Free Republic

Portland, Oregon, possibly vying to be the most liberal city on the west coast, recently set up a day labor site for American employers to come and hire Illegal Immigrants looking for work (here and here) The site opened for “business” Monday, June 16, 2008, with little initial interest from local employers, shy of possible media exposure. The second day brought a little interest and a local man protesting the city of Portland encouraging Illegal Activity within city limits. He called the Victoria Taft Radio Program this evening to report that for sitting on the curb in the driveway, holding...

Two people protesting the construction of Interstate 69 have pitched a tent roughly 30 feet off the ground in a cluster of trees near the Gibson-Warrick County line. The two men who appeared to be in their 20s caused a headache Monday for Indiana State Police and Indiana Conservation officers, who considered removing them from the tree before ultimately deciding to leave them there. State police received a tip around 1 p.m. and used a helicopter to spot the men, with several patrol officers assisting on the ground. The land, located near the intersection of Indiana 57 and Indiana 68,...

In numbers that were notably light, immigrant workers and their supporters gathered in downtown Los Angeles this afternoon for a May Day march to demand legislative reforms and an end to blanket raids on work sites. Two years ago, the May Day march drew more than 500,000 supporters registering their protest of recently scuttled plans to make being an illegal immigrant a felony. Last year, the crowd was estimated at 35,000 and today police estimated about 8,500 protesters from two main marches converged on City Hall in the late afternoon.

"In our nation," President Bush told Pope Benedict XVI at the White House yesterday, "faith and reason coexist in harmony." Well, most of the time. As the pontiff addressed an adoring crowd on the South Lawn -- about the time he mentioned the "sublime destiny of every man and woman" -- his gentle tones began to compete with a din coming from Pennsylvania Ave. "I know what's in your religion! Drunkenness! Sexuality!" Larry Craft, stationed near the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania, shouted into his bullhorn. He carried a banner informing Catholics "Your priest is lying!" and shouted insults at...

Denver won't 'cage protesters' at DNCBy Chuck Plunkett The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 04/17/2008 04:38:57 PM MDT Protesters will not be confined to "cages" during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and the city wants to get away from the long lines of shoulder-to-shoulder, riot-gear-clad police that typified security at the national conventions in Boston and New York, Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown said today. "We don't want to provoke violence," Brown said. Brown said he talked with Mayor John Hickenlooper on Wednesday and that the two discussed "trying to get away from having lines of police officers." Brown later...

With war protesters already promising to take over Civic Center during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, a group of Denver attorneys has launched what is, essentially, how-to-deal-with-police education. In this week's seminars and panels sponsored by the group, DNC People's Law Project, and held at the University of Denver, protesters and activists are being given legal tools aimed at preventing their arrest and stymieing police in their attempts to infiltrate or gain on-the-ground information about protest groups. "Cops lie: Don't trust cops!" Greg Michalec, of the Oakland, Calif., group Midnight Special Law Collective, wrote on a white board at the...

RightNation.US member lyria checked out the scene as the visiting Benedict XVI made his way through the nation's capitol today. According to a delightfully hilarious post by lyria, the hawkers were strange enough, but: The real show was the protesters. I love a good freakshow. When I heard the angry voice through the bullhorn, I was expecting a gay rights group, a reproductive rights group, or maybe something about female ordination or the pedophilia scandals. No..... They were protesting the existence of Catholicism. No, really, they were. I am not joking. Once I realized it, I started looking for the...

San Francisco (AP) -- Three protesters are climbing up the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge as part of a protest to the coming Olympic torch relay.

A recent event in Chicago illustrates the arrogance and narcissism of the Progressive-Left – and in particular the anti-war Progressive-Left. During Easter services at Holy Name Cathedral Catholic Church in Chicago, six anti-war protesters staged a political demonstration disrupting religious services. They shouted generic anti-war slogans and squirted fake blood on themselves and the parishioners in attendance. Their goal was to attract attention to themselves and – therefore – their cause. It worked. The group of three men and three women, who call themselves Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War (interesting self-commentary on the three “men” involved), issued a statement saying...

