Free Republic

UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall is no more, its name removed from the law school today (Thursday, Jan. 30), campus officials announced. The denaming — the outcome of a nearly three-year process launched after a Berkeley lecturer discovered the racist writings of John Henry Boalt, a 19th century Oakland attorney — is the first time a Berkeley facility’s name has been eliminated due to its namesake’s character or actions.

A school principal in Cumberland County, N.S., is being criticized for throwing her school's athletic trophies and plaques into a dumpster, apparently as part of a space-making exercise. The discovery was made last Thursday night by Ashley Collins, a former student at Advocate District School who now has two daughters going to the primary-through-Grade-12 school. "I just couldn't believe that something like that would cross someone's mind to do such a thing," said Collins, who graduated from the school in 2007.

When I was first asked to review Jeanine Cummins’s “American Dirt” for the Globe, I was thrilled. With advance blurbs comparing it to “The Grapes of Wrath,” I knew it was going to be a big book, and I wanted to be part of that conversation.... But once that initial excitement had worn off, I read with growing distaste.. Soledad had been forced into sexual slavery. As her “life deteriorated into a series of lurid traumas,” we learn that her beauty and virtue were her downfall. Degradation followed degradation, at the hands of her captor... As I read, it became...

Since 1969, "Virginia Is for Lovers" has been the tourism and travel slogan of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Advertising Age called it "one of the most iconic ad campaigns in the past 50 years." But the Virginia of 2020 seems to be another country than the friendly commonwealth to which this writer moved four decades ago.

Professor Stephen Bainbridge is getting a lot of well deserved attention and praise for staring for staring down the academic diversity mafia and throwing its own rhetoric back in its face. Required to submit to what amounts to a loyalty oath to "diversity" in order to qualify for a merit raise at UCLA Law School, he spoke truth to power and discussed his devotion to intellectual diversity — documenting it with footnotes. I take the liberty of reprinting it in its entirety below, taken from his blog, ProfessorBainbridge.com:

For the first time ever, the crowns in five major beauty pageants -- Miss Universe, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss America and now, Miss World -- are all held by black women. On Saturday evening, 23-year-old Toni-Ann Singh from Jamaica was crowned Miss World 2019 and joined the growing group of black women making history as reigning winners of major pageants.

Fact: Medical science, NOT feelings, determines a person's sex - male or female. Genesis 5:2, in announcing the creation, says: “He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.” One of the first questions a pregnant woman is asked is whether the child she is carrying is a girl or a boy. Since the beginning of the human race, there have been only two sexes - male and female - which is determined at the point of conception when the father’s sperm containing either an “X” or a “Y” chromosome unites...

Students at the University of Oklahoma are working to remove the school’s “Boomer” and “Sooner” nicknames out of concern that the words are offensive to Native Americans. According to the OU Daily, the Undergraduate Student Congress met Nov. 12 to mandate a name change for the “Sooner Freshman Council”, citing the words “boomer” and “sooner” as offensive to the Native American community.

Sportsnet has confirmed that Don Cherry has been fired from Hockey Night in Canada over recent remarks that caused uproar. Cherry, 85, had singled out new immigrants in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., where he lives, for not honouring Canada’s veterans and dead soldiers. “You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said Saturday night. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.” In a statement issued...

Don Cherry has been fired by Sportsnet following remarks made on Coach’s Corner Saturday evening.

CANADA FULL TITLE: Report: Student Refuses To Wear LGBT ‘Rainbow Poppy’, Distributes Poster With Her Reasons. Then She’s Suspended. ============================================================ According to a former Conservative Party candidate from northern Manitoba in Canada, her 17-year-old cousin was suspended from school when she refused to wear a Remembrance Day poppy containing a rainbow in support of LGBT+ causes. A report from The Post Millennial indicated the teenager was suspended for distributing a poster outlining her reasons for refusing to wear the rainbow poppy. Cyara Bird of the Little Black River First Nation, whose grandfather was reportedly a World War II veteran, wrote...

