Free Republic

As I write this, the German town of Hamburg is in chaos as 100,000 anti-capitalists (otherwise known as “stupid people”) pour in to participate in a “Welcome to Hell” protest against the G20 summit. Police have responded to the violence with water cannons and pepper spray while Hamburg residents are suffering vandalism and arson to their homes, businesses and cars by the peaceful demonstrators. Beer appears to be a popular fuel for the rioters. As with most protests of this nature, it’s a little vague what these people find objectionable, but a few themes have emerged. Demonstrators want open borders,...

OUR SCOOP ON FOX NEWS: The radical political operatives aspiring to disrupt Donald Trump’s inauguration next week are planning to throw a “dance party” on the lawn of Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s temporary home in Washington, D.C., Fox News reports. Confirmation of the upcoming event came in the form of audio recorded by Trevor Loudon on behalf of Capital Research Center’s documentary division, Dangerous Documentaries. Capital Research Center is also the originator of the Bombthrowers website.

The inaugural meeting of a Students for Trump group at Portland State University (PSU) ended in chaos Thursday after a crowd of protesters arrived at the gathering and prevented it from going forward. The crowded meeting at the Oregon school began civilly, but after about 40 minutes it became a mess, as nearly 50 protesters clashed with a couple dozen Trump supporters in an environment of shouting, grandstanding, and threats, according to The Vanguard. A five-minute video posted to YouTube Friday shows a rowdy scene with students standing on tables and often deliberately being as noisy and disruptive as possible.

As we watch our nation becoming more and more divided, one troubling trend is accelerating with amazing speed: the increase in “-ist” accusations. If you’re white, you’re automatically a racist. If you’re a man, you’re automatically sexist. If you’re a boss, you’re automatically an oppressive capitalist. If you live in Idaho, you’re automatically a white supremacist (trust me on this). And on and on it goes. Judgmental. Hater. Intolerant. Phobic. Did I miss anything? Accusations of “-ist” became widespread because they were so effective. Ever try to engage a liberal in conversation? The moment – the moment! – you say...

UPDATE: Dozens of protesters entered the Holiday Inn Express on Monday evening as part of an anti-Donald Trump protest, according to Gazette reporter Nick Crow, who was on the scene. A state Assembly representative is among the 60 or so protesters who occupied the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in Janesville. Shortly before 7 p.m., Janesville police on the scene had not moved to remove the protesters, who were chanting and refusing to leave, Crow said. Hotel staff was not allowing anyone else in the hotel unless they were guests, Crow said. About 20 more protesters did not go...

The violent disruptions occurring at Trump conventions are a setup. DO NOT FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE. All you get is a bigger fire that is out of control. The welfare/communist left want escalation so they can appear justified in ratcheting up the use of force and ultimately control the outcome of the electoral process. They're luring you to show up at their rallies to get you on video fighting. The will counter with their Sturmabteilung. To stop a fire, remove the oxygen/fuel. Don't - show - up. Consider this scenario as a analogy: In a domestic situation a woman exists...

Friday evening’s Donald Trump rally in Chicago was broken up by a foul-mouthed mob that infiltrated the hall and forced the cancellation of the event to prevent violence and bloodshed. Brownshirt tactics worked. The mob, triumphant, rejoiced. Friday night cried out for moral clarity. What we got from Trump’s rivals was moral mush that called to mind JFK’s favorite quote from Dante: The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. As news outlets have reported, Friday’s disruption at the University of Illinois-Chicago auditorium was a preplanned assault. Behind it were...

Violence broke out over the weekend at several Donald Trump campaign rallies. Leftwing thugs battled with police in Chicago and St. Louis. One unhinged lunatic tried to storm the stage at a rally in Dayton, Ohio. He was stopped by Secret Service agents. Heaven only knows what he would’ve done had he gotten a hold of Mr. Trump. To be clear – what happened over the weekend was not just an attack on Mr. Trump. It was an attack on the First Amendment. But instead of condemning the professional hooligans -- the political chattering class condemned Mr. Trump. A despondent...

In the ongoing battle over the proper role of law enforcement and conflicts between officers and the public there has obviously been one overlooked set of villains: runners. That’s right… we’re talking about those joggers who go out in their fancy running shorts and high end shoes, competing in the curious process of spending their day pounding the pavement along ridiculously long routes when they could have just summoned an Uber to get there in about ten minutes. They are clearly the problem with today’s society and Black Lives Matter in St. Paul, Minnesota is finally going to do something...

