Free Republic

Fort Worth police broke up a cockfighting event that ended in the arrests of three men, and 130 birds confiscated, but many had to be euthanized. Officers were called to a home in the 4300 block of Windowmere Street just after 11 a.m. Sunday. Police said 95 cocks, 17 hens and 18 chicks were seized. Seventeen recently-dead cocks were also found on the property. "We humanely euthanized 90 roosters, all who were in some state of suffering," Diane Covey with the Fort Worth Animal Shelter said via email. "Some of the roosters were still wearing gaffs, they were bleeding from...

Freedom From Truth: FFRF is beyond all reason by Daniel Clark “Our purpose is to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church,” At least that’s what Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote in a thinly veiled threat to the Allegheny County Council, to dissuade it from installing a plaque in the county courthouse that says “In God We Trust.” That principle, like everything else the FFRF stands for, is a lie. If Gaylor and friends can point to anything in the U.S. Constitution that prohibits a Pittsburgh courthouse from acknowledging God, this particular resident...

Incarnation or Reincarnation? The “no crying” chubby little thing in the manger, captured with Hallmark brilliance, fails to express the essence of the event that took place in human history two millennia ago. That event profoundly impacts our idea of human identity, about which we hear so many theories two thousand years later. Backed by “deeply researched progressive” laws, we now proudly affirm our right to self-identify, changing or creating our identity by the slightest whim or fantasy. Some now claim to be animals. The “otherkin” community, for example, believes they have a non-human or animal soul or ancestry, inherited...

Facebook officials said they will not punish any employees who choose to take off work May 1 to protest President Donald Trump. Pro-immigration groups, socialist organizations, labor unions, and hundreds of thousands of workers are planning to walk out on their jobs on International Workers Day. “At Facebook, we’re committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where employees feel comfortable expressing their opinions and speaking up,” a representative told Bloomberg. “We support our people in recognizing International Workers’ Day and other efforts to raise awareness for safe and equitable employment conditions.” Facebook told staff about its policy April 14, specifically clarifying...

With the legal cannabis industry generating $6.9 billion in sales in 2016, up 34% from 2015, it’s a no-brainer to say that much is at stake as the business inevitably grows. Much like the independent movie biz, the cannabis industry attracts investors looking for high-risk, high-reward investments, and as marijuana goes more mainstream, so does the funding mechanisms for the industry’s businesses. Just recently, numerous investment firms have cropped up, announcing themselves as major entities in the billion-dollar industry. The opportunities are wide-ranging: Everything from exotic strains of marijuana to concentrated edibles to topical creams fortified with CBD extracts, as...

The state of New Mexico has become the seventh state to impose a ban on conversion therapy, the practice of attempting to force LGBTQ people into changing their sexual orientation, with GOP Gov. Susana Martinez signing into law a bill banning its use on minors. The new "prohibition will apply to licensed physicians, nurses, psychologists and other health practitioners who apply conversion therapy to people under 18," the Associated Press reported. The law also sets up a system of penalties for violations under state licensing boards for those professions.

News that a high school student wrote nothing but #BlackLivesMatter on his personal statement in an application to California's Stanford University - and got in - has been raising some eyebrows. Ziad Ahmed, a high school student in New Jersey, proudly tweeted his news and received a range of reactions in response. There were congratulations aplenty of course - "forever in love with your audacity", laughed one user. In a profile of Mr Ahmed, notes that he worked for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and had also been invited to the White House under Barack Obama's administration.

For the first time, The Associated Press now permits journalists to use "they" as a singular pronoun. The AP announced the style change Friday at the American Copy Editors Society conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. The change follows years of questions among copy editors, reporters and editors about the use of language specifically about people who are non-binary and don't use gendered pronouns. The change is in effect online and will be in the print edition of the 2017 AP Stylebook on May 31. The new edition includes 200 new and updated entries.

If it wasn’t already clear during the November election and in the months since the inauguration, conservatives and liberals have some “irreconcilable differences” when it comes to their outlook on the world, especially when it comes to who God is, the inerrancy of the Bible, the definition of success and the meaning of life.

Soft drinks maker Coca-Cola Co has launched a gay-friendly ad featuring a brother and sister vying for the attention of a handsome pool boy in the campaign that has won praise for diversity and inclusion. "Sibling rivalry never looked more inclusive," Out Magazine said of the commercial that debuted last week. Marketing Week also approved. The ad, part of the company's global "Taste the Feeling" campaign, features a teenage girl ogling the pool boy from a downstairs window while her brother does the same from upstairs. The duo race to the refrigerator and try to trip each other in a...

