Free Republic

Student senators at the University of Washington-Seattle recently introduced a bill that would require fraternities to prevent "cultural appropriation" during social gatherings. [Snip] ... the bill is necessary because many "mainstream [fraternity] celebrations further perpetuate stereotypes minority groups have to face," adding that they contribute to the "harm that minority students face" on campus.

Stephen Foster's other songs include "Camptown Races," ''My Old Kentucky Home," ''Beautiful Dreamer" and "Old Folks at Home." A 118-year-old statue of the "Oh! Susanna" songwriter was removed from a Pittsburgh park Thursday after criticism that the work is demeaning because it includes a slave sitting at his feet, plucking a banjo. In October, the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to take the Stephen Foster sculpture out of Schenley Plaza and find it a new home. For now, it will remain in a storage lot, out of the public view. On Thursday, workers used straps and construction equipment to lift the...

<p>A 118-year-old statue of the "Oh! Susanna" songwriter was removed from a Pittsburgh park Thursday after criticism that the work is demeaning because it includes a slave sitting at his feet, plucking a banjo.</p> <p>In October, the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to take the Stephen Foster sculpture out of Schenley Plaza and find it a new home. For now, it will remain in a storage lot, out of the public view.</p>

Updated 23 minutes ago Pittsburgh's monument to native son Stephen Collins Foster has returned to its old stomping ground. A Department of Public Works crew removed the controversial statue of the Antebellum songwriter known as the father of American music early Thursday from Forbes Avenue in Oakland and hauled it by flatbed truck to a facility in Highland Park. The city will store it until officials find it a permanent home. The 1,000-pound, 10-foot-high bronze statue stood at the entrance to Oakland's Schenley Park for 74 years after the city moved it from its original location near the entrance to...

Monday, August 07, 2017 Understanding the McMaster NSC Purge Posted by Daniel Greenfield Derek Harvey was a man who saw things coming. He had warned of Al Qaeda when most chose to ignore it. He had seen the Sunni insurgency rising when most chose to deny it. The former Army colonel had made his reputation by learning the lay of the land. In Iraq that meant sleeping on mud floors and digging into documents to figure out where the threat was coming from. It was hard to imagine anyone better qualified to serve as President Trump’s top Middle East adviser...

PITTSBURGH - The statue of composer Stephen Foster that stood in Schenley Plaza in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood since 1940 was removed Thursday morning. Controversial for its portrayal of Foster, a Lawrenceville native, with an African American man seated below him, the bronze statue has been scrutinized as racist for years. Future of Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster statue in question Pittsburgh’s Art Commission decided with a unanimous vote on Oct. 25 that the 10x4 foot statue, which sits on a granite base, would come down within six months. Under city code, the Art Commission is responsible for overseeing the alteration, relocation or...

There is a tragedy of historical and philosophical ignorance that is benefitting a tiny handful of people at the expense and well-being of the vast majority of black Americans. This tragedy is the purposeful erasing from the education system the history of successful black Americans before the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and the reason for their success and that of large numbers of other blacks. The leading black American at the turn of the 20th century was Booker T. Washington, whose approach was the virtual opposite of todayÂ’s grievance-focused approach that looks to government for personal progress. Washington,...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she recently urged Mike Pompeo, President Trump's pick to lead the State Department, to retain senior career officials to handle global crises should he be confirmed. Clinton, who served as secretary of State from 2009-2013 under former President Obama, said during an event in Michigan that she warned Pompeo against a "purge" of experienced administration officials when he called her recently. "I told him that I thought he should take a hard look at retaining career diplomats who could advise him. Because you never know what might happen. You never know where...

Over the decades, this quiet coastal hamlet has earned a reputation as one of the most liberal places in the nation. Arcata was the first U.S. city to ban the sale of genetically modified foods, the first to elect a majority Green Party city council and one of the first to tacitly allow marijuana farming before pot was legal. Now it's on the verge of another first. No other city has taken down a monument to a president for his misdeeds. But Arcata is poised to do just that. The target is an 8½-foot bronze likeness of William McKinley, who...

Over the decades, this quiet coastal hamlet has earned a reputation as one of the most liberal places in the nation. Arcata was the first U.S. city to ban the sale of genetically modified foods, the first to elect a majority Green Party city council and one of the first to tacitly allow marijuana farming before pot was legal. Now it's on the verge of another first. No other city has taken down a monument to a president for his misdeeds. But Arcata is poised to do just that. The target is an 8½-foot bronze likeness of William McKinley, who...

