Free Republic

Rather than dismissing his contrary views as sour grapes, the media simply ignore César Chávez’s opinions that stray from liberal orthodoxy. Chávez was a 1960s and 70s union leader who promoted unionization and Californian farm workers’ strikes. The farm workers of the time were predominantly Latino. He is particularly famous for the Delano grape strike: a five-year strike and boycott against Californian grapes. Liberals seized on this boycott, as well as several high profile hunger strikes, to promote Chávez as a symbol of immigrant and Latino rights. Even today, prominent media outlets often praise Chávez, just as they lauded his...

... an estimated two hundred million Christians worldwide face harsh persecution each year in dozens of countries on nearly every continent. Bill Bright once said that more Christians have suffered persecution and martyrdom since the beginning of the twentieth century than in all of the rest of church history to that point. What should our response be? Always, our response should be informed prayer; and whenever possible, we should promote and participate in gospel-centered action. It is impossible to pray for situations about which we are unaware. The gospel is offensive to those who are perishing (1 Cor. 1:18); therefore,...

Well, now we know why the Washington Post did not want to invest in Ezra Klein’s “explanatory journalism” nonsense. Turns out it is just a left-wing propaganda tool trying to spin instead of explain. Let us turn our attention to Matthew Yglesias, the Executive Editor of Ezra Klein’s new site. As my friend Pejman Yousefzadeh has well documented, Yglesias is just not that bright. He thinks Joe Lieberman is a dumb Jewish politician; was shocked to discover Senators represent the states as opposed to populations; was unaware of a black conservative tradition; couldn’t understand why Miami didn’t expand westward (hint:...

After enduring months of homophobic attacks, including gunfire and toxic gas, Russia's largest gay nightclub, Central Station, has finally closed its doors for good. The club management surrendered to a spate of harassment in late February, after a group of men allegedly blocked the front gates, preventing patrons from entering the building safely, according to staff members who were on the scene. The well-known club was widely considered a haven and a symbol of freedom for the country's besieged LGBT community. "All was [taken] by our enemies," lamented former club dancer Alexander Moskalets. "It's all gone." "They really stopped the...

History deals with what we call "facts," but there are no historical laws from which these facts can be deduced, nor any strict inductive method for putting them together. It seems that imagination is required at both ends, both in identifying and in synthesizing the historical facts into "history." But we all know that imagination easily veers into fantasy, or hordes of tenured revisionists would be out of business. No one can do this with history better than Marxists and other progressives. Paul Krugman, for example, has it all figured out. He has a powerful loco-deductive system that provides immediate...

Both England’s Tablet and the United States’ Commonweal incited debate last week with their accounts of an exclusive interview Archbishop Georg Gänswein granted the German television network ZDF. While the Tablet took more editorial liberties than Commonweal, Commonweal signaled tacit approval of the Tablet’s editorial stance.The bottom line: Gänswein’s interview indicates the Prefect of the Papal Household has come “unbound,” that he doesn’t much care for his new boss; and so, it is time for him to go, according to the Tablet. Perhaps, he should pack his bags and vacate Rome.The first round of comments came from the Tablet’s...

Eric Meikle, project director at the National Center for Science Education, tells Politico that he doesn’t believe “the function of public education is to prepare students for the turn of the 19th century.” Good point. We should stop teaching kids about the wonders of windmills and choo choo trains and stop demeaning the technological accomplishments of the 20th century. Because guess what: it already sounds a lot like the 19th century in classrooms.Of course, Meikle wasn’t referring to the environmental Cassandras of our public school districts, he was pondering the boogeyman of creationism. And, like most efforts to warn...

Chris Bosh celebrated his 30th birthday a day early on Sunday. He held a big bash at Marlins Park. The party was called Cirque du Noir. It featured a carnival complete with mimes, contortionists, and other carnival games

It was only five years ago when Barack Obama fought mightily to keep his BlackBerry — becoming the first president to be connected by email. Now, he may be looking for an upgrade. The White House is in the early stages of testing smartphones, the Wall Street Journal reported on yesterday, with devices from Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics being examined by the White House Communications Agency. If the president leaves his BlackBerry behind for a new smartphone, it’s another sign of the times from when George W. Bush famously sent a farewell message from his AOL address when he...

