Free Republic

It began with calls to remove Confederate generals. But since the violence in Charlottesville, Va., two weeks ago, the anger from the left over monuments and public images deemed racist, insensitive or inappropriate has quickly spread to statues of Christopher Columbus, the former Philadelphia tough cop Mayor Frank Rizzo, Boston’s landmark Faneuil Hall, a popular Chicago thoroughfare and even Maryland’s state song. An Asian-American sportscaster named Robert Lee was pulled from broadcasting a University of Virginia football game so as not to offend viewers.

It was May 2, 1948, when, according to a Baltimore Sun article from that day, “3,000” looked on as then-Governor William Preston Lane Jr. and Pelosi’s father, the late Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., spoke at the dedication of a monument to honor Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The article said Lane delivered a speech, and Mayor D’Alesandro “accepted” the memorial. “Today, with our nation beset by subversive groups and propaganda which seeks to destroy our national unity, we can look for inspiration to the lives of Lee and Jackson to remind us to be resolute and determined...

President Donald Trump is in trouble again with his Moral Superiors. His problem, of course, is that he cannot throttle his B.S. Detector. Trump it seems at some point in life acquired a B.S. Detector that has usually served him well. It certainly served him well during his long years in business and during his brief time in politics. Now, however, it is problematic. The Detector sounds an alarm when it perceives B.S., and during the Charlottesville disruptions it went wild. Every time the Mainstream Media or a political figure (usually a Democrat) began vituperating against only one side in...

I feel for the poor souls who suffer so profoundly when they find themselves in vicinity of monuments dedicated to Southerners who participated in the War Between the States. It seems however that not enough is being done to assuage their suffering. A couple of examples of what more can be done come to mind. The fine University in Virginia named Washington and Lee (actually named after the Father of our Country and the Commander of Confederate States of America's Army)should obviously be renamed. A much bigger problem is Arlington National Cemetery, which was the front yard of General Lee's...

As we rewrite history and remove Confederate monuments deemed "offensive" when viewed through the prism of contemporary standards of morality, reasonable people ask: Where does one draw the line? The left, for example, reveres the Kennedy brothers, John, Robert and Edward. But if evaluated by today's standards of social justice, would these left-wing icons hold up? In Sen. Ted Kennedy's case, how does the monument-removing left feel about the kiss Kennedy blew Gov. George Wallace a mere 10 years after Wallace delivered what became perhaps that era's most infamous defense of segregation? At Wallace's request, Kennedy spoke in Alabama at...

I’ve been avoiding the news lately because it pains me to see my beloved country so divided, with people so bitterly angry at each other. All the shouting, violence, and destruction of historical monuments have only brought up a feeling of déjà vu. America is clearly undergoing a Cultural Revolution that is eerily similar to Mao’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution which took place in China in the 1960s. Maybe Karl Marx was right after all when he declared that “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Both Movements Started On Campuses, And Spread...

Good work by CNN to report on vandalism of monuments since Charlottesville’s mob violence last week.

Time to expelled anything Lee from America.

I grew up on Missionary Ridge, a Civil War battlefield overlooking Chattanooga, Tenn. In my childhood we could still find minie balls from the battle in which a young Union soldier, Arthur MacArthur, the father of Douglas, received the Medal of Honor. The war’s relics were real and tangible — I still have a few on my desk as I write — and so were the war’s perennial and tragic consequences. I remember the smoke rising from downtown riots in 1980 after an all-white jury acquitted two Ku Klux Klansmen in the drive-by shotgun shootings of four black women. (A...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A majority of Americans think Confederate monuments should be preserved in public spaces, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, a view that is at odds with efforts in many cities to remove them. The Aug. 18-21 poll found that 54 percent of adults said Confederate monuments "should remain in all public spaces" while 27 percent said they "should be removed from all public spaces." Another 19 percent said they "don't know." Responses to the poll were sharply split along racial and party lines, however, with whites and Republicans largely supportive of preservation. Democrats and minorities were...

