Free Republic

On Saturday USMC Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers, who was killed in action in Afghanistan April 7, was buried in Brandon, Mississippi. That, by itself, is a sadly unremarkable – though certainly noteworthy and solemn – occasion for us to mark. And in fact when Sgt. Rogers’ body returned to Brandon it was greeted by hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of well-wishers who gathered at the roadside to honor the fallen American hero. The dashboard camera from Mississippi state trooper Elmo Townsend’s cruiser gives an indication of the scene last Thursday. What is most notable about Sgt. Rogers’ funeral in Brandon,...

Louis Theroux has paid another visit to the so-called "most hated family in America" and found his own image on one of their controversial placards. More information can be found here.

Ten United Nations staff were murdered - two by beheading - after extremists stormed their compound in northern Afghanistan today. Protesters broke into UN offices in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a demonstration against Koran burnings in the America turned violent. A small breakaway group attacked the UN compound, throwing stones and climbing on blast barriers to try to gain entry. They seized weapons from guards and opened fire before storming the site. An Afghan police source, who asked not to be named, said the chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived. Among those murdered...

Those horrible, intolerant, heartless gay-haters at the Westboro Baptist Church are preparing to spread their evil message at Elizabeth Taylor's funeral ... a higher power tells TMZ. Margie Phelps -- daughter of WBC Pastor Fred Phelps -- took to Twitter today to announce the church is going to picket non-lesbian Liz's funeral ... all because Liz was apparently some sort of gay "enabler" and (God forbid) an AIDS activist.

An estranged son of anti-gay Kansas pastor Fred Phelps said Wednesday that the spiritual leader of Westboro Baptist Church hit his wife and beat his children with a mattock handle until they bled. "I think what he does out there is evil," said Nathan "Nate" Phelps, during an appearance on HLN's "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell." Nate Phelps is the seventh of the Westboro Baptist minister's 13 children. The younger Phelps severed ties with his family on his 18th birthday and said he hasn't had contact with his father in three decades. Nate Phelps is currently writing a book about his...

Fresh off their Supreme Court victory allowing them to picket funerals of military soldiers, members of the Westboro Baptist Church have announced plans to picket the funerals of seven Mennonite children killed Tuesday night when their Perry County farmhouse caught fire. The children, ages 7 months to 11 years, were killed when a fire started in the home while their mother was milking cows and their father was on his milk delivery route.Their three-year-old daughter managed to escape and alert the mother, but the fire had already overwhelmed the wooden structure, police said. The group from Topeka, Kan., said the...

Lost and saved alike can agree that if they never see Westboro's Phelps gang again, it will be too soon. The Supreme Court has found the cult's outrageous behavior to be protected by the First Amendment. Many on the right have disagreed with the decision because they rightly desire to protect the grief stricken families of fallen patriots from the evil taunts of the death loving Phelps family. If the government shuts down these jokers, who's next? The lefty media delights in describing the WBC as "Fundamentalist Christians." Nothing would please the left more than seeing the public proclamation of...

Now that the Supreme Court has decided Westboro Baptist Church had a legal right to picket his son's funeral, Albert Snyder has to reimburse Westboro for at least some of its legal costs. The bill, which covers things like Westboro Baptist's costs for making photocopies, could balloon to more than six figures. At the moment, Snyder owes $16,510.80 for the costs of appealing the case to the Fourth Circuit court of appeals. Attorneys for Westboro have filed for additional costs from the 2007 trial in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Those costs are about $100,000, Snyder's attorney, Sean Summers, said...

The Incompetance of Sotomayer and Kagan The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, ruled Wednesday that members of the renegade Westboro Baptist Church have a constitutionally protected right to protest military funerals even though their demonstrations are widely despised and deplored. The case presented the justices with a high-profile question about the breadth of First Amendment speech and assembly protections. A majority of justices ruled that these fundamental rights outweigh the concerns of grieving family members who would rather not deal with what they say are obnoxious protesters from the Kansas church. "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to...

With the recent decision by the Supreme Court, some information came to light that I do not think is well-known. And that is, Fred Phelps ran for office 5 times... wait for it... as a DEMOCRAT! In the link there is audio of Michael Medved making this point and then a dissenting email a few days later where Medved again drives the point home. there are also links to a couple of blogs that knew this information some time ago as well as photos of similarities between leftist demonstrators and the Democratic Westboro Baptists. There are also photos of the...

