Free Republic

There's something very dangerous happening in states across the country. A wave of legislation, introduced in more than two dozen states, would allow people to discriminate against their neighbors. Some, such as the bill enacted in Indiana last week that drew a national outcry and one passed in Arkansas, say individuals can cite their personal religious beliefs to refuse service to a customer or resist a state nondiscrimination law. Others are more transparent in their effort to discriminate. Legislation being considered in Texas would strip the salaries and pensions of clerks who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — even...

.....San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee on Thursday placed a travel ban on city-funded trips to Indiana, saying, “San Francisco taxpayers will not subsidize legally-sanctioned discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people by the State of Indiana.”

Carly Fiorina’s nearly six-year reign at Hewlett-Packard Co. ended abruptly Wednesday as board members forced her out, disappointed by her inability to transform a plodding technology giant dominated by printer sales into a more nimble innovator. H-P’s stock, which has gone nowhere for two years and is down two-thirds from its peak in 2000, rose almost 7 percent after earlier soaring almost 11 percent on the news of her ouster. Board members said they fired the chief executive — perhaps corporate America’s most influential woman — because Fiorina failed to slash costs and boost revenue as quickly as directors had...

HBO caused a major stir on social media with Sunday night’s broadcast of “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” a blistering documentary about the Church of Scientology and its celebrity devotees. People Magazine published a teaser for the film Sunday, which was first screened in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Sensational in content but not in tone, Going Clear has been making headlines since its first screening at Sundance in January. It has also upset that secretive, combative and often embattled Church, which in a lengthy statement attacked the film as “insidious religious persecution by bullies toting...

AMMAN, JORDAN – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and a delegation of senior lawmakers met with His Majesty King Abdullah II on Sunday during a visit to Jordan where talks focused on Iranian-backed violence in the region and the growing terrorist threat. King Abdullah hosted the delegation for a luncheon at Beit al-Urdun Palace. Lawmakers also met with U.S. Ambassador Alice Wells, Nasser Judeh, Jordan’s Foreign Minister, as well as senior embassy officials. Discussions focused on two major trends in the region: the violence caused by Iran’s allies and proxies, and the spreading of the terrorist threat. There was also...

A police dog bit an officer during a pursuit early Sunday morning. Shortly after 2:30 a.m., a police officer tried to pull over a driver for a traffic violation, San Diego Police said. The driver took off and lead officers on a short chase before jumping out of the car and running off near the intersection of Fairmont Avenue at Camino Del Rio North in Kensington. When the officer ran after him, he was bitten on the hand by his own K9 dog, police said. The officer was treated and will be okay. The suspect in the pursuit was arrested.

A San Jose neighborhood was shut down Sunday morning when a man with a machete went on a rampage. It happened on Mocho Court, near the Tully Road 101 exit Neighbors said around 10:30 a.m., the suspect went walking around the neighborhood with a machete. Later, he smashed a car with the weapon and then went into his garage and started lighting items on fire. Police surrounded the suspect and he was taken into custody. The suspect's sister said he may have wanted police to take his life. The suspect has not been identified, and nobody was hurt.

As I continue to read on twitter that former dude from MSNBC that couldn't beat O'Reilly at 8, some NBA star I never heard of and that CBS anaylist that I used to like until yesterday talk about how the NFL and NCAA should move from Indianapolis, I realize maybe it is time to move the Super Bowl out of San Francisco and the whole California state. There is no reason why millions of freedom loving Christians, conservatives, republicans or libertarians should have to watch this horrible city host one of the biggest events of the year. The city that...

Former CEO and potential Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Sunday the probability she’ll formally start a 2016 campaign is “higher than 90 percent” and that she will likely announce in early April or mid-May. . . . Fiorina was consistent in her criticism about Clinton’s legacy as secretary of state, saying, “flying is an activity, not an accomplishment.”