Some three and a half years ago, former Prisoner of Zion and Israeli cabinet minister Natan Sharansky was George W. Bush's favorite author. Sharansky earned an unexpected boost when the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. invited him and co-author Ron Dermer to the White House and told the world that everyone should read their book, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny & Terror. While this was not the equivalent of an invitation to Oprah Winfrey's guest couch, Sharansky's tome did make it onto The New York Times bestseller list. After the easy overthrow of Saddam...

On Sunday, I was one of roughly 100 people who gathered in Niagara Square to rally for transgender rights and protest President Donald Trump’s administration’s recent legislation on trans bathroom rights. It was amazing to see the outpouring support for the trans community from individuals of all ages and backgrounds. The protest was smaller than I had hoped it would be. After the Buffalo Women’s March, I was optimistic that the thousands of folks who showed up for that event would continue to advocate for the minority groups impacted by the Trump administration, like transgender people. Unfortunately, this was not...

.....However, the night reached its climax when the sacred text of Islam was quoted during an acceptance speech for the movie “White Helmets.” A pretentious-sounding British man appointed to speak on behalf of the White Helmets, uttered the words of the Quran. This led to yet another standing ovation and tears of joy among the well-meaning celebrities.

* There are now many Catholic commentators who are questioning the Church's blindness about the danger Europe is facing. * "Islam has every chance massively to strengthen its presence in Europe with the blessing of the Church.... the Church is not only leading Europe to an impasse, it is also shooting itself in the foot." — Laurent Dandrieu, cultural editor of the French magazine Valeurs Actuelles. * "It is clear that Muslims have an ultimate goal: conquering the world...Islam, through the sharia, their law...allows violence against the infidels, such as Christians....And what is the most important achievement? Rome." — Cardinal...

The American coastal elites are living in a different country than they thought and it has a powerful voice in the new president Donald Trump is an unlikely president. He is also an unlikely cultural warrior. That hasn’t stopped him from becoming both. Besides throwing American politics into a tumult that won’t end in the near future, President Trump has reoriented and reinvigorated the American culture war. He has wrenched it away from its decades-long focus on issues related to religion and sexual morality and created another axis around populism and nationalism. The issues involved in this new culture war...

A ROW has broken out after an Islamic call to prayer was held inside one of Britain's most historic cathedrals. The traditional Muslim invocation to worship was performed in front of 1,000 people at the launch of a multi-cultural Faith Exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral. Imam Hassan of the local Masjid-e-Noor mosque was invited by church leaders to carry it out in the cathedral's 11th century Chapter House. Many worshippers welcomed the "inclusive" act but some traditionalists questioned why a "different God" should be worshipped in such an iconic Christian house. A clip of the call to prayer was initially shared...

Corporations should be encouraged to support gay rights as a means to further economic gain, attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos will hear this week. World leaders gather this week at the Swiss ski resort to discuss how to make globalism more inclusive in response to the rising tide of populism. As part of that agenda Chief Operating Officer of the Thomson Reuters Foundation Antonio Zappulla has suggested private and public sector leaders be encouraged to be more “inclusive” of LGBT staff. Singling out organisations who have been leading on that agenda for praise, Zappulla cited the British...

As Planned Parenthood fights attacks from Congressional Republicans, more than 20 local faith leaders came together to bless the organization's newest health clinic in D.C. on Tuesday. "In almost every message to our staff, I talk about our doing sacred work," says Dr. Laura Meyers, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. "This confirms the sacredness of the work we do." The NoMa health facility, which opened in September, rang with the sound of drums as visitors entered, courtesy of all-female percussion troupe Batala Washington. Erin Schmieder, a Batala member, says the group chose to participate in the...

Google Plus now has a page just for pedophiles. That’s right, PEDOPHILES! This is absolutely disgusting and makes me sick to my stomach. The whole page is different “pedosexuals” encouraging each other and raising “awareness” for why pedophilia is okay.

This week the brave African delegations to the UN fought a rear-guard action to stop a new UN office that will seek out and punish any country or institution that does not bend to the will of the dominant LGBT ethos. This months-long fight began at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and it was almost stopped there. It could have been stopped there. It could have been stopped anywhere along the way as it moved from Geneva to the Third Committee of the General Assembly and finally this week to the General Assembly itself. All that was left to...