Free Republic

Is misinformation about the climate criminally negligent? Lawrence Torcello, PHILOSPHY professor thinks so. "The importance of clearly communicating science to the public should not be underestimated. Accurately understanding our natural environment and sharing that information can be a matter of life or death. When it comes to global warming, much of the public remains in denial about a set of facts that the majority of scientists clearly agree on. With such high stakes, an organised campaign funding misinformation ought to be considered criminally negligent.

Christians in the U.S. military are being told they must forfeit their First Amendment rights. Bible verses are being erased from cadets’ personal dorm-room white boards, and military lawyers claim that legal protections for religion only pertain to matters such as clothing and growing beards but do not extend to any religious expression such as talking about one's faith or posting a Bible verse. Last year Breitbart News broke the story of a campaign by anti-Christian extremists to suppress traditional Christian expression within the U.S. military. There were conflicting stories regarding the possible court martial of service members who share...

A Wisconsin city on Friday temporarily suspended its “bubble-zones,” which prohibit leafleting and other free speech activities. The new Madison ordinance creates hundreds of these 320-ft. wide spaces. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) calls this “unconstitutional.” ADF filed suit last month on behalf of pro-life groups and individuals challenging the ordinance. Former NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Director Lisa Subeck introduced the law—and chiefly sponsored it. The pro-abortion group aggressively promoted it. “No one should want the government to gag speech just because it doesn’t reflect the government’s views or the views of abortionists,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “For that...

The philosopher Voltaire famously (and accurately) said, “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” To those holding most of the power in our country now, “gay is the new black”–and as with the de facto black-supremacy which has taken hold over the decades due to a pervasive litigious and public-relations minefield, gay-supremacy is likewise rapidly catching up, and catching on. Arizona’s already controversial governor, Jan Brewer, has just vetoed a bill passed by her state’s legislature which would have protected business owners who turn away customers out of conscientious objection to...

A U.S. appeals court ordered YouTube on Wednesday to take down an anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in many parts of the Middle East, prompting widespread riots and influential clerics calling for the death of an American actress who sued for the removal of the clip from the site. The decision by a divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reinstated a lawsuit filed against YouTube by an actress who appeared briefly in the 2012 video that led to rioting and deaths because of its negative portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad.

The First Amendment has three parts to it: the protection of religious freedom, the protection of speech and press, and the protection of the people’s right to assembly and petition. In all three categories, the Obama administration’s record is outrageous: it has forced the religious to finance free contraceptives, treated some journalists as potential criminals, and sought to undermine political speech and action through “campaign finance reform” and IRS harassment. Conforming to the Obama administration’s pattern of disregarding the First Amendment in total is this month’s news: a Federal Communications Commission plan, now thwarted, to gather information on newsroom practices....

Last week, Reporters Without Borders dropped America in the World Press Freedom Index 2014 from 33rd to 46th. James Risen of The New York Times rightly explained, “I think 2013 will go down in history as the worst year for press freedom in the United States’ modern history.” And he’s right. The violation of press freedoms has been egregious under this administration, even as the press fetes President Obama as an honest and effective commander-in-chief. Selective Access. President Obama has regularly granted special access to reporters who give him preferential coverage. CBS’ Steve Kroft admitted as much after a...

Four years after igniting a national uproar over immigration, the Arizona Legislature has jumped into the battle over gay rights with a piece of legislation that had opponents on Friday predicting business boycotts against the state. The legislation allows business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to refuse service to gays, and all eyes are on Republican Gov. Jan Brewer as she decides whether to sign the bill. A decision is likely next week. The conservative governor is already feeling pressure from the business community to veto the bill passed late Thursday. A prominent Phoenix group believes it would be...

The Federal Communications Commission is an “independent government agency” and was born when Congress signed the Communications Act of 1934. Its purpose, as reported by AllGov.com, was to prevent a monopoly of the airwaves: “Concerned over the growing power of large corporations and conglomerates…President Franklin Roosevelt wanted the FCC to make sure the country’s budding mass communications systems did not fall into the hands of a select few.” Today’s interpretation would add the caveat “unless that monopoly is the government.” Thursday, news broke that the FCC plans to plant “researchers” (read “agents”) in every print newsroom, internet news outlet, television...

In a bold move on today’s politically correct campuses, a group of brave libertarian students at the University of Michigan recently decided to stand up and tell the school that they were, in effect, “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” In a no-holds-barred letter to the powers that be, the students said they were “sick and tired of being treated like second-class citizens, watching their administration fawn over and pander to a vocal group of radical students while they are treated like pariahs” according to The College Fix. In the letter, they explained that while “nearly...

