Free Republic

Well a busy morning of sorts for me, so this will be one of those shows in which I went back to an old reliable, Newsforchristians.com, and saw what some of their featured articles were and I'll run with, share, and comment on some of those. What stands out, unsurprisingly, is presidential politics and elections. They'll be a lot of Donald Trump talk as well as a lot of talk about faith in politics, pastors and politics, and at least one court case about the so called separation of church and state in North Carolina. Faith and politics often collide...

One professor’s million-dollar campaign against conservatives, courtesy of the taxpayer Leftist speech suppressors are at it again, but this time they’re apparently being subsidized by the American taxpayer. On Monday, House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) sent a letter to the head of the National Science Foundation (NSF), demanding information about the nearly $1 million spent on the “Truthy” data-mining project that monitors political speech on Twitter. “The committee and taxpayers deserve to know how NSF decided to award a large grant for a project that proposed to develop standards for online political speech...

(CNSNews.com) – A couple who hosts occasional wedding ceremonies on their New York farm have lost an appeal to overturn the $13,000 in fines levied against them by the state’s human rights agency, which ruled that their refusal to host a wedding for two women was discriminatory. On Jan. 14, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, upheld the agency’s order and the fines, a decision the Alliance Defending Freedom - which represented Robert and Cynthia Gifford - said amounted to confirming, “that the government can punish the Giffords for declining to coordinate a ceremony that conflicts with...

Late today a Texas grand jury found no case against PP for selling baby parts; they did indite the producers of the video for unlawfully viewing a government form. Megyn Kelly of Fox news was the source for me. Background is that pro life Gov.of Texas appointed the prosecutor, in the case, to find if an indictment of PP could be found AGAINST them for selling baby parts. Instead the Producers were indicted! This cannot happen by accident. Even if a grand jury would not find an intictment against PP, a separate action would have to be prosecuted by the...

Does anybody, anywhere, believe that the HHS Mandate was ever intended to be anything other than a deliberate attack on the Catholic Church?Anyone?The duplicitous way that the Mandate was handled from day one should have convinced most Americans that shenanigans were afoot.The Mandate was drafted in closed-door meetings of a committee of abortion industry insiders. It violated promises that the President of the United States made to Congress in order to pass Obamacare.The administration rolled it out with an orchestrated apologia from the pandering press. Equally pandering organizations such as the ACLU joined in with assurances that the Mandate...

According to a columnist for the Duke University student newspaper, America's "obsession with the First Amendment" is really just "an expression of white supremacy." "I am thinking about how an urgent and overdue conversation about racism-on our campus and across our country - has been derailed by a diversionary and duplicitous obsession with the First Amendment," graduate student Bennett Carpenter wrote in university newspaper The Chronicle. "I am thinking about how quickly the conversation has shifted from white supremacy to white fragility - and how this shift is itself an expression of white supremacy." Apparently unaware of the irony of...

"All Robert and I want is the freedom to peacefully live and work faithfully on our family farm and according to what God says about marriage without fear of government punishment. The America we love is one where we respect each other's differences, and the government still protects the freedom to have those differences. Others have the freedom to say or not say what they want to about marriage, and that's all we are asking for, as well." -Cynthia Gifford (New York)—[CBN News] A New York court has upheld a state decision to fine a farm couple for refusing to...

The capital of New York State has joined other cities in restricting the ability for gun owners to store them in their own home. A law has come into effect passed by the City Council requiring all guns to be locked in safes or using a gun lock at home. The police is handing out free locks, but stiff penalties are planned for anyone that does not comply. The Albany Times Union reported on the new law. First offenses will be violations carrying a fine of $250 or up to 15 days in jail so long as no one is...

On Monday, January 11 the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. The plaintiffs, teachers in California public schools, challenge the constitutionality of a rule that they must pay dues to the C.T.A. to keep their jobs, even though they don't choose to join the union and object to the way it uses money involuntarily taken from them to advance political causes they oppose. This raises First Amendment issues, since it protects not only the right to speak freely against governmental interference, but also protects the right not to be compelled to speak. By taking dues...

