Free Republic

Rage-filled Ground Zero mosque foes and supporters yesterday hurled insults at each other, brandished taunting signs, and had to be cordoned off by cops at dueling rallies near the controversial site. Shouting, "U-S-A, U-S-A!" behind police barricades, about 500 mosque foes clutched signs demanding, "No clubhouse for terrorists," and featuring the word "SHARIA" -- or Islamic law -- written in red letters made to look like blood dripping. An opposing group of about 150 mosque supporters was kept behind a second set of barricades a block away, shouting, "Fascists go home!" and waving signs declaring: "America!!! When did it become...

A few months ago. for their own safety, a slew of middle level clerics/mullahs, aghast at the Green Iranian demonstrations against the regime "emigrated" out of the holy Iranian city of Qom and fled to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq, home to the most senior Shia Moslem in the world, Grand Ayatollah Sistani.

The political commentariat doesn't know what to make of those thousands of Americans who've spontaneously thronged to tea parties and town-hall meetings to oppose the big-government programs of the Obama administration and Democratic Congress. Some on the left attack them as fascists or racists, though evidence of that is sorely lacking. David Brooks in The New York Times compared them to the New Left campus radicals of the '70s, which comes closer but doesn't quite ring true. I think the tea partiers bear an uncanny resemblance to the antiwar activists in the Vietnam War period. Like the tea partiers, the...

Iran regime has lost touch with people Iran’s regime has definitively lost touch with the aspirations of its people but it is still far from certain that the protest movement confronting it is ready and able to seize power, experts say. The street battles that rocked Tehran and other major cities over the Ashoura holiday show that the demonstrations have entered a new phase with increased state repression and more violent incidents. But, unlike the 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah, Iran’s latest uprising is not led by a well- organized opposition in exile. The largely spontaneous protest movement does...

Candles of Darkness by Ari Bussel It was the last Monday of the year 2009, and at 5PM already dark here in Los Angeles. The weather treated us nicely, so we stood with only one or two layers, signs in our hands (“We Stand with Israel”) along with US and Israeli flags and candles. We were greatly outnumbered, almost five to one. On the other side of the street, just in front the Israeli Consulate building, about 120 anti-Israel protestors, all white-Caucasian, children to the elderly, stood with candles and signs. The darkness and lights of passing cars obliterated them,...

One of Iran's most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87. Hossein Ali Montazeri was a moving spirit in the 1979 revolution which created Iran's Islamic state, and was at one stage set to become its leader. His fierce criticism of the slaughter by Khomeini in his prisons - ended in his being "banned" and theoretically "demoted". Announcing his death, the Mullah regime refused to even give him an Ayatollah title let alone his true Grand Ayatollah one, mentioning him only by his name. One of Shia Islam's most respected figures, he was also a...

The hot and miserable August weather has moved indoors in cities and towns across our land. Moved indoors and taken the form of recriminating rhetoric as neighbors square off in shout fests billed as informational town hall meetings about health care. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) enjoys using the term “evil mongers’ to describe American citizens expressing their anxieties and frustrations, many times with verbal vigor and abuse, over healthcare proposals they fear will adversely affect their lives and the lives of their children and of their parents. Reid, along with many supporters of the various healthcare bills floating...

Tegucigalpa, Honduras, July 22, 2009 (exact translation from El Heraldo) Hundreds of Hondurans took to the streets in a march called by organizers: "The Great March of Patriotism and Courage," began at 10:00 am in Tegucigalpa. (Demonstrators sought to) support the government of (President) Roberto Micheletti Baín and rejecting the return of Manuel Zelaya Rosales, the deposed president.

Two video tributes to the brave Iranian demonstrators: Michael Jackson video with Iranian protesters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvOx4avw8WY&feature=related A TRIBUTE TO THE COURAGEOUS AND BRAVE CITIZENS OF IRAN - Election June 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf8hYLt534I&NR=1

Caution Video is extremely graphic! Her name was Neda Agha Soltan, she was 27 years old and a philosophy student. She was shot as she and her father were observing the demonstrations in Tehran and was shot for no apparent reason. The shot that will be heard around the world. This will embolden more demonstrations. God be with her.

Protesters in the south-eastern Chinese city of Nankang have overturned police cars and blocked roads over plans to more strictly enforce payment of taxes. Officials in Nankang said several hundred protesters blocked a major road while others delivered a petition to a local government office. [...]China’s official Xinhua news agency said the local government’s plan to more strictly enforce payment of taxes from the furniture makers and dealers has been suspended in the face of the opposition. Danwei has more details, including a video which seems to have been just recently pulled from the Internet. Zuihulu has posted photos of...