...As a practicing Catholic, I began my career in local TV newsrooms where I quickly learned...religious beliefs are something you keep to yourself. ...I never thought that wearing a cross necklace would be considered “flashy.” The first time I wore one to work, I was told to take it off because it would be distracting to the audience. I wanted to keep my TV job so much; I did it. It didn’t seem to matter to management that I wasn’t covering religion. While putting the cross -- given to me by my parents -- in my purse, I told myself...

Michelle Obama's tour of China begins today, during which she will share the limelight with the country's First Lady, Peng Liyuan. Cathy Newman isn't sure who will say less...She’s one of the world’s most glamorous First Ladies, a star in her own right, and a supportive, caring wife to a super-powerful president. Move over Michelle Obama: China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan is now so famous in her own right, the American president’s wife will find herself having to share the spotlight when the two get together today. During Obama’s visit to China, she’ll no doubt find president Xi Jinping’s wife...

Peeling back the curtain hiding the incestuous relationship between the mainstream media and the White House, Arizona reporter Catherine Anaya revealed that “President Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, receives questions from the press in advance of his daily press briefing.” She found it very interesting that Mr. Carney “knows what he's going to be answering and sometimes those correspondents and reporters also have those answers printed in front of them, because of course it helps when they're producing their reports for later on.”

People have started to complain about the overwhelming amount of news discussion devoted to the disappearance of flight MH370. The cable news networks and other forums are on it, seemingly non-stop. This aviation mystery–which may or may not wind up having to do with international terrorism–pushes everything else to the margins largely in part because of the understandably acute residual vigilance and collective mortal consciousness related to the attacks of 9/11/01, and to the other foiled murderous acts involving large passenger aircraft since 9/11. Besides, it’s just an extremely compelling and stupefying international mystery, which, for better or worse, can...

It's just a show. A CBS reporter from Arizona reveals that President Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, receives questions from the press in advance of his daily press briefing. In fact, she says, the reporters often receive the answers in advance of the briefing, too. According to the reporter, Jay Carney told her this yesterday at the White House: "It was a very busy day. We started here shortly after 8 o'clock with a coffee with press secretary Jay Carney inside his office in the West Wing," says the reporter. "And this was the off-the-record so we were able to...

The White House says President Barack Obama will make a statement on Ukraine before he departs Thursday for a day of events in Florida. The statement is scheduled for 11 a.m. Eastern time on the South Lawn. The U.S. imposed sanctions earlier this week against several Russian officials for their role in the crisis in Ukraine.

Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that the conflict between Russia and Western allies over Crimea is a “clash of values” and that it’s up to Russian President Vladimir Putin whether there’s “another Cold War.” “I hope there is not another Cold War,” Clinton said during the question and answer portion of an appearance in Montreal. “Obviously, nobody wants to see that. I think that is primarily up to Putin.”

With Eastern Europe in turmoil over Putin's land grab in the Crimea and Iraq voting to legalize rape within marriage, one news story has been trumpeted nonstop. Ever since the plane disappeared, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has dominated the news coverage and has sent the media into a frenzy. Speculation has run rampant over the fate of the plane and the 239 people on board, and conspiracy theories have abounded. Whether you believe one scenario or the other, it is most likely that the passengers are deceased. With all the chaos going on in the world, why the media frenzy...

Governor Rick Scott announced today that Florida’s unemployment rate for January 2014 was down to 6.1 percent, the lowest unemployment rate in the state since June 2008. Florida’s statewide unemployment rate has been below the national unemployment rate since August 2013, which was 6.6 percent in January 2014. Since December 2010, Florida has created 503,500 private sector jobs. Governor Rick Scott said, “With the steady increase in job creation and a five percentage point drop since December 2010 bringing the unemployment rate down to 6.1 percent, it is clear we’re making a positive impact on businesses and families in Florida....

More often than ever, the administration censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, cited more legal exceptions it said justified withholding materials and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press. Most agencies also took longer to answer records requests. The government's own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that halfway through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it...

Billionaire Warren Buffet’s iconic company Berkshire Hathaway will trade 1.6 million shares of Graham Holdings stock in exchange for WPLG, according to a report from Deadline It’s been known for a while that Buffett wants to exit Graham Holdings, formerly known as the Washington Post Co., who are left with only their TV stations and a business in the education sector. Buffett will allegedly get WPLG plus an unspecified amount of cash. The Washington Post company bought WPLG in 1969 and changed its call letters to WPLG in memory of Phillip L. Graham, the husband of Washington Post publisher Katherine...