Free Republic

The owner of a bakery in Lakewood said he will no longer sell wedding cakes after the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled he did discriminate against a gay couple when he refused to sell them a cake. "We would close down the bakery before we would complicate our beliefs," Phillips said after the hearing, according to CBS Denver. Phillips also admitted he had refused service to other same-sex couples. The commission also ordered the baker to submit quarterly reports about the customers he refuses to serve and retrain employees to serve everyone.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told attendees at a Family Research Council pastors retreat that Democrats wanted to limit free speech through amending the Constitution. “When you think it can’t get any worse, it does,” Cruz said at the FRC’s Watchmen on the Wall 2014 event in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. “This year, I’m sorry to tell you, the United States Senate is going to be voting on a constitutional amendment to repeal the First Amendment.” Calling these “perilous, perilous times,” Cruz said Senate Democrats have said they are ready to vote on the amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 19—“an amendment to...

A still-classified State Department e-mail says that one of the first responses from the White House to the Benghazi attack was to contact YouTube to warn of the “ramifications” of allowing the posting of an anti-Islamic video, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The memo suggests that even as the attack was still underway — and before the CIA began the process of compiling talking points on its analysis of what happened — the White House believed it was in retaliation for a controversial video. The subject line of the...

"Oh, that my enemy would write a book," goes the old wish, coined by someone who knew there is no better way to expose fools than through their own words. It's an idea that deserves consideration from the college students and faculty unhappy with their schools' choice in commencement speakers. The usual response to such invitations is to demand that they be revoked. This year, critics cowed Brandeis into yanking its offer to anti-Islam activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Outrage at Rutgers prompted former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to withdraw, and when howls when up at Smith, International Monetary Fund...

Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, As spring unfolds here in the Northern Hemisphere, the future of the free and open Internet hangs in the balance. As such, I strongly believe everyone should have at least some understanding of what is at stake. When most people hear or read the words “net neutrality” their eyes glaze over with a feeling of confusion and despair: “I can’t remember, am I supposed to be for or against this?” This is exactly how the lawyers and lobbyists in D.C. want it, but unless the citizenry is informed we could lose the...

Madison, Wis. – In a ruling with stunning implications on political speech in Wisconsin and beyond, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declared portions of state campaign finance laws restricting issue ads unconstitutional. The 88-page decision handed down late Wednesday afternoon sides with Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. and its state political action committee, which sued to block the enforcement of multiple state statutes and rules against groups that spend money for political speech independently of candidates and parties – so called issue advocacy groups. The 7th Circuit’s ruling, legal experts tell Wisconsin Reporter, could cut the legs out...

A new Fairfax County, Va., zoning proposal takes direct aim at the right to assemble in the privacy of one’s own home. This proposed “Group Assembly in Residential Dwellings” zoning ordinance amendment not only poses a grave and fundamental violation of the U.S. Constitution but smacks of the worst type of government overreach. The ordinance would limit the number of people one could have in their home to 49 a day, and to exceed that limit more than 3 times in any 40-day period would be a violation of law. I never imagined hosting a Bible study in my home...

After the marshal on Monday spoke the traditional “God save the United States and this honorable court,” the Supreme Court ruled that the upstate New York town of Greece does not violate the First Amendment’s prohibition of “establishment of religion” by opening its board of supervisors’ meetings with a prayer. This ruling would not scandalize James Madison and other members of the First Congress, which drafted and sent to the states for ratification the First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights. The Congress did this after hiring a chaplain. Three decades have passed since the court last...

More reining in of freedom.Oh those New York Democrats! First we have Hillary (OK, only a New Yorker in a carpetbagging sort of way, but still . . .) wanting to "rein in" our notions that we have real Second Amendment rights. But that's the Second Amendment. That's not as important as the First, right? So for that one, we need Chuck Schumer, Hillary's senior as a senator before and after her tenure, to launch the attack.And he is: The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowing unions and corporations to donate to independent political groups has driven liberals to such fits that...

Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee E. Goodman warned that the federal government—including some officials in his office—may soon move to clamp down on conservative media. “I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers,” Goodman told Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. At threat, in Goodman’s estimation, is the media’s exemption from federal election laws governing political organizations like PACs. Many in government want to curtail the ability of all news outlets to endorse and promote candidates and issues without any limits or disclosure...

Government officials, reacting to the growing voice of conservative news outlets, especially on the internet, are angling to curtail the media's exemption from federal election laws governing political organizations, a potentially chilling intervention that the chairman of the Federal Election Commission is vowing to fight. “I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers,” warned Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee E. Goodman in an interview. “The right has begun to break the left’s media monopoly, particularly through new media outlets like the internet, and I sense...

FAIRFAX, Va. – A plan to ban “frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes” is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia’s most populous county.“I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a constitution challenge by interfering with peoples’ right to assemble,” Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement.The proposed zoning ordinance limits “group assembly” at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings “shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period.”County officials say they have received complaints about group meetings...

Diversity and tolerance is a one way street Via The DC Students in a California school district will not be allowed to wear American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo, due to concerns that such displays of patriotism would inflame racial tensions by offending Mexican students on their holiday. The district’s policy concerned many free speech advocates, but was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In response, Tea Party groups plan to protest outside Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill. And they will be wearing American flag T-shirts. “They silenced a symbol of patriotism and freedom in...

Recently all fourteen Democrat Florida State Senators voted to allow the introduction of Sharia Law into the Florida court system. Fortunately they are nowhere near a majority (they lost 24 to 14) and the measure died at the hands of true Americans. The proposed law (SB386) was titled Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases. A report on this vote, which included a brief outline of what living under Sharia law means, drew some comments that indicate a serious lack of understanding of the dangers of Sharia law. Several expressed skepticism that “this is what the Democrats actually voted for”...

Officials at Broward County Public Schools banned a fifth grader from reading the Bible during “free reading” time, according to lawyers from the Liberty Institute who are threatening to sue the school for violating the First Amendment.

A plan to ban "frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes" is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts. Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia's most populous county. "I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a constitution challenge by interfering with peoples' right to assemble," Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement. The proposed zoning ordinance limits "group assembly" at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings "shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period."

Vice President Joe Biden told people at a conference on Friday that freedom of the press includes allowing journalists to “tell people the truth, and even tell people what is not the truth.” Biden was the featured speaker on Friday at the Motion Picture Association of America, a lobbying group headed by former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), which held its second annual Creativity Conference at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. […] “Of course, each society is different and some are fundamentally different,” said Biden. “But there’s certain common ingredients that make up success: Basic liberties so citizens can think and...

Bill Killian, a US attorney, claims that anti-Muslim speech violates Muslim’s Constitutional rights. Therefore, he argues, it should be illegal and punishable by law. Killian said, “We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected.” At this time, Obama’s DOJ is working to determine what, exactly, is considered illegal speech against Muslims. Guidelines and specific laws are expected to come soon. Currently, the government is not allowed to prevent speech that is hateful towards a religion, unless a specific threat is made. To prevent speech that is...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With concealed weapons now legal in all 50 states, the National Rifle Association's focus at this week's annual meeting is less about enacting additional state protections than on making sure the permits already issued still apply when the gun owners travel across the country. "Right now it takes some legal research to find out where you are or are not legal depending on where you are," said Guy Relford, an attorney who has sued communities for violating an Indiana law that bars local gun regulation. "I don't think that's right."

Liberal heads begin to explode in 5..4…3…2…1During an interview this past Friday with CBN’s David Brody, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) stressed that gay marriage could put our 1st Amendment protections at risk.“If you look at other nations that have gone down the road towards gay marriage, that’s the next step of where it gets enforced.“It gets enforced against Christian pastors who decline to perform gay marriages, who speak out and preach biblical truths on marriage and that has been defined elsewhere as hate speech — as inconsistent with the enlightened view of government.“I think there is no doubt that...