We have learned a few things from this presidential campaign season and Barack Obama's first 100 days in office.  First, and to our untold horror, we have discovered that Barack Obama can in fact successfully hide who he is and his vision for our country.  Prior to the election, any person of good judgment could readily understand who this man was and where he would likely take this country.  The signs were all there.  Now in power, he enacts his socialist policies in plain sight with little concern that the American public will strenuously object.  So why is it that...

WHEELING - The $787 billion bank bailout. The $3.6 trillion budget. The auto bailouts. AIG bonuses. All these issues - along with what many believe is a now unresponsive federal government - came to a head Wednesday as protesters nationwide gathered to demand government accountability. In Wheeling, nearly 2,000 residents turned out at the city's Heritage Port for the "Tax Day Tea Party," one of more than 2,000 such events that took place nationwide.

From the park fronting the White House to the California coast, tens of thousands of protesters staged anti-tax "tea parties" to mark tax-filing day and attack the Obama administration's spending plans. A soaked crowd of well over 1,000 demonstrators turned out for a rally at Lafayette Park across from the White House despite a steady rain muddying the grounds, one of hundreds of coordinated events held in cities and towns throughout the country. "We got tired of just talking about it around our kitchen table and thought maybe we should step out and do something," said Susan Fisher, 34, who...

This is the final draft. Feel free to spread it around. - ttb A PatriotÂ’s Guide to Demonstrations For decades, protests and marches have primarily been associated with the Left. There are many reasons for this. They generally internalize politics to an extreme extent, becoming obsessed with policies that have absolutely nothing to do with their lives, families, or communities. They have jobs that either give them large amounts of free time or have few repercussions for disappearing for a few days, assuming they have jobs at all. At least half of any Leftist mob will be teachers, baristas, or...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Small crowds of protesters angered by the government's $180 billion bailout of AIG marched in cities across the United States on Thursday, mocking bonuses paid to employees who helped push the company to the brink of collapse. The largest U.S. labor union, the SEIU, and leftist activists from MoveOn.org among others called protests for more than 100 cities the day after President Barack Obama declared, "People are right to be angry -- I'm angry." Obama was responding to public outrage after the insurance giant recently paid $165 million in bonuses to employees of its financial products...

Holding signs reading "Stimulate Business, Not Government," "Families Against Porkulus" and "Say No To Generational Theft," protesters opposed to the $787 billion stimulus package have been mobilizing across the country. It started last Monday in Seattle, then moved Tuesday to Denver, where President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law. That was followed by another one in Mesa, Ariz., where Obama unveiled a mortgage rescue plan. Another protest was planned for Saturday outside the office of Rep. Dennis Moore in Overland Park, Kan. The Democrat voted for the stimulus. His office didn't return calls seeking comment. A New Populism? As...

From Il Corriere della Sera: Call for directive to prevent episodes like Duomo demonstration in Milan from happening again ROME – Places of worship, supermarkets and shopping malls will join public institutions, political party headquarters and diplomatic premises as being off-limits for demonstrators. Organisers will also have to pay a deposit as a guarantee against damage.NEW RULES – Interior minister Roberto Maroni has proposed new rules for public demonstrations, revealing that he is working on a directive to be sent to prefects and chiefs of police. A week ago, the minister explained to a hearing of the Senate’s constitutional affairs...

Day: MondayLocation: Xcel Energy CenterProtesters: 10,000Police: ??? (Plus 150 National Guard)Arrests: 283 people (129 were felonies, 51 gross misdemeanors, 103 misdemeanors) Video Pictures Police use rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse protesters Protesters attacked delegates, smashed windows, punctured car tires and threw bottles Monday, a violent counterpoint to an otherwise peaceful anti-war march at the Republican National Convention. Police wielding pepper spray arrested at least 283 people, of which 129 were felonies, 51 gross misdemeanors and 103 misdemeanor arrests. The trouble happened not far from the Xcel Energy Center convention site, and many of those involved in...

During my recent visit to Capitol Hill, I was lucky enough to have the time and opportunity to attend some of the Petreaus hearings. I entered the hearings near the end of the morning session on Tuesday, April 8th. I was shocked to see that the Code Pinkos were there is full force making a mockery of our process. Cloaked head to toe in their version of Muslim garb with faces painted ghoulishly white with black circles around their eyes, they sported hands painted red. (The red hand bit quite appropriate since it was Code Pink who went into Fallujah...