Free Republic

Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter who spearheaded an American folk revival and spent a long career championing folk music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change, died Monday. He was 94 and lived in Beacon, N.Y. Mr. Seeger’s career carried him from singing at labor rallies to the Top 10 to college auditoriums to folk festivals, and from a conviction for contempt of Congress (after defying the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s) to performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at an inaugural concert for Barack Obama. In his hearty...

It’s odd watching a group of left-wing academics buck up each other’s spirits after they’ve encountered the cold, cruel world outside academe. Such a gathering was on display at the Modern Language Association’s annual meeting in Chicago this month whenever the Radical Caucus of the MLA met. “The failure of communism did not result from Lenin, Stalin and Mao,” Grover C. Furr of Montclair State University told the group. “These were some of the greatest men in the world.” “Socialism preserved the contradictions of capitalism, such as differentiations in pay. We should abandon the term ‘socialism.’ Marx and Engels did...

Earlier Tuesday, NBC News reported that President Barack Obama had shaken hands with Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. However, the UK Telegraph's Josie Ensor reported that Obama "was asked to take his seat just before reaching Mugabe." Complicating matters, another article in the UK Telegraph also claimed that Obama had shaken hands with Mugabe--in very similar terms to those used in the NBC article. Breitbart News caught the discrepancy--and suddenly the NBC News article was corrected, with no notice. Before: On his way to the rostrum, Obama also shook the hand of Robert Mugabe, the strongman ruler of Zimbabwe, and hugged...

Nelson Mandela: Israel Is Terrorist and Islamic Arabs Are Innocent By Julio Severo If you believe the leftist Christian press, Nelson Mandela was… a Christian! Sheer indoctrination by the mainstream secular media? No doubt. The secular press has portrayed Mandela as a hero. A major Protestant news site in Brazil published a list of nice quotes by Mandela. By reading exclusively these nice quotes, you could say that he was a hero and even a Christian. Yassir Arafat and Nelson Mandela Yet, what about the other quotes? Since the mainstream media and even the Christian press will not show...

Full Title: Obama: Too Many Leaders Claim Solidarity With Mandela, "But Do Not Tolerate Dissent From Their Own People" Obama: ".... There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people. And there are too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard." (Watch video at link) Note: Title says it all

Mandela's final act of peace: Obama shakes hands with Fidel Castro's brother (before selfies with David Cameron and Danish PM) President Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro today, an unprecedented gesture of friendship which occurred, fittingly, at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. The handshake between leaders of the two Cold War enemies took place during a ceremony which honored the former South African President's powerful legacy of reconciliation... He was later spotted in the VIP stands posing for a 'selfie' camera phone picture with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish PM Helle Thorning Schmidt...

Obama is urging the world to act on Mandela's legacy by fighting inequality, poverty and racism. He says progress in the U.S. and South Africa mustn't cloud the fact there's still work to be done. He says South Africa shows us that we can change.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela had close friendships and alliances with many Jews, but his relationship with the Jewish state was complicated. While always courteous and never hate-filled, the South African icon’s dealings with Israel were overshadowed by Jerusalem’s staunch support for his tormentors and, even more so, his ironclad loyalty to the Palestinian cause. In the name of reconciliation, he made no ongoing issue of Jerusalem’s strong long-term partnership with the apartheid regime after he was released from a lengthy prison sentence and became South Africa’s first black president in 1994. He professed the legitimacy of Zionism as Jewish nationalism and,...

I just saw a video shot of the White House and the flag is being flown at half staff. I can only assume this is due to Mandela's death. I am curious if it customary to fly the flag at half staff for death of foreign leaders.

Nelson Mandela, the revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, has died, South African President Jacob Zuma announced late Thursday. Mandela was 95. "He is now resting. He is now at peace," Zuma said. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father." "What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human," the president said in his late-night address. "We saw in him what we seek in ourselves." Mandela will have a state funeral. Zuma ordered all flags in the nation to be...

Former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, has died. In an announcement today, a spokesman stated that he “departed… in the presence of his family.” “He is now resting, he is now at peace. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,” he added. Mandela was 95.