At least 2,000 jobs will likely be lost in New Mexico’s oil and gas industry in the coming months because of sharp declines in the price of crude oil, according to estimates by the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

According to Lisa Wade, a professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, if you have an understandings of Economics, you are likely a bad person. That was her finding in an article she published this week, titled "ARE ECONOMICS MAJORS ANTI-SOCIAL?" The first word in the piece was simply, "Yep." Dr. Wade writes that if you have taken classes on Economics, you "are less likely to share, less generous to the needy, and more likely to cheat, lie, and steal." She largely bases her belief on a study from 2010. In the study, students were asked if they would like...

VENICE (CBSLA.com) — Police sought the public’s help Friday to locate two men accused of using a skateboard to attack a woman in Venice. The assault occurred around 9 p.m. Thursday at the Venice Beach Skate Park, located near Pacific and Windward avenues, according to police. A woman recorded the assault on her cellphone and turned it into police. Her friend, Laura Lee, shared details of the graphic attack with CBS2/KCAL9. Lee explained the female victim was involved in a verbal fight with several men at the skate park before she walked away, which then led to a violent turn....

The Niners acquired Martin last March in a deal with Miami. Martin had left the Dolphins in October 2013 after accusing teammate Richie Incognito of bullying...Martin started seven games at right tackle last season in place of injured Anthony Davis. He struggled in that role and allowed 7 1/2 sacks

View Data Table This graphic shows the 10 largest state-to-state migration flows in and out of California for the period 1955-1960 compared to that of 1995-2000. In the late 1950s, the largest flows involving California were all inflows to the state, generally from states in the Midwest or Northeast. This pattern contrasted with the flows in the late 1990s, where nearly all of the largest migration streams involving California represented out-migration to other states.

It might be fun to poke fun at Texas Senator and GOP Presidential candidate Ted Cruz for signing up for Obamacare but he is far from alone. As a matter of fact some other top GOP candidates for the 2016 Republican nomination are right there with Cruz. In fact almost every member of the House and the Senate who have voted over 50 times to repeal Obamacare are enrolled in the plan. It is important to be clear there is no such thing as being “on Obamacare.” It’s not an insurance plan, or a single program like Medicare or Social...

Last week when NASA announced that California is on its death bed and has only 12 months of water left, the news hit like a punch to the gut. “Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins — that is, all of the snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined — was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America’s largest reservoir,” writes Jay Famiglietti of NASA. Famiglietti adds: “Statewide, we’ve been dropping...

Tensions ran high over the weekend when anti-”amnesty” activists showed up to a Spanish-language town hall event featuring Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) and proceeded to shout him down. The event at the University of Southern California was billed as “Keeping Families Together: An Immigration Town Hall” featuring Gutiérrez and fellow Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), and was delivered in Spanish with the option for attendees to wear headphones for English translations. The event focused on President Barack Obama‘s recent executive action on immigration, and featured materials assisting undocumented immigrants with signing up deportation deferrals under the new policy.

Fresno's Deputy Police Chief Arrested On Drug Charges Fresno's deputy police chief was among four people arrested on federal drug charges, including conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and heroin, authorities said Thursday. By MATT HAMILTON Second-in-command of Fresno police department and four others held on federal drug charges, authorities said. The second-in-command of the Fresno Police Department and four others were arrested Thursday on federal drug charges, authorities said. Keith Foster, who joined the department in 1986 and worked as deputy chief since 2007, is accused of conspiring to distribute heroin, oxycodone and marijuana, according to the federal criminal complaint unsealed...

Seven Southwestern states will soon be infiltrated by 1,200 military special ops personnel as part of a controversial domestic military training in which some of the elite soldiers will operate undetected among civilians. Operation Jade Helm begins in July and will last for eight weeks. Soldiers will operate in and around towns in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado where some of them wil drop from planes while carrying weapons loaded with blanks in what military officials have dubbed Realistic Military Training. ....snip....

(Reuters) - Apple Inc's Tim Cook, one of the most prominent openly gay American CEOs, has joined fellow tech industry chiefs in decrying a controversial Indiana law that opponents say could allow companies to deny services to gay people. Cook, who publicly declared his sexual orientation last year, joined other tech chief executives, including Salesforce.com Inc's Marc Benioff, in blasting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which could let business and individuals turn away customers by citing "religious freedom." Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the controversial bill into law on Thursday.