Free Republic

Election day highlights from around the country: Ohio nixes marijuana, San Francisco boots their Sanctuary City Sheriff and Kentucky elects a Republican governor whose black, female lieutenant governor running mate has a back story that sounds like a female version of Ben Carson’s.Oh, and did I mention that both Governor-elect Matt Belvin and his Lt. Governor, Jenean Hampton, are Tea Party activists who have never held public office before?  That sounds like bad news for the DNC and the RNC. Connect the dots, Reince.   And as a follow-up on this week’s informal topic, free speech, there’s this killer article from...

As UN’s Paris summit approaches, one of France’s top mathematics consultancies, a legendary physicist, and a former IPCC author have joined France’s best-known TV weatherman, Philippe Verdier, in delivering black eyes and severe body blows to the increasingly discredited global-warming alarm lobby. As host of the United Nations climate summit this December, the French government is pulling out all stops to make it a “success,” striving mightily to create the impression of unquestionable “consensus” on global warming — even if it means resorting to suppression of scientific dissent and freedom of expression." “We must have a consensus,” French President Francois...

So the third, and latest Republican debate is beyond us. I'll talk a little bit about who did well, who did okay, and who shouldn't have even bothered to show up. Also I'll have a little bit of news on Marco Rubio and Ben Carson. I also will talk primarily about this assistant football coach in Washington who is now suspended as well as this little 7th grade girl in Texas who apparently was given an assignment to take a position that God isn't real. She didn't want to do that, and with the school district shifting some details on...

StopBadware.org is run by Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Oxford University's Internet Institute, and vendor partners such as Google, Sun Microsystems, and Lenovo.

Secretary of State John Kerry says that global warming skeptics should be disqualified from "high public office." By all means, Secretary Kerry, let's allow you to unilaterally set the eligibility requirements for elected officials. We'll just turn it all over to you and your astute judgment.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced new rules on Wednesday for implementing the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage for federal tax purposes. With the rules, a marriage of two people of the same sex recognized by any state or other part of the U.S. will also be recognized for federal tax purposes. The rules will also interpret the terms "husband" and "wife" to mean same-sex couples where necessary. "The proposed regulations confirm that terms in the federal tax code relating to marriage should be interpreted to include same-sex spouses as well as opposite-sex spouses, ensuring that all...

The long-running feud between Jeb Bush and Donald Trump escalated yet again Saturday, with the former Florida governor releasing a two-minute video on social media mocking the billionaire's fitness to be commander-in-chief. *snip* The clip is the latest salvo in the Bush-Trump rivalry, which has often been marked by bitter and personal exchanges between the two prominent Republican presidential candidates. On Friday, Trump suggested Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush, shared in the blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks because they occurred during his presidency. Saturday's round centered on a video set to the tune of circus music that...

Conservatives, Christian and non-Christian alike, share concerns about · civil and religious liberty, · abortion and the sanctity of human life, · human trafficking and pornography and how they damage families, · fiscal responsibility in government, and · poverty. What many don’t know is that there are links between climate alarmism and every one of these issues. Let me take them in reverse order. First, climate alarmism undermines fiscal responsibility in government. Not only do governments around the world spend nearly $1 billion per day just on research into climate change, but also policies meant to reduce global warming would...

This is going to make the LGBT crowd very unhappy (even though they knew this was the case from the start)… From Daily Wire: An unpublished UCLA study challenging the societal “born this way” dogma of homosexuality has already been gaining traction in the public media since its presentation at an annual scientific conference last week. The twin study conducted at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, finds that homosexuality may be triggered by environmental factors after birth. The research uses an algorithm covering epigenetic markers from several genomic sites of 37 sets...

Virginia has banned driving with a license plate that depicts the Confederate flag — but some in the state are resisting. Around 1,600 Virginians with state-issued Confederate flag plates received a letter last month from the DMV saying they had until October 4 to swap them out for new ones that don’t show the flag. Only 187 people have so far complied. One man who has not is Kevin Collier.“Next thing you know, they’re going to say you can’t wear blue on Monday … or you can’t wear yellow on Thursday,” Collier, who is active with the Sons of Confederate...

I am grateful to George Washington University professor of Law, Jonathan Turley, for pointing out that a growing number of world leaders find the First Amendment's right of free speech to be an inconvenience. He cites, for instance, U. N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's warning that "when some people use this freedom of expression to provoke or humiliate some others' values and beliefs, then this cannot be protected." Turley makes the valuable -- and if you think about it, obvious -- observation that free speech becomes intolerable not when it is used recklessly but when one person or a group...

