Free Republic

On a recent walk, I came across a neighborhood littered with the yard sign in this photo. It seems the provocative platitudes we’ve seen on bumper stickers for a century have now taken root in our yards. And for the same reason: To tell the world that the sign-planter holds wonderful beliefs that he’s willing to impose upon and attribute to the rest of his family. It’s surely not because the sign-planter thinks he’s persuading anyone of the rightness of his position, as if the neighbors reading the sign will say to themselves, “Gee, ‘Democracy dies in darkness’ is a...

Under the Terrible Tyranny of Pity“Verily, I like them not, the merciful ones, whose bliss is in their pity . . .”“And what in the world hath caused more suffering than the follies of the pitiful?” --Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883) If you wish to make a man like you, it is said you should ask a favor of him rather than do a favor for him. If you ask a favor that is within his power, he will like you for asking because you thereby honor his power. This is why a man likes his wife a little...

Memo to MAGA and all its myriad fellow-travelers: Maybe Death of a Salesman as presented by Leni Riefenstahl just wasn’t the show Americans were dying to tune into this season. And, while we’re at it, maybe turning your party over to Generalissimo Walter Mitty, his hideous scheming spawn, and the studio audience from Hee-Haw was not just absolutely aces as a political strategy. Think on it, Cletus. I know this whole thing still sounds like your idea of a good time — how’s that working out for you? Let me refresh your memory: On the day Donald Trump was sworn...

"The book diminishes Black people in the name of dignifying us." (I suspect it was The Atlantic's choice to capitalize "black"; the syndicators of my own column once changed "black" to "Black" because they follow the Associated Press' rules for English.) "'White Fragility' is the prayer book for what can only be described as a cult." "A corollary question is why Black people need to be treated the way DiAngelo assumes we do. The very assumption is deeply condescending to all proud Black people." "Few books about race have more openly infantilized Black people than this supposedly authoritative tome. Or...

by Mark Finkelstein January 3, 2006 - 07:58 Katie Couric's just-completed interview with NY Times Reporter James Risen, who broke the NSA surveillance story and is now publishing his book on the matter, 'State of War,' offered a treasure-trove of insights into the matter. And give Katie a gentlelady's 'C' for her questioning. Couric earned the bulk of her credit by posing this seminal line of questioning: "Did [the leakers] have any sympathy or understanding about this new climate this country finds itself in and the criticism the Bush administration took prior to 9/11 for not putting the pieces together...

A study by Cydney Dupree, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management, found that liberals talk down to blacks. The research found that Democratic candidates used fewer competence-related words in speeches to audiences consisting mostly of minorities than they did in speeches to mostly white audiences. "It was kind of an unpleasant surprise to see this subtle, but persistent effect," Dupree lamented. "Even if it's ultimately well-intentioned, it could be seen as patronizing." Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez defended the practice of talking down to minorities and cited his Party's recent success in taking back...

The Democrats are the party of Jim Crow, black codes, and the Ku Klux Klan—but it’s the GOP that’s racist and has a racist history, or something. These historical debates get the Left and Right going on social media. Yet, a new study just drives the heart into the whole notion that liberalism is open and averse to racism.  It’s the seat of irony. The report found that white liberals dumb themselves down while interacting with minorities in order to get along with them (via Yale Insights): Racial bias can put people of color at a disadvantage when interviewing for...

This article on Yale’s website was published almost two weeks ago. The author of the article, Cydney Dupree, is one of two researchers who started out looking at how white presidential candidates talk when they are addressing a mostly black audience compared to when they are speaking to a mostly white audience. Dupree, who is black, and co-researcher Susan Fiske of Princeton found the candidates were less likely to use words that expressed competence and more likely to use words that expressed warmth when talking to a minority audience: The team found that Democratic candidates used fewer competence-related words in...

Wednesday during a segment on HLN’s “SE Cupp Unfiltered” critical of former Trump chief strategist and Breitbart executive chairman Steve Bannon, Mediaite managing editor Colby Hall took on the “constituents of Alabama.” During the panel’s criticism of Bannon, Hall said it was time to “sort of look down our nose” at Bannon’s receptive audience at a rally he spoke at on Tuesday in Fairhope, AL. “I think it’s time to sort of look down our nose at the constituents of Alabama who apparently think a pro wrestling-mantra like Steve Bannon – like, he was literally channeling Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage...

The first lady seems bitter that the voters, like rebellious teens, aren’t taking the Obamas’ advice anymore. Last month, Michelle Obama sat down with Oprah Winfrey for what many assumed would be one of those feel-good, lighthearted interviews. Past first ladies have provided similar end-of-term interviews, in which they tend to display both astonishment and relief that it’s all over, coupled with the proper magnanimity and graciousness toward the next family to reside in the White House. Yet, this time was different. Far from feel-good, Mrs. Obama seemed more like a frustrated mother lamenting the rebelliousness of her growing child....

