Free Republic

“Senator Cruz’s substantive point was absolutely correct: in the mid-1990s, the Harvard Law School faculty included numerous self-described proponents of ‘critical legal studies’ — a school of thought explicitly derived from Marxism – and they far outnumbered Republicans.”

I cannot overestimate the fearless excellence of M. Stanton Evans' work as a historian, and, I am fortunate to say, mentor. His 2007 book Blacklisted by History is not only a shattering revision of half a century of lies about Joseph McCarthy and "McCarthyism" -- and, by extension, obfuscation about the successful penetration and subversion of the US government -- it is also an exercise in courage, in confronting a false and crippling consensus with an unshakeable dedication to fact and logic. On a personal note, the book served me as a rosetta stone by which I was able to...

A new chapter in America’s moral revolution came today as Atlanta pastor Louie Giglio withdrew from giving the benediction at President Obama’s second inaugural ceremony. In a statement released to the White House and the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Giglio said that he withdrew because of the furor that emerged yesterday after a liberal watchdog group revealed that almost twenty years ago he had preached a sermon in which he had stated that homosexuality is a sin and that the “only way out of a homosexual lifestyle … is through the healing power of Jesus.” In other words, a Christian pastor...

Andrew McCarthy is one of our most percipient commentators on law and on Islam, writing with a clarity and knack for grasping the essential that are a joy, and an education, to behold. In his PJM column today, both aspects of his expertise are on display. The column is called “It’s Not Just Obama’s Lies — It’s the Premise of Obama’s Lies,” [1] and it takes off from Candy Crowley’s effort in Tuesday’s debate to save face for Obama over the Libyan disaster. We all know now that that attack, which left an American ambassador and three other Americans...

While speaking to the crowd at her meatpacking district store on Fashion's Night Out, Diane Von Furstenberg announced, "Everyone here better be a Democrat; no Republicans!" She then encouraged everyone to "go home and watch the president at 10 p.m" before rushing out, telling the Post, "I just want to leave and watch the president talk." Priorities!

Mr. Schneiderman’s investigation will intensify scrutiny of an industry already bruised by the campaign season, as President Obama and the Democrats have sought to depict Mr. Romney through his long career in private equity as a businessman who dismantled companies and laid off workers while amassing a personal fortune estimated at $250 million. Some executives at the firms said they feared that Mr. Schneiderman, a first-term Democrat with ties to the Obama administration, was seeking to embarrass the industry because of Mr. Romney’s roots at Bain. Others suggested that the subpoenas, which were issued by the attorney general’s Taxpayer Protection...

We'll never know if Congressman Keith Ellison (AKA Keith Hakim, AKA Keith X Ellison, AKA Keith Ellison-Muhammad, AKA BooHoo Kaboom) brought along an onion with him, a pinch of snuff or just thought of all the CAIR campaign contributions he risked losing if the hearings fulfilled their intended purpose,to be able to let loose the waterworks. However he did it, Ellison finally succeeded at one thing. Crying on cue. The big boohoo let Ellison sell his sob story to a sympathetic public already primed by thousands of attack pieces run against King. A campaign conducted by a top Democratic public...

Besides race, gender and age, California's state colleges and universities may be asking students another question in the future: "Are you gay?" Although some gay activists are pleased with the idea being considered by the institutions, saying it will raise awareness and recognition, others are concerned it would invade privacy. The questions, which students could answer voluntarily, would be posed because of a little-known state law aimed at gauging the size of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations on the campuses. The law encourages UC, Cal State and community colleges to explore whether they are offering enough services, such...

Likud MK Ofir Akunis, who sponsored the bill to limit foreign funding to Israeli human rights organization, stood behind Senator Joseph's McCarthy's actions in the 1950s. Speaking on Sunday on the "London and Kirshenbaum" television show on Channel 10, Akunis said McCarthy – who in the 1950s presided over a committee that investigated Americans suspected of harboring Communist views – said "was right in every word, the fact is - there were Soviet agents."

Sarah Palin is no fan of the “lamestream media” — except when she’s using it to serve her ends. Is she using Newsweek to get free personal training? And, if so, is that entirely legal? The former Alaska governor appears on the cover of the new issue of Newsweek wearing a gray sweatshirt with a logo on it reading “Edge Fitness.” That’s the name of a gym in Palin’s hometown of Wasilla. Edge Fitness was featured last November in an episode of her TLC show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” and it also received a plug on a Facebook page Palin apparently...

The McCarthyism of the LeftPosted by: Hugh Hewitt at 6:42 AM Tuesday, January 11, 2011 “This guy wasn’t a missed case." That's the assessment of Saturday's killer by one expert in today's New York Times. In other words, people around him knew he was unbalanced. The conclusions of two others: It is also not clear, some doctors said, that today’s partisan climate had any bearing on the assault. “The psychosis picks up on the grand themes of the day, whether those are antigovernment or something else,” Dr. Stone said. In the logic of delusion, a grievance may be conflated with...

