Free Republic

Let's excuse our intrepid "watchdog" MSM. They're too busy rummaging through Sarah Palin's garbage to report on the actual sayings and doings by our actual Government officials. So here's report from Britain's Guardian on a speech by Alec Ross, the U.S. State Department's "Senior Advisor on Innovation": "Dictatorships are now more vulnerable than they have ever been before," he proclaimed at the Innovate Conference in London this week. "One thesis statement I want to emphasize is how (the internet) disrupts the exercise of power...because of the devolution of power from the nation state to the individual...the Internet has become the...

On 8 October 1967, the Bolivian government, with the help of the CIA, captured the communist terrorist Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Bolivian President Rene Barrientos ordered that Guevara was to be executed immediately and this order was carried out the day following Guevara's capture. Both the Bolivian and American governments decided to release video proof of Guevara's death to dispel any rumors that Guevara was still alive. Click the link to see some of that video.

Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi is well known now for the abuses he has inflicted on his own people during more than four decades of brutal rule in Libya, but few remember the vast campaign of carnage and terrorism he orchestrated across West Africa and Europe when he was at the height of his powers. Nor are his more recent alliance with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and his long-standing relationship with Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua -- both of whom are busy trampling their constitutions and moving toward dictatorship -- well understood. And the fact that all three governments support the Revolutionary Armed...

Among Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s final requests before he was executed by Bolivian forces in 1967 was that a message of hope be sent back to Fidel Castro: the revolution would come to America. Che immediately became the martyr for the radical left, with his image seized by American protestors of the 1960s. Since then another, cultural, revolution has taken place. Wikipedia catalogs references to him worldwide from restaurant names, to advertising campaigns, to music, to pop culture. His image adorned an Obama Texas campaign office in 2008. Che’s image is now displayed by average college students and even toddlers. No...

Anti-government protesters march to the presidential palace in Sanaa February 13, 2011. Yes "democracy" is sweeping the Middle East.

21st Century SocialismThe attempt to destroy democracy in Latin America.  The Obama administration started out on the wrong foot in world affairs. It used techniques better suited for domestic political campaigns — popularity contests — in its foreign policy. In our own hemisphere, the result was confusion for our allies and our enemies alike. The overriding objective of U.S. policy — in Latin America and elsewhere — should be to advance U.S. national interests, not to curry favor with foreign leaders. If we can be liked while advancing our interests, so much the better. But when we try to befriend...

Last year, the U.K. Guardian interviewed Oscar-winning actor Benicio del Toro regarding his Cannes-winning role as Che Guevara in Stephen Soderbergh's movie Che. "Dammit This Guy Is Cool!" was the interview title. "I hear of this guy, and he's got a cool name, Che Guevara!" says del Toro. "Groovy name, groovy man, groovy politics! So I came across a picture of Che, smiling, in fatigues, [and] I thought, 'Dammit, this guy is cool-looking!'" Well, there you have it. In effect, Benicio del Toro, who fulfilled an obvious fantasy by starring as Che Guevara in the four-and-a-half-hour movie he also co-produced,...

#5. Che Guevara Deserves His Global Adulation The Catholics, homosexuals, AIDS victims, and dissidents he put into forced labor camps and slaughtered might beg to differ. The Wikipedia entry on Che Guevara goes to great lengths to underscore the reason behind the cult of Che. He was a brilliant idealist, he was inspiring, concerned for the welfare of his Cuban brethren, a savvy military strategist, and on and on. Psychotic, cold-blooded killer? Well, of course there are those criticism, Wikipedia points out, but they also go on to say that this may be attributable to the toll the revolution took...

Arizona's new law that requires the police to ask people to show ID, which was just knocked out by a supremacist judge, may not be the most controversial Arizona law about illegal aliens. Gov. Jan Brewer signed another law this year that bans schools from teaching classes designed to promote solidarity among students of a particular ethnic group. This law bans classes that "promote the overthrow of the United States government" or "promote resentment toward a race or class of people" because schools should treat all pupils as individual Americans. The issue arose because the Tucson School District offers courses...

