Free Republic

Governor Palin posted the following to Facebook:Yet again Mr. President, you lie. You boasted that your exchange of an obvious traitor for a group of known terrorists hell bent on America’s destruction is because “we leave no man behind.” You lie. You left an entire nation behind in the Rose Garden while celebrating a military deserter whose treasonous act you smiled at for all the world to see. You hold the proverbial hand of a traitor, but don't have the character to do the same for deserving souls who consistently give their all to protect America. Have you spoken up...

When American Sniper went into wide release, I promised to get a thread going, after a few weeks, so that FReepers could have a discussion about the movie, Hollywood, the effect of the story on us as veterans and civilians and whatever else. I hope that most of FR has had a chance to see it. There will probably be spoilers in this discussion.

On Tuesday, MSNBC foreign correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin shared his opinion on the box office smash American Sniper. After agreeing that the film was compelling for its depiction of veterans and PTSD, Mohyeldin claimed Kyle was racist to Iraqis and went on “killing sprees” while he was deployed in the country. Mohyeldin’s comments gained so much attention they trended on Facebook. IJReview talked with Johnny Walker, who was an Iraqi Muslim interpreter for many Navy SEALS, including Chris Kyle, about the claim that his dear friend was a racist. What he told us might just debunk those accusations. Walker said: “When...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared February 2nd to be “Chris Kyle Day” to honor the Texan who became known the most lethal sniper in American history. Kyle was also recently immortalized in the blockbuster film “American Sniper.” Kyle was credited with 150 sniper kills during his four tours of duty in Iraq as a Navy Seal. He was tragically shot and killed on February 2, 2013, while trying to help a fellow veteran who was allegedly suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Taya Kyle, the widow of Chris Kyle, was recently honored by the organization AmericanSnipers.org with a donation of $62,000....

Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” has wowed American audiences, but for one short week it also thrilled crowds in Baghdad. Iraq’s upscale Mansour Mall played the film for one week before the controversy surrounding the film prompted management to end showings. “Some people watching were just concentrating, but others were screaming ‘[expletive], shoot him! He has an IED, don’t wait for permission!’” said moviegoer Gaith Mohammed, the Global Post reported Wednesday. “I love watching war movies because especially now they give me the strength to face [the Islamic State].” “The sniper, he has a chance to hit the child and his...

American Sniper is tops at the box office, but don't expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it. Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won't see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him.

Ventura, who won a $1.8 million defamation suit against Kyle's estate last year, said the box office smash was 'as authentic as Dirty Harry' Jesse Ventura is the latest public figure taking potshots at slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and "American Sniper." The former Minnesota guv - who won a legal dustup with Kyle's estate last year because Kyle claimed he'd once decked Ventura - lashed out at the sharpshooter, calling him a liar and saying the box office smash was a piece of fiction. ...

American Sniper is tops at the box office but don’t expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it. Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won’t see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him. "A hero must be honorable, must have honor. And you can’t have honor if you’re a liar. There is no...

Ayman Mohyeldin has suggested that Chris Kyle, the real "American Sniper," was a "racist" whose military missions were nothing less than "killing sprees." With opinions like that, you might imagine Mohyeldin to be some unhinged bloviator from the bowels of the anti-American far left. Or, an NBC foreign correspondent [who formerly worked for Al Jazeera] who regularly reports on events in the Middle East. Which is exactly what he is. Ayman vented his bile on today's Morning Joe. View the video here.

There’s no denying it. Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” has struck a chord with the American people, and did so by tapping into the deepest civic values we have as Americans – duty, honor, fidelity, courage, love for country…and a love for others. However, no war movie can live on the big screen without a spew of liberal backlash, and this film is no different. Criticism has come quickly from Michael Moore, Seth Rogen, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and other Hollywood leftists. Thankfully, some things speak louder than cowardly tweets—like the more than $200 million in ticket sales the movie...

<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - "American Sniper" is tops at the box office but don't expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it.</p> <p>Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won't see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him.</p>

American Sniper had a record-breaking debut. It’s the widest release ever for an R-rated movie, the biggest debut ever for a Best Picture Oscar nominee; it’s the highest grossing January movie in history and it’s already the second highest grossing war movie of all-time. The movie has already gone beyond “blockbuster” all the way up to “cultural phenomenon” in the space of a few weeks’ time. However, ironically, as the movie has become more popular with the public, liberals have gotten more and more upset about it. You’ve already seen the quotes from Michael Moore and Bill Maher, but...