A group of anti-war protesters interrupted an Easter Mass in Chicago yesterday, stunning parishioners with their shouts during Cardinal Francis George’s homily. They then squirted stage blood on the congregation, leading to their arrest and an angry confrontation in the gathering space outside the hall. As it turns out, the protesters not only were mostly incoherent, but also very, very late (via Memeorandum): Six people were arrested at Holy Name parish’s auditorium Sunday after disrupting an Easter mass to protest the Iraq war.The group—whose female and male members identified themselves as Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War—stood up at the beginning...

Some 40 to 50 supporters of U.S. troops and the Bush administration’s conduct of the war in Iraq demonstrated peacefully in Tucson on the fifth anniversary of the war’s start.

WASHINGTON - Police arrested more than a dozen people who crossed a barricade and blocked entrances at the Internal Revenue Service building Wednesday, the start of a day of protests marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. A crowd of more than 100 gathered outside the IRS headquarters, chanting "This is a Crime Scene" and "You're Arresting the Wrong People." A marching band led protesters down the street near the National Mall and around the IRS building before dozens of demonstrators gathered at the entrance. Protesters blocked the main entrance for a time, but no federal workers...

Fires in Tibet capital, Lhasa after protests, 14 Mar. 2008 Chinese authorities have accused Tibetan protesters of killing innocent people and offered leniency if the demonstrators surrender before Tuesday.China's official Xinhua news agency said Saturday that rioters in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa Friday burned schools, hospitals, shops and houses. Xinhua said 10 people were killed. The news agency said prosecutors and police in Tibet threatened harsh punishment for any of the rioters who did not turn themselves in by midnight Monday.Residents of Lhasa told VOA Tibetan Service that more than 20 Tibetans were killed Friday. Reports from Lhasa...

Langford plans to sue a group of protesters to recover the costs of their interference in construction of the new Trans-Canada Highway interchange near Spencer Road, Mayor Stew Young says. "It's trying to get money out of people who can't rub two nickels together, but we have to go after some of them," Young said Monday. Langford is still negotiating with the province over who will bear the cost of a massive RCMP operation about two weeks ago in which an estimated 50 to 60 officers surrounded, and then cleared away, a tree-sit protest in the woods between Leigh Road...

FORT HUACHUCA — A trio who trespassed on this Southern Arizona Army post in November were sentenced to two years probation by a federal magistrate in Tucson on Monday. The motion hearings on Monday were initially scheduled with a trial to be started Tuesday, but ended up with the Rev. Jerome Zawada of Las Vegas, Frances Elizabeth Lamb of Bend, Ore., and Mary Burton Riseley of Cliff, N.M., each being given the probation sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Marshall. The three also were ordered to pay a $5,000 fine or serve 500 hours of community service. Prosecutor Army Capt....

The American left clings to the myth that the antiwar movement ended the U.S. war in Vietnam. In fact, the antiwar movement failed to prompt any substantive changes in U.S. war policy. Rather than “pricking the conscience of the nation,” as many on the left continue to claim, ill-kempt demonstrators waving Viet Cong flags and shouting “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam is gonna win” aroused the silent majority to eek out a close victory for Richard Nixon in 1968 and then four years later return him to the White House in a landslide after the Democratic Party, dominated by...

A group planning an anti-war rally and march during this summer's Republican National Convention has secured a permit for a demonstration at the state Capitol. Leaders of the so-named Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War .. expecting between 30,000 and 50,000 people at the Sept. 1 rally. .. on the opening day of the GOP nominating convention.

Japan on Wednesday released a video in a bid to prove Greenpeace targeted its whaling ship in an Antarctic collision this week and accused the environmentalists of violent tactics. Japan's main whaling body put a video on its website that showed Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise moving steadily forward before hitting the whaling ship Nisshin Maru, whose movement was impeded by another whaling vessel nearby. "It was a deliberate action to get media coverage," Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research said in a statement. "The Arctic Sunrise could have avoided this collision. Instead the skipper turned the boat into the path of the...

“We’re not a protest organization, we’re a policing organization,” Paul Watson...of his Sea Shepherd... A pirate organization is more like it. Sporting the skull and crossbones, his black or battleship-gray ships sail menacingly through the waves. They are painted with the names of the boats Watson has rammed and sunk. The ships are fitted with...a concrete-filled bow made for ramming, and an attachment dubbed the “can opener” that can tear open a boat’s hull. In his book Earth Warrior, David Morris writes that Watson wears a long bowie knife at his side and carries AK-47s on board. He blasts Richard...