The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point has proposed dropping 13 majors in the humanities and social sciences — including English, philosophy, history, sociology and Spanish — while adding programs with “clear career pathways” as a way to address declining enrollment and a multimillion-dollar deficit. Students and faculty members have reacted with surprise and concern to the news, which is being portrayed by the school’s administration as a path to regain enrollment and provide new opportunities to students. Critics see something else: a waning commitment to liberal arts education and a chance to lay off faculty under new rules that...

Strangers I meet are always surprised when they discover they’ve met a third-generation Northern Virginian. “Wow, a native!” they exclaim, “you don’t meet many of those!” This surprise is often accompanied by a strong opinion about NoVA, as it’s often called—they suggest that the area just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. has little regional identity or unique culture, or little worthy of praise. It’s quite a bracing commentary to hear about one’s home. Yet I contend that whatever deficit in cultural identity NoVA may have has been accrued by the technocratic elite that has come to dominate the...

A space at a Baltimore park that had long honored two Confederate generals has been rededicated to abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The Baltimore Sun reports that hundreds of people gathered Saturday for the ceremony at Wyman Park Dell. The ceremony took place just feet from the now-empty pedestal where a large statue of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson once stood. The statue was removed in August after a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia reignited the national debate over what to do with symbols of the Confederacy. Saturday was the 105th anniversary of Tubman's death. The space...

Disney's big-budget adaptation of the best-selling novel "A Wrinkle in Time" falters in many of the same ways the book does— but there was one major change made in the movie from the novel. The film's version of events strips away explicit mention of God or religion, instead trimming down the central conflict to one between "evil" and "light." Though the film adaptation has several critical flaws...the removal of L'Engle's religious overtones leads to a key issue. ....Author Madeleine L'Engle, who died in 2007 at age 88, spoke about the importance of her own Christian faith as it relates to...

The far-left organization known as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), often described as an “anti-Christian hate group,” is working with YouTube to purge conservatives, Christians, libertarians, and others from the video streaming platform, according to news reports. A number of prominent media figures have already been banned, with others facing demonetization and warnings. Some accounts were restored amid a national outcry. But the new revelations about YouTube partnering with radical leftists and anti-Christian bigots come as Google, Facebook, Twitter and other Internet giants come under increasing fire for blatantly trying to silence right-of-center voices on their platforms. Lawsuits against...

[Transcript] When it comes to the ongoing wave of migrant rape and sexual assault in Europe the people I feel most sorry for are the refugee-friendly Progressive feminists because, when they get raped, they won't even know who to blame without being a racist. What am I saying... of course they will. They'll blame all men as usual while telling everybody else not to generalize. I hadn't intended to talk about this subject again for a while but it’s International Women’s Day so, how can I resist? You may know that a couple of recent videos of mine have been...

The city put up the sheeting in the days after a deadly far-right rally last August which left a counter-protester and two police officers dead. The city had argued the "shrouds" were meant to honour those killed and injured, but the judge found they interfered with park tourism. The judge also allowed a lawsuit to preserve the statues to move forward. Judge Richard Moore ruled on Tuesday that the black plastic sheeting over the monuments to Robert E Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson must be removed in the next 15 days.

The City of Charlottesville will soon be ordered to remove the black tarps currently covering two Confederate statues downtown. Reading from an official court letter Tuesday afternoon, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore said he thinks the shrouds on the statues of Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson are a violation of a state code protecting the removal or disturbance of war memorials. Moore said the city will have 15 days to remove the tarps after an official order has been signed.

Overnight Twitter exploded with rage, sending #TwitterLockOut to the top of the trending list. People like Ben Garrison, the famous cartoon artist, are reporting they have lost thousands of followers in an instant and more are dropping out by the minute. It appears that only conservative accounts are included in the follower purge. #TwitterLockout - just saw 2k followers go poof~ What's up Twitter? — BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) February 21, 2018 RED ALERT! Twitter is Banning Hundreds of THOUSANDS of Conservative Accounts Tonight.. I literally just lost 5,000 Followers within the last 10 minutes. All hands on Deck America, #TwitterLockOut...

Facebook-owned Instagram just deleted one of the two Instagram accounts of Florida high school shooter Nicolas Cruz. One of Cruz’s accounts seemed to display a fascination with ISIS terrorists and Islamic extremism; the other one showcased Cruz wearing a MAGA hat and contained imagery such as him killing toads. If you guessed that Instagram removed the ISIS one, you got it right. Why would they remove that one but keep the MAGA hat one up? To control the narrative as this story develops. Unfortunately for them, Gateway Pundit has screenshot the entirety of both accounts.