Free Republic

When I was a college freshman studying broadcast journalism in 1978, I watched a show on PBS that made me contemplate something that I’d never thought about before: What would I do if one day the government took control of the media, rewarding those who spread the leaders’ propaganda and silencing dissenting voices?

As we mull the shooting of Donald Trump and its aftermath, let’s consider, “What if?” What if the Secret Service had shot Thomas Matthew Crooks as he crawled across the roof, before he opened fire on the once and possibly future president? Crooks would have been a hero (and martyr) of the right wing. Headlines in right-leaning media would have screamed, “Young Trump Supporter Shot Dead by Feds Outside Rally.”

Let's avoid offensive racial overtones in Carr trial Add us to the list of people offended by a report of the Carr brothers being hanged in effigy -- not just because it's a tasteless prank that trivializes the death penalty and the tragedy of this case for all involved. More offensive by far is how this stunt injected inflammatory racial overtones into a case in which race played no role. A homeowner in west Wichita recently erected a display on his front yard showing two dummies -- in black face -- hanging by nooses from trees. A sign below the...