Free Republic

40-year-old Michigan man who was known for his vigilante work that exposed child predators was shot to death on Friday night in Detroit. The Oakland County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) says that Robert Lee of Pontiac was at Universal Coney Island that night confronting a person he believed was a pedophile at a restaurant, WJBK reports. Lee often used social media to pose as underage girls in an effort to expose and catch pedophiles, according to the Detroit News. He went by the name “Boopac Shakur” on Facebook and has more than 11,000 followers on the platform. The man Lee accused...

One of the largest churches in Boise, Idaho, apologized for participating in "white supremacy" and announced it is removing the likeness of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a stained-glass window. In a statement, the pastors and staff at the Cathedral of the Rockies began by "acknowledging our own sin with a stained glass window," which also features presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. "The recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor brought long-overdue urgency to our discernment process," the church board wrote in a statement to members. "We are reminded of our privilege. We have waited...

The motive here is still unknown but the curator of the William C. Lee Airborne Museum has a compelling theory. Given that Confederate memorials have been defaced or torn down recently in the greater Raleigh-Durham area, where the museum is located, and in light of the fact that most Americans are abject ignoramuses about their country’s basic history, it seems likely that someone thought this General Lee was that General Lee and decided to torch a statue of him to protest racism.And so, between this and the Jussie Smollett saga, we have a recurring theme on the homepage today:...

As Howard Cosell reported when George Halas died, “It was inevitable.” It had to come to this: ESPN is now officially satire-proof. Comedic farce can’t come close. And more changes are coming from The Worldwide Leader. Veteran anchor Bob Ley — real first name Robert, last name pronounced Lee — no longer will be confused with Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Henceforth, Ley will be known as Odell Beckham III. n who was removed from calling a Virginia football game lest his name spark another race-based riot near the school’s Charlottesville, Va., campus, has been given five name-change options by...

ESPN has been working hard for several years to establish itself as just another sermonizing member of the liberal media, most audaciously by hailing "Caitlyn" Jenner with an award for "courage" in 2015 for facing down such tortures as the disrespectful use of "incorrect pronouns." Soldiers who lost their lives in combat hadn't a fraction of Jenner's bravery, according to their judgment. Now, ESPN has shown its true colors, which is to say: The people there are idiots. In the wake of the media's Charlottesville feeding frenzy, it reassigned a college football announcer named Robert Lee away from covering the...

A pair of parallel events occurred last night that perfectly capture the surreal and troubling times in which we are living. First, President Trump held a rally in Phoenix, in which he once again offered unto his base the reddest of red meat. “They’re trying to take away our culture,” he said, of the exploding debate over Confederate statues and monuments. “They’re trying to take away our history. And our weak leaders, they do it overnight. These things have been there for 150 years, for a hundred years. You go back to a university and it’s gone. Weak, weak people.”...

ESPN thought sports fans wouldn't know the difference between an Asian-American ESPN football announcer named Robert Lee and the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, whose name was Robert E. Lee... And who said network executives think their audiences are stupid fools?.. I don't know what kind of broadcaster Gen. Lee may have become if he lived long enough. He probably spoke in the formal cadence of an Army officer from West Point, of the Southern gentry, meaning he spoke in complete sentences and we wouldn't understand him... Who made it an issue, ESPN? You fools made it...

Pol Pot would be proud of what is happening in America now. The murdering, former Cambodian communist revolutionary leader and head of the Khmer Rouge would be smiling at the leftist led, PC cultural revolution that is engulfing the nation like a three alarm fire. Yesterday, ESPN pulled an announcer off of the upcoming Virginia vs. William and Mary game, for the sole reason that the announcer’s name is Robert Lee. Wednesday night, ESPN President John Skipper sent a memo to employees stating the network was concerned that Lee’s presence in the booth for Virginia’s game against William & Mary...

Reuters’ Twitter account claimed ESPN broadcaster Robert Lee was a doppelgänger and namesake of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in two separate, but inaccurate, Wednesday tweets. Confederate General Lee namesake pulled from upcoming University of Virginia football broadcast: https://t.co/aVzHUOinZb pic.twitter.com/27k5nhehZx — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 23, 2017 Confederate General Lee doppelganger pulled from upcoming University of Virginia football broadcast: https://t.co/rRTtAmZ5lR pic.twitter.com/nEqAujm2Hk — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 23, 2017 Reuters issued a “clarification” moments after incorrectly suggesting the ESPN broadcaster was named after Gen. Robert E. Lee. The clarifying tweet failed to address their separate implication that the Asian...

I waited to write about this story because at first it seemed too insane to be true, but alas, it's come to this. ESPN pulled Asian-American sports announcer Robert Lee from this weekend's University of Virginia vs. William & Mary football game because they were afraid he might offend people. Why? His name is too similar to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. For the record, Robert E. Lee is white and has been dead for over 100 years. Fox Sports radio host Clay Travis broke the story earlier tonight. From Outkick The Coverage:  In a story that seems made for The Onion,...

Twitter had a field day after news broke Tuesday that ESPN removed an announcer named Robert Lee from broadcasting an upcoming Virginia Cavalier football game because of the similarity of his name to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The story was broken by Outkick The Coverage's Clay Travis, who has coined the term "MSESPN" to suggest ESPN has a liberal slant, combining the news network and MSNBC. ESPN ultimately confirmed the seemingly unbelievable story, saying it collectively made the decision along with Lee as the tragedy in Charlottesville, Va. unfolded,

A commentator named Robert Lee was scheduled to call a football game in Charlottesville, Virginia, but the coincidence that he shares a name with Confederate general Robert E. Lee caused ESPN to reverse course. Lee was set to announce the University of Virginia's game against William and Mary but was moved to Youngstown State at Pittsburgh, sources inside ESPN told sportswriter Clay Travis of the "Outkick the Coverage" sports news blog. Considering the lack of connection between the general and the announcer, Travis found the episode indicative of the ESPN's increasing tendency toward political correctness. "Is there anything more pathetic than ESPN...

SAN DIEGO — A lawmaker called Tuesday on the San Diego Unified School District to change the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary School because of the namesake’s ties to the Confederacy. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, sent a letter to SDUSD Superintendent Cindy Marten that referred to the shooting deaths of the pastor and eight parishioners of a historic black church in Charleston. The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime. The 21-year-old accused gunman, who is white, had posed with a Confederate...

The Transformation of Dr. Erenestine Harrison by Gail Jarvis In a recent LRC blog post, Elizabeth Wright discusses the transformation of Dr. Erenestine Harrison who, as a concerned black resident of Hampton, Virginia, began a petition to change the names of two primarily black schools that were named after Confederate heroes: Robert E. Lee Elementary School and Jefferson Davis Middle School. However, Harrison later withdrew her request. In an interview, Dr. Harrison cited two basic reasons for her change of heart. First, the flood of email and letters she received from Southern heritage supporters that provided information previously unknown to...