White House officials pushed to ban conversion therapy for LGBT youths, pointing to new findings that debunk the therapy. A ban on the conversion therapy for minors was introduced in Congress on Thursday, following a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. "The science rebukes this so-called practice and so do we," White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett told reporters on a call Thursday. The report from the administration includes a consensus from an expert panel held by the American Psychological Association earlier this summer.The panel found that variations in "sexual orientation and gender identity are normal,...

Georgia health officials on Friday retracted a job offer made to Pasadena's former public health director, who had come under fire for controversial remarks he made on homosexuality and evolution. Dr. Eric Walsh, a Seventh-day Adventist preacher, interviewed for the position about two weeks ago and had received an offer letter with a start date of mid-June. But Walsh never mentioned that he had recently been placed on leave from his job in Pasadena because of controversial sermons he gave on homosexuality and evolution, Georgia officials said. The sermons were discovered during a background check that happens as the last...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) said Wednesday he was "troubled" by gay weddings in San Francisco and by legal decisions in Massachusetts that could clear the way for same-sex marriage. But he declined to say whether he is any closer to backing a constitutional ban on such vows. "I have watched carefully what's happening in San Francisco, where licenses were being issued, even though the law states otherwise," Bush said. "I have consistently stated that I'll support law to protect marriage between a man and a woman. Obviously these events are influencing my decision." "I am watching...

In four Gospels - including the Sermon on the Mount - Jesus neglected to mention the subject of homosexuality. But that hasn’t stopped a handful of self-appointed leaders of the so-called Religious Right from deciding that it is an issue worth the presidency of the United States. In what the Washington Times described as a "stormy session" last week, the Rev. Lou Sheldon, Paul Weyrich, Gary Bauer and eight other "social conservatives" read the riot act to RNC chairman Marc Racicot for meeting with the "Human Rights Campaign," a group promoting legal protections for homosexuals. This indiscretion, they said, "could...

Obama not invited when Rep. Frank marries longtime partnerBy Alicia M. Cohn - 05/18/12 05:04 PM ET Although Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) earlier this month said he is “pleased” with President Obama’s decision to publicly support same-sex marriage, in a new interview the congressman revealed the president will not be on the guest list when Frank marries his longtime partner this summer. “If he and Michelle wanted to come, I would be delighted and honored to have him, but he will bring the Secret Service,” Frank said in an interview that will air Sunday as part of C-SPAN’s “Newsmaker” series....

A Chinese official on Friday called on the United Nations to impose an international code of conduct on the Internet. "It is highly necessary and pressing for the international community to jointly bring about an international code of conduct on cyberspace at an early date," said Wang Qun, director-general of the Arms Control Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in comments to the U.N. General Assembly. Wang's comments were reported by China's main state-owned press outlet, the Xinhua News Agency. "China, for its part, will continue to commit itself to establishing a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace and pushing...

I asked Father Brian Harrison, a priest of the Society of the Oblates of Wisdom and an emeritus professor of theology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, the following questions: If the worst-case scenario comes to pass in regard to the synod, what are we to think of magisterial teaching? Would we have to accept the changes as a form of doctrinal development as with Vatican II? Father Harrison's response is as follows: First of all, the synod itself is not a magisterial body. If it votes (heaven forbid!) to authorize Communion for the divorced and...

Report says Obama's Justice Department requires Christians to verbally affirm homosexuality regardless of beliefs. A brochure emailed to Department of Justice employees requiring them to verbally affirm homosexuality regardless of their personal beliefs has sparked accusations of religious intolerance and viewpoint discrimination, Todd Starnes reported at Fox News Tuesday. "The brochure was created as a resource from DOJ Pride, an association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of the DOJ," Starnes wrote. According to Starnes, Liberty Counsel, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty, is representing an unidentified female DOJ worker who received the brochure, called “LGBT Inclusion...

The definition of a serial killer is, “A person who murders three or more people, usually due to abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant break (a “cooling off period”) between them.” Serial killers may be overwhelmingly male and most likely to be either black or white, but is there a connection for these men between their tendencies and their sexual behavior? Most serial killers are seeking out a thrill. But from where does their blood lust stem? Radford University keeps a database of statistics surrounding serial killers; age, race,...