Free Republic

OCTOBER 22, 2014 Football Coach Fired Because Eating Watermelon Is Racist Parents from other schools felt smashing a watermelon and eating it after games was inappropriate. By Katherine Timpf A winning high-school football coach was fired after the team’s tradition of eating watermelon after games was deemed “inappropriate” and “racist.” Bud Walpole had been coaching Academic Magnet Raptors football team, and was in the middle of a very successful season, according to CBS Charlotte. A current Raptors player said the tradition began when players bought watermelons from a man who had been selling them on their route to the game....

BANTAM, Conn. — A 49-year-old Connecticut man faces threatening charges after a woman told police he stabbed a watermelon in a passive-aggressive manner. The Register Citizen of Torrington reports (http://bit.ly/1p1L3rS) Carmine Cervellino of Thomaston was arraigned Monday on charges of threatening and disorderly conduct. He was released after posting a $500 bond.

BANTAM >> A Thomaston man is accused of stabbing a watermelon with a butcher knife and leaving it in the kitchen for a woman to see, in what police describe as a “passive aggressive” swipe that landed him in custody. She was unnerved by what she perceived to be a menacing gesture directed at her and reported it to police.

The GOP is divided on global warming, as seven in 10 Tea Party Republicans believe there's no solid evidence of a warming planet compared with three in 10 non-Tea Partiers, according to a Pew Research poll released Friday. Overall, 46 percent of Republicans said there is no solid evidence of global warming, compared with 11 percent of Democrats. Of those who see solid evidence of global warming, Republicans were nearly three times less likely (23 percent) to attribute it to human activity than Democrats (64 percent). That difference was more pronounced among Tea Partiers, 9 percent of whom said humans...

Thanks to the wonder that is the Internet, you don’t have to actually live in San Diego to watch a 30-minute special that aired in that city last Sunday that gives a thorough debunking of the climate scare. At this link you will see what the lucky residents of San Diego enjoyed via the great KUSI-TV and the Founding Father of The Weather Channel, John Coleman … without the other benefits of living in one of the most pleasant cities on the planet. You’ll just have to count all your other blessings. Coleman interviewed two of the lead authors of...

Russia has shrugged off Dutch legal action over its detention and prosecution of Greenpeace activists for piracy as protesters took to the streets internationally to call for the 30 detainees to be freed. The Netherlands launched legal proceedings against Russia on Friday, saying it had unlawfully detained activists and others on the Dutch-registered ship last month as it protested against drilling in the Arctic. Two Dutch citizens were among 30 people on board the Arctic Sunrise, which was seized by Russian authorities near the Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform. Also onboard were Kiwis David Haussmann and Jonathan Beauchamp.

Food Chemistry: The amino acid L-citrulline found in the fruit could help athletes avoid muscle soreness after a hard workoutBefore taking a long bike ride on a hot summer day, have some watermelon: The juicy fruit may ward off muscle pains. Researchers report that people who drank watermelon juice before exercising felt less sore the next day than those who drank a pink placebo beverage (J. Agric. Food Chem. 2013, DOI: 10.1021/jf400964r). They also found that cells absorb the presumed active ingredient, L-citrulline, more readily from unpasteurized watermelon juice than from plain water spiked with the compound, suggesting the natural...

Mix a favorite summer fruit with an iconic American cookie, and what do you get? Apparently a mouthful of controversy. Mondelez International's (MDLZ -4.03%) Nabisco has rolled out a limited-edition Oreo flavor for the summer, picking watermelon as its fruit of choice. It's not even the cookie maker's first fruit-flavored version, with previous spin-offs including banana split and chocolate with strawberry creme. Some are saying the new flavor opens up jokes or insults that could veer into racism, given that the fruit is sometimes stereotyped as a favorite of blacks. The portrayal has its roots in American slavery, with defenders...

Watermelon in cookie form. The perfect summer food? Nabisco hopes Oreo purists and non-fans alike will be taking a bag of the new, limited edition fruit-flavored cookies to their next picnic. The Watermelon Oreos, available only at Target (TGT) for $3 a package, feature a bright pink and green creme filling between two vanilla-flavored cookies; the creme bears a strong resemblance to Play-Doh. Two cookies contain 150 calories, 7 grams of fat and 21 grams of carbohydrates. Food bloggers had plenty to say about the new summer flavor. JunkFoodGuy wrote that he was expecting an “awful fake watermelon smell to...

