Free Republic

More than 30,000 people have signed a petition asking Netflix to remove “Cuties,” a movie they claim sexualizes children.

Marianne Williamson — author, self-help guru, and former Democrat presidential candidate who rose to national attention for her quirky style — will speak at the upcoming “People’s Convention,” where attendees will discuss the possibility of forming a third party. The People’s Convention, geared toward progressives who feel ignored by the Democrat establishment, is slated for August 30 and will feature speakers including Williamson, former Sanders campaign national co-chair Nina Turner, former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK), Amped Up host Ryan Knight, comedian and The Jimmy Dore Show host Jimmy Dore, and Dr. Cornel West. Organizers say participants will broach forming a...

When Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris to be his running mate, the New York Times referred to Harris as a “pragmatic moderate” and ABC News personality George Stephanopoulos said, “Kamala Harris comes from the middle of the road, moderate wing of the Democratic Party.” Of course, this is exactly how Uncle Joe wants himself and his ticket to be seen, but for some these descriptions probably felt a bit like the time the Washington Post described ISIS terror leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere Islamic scholar.” Sometimes the description says more about the one making the description than the one...

Members of the far-left soured at Joe Biden’s (D) selection of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate, expressing disappointment establishment Democrats did not heed the calls of progressives, many of whom supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during the primary race. While Harris attempted to brand herself as a moderate during her presidential campaign, her record proves the label is inaccurate. Despite that, Harris is failing to resonate with many progressive voters, particularly given her controversial prosecutorial record.

the genuinely privileged class in America’s big cities consists of radical progressives, who flout mask requirements at mass demonstrations, deface public property with graffiti, and riot and destroy while being called “mostly peaceful demonstrators.” ... The two rioters grabbed national attention when they were arrested because of their elite and privileged backgrounds. ... Colinford Mattis.. embodies elite credentials via affirmative action, “plucked” in Miller’s word, from East New York and educated at elite St. Andrew’s prep, Princeton (where he was a member of two elite eating clubs), and NYU Law. Urooj Rahman, born in Pakistan and brought to the USA...

[W]hat’s easy, when it comes to race, is pretending to be outraged about commonly used words. At the Los Angeles Times, for instance, an editor has said the word “looters,” which has been used many times in the paper, now has “a pejorative and racist connotation” and that anyone who is inclined to use the word should “talk to your immediate supervisor.” Translation: Best not use the word at all, if you want to stay employed. In Houston, a Realtors association announced it would no longer use terms such as “master bedroom” or “master bathroom” not because any sane person...

The “Occupy City Hall” protesters turned the city into a literal toilet, using subway grates as makeshift latrines during their month-long encampment in Lower Manhattan, an MTA supervisor revealed Wednesday as workers cleaned the foul mess. “All the people who were here were going to the bathroom in the vents,” the transit boss said. “They were s–tting and pissing in the vents. They were using this as a facility, as a bathroom. It’s unbelievable what’s in there.” The supervisor was overseeing several workers with the unenviable task of using poles to poke disgusting brown sludge from between the bars of...

(snip) American culture has always emphasised competition more than any other, which was part of its strength, economically and socially, leading to a more meritocratic social hierarchy which allowed talent to rise. But meritocracy has its dark side, in particular the low esteem it casts on those who don’t win at the game of life, made worse by the erosion of the institutions that once provided a buffer and comfort — family, community, religion. For the poor, drugs are a way of coping with this disaster, a substitute for faith. For many of the middle-class precariat, it’s politics-as-replacement religion. Many...

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's home was vandalized early Tuesday with messages spray painted on the sidewalk, driveway and garage. About a dozen people wearing masks drove up to the mayor's home, started yelling and lit off fireworks around 2 a.m., neighbors said. "There was a real thick layer of smoke and a lot of noise," neighbor Desiree Alexander said. Police are investigating the incident. Justin Berton, a spokesperson for Schaaf, provided the following statement: “An attack at the home of a publicly elected official does not advance democracy. Around 2 a.m. vandals shot projectiles at the Mayor’s home, set off...

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 16, 2020 / 12:32 pm MT (CNA).- The recent series of attacks on church buildings and property continued Tuesday night, as a statue of Christ was toppled and beheaded at a Miami parish and a statue of Mary was daubed with red paint in Colorado Springs. Recent weeks have seen a rolling series of acts of vandalism and destruction at Catholic churches across the United States, including arsons, decapitations, and graffiti. But while some of the incidents have been caught on camera, in most cases the perpetrators, and their motivations have yet to be identified. In...

“Captain’s log, stardate  070920. Day 8 of temperatures above 90 degrees. It’s too hot, with no end in sight.” “I dannae is she can take any more, Captain!” “I’m not sure how much more we can withstand.” Minneapolis by Moonlight - "Highly illogical" “We must manage to find a way to cool down soon before the core melts down. I recommend everyone go to the beach. Just sit there awhile and think about how we got here. Then go forth and prosper. Posted from: MOTUS A.D.