Japanese whalers seize British protester and tie him to harpoon shipBy RICHARD SHEARS - More by this author » Last updated at 23:00pm on 15th January 2008This is the moment a British anti-whaling activist was taken captive on a Japanese harpoon ship. Giles Lane appears to be crying out in pain as the sailors surround him and bind him. In the dramatic pictures his companion, an Australian, is wrapped around with rope and seems powerless to help. Scroll down for more... Captured: Giles Lane, left, appears to cry out while his Australian companion (right) looks on Colleagues of the pair...

81 protesters arrested at Supreme CourtFri Jan 11, 3:56 PM ET WASHINGTON - Eighty people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Demonstrators wearing orange jump suits intended to simulate prison garb were arrested inside and outside the building in the early afternoon. "Shut it down," protesters chanted as others kneeled on the plaza in front of the court. They were charged with violating an ordinance that prohibits demonstrations of any kind on court grounds. Those arrested inside the building also were charged under...

After reading this post by wagglebee, "Abortion Poll Finds Americans' Attitudes Moving in Pro-Life Direction", i thought i would alert you to this poll that needs a little "fair and balanced" results. http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/ question: Abortion protesters are targeting a contractor they believe is building an abortion clinic by picketing outside his suburban home. Do you believe this is fair play? If you are aware of the largest abortion clinic opening in Colorado and how planned parenthood is trying to keep it hush hush to the contractors what the building is for.

NACO, Ariz. — Approximately 40 bundled-up protesters and a few of their pets gathered several hundred yards east of the Naco port of entry between the United States and Mexico on Sunday to speak out against the border fence that continues its way west through Cochise County. “I was down here about a month ago,” said Greta Anderson, formerly of Bisbee. “And I almost cried when I saw that it was only about a quarter-mile from the river.” Anderson is a volunteer with the Sierra Club in Tucson and an environmental activist. On the chilly and blustery afternoon, Citizens for...

It's just not a hippie protest unless someone is banging on a drum.Likewise for the white boy-with-dreadlocks.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Soldiers used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter tens of thousands who massed Thursday to protest constitutional reforms that would permit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely. Led by university students, protesters chanted "Freedom! Freedom!" and warned that 69 amendments drafted by the Chavista-dominated National Assembly would violate civil liberties and derail democracy. It was the biggest turnout against Chavez in months, and appeared to revive Venezuela's languid opposition at a time when the president seems as strong as ever. Students promised more street demonstrations over the weekend, but no opposition-led...

BALTIMORE, Oct. 25 — Before the March 2006 funeral for Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, a marine who was killed in Iraq, protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church, a tiny fundamentalist splinter group, picketed the service with signs that read “God Hates You” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”Albert Snyder, Corporal Snyder’s father, sued the church in United States District Court here, claiming invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. - - - Mr. Snyder, who said Westboro members turned his son’s funeral in Westminster, Md., into a “media circus,” is seeking unspecified damages in the jury trial,...

This is a podcast with my good friend the Trucker Doc (Sheryl Youngblood) and myself. Sheryl and I discuss the Great Plains International Conference, which I attended in September 2007 as a member of the press -- one of the very few invited. Although this conference was funded by taxpayers, it was a private conference to rally those who support of the NAFTA Superhighways. Sheryl asks probing questions to get my thoughts on the conference. Take a listen for yourself and determine how you feel when you hear that attendees were laughing about the devaluation of the dollar against the...

Nine Las Vegas police motorcycles streamed through the gates of the Tournament Players Club shortly before noon Thursday, followed by an unmarked police car with its headlights flashing, a black-and-white cruiser, and two limousines, one of which presumably contained Vice President Dick Cheney. For that brief instant, Cheney's vehicle passed about 60 protesters gathered on sidewalks to the left and right of the entrance, who chanted "No more endless war!" and held up signs with slogans such as "Honk if you hate Cheney." Cheney was in Las Vegas on Thursday to raise money for the Nevada Republican Party at a...

TUCSON — A priest who previously refused to sign conditions for his release on his own recognizance backed down Friday, agreeing to the demands of a federal magistrate. The Rev. Louis Vitale was facing incarceration pending the start of a trial in which he and another priest, the Rev. Steven Kelly, face charges of trespassing on Fort Huachuca last November and failing to obey the orders of a Sierra Vista police officer. According to the two priests’ attorney, the pair are willing to plead no contest to the charges. That revaluation from defense attorney William Quigley came out during a...

