Free Republic

America, and my home state, Arizona, are at a crossroads. We have two roads we can take. One is a return to the path of freedom; the other is totalitarianism. This is not necessarily a partisan issue or even a left/right problem. It is a potential permanent alteration of who we are as a people. Nothing typifies this more fully than the mandates to wear masks that some governors and mayors are imposing on their citizens. That so many in our country are immediately acquiescent in the broad implementation of mandated masks reveals that we may have lost our way,...

What the hell is going on with white people? Just stop! Stop embarrassing yourselves and the memory of those who have come before you. Have some dignity! Black people do not respect this! Nobody respects it...

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott sternly warned Texans of “rampant” spread of coronavirus that took the state to a new high Tuesday of more than 5,000 new cases in a single day. Saying Texans should stay home unless they have a good reason to venture out, Abbott late Tuesday afternoon gave local officials more powers to limit public gatherings during the upcoming Fourth of July weekend. He expanded the ability of mayors and county judges to restrict outdoor gatherings of over 100 people -- down from the previous limit of more than 500 people in outdoor gatherings. Previously, this applied...

This has the potential to be very embarrassing for NASCAR. When NASCAR rolled in to Alabama and the Talledega motor speedway, the story of a “rope noose” in the garage of Bubba Wallace grabbed media attention. However, a NASCAR video of the exact garage doors at the Talledega motor speedway shows all of the garages have ropes and nooses on them.

One day 40 years ago, actor and stuntwoman Sharon Schaffer returned to her SUV after riding the waves at Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard, California, to find a racial epithet written in dirt on its windows. In surfing, "there was always the good, aloha vibe," she said recently, "but behind the aloha vibe was the other vibe — a locals-only, whites-only vibe." "I shrugged it off," said Schaffer, of Los Angeles and celebrated as U.S. surfing's first African American female professional. "But I don't think I would shrug that off so easily today." U.S. surfing, still viewed as largely white...

The Police Department provided five photographs of trees, some of which showed knotted ropes and one that appeared to have a piece of plastic pipe attached to a rope, hanging from tree limbs. They have been removed by city officials. Victor Sengbe, who is black, told KGO-TV that the ropes were part of a rigging that he and his friends used as part of a larger swing system. He also shared video of the swing in use. “Out of the dozen and hundreds and thousands of people that walked by, no one has thought that it looked anywhere close to...

When he announced on May 1 that masks would be worn in public places, Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker was emphatic. "We view this as common sense. This is going to be basically a way of life. No ifs, no ands, no buts, no doubts." However, doubts are showing up. First, Baker's order said to wear face coverings when in public places and unable to keep a social distance of six feet. Why'd he pick six feet? There is no research showing that six feet means anything in a public space. That six-foot idea is an arbitrary guess that was "conjured...

Apple, Google, Microsoft and other Big Tech companies have stepped up their comments on the need for racial justice amid the Black Lives Matter protests that have gripped the US for the past two weeks. Now, a growing group of technologists say the language of the industry itself needs to change in order to fight racism. The terms "master" and "slave," used to describe the relationships between two computer hard drives and or between two camera flashes, have come under scrutiny because of their association with America's history of slavery. Similarly, "whitelist" and "blacklist," terms for allowing and denying access...

Conservatives have been forced to reckon with some uncomfortable truths about racism and police brutality in America over the past two weeks. But perhaps no pill proved harder to swallow than this: Rage Against the Machine is a political band. Yes, that Rage Against the Machine. The one that wrote “Killing in the Name” in response to the Rodney King riots. The one that equated the police to the Ku Klux Klan in that very song. The one whose debut album cover features a photo of the self-immolation of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức, who was protesting Vietnam’s oppression...

On Wednesday, Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast took unprecedented measures to remove racist cards from its game. Seven cards in all, dating back to 1994, are now banned from play. Their images will also being removed from the game’s official online database. “The events of the past weeks and the ongoing conversation about how we can better support people of color have caused us to examine ourselves, our actions, and our inactions,” Wizards said in a statement. “We appreciate everyone helping us to recognize when we fall short. We should have been better, we can be better,...