On the opening segment of Thursday night’s Kelly File with host Megyn Kelly, author and professor Alan Dershowitz took to task the political correctness culture that has pervaded American college campuses.On the heels of continuing developments from the University of Missouri — where the student Vice President today argued that the First Amendment incites a “hostile and unsafe learning environment” — Dershowitz admitted, “we’re seeing a curtain of McCarthyism descend on many college campuses.”“It was the students at universities that first started burning books… they don’t want to hear diverse views on college campuses,” Dershowitz admitted.WATCH VIDEO Dershowitz dug in, noting...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court seemed poised on Monday to deliver a severe blow to organized labor. The justices appeared divided along familiar lines during an extended argument over whether government workers who choose not to join unions may nonetheless be required to help pay for collective bargaining. The court's conservative majority appeared ready to say that such compelled financial support violates the First Amendment Collective bargaining, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said, is inherently political when the government is the employer, and issues like merit pay, promotions and classroom size are subject to negotiation. The best hope for a victory...

Raising the bar for other cities throughout the country, New York City announced "strong" and "bold" protections for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. The new legal guidance, issued Dec. 21 by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, came as part of an expansion of the city's 2002 Human Rights Law, which protects against discrimination in a range of categories. The updated policy specifically protects transgender and gender non-conforming individuals from discrimination in areas of employment, public accommodation, and housing.

Submitted by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute, •Is this House Resolution a prelude? Has Attorney General Lynch seen the potential for someone lifting her "mantle of anti-Muslim rhetoric"? And what is "anti-Muslim rhetoric" exactly? Criticizing Islam? Debating Mohammed? Discussing whether ISIS is a true manifestation of Islam? Who decides the definition of "hate speech" against Muslims? •Of all 1,149 anti-religious hate crimes reported in the United States in 2014, only 16.1% were directed against Muslims, according to the FBI. By contrast, over half of all anti-religious hate crimes were directed against Jews – 56.8%. •Why this lopsided, discriminatory House...

You’d think a law professor would know that the First Amendment, by its very nature, protects speech that is deeply unpopular. But the interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity at the University of Missouri has apparently not brushed up on the Bill of Rights since he took his position this fall.

While appearing on Alan Colmes' radio show some months ago, former presidential candidate Ron Paul expressed his belief that Trump is "almost the opposite of a libertarian" candidate. Trump, according to Paul, never expresses his desire to "give you your freedom and your liberty to run your life as you choose." Rather, he in effect assures us: "I know the answers and I'm going to do this and I've done this, I've done this, this and this."Surely, Paul is on to something. That being said, the following considerations should be borne in mind. First, that Paul rejects Trump for not being a...

Which is obvious to anyone not intentionally misreading it. The real news here is not that Antonin Scalia said this, but that it’s the slightest bit controversial. But that’s not something that happened overnight. The secular left and their media servants have spent decades pushing the idea that the establishment clause is about protecting the non-religious from maniacal Jesus freaks - especially the nightmare scenario in which the Jesus freaks get a job with any public entity and are guided in any decision by biblical principles. Scalia is a man who actually knows about the founding of the nation and...

Lawmakers in numerous states are preparing for a new round of battles over gay rights and religious freedoms in 2016 following last summer's Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. In some states, lawmakers will be pushing discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. But other lawmakers are pushing back against the court ruling by proposing religious exemptions for nonprofits and business owners that object to gay marriage. States also could be moving in opposite directions on gun rights and abortion. ...

Image courtesy Shutterstock. In the days and weeks since the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks, Democrats have spent a lot of time worrying about an anti-Muslim backlash, and have proposed a House resolution to "condemn violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States" to deal with the problem. There does seem to have been an uptick in hateful incidents in the past month, although, as PJ Media's Rick Moran reported, one of the incidents turned out to be a fake hate crime. Most of the incidents are still under investigation. Still, despite Democrat hand-wringing over...

Once again, Congressional representatives overstep their Constitutional bounds and advance a resolution that condemns free speech, something protected in the First Amendment, which is part of the very Constitution these anti-Americans swore an oath before God to uphold. Oh, I know, they claim it is “hate speech,” but it really is targeting those who tell the truth about the religion of pieces, Islam. House Resolution 569 was introduced by Rep. Donald Beyer (D-VA), along with 82 co-sponsors introduce the resolution to condemn “violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.” The usual gang is involved in this,...

It is one of the most hallowed precepts in modern constitutional law: Freedom of speech may not be curbed unless it poses a *clear and present danger* ~ an actual, imminent threat, not the mere advocacy of harmful acts or ideas. But in response to the Islamic State*s success in grooming jihadists over the Internet, some legal scholars are asking whether it is time to reconsider that constitutional line.