The controversial television host, who revealed earlier today that he’ll be debating whether or not he should be fired from his position on tomorrow’s show, has asked his 6.8million Twitter fanbase to show their support by adding their signatures to a Change.org appeal. ‘BREAKING: There is now a rival petition to save me on @GMB,’ Piers wrote. ‘Thank you Margaret Lowry! Please sign it if you wish to repel the snivelling snowflakes & keep me in my job.’ In another post, he added: ‘Spread the word, my people… Sign, RT, and save me as your voice against the shriekingly illiberal...

“The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response” Committee on Homeland Security - US House of Representatives March 10, 2011 Thank you very much for allowing me to come here and tell the country what happened to my son. This hearing today is extremely important to begin the discussion about the issue of Islamic radicalization in America and my hope is that this Committee can somehow address this issue in a meaningful, productive way. First, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family of Private William Long, and to the wounded soldier,...

Because LGBTQ Americans living in poverty often experience unacceptable homophobia and transphobia, many become homeless. A majority of homeless LGBTQ people end up on the streets before they turn 18, and one in four is homeless before turning 16.

Court documents recently filed by the government further rock the credibility of Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller because they show that as FBI Director Mueller he worked to cover up the connection between a Florida Saudi family and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The documents reveal that Mueller was likely involved in publicly releasing deceptive official agency statements about a secret investigation of the Saudis, who lived in Sarasota, with ties to the hijackers. A Florida journalism nonprofit uncovered the existence of the secret FBI investigation that was also kept from Congress. Under Mueller’s leadership, the FBI tried to discredit the...

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to become his national security adviser, a source with knowledge of the matter has revealed. The source told NBC Wednesday evening that Trump had settled on Flynn, who was also being considered for the secretary of defense post. The Daily News could not independently confirm the report, and the Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Earlier in the evening, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the President-elect had met with Flynn and added he would make a "fantastic addition" to the team. "He has been a companion...

Another day, another instance of Scarlett Johansson hurling herself off a public relations cliff: The former Ghost In The Shell actress gave a new interview to As If magazine this week, touching on a wide variety of issues germane to her career. Topics ranged from the good (Directors shouldn’t force performers to be physically miserable instead of just, you know, acting!), to the obvious (Lost In Translation is about a relationship, not a place!), to the “Oh god, here we go again (Scarlett Johansson should be allowed to play any part she wants, and nobody should be allowed to yell...

On social media, the country seems to divide into two neat camps: Call them the woke and the resentful. Team Resentment is manned—pun very much intended—by people who are predominantly old and almost exclusively white. Team Woke is young, likely to be female, and predominantly black, brown, or Asian (though white “allies” do their dutiful part). These teams are roughly equal in number, and they disagree most vehemently, as well as most routinely, about the catchall known as political correctness.Reality is nothing like this. As scholars Stephen Hawkins, Daniel Yudkin, Miriam Juan-Torres, and Tim Dixon argue in a report published...

Identity politics is having an identity crisis. Parading as a noble cause to elevate only one side of the hyphenated American, identity politics has always cultivated a mean streak, a vulnerable underbelly of hatred for the "other" it indiscriminately blames for prejudice against African Americans, Native Americans and any other culture perceived to be at the mercy of the white man. No one disputes that prejudice based on race and religion is a terrible thing, but it's a simple truth that truth should not be sacrificed in looking for it. While identity politics seeks to liberate the victim of prejudice...

An online job posting for a Manhattan school district specifically sought “teachers of color” amid an alleged push by Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza to combat “toxic whiteness” in Big Apple public schools, The Post has learned. The help-wanted ad, which was spotted by a former teacher on April 27, was linked to an invitation to a May 14 job fair sponsored by the district, which covers the East Village and part of the Lower East Side. The racially targeted post on the Indeed.com web site said Community School District 1 was seeking “teachers of color for the 2019-2020 school year.”...