Free Republic

23 August 2017 – The United Nations body monitoring implementation of the global convention on prohibiting racial discrimination has called on high-level politicians and public officials of the United States to unequivocally and unconditionally reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes in Charlottesville and throughout the country. “We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred,” said Anastasia Crickley, Chairperson of UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in a news release. In...

The French government has doubled its fines for those found guilty of racial or discriminatory defamation in “non-public” statements. The increased fine specifically addresses fines issued for “non-public” statements — such as those made on a private Facebook group or to a small group of people — containing abuse aimed at a person or group based on their origin, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identification. Businesses whose directors or employees are found to have made discriminatory statements will now face potential fines of up to €7,500 for a one-off incident. And for repeat offenses, that rises to a...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling for the National Park Service to revoke the permit for a Patriot Prayer event because she says it’s a “white supremacist rally” – even though the organizer and all but one speaker are not white. “The National Park Service’s decision to permit a white supremacist rally at Crissy Field raises grave and ongoing concerns about public safety,” House Minority Leader Pelosi declared in a statement calling for cancellation of the conservative event scheduled for Aug. 26 in San Francisco, California. In a further effort to villainize the event, Pelosi implied that the Trump Administration...

VIDEO (Robert Spencer discusses FBI foreknowledge and physical presence at Garland TX terrorist attack at the Draw Muhammad contest.) Video: Robert Spencer on Newsmax’s Malzberg: FBI Wanted Pamela Geller and Me Dead in Garland Jihad Attack MARCH 28, 2017 4:21 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER 54 COMMENTS On Newsmax’s Malzberg show today, I discuss how the FBI knew of the Garland jihad plot beforehand, and not only did nothing to stop it, but actively encouraged it. I explain in more detail... Although we were co-organizers of the event, neither Pamela Geller nor I appear, except in one still photo, in this...

Muncie mayor extends ban to include U.S. flag MUNCIE, Ind. Flags aren't allowed to be flown any longer at a city-run campground at Muncie -- including the U-S flag. W-I-P-B-T-V in Muncie reports that police today passed out notices at Prairie Creek Reservoir campground saying that all flags must come down. The U-S flag wasn't included in the city's original ban when it was imposed earlier this year. The city had banned Confederate flags and all others except U-S and P-O-W flags. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against Muncie Mayor Dan Canan over the ban. Friday,...

Personal trauma can cloud one’s judgment, so we can to some degree forgive U.S. District Court Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow for urging members of Congress to do something to curb public criticism of federal judges. Lefkow’s husband and mother were recently killed by a deranged man who blamed her for a life turned sour. The attacks were not politically motivated. Yet somehow, Lefkow has drawn a link between the killings and recent criticisms of the federal judiciary by Republicans, in a way that unnecessarily inflames the debate. While we wouldn’t expect that members of Congress would rebuke a grieving widow...

May 18, 2005, 11:06PM Words lead to violence, judge says Woman whose family was slain urges Congress to bring an end to verbal attacks By REBECCA CARROLL Associated Press WASHINGTON - A federal judge whose husband and mother were slain by a disgruntled litigant urged Congress Wednesday to help bring an end to "truly dangerous" verbal attacks on judges that might lead to violent action. Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow said one way lawmakers could protect judges would be to condemn judge-bashing remarks by commentators and colleagues. "Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or...

The federal judge whose family was murdered asked the Senate on Wednesday to condemn "gratuitous attacks on the judiciary" by commentators such as evangelist Pat Robertson and members of Congress such as Tom DeLay, saying their words could spark more violence. "Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or on the fringe, to exact revenge on a judge who displeases them," U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Not only was her family murdered, but Lefkow said she faces public harassment, reports CBS' Mike Parker. "As recently as last Friday,...

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order late Friday halting demonstrations at Lee Monument in Richmond for the next 90 days. That order violates the First Amendment. “In spite of weeks of preparation, the city of Charlottesville was the target of an act of domestic terrorism that cost one woman her life, and had a helicopter accident lead to the deaths of two state troopers,” McAuliffe said in a statement that accompanied the executive order:

The organizer of the yesterday's Unite the Right rally was mobbed as he tried to give a press conference blaming the city and cops for the death of a woman protesting the hate-fueled march. Jason Kessler, who was behind the march that turned violent yesterday, leaving one dead and at least 19 injured, was punched and tackled to the ground after the surrounding crowd at his presser turned nasty.

