Free Republic

'This stuff makes my head hurt'In the world of the politically correct, where Associated Press news-style gurus say a man who calls himself a woman is a woman and woman who calls herself a man is a man, it’s easy to see how mistakes could happen.As AP found this week when it had to delete a tweet promoting a gender story because it misgendered a transgender.“We’ve deleted a Wednesday tweet about two transgender city council members elected in Minneapolis because it misidentified one of them as a woman. A replacement tweet is upcoming,” the wire service said. We’ve deleted a...

The critical thing about confronting evil is to call it by its rightful name. But New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided to call alleged truck terrorist Sayfullo Saipov a "lone wolf." "All the evidence we have suggests that he was acting alone," said Cuomo. "The so-called 'Lone Wolf syndrome.'" Lone wolf? That's a dangerous rhetorical mistake, made by a worried politician trying to avoid reality. Saipov allegedly used a rental truck as a weapon of mass destruction on Halloween, and when it was done there were eight dead and a dozen seriously injured. He planned the attack for several weeks,...

Veterans group claims motto ‘symbolizes the agency’s resistance to gender equity’The VA is defending its motto this week against charges that it “symbolizes​ ​the agency’s​ ​resistance​ ​to​ ​gender​ ​equity.” A portion of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address in 1865 has been deemed “sexist” as a VA motto by the nonprofit organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. The group wrote a letter to VA Secretary David Shulkin this week demanding a change, which it says would “better support women.” The motto in question, in place since 1959, reads: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for...

CLIFFSIDE PARK, N.J. — A 25-second video clip recorded inside a classroom at Cliffside Park High School is being shared on social media and it has started a debate. “…men and women are fighting. They are not fighting for your right to speak Spanish. They are fighting for your right to speak American,” a teacher can be heard saying to her class. Students in Cliffside Park, a diverse community with a large number of Spanish-speaking students, immediately reacted to the comment. One even walked out. "You're being racist," that student can be heard saying on the video. "I know how...

The argument is that American society is and always has been a terrorist white supremacist enterprise. When I was a young student my father told me a story from his college days. He was a freshman at Temple University and his professor asked for the definition of the word “progress.” Prepared for class, my dad answered, only to be told he was wrong. Dad objected, saying he had consulted several dictionaries. The professor said, “Young man, I’ve written dictionaries.” It was an important lesson about what words mean and who gets to decide. Today, American society is locked in such...

Analysis of video interview of Eric Paddock, brother of accused Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.

A bill that passed the California state senate and is now moving through the Assembly could threaten jail time for anyone who refuses to use a transgender person’s preferred pronoun. The law is currently limited in its effects to nursing homes and intermediate-care facilities, but if passed, those who “willfully and repeatedly” refuse “to use a transgender resident’s preferred name or pronouns” could be slapped with a $1,000 fine and up to one year in prison, according to the California Heath and Safety code. The state senate passed the bill 26-12 at the end of May. Since then, the Assembly...

A few years ago, Cleveland-based MetroHealth noticed that although registration staffers were supposed to ask all patients their race, ethnicity and preferred language, it wasn't happening consistently enough. “We realized we needed to support our frontline staff with the right information and resources to consistently and appropriately ask for this information,” said Lourdes Negron-McDaniel, director of inclusion and diversity at MetroHealth. After all, knowing a patient's race, ethnicity and preferred language can help address the wide disparities that exist in healthcare. This personal information can offer insight into the differences in quality of care given to people of different cultural...

California is on its way to passing a new law that makes it illegal to call transgender senior citizens a pronoun they don't like. For example, if an elderly person who was born male and lives in a long-term care facility wishes to be called "her" or "she," the workers there had better do it or face the consequences. The proposed law would even apply to Christian facilities. SB 219, titled the "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident's Bill of Rights," states, "It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to.... willfully and...

Today's counter-revolution against liberty is being fought on a number of fronts in American society. One is on college and university campuses across the country, where the ideology of "political correctness" is strangling freedom of speech and smothering intellectual controversy and debate. Critical to this campaign is the capture of language. It is through our language that we think about ourselves, our relationships to others, and the social order surrounding us. Words do not merely delineate objects, individuals, events or actions. Words also create mental imageries, emotions, attitudes, and beliefs that color how people see themselves and the world around...

