Free Republic

Wednesday marked Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. Across the United States, conservatives gathered in chicken restaurants to show support for the company after its president, Dan Cathy, came out against gay marriage. Democratic mayors in Chicago and Boston at first threatened to halt expansion of the Chick-fil-A chain to their cities, which turned a question of sexual morality into a debate about freedom of speech. The motto of conservative Christians seems to be, "They'll take my chicken from my cold dead hand..." Writing as a European, this story combines two of the things we most readily associate with America: Jesus Christ and...

The Obama administration is widely regarded as the most lawless in U.S. history. This much you already know. Not enough votes to pass Obamacare? Bribe senators. Don’t like the Defense of Marriage law? Refuse to defend it in court. Congress won’t pass the “Dream Act” granting amnesty to a million illegals? Do it yourself by executive fiat. Don’t want to defend America’s borders? Sue states that do. Don’t like congressional inquiries? Ignore their subpoenas. Obama’s violations are so blatant and manifold that nine states have joined together to sue the federal government for its rampant lawlessness. So, now comes election...

The Solyndra scandal took a big step up the ladder today, as ABC News uncovers new evidence that shows fears over a collapse reached all the way into the West Wing. An OMB analyst tried to raise red flags on the Obama administration’s attempt to rescue the now-bankrupt green-tech firm, before the Department of Energy rejected her advice and restructured the loans in March 2011, which illegally subordinated taxpayers in case of default. An e-mail from Kelly Colyar in August 2011 reminded recipients that she had predicted that very scenario — and that White House chief of staff had been...

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Adam Smith, the man who videotaped himself getting free water at a Chick-Fil-A drive-thru just to berate the young woman as been fired. Smith in his video said he was happy to feel "purposeful" in condemning the Chick-Fil-A employee over CEO Dan Cathy's same-sex-marriage remarks. The video went viral and citizen journalists tracked him down online and grabbed copies of his resume. His employer, Vante, released this statement a bit ago: Vante of Tucson, AZ Regrets Actions of Former CFO Employee Has Left the Company TUCSON, AZ--(Marketwire - Aug 2, 2012) - The following is a statement from Vante: Vante...

It's unlikely that President Barack Obama will be naming any tax proposals after George B. Kaiser. An investment by the Tulsa billionaire's family foundation in Solyndra, whose bankruptcy may leave taxpayers on the hook for $535 million in federal loans, has raised speculation that the administration acted in part to aid a financial supporter. But the impact on taxpayers of Kaiser's career goes far beyond the $535 million loss. Kaiser has built his fortune in part through shrewdly playing the Internal Revenue Code. In one six year period, during which he increased his net worth enough to land him on...

[photo at link] On a day that some gay-rights activists are planning a "National Same-Sex Kiss Day," a Chick-fil-A in Torrance was vandalized overnight with hateful graffiti. Chick-fil-A employees were greeted Fridays morning with the words "Tastes like hate" scrawled in large black lettering mimicking the chain's advertising across the back wall of the restaurant at 182nd Street and Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance. With media helicopters hovering overhead and police officers on the scene, one employee said, "I'm just trying to sort everything out."

Vandals at a Chick-Fil-A in Torrance left a message on the restaurant Friday during a week of protests in response to the company president's comments regarding same-sex marriage. "Tastes Like Hate" and a cow with a paint brush appeared on the Torrance restaurant early Friday as same-sex marriage activists planned a "National Same-Sex Kiss Day" at Chick-fil-A locations nationwide. The kiss-in comes two days after a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," which resulted in what the Georgia-based chain called a "record-setting" day. The company's executive vice president of marketing declined to offer sales figures to NBC News. Participants in Friday's counter-protest will...

The Ohio Democrat Party joined the 'party' and along with the Obama for America Campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) - the 3 filed suit to reduce the three extra days the members of our military have to vote...because, you know they might be busy and might need those extra days. According to the sue-happy administration and Democrats, the Military has "no discernible rational basis" for needing extra time. That's a good argument considering Military absentee votes are seldom counted - but you have to think if you show up to vote in your own district, three days, or two...

(snip) The math is simple. In 2008, black turnout was way up. Hispanic turnout was up. Young voters flooded the polls. Barack Obama won a substantial majority (53.4%) of the vote, the largest majority for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide in 1964. The white vote, as a percentage of the total vote, was down. Obama captured 43% of the white vote, the highest percentage of white votes garnered by a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson (President Clinton also received 43% of the white vote in his 1996 re-election campaign). Fast forward to 2012. Black turnout indicators...

