstrate this include George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Rayshard Brooks, and Michael Brown. If the media were being honest, they would characterize these encounters...

Do you have your scorecards ready? We’re going to do our best to sort out the results of this week’s elections in Israel, the fourth in a period of just two years (can you imagine that?). But first, a disclaimer: by the time you read this article, the outcome may have changed. That’s how inconclusive the final voting turned out to be. A shift in affiliation by one of the many parties receiving votes could change things overnight. Plus, on Friday, 450,000 double-sealed votes will be counted (including military votes, votes from abroad, and votes sent in because of COVID)....

The father of Michael Brown and other activists from Ferguson, Missouri, are demanding financial support from Black Lives Matter after the organization revealed it raised over $90 million last year. Michael Brown Sr., whose son was fatally shot by a white police officer in August 2014, along with the other activists that helped propel the movement, want $20 million from the group to help their community. “Where is all that money going?” Brown Sr. asked in a Tuesday press release from The International Black Freedom. “How could you leave the families who are helping the community without any funding?”

Ferguson activists demanded $20 Million from Black Lives Matter and said the organization of not providing enough aid to local activist groups in Ferguson, Missouri and other places around the country where racial justice protests have occurred. “Today, we hold Black Lives Matter accountable,” said Tory Russell in a video posted to twitter. Russel is a self-described “frontline organizer” and “freedom fighter” from Ferguson, the place where protests erupted following the 2014 death of Michael Brown by the hands of police. “What kind of movement are we building when we say ‘Black lives matter’ but the freedom fighters and the...

I don’t know what former President Trump’s future may hold or what his political aspirations may be. But I do know this: I will not be focused on his every move. I will not be looking to him to revamp the Republican Party or save America. And while it is possible he will do much good for both his party and the nation in the days ahead, I suggest that we take our focus off Donald Trump. It is time to move on. Again, I’m neither discounting nor inviting another Trump run in 2024. Instead, my emphasis is on the...

January 20th is past, and Joe Biden, not Donald Trump, is the President of the United States. To all those who prophesied that Trump would serve a second consecutive term and assured us that he would be inaugurated on the 20th, I appeal to you in the strongest possible terms: admit your error, take full responsibility, and do not, under any circumstances, continue to put a false hope into the hearts of God’s people. What you prophesied did not come to pass. There is not an alternative, spiritual reality in which Trump is still functioning as president. Nothing is going...

As the church of America becomes increasingly divided along political lines, a dangerous tendency is developing. Our party is the party of God; the other is the party of the devil. Our cause is entirely righteous; theirs is entirely wicked. We can therefore call down curses on our political enemies, since they are doing the devil's work. It is no longer the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of Satan, it is the Republicans vs. the Democrats and Trump vs. Biden. That's how we divide. Recently, I was alarmed to see Christians praying with great fervor online, calling down divine...

A defamation lawsuit brought against CNN by President Donald Trump’s campaign will not move forward, a federal judge in Georgia ruled Thursday, part of a raft of libel accusations the campaign waged against media outlets over the last year. Trump’s campaign filed the lawsuit in federal court in March, seeking damages for a 2019 opinion piece on CNN’s website that it called false and libelous. Judge Michael Brown dismissed the legal challenge on Thursday, arguing the campaign could not demonstrate that CNN published any inaccurate information intentionally or with reckless disregard for the truth, a high standard known as “actual...

John Piper has been a friend – a good and faithful friend – for more than 40 years. I thank God for his remarkable worldwide ministry, his evident deep love for God, his faithfulness to every word of Scripture, and the way his life of self-sacrifice continues to provide a challenge to me personally. When we have opportunities to be together, I enjoy every minute of conversation with him. I pray for him regularly, as I believe he does for me. I agree with probably 98% of everything he has written and said during his entire ministry.But he and I...

John Piper is one of the most respected Christian leaders in America, and I personally hold him in high esteem. Yet I differ with his suggestion that Christians might do best by sitting out the presidential election, since a vote for either Trump or Biden cannot be justified.Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 25 books and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire.Before sharing my differences, though, I want to...

"Unfortunately, we have found that your title doesn't meet Prime Video's content quality expectations and is not eligible for publishing on the service at the time," an Amazon spokesperson informed Hoover Institution senior fellow Shelby Steele last week. "We will not be accepting resubmission of this title and this decision may not be appealed," the email continued. "We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause." Fortunately for the viewers and for Amazon, its brass had a change of heart. "They acknowledged what happened and said they would work to improve and prevent incidences like this one from happening again," said...

August was the sixth anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, the black teenager who was shot dead by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. The incident, and the nationwide coverage it attracted, marked the beginning of a period of mass protests against police, which culminated (let’s hope) after the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis this May. The fashionable explanation for what happened to Brown, Floyd and others—such as Freddie Gray in 2015 and Philando Castile in 2016—is so-called systemic racism. The activist left and the mainstream media insist that law enforcement targeted these men because they...

Source: Townhall Media/Leah BarkoukisDid you hear about the large Christian gatherings in Washington, DC this weekend? Did you see the news reports about the mayhem? The looting? The vandalism? The calls to “Burn it down!”? Did you hear the speakers calling for acts of violence and destruction? Oh, you didn’t? That’s because tens of thousands of Christians did gather in DC this weekend, but they came to pray for the nation and repent for their sins. The two main events were The Return, which began Friday night and ended Saturday night, and Franklin Graham’s prayer march, which was held from...

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Atlanta has ruled that the daughter of a married gay couple in Georgia who was born via surrogate in England has been an American citizen since birth, and ordered the State Department to issue a U.S. passport for her.

Joe Biden this weekend tied the 2014 shooting death of Ferguson, Missouri, resident Michael Brown to the need to tackle “systemic racism” and corrupt law enforcement. It is puzzling that he would link the one to the others, considering the Department of Justice under his boss, former President Barack Obama, concluded that Brown was no victim. Rather, the 18-year-old black man was killed in the act of attacking a police officer and trying to take away his gun. “It's been six years since Michael Brown's life was taken in Ferguson — reigniting a movement,” said the former vice president on...

To this day, in protests across America, crowds will taunt policemen with the words, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” These words were allegedly uttered by my namesake Michael Brown before he was gunned down in Ferguson, Missouri by white police officer Darren Wilson in 2014. The fact that witnesses attest that Brown never uttered such words is immaterial. The myth has been enshrined. Brown’s death, which sparked weeks of rioting and helped spawn the BLM movement, is something I am reminded of virtually every single day. And I mean that literally. That’s because, a few years ago, a colleague of mine...

After a 5-month, secret re-investigation of the case, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell announced today that he will not bring any charges against former police officer Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown. “Because of the significance of this case to this community and because the family asked, I believed it was necessary to conduct a reexamination of the evidence in the case and come to our own conclusion,” Bell said.Bell said thousands of pages of documents, including witness statements, forensic reports and other evidence, were examined in his review.“The question for this office was a...

St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell said on Thursday that he will not charge the former Ferguson police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014. Bell said that the significance of the case and requests from Michael Brown’s family prompted his office to quietly re-open an investigation about five months ago, but the office did not have enough evidence to disprove a self-defense claim in trial. “This is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do as an elected official,” Bell said beginning a news conference Thursday.