Roman Catholic leaders have sent e-mails of warning to dozens of Washington and Maryland priests after protesters with bullhorns yelling anti-Catholic slogans appeared at several parishes and in a couple of cases “stormed the inside of the church just before Mass,” a bishop-administrator wrote in the e-mail. A spokeswoman with the Archdiocese of Washington, which oversees 139 parishes in the District and suburban Maryland, said Wednesday that “really small” groups of protesters have appeared on the property of three or four parishes in the past couple of weeks near Mass time. They were shouting at parishioners going in and out...

Former liberal activist/turned tea party conservative Brandon Darby and Sheriff Joe Arpaio were featured speakers at the Choose Liberty 2012 event sponsored by the Eastern Orlando Tea Party. As Sheriff Arpaio took the podium, Darby called security over to point out Occupy Orlando activists were in the audience of the private event preparing to cause a disruption. When the activists tried to interfere with Arpaio's right to speak and the tea party's right to peaceably assemble, Darby and Chad Biddinger of Libertylink.com escorted the trespassers out in an emphatic way. Video at link.

Ramblers and climbers have been banned from one of Dartmoor's most historic sites. The beautiful Vixen Tor has been closed off for good after landowner Mary Alford won an eight-year battle to keep walkers off her land. Her victory comes after a fight which included two planning inquiries and a series of mass trespasses to protest against the Tor's closure.

Have at it.

A new website has appeared that should earn the support of tea-party critics such as CNN's Anderson Cooper and his compatriots: CrashTheTeaParty.org. It beckons, "Let's get to work. This Tea Party isn't going to destroy itself … Or is it." But whether the website succeeds remains to be seen, because a random assortment of visitors to the new site so far haven't been enamored. "Just TRY to show up at the rallies! We've got your number. We have LOTS of security. And many veterans, Oathkeepers and other well qualified people who can spot phonies, trouble-makers, SEIU thugs – and MORONS...

Frank Rich of the NYTimes. Why is this man lying? Reading the New York Times and expecting the truth is like going to a brothel and expecting to find true love.  Reading NYTimes columnist Frank Rich and expecting anything other than dishonest, partisan hyperventilating is even dumber. But when it comes to a serious issue like allegations of death threats against Sen. Obama, I'd like to think that Rich or his NYTimes editors might have some sense of journalistic responsibility.That's how much of a Pollyanna I am.In his column today, Rich writes about fears of assassination attempts against Sen. Obama and the decision of...

What is political astroturf? When a political movement portrays itself to be grass-roots, and later we find out it was actually planned and coordinated by a political party or candidate. This is usually done in support of the cause or candidate behind the astroturf effort. The Republicans are now being attacked by a new type of fake grass: dirty atstroturf. Democratic activists are infiltrating Republican rallys pretending to be Republican grass-roots supporters. The Democratic activist's goal? Discredit Republican grass-roots supporters. Their tactic has been to yell vile statements about Democratic candidates, hoping it would smear Republican grass-roots supporters. So far,...

Rosen: Columbus clash, 2005 September 30, 2005 We're about a week away from Denver's annual Columbus Day confrontation. Each year at this time, Italian-Americans lawfully assemble to hold a parade honoring Christopher Columbus and celebrating their heritage while the usual suspects - professional Indian activists, assorted lefties and recreational demonstrators who do this kind of thing for fun - violate the civil rights of paraders

This is a vanity post, but trust me, a well sourced one. (I'm an old network newsie and have about 8 more good sources on this than Rather had for his typeface fiasco.) Here are the details: A SF SGT E-5, James Stewart, will be buried in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 4, 2005. It's wholly appropriate that he be buried on our nation's birthday, because Sergeant Stewart gave his life for our country.... and all of us. He was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb, call an IED in MilSpeak. IED is short for "Improvised Explosive Device." It...

As a lad growing up in Thomaston, Maine, in the 1960s, I loved studying myths and legends and was always interested in learning facts about those myths and legends of which most people were unaware. So you can imagine my amusement each time liberals show America what they are really about, which so often these days are hate, violence and the damaging of the Bill of Rights and Constitution in general, with free speech being a prime target within the latter. It wasn’t that long ago that liberals were believed to be non-violent defenders of the Constitution who shunned hate....

Protestors yelling, "War criminal!" and "Murderer!" were the first to be dragged out of the auditorium at the New School this afternoon, after being given repeated warnings to stop disrupting Jeffrey Goldberg's interview of the Deputy Secretary of Defense.Although the majority of the audience seemed to be sympathetic to Wolfowitz, shouts of "Go home!" and "Resign!" and "Oil!" continued to partly drown out the speakers. Then a very big, buff personage in a tank top and a ponytail alarmed the security staff the most, as he ran up the left-hand aisle toward the stage, angrily shouting and menacing the Secretary....