Free Republic

And therein lies the beginning of what could become quite a story. It has been said that one cannot use an old map to explore a new world. Yet, if one is Communist China, one might be able to edit it to create a new world. Beijing’s recently revised mapping standards seem to suggest it is attempting just that. The standards, released by the Ministry of Natural Resources on the approval of the State Council of the people’s republic, require that all Chinese maps “accurately reflect the scope of China’s territory.” In addition to islands in the South China Sea...

Muslim leader wants Spanish King to apologise for defeating Islam in 1492 A few days ago, the new president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Abrader, demanded that King Felipe VI ask for forgiveness for the conquest by Spain, and now a mosque in Seville is doing the same but for the Reconquista (the Reconquest, when the Muslim rulers were driven out of Andalusia-Spain). The Ishbilia mosque has published a post on Facebook under the name of the Islamic Community itself and its president, Yihad Sarasua, in expressing “the sentiments among Spanish Muslims and those who for certain reasons, reside in...

Of all Belisarius’s victories, the defeat of the great Gothic host under King Vittiges which had besieged Rome from February of AD 537 through March of AD 538 must rank as his greatest feat. In this, he was able to defend successfully a gigantic city that had been considered indefensible against a siege while outnumbered at least 20 to 1 – and maybe more. March 12 is the date commonly given for the break-up of the siege, when the remnants of the great Gothic army pulled up stakes and retreated for Ravenna. For the previous few months, they had...

Elias Garcia Martinez's Ecce Homo (left) and the "restoration" An elderly parishioner has stunned Spanish cultural officials with an alarming and unauthorised attempt to restore a prized Jesus Christ fresco. Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) by Elias Garcia Martinez has held pride of place in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza for more than 100 years.The woman took her brush to it after years of deterioration due to moisture.Cultural officials said she had the best intentions and hoped it could be properly restored.DonationThe woman, in her 80s, was reportedly upset at the way the fresco had deteriorated and took...

The U.S. Supreme Court is getting ready to rule on Arizona's controversial immigration law and a lot of people in that state are watching closely. Tonight, nearly two dozen Spanish language radio and TV stations in Arizona are scheduled to run the same program about the immigration law. As NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports, they're walking a fine line between journalism and advocacy. The show looks at the history of anti-immigration laws and their impact on families. Journalists from the regular news programs interview a civil rights lawyer and Latino Arizonans... BARCO: The hatred and terror against us is increasing,...

A report released today by NCLR (National Council of La Raza)...concludes that the 287(g) program is far from the smart immigration enforcement that our country needs. The program was intended to make America safer...but in effect it provides unchecked authority to local law enforcement, entangles the broader immigrant and Latino communities by leading to the arrest of mostly nonviolent and nonthreatening immigrants, and exacerbates racial and ethnic targeting of Hispanics at the local level. The Impact of Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act on the Latino Community reveals that the program remains in place despite growing evidence that...

Sharing a couple of interesting e-mails from my mailbag over the past week… From reader D…Hello Michelle- I am a federal employee with the US Geological Survey who often does field work near the border. Last week we were told to not travel to field sites within 5 mi of the border between Buenos Aires Nat Wildlife Refuge and Douglas, i.e basically all of the SE Arizona border. This decision was apparently based on communications with the Border Patrol and is supposed to be a temporary situation. I have no other information and don’t know if any other agencies are...

For a generation, Mexican intellectuals have pondered the possibility of a “Greater Mexico” – the idea that Mexican immigration to the United States was so persistent and sustainable, that Mexican culture could “re-settle” lands lost to the United States at the conclusion of the Mexican American War. Americans, clinging to the belief of a “melting pot,” dismissed that notion, arguing that Mexican immigrants would follow historical norms and assimilate into mainstream American life, as previous generations of newcomers did before them. A new study by the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME), part of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations, offers insight...

Columbia University officials said today they were investigating what happened Wednesday night when protesters stormed a stage where the founder of a conservative anti-immigration group was trying to deliver an address, an incident that ended in chairs being overturned, and charges that students violated the speaker’s freedom of speech. The incident, at Columbia’s Roone Arledge Auditorium, reflects the strong feelings surround the immigration debate in the United States. It erupted just minutes into a speech by Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, a self-appointed band of civilian border patrols that have focused mostly on preventing illegal immigration from...

Immigration reform Para Español, oprima el dos. Even if one does not speak Spanish, most Americans are familiar with those words. They hear them nearly any time they make a call to the phone, utility or other company that offers service in two languages. “For Spanish, press two.” Even though I speak and love Spanish, I find myself increasingly annoyed by this unsubtle notice that the United States is gradually becoming a bilingual nation. And therein lies the source of much aggravation American citizens feel as Congress weighs in on illegal immigration. Welcome to the U.S. one and all —...

A mob scene unfolded at Oceanside High School on Mission Avenue Wednesday morning when about 200 students tried to leave campus, only to be blocked by police officers toting pepper-spray pellet guns and wearing riot gear. The scene at the campus subsided as school let out this afternoon and protesting students headed for the Oceanside Bandshell at the beach. Three boys have been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly throwing chunks of concrete at officers during the incident at the school. Tensions arose at the school just before noon, when several hundred students tried to...

<p>Muslims have visited exile, persecution, deportations, massacres and other humiliations on non-Muslims for almost 1,400 years, she has told students at Georgetown, Brown, Yale and Brandeis universities.</p> <p>Muslim armies steamrolled over North Africa, the Middle East and Spain for five centuries after the death of Muhammad in 632, says Bat Ye'or, a pen name meaning "daughter of the Nile." In her two most recent books, "Islam and Dhimmitude" and "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam," she describes how magnificent basilicas and monasteries of Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia were left in smoking ruins by Muslims from the eighth to 10th centuries.</p>

Radical politics have been part of the game on American campuses since at least the mid-1960s but have recently taken a new and disturbing turn. At colleges and universities across the country, the Mouvimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de Aztlan (The Student Movement of Aztlan Chicanos) - better known by its acronym, MEChA - is calling for the surrender of wide swaths of American territory to Mexico. Worse yet, in doing so, it has the support of university administrators, elected officials, and - thanks to the mandatory student activity fees on which the organization depends - tuition-paying students. Full article