Condescension against "red" America, evangelicals, and working-class Americans did nothing but ensure the defeat of Hillary Clinton Like many of my fellow Republicans and evangelicals, I was not initially enthusiastic about Donald Trump as the GOP nominee. Many of us had issues with Trump’s seeming inconsistency over key conservative values; like his support of continued taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. The division among Republicans and evangelicals over Donald Trump was stark.

“Now, I love the Redwoods and vacation there and think they're a jewel of our nation, but we've got to expand the idea of who are the environmentalists,” Ellison added. The African-American community is disproportionately affected by climate change because more black people live in urban areas that face the greatest exposure to air and water pollution, said Ellison, who was joined by Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.). The two lawmakers, both members of the Congressional Black Caucus, plan to encourage young African-Americans to take a greater interest in fighting climate change as part of a six-college tour organized by the...

Why was the first debate so toxic for the president? Because the one thing he couldn't do if he was going to win the election is let all the pent-up resentment toward him erupt. Americans had gotten used to him as The President. Whatever his policy choices, whatever general direction he seemed to put in place he was The President, a man who had gotten there through natural gifts and what all politicians need, good fortune. What he couldn't do was present himself, when everyone was looking, as smaller than you thought. Petulant, put upon, above it all, full of...

The Environmental Protection Agency sent an internal e-mail to staff today celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month — featuring a picture of Che Guevara: From: Susie Goldring/DC/USEPA/US Subject: Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic news you can use! Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18. Over the past decades, the Hispanic population in the USA has shown tremendous rise. For the uninitiated, Hispanics are people who have origins related to the country Spain....

During the time my family and I lived in Europe, we visited the Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark, where many of the Carl Bloch paintings of the Savior are displayed. The paintings are crowded into a small room, sometimes called the King’s Oratory. There is a glass partition on the floor in front of the altar. As we viewed the paintings, our family members took turns explaining what was happening in each one. We progressed from the birth of the Lord through His temptation by the devil and His preaching and healing. When we got to the Crucifixion I said, “And...

August 20, 2010 12:00 A.M. D.C. Democrats: Clueless, Condescending, and Costly The political class not only wastes trillions of our money, it adds insult to injury with each condescending statement. Why are Americans enraged? As this moribund economy limps through its third year of doldrums, Americans are sick of having their hard-earned money swiped by the Democrat-dominated political class in Washington, D.C., which is clueless, condescending, and invariably costly. Could anything but cluelessness explain what happened when Harv’s Metro Car Wash in Sacramento owed the federal government precisely four pennies because of a mistake in its tax return? Rather than...

We all know liberal condescension. "Why are Americans so anti-intellectual?" your liberal friend might ask. But Gerard Alexander has written about it -- in the Washington Post. "Why are liberals so condescending?" he asks. Why indeed? Your average liberal exhibits four kinds of condescension, according to Alexander. There's the notion that conservatives win elections and policy debates not because of the power of ideas, but "because they deploy brilliant and sinister campaign tactics." Obviously this leads into the second notion that "if conservative leaders are crass manipulators, then the rank-and-file Americans who support them must be manipulated at best, or...

...In the past week town meetings have been just like primary schools, but without teachers or principals, and crowded not with children but with adults behaving worse than children, shouting, shoving and almost coming to blows. The American town hall gathering, with its venerable history dating from New England self-governance in the 17th century, has always inspired some mix of revulsion and respect. Just like democracy everywhere. But as Congress has abandoned Washington for the month with unfinished business, namely health-care legislation, and with the public riled by genuine fears and ginned-up misinformation, the town hall meeting has never looked...

Is anyone else sick and tired of listening to Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee cower in the face of Sonia Sotomayor's sex and ethnicity? Reports out of Washington describe the Republican Senators tiptoeing ever so gingerly around Sotomayor so as not to alienate the female and Hispanic vote. What's worse, the embarrassing sideshow includes the kind of pathetic pandering many Americans have come to expect at these empty political charades. Senator Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, for example said he expected every American to be "proud that a Hispanic woman has been nominated to sit on the Supreme Court."...

There is a video making the rounds that shows an angry mob of California gays confronting and intimidating Christians over the passage of Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage in that state. Michelle Malkin has a narrative of the event that sounds worse than the tape, which already sounds pretty bad. Reportedly the Christians met once a week to pray and sing on the public corner. Whether they’re hoping to “straighten out” gays or simply trying to facilitate encounters with Christ is unclear, but their method is problematic; it’s not how Jesus would do it. In the wake of Proposition...