THE ONE OR TWO HONEST POLLING OUTFITS - LIKE RASMUSSEN - SHOW THAT OBAMA IS LOSING TO ROMNEY BY ABOUT 5%. BUT PEW AND QUINNIPIAC SHOW OBAMA AHEAD IN POLLS SO SLANTED THEY'RE LAUGHABLE. MEANWHILE, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER REID IS SMEARING ROMNEY FROM THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE WITH RIDICULOUS HEARSAY CHARGES SO AWFUL EVEN JON STEWART THINKS REID IS DISGUSTING. WHY THE FULL COURT PRESS? SIMPLE: THEY'RE TRYING TO MINIMIZE OBAMA'S IMPENDING DEFEAT IN ORDER TO HOLD ON TO THE SENATE. THEY KNOW THAT IF A MAJORITY OF VOTERS KNEW HOW TRULY BADLY OBAMA IS DOING NOW - 99...

DEMOCRATS like to portray themselves as defenders of science, but their pursuit of a “green” environmental agenda often involves goals that defy the laws of physics. Take the fuel-economy standards the Obama administration pushed through in 2011. Those regulations require the U.S. vehicle fleet to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Even with advances in engineering, that goal is daunting. The power required to move something as massive as an American vehicle (full-size trucks weigh between 7,500 and 12,000 pounds) at high speeds necessitates burning a little fuel. Consider this: Many 2012 model motorcycles don't get 54.5 miles per...

......................Psychologists Yoel Inbar and Joris Lammers, based at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, surveyed a roughly representative sample of academics and scholars in social psychology and found that “In decisions ranging from paper reviews to hiring, many social and personality psychologists admit that they would discriminate against openly conservative colleagues.” This finding surprised the researchers. The survey questions “were so blatant that I thought we’d get a much lower rate of agreement,” Mr. Inbar said. “Usually you have to be pretty tricky to get people to say they’d discriminate against minorities.” One question, according to the researchers, “asked whether, in...

A former rising star within the Service Employees International Union has been charged with bilking his ex-employer, one of the nation's most powerful labor groups. Tyrone Freeman, 42 years old, who once led a large Los Angeles-based local representing low-wage health-care workers, was indicted Tuesday on 15 criminal counts, including mail fraud and the embezzlement of $100,000.

[OFFICIAL CHARGES OF DISCRIMINATION FILED BY GAY RIGHTS REPRESENTATION AGAINST CHICK FIL A - IL] The Civil Rights Agenda, a local LGBT rights advocacy group, filed multiple complaints with the Illinois Department of Human Rights Thursday, alleging that the Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A restaurant chain’s “intolerant corporate culture” violates Illinois law and a provision in the state’s Human Rights Act. “In our current high speed media and social media environment, Chick-fil-A has announced and caused to be published, to hundreds of millions of people, that LGBT people are unacceptable and objectionable,” said Jacob Meister, Governing Board President of TCRA and the attorney...

Today, gay rights supporters from across the nation are contemplating whether the crowd they draw to Chick-fil-A restaurants for their planned ‘kiss in’ this Friday will be anything like that drawn for the ‘Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day’ yesterday. Yet based upon some recent comments made by those who claim zero religious affiliation, no past Chick-fil-A patronage, and absolutely no animosity towards the gay community, it doesn’t look good for them. The planned gay protest, orchestrated after the Chick-fil-A company’s President Dan Cathy affirmed his support for traditional marriage, seeks to undermine the restaurant chains freedom of religious liberty in the marketplace....

On Tuesday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn sent S. 681--a heretofore utterly uncontroversial, modestly pro-gun bill that had passed with overwhelming bipartisan support--back to the General Assembly with an "amendatory veto." The amendatory veto process is a power granted to Illinois governors allowing them to make changes to bills that have passed. If a simple majority in each chamber accepts the governor's changes, the altered bill becomes law. If three fifths of each chamber (36 of the state's 59 senators, and 71 of the 118 representatives) vote to override the veto, the original bill becomes law. If neither happens, the bill...

"Political pressure" by a White House eager to tout its stimulus agenda was largely to blame for fast-tracking the ill-fated $535 million Solyndra loan guarantee, according to findings in a massive new congressional report released Thursday morning. The report, by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, caps a nearly yearlong investigation by the panel into why the government allegedly ignored red flags to approve the loan. Solyndra, a solar-panel firm, filed for bankruptcy last year. "It is clear DOE should never have issued the loan guarantee to Solyndra," the report said, adding that a subsequent decision to restructure...

