Free Republic

Pro-trans activist delivers blood curdling scream at San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting 'I just want you to feel our pain,' the activist told the board members A San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting descended into chaos after a pro-trans activist began screaming in an effort to protest the death of Banko Brown, a Black member of the transgender community who was shot and killed after allegedly trying to steal from a local Walgreens

Chinese police detained a well-known Marxist at a top university on Wednesday, a witness said, on the sensitive anniversary of the 125th birthday of the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, whose legacy remains deeply contested. Qiu Zhanxuan, head of the Peking University Marxist Society, was grabbed and forced into a black car outside the east gate of Peking University by a group of heavy-set men who identified themselves as police, a student told Reuters.

US Army reservist Matthis Chiroux has made liberals across America quiver with excitment as he publicly refused to report to active duty. Chiroux, a former sergeant in the US Army, has decided that since he does not agree with the Iraqi "occupation" that he is no longer obligated to follow orders. After serving 5 years in the Army, Chiroux was honorably discharged and placed in the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR) which essentially serves as a resource of former soldiers who can, at any time, be reactivated during war time or during a national emergency...very similar to the standard military Reserve...

A month after US army reservist Matthis Chiroux publicly refused to deploy to Iraq, the former sergeant on Sunday set himself up for possible prosecution by failing to report for active duty with his unit in South Carolina. "Tonight at midnight, I may face further action from the army for refusing to reactivate to participate in the Iraq occupation," Chiroux told reporters in Washington. "I stand here today in defense of those who have been stripped of their voices in this occupation, the warriors of this nation...", Chiroux read from a statement as his father Rob, who had travelled to...

Plenty of former officers have criticized the Iraq War, but there's only been one active duty career soldier who's not only come out against the War but also refused to go and fight in it. (He said he would go to Afghanistan instead, but that the Iraq war is "illegal"). That soldier is Lt. Ehren Watada, 30, a junior Army officer from Hawaii who's become a poster child for the anti-war movement. He's also become persona non grata within the military and is facing a possible sentence of six years in prison. Our friend Tara McKelvey is the first journalist...

It was two years ago yesterday that 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, a 1996 Kalani High School graduate, declared publicly that he would not deploy to Iraq with his Stryker brigade combat team. Today, Watada is still in the Army working at a desk job at Fort Lewis, Wash., while his case is tied up in federal court. Ken Kagan, Watada's attorney, told the Star-Bulletin that federal judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma will probably take up the matter early this fall. In November, Settle ruled that no court-martial will be held for Watada pending the outcome of his claim that it...

"Islamic fascists"--used by President George W. Bush for the conspirators in the alleged trans-Atlantic airline bombing plot--and references by other prominent figures to "Islamofascism," have been met by protests from Muslims who say the term is an insult to their religion. The meaning and origin of the concept, as well as the legitimacy of complaints about it, have become relevant--perhaps urgently so. I admit to a lack of modesty or neutrality about this discussion, since I was, as I will explain, the first Westerner to use the neologism in this context. In my analysis, as originally put in print directly...

December 3, 2005 — A Honduran man claims in a federal lawsuit that U.S. Border Patrol agents beat him up to the point that he was hospitalized for two weeks in 2003. Court records show that Santos Roque Ramirez Carias, an undocumented immigrant, swam across the Rio Grande near El Calaboz, upriver from Brownsville, on Dec. 23, 2003. Ramirez, 41, fled from Border Patrol agents after being spotted in a field, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday. Ramirez claims that he surrendered with his arms raised but was tackled by agents John South and Ruben Torres. The two agents...

In the unlikely event that Saddam Hussein is alive and captured, many people will call for him to be tried by a tribunal, preferably the International Criminal Court (ICC). I think it would be a mistake. My suggestions, in descending order of preference, are: 1) Shoot him out of hand; 2) Let him go, and leave his punishment to God; 3) Try him before a coalition tribunal; 4) Let the ICC assume jurisdiction over him. It has been said that Churchill recommended shooting senior Nazis out of hand after the war. If so, I do not think Sir Winston's suggestion...

<p>Roberto Hernandez remembers looking out the window of his San Ysidro elementary classroom and seeing the Border Patrol chasing people "who look like me" across the playground.</p> <p>When he got older, he was often stopped by the Border Patrol near his San Diego County home, even though he had a green card.</p>

Man barred from being near children By James O'Keefe Staff Writer June 28, 2002 STAMFORD -- A Greenwich man who videotaped young boys at local YMCAs and downloaded child pornography from the Internet will not go to prison for his crimes. Instead Ernest Drupals, 31, of Corona Drive, was placed on five years probation following his guilty plea last month to 30 counts of possession of child pornography. Conditions of his probation include that Drupals have no contact with children under 16, register as a sex offender and keep a detailed driving log of everywhere he goes. The sentence was...