Free Republic

I feel for the poor souls who suffer so profoundly when they find themselves in vicinity of monuments dedicated to Southerners who participated in the War Between the States. It seems however that not enough is being done to assuage their suffering. A couple of examples of what more can be done come to mind. The fine University in Virginia named Washington and Lee (actually named after the Father of our Country and the Commander of Confederate States of America's Army)should obviously be renamed. A much bigger problem is Arlington National Cemetery, which was the front yard of General Lee's...

The same week that a statue of Robert E. Lee led to the death of an innocent woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, I watched him oink and squeal in a race for the fate of the country. Lee, this time, was a piglet—part of Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, a Medieval Times–style dine-in attraction where seven nights a week and at occasional weekend matinees, the South rises again.

Researchers say they’ve solved one of the most enduring mysteries of the American Civil War: what caused the puzzling demise of the H.L. Hunley, the first combat submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. The Confederate craft famously disappeared with all its crew on 17 February 1864, just after destroying the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbour. The Hunley’s wreck was not found until 1995. When it was raised from the seabed in 2000, the skeletons of its eight-man crew were still at their stations, with no evidence of escape attempts.

Much of the country has demanded the elimination of references to, and images of, people of the past -- from Christopher Columbus to Robert E. Lee -- who do not meet our evolving standards of probity. In some cases, such damnation may be understandable if done calmly and peacefully -- and democratically, by a majority vote of elected representatives. Few probably wish to see a statue in a public park honoring Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the founding members of the Ku Klux Klan, or Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney, who wrote the majority opinion in the...

For California Democrats, some statues are more unequal than others. “If Republicans are serious about rejecting white supremacy,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement last week, “I call upon Speaker Ryan to join Democrats to remove the Confederate statues from the Capitol immediately.” The 10 statues include Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis, and vice president Alexander Hamilton Stephens. As the Washington Post noted, the Robert E. Lee statue dates from 1909 and the others arrived during the following 20 years, with Jefferson Davis and Confederate colonel James George joining their...

As the face of CNN, Anderson Cooper makes a very good living as wealthy, privileged white man casting judgments of affiliation upon his political enemies. This includes taking a handful of idiotic white supremacists and declaring they represent millions of Republicans/conservatives, pro-America, Trump supporters, etc. And yet Mr. Cooper himself has a much closer affiliation to slavery than he likely wants his leftist viewers to know. As a descendant of the Vanderbilt family, one of the wealthiest “old money” families in American history, Cooper is a direct descendant of big time slave owners. Cooper’s great-great grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, owned several...

Statues of Lincoln, Catholic saints, and Confederate generals have been in the political debate as of late. There are even a few commentators who want to tear down monuments to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It’s out of control, but then again—that’s the progressive Left. Now, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says it’s a matter of national security. He made the remarks to ABC News’ Martha Raddatz on This Week Sunday. Our friends at the Washington Free Beacon clipped the exchangeJeh Johnson: Removing Confederate statues a matter of 'homeland security' "What alarms so many of us from a...

It’s wrong to pre-judge a human being based on their racial characteristics. Beyond that, it’s stupid. Any marginally intelligent person knows this. A Christian, certainly, has no excuse for treating someone badly simply because they are of a different racial category. For a Catholic, it's a sin to do so. At the same time, as we watch political agitators wantonly destroying symbols of our country’s history in vigilante mobs, one can not help but be struck by their profound ignorance of said history. For these simpletons, the Confederacy equals racism, and everything having to do with it equals racism, and...

The conversation about monuments — particularly which should stay and which should go — has eclipsed nearly all other conversations in the week following a rally-turned-near-riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. CNN's Kate Bolduan spoke to liberal analyst Angela Rye on Thursday, asking her whether the uproar was truly just about the monuments. Rye claimed that the problem ran much deeper than that: .. Rye concluded her argument by asserting that America was very close to once again being a nation of slavery: “We definitely need to learn about it so that we don't repeat it, because we're very close to repeating...