But the president might not get so lucky this time around. A wave of new polling shows that Trump is doing significantly worse among women than he was four years ago. According to an analysis from the New York Times, Trump trailed Clinton by 14 points among female voters heading into 2016. Today, he's behind expected Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 25 points. "That's a huge falloff and a big problem," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum. Plus, a key demographic that helped seal Trump's electoral victory is starting to erode. Recent polling shows that white...

As I have watched Confederate monuments being removed by state and local governments, and sometimes by the forceful will of the American people, the fact that 10 U.S. Army installations are named for Confederate officers has weighed on me. That number includes the Army’s largest base, one very special to many in uniform: Fort Bragg, in North Carolina. The highway sign for Bragg proclaims it Home of the Airborne and Special Operations Forces. I had three assignments there during my career. Soldiers stationed at Bragg are rightly proud to serve in its elite units. Some call it “the Center of...

Authorities are investigating after the head was removed from a statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston overnight. Boston police said officers responded to a report of the beheaded statue near the North End’s waterfront around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday. According to police, officers located the head as well as “various pieces” of the statue at the scene near 110 Atlantic Ave.

The current civil rights movement is being led by African Americans and other people of color, with the broader media for the most part featuring their stories and their voices. And rightly so. But something else is happening here, too. There’s been an abrupt sea change among the white people of America — at least for the moment — on issues that have seemed in the past to be intractably set in stone. “In my 35 years of polling, I’ve never seen opinion shift this fast or deeply,” wrote the Republican pollster Frank Luntz on Monday. “We are a different...

This piece was initially written before the murder of George Floyd and the recent public outcry in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Many educators and activists are sharing the same thoughts and beliefs. I am not claiming to be the end all be all of what anti-racist work looks like, but through my own education, I have come to understand the ways that my whiteness interacts with our society and the things I can do to ensure that I am not harming others because of my privilege. I have realized that, while there is not a hierarchical structure...

Bon Appetit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport has resigned his position after several Bon Appetit staff members and freelance contributors publicly called for his resignation on Monday, alleging that a racist culture permeated throughout the brand. ... In a post on his personal Instagram account, Rapoport announced his departure: “I am stepping down as editor in chief of Bon Appetit to reflect on the work I need to do as a human being and to allow Bon Appetit to get to a better place. From an extremely ill-conceived Halloween costume 16 years ago to my blind spots as an editor, I’ve not...

Sorry America. We hate to break it to you but you’ve been had. Those horrible projections made about the coronavirus, were wrong – way wrong. We’re not saying that the elderly were not at risk. We never did. If New York, New Jersey, Michigan and other Democrat led states would have protected their elderly in the same manner as Republican-led Florida, then you would never had seen the death tolls in those states that you did. By forcing coronavirus infected individuals into the elderly homes, the leaders of states like New York murdered the elderly in those institutions.What we are...

Reports from citizen journalists continue to spread on social media that indicate palletted bricks have been strategically placed within known riot locations across the country. These pre-staged stockpiles have been documented in several flashpoint cities including Minneapolis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Fayetteville, NC. In most cases, the bricks have been placed right along demonstration routes.What organization is behind this effort to effectively arm demonstrators with the steady supply of projectiles being used to spread injury, destruction, and in at least one case, possibly death?One thing's for sure, those responsible for it have access to real money and logistics.

Are facemasks a temporary way to fight a specific virus, or will they become part of our "new normal?"“I don’t care about philosophy, just tell me how it ends.” That line is repeated on the final page of Len Jenkin’s play ‘Dark Ride.’ I’ve been thinking about Len, whom I had the great pleasure of working with a few times, a lot of late. His work always creates a world a bit out whack, dusty and dim, characters engaged in slow motion chaos. Today’s creepy streets of masked New Yorkers feel like a Len Jenkin play, and all anybody wants...

Surgical and cotton masks can filter particle sizes of 5 microns or more. COVID-19 particles are 50 times smaller," says Senator Jensen.. Minnesota State Senator and Medical Doctor Scott Jensen says that surgical and cotton masks cannot filter COVID-19 from the air. The New York Times recently blasted Jensen as well as President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for not wearing a mask in public at all times amidst the coronavirus pandemic. However, Jensen says that even the best medical masks are insufficient to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19. Presently studies reveal that COVID-19 particles require an...