One day after having the best sales day in its history, Chick-fil-A will have to prepare itself for a counter-protest to yesterday's "appreciation day" by those outraged over threats made by mayors and city council members in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York (Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not join his colleagues in the other cities). Supporters of same-sex marriage will stage "kiss-ins" at Chick-fil-A locations tomorrow, if a Facebook-organized protest succeeds: Yesterday’s banner turnout at Chick-fil-A restaurants for free speech rights — with thousands of people nationwide and hundreds in the Bay State’s two locations lining up to buy...

Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign, told reporters on a conference call this morning that Obama campaign manager Jim Messina "appears" to have broken the law, based off a series of emails Messina sent from his personal account as White House deputy chief of staff Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/eric-fehrnstrom-jim-messina-obama-romney-emails-obamacare-2012-8#ixzz22PKKy5zs

. . When store employees in the red shirts realize what’s happening, they block the doors to stop the young thieves from leaving. But the kids physically struggle to get out and even appear to hit the store manager who then swings back. After the brief altercation, many kids dash out the door. . . After reviewing the surveillance video, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office opted not to pursue criminal charges in the case saying not every conflict warrants them. . . A bill to toughen the punishments for this kind of crime failed to pass in Maryland’s last...

If mismanaging an economic recovery were an Olympic event, President Obama would be standing on the middle platform right now, accepting the gold medal. Deep recessions are supposed to be followed by strong recoveries, but, under Obama, the worst recession since the 1930s has been followed by the slowest economic recovery in the history of the republic. In a very real sense, there has been no recovery at all—things are still getting worse. To win the gold for economic mismanagement, Obama had to beat out some very tough competitors, including the previous Olympic record holder, George W. Bush. Let’s look...

Business General Motors GM profits slip 41% as European struggles take their toll America's largest car firm made $1.5bn in the second quarter of 2012, with European division reporting operating loss of $361m Share 531 Email Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 August 2012 09.25 EDT General Motors GM's CEO Dan Akerson said: 'We have more work to do to offset the headwinds we face.' Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/EPA General Motors' profits fell 41% in the second quarter as troubles in Europe undercut strong sales in North America. America's largest automaker made $1.5bn in the second quarter of 2012, compared with $2.5bn...

Watch this short video clip to watch a lefty in action.

Stuck in a job with lousy pay? Better get used to it. Some 28% of workers are expected to hold low-wage jobs in 2020, roughly the same percentage as in 2010, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute. The study defines low-paying jobs as those with wages at or below what full-time workers must earn to live above the poverty level for a family of four. In 2011, this was $23,005, or $11.06 an hour. The economy won't support much growth in jobs with higher salaries, said Rebecca Thiess, policy analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who...

Rahm Emanuel, Chick-fil-A, and the easy slide into fascism Several big-city mayors have tried to bully an honest business owner for holding firm to his Christian faith. They ought to be ashamed of themselves POSTED ON JULY 31, 2012, AT 6:42 AM RECENT COLUMNS Gun control has failed this country Why President Obama's tax attack on Mitt Romney will backfire Obama's plan isn't a tax cut at all SEE ALL COLUMNS The past two weeks have brought to light a truly disturbing political demonstration — and it has nothing to do with presidential elections or generic congressional ballots. At least...

“It’s been like this since 6:00 AM.” It was 8:15 PM. The employee had a tired but sincere smile on his face as he went from car to car, already a block from his restaurant, thanking customers for both their patience and their support. Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day has apparently taken on a life far greater than anyone could have envisioned, and according to reports pouring in from around the country, the Bible-respecting chicken franchise has had to call in off-duty staff in an attempt to keep up with the hordes of people flocking to the store. Out of...

The House voted this week on a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks in the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803) required a two-thirds vote, but fell short after 148 Democrats and 6 Republicans voted in opposition. H.R. 3803 would have been a significant pro-life victory in a city that is wildly pro-abortion. Via Life News: The Council of the District of Columbia, employing authority delegated by Congress, repealed the entire D.C. abortion law. Thus, in the nation’s capital, abortion is currently legal for any reason through all nine months...

The OhioAmerican Energy company announced it would close its coal mine near Brilliant, Ohio on Tuesday. There is no question whatsoever about the reason for the shutdown, because the company made it abundantly clear in their press release, which I am reproducing in full below. President Obama will be campaigning in Ohio on Wednesday; perhaps someone will present him with a copy of this letter and ask for his thoughts. ———- OhioAmerican Energy, Inc. (“OhioAmerican”), a Subsidiary of Murray Energy Corporation (“Murray Energy”), today announced the closure of its coal mining operations near Brilliant, Jefferson County, Ohio. Regulatory actions by...