The video that appeared more often than any other on my TV screen this past week showed protestors toppling a statue of a confederate soldier in Durham, North Carolina. Then kicking it, stomping on it, spitting at it.The Workers World Party is the group that pulled off this feat and they were also involved in the violent conflict in Charlottesville.So, who are they? You didn’t learn much about them if you watched CNN or even Fox News. The commentators on the regular cable channels were too focused on racists and white nationalists and why Donald Trump wasn’t condemning them enough....

In February of 2003, then-aspiring Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean got applause at a Democratic National Committee meeting when he argued that “white folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us.” More than a decade later, in the wake of the violent white supremacist rally surrounding a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, last wekend and President Trump’s full-throated defense of Confederate monuments, the politics have changed. What used to be a series of low-key, local fights has turned into a party-defining wedge issue with...

Mohamed Elibiary, the former Department of Homeland Security Advisor who was relieved of duty last year after his ties with the Muslim Brotherhood became publicly known is now praising Allah and the Obama Administration in response to South Carolina’s decision to remove the Confederate Flag. Taking to twitter, Elibiary applauded Obama’s efforts to shame the South into giving up history for political correctness while praising federalism. No joke…

A Facebook post for a protest dubbed “Destroy the Confederacy” at Sam Houston Park in Houston on Saturday warns “*Do NOT bring children.” A group “committed to protecting Texas and Texas History,” “This Is Texas Freedom Force” (TITFF), says demonstrators plan to tear down a Confederate statue. They also warn there will be violence. The promoters of the protest tell potential attendees: “We will meet at Sam Houston Park (right in front of Houston City hall) to demand that the City of Houston ERASE THE CONFEDERACY! It is a STAIN IN THE FABRIC of our history that needs to be...

One of the activists who toppled a Confederate statue in Durham, N.C., on Monday night is a member of an extreme leftist group that supports the totalitarian regime in North Korea and wants to abolish capitalism. Taqiyah Thompson, a student at North Carolina Central University, was arrested Tuesday following a press conference in which she defended the actions of the demonstrators and equated police officers to Confederate soldiers and Ku Klux Klan members. “I did the right thing,” she said. “Everyone who was there — the people did the right thing. The people will continue to keep making the right...

If Democrats seeking the removal of historical memorials tied to racist history are serious, they should be tripping over one another to get in front of a camera and call for the removal of memorials and namesakes to Presidents Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Sen. Robert C Byrd. These five men had two things in common–all had a penchant for racism to one degree or another, and all were Democrats. Some of the memorials to them are monuments, some are groves, others are highways, bridges, colleges, and even cemeteries. Of course, the cemeteries ought...

Protesters vandalized and attempted to take down the Peace Monument in Piedmont Park in Atlanta on Sunday, mistaking it for a pro-Confederate statue. The protesters were marching in response to the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday where one woman died after being deliberately hit by a car, and two law enforcement personnel were killed when the helicopter they were in crashed. “The Atlanta march traveled from Woodruff Park to Piedmont Park Sunday, where some damaged the Peace Monument, erected in 1911,” a blog on theAtlanta Journal-Constitution website said. “The sculpture features an angel standing above a Confederate soldier, guiding him to...

"History, by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views." ---Thomas Jefferson From the time of the middle of the 19th Century, the deep Southern States’ governments and the Southern people have been depicted as being totally preoccupied with the survival of slavery, while Northern people were to become...

DURHAM, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Protesters in Durham rushed and toppled a Confederate statue outside the courthouse on Monday evening. The monument of a Confederate soldier holding a rifle was erected in 1924 and inscribed on it are the words "in memory of the boys who wore the gray." ABC11 spoke to Durham Mayor Bill Bell for reaction about the incident. "I'm not surprised seeing what's gone on in this country," Bell said Monday night. Because the statue was on county property, Bell would not comment on any possible charges against the protesters for the vandalism. Protesters then moved on...

Not long after protests surrounding plans to remove a Confederate statue in Virginia turned deadly Saturday, hundreds gathered in San Antonio over calls there to move a 118-year old Confederate monument. More than 300 protesters gathered in Travis Park, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The initial rally was organized by the group This is Texas Freedom Force, requesting that the statue in the park stay in place. The group's Facebook event description announced there would be several speakers — adding that "we will not stand quietly by while our Texas history is erased." Two San Antonio councilmen, Robert Treviño and...