Free Republic

Video footage has emerged which shows the moment seven of President Bashar al-Assad's Syrian soldiers are executed on camera by rebels fighting to overthrow the regime. The soldiers are stripped, bound and pushed to the ground where a number of rebels stand over them pointing guns at their bodies. Some bear vicious injuries on their backs and arms. Just before they are killed, the ring-leader Abdul Samad Issa - known as 'The Uncle', recites a poem before he fires the first bullet. 'For fifty years, they are companions to corruption', he says. 'We swear to the Lord of the Throne,...

A rural Missouri man has been arrested on charged that he gave HIV to his partner - and exposed at least 300 more people to the disease - after he hid the fact that he was infected with the incurable virus. David Mangum, 37, of tiny Dexter, Missouri, says he had unprotected sex with at least 300 people in Missouri and Texas since learning that he was HIV positive in 2003. He admitted he did not tell anyone his status, he said, for fear that they would reject him. Mangum, a grocery story employee, faces a felony charge in Stoddard...

<p>Parents who yell at their adolescent children for misbehaving can cause some of the same problems as hitting them would, including increased risk of depression and aggressive behavior, according to a new study.</p> <p>A good, warm relationship with Mom and Dad doesn't protect teens from the negative effects of parents' yelling, cursing or lobbing insults, such as calling teens "lazy" or "stupid," the study found. Conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan, the study was published Wednesday on the journal Child Development's website.</p>

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said on his program on Wednesday that he believes the Republican Party will operate in an entirely different fashion if the next Democratic presidential nominee is not an African-American. He said that the Republican Party is “frozen” in fear of being accused of being racist and is not effectively opposing President Barack Obama as a result of that fear. “By every measure available to us, polling data, everything but election returns,” Limbaugh began, “the American people oppose what is happening.” “The party that’s supposed to represent us is afraid to,” he continued. “They are more...

White women who don’t graduate from high school—whose life expectancy has declined dramatically over the past 18 years. These women can now expect to die five years earlier than the generation before them. It is an unheard-of drop for a wealthy country in the age of modern medicine. Throughout history, technological and scientific innovation have put death off longer and longer, but the benefits of those advances have not been shared equally, especially across the race and class divides that characterize 21st--century America. Lack of access to education, medical care, good wages, and healthy food isn’t just leaving the worst-off...

In the aftermath of the tragic killing of 1-year-old Antiq Hennis of Brooklyn, N.Y., last weekend, a wave of support has come from city officials and activists in their pursuit of justice. A moment of silence was observed at the West Indian Day Parade, and the New York City Police Department has offered a $12,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the baby's killer. But according to the New York Post, there is one key person who can play a pivotal role in cracking the case, and yet refuses to do so: Antiq's father, Anthony...

Dozens of protesters marched through the streets of Milwaukee's near north side on Sunday chanting, "Stop the violence with peace and love," as part of the ninth annual Put the Guns Down Festival. Hundreds gathered throughout the afternoon at King Park, near N. 15th and W. Vliet streets, to call for an end to the violence that many said is pulling apart their community and threatening their children's lives and futures. "Seven thousand black males die in homicides every year in the United States," said Muhibb Dyer, 38, of the Wisconsin Chapter of the League of Young Voters, which sponsors...

The District of Columbia’s non-voting delegate to Congress says that because of her uncertainty about striking Syria, the only reason she would see herself voting to authorize military action would be out of “loyalty” to a fellow Democrat in President Obama. Speaking with Bill Press this morning, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) explained her belief that a response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons is necessary; however, she is unsure whether that needs to be done militarily. “I can’t believe that the only way to address it is a slight bombing which will somehow punish somebody or deter somebody,” she...

There was some minor uproar earlier this year when the Associated Press announced it would no longer be using the term “illegal immigrant,” saying the word “‘illegal’ should only describe an action,” not a person. Now the University of California, Los Angeles has jumped into the fray, with the university’s undergraduate student government unanimously voting to condemn the use of the “racially derogatory” term. UCLA campus paper The Daily Bruin reported on the vote last week, which was called in response to ex-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano being named the next president of the University of California, as well as...

'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' the inscription on the Statue of Liberty states. And, for decades, Lady Liberty, mother of exiles, stood watch as millions of immigrants arrived in the U.S. in hope of a better life. The impact of mass immigration on the U.S. can now be seen on a census map charting the ancestry of the 317 million people who call it home today. Although the 2010 census left out questions about ethnicity, this map shows how it looked in 2000, according to Upworthy. By far the largest ancestral group,...