Glenn Beck has beseeched us not to compare him to McCarthy. He accused Anthony Weiner of using Joe McCarthy “tactics” when Weiner launched his unsuccessful and short lived smear campaign against Beck’s sponsor, Goldline. Beck, like too many commentators who ought to know better, has long spewed the entirely false narrative about Senator Joe McCarthy. Until his recent McCarthy Awakening. Liberals have been embarrassing themselves for decades with this McCarthy business. Point out an unsavory association, and they squeal like stuck pigs about the scourge of McCarthyism. In the mind of the liberal, Senator McCarthy was a deranged conservative finding...

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis yesterday blamed the Bush administration for the organization’s woes and accused Republicans of “ACORN McCarthyism.” Lewis blamed Karl Rove for instigating the legal troubles the “community organizers” are facing. At this point, reports of ACORN illegal conduct have sparked a string of criminal investigations nationwide on charges of fraudulent voter registration activities.  Most recently, two young journalists caught ACORN staffers in a sting operation exposing tax and sex trafficking advice.  Both houses of congress have passed measures to de-fund the organization, Lewis was hosted by the National Press Club at a “Newsmaker” event yesterday where she...

A Guest Blog By RONALD RADOSH I noticed the controversy over the late Senator McCarthy in the comments column at NewsReal. It is a mistake for conservatives to think that just because McCarthy's targets were real, the Senator did no harm. Stan Evans has contributed mightily to this confusion in his recent book Blacklisted By History. NewsReal readers may be interested in my review.There were Communist spies, and they did infiltrate the U.S. Government at the highest levels during the New Deal years of F.D.R.’s presidency. While the U.S. treated the Soviet Union as an ally during the war against...

Try this on for size: Palinism. What is it? It is an updated version of McCarthyism, which takes its name from the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin liar, demagogue and drunk, and means, according to Wikipedia, "reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries." As far as we know, Sarah Palin is not a drunk. But she certainly shares McCarthy's other attributes -- and this one as well: the ability to drive the debate. In McCarthy's day, it was anti-communism coupled with national security, and it hardly mattered that he frequently...

Yesterday, Roger Hedgecock and the Liberty Papers posted an unclassified DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis report titled:Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.The “report” was one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS. I couldn’t believe it was real.I spent the day chasing down DHS spokespeople, who have been tied up preparing for a very important homeland security event later today: The First Lady is coming to visit their Washington office. Priorities, you know.Well, the press office got back to me and verified that the document...

Why is it that in descriptions of the words and activities of Rush Limbaugh, it is not pointed out the obvious similarity of Limbaugh and Adolph Hitler. Rush knows exactly what he has started. Do you remember how overbearing, intimidating and feared Sen. Joseph McCarthy became before his crudities and chilling attacks on patriotic citizens was stopped? The rise of Hitler came about through use of the same strident, rancorous and dangerous appeal to a populace who had suffered military defeat and in times of embarrassment for their loss of economic power – how the Germans suffered because of inflation...

The AIG irony Barney Frank's televised demand, reinforced with the threat of a subpoena, that the head of the AIG hand over the names of employees who lawfully took "bonuses" earned pursuant to pre-existing contracts and authorized by statute authored by Democrats, has generated cries of "McCarthyism." The irony is that cries of McCarthyism are absolutely apposite to Barney Frank's reprehensible behavior but not in the way conventionally understood. Thanks to an unremitting media campaign the left has convinced most Americans that McCarthy was guilty of recklessly releasing the names of innocent men whom he falsely identified as communists resulting...

The 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birthday on February 12 serves as a reminder that in his name scientific McCarthyism is alive and well in America's system of education. The same mentality that kept Galileo under house arrest for the last years of his life is today punishing science teachers who dare to raise scientific questions about Darwinian orthodoxy. Secular fundamentalists have so little confidence that the theory of evolution can stand up to rigorous scrutiny that they are gagging voices of dissent. For instance, one of the world's leading proponents of intelligent design is Dr. Scott Minnich, a biologist...

The board of directors of the California Musical Theatre canceled an emergency meeting called Tuesday afternoon to respond to a boycott called against the theater by gay and lesbian artists, according to published reports. The boycott was called by activists after bloggers revealed one of the theater company’s employees made a personal campaign contribution to the Yes on Proposition 8 Campaign. Scott Eckern, the company’s artistic director and chief operating officer, made a $1,000 contribution to Yes on Prop. 8. Any contribution of $1,000 or more requires the donor to declare home city and occupation. Eckern issued an apology Tuesday,...