There's something about people being stupid enough to vote for leftist presidents and then becoming extremely dissatisfied with them very quickly. Frances Socialist president is at an all time low and he's only been in office 10 months!It happened to Obama in his first term...and it's happening again now.By the way, I'm sure some liberal will accuse me a racism because of the watermelons...

Maybe it's an accident, or maybe some insensitive punk slipped one by the honchos, but the Google start page today looks like a black man standing on a watermelon. Blacks and watermelons is a very old stereotype.Even worse, it is animated. Google Those wacky lefties at Google (90%plus donation to Democrats).

A U.S. Navy oiler slipped away from a fuel depot on the Puget Sound in Washington state one recent day, headed toward the central Pacific and into the storm over the Pentagon's controversial green fuels initiative. In its tanks, the USNS Henry J. Kaiser carried nearly 900,000 gallons of biofuel blended with petroleum to power the cruisers, destroyers and fighter jets of what the Navy has taken to calling the "Great Green Fleet," the first carrier strike group to be powered largely by alternative fuels. Conventionally powered ships and aircraft in the strike group will burn the blend in an...

There's a great scoop in The Australian today about more lying climate scientists making stuff up. "CLAIMS that some of Australia's leading climate change scientists were subjected to death threats as part of a vicious and unrelenting email campaign have been debunked by the Privacy Commissioner. Timothy Pilgrim was called in to adjudicate on a Freedom of Information application in relation to Fairfax and ABC reports last June alleging that Australian National University climate change researchers were facing the ongoing campaign and had been moved to "more secure buildings" following explicit threats." Needless to say the University did everything it...

MARION, Ohio (AP) - The comedian Gallagher says he's had his fill of performing live onstage and is retiring after 32 years. The Los Angeles-based comedian, whose full name is Leo Anthony Gallagher, told an Ohio radio station on Thursday that his retirement plans include posting his writings online and possibly appearing at private parties.

Commentary: You’re Going to Celebrate BHM With Fried Chicken, Really? Is Black History Month turning into a stereotypical holiday? I love Black History Month because it serves as a time to acknowledge the contributions of little-known Black inventors, learn the struggles of Black ancestors and celebrate the victories of how far Black people have come as a whole. Companies, schools, churches and organizations across the country organize events to pay tribute, but is there an appropriate way to honor Black History Month? After recent reports in the news, I’m thinking the answer to that question may be "yes." In a...

We haven't heard much from Tesla of late, but that may be because the upstart electric car maker is hard at work getting the Model S to market, as promised, before the end of 2012. The Model S itself is the product of a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, but that's not the last round of loans Tesla has its sights set on. SF Gate reports that Tesla has asked the DoE for another loan. Tesla spokeswoman Khobi Brooklyn reportedly confirmed that the loan application was completed, adding that the money would be used "in our...

It was supposed to be a typical watermelon crop, or at least that’s what 20 Chinese farmers were expecting. Instead, they watched in horror as their fields of fruit began exploding like “landmines,” according to The Guardian. This is why it is important to read the instructions while working with plant biotechnology. The group of farmers decided to use a chemical spray known as forchlorfenuron, a plant growth accelerator that is normally used on grapes and kiwi fruit in the United States. To put it simply — the plant compound stimulates lateral growth within the fruit, and can also make...

The flying pips, shattered shells and wet shrapnel still haunt farmer Liu Mingsuo after an effort to chemically boost his fruit crop went spectacularly wrong. Fields of watermelons exploded when he and other agricultural workers in eastern China mistakenly applied forchlorfenuron, a growth accelerator....The report said the farmers sprayed the fruit too late in the season and during wet conditions, which caused the melons to explode like "landmines". After losing three hectares (eight acres), Liu said he was unable to sleep because he could not shake the image of the fruit bursting.

"It may sound strange to speak of Revolution, but that is what we need at this time. We need a Revolution; revolutionary thinking, revolutionary action. It is easy to mouth the words "sustainable development", but to make it happen, we have to be prepared to make major changes." Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Davos World Economic Forum 2011

In this video, you will see a woman who competed in the 17th season of the reality television show, "The Amazing Race", get smashed by a watermelon. "The Amazing Race" is a show that pits teams of two people against each other in a series of challenges that take place all over the world. The race takes the contestants on planes, balloons, helicopters, trucks, bicycles, taxicabs, rental cars, trains, buses, boats, and by foot as they attempt to beat the members of the other teams to "pit stops". All in an attempt win prizes and avoid the possibility of...