Free Republic

Because it happened in America, the trial of George Zimmerman for shooting and killing Trayvon Martin was all about race ... the people who benefit politically from the same invidious forces that led both to Trayvon Martin’s killing, and the acquittal of his killer, will deny that race had anything to do with either the killing or the verdict. ... Because this is America, pointing out that a black boy can be shot with impunity by a more or less white man because many white Americans are terrified by black boys and men is called “playing the race card.” The...

President Obama will face many hard boards that would be very difficult for him to bore very far into, even if he were so inclined, which to all appearances he mostly isn't. Consider just one crucial issue among the many now facing the nation, which would require great courage and moral leadership from our new president, if anything like meaningful "change" were to take place at all. This is the matter of prosecuting members of the Bush administration who committed very serious crimes, in particular those who authorized Americans to torture prisoners in blatant violation of both American and international...

Paul Campos has beclowned himself. He did it in the usual way, by arguing loudly about things he does not understand. Campos chose to devote an entire column (“The right’s Ward Churchill,” Feb. 20) to a blog entry of mine from last week, in which I wondered why the Bush administration wasn’t acting covertly to kill radical mullahs and atomic scientists, rather than preparing a major attack on Iran. (Silly me, I thought this was advocating a less warlike approach). According to Campos, this suggestion was both morally wrong — suggesting that we kill people this way made me a...

"Writing," observed the French playwright Moliere, "is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, and then for money." This aphorism is brought forcefully to mind by the cover of Ann Coulter's latest book, leering at customers from the windows of America's biggest bookstores. As always, the cover features a portrait of the artist as a young tart, blond locks flowing, her size zero little black dress catering to a combination of ideological and erotic perversion that's disturbing to contemplate. In The New York Times, David Carr doesn't hesitate to label Coulter a literary...

The best thing that could happen to the Democratic Party is for the Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade. Liberal judicial activism in general - and Roe in particular - is the biggest gift the Republican Party has ever gotten. Because of Roe, three generations of Republican politicians have had the luxury of posturing about their opposition to legalized abortion, without ever having to pay the price for that opposition. If Roe is reversed, abortion will be outlawed in some states - although in fewer than either pro-life or pro-choice activists imagine. But an almost certain side effect of...

Hope I die before I get old, sang Roger Daltrey in the classic Who anthem My Generation 35 summers ago. Only one of the original band's members - the endearingly lunatic drummer Keith Moon - actually managed to pull off that particular feat. When bassist John Entwistle died a couple of weeks ago, he was, like the rest of the baby boom generation's leading edge, pushing 60. In a gesture that captured the spirit of that generation the band's surviving original members, Daltrey and Pete Townshend, decided to carry on with the concert tour that had been scheduled to start...