The "Butcher of La Cabana" honored by Argentina in 'Heroes Salon' (Cry for you Argentina?) Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, center, accompanied by South America's leaders, addresses the unveiling ceremony of the Latin American Heroes Salon during celebrations for the bicentennial of the May Revolution at the government palace in Buenos Aires, Tuesday, May 25, 2010. The May Revolution opened the road to the independence of Argentina from Spain in 1816. Hanging on the wall, images of, from left, Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Argentina's leader late Gen. Juan Domingo Peron and Chile's President late Salvador Allende. (AP Photo/...

Che Guevara spawns tourism industry with 'Che Trail' In life, Ernesto "Che" Guevara fought to overthrow a corrupt, capitalist elite. In death, he is spawning his own tourism industry – soon to include a three-country "Che Trail." Tourism officials in Argentina, Cuba and Bolivia are collaborating on a historic route that will allow Guevara buffs to retrace the footsteps of the Argentine medical student turned revolutionary in Cuba who was killed in a failed mission to foment an uprising in Bolivia. Bolivia's vice minister of tourism, Marco Antonio Peredo, said that the international "Caminos del Che" trail will include sites...

This weekend I was at a family gathering that included some friends of my sister. We were celebrating the baptism of my niece by having a pool party for the kids, as well as grilling some tasty burgers. One of the guests invited by my sister was wearing a t-shirt with the image of Che Guevara with a caption that read, “Viva La Revolucion”. For those of you that only speak English, this loosely translates to “I live for revolution”. Not being the silent type, I asked this person if he really knew a lot about the man depicted on...

Ignorant No Child Left Behind beneficiaries can now have their beloved Che Guevara on their iPhones to compliment their Che tee shirts and footie pj’s. Humberto Fontova at American Thinker shares some evocative Che quotes that may not appear on junior’s iPhone: “’My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood…Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any surrendered enemy that falls in my hands! With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!’ (From Che’s own diaries, later...

If someone walked into a classroom or up and down College Avenue flaunting a Heinrich Himmler T-shirt, it would be sure to cause some stirs, and rightfully so. After all, it is deplorable for anyone to joyfully personify a genocidal mass-murderer. Yet for some reason, people worldwide — most notably, American college students — stand silent when their friends and fellow classmates don the image of the Marxist, murderous, Cuban parity to Himmler, Ernesto “Che” Guevara. I am going to make an optimistic, general assumption that the vast majority of Che admirers know little, if anything, about this terrible world...

It’s apparent the George Soros steno pool known as Media Matters for America really didn’t like Glenn Beck’s TV documentary, “The Revolutionary Holocaust.” (full documentary video, transcript) Simon Maloy, who wrote the Media Matters rebuttal to the film, said it’s “insidious in its nature and vile in its character.” He continued The purpose of Beck’s documentary was to link modern progressivism to the abhorrent violence the world saw under communism in the 20th century. Beck’s intention is to undercut the current administration and very idea of progressivism — or at least what he claims is progressivism — by associating them...

LET'S just agree that if you are looking for someone with whom to compare Barack Obama, the mid-20th-century British prime minister Clement Attlee does not come immediately to mind. Some might opt for FDR, some the Messiah, others the Antichrist or, harsher still, Jimmy Carter. Attlee? Not so much. To start with, there's the whole charisma thing. Attlee was the Labour leader who humiliated Winston Churchill in Britain's 1945 election, but that victory (one of the most sweeping in British history) was more dramatic than the victor. No Obama, the new prime minister was shy, understated, and physically unprepossessing. Balding,...

Poland: Your Ché Guevara T-shirt can land you in jail Poland's revised criminal code includes a ban on communist symbols, such as the red star or hammer and sickle, though one artist says "they are no longer meaningful." By Hilary Heuler • A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent. Evocative symbols of Europe’s troubled past, such as the swastika, have long been illegal in countries across the continent. But now Poland has gone one step further, revising its criminal code to include a ban on symbols of communism. Poles can now be fined or even put in prison if...

The U.K. Guardian interviewed Oscar-winning actor Benicio del Toro earlier this year regarding his role as Che Guevara in Stephen Soderbergh’s new movie “Che.” “Dammit This Guy Is Cool!” was the interview title. “Del Toro was fascinated with Che Guevara from the first time he heard his name mentioned in the Rolling Stones song ‘Indian Girl,’” reads the introduction to the interview. “I hear of this guy, and he’s got a cool name, Che Guevara!” says del Toro. “Groovy name, groovy man, groovy politics! So I came across a picture of Che, smiling, in fatigues, I thought, ‘Dammit, this guy...