Free Republic

Venita, who didn’t want to give her last name because of her position at an area college said she felt an instant sense of shock and disbelief.“I think the verdict was unjust. I believe that the case law was not applied. Black letter law applies according to the situation, and the weight of the case was based on the fact that it was not a self-defense case.” “In my opinion it was harassment, because the young man was not doing anything. He was being stalked and terrorized. [Zimmerman] has a history of violence, and I believe that because he was...

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis walks, talks and barks like a rootsy Occupy Wall Street activist. But this Big Labor loudmouth who's leading the abandonment of nearly 400,000 schoolchildren in the Windy City is just another power-grabbing union fat cat. Instead of academic excellence, she rails about "social justice." Instead of accountability, she fumes about "profits" and curses merit pay. Lewis has marched with the Occu-clowns denouncing capitalism and promoting "socialism (as) the alternative." She raves: "Occupy Wall Street and the whole concept of the 99 percent is an extraordinarily important movement." And she earned praise as a "fist-in-the-air,...

In a sign of what may be coming, residents of a Chicago condo building located near the site of next month’s NATO summit have been asked to leave for the event or risk being caught in a storm of rioters. WND first reported in August 2011 that radicals, some with ties to President Obama, were planning to riot during the NATO summit. FOX Chicago News reported the people living in the 17-floor Library Tower building at 520 South State Street were warned in a letter from condo management that “we are STRONGLY recommending that all residents find places to stay...

In a surprise turnaround, the White House announced Monday afternoon that Chicago won’t be hosting the controversial G-8 summit after all. It will be held at Camp David instead of Chicago. The NATO summit will proceed here May 20-21. City Hall insisted that it was President Barack Obama’s decision — that Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not ask the White House to take the more controversial of the two summits off Chicago’s hands. One leading demonstrator pledged the protests “will go forward” here despite the switch. The White House issued a terse statement dropping the bombshell shortly before 3 p.m. “In...

Anti-Wall Street protesters took over a vacant lot and adjacent park in downtown Oakland late Saturday and erected a tent camp to replace one torn down by police, setting the stage for a potential showdown. Protesters marched to the lot and tore down a chain-link fence before pitching tents as a light rain started. Police on the scene did not immediately intervene and the camp later expanded into an adjacent public park. "Occupy Oakland has a new home at 19th and Telegraph," organizers said in a message to supporters, adding there would be a big "housewarming" party. "Bring tents!" The...

Yeah. These guys are JUST like the Tea Party! Share|

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man involved with the “Occupy Chicago” movement has been charged with child pornography. Robert Reitz, 21, of the 2000 block of South Canalport Avenue, was arrested Monday in the 100 block of West Quincy Street for an active warrant for aggravated child pornography, police said. He is being held without bond, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office. At the time of his arrest Reitz said he was involved with security for Occupy Chicago–a claim that was denied by protest organizers. Reitz was arrested after officers smelled burnt cannabis and approached to investigate. Officers did a...

Okay, not really. However, in a spirited response to the Occupy Chicago protests, traders at the Chicago Board of Trade tossed photocopies of McDonald's job applications from their windows on the heads of protesters. With their usual good humor, protesters referred to the Board of Trade as a "soulless place." This is only the latest amusing stunt at the Board, as last month a "WE ARE THE 1%" sign was hung from its windows, and later leaflets reading "We are the 1% paying for this" were dumped from the windows in what is presumably civil disobedience against local littering laws....

As radical progressives continue to strengthen their grip on the #OccupyWallStreet mob, they’ve looked to activists of yesteryear to glean some advice and guidance. The #OccupyChicago crowd has unsurprisingly turned to domestic terrorist-turned-university professor Bill Ayers. Ayers appeared at a recent “teach in” at #OccupyChicago and regaled his audience with stories of meeting with the Vietnamese to tut-tut about his “American revolution.” He theorized whether or not the police – you know, the pigs that protesters are attacking from coast-to-coast – are indeed a part of the 99%. They’re not if they attack us, he mused. But then, in typical...

