Free Republic

Beating expectations, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was on track to sign up more than 7 million Americans for health insurance on deadline day Monday, government officials told The Associated Press. The 7 million target, thought to be out of reach by most experts, was in sight on a day that saw surging consumer interest as well as vexing computer glitches that slowed sign-ups on the HealthCare.gov website. Two government officials confirmed the milestone, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter ahead of an official announcement. Seven million was the original target...

To most ears, it probably sounds inoffensive. A little outdated and clinical, perhaps, but innocuous enough: homosexual. But that five-syllable word has never been more loaded, more deliberately used and, to the ears of many gays and lesbians, more pejorative. “ ‘Homosexual’ has the ring of ‘colored’ now, in the way your grandmother might have used that term, except that it hasn’t been recuperated in the same way,” said George Chauncey, a Yale professor of history and an author who studies gay and lesbian culture. Consider the following phrases: homosexual community, homosexual activist, homosexual marriage. Substitute the word “gay” in...

Fred Phelps Sr. led his small Topeka church for more than two decades in a bellicose crusade against gays and lesbians, saying they were worthy of death and openly declaring—often at military funerals—that the U.S. was doomed because of its tolerance of homosexuality. But in targeting grieving families of troops killed overseas, taunting people entering other churches and carrying signs with anti-gay slurs and vulgar language or symbols, Phelps and his Westboro Baptist congregation created public circuses that may have helped the gay-rights movement. Following Phelps’ death Wednesday at age 84, some gay-rights advocates suggested that he and his church...

You’d think conservatives Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are outspoken enough without liberal media sources having to lie about their words. But you’d be underestimating the unscrupulous partisanship of political “journalists." Case in point: the dishonest reporting of the comments from both GOP senators at the Susan B. Anthony Campaign for Life Summit in Washington, D.C. on March 12. An AP report appearing on The Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, U.S. News and World Report and several other organizations cherry-picked and twisted statements from Sen. Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Lee (R-UT) from the pro-life event.  Here’s what Sen. Cruz actually said: (More after video.)...

A Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina is defending his remarks that some abortion rights groups contemplate infanticide. Greg Brannon, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan, told a group in November that killing babies who survived abortions could happen in America, according to a report Wednesday in Mother Jones magazine. …

Calling their opponents Satan worshipers and savages, anti-abortion lawmakers on Wednesday insisted that Republican contenders keep an intense focus on social issues in the upcoming midterm elections and the 2016 presidential race. Like many abortion opponents, the Susan B. Anthony List is in search of a White House contender who won’t shy from social issues after back-to-back presidential nominees in 2008 and 2012 who focused their campaigns on the economy and came up short. Several potential 2016 candidates were making their pitches in blunt terms, urging the group members to stick to their principles and fight those who would stand...

<p>“I was horrified,” said John Stemberger, chairman of the board of Trail Life USA, a new, rapidly-growing scouting organization that doesn’t allow openly gay members.</p> <p>Stemberger was referring to an Associated Press photograph that accompanied an in-depth story about Trail Life. The image showed a group of young boys gathered in a circle with their hands raised at an unusual angle. The AP’s original caption on the photo said they were reciting the organization’s “creed” during a meeting in North Richland Hills, Texas.</p>

Less than two weeks after a federal judge declared Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, a new effort has been launched in the South seeking to build wider acceptance of gay and lesbian couples in the hope of overturning similar bans across the region. The $1 million effort will be focused on field organizing and sharing the stories of gay couples through local community and business events as well as social media in 14 Southern states. The key, supporters say, will be to share stories like those of Linda Ellis and her partner, Lesley Brogan, who appeared at Monday’s event....

after he 'stole' their photographer's image for his latest paintingGeorge Zimmerman's recent foray into the art world hasn't exactly earned him much critical praise. But it's definitely garnered him some attention - so much so that it could potentially get him sued by one of the largest news-wire services on earth. For his latest painting, the man acquitted of murder in the shooting death of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin has painted a portrait of Florida State Attorney General Angela Corey, who is the woman who decided to charge Zimmerman with murder in Martin's death. The problem for Zimmerman, however,...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- From county chairmen to national party luminaries, veteran Republicans across the country are accusing tea party lawmakers of staining the GOP with their refusal to bend in the budget impasse in Washington.

Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it.

Maj. Nidal Hasan and many of his victims in the Fort Hood shooting seem to want the same thing—his death. But while survivors and relatives of the dead view lethal injection as justice, the Army psychiatrist appears to see it as something else—martyrdom. …

Several hundred extremists shouting “Kill the gays” attacked gay activists and clashed with police on Wednesday in a bid to disrupt the first ever pride event in staunchly conservative Montenegro, which is seeking to improve its human rights record as it bids to join the European Union. Angry assailants threw rocks, bottles, glasses and various other objects—including chairs from local cafés—at several dozen flag-waving gay activists who shouted back “Kiss the gays.” A shower of stones and bottles also landed on special police securing the gathering in the coastal town of Budva. Police then intervened to push the attackers away...

LEFTIST PLANT INFILTRATES HOUSTON PRO-ZIMMERMAN RALLY– Liberal Media runs with it A photo from the Houston pro-Zimmerman counter-rally of the NBPP anti-Zimmerman rally picked up by the AP shows a woman holding a sign that read, “Racist & Proud.” That looked incongruent with the other reports from the pro-Zimmerman side. The Houston Chronicle identified her as Renee Vaughan: One woman in the Zimmerman group held a sign that said, “We’re racist & proud.” Austin resident Renee Vaughan echoed the sign’s ugly sentiments by yelling, “We’re racist. We’re proud. We’re better because we’re white,” at the Martin group as they passed,...

After George Zimmerman was found not guilty of all charges on Saturday evening, an Associated Press reporter, Cristina Silva, tweeted this out from her verified twitter account: "So we can all kill teenagers now? Just checking."

Five years and 50 years. As President Barack Obama revisits Berlin, he can't escape those anniversaries and the inevitable comparisons to history and personal achievement. His 26-hour whirlwind visit to the German capital caps three days of international summitry for the president and marks his return to a place where he once summoned a throng of 200,000 to share his ambitious vision for American leadership. That was 2008, when Obama was running for president and those who supported him at home and abroad saw the young mixed-race American as a unifying and transformational figure who signified hope and change. Five...

NBA veteran center Jason Collins, the first active athlete in one of the four U.S. major professional sports leagues to come out as being gay, marched Saturday for nearly three miles in Boston's gay pride parade with U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, his onetime roommate at Stanford University. The parade also featured former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank — the first sitting member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage — who also represented Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District before Kennedy. U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate seeking the seat once held by John Kerry, who stepped down...

From the time they are born, we put our boys in blue beanies and our girls in pink ones. It’s a societal norm, an expectation even, that you just are what you are born—a boy or a girl. From early on, we divide toys and activities by very distinct gender lines, with superheroes and trucks and muck on one side and princesses and dolls and all things frilly on the other. Many children land, enthusiastically, on the expected side. Others dabble in both “girl” and “boy” things. But what if your kid, even from an early age, mostly showed interest...

The US stock market went into a temporary tailspin after hackers broke into the Twitter account of the Associated Press and announced that two bombs had exploded at the White House, injuring Barack Obama. “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured,” said the fake “alert” from one of America’s most trusted news sources, briefly fooling some news outlets and sending the Dow Jones plunging 145 points in the space of two minutes — or 1 per cent. The benchmark S&P 500 index also fell nearly 1 percent in the space of three minutes as the...

CAIR Claims Victory Over AP Stylebook’s Restrictions on Word 'Islamist' April 5, 2013 By Elizabeth Harrington (CNSNews.com) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) praised the Associated Press (AP) for revising its stylebook to forbid the use of the word “Islamist,” if it is used to describe Islamic militants or extremists. In a press release on Friday, CAIR said revising the term is a "step in the right direction,” and that they helped influence the AP’s decision. “Late last year, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) approached AP about modifying the reference, which had been added to its influential...