Free Republic

Minnetonka Moccasin Co., a local footwear company, is acknowledging and apologizing for Native American culture appropriation over the last 75-plus years. The company dropped the "moccasin" from its logo in 2008, and has removed the word from the majority of its corporate messaging and will now refer to only "Minnetonka" going forward. "We (Minnetonka) deeply and meaningfully apologize for having benefited from selling Native-inspired designs without directly honoring Native culture or communities," the statement reads on the company's website. It also states, "we are dedicated to honoring our commitment to Native American communities with our actions going forward." The business...

The jumping off point for this Substack piece by Freddie deBoer is the story I wrote about here. If you missed it, the very short version is that a progressive data analyst named David Shor, who was literally fired from his job last year because a cancel mob went after him, is trying to warn Democrats that they are not going to win elections anytime in the next decade if they keep talking like leftist college professors. His advice to the party is simple: Talk about broadly popular things you support not about broadly unpopular things the far left is...

Over the past several years, I’ve watched WorldCon repeatedly implode. Well, not exactly. It imploded in 2018 in a very spectacular way. WorldCon 2019 didn’t exactly implode, but then again, Jeanette Ng’s “acceptance” speech of the John W. Campbell award (now renamed “Astounding”) was her long awaited stab at a long-dead science fiction icon which spawned more of her displeasure at the “stale, pale, male crowd,” as well as a long list of other award renamings. The irony is that Ng also won a “Best Related Work” Hugo for 2020 because she complained about Campbell the year before. A rant...

How social justice storylines and characters are killing multiple comic franchises

Man Who Agrees With Every Single Corporation Thinks He's Part Of The Resistance

Upper-class whites have alienated African Americans and Hispanics from the Democratic coalition. That’s why Democrats have gone berserk—they’re expecting to lose in 2022 and 2024.In the middle of their legislative orgy of socialistic giveaways and identity politics, Democrats might want to contemplate that their political priorities do not command the support of a majority of American voters. Moreover, the warnings on this front do not come from the right—they come from leftists themselves.When an editorial columnist from the bastion of liberalism, The New York Times, writes that “Democrats are worried—very worried—about the future of the Hispanic vote,” you know something’s...

Bujold, and Harry Turtledove, none of whom fit into the conservative author narrative. Let’s stop right here before we go any further. Sanford is engaging in a shell game. Despite the qualifying paragraph, he’s doing everything possible here to depict Baen Books as being predominantly a publisher of what he calls “socially conservative writers.” Such a conveniently vague three words those are—which papers over what is in fact a very diverse group of authors. How diverse? Well, let’s start with me. Which I think is appropriate not simply because I’m writing this essay but because over the past (almost) quarter...

China's Communist Party uses the Great Firewall to block information from its citizens. Blocking speech based on politics has been a hallmark of every totalitarian government“That is all right. I had them on my list, too,” a prominent public figure joked after learning that he had been blacklisted by a political opponent. Who said this? Was it Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., after Simon and Schuster canceled his book deal because he challenged the Electoral College results from Pennsylvania, even though Democrats had similarly objected in 2001, 2005, and 2017? Was it a Trump administration official responding to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s...

There was a mixed crowd at the event. He wondered if they’d do the classic speed dating style of interviews. That was always a frustrating waste of time, since the system catered to extroverts and he was an introvert. “We’ll be starting in a couple of minutes. Just remember to be yourself. And give feedback on the app after every session.” Jensen nodded silently given the mouthful of grapes. Be yourself is such tripe advice, but it couldn’t get worse that trying to fake being perfect by the ever-changing standards of the ideal man. .... “I guess I don’t need...

It is becoming more difficult for educators to elude the oppressive imaginings of diversity squads on college campuses. Professors are loath to admit that the classroom has become a minefield where they routinely risk a combustible encounter with an angry student. “You show me an angry student” says a retired college administrator, “and I’ll show you a complaint about racial bias,” he wrote in a now-deleted post. “Implicit bias,” and the even more obscure, “microaggressions,” cover a nebulous area of academic terrain, but that doesn’t stop students from harming careers of perceived offenders. Educators are now caught in the crosshairs...

Liberals have brought back public shaming, something worse than online hate mobbing. The Red Guards are back.

Jon Ronson’s book “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” came out in 2015. It may be the first in depth series of interviews on people who have had their reputations and lives ruined by the return of public shaming through the internet, social media and Twitter. What are the pros and cons of this modern text, equal parts sociology text, biography of victims, history lesson and psychological treatise?

As part of the NFL's ongoing commitment to social justice programs, the messages "It Takes All of Us" and "End Racism" will be stenciled on all end zone borders for home openers, the league office informed clubs in a memo Monday obtained by ESPN. The two messages of inclusion, which will be stenciled on opposite end zones during kickoff week, are key elements of the league's broader, multifaceted rollout intended to highlight its efforts to support diversity and inclusion while the new season begins. The end zone messages demonstrate "how football and the NFL brings people together to work as...

It is an effort by young leaders in the United States Army to force the Academy to bow to the Woke Cult and make the Anti-Racism the central feature of the Academy’s curriculum. This policy statement was apparently drafted by a group of recent Academy graduates (classes of 2018 and 2019). These graduates all came from the top tier of the ranks of the Academy’s cadet leaders. Two recent valedictorians and First Captains signed this manifesto. (Other past First Captains include Douglas MacArthur, John J. Pershing, and William C. Westmoreland.) The other cadets all held high-ranking positions within the Corps...

I am a big fan of Drew Brees. I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks, but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=w5qrNjQCAZM&feature=emb_logo

What does it mean to be tolerant? The dictionary defines tolerance as respect for opinions, beliefs, and practices that differ from your own. But in our polarized cultural climate, it has come to mean something else entirely. Greg Koukl, president of Stand to Reason, sorts it all out.

Margot Robbie’s “Birds of Prey” is set to open well below forecasts, with about $34 million at 4,236 North American sites, early estimates showed on Friday. Estimates for “Birds of Prey,” a spinoff of 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” had been in the $45 million to $55 million range, with Warner Bros. projecting an opening closer to $45 million. “Birds of Prey,” which carries a reported $80 million price tag, touched down with $4 million on Thursday night. Reviews have been strong, earning the film a 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — a reversal from “Suicide Squad’s” 27%. The film made $7.8...

Hank Azaria says he will no longer be voicing the controversial character Apu on The Simpsons. Azaria made the comment in an interview with Slashfilm at the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour following a panel for his IFC show Brockmire. “All we know there is I won’t be doing the voice anymore, unless there’s some way to transition it or something,” Azaria told the publication. “We all made the decision together… We all agreed on it. We all feel like it’s the right thing and good about it.” The show’s producer 20th Century Fox TV would not comment on...

Stephen King is under fire on Twitter after downplaying the role of diversity in selecting this year’s Academy Award nominees. “I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality,” the 72-year-old tweeted on Tuesday. “It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.” In an earlier tweet, King wrote that diversity was not even discussed in the categories he was tasked with nominating. “As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay,” he explained. “For me, the diversity issue—as it applies to individual actors...