The Pope has once again shown his willingness to break with tradition by bowing to Muslim royal Queen Rania of Jordan. As leader of the world's 1.2billion-strong Catholic community, protocol usually dictates that visitors bow to him when they meet him at the Vatican. But when Rania came to the Holy See with her husband King Abdullah II on Thursday, he inverted that formality by lowering his head to her. He made no discernible bow toward her husband, the king. The Jordanian royals were leaving following a private audience with the pope in his library. 'Francis behaves as he did...

In 1994, a 9-year-old boy living in New Orleans' Central City neighborhood wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton, saying that he did not feel safe: "I want you to stop the killing in the city. People is dead and I think that somebody might kill me." Two days later, on Mother's Day, that boy, James Darby, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Darby's words rang out as loudly as ever on Friday evening in the neighborhood where he lived and died, when Mayor Mitch Landrieu told Darby's story to a large crowd in front of the home where another...

WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) — Neighbors near Kosciuszko Park in Wilmington expressed anger and outrage Friday, after learning the details of a brutal gang-rape that happened in the park Thursday. Police say two women, ages 32 and 24, were reportedly attacked and sexually assaulted by a group of 10 to 12 black male juveniles in Kosciuszko Park at about 6:54 p.m. Thursday. According to police, the suspects, who range in age from 12 to 17-years-old, remain on the loose. The victims were transported to Christiana Hospital for treatment. Wilmington police increased patrols Friday in the park which is located in the...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg believes the Roberts Court is “one of the most activist courts in history,” according to a widely cited interview with the NYT‘s Adam Liptak.    ”Activist” is a slippery label, often indicating nothing more than disagreement with a Court’s decision in a given case.  fortunately Justice Ginsburg provided Liptak with a definition.  Specifically, Ginsburg told Liptak that “if it’s measured in terms of readiness to overturn legislation, this is one of the most activist courts in history.”  This is one way to define judicial activism, but if this is the definition Justice Ginsburg wants to use, her accusation...

This post is courtesy of Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Jocelyn Samuels The Civil Rights Division is acutely aware of the impact that the criminal justice system has on communities of color. As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, it remains an inescapable fact that disparities at nearly every stage of the criminal process keep too many African Americans, Latinos and other minorities in poverty and deny them the opportunities that so many in the civil rights movement fought to achieve. The consequences of these inequities are perhaps greatest for America’s...

<p>PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Eating chicken parts – or, more specifically, chicken wings – could shrink your baby’s man parts.</p> <p>At least, that’s what PETA is alleging in advance of the National Buffalo Wing Festival.</p> <p>According to a letter from PETA to Drew Cerza, the founder of the festival, “The latest scientific evidence shows that the sons of pregnant women who consume chicken are more likely to have smaller penises because of a chemical found in the birds’ flesh.”</p>

Sex education can be a touchy topic. For parents, it can be tricky and even awkward to talk about sex with their teens. The politics surrounding the subject make it difficult for many schools to comprehensively address sex education as well. This makes it challenging for young people to access accurate and relevant information necessary to keep themselves healthy. For youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer or questioning (LGB), access is even more limited. In fact, two in three LGB teens in a recent survey felt that the topics covered in sex ed at their school was not relevant...

Law enforcement in Los Angeles have been left stunned after they discovered photographs on social media showing young children holding AK-47's during a massive crackdown on the notorious Rollin' 30s Harlem Crips gang. In one of the shocking images a young girl in Disney pajamas brandishes the iconic Russian assault rifle, pointing the barrel right at the camera - while in another, a little boy holds a hand gun towards the lens. Recovered during a massive raid on Thursday across South LA, almost 1,000 members of the LAPD and the FBI took about three dozen members of the dangerous gang...

The recently-crowned Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf is divulging the details behind a "sextortion" plot that is now under federal investigation. During an interview with Today, Wolf said that the creep who took private pictures of her by hacking into her computer’s webcam also asked her to “perform.” If she didn’t agree to the sexual favors, he reportedly threatened to post naked pictures of her online.

A cyclist who had his front teeth shattered after an attack by teenagers while riding through Portland, Oregon will soon be speaking clearly again thanks to a generous dentist. Andy Sweeney, 20, was intentionally struck with a traffic cone last weekend and a photo of his cracked-tooth grin quickly went viral. Instead of being an embarrassment, the photo became the key to fixing his smile after a fundraising effort and a kindly dentist came to his aid. ‘Some kids threw a traffic cone at me while I was riding my bike down MLK,’ Sweeney wrote next to the aftermath photo...