Who Is Really Behind the Anti-War Movement? On Saturday, September 15, there was an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. in La Fayette Park directly across from the White House.  CSPAN ran it in its entirety on Sunday, and as I was watching, I began to wonder, “Who are these people”?  I did some research and the results are alarming. There is a common Marxist-Leninist thread that ties many of these groups together along with a number of pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli speakers early on whose names I didn’t catch.  Here is some of what I found, with links to info on the...

President Bush, deeply unpopular in Washington state, arrived Monday afternoon to headline a fundraiser for Rep. Dave Reichert just hours after the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. The president, making one of his infrequent appearances in a state that has trended Democratic in recent years, planned a lightning quick visit to promote Western Washington's only Republican congressman. General tickets were $1,000 and a VIP reception cost $10,000 apiece. Reichert and the state GOP were sharing the proceeds. Reichert, who barely defeated a political novice, former Microsoft program manager Darcy Burner, in 2006, invited the president shortly after that election,...

Heathrow protesters 'may stage bomb hoax' By David Millward, Transport Correspondent Last Updated: 7:38pm BST 13/08/2007 A hard core of anarchist demonstrators are drawing up plans to bring Heathrow to a standstill using an array of tactics including disguising themselves as ordinary holidaymakers to cause havoc in the airport terminals The Daily Telegraph has learned that protesters are smuggling smart clothes into the "climate camp" in an attempt to sidestep police and security staff and get into the terminals and office buildings. Protestors against a third runway at Heathrow set up camp There are also fears they could be planning...

I decided to see if I could get a look at President Bush as he visited the bridge disaster area this morning. I knew Marine One would make a couple of low passes before landing so I went over to the media area that was setup, thinking that he would be landing there. No such luck. Marine One flew over us a couple of times but landed elsewhere. Oh well!Marine One Landing While it was fun to see Marine One, I wasn't totally disappointed. There was a little street entertainment from a couple of left-wing protesters. I do love clowns!...

Three protesters were arrested in the public gallery of the Senate and charged with unlawful conduct yesterday for shouting down the opening prayer, which for the first time ever was being conducted by a Hindu. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), who was presiding in the chair, had to call on the sergeant at arms repeatedly to restore order as the protesters denounced the presence of Rajan Zed, who was standing on the dais wearing saffron robes.

A small group of protesters failed to disrupt funeral services in Clayton yesterday for a soldier who was killed in Iraq this month. Veterans, Boy Scouts and area residents, many waving American flags, lined the street outside St. Catherine of Siena Church, where the funeral service was held for Pfc. David J. Bentz 3d.

In an almost surreal but sympathetic account of radical leftist protesters of the Group of Eight Summit in Germany, Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock is forwarding the protester’s outrage of the moment: German police have taken "scent samples" of protest organizers for police dogs to locate them in a crowd. For those of you who suspect protesters are easily smelled at 50 feet, Whitlock explained: The German government has spared no expense -- spending upward of $100 million -- to safeguard this week's summit, which brings together leaders of the industrial countries known as the Group of Eight. German authorities...

German authorities use scent tracking to keep tabs on G-8 protesters May 22 2007, 16:04 BERLIN (AP) - German authorities are using scent tracking to keep tabs on possibly violent protesters against next month's Group of Eight summit - a tactic that is drawing comparisons with the methods of former East Germany's secret police. Scent samples have been taken from an undisclosed number of people believed to be a possible danger to the upcoming summit so that police dogs can pick out the perpetrators if there is violence, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported Tuesday. Andreas Christeleit, a spokesman for federal prosecutors,...

LOS ANGELES -- Demonstrators demanding a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants rallied around the nation Tuesday, hoping to spur Congress to act before the looming presidential primaries take over the political landscape. From Phoenix to Detroit, hundreds of people carried American flags in the streets. Organizers say immigrants feel a sense of urgency to keep immigration reform from getting pushed to the back burner by the 2008 presidential elections. "If we don't act, then both the Democratic and Republican parties can go back to their comfort zones and do nothing," said Angelica Salas, director of...