Academic/activist Bernardine Dohrn, former leader of Weather Underground, on Rag Radio with Thorne Dreyer. Listen to it here. Bernardine Dohrn, activist, academic, and child advocate, was Thorne Dreyer's guest on Rag Radio Friday, October 21. Dohrn is Clinical Associate Professor of the Northwestern University School of Law, and founding director of the Children and Family Justice Center. Bernardine was a national leader of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and the Weather Underground, and was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List for over a decade.

Byron Trott has a household name, provided that the household is worth a few billion dollars. Trott is a Chicago investment banker who has advised the likes of the Pritzkers and the Wrigleys. He earns their trust, friends and competitors said, because he is the soul of discretion, never leaking details of pending deals or hogging credit. Accordingly, he seldom gives interviews or takes leading roles in civic functions. Insiders said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had to twist his arm to get him to join the board of World Business Chicago, the city’s economic development promoter. And yet Trott...

Just twenty or so years ago, Barack Obama wouldn’t just have supported the Occupy protests. He would have organized them. From Stanley Kurtz’s essential Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism, pp. 117-8: In fact, Obama personally helped plan one of UNO’s most confrontational actions of the eighties [in 1988]: a break-in meant to intimidate a coalition of local business and neighborhood leaders into dropping a landfill expansion deal.

Just twenty or so years ago, Barack Obama wouldn’t just have supported the Occupy protests. He would have organized them. From Stanley Kurtz’s essential Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism, pp. 117-8: In fact, Obama personally helped plan one of UNO’s most confrontational actions of the eighties [in 1988]: a break-in meant to intimidate a coalition of local business and neighborhood leaders into dropping a landfill expansion deal. We know of Obama’s involvement in this demonstration only because his supporters in 2008 felt it necessary to rebut charges that, contrary to his claims of inter-racial healing,...

On Saturday night thousands of Occupy Chicago protesters cheered the communists as they spoke at the rally and march in downtown Chicago ... That’s right. The communist leader is also an organizer for Obama’s re-election campaign.

Yesterday we released a video of John Bachtell, a national board member from the Communist Party U.S.A., addressing the bongo-banging, spoiled, suburban run-aways at the #OccupyChicago tent city and an interview with a few of his “fellow travelers” in the march. Thanks to a reader tip, we have identified the three individuals in the march who we interviewed. In the photo below starting on the left is James Raines, a University of Memphis teacher (from reader tip), next to his right is Jordan Farrar (Young Communist League & Organizing for America), and next to him is Gabe Niechcial, another young...

Last night during the tent city construction at Occupy Chicago on Michigan Ave, John Bachtell, a spokesperson from the national board of the Communist Party U.S.A., addressed the angry mob of nearly 3000. He claimed to “bring greetings and support” from the party, to the occupy movement. Bachtell received a very warm welcome and overwhelming applause form the “occupiers.” “We will be with this movement….til we make all the changes that we know we have to make….This movement is part and parcel in the great tradition in this country of people powered democracy….This is the next big step of the...

Chicago police arrested 175 members of a group protesting corporate greed early Sunday after they refused to take down their tents and leave a city park when it closed.About 500 members of Occupy Chicago set up camp at the entrance to Grant Park on Saturday evening after a protest earlier in the day involving about 2,000, the Chicago Tribune reported. Occupy Chicago is an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that started last month in New York City and has inspired protests nationwide.The Chicago demonstration entered its 24th day Sunday with protesters at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,...

In our continuing coverage from last Saturday’s anti-war protest and march organized by the left-wing ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink, and the Gay Liberation Network, we have more alarming video to share. Alarming, but not surprising, given our footage of the same groups’ joint demonstration last March. Organizers and protesters from Occupy Chicago joined these groups and provided support to last Saturday’s anti-war gathering. The protest carried a strong anti-Israel/anti-America message, a theme that both served as a rallying cry for the day and, more ominously, a call to action for the organization of massive

This photo is on Drudge's site today.

Big Government has learned that anarchist groups, led by Lisa Fithian and working with Democrats and unions on the ground in Chicago, intend forcibly to disrupt the Mortgage Bankers’ Association meeting at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and other locations this afternoon. Violence is possible, as local police and security officers seem unprepared for a confrontation with thousands of activists converging on the Hyatt from multiple other staged demonstrations in Chicago. Fithian, a veteran anarchist organizer who is widely credited with shutting down the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, has apparently arrived in Chicago after participating