Social media giant Facebook said on Wednesday that a second center in Germany committed to deleting hateful or violent content will be set up in Essen by fall. Facebook announced on Wednesday that a center in Essen dedicated to deleting hate speech and similar content punishable by law will hire 500 people and launch in the autumn. The first Facebook center in Germany dedicated to deleting criminal or offensive content on the site was set up in Berlin, and will be increasing their staff to 700. […] The law passed by the Bundestag (German parliament) in June requires sites like...

ANN ARBOR, MI – In a settlement agreement, which reads more like an instrument of surrender, Bernards Township (“Township”), New Jersey officials agreed that, in addition to a $3.5 million payment to Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (“ISBR”), residents and citizens of the Township are prohibited from commenting on “Islam” or “Muslims.” at the upcoming public hearing to approve the settlement. Astonishingly, a federal judge approved the prohibition as a fully enforceable Order of the Court. As a result of this suppression of speech, the Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor,...

After more than two weeks of obfuscation and misdirection from the Obama administration, the American public is coming to understand what the U.S. intelligence community learned in the 48 hours immediately following the September 11 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Among the important new details: * Top Pentagon officials declared the assault a terrorist attack on “Day One.” Doing so enabled them to expedite any response to the attack (Yahoo! News). * U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials understood right away that the attacks were planned for the eleventh anniversary of 9/11 (THE WEEKLY STANDARD). * Within 24...

In a move that could escalate tensions around the Arab world, the leader of the Hezbollah militant group called for protests against the movie and said the U.S. must be held accountable for the film. In a televised speech, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah pushed for the creation of an international law that would ban insults of Islam and other religions, citing similar laws that exist to prevent anti-Semitism. His outrage stems from the anti-Islam film produced by a mysterious convict based in California, that has since sparked protests outside American embassies in the Middle East and across the globe....

We were trying to count the people standing in a breadline when William Contreras arrived. The line was forming outside of a bakery in the Caracas run-down neighborhood of Catia, about 20 people long with a half dozen more sprinting past me and our photographer, Cristian Hernández. It was a perfect illustration of the desperate situation of a country that was, a few years ago, boasting of its oil-funded socialist prosperity. Contreras was our government minder, a bulky 50-year-old alderman with salt-and-pepper hair. When he pulled up to us, he seemed oblivious to the snaking line.

Wild Bill for America, also known as William Finlay, a popular author and speaker, was arrested today, June 24, 2017, at a Canadian airport for “smuggling hate speech” on his iPad. He was invited to speak at an event at Calgary’s Olympic Plaza called the “Patriotic Unity Mega Festival” coordinated by Cananda’s Worldwide Coaliation Against Islam (WCAI) which also has organizations in Europe and Australia.

(CNN)House Russia investigators are planning to call on Brad Parscale, the digital director of President Donald Trump's campaign, as the congressional and federal probes dig into any possible connections between the Trump digital operation and Russian operatives, congressional sources said this week. {snip} Parscale told CNN Friday that he had not been contacted by any investigators -- either federal or Congressional. Senate investigators in particular have been interested in looking for a link between the prevalence of fake news that supported Trump and was pinpointed in key areas of Rust Belt states that ultimately flipped from blue to red --...

Turkish media, even the opposition press, have kept strangely silent about a certain thing -- Johnson's rude and offensive limerick about Recep Tayyip Erdogan having sex with a goat. Back in May, Johnson won a contest to write the "rudest poem" about Erdogan organized by Britain's Spectator magazine. It was meant as a rebuff to Erdogan's efforts to sue a German TV comedian who read a poem about the Turkish leader that was described even by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as "deliberately offensive." Johnson is the great grandson of Ali Kemal, a journalist and briefly interior minister in Ottoman Turkey.

The former chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission, who famously eyed regulating the politics of conservative outlets like the Drudge Report, has joined an advocacy group ( funded by George Soros) and run by his son. Ann Ravel is the first fellow listed with the California advocacy group (New America).[snip]New America receives funding from the Soros group Open Society Foundations and it is run by Soros's son (Jonathan Soros).

Portland, Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, has acted to suspend the First Amendment rights of Trump supporters and those opposed to Islamic sharia law by banning demonstrations planned for Portland in the coming weeks, following the killings of two men (and the wounding of a third man) who intervened against a man harassing a Muslim woman and her friend on public transportation. Wheeler is also demanding the federal government do the same and revoke or not issue demonstration permits for the rallies which are set to be held on federal property in Portland.