Free Republic

ISIL is obliterating the Middle East's cultural landmarks. But should we arm ourselves in order to save threatened sites, asks Dan Cruickshank. ‘When Egypt comes under the auspices of the Khalifa [Caliphate], there will be no more Pyramids, no more Sphinx, no more idolatry.” This, I was told by British Muslim political activist Anjem Choudary, “will be just”. This chilling recent interview with Choudary in east London was part of a journey that started in early 2002. I went to Afghanistan in March of that year, just after the fall of the Taliban, to report for a television programme on...

C Spire, one of the largest corporations in Mississippi, announced they will be pulling advertising from the summer Olympic games. This move comes after a controversial moment in Friday night's opening ceremony that included a scene featuring drag queens that seemingly evoked the famous Italian painting of Jesus Christ of his apostles.

A California judge has ruled that teachers were right to punish a seven-year-old girl over a Black Lives Matter drawing because 'she's too young to have First Amendment rights.' The first grader was banned from recess and drawing pictures at Viejo Elementary in Orange County after she added the words 'any life' below Black Lives Matter on a picture she drew and and gave to a black friend. The picture showed the words 'Black Lives Matter' with four round shapes in various different tones of brown, beige and yellow, which was intended to 'represent her friends' who were 'racially-mixed'.

It’s November 2023, and, following the October 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists that killed some 1,400 Israelis and at least 31 Americans, thousands of demonstrators march through New York City, calling for the destruction of the Jewish state. Chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” echo through the streets, along with “there is only one solution: intifada revolution.” Among the crowd is the infamous Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, who warns through a megaphone that a cabal of wily Jews has conspired to place “their little posters” (of kidnapped Israeli civilians) across the city, seeking...

🚨HAMAS SUPPORTERS JUST HELD UP A BLOODIED JOE BIDEN MASK OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE! This is a REAL INSURRECTION! They also defaced many monuments with red paint, Palestinian flags, graffiti, and more. Where are the POLICE?

A climate activist affixed an adhesive poster to a Monet painting at the Musée d’Orsay Saturday. The woman, who said she intended to raise awareness for climate change, was arrested. The stunt was carried out by a member of Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response), a group of environmental activists and defenders of sustainable food production in response to the climate crisis. The group has been targeting museums across Europe for years, including most recently a protest at the Louvre last month. A video on X showed the activist sticking an adhesive barren red landscape on top of Claude Monet’s 1873 painting...

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police said Saturday that they had 34 people in custody following a pro-Palestinian protest at the Brooklyn Museum, which reported damage to some artwork and harassment to security staff by demonstrators. Hundreds of protesters marched to the museum on Friday afternoon, set up tents in the lobby and unfurled a “Free Palestine” banner from the building’s roof before police moved in to make arrests. New York City police officers tackled and punched some protesters during scuffles that broke out in the crowd outside the museum while some demonstrators hurled plastic bottles at officers...

<p>NEW ORLEANS (AP) — At a time of intense scrutiny in America over who is commemorated in public parks or in front of courthouses, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundationannounced Monday it is spending $250 million over five years to build new monuments or memorials, add context to already existing ones and relocate others.</p>

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Muskogee's catholic community is in shock after its only church in the city was left picking up the pieces of a cherished relic all but destroyed by vandals. Leaders of St. Joseph Catholic Church said a five-foot-tall plaster statue of the Virgin Mary and one of the Holy Family were adored by generations of members. "The one of Holy Mother, the one that was pretty well pulverized in the parking lot, that has a history that dates all the way back to 1893," church manager Lucille Ferguson told 2 News. Father Robert Matthew Dye said he knows...

A remembrance mural has become the target of "mindless vandalism" for a second time. Spray paint was used between Monday and Tuesday last week to deface the artwork situated on Witham's river walk. The initial incident was reported to Essex Police, but silver spray paint was then used at the weekend to create further damage. A spokesperson from Witham Town Council said it was "just mindless vandalism". Police have been contacted for comment.