Police suspect that ultra-Orthodox Jews may have planted a bomb near Beit Shemesh to protest this year's planned gay pride parade in Jerusalem. The bomb exploded Friday, lightly wounding a laborer near the West Bank separation fence when his tractor rode over the explosive. Flyers protesting this year's parade and mentioning the one that took place last year were found near the site of the bomb, police said. An uproar over the 2006 gay pride parade in Jerusalem, which was postponed from August to November in part because of security considerations, involved ultra-Orthodox threats of violence.

Pro-war veterans group and anti-war adversaries warily promise peaceful event Police say World Can't Wait will have exclusive right to plaza Jordan Green News editor In late January, protesters swarmed onto the steps of the US Capitol and spray-painted antiwar slogans during a rally to pressure President Bush and the Democratic Congress to wind down the war in Iraq. That was the tipping point for Charles Gant, a disabled Vietnam combat veteran from Greensboro who volunteers his time with others who have served in the US armed services. "The silent majority is tired of the extreme left-wing viewpoint," Gant said...

If anti-war protesters invaded your city and forced your local government to spend an additional unbudgeted $500,000 on increased police presence, to whom would you send the bill? The city of Tacoma, Wash., decided that the U.S. military should cover the expense. According to an AP story on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website: Tacoma police say last month's 12-day anti-war protests cost the city an unbudgeted $500,000 to provide a large-scale law enforcement presence. The rough estimate covers overtime, regular compensation, equipment and food for hundreds of workers from Tacoma police and other agencies. . . . "That's a tremendous hit...

I know, it's been two weeks. Sorry, my thesis took precedence over getting my pictures uploaded. March 17, 2007: Gathering of Eagles. This is my picture story from the Pentagon. Me and ishabibble walked straight into the group of unwashed hippies harassing the police. I'm not really clear what this guy's point was. His sign was just weird. I can't see exactly what the sign says but the beginning of it is "Those who want peace, go to the peace table. Those who want war..." (I can't read the rest.) Some more unwashed hippies. Over the fence, you can see...

What the War Supporters Threw Saturday, March 31, 2007 In his March 27 letter, Kristinn Taylor, spokesman for the Gathering of Eagles, asserted that there is no evidence that a counter-protester threw manure at antiwar protesters during the March 17 march on the Pentagon. I step forward to assure Mr. Taylor that it is true: I was hit by the pro-war manure. Thankfully, because of its high fiber content, it fell off and left no residue.

President Bush in May will swoop into the home district of Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat and his fiercest Iraq-war critic, to deliver a commencement address at a Catholic liberal arts college where some students already are petitioning to stop the presidential visit. In an "Open Letter to President Bush from Saint Vincent College Friends, Students and Alumni," the online petition charges that the president is "squandering [...] the lives of our troops by clinging to failed tactics in an ill-conceived, unjustified war" and his policies "are at odds with our values." "Archabbot [Douglas R.] Nowicki, the College's chancellor,...

Exclusive: Iraq’s only Similarity to Vietnam: Its Dangerous Anti-War Movement Author: Janet Levy Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc. Date: February 27, 2007 Virulent anti-Americanism is rampant among the multi-faceted anti-war crowd, from Hollywood’s useful idiots to state-funded, subversive terrorist sympathizers. FSM Contributing Editor Janet Levy outlines with great clarity the various elements of this movement and how their goals put the very survival of America in danger. Iraq’s only Similarity to Vietnam: Its Dangerous Anti-War Movement Janet Levy Contrary to media reports and the perception of a majority of Americans, the United States was winning the war in Vietnam...

Former Clintonistas were involved in the January antiwar protest: Here is the link if it doesn't work click on the link near the title or cut and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=17831917&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

So, I have been told that a veteran was spat upon during the "peace" rally in DC one or two weekends ago. Is this true and is this documented? Thanks!

I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others. I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a...

Imagine, if you will, a sea of protesters in front of the White House for tonight’s State of the Union message. A sign-wielding brigade of like-minded activists of all races, all ages, and all on the same page: We support the President. GWB: Defending the Free World. News cameras, videos, interviews, the whole bit. Now suppose that a journalist discovers that a conservative PAC has paid these protesters to be there. Do you think the lead in the news stories would be about the protests, or about the fact that the protesters were in fact paid employees of the conservative...