During the American Civil War of the 1860's, it was mostly Democrats that chose to secede from the union and create an uprising against the Republicans led by Abe Lincoln who wanted to abolish slavery. Slavery being the ownership of blacks by whites, or the ownership of another human being by other human beings. This was and still is the way in which the Democratic Party functions. The Democrats believe in the national ownership of individuals. Not much within the party's platform has changed. Today, it doesn't matter what race or color you are, as long as you belong to...

With just three months to go in the election, President Obama’s campaign manager faced a fusillade of questions Wednesday about whether he deliberately skirted disclosure rules during his time as deputy White House chief of staff, undermining the administration’s claim to be “the most transparent administration in history.” A House Energy and Commerce Committee report released Tuesday revealed several emails from senior White House aides sent from private addresses, as well as email correspondence about meetings with lobbyists purposely scheduled off campus to avoid official records. Jim Messina, then Mr. Obama’s deputy chief of staff, sent one particularly embarrassing email...

[snip see website] Obama for America’s website advertises Alderman Moreno’s [Government] office as a place to volunteer and make phone calls for the president.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: There's a new poll out. CBS/New York Times. Quinnipiac University. CBS and the New York Times are using a new pollster. And, folks, they are having an orgasm over this poll out there today. It's a poll of battleground states, and of course the end result shows Obama way up in all these battleground states. It's exciting. They can't wait to tell everybody about it. Except there's a problem. They do not break down the sample in the story. Neither the New York Times nor CBS let the reader know the partisan identification of the participants in...

Aug 1 (Reuters Point Carbon) - In an effort to dissuade companies in key industries facing new carbon costs from leaving the state, California is considering giving them millions of dollars worth of additional free greenhouse gas allowances, state's air regulator said on Monday. California's cap-and-trade program seeks to emulate tactics used in the European Union and Australia to address emission "leakage" - a term describing the exodus of employers from a state or country in order to sidestep environmental costs. The California Air Resources Board (ARB), the regulator of the forthcoming program, held a workshop in Sacramento on Monday...

A powerful New York politician claims she was just speaking as a private citizen when she tried to run Chick-fil-A out of town, but she used her official letterhead and even invoked her position as City Council speaker to apply pressure on the embattled chicken chain. New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has mayoral aspirations, sent a letter to New York University president John Sexton on Saturday asking the school to immediately end their contract with the fast food restaurant. The Atlanta-based company's sole New York City outlet is in the school's food court. "I write as the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Barack Obama donating to himself, ladies and gentlemen. From The Politico: "In an e-mail to supporters --" You know what a lot of people are noticing? There are constant e-mail appeals from Obama to his supporters for money. And these e-mails are getting more desperate. They are. They are occurring much more frequently and even Obama supporters are getting nervous. Every day there's a new appeal, and some of them are really weird, like forgo your wedding gifts and ask your guests to instead send the equivalent money to Obama. That was real. It didn't work. "In...

2:17, fun begins at the 50 sec. mark

One Occupy Wall Street protester was ticketed for trespassing and a fire alarm went off over the weekend at the hotel holding the American Legislative Exchange Council's 39th annual meeting in Salt Lake City, according to Salt Lake City police. Salt Lake City Police Detective Joshua Ashdown said that police were investigating how the fire alarm was pulled, but that nobody was seen doing it. Pulling a fire alarm is a misdemeanor, Ashdown said. The Occupy movement’s Salt Lake City branch had posted on its website that it wanted to disrupt the ALEC convention. The American Legislative Exchange Council works...

Politicians use their e-mail lists to continually hit their base with requests for donations. Everyone who puts their name on a political list expects to see those e-mails on a constant basis, usually tied to the news cycle. Michele Bachmann's campaign is particularly adept at this, with missives that start by saying something like this completely hypothetical opening sentence: "Senate Democrats passed a tax increase on job creators last week, so it's more important than ever to have me in the House fighting for our economic health." That kind of moment-to-moment marketing approach both uses potential flash points to encourage...

President Obama cited an "independent, non-partisan study" in Mansfield, Ohio earlier today:

In an interview Tuesday on New York City's TV channel 5, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) denied that he is under investigation by federal authorities, contradicting several previous reports by the New York Times, New York Post and New York Daily News. The