Free Republic

Portland-based newspaper deletes tweet amid backlash The Oregonian newspaper received fierce backlash Friday after it revealed the race of the victim of a police-involved shooting in Portland in an apparent effort to quell potential riots. The Portland-based paper reported that police had responded to reports of a man in a park with a gun. The victim was described by the paper, which cited sources, as a "[W]hite man in his 30s." ...."Did a newspaper just imply that they leaked info about the skin color of a police shooting victim in order to avert a riot? Or is something else going...

It is the question that annoyed Marco Pierre White so much he banned it from his restaurants – a hovering waiter asking, "are enjoying your meal, sir?" And, after what happened at south Wales curry house, it is easy to see why. When David Evans, from south Wales, and his wife Michelle gave an honest opinion to that polite enquiry they had no idea what was to come next. "Tough and rubbery," they said. The next thing Mr Evans knew was a raging head chef had stormed out of his kitchen and thrown chilli powder in his eyes, leaving the...

It’s an Obama world. The gay flag flew over a U.S. military base in Afghanistan this week. The Pentagon forced an Army post in Afghanistan to remove a cross on its worship tent in December. It was offensive to liberal atheists.

SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) -- Air Force officials say an airman armed with a pistol has barricaded himself in a building at a Colorado Air Force base that controls all GPS satellites, but operations haven't been disrupted. Schriever (SHREE'-ver) Air Force Base spokeswoman Jennifer Thibault (THEE'-balt) says the building was evacuated after the standoff began Monday. She says no shots were fired and no one was injured.

A tension always exists between the cocky rhetoric of the left and its undemocratic tactics. Were left-wing ideas as popular as they claim, liberals wouldn't need to advance them in such an underhanded way. "Progress" on the causes most dear to them usually take place not at the ballot box but in judicial chambers, or, as it happens this week, in an undemocratic lame-duck session of Congress. A smug and beaming Obama declared at the signing ceremony for the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on Wednesday that people will look back and wonder why homosexuality in the...

One week after warning the distraction of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” could risk Marines’ lives, Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, pledged to lead the effort to integrate openly gay Marines. “I, and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps [Carlton Kent], will personally lead this effort, thus ensuring the respect and dignity due all Marines,” Amos said. “On this matter, we look forward to further demonstrating to the American people the discipline and loyalty that have been the hallmark of the United States Marine Corps for over 235 years." Amos’ statement sent to reporters came Sunday...

Nearly two decades ago, President Bill Clinton ignited the first of the firestorms that would define his presidency by announcing an end to the ban on gays and lesbians in the military. Today, 18 years later, the U.S. Senate took the vote that means gays and lesbians will be able to serve openly in all branches of the U.S. armed forces. As the House has passed an identical bill, a final vote in the Senate will send the legislation to President Obama, whose signature will make it law and make it a signal achievement of his presidency to date. Thus...

Take a trip into San Francisco’s Castro district – where people are so gay they border on ecstatic – and inquire about homosexuals serving in the United States military. You will get a handful … of predictable responses. ... You can tell a contentious and complicated issue by how well the media muddles the story through over simplification. Such was the recent case when America’s armed services released a study on the repeal of Bill “Bang the Fat Broad” Clinton’s “don’t ask and don’t speak with a lisp” policy. ... In a rush to defend the right to die in...

Next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to begin floor debate on a defense authorization bill that would repeal the Clinton-era "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and allow homosexuals to serve openly in the armed forces. Last month, a top military official offered a glimpse of how the military might look should the new policy take effect: Those serving who oppose the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) agenda are no longer welcome. Those were the views of Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, the Army's deputy chief of staff in charge of personnel matters who spoke about "Don't...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy overturned... ..After election... That's the prediction from some in Congress. Some believe members of the lame duck session of Congress will overturn the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy' after the November election. 'With their House majority at stake and a host of Senate races rated as toss-ups, Democrats

The fight is over and we have lost. An openly gay military will be protecting us against some of the most dangerous enemies we have ever been threatened by. To say the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) comes at a terrible time is a genuine understatement. Pushed by a Democrat president controlling a Democrat Congress, the predictable end of DADT is all but here. Homosexuality a lifestyle considered incompatible with the demands of military efficiency will be forcibly added to the problems field commanders already face. This is a triumph of political correctness over the reality of keeping...

Earlier this year, while testifying at a Senate hearing, a former NATO Commander and Marine General, John "Jack" Sheehan, committed an extreme violation of political correctness. He contended that openly gay soldiers undermine military effectiveness. The general has since apologized for his comments after apparently getting his mind right. Nevertheless, as Congress and the president have renewed their push for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and the Secretary of Defense has offered tepid support, perhaps his original statement merits more careful consideration. The story General Sheehan told the Senate involved a Dutch military unit responsible for guarding...

"Democratic and Republican lawmakers are questioning the decision to move ahead on a vote to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, saying Congress and the administration should wait until the Pentagon completes its internal review this fall."

The answer to the question in the title of this piece is, of course, yes, Obama will end the military’s “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy. Honestly, now – was there ever any question about how this would play out? Of course not! The entire US Military will change the moment the word comes down from on high. In fact, it has already begun. Many, many, veterans are shamed and disgusted by the decision to throw the doors of theUS Military open wide to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the Armed Forces of the United States.

Dutch officials have reacted with anger and bemusement to the claim by a retired American general that their nation’s soldiers failed to prevent the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 in part because the presence of gay troops in the Dutch military had depleted the force’s morale. On Thursday in Washington, John Sheehan, a former Marine general, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was against allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the American military, in part because of what he said was the example of European armed forces that had been changed “to reflect societies that they...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney came out in favor of repealing "Don't ask, don't tell," (DADT) today. Cheney said that the support of military leaders had convinced him that it was time for a change. "Twenty years ago the military were strong advocates of 'Don't ask, don't tell.' I think things have change significantly since then," Cheney said on ABC's "This Week." I think that society has moved on. It's partly a generational question," he continued. "When the [Joint] Chiefs come forward and say 'we think we can do it,' is strikes me that it's time to reconsider the policy."

Maybe this should be an issue that is on the ballot for the citizens to vote on instead of a handful of power hungry politicians making the decision, or a socialistic leader. On Tuesday Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he is appointing a task force to use your tax dollars to perform a year long study, during war time and a major recession, on how the military would implement a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which bars gays from openly serving in the military.

Women were dismissed from the military for being gay at a greater rate than men last year, according to new statistics obtained by a California research group. All the services kicked out a disproportionate number of women under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, according to Department of Defense data obtained by the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. ... In fiscal year 2008, the Air Force dismissed 56 women and 34 men. ... Of those discharged under the policy, 36 percent were women, although women make up only 14 percent of troops in the Army, the...

Commander In Chief Obama Is Considering Allowing Uncloseted Gays In The Military, And At The Same Time Putting The Smoking Lamp Out - Permanently. Mr. President, Could We Not Run The Military Like Acorn? Here's A View From Someone Who Served In The Military In Vietnam. The point is also made that comparing African Americans with Homosexuals is a ploy. I served with Marines of all stripes and colors, and none of them jumped into my bunk - but a gay guy did. . . It is beyond me how some of these armchair generals, who more likely than...

Syracuse, NY -- Lt. Dan Choi vowed Tuesday evening to fight to stay in the military after an Army board in Syracuse recommended he be the first person discharged from the New York National Guard for violating the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. A four-officer panel meeting at Hancock Air Base notified Choi at about 5 p.m. that it would recommend he be discharged because he has publicly said he is gay. The recommendation now goes to Lt. Gen. Thomas Miller of the First Army Division, and Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, who will make...