Our society is neutering boys of their maleness at a young age, while the lack of people with military experience in important positions is a recipe for disaster, claims Camille Paglia, the controversial lesbian author and social critic. Self-described ‘dissident feminist’ Paglia, 66, believes that attempts to deny the biological distinctions between men and women is to blame for the much that is wrong with modern society. 'What you're seeing is how a civilization commits suicide’ she told the Wall Street Journal. Paglia, a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, is well known for her critical views...

The Obama Administration’s Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is poised to place government monitors in newsrooms across the country in an absurdly draconian attempt to intimidate and control the media. Before you dismiss this assertion as utterly preposterous (we all know how that turned out when the Tea Party complained that it was being targeted by the IRS), this bombshell of an accusation comes from an actual FCC Commissioner. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai reveals a brand new Obama Administration program that he fears could be used in “pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories.” As Commissioner Pai explains in the Wall...

"1st Amendment Uproar: University Removes Pro-Life Poster, Says 'We Have to Keep It Happy for Everybody' " Officials at the University of Alabama are facing criticism for taking down a student organization’s pro-life display. The poster, which features pictures of unborn babies and mothers who died after an abortion, was sponsored by student group Bama Students for Life. University officials stated that the display was taken down after they received complaints that the images were graphic and offensive.

This week, the Kansas House of Representatives passed House Bill 2453, "An act concerning religious freedoms with respect to marriage." Despite its name, this bill isn't about religious freedom. It's about creating new special rights (yes, those dreaded special rights) for people with anti-gay views. The bill would protect the ability of any individual, government agency, or "religious entity" (which includes a business operated in accordance with owner's religious views) to refuse service based on sincere religious beliefs about sex or gender, and to refuse to recognize any marriage or similar arrangement for those reasons — even if such service...

Gary James, of Gary’s Chicaros, said he can easily spot a ‘freak’ or ‘f’ A man in a wheelchair claims he was denied service, and the small-town restaurant has been slammed nationwide for its hateful views.This Oklahoma eatery will certainly leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. Outspoken Enid, Okla., restaurateur Gary James has come under heavy scrutiny recently for his unsavory language and controversial views surrounding minorities and homosexuals. Patrons claim that Gary's Chicaros dishes out a side of bigotry with each meal. These shocking revelations became public after a handicapped patron came forward to say he...

President Barack Obama said religious freedom is under threat, and highlighted the plight of two American Christians held in North Korea and Iran. In his address to the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering of lawmakers and numerous faith leaders, Mr. Obama said it’s clear that “around the world freedom of religion is under threat.” He said the U.S. works with countries that don’t live up to America’s standard of religious tolerance and pointed to China as an example. He said America’s relationship with the Chinese is important to the world but said that he stresses in meetings with Chinese...

In a statement put into the record at a Jan. 29, 2014 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Military Personnel, retired Lt. Gen. William “Gerry” Boykin, said religious liberty is a “core value of our nation,” and that religious beliefs “sustain” troops who face harm or death in the course of performing their duties. “In sum, religious freedom and expression is not something to be given begrudging accommodation,” Boykin, the former commander of the U.S. Special Forces Command, said on behalf of the Family Research Council (FRC) as its executive vice president. “It is a core value...

New studies show that unbridled hateful speech can cause emotional harm. Is it time for the United States to follow other democracies and impose limits on what Neo-Nazis and other haters say? Over the past several weeks, free speech has gotten costlier—at least in France and Israel. In France, Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, an anti-Semitic stand-up comic infamous for popularizing the quenelle, an inverted Nazi salute, was banned from performing in two cities. M’Bala M’Bala has been repeatedly fined for hate speech, and this was not the first time his act was perceived as a threat to public order. Meanwhile, Israel’s...

In a brief to be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, 19 Democratic senators are siding with the Obama administration against evangelical Christian businessmen who argue that paying for their employees’ birth control, a requirement under Obamacare, violates their company’s religious freedom. The senators—five of them women—argue in their “friend of the court” brief that the owners of the Oklahoma-based crafts store chain Hobby Lobby are not exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate simply because some forms of birth control offend their religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby’s owners, David Green and his family, are suing the federal...

Free Speech: The IRS scandal is not only not over but is getting worse, with a call by New York's senior senator for the already-politicized agency to use its power to tax to destroy the conservative grass-roots movement. Arguing that the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision allowed Tea Party groups to "funnel millions of undisclosed dollars into campaigns with ads that distort the truth and attack government," Charles Schumer wants the IRS and other government agencies to take on the Tea Party through their administrative powers. "It is clear that we will not pass anything legislatively as long as...