Left-wing demonstrators and rioters have managed to achieve in a matter of weeks what courteous conservative thinkers failed to accomplish in a century: Knock Woodrow Wilson off his progressive pedestal. More than any other figure in American history, President Wilson embodied and popularized the 20th Century ideology known as Progressivism. Wilson’s eight years in the presidency created the template for the modern administrative state: a powerful executive branch, an oversized bureaucracy, the increased centralization of government, an unending demand for so-called legislative reforms, and multiplying federal agencies regulating more aspects of life. In a sense, the Wilson program of 1913...

Since the museum has already explicitly stated Roosevelt had 'troubling views on race,' its condemnation is not merely of the monument, but of the man. As the woke mob continues its crusade, pillaging cities and purging history, the next victim of the “tear it all down” impulse is Theodore Roosevelt, or at least a statue of him. But if Teddy is so problematic he must be canceled, mustn’t we also cleanse all the artifacts connected to his legacy, including thousands of animals?The desecraters never intended to stop at Confederate monuments, of course, and now the sculpture honoring the 26th president...

A stupid costume choice at a Halloween party two years ago is front-page news in the newspaper of record in the capital city of the Empire? What on earth? ... I read it first with bemusement at the moral panic, and then finally, with horror over what we are doing to ourselves.... Honestly, what kind of white idiot shows up in blackface these days? Granted, this was 2018, but blackface was extremely taboo then. That’s what Schafer’s joke was about: how Megyn Kelly got herself in a world of trouble by suggesting that blackface was not that big a deal....

Skepticism is at the heart of the scientific method. Question everything. Test everything. Scientific knowledge is established by evidence, not authority. The method is sound, but the execution may be imperfect. That's why I have faith in the methods of science but not necessarily in scientists. Experts in science have a store of credibility that can be maintained only by their performance. I have a great deal of trust in the meteorologists at the National Weather Service because their forecasts are 80%–90% accurate (no weatherman jokes, please — I used to be one!). But if most of their predictions began...

God and abortion are tied together, according to one artist who is regularly promoted by the abortion industry. Artist and activist Viva Ruiz recently accepted the position of “artist-in-residence” with Shout Your Abortion [SYA], a group that promotes women’s positive abortion stories. Ruiz, who has served as a Planned Parenthood panelist and has displayed art exhibitions throughout New York City, is best known as the founder of “Thank God for Abortion” [TGFA]. In a video for SYA that has gone largely unnoticed, she spoke about her work. Ruiz began TGFA in 2015 as a response to the closing of U.S....

A Mississippi church that is suing to stay open during the coronavirus shutdowns was destroyed by arson Wednesday, according to local officials. Fox News reports someone also spray-painted graffiti on the First Pentecostal Church of Holly Springs, including a message that read, “I Bet you stay home now you hypokrits [sic].” Local authorities said there was an explosion in the front of the church, and the building caught fire sometime between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Wednesday. Marshall County Sheriff’s Department Major Kelly McMillian told the local news that the fire is being investigated as a criminal act of arson....

On the eve of the Nevada caucuses in February, Bernie Sanders and his supporters were feeling invincible. “I've got news for the Democratic establishment,” he declared on Twitter on Feb. 21, the day before he went on to a landslide win in the Nevada caucuses. “They can't stop us.” Since then, not only did the “establishment” stop Sanders - it stamped out the candidacies of a string of left-wing insurgents, leaving the progressive movement reeling and in a state of despair. Three highly-touted liberal House candidates - Jessica Cisneros in Texas, Robert Emmons in Illinois, and Morgan Harper in Ohio...

Has the pursuit of moral triumphalism on the Left led them to abandon their moral compass altogether? Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi makes that argument on his own eponymous site in a lengthy condemnation of the abandonment of civil rights by Democrats and progressives. From Russiagate to COVID-19 all the way into Judge Emmet Sullivan’s courtroom, Taibbi accuses the Left of becoming the authoritarians — perhaps even the fascists, although Taibbi doesn’t use that term — the Left claims to abhor. Of course, one has to ask whether that was the point all along, but Taibbi starts with the presumption...

By their own standards, the House Democrats’ Round 4 “rescue package” is a flop. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set herself up to fail by instructing her caucus and surrogates to insist that Congress prioritize testing, testing, and more testing in future rounds of coronavirus response funding. At the end of the day, Democrats scrounged up a budget for those tests amounting to less than 1 percent of the $3 trillion package Pelosi introduced this week. Instead of putting their money where their mouth is, they slapped together a leftist wish list dedicated to causes unrelated to the pandemic. It is...