Have you ever been listening to someone talk and have déjà vu, even though you’ve never seen or heard of the person speaking, and the interview you’re watching happened just a few hours ago? I have. Once. A couple of weeks ago. I was listening to Tucker interview Xi Van Fleet, a Chinese native who lived through the Cultural Revolution in China. She eventually immigrated to the United States and has lived here for 40 years. As I was listening to her talk about how the Cultural Revolution rolled out and how she was seeing many of the same things...

Last week I wrote about the concerns of a pair of North Korea analysts that something had changed in the tone of the rhetoric emanating from Kim Jong Un. Of course North Korea has a long history of belligerent talk and threats against the US but something about this seemed different and more urgent. Kim said he was giving up on reunification with South Korea. Instead, South Korea would now be considered the North’s top enemy.But it’s more than just empty rhetoric. Sometime over the past few days Kim ordered a monument meant to symbolize hope for reunification torn down.Kim...

These physical markers of our shared past help to bind us together, gluing us to history and the promise of future generations.The left’s jihad against statues and public memorials has finally hit a roadblock. After removing statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee, President Theodore Roosevelt, Christopher Columbus, and the Confederate Memorial at Arlington, a New York Times columnist even suggested that the father of our country be ripped off like a filthy Band-Aid and tossed. But it was the founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, who resisted and won.The National Park Service planned to remove Penn’s statue in Philadelphia’s Welcome Park...

It’s time to stop debating history and facts with people who only care about the exercise of raw political power.div class="article-content"> The news that the Biden administration planned to remove a statue of William Penn in a federal park in Philadelphia that commemorates the founding of Pennsylvania, and that the purpose of the removal was to “provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors,” should at this point not come as a surprise.Once the removals and destruction of Confederate statues and memorials began a few years ago, it was inevitable that all historical figures from America’s past, even...

The National Park Service on Monday suddenly withdrew its plan to remove the statue of William Penn from the site of his home during a "rehabilitation" of Welcome Park in Philadelphia. NPS had opened a public comment period on Monday but by 6:30 p.m., it was closed. "The preliminary draft proposal, which was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review, is being retracted. No changes to the William Penn statue are planned," the NPS said in a statement. The NPS faced widespread backlash after announcing its plans to update the park to "provide a...

Joe Biden's National Park Service under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will remove the statue of William Penn from the park erected in 1982 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of his founding of the colony of Pennsylvania. The park is on the site of his original home in Philadelphia. The park, located in Philadelphia near the Delaware River at Sansom and Second Streets, will be "rehabilitated" and that proposal will include an "expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia." The plan was "developed in consultations with the representatives of the indigenous nations of the Haudenosaunee, the Delaware Nation, Delaware...

Joe Biden's National Park Service under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will remove the statue of William Penn from the park erected in 1982 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of his founding of the colony of Pennsylvania. The park is on the site of his original home in Philadelphia. The park, located in Philadelphia near the Delaware River at Sansom and Second Streets, will be "rehabilitated" and that proposal will include an "expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia." The plan was "developed in consultations with the representatives of the indigenous nations of the Haudenosaunee, the Delaware Nation, Delaware...

A petition to remove Donald Trump’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame has received thousands of signatures, but the decision on whether to remove the star is just as controversial as the man whose name is on it. Trump’s star, which he received in 2007, has been destroyed and replaced several times, but no star has ever been permanently removed from the Walk of Fame despite several celebrities’ fall from grace. The man who started the petition to get rid of Trump’s star for good, Andrew Rudick, says that while he has garnered more than 3,800 signatures for his...

The newly elected Democrat mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, celebrated the removal of a Confederate statue in the city, which was officially gone before noon Wednesday. Democrat Mayor Donna Deegan, who won her mayoral bid in May, celebrated the removal of the statue in Springfield Park, formally known as Confederate Park. The monument in question, “In Memory of Our Women of the Southland,” depicts a mother with her two children at her side, looking down at a book upon her lap. It was erected in October 1915. The Democrat mayor, who said during her time on the campaign trail that she...