Sean Penn, who has a long and violent relationship with photographers, was caught giving a verbal beat-down to a fan who tried to snap a photo of the actor while he relaxed at the Lobby Bar in San Francisco’s St. Regis Hotel Tuesday night. TMZ, which posted the video, said bar patrons told the website that the fan used his flash from afar, which caught Penn’s attention. The website said bar-goers saw Penn chase the man, slam his phone to the ground and scream, “Do we look like f—ing zoo animals?” “Get the f— out of here,” Penn says on...

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday declared that a nearly 200-year-old policy which had governed Washington's relations with Latin America was finally dead. Known as the Monroe Doctrine after it was adopted in 1823 by former US president James Monroe, the policy had stated that any efforts by European countries to colonize land in North or South America would be views as aggressive acts and could require US intervention. “The doctrine that bears (Monroe’s) name asserted our authority to step in and oppose the influence of European powers in Latin America,” Kerry told an audience at the Organization...

"There's a mental health problem in Congress," says actor and liberal activist Sean Penn. The president could solve the problem "by committing them by executive order," Penn told CNN's Piers Morgan Monday night.Asked if Penn would have "people like Ted Cruz" committed, Penn said, "He is my American brother. I won't -- I think we should take care of him, he is in, he's the trouble.""Well, actually have him committed," Morgan followed up."Yeah, I think it's a good idea," Penn said.

Philadelphia city council members have approved a resolution that calls for socialist historian Howard Zinn’s book “A People’s History of the United States” to be taught in public high schools. The resolution was backed by council members Jim Kenny and Jannie Blackwell, who believe that Zinn’s far-left socialist vision of American history is currently missing from high school textbooks. “Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States’ emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history; not simply the version retold by those powerful enough to ensure history remembers their actions...

On September 11, 1973 the Chilean military led by General Augusto Pinochet slapped Fidel Castro so smartly that his Stalinist regime (and its dutiful U.S. Media minions) are still sniveling and sniffling and wiping away tears of shock, pain and humiliation. True to form, The New York Times leads the sniveling. They just published an article decrying the Chilean “tragedy” (i.e. Chile saving itself from Castroism with a military coup and today the richest and freest nation in Latin America.) The article’s author Ariel Dorfman is a former advisor to Chile’s Marxist president and Castro acolyte Salvador Allende. This same...

Film director Oliver Stone—who has made no secret of his liberal political views—called President Barack Obama a “snake” for his role in National Security Agency spying programs that have become, he said, more about silencing protestors than finding terrorists.“Obama is a snake,” Stone told an audience in Tokyo on Monday. “He’s a snake. And we have to turn on him.” “The Boston Marathon, they were so busy tracking down potential protestors…that they missed the bombers,” Stone told the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “It’s never about terrorists, it always becomes about the way J. Edgar Hoover did it; he brought...

PRETORIA, South Africa - Nelson Mandela "opened his eyes" and smiled after being told of President Barack Obama's imminent visit to South Africa, his daughter said Tuesday, adding to speculation that the two men might meet. The 94-year-old remains in a critical condition, South Africa’s government said Tuesday as relatives gathered at his home for a family meeting that local media reports described as “urgent.” The anti-apartheid campaigner and democracy icon has been in hospital with a lung infection since June 8. His condition was downgraded over the weekend from "serious but stable" to “critical.” Obama is due to leave...

If you drove by CITGO’s corporate headquarters yesterday you would have seen what many consider a disturbing sight. Many Houstonians are up in arms after driving by CITGO's Eldridge Parkway headquarters and noticing the U.S., Texas and Venezuelan flags being flown at half staff, and you let your feeling show on Matt Patrick's afternoon show. “I gave them a call, and the operator told me that it was in observance and respect of the death of Hugo Chavez,” Teddy told Matt Patrick on his afternoon show on The 9-5-0 yesterday. Teddy wasn’t satisfied with the company’s explanation. “I told the...

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter mourned the death Tuesday of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, hailing his commitment to improving the lives of Venezuelans, and praising him for communicating “hope and empowerment” and for “his bold assertion of autonomy and independence for Latin American governments.” According to a statement posted at the Carter Center website, Mr. Carter and his wife Rosalynn “came to know a man who expressed a vision to bring profound changes to his country to benefit especially those people who had felt neglected and marginalized.” The 288-word statement included the 13-word caveat, “we have not agreed with all...