This hub is going to be imageless, because I have no intention of promoting the slimeballs who make up the activists in the Westboro Baptist Church. In a ruling with a lone dissenter today, the Supreme Court ruled that they DO have a right to protest. I'm not going to go into detail, but the leader and the activists and protesters have developed some kind of very nasty obsession with protesting issues about gays. Sadly, it means they show up at funerals of people in the military, and others, and overall are obnoxious, rude, nasty, and hateful. Alito was the...

A group of hacktivists acting under the banner, "Anonymous," has warned a church with a controversial history that unspoken retribution will follow it continues its practice of inflammatory protests. In an open letter to the Westboro Baptist Church, Anonymous has put the anti-gay, fundamentalist church on notice that "the damage incurred will be irreversible," and that "neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover." The Westboro Baptist Church is led by Rev. Fred Phelps. It has drawn particular attention for carrying out anti-gay protests at funerals of military servicemen with signs celebrating the deaths of...

Arizona residents are locking arms to stop the Westboro Baptist Church from disrupting the funerals for victims of Saturday's shooting in Tucson, with bikers and others organizing a massive counter-protest and state lawmakers fast-tracking a bill to hamstring the group. The Kansas-based Westboro church is notorious for showing up at the funerals of dead soldiers and other high-profile gatherings wielding anti-gay signs. But when the church announced it would picket the funeral Thursday for the 9-year-old girl fatally shot over the weekend at a Tucson grocery store by a gunman who allegedly killed five others and injured 14 others attending...

Controversial nut-job minister, Fred Phelps from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas told anyone who would listen to his disturbing rant on YouTube that “the shooter was sent by God.” These Westboro Church leaders are equally as guilty as the “shooter” who took his anger out on innocent folks gathering to meet their Congresswoman last Saturday. The facts first, Jared Loughner was a lone shooter operating on a limited mental capacity who killed six and injured 11 others. His killing swathe included a federal judge, clergy member, Republican, Democrat and a nine-year-old child. Continue reading on Examiner.com: “The shooter was sent...

Funeral pickets to be met by 'angels'By the CNN Wire Staff January 11, 2011 2:25 a.m. EST Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- Tucson just isn't that kind of town, says Christin Gilmer. Gilmer is talking about Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, that has made its name picketing the funerals of people who died of AIDS, gay people, soldiers and even Coretta Scott King. **SNIP** They're planning an "angel action" -- with 8-by-10-foot "angel wings" worn by participants and used to shield mourners from pickets. The actions were created by Coloradan Romaine Patterson, who was shocked to find the Topeka church...

The Left does some truly despicable things in this world, but this is a new low for Democrats. Former three-time Democrat gubernatorial candidate Fred Phelps Jr. (commonly called just “Fred Phelps”) and his Westboro Hate Group have announced plans to disrupt the funeral of 9 year-old shooting victim Christina Greene. Christina was murdered by Jared Lee Loughner yesterday in his assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The little girl was born on September 11th, 2001, so her parents have been cursed with a horrific trifecta of high profile trauma: their daughter born on the worst day in our generations’ lives,...

Lance Cpl. Terry Honeycutt, a 19-year-old, was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan in late October. The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at New Life Church in La Plata. Phelps-Roper said she plans to picket from 9:15 a.m. to the start of the service with a group of six to seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church. The Honeycutt family was made aware of the planned protest via Facebook on Friday, but Terry’s mother Christine is not concerned about the picketers. “We kind of expected it,” she said. “We’ve seen it before and read about,...

People ask why we counter Westboro “Baptist” Church, why not just let them be the proverbial “If a tree falls in a forest and no hears it, did it fall”? BELOW is why we counter them. FReepers, students, patriots and Veteran Harley riders (about 50) defended our Fallen Heroes this Veterans Day at Arlington Cemetery. We came by the dozens and overwhelmed Fred Phelps’ one-branch family tree called Westboro “Baptist” Church. They started the morning with about a dozen miscreants. Two hours later when they left, only 3 had stayed around. A special thanks to those who took their shift...

In what has to be some of the best news of the weekend, Pastor Fred Phelps and the hate-mongering parishioners from Westboro Baptist Church were unable to protest at a fallen soldier's funeral this weekend as they had originally planned.

VETERANS DAY, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 8AM TILL NOON Westboro Baptist Church, aka Fred Phelp's one-branch family tree, is once again targeting Arlington Cemetery. WBC will be there on Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11, to protest our fallen heroes. We will be there from 8AM (to start setting up) till noon to be sure our patriotic message is seen long after WBC leaves. WBC will be there from 9 till 11AM The DC Chapter will have our Walter Reed MOAB, flags, banners, posters, patriotic music, HOT COFFEE, and light snacks. Our past 4 times opposite WBC have been at the Arlington...