Free Republic

... The next time you see some bow-tied, goateed, bespectacled tweedy intoning on television about some historical this-or-that, just keep these rankings in mind. This is not just a difference of opinion; it’s lunacy. Ideology obviously informs how someone looks at political figures. But in the case of these political scientists, ideology doesn’t just color their opinions; it crushes common sense.

The FBI special agent who penned a scathing takedown column that ran in Saturday’s New York Times, in which he laid out his reasons for leaving the bureau and cited his disgust with Republicans’ “relentless attacks” on the agency, apparently declined to disclose his history of donating to Democratic candidates. ....

The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts announced its decision Saturday about whether to keep Crusader as its mascot and nickname or ditch it so as not to offend Muslims.

Imagine a candidate for public office so shameless that she’ll make up a nonexistent devotion to religion to try to appeal to voters. Now imagine a candidate who doesn’t have to do it, because a local newspaper will do it for her. The Boston Globe in its shilling for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Morrissey Boulevard) has sunk to depths that not even the object of its affection has gone to. Here’s the money paragraph in the Globe’s profile this weekend of Elizabeth-Warren-as-religious-person: ...

Twenty-five years ago, when MTV played mostly videos, defeated presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan delivered his “Culture War” speech before the Republican National Convention on August 17 at the Houston Astrodome, where he feared for the “soul of America.” Twenty-five years later, when conservatives have ceded all control of the culture war to the Left, MTV’s Video Music Awards (VMAs, itself a bizarre oxymoron for an outlet that plays no videos) is now a forum about politics and the course of the country. Conservatives should watch more MTV. Take heed Buchanan’s observations. And fight back. ...

It’s time for us to take a lesson from Black Lives Matter: Do … not … engage. This chant, sometimes heard at rallies, is taken by some as a positive — as in: don’t beat on opponents. But there’s another side to it: don’t argue. Just assert your grievance and keep repeating it until you get what you want. Example: The University of Southern California apparently must renounce what it calls the white horse that carries the Trojan around the stadium at football games. Why? It’s a symbol of white supremacy. ...

In this country, you have the right to believe the lie that homosexuality and gender confusion are healthy, normal, or natural. But you don’t have the right to make others live that lie. Yet, apparently, some Massachusetts legislators think they do. That’s what’s at stake with a bill on Beacon Hill that would ban so-called “conversion therapy,” which consists of a therapist offering advice and techniques about how to leave behind same-sex attraction or transgenderism. ...

(UPDATED 11 a.m. 5/31/17) — Editor’s Note: Facebook has now enacted a 24-hour ban on Kyle Reyes’s account. The social media behemoth known as Facebook has had a well-documented rocky relationship with conservatives. It got rockier on Monday when a Connecticut business owner purportedly posted a comment rejoicing in the killing of a law enforcement officer and Facebook retaliated … against another business owner who called her on it. Kyle Reyes, chief executive officer of The Silent Partner Marketing, posted a screenshot of the anti-cop comment on his business’s Facebook page. When the woman who apparently posted the anti-cop comment...

If you’re thinking about physically attacking a professor on a college campus at a public event you don’t like, it’s probably best to wear a mask. That’s the moral from Middlebury College’s “resolution” to the riot on campus March 2 when author Charles Murray tried to speak. On Tuesday — 82 days after the fact — the central Vermont liberal arts college announced the end of its “sanctioning process” against students who prevented Murray from speaking in public and then harassed and (possibly) injured a Middlebury professor who accompanied Murray. (More on that in a bit.) It’s jarring enough that...

A public high school chorus in Massachusetts wanting to sing during an Easter Sunday Mass at a basilica while on a school trip to Europe isn't going to get to do it because of church/state objections. Story is attached.