I was looking forward to seeing American Sniper. I took my brown Native high school-aged son to see it. I’m a fan of Clint Eastwood’s acting and directing, and his Sniper is a beautifully shot and directed action packed flick. But after his film, I spent the hour’s drive home explaining to my son why I thought the movie was dangerous and corrosive to the American people. This is a tense war movie that looks great. But just underneath the film’s sexy veneer is a shockingly racist ideology of hate and death that is advanced by the white male sniper...

St. Joan of Arc & the Truth about Snipers & Why Tyrants like Hitler Always Hate Them In recent days I have been amazed and sickened by some of the vicious comments I have heard directed at Chris Kyle, the soldier portrayed in the new movie American Sniper, and I felt I could help people better understand the truth about snipers and why they are so feared and hated by the kind of people making the negative comments.  In St. Joan of Arc’s army soldiers that functioned as snipers were as important to her military success as they are...

God bless Chris Kyle for everything he did for us, and God dam you, Michael Moore, for all you stand for Maybe you are one of the lucky ones who has already seen the blockbuster and one of the all-time box-office record holders, American Sniper – Clint Eastwoods’ film adaptation of the life of Christopher Scott “Chris” Kyle, released on December 2014. Kyle, is considered to be the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, while accumulating 160 confirmed kills, out of 255 probably kills. As a matter of record, I would also like to commend Eastwoods’ proactive choice of...

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper scored another stunning victory over its second weekend of wide release. The Warner Bros. /Time Warner TWX -2.14% Inc. war drama earned another $64.365 million over the weekend, which was a weekend-to-weekend drop of just 28%. It has now earned $200.137m domestic. That’s also the biggest non-debut-weekend in history for an R-rated film, easily besting the $53m second Friday of The Passion of the Christ as well the over/under $30m second weekends of Hannibal, The Matrix Reloaded, The Hangover, The Hangover part II, and 300. If there was any question, it is now clear that, inflation...

Is “American Sniper” a hugely divisive American phenomenon? That’s the impression you’d get from reading a lot of pundits’ just-baked hot takes about the wildly popular Clint Eastwood-directed flick. [snip] Mr. Moore tweeted that his uncle was killed by a sniper in World War II and that he’d been raised to believe snipers “cowards.” Mr. Rogen, fresh off the international incident created by his North Korean movie “The Interview,” opined that “American Sniper” reminded him of a fake film that’s showing near the end of the Quentin Tarantino’s World War II movie “Inglourious Basterds.” That film showed a German sniper...

All the fuss over American Sniper – the Oscar buzz, the red-carpet premieres, the political debates – was not real-life sniper Chris Kyle's thing, says his friend, actor Dean Cain. "It would be absolutely and completely surreal and strange to him," Cain tells PEOPLE. "And he'd probably want to go fishing. I'm not kidding. He'd go horseback riding. He'd want to do anything but be in the public eye." "But," Cain adds, "if it was able to help his fellow servicemen, Chris would be fine." The Navy SEAL and the former Lois and Clark star became tight when they were...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) lambasted Hollywood liberals in a rambling speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Saturday. The party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee, who said this week she’s “ interested” in a presidential bid, took the stage with to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” feeding off the energy of the crowd as she jumped from conservative topic to topic. Her speech was replete with memories of her own trips to Iowa, but she also focused on one recent controversy — defending criticism over the country’s top-grossing movie, “American Sniper.” Palin detailed how she and her family were...

The top film of last Friday (and quite obviously the weekend) was again Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. The Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc. release earned another $18.325 million yesterday, which was a Friday-to-Friday drop of just 40%. It has now earned $154m domestic, including $14.5m in IMAX alone. That’s also the biggest non-debut-weekend Friday in history for an R-rated film, easily besting the $13m second Friday of The Passion of the Christ as well the over/under $10m second Fridays of The Matrix Reloaded, The Hangover part II, and 300. Among R-rated films that didn’t open on a Friday per-se, it comes...