Cauliflower rice is growing in popularity as a trendy substitute for carbohydrates but the rice industry is upset over the product’s name. Rice industry leaders say that calling it ‘cauliflower rice’ could be misleading and confusing. In the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, an often underrated vegetable is having its moment in the sun. “Cauliflower is one of the hottest vegetables we sell today,” said Vice President of Green Giant Jordan Greenberg. “You can use it as a main dish. You can use it as a side dish.” It can be bar-b-qued, baked, stir- fried and now Green Giant...

A school board in Portland, Ore., has dropped “Lynch” from the names of two elementary schools, claiming it had negative connotations and made some people feel uncomfortable. The move Wednesday evening by the Centennial School District’s board also included a slight alteration to the name of a third school. But the move has sparked criticism, including on social media, from some community residents and former students. They claim the board’s decision is a sign of political correctness running amok. The district had received complaints in recent years that the names of Lynch Meadows Elementary School, Lynch View Elementary School and Lynch...

People will “resort to mob violence” when they “are finally aware of the fact that they’ve been tricked by their society, and that no matter how hard they work as middle class people” they are denied.“That is what’s going to happen in this country,” Savage said. “You have not yet seen mob violence in this country. You’ve seen some mob violence instigated by George Soros’ mobs. … But you haven’t seen the thing I’m telling you is coming in this country. You haven’t seen the ‘Day of the Locust’ yet.”

In a room full of non-native speakers, 'there isn't any chance of understanding'. It might be their language, but the message is often lost. Editor's Note (29 December 2016): Through the end of the year, BBC Capital is bringing back some of your favourite stories from 2016. It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational company. The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague for whom English was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in his dictionary. He...

Remember two and a half years ago when students at a small Pennsylvania college demanded the name “Lynch” be removed from a campus building … because of its racial connotations? An Oregon school district is following their example. The Centennial School District in southeast Portland will be excising “Lynch” from three schools before the beginning of this school year: Lynch Meadows, Lynch Wood, and Lynch View elementary schools. The schools were named for the family which originally had donated land for the schools over a century ago, but Superintendent Paul Coakley says “many newer families coming into the district associate...

An artificial intelligence system being developed at Facebook has created its own language. It developed a system of code words to make communication more efficient. The researchers shut the system down as it prompted concerns we could lose control of AI. The observations made at Facebook are the latest in a long line of similar cases. In each instance, an AI being monitored by humans has diverged from its training in English to develop its own language. The resulting phrases appear to be nonsensical gibberish to humans but contain semantic meaning when interpreted by AI "agents." Negotiating in a new...

What’s everybody’s big problem with small talk? There are memes about hating small talk, articles about dodging potential landmines in casual conversation and a move to end the practice altogether. With a new season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on the horizon, the biggest hater of small talk, Larry David, is inspiring pieces on how to avoid it altogether. David has said on the show that he tries “to elevate small talk to medium talk” and he’s really not a fan of the “stop and chat” with an acquaintance. He’s not alone. This month Cosmopolitan UK described people who would “rather...

A two-day workshop series held recently at the University of Illinois at Chicago asked participants to watch what they say and choose their words carefully in order to make the campus more “inclusive.”

The national movement to change racially offensive names of buildings, sports teams and landmarks will soon touch a group of schools in southeast Portland. Lynch Meadows, Lynch Wood and Lynch View elementary schools will shed their "Lynch" before the upcoming school year in response to growing concern about the word's racial connotations. The schools, part of the Centennial School District, were named for the Lynch family, which donated land over a century ago to build the first of the schools. But Centennial Superintendent Paul Coakley says many newer families coming into the district associate the name with America's violent racial...

The AP Stylebook, published by The Associated Press, is intended to provide universal guidelines for journalists when it comes to stylistic things like punctuation, capitalization and using certain words over others. The 2017 edition of the stylebook directs writers to avoid words like "pro-life," "migrant," "refugee," "Islamist" and "terrorist." Rachel Alexander, an opinion contributor for The Hill, said on "Fox & Friends" this morning that this is an attempt to promote language that liberals tend to favor. Judge Releases Man Accused of Trying to Steal NYPD Cop's Gun She explained that the guide instructs writers to use "anti-abortion" instead of...