A Houston man has been charged with trying to plant explosives at the statue of Confederate officer Richard Dowling in Hermann Park, federal officials said Monday. Andrew Schneck, 25, who was released from probation early last year after being convicted in 2015 of storing explosives, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez said in a statement Monday. Schneck was arrested Saturday night after a Houston park ranger spotted him kneeling in bushes in front of the Dowling monument in the park, Martinez said. Schneck was holding two small boxes that included duct...

Pastor J.D. talks about the Islamic terrorist attack in Barcelona and addresses one of the most serious threats facing the church today.

For a second week, Saturday headlines are filled with news of growing protest rallies calling for the removal of Confederate Monuments from public spaces. Earlier today, a Free Speech rally in Boston hosted by Confederate supporters, ended abruptly as thousands of counter-protesters showed up for the event. Tonight at 7 p.m. at Dallas City Hall the nation’s eyes will be on Dallas for the In Solidarity rally planned. Organized via Facebook, thousands are expected to attend the rally calling for the removal of Confederate Monuments on public property. ..... This afternoon, via his Facebook page Mayor Mike Rawlings called for...

Most black Americans do not think Confederate statues should be removed because they are offensive, a Marist poll released Thursday found. Forty-four percent of African Americans believe the Confederate statues should stay in place, while 11 percent said they’re unsure. The remaining 40 percent of African Americans polled said the statues should be removed. Those surveyed were asked whether statues “honoring leaders of the Confederacy” should “remain as a historical symbol” or “be removed because they are offensive to some people,” or whether the respondent is unsure. NPR and PBS News Hour conducted the Marist poll Monday and Tuesday, following a...

ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump’s widely criticized response to white supremacist violence in Virginia has left Democrats in a quandary: how to seize the moral high ground without getting sucked into a politically perilous culture war. Democrats have denounced Trump for blaming “both sides” for deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, and, more recently, for defending Confederate monuments. But the party faces a complex task: While addressing race and history in ways that reflect the party’s values, Democrats also need to focus on issues like jobs and the economy that resonate with a wider range of voters, including white independents,...

Another day, yet another statue of a military hero is reportedly under fire. This figure astride a horse was vandalized with the spray-painted words "Tear It Down." Who was this historical figure? General Lee? Stonewall Jackson? Nathan Bedford Forrest? No, this was a figure who hails from the north. Of France: The phrase "Tear it Down" was hastily sprayed in black paint across the base of the golden Joan of Arc statue on Decatur Street in the French Quarter sometime earlier this week. It has since been removed, with only the vaguest traces of the paint remaining. The "Tear it...

Chelsea Clinton was soundly criticized for her comments Tuesday regarding Confederate monuments. She tweeted about her childhood, saying that the only Confederate memorial she remembered from her home state of Arkansas was in the cemetery. People immediately pointed out that there was a rather larger memorial on the state Capitol grounds, where she had lived when her father served as the governor of Arkansas. So Clinton changed tactics, and on Thursday, she tweeted a comparison between Confederate monuments and Satan. "The story of Lucifer-who rebelled against God-is part of many Christians' traditions. I've never been in a church with a...

As the American left targets historical icons for removal and/or destruction, one is reminded of the way the Taliban destroyed centuries-old Buddhist statues and the Islamic State’s ongoing violence against Christian churches and landmarks. In short, the American left, the Taliban, and the Islamic State (ISIS) hold two things in common. First, an inability to appreciate the whole of history as it happened, which includes good times and bad. And secondly, a tendency to express this lack of appreciation via violence and destruction.

The hacktivist collective Anonymous is planning a "Denouncement Day" this Friday to "denounce the Confederacy, to denounce racism, bigotry and hate," saying "it is time to take down these monuments of hate ourselves." Supporters plan to gather at 6 p.m. EST at the statue of Rear Adm. Raphael Semmes in Mobile, Ala., the Confederate Soldiers Monument in Little Rock, the Jackson Guards Memorial in Jacksonport, Ark., the Searcy Confederate Memorial in Searcy, Ark., the Our Confederate Dead monument in Munn Park in Lakeland, Fla., the Confederate Monument in Piedmont Park in Atlanta (which was defaced with spray paint this week),...

"A majority of Americans polled in an NPR/PBS News Hours/Marist poll believe that statues of honoring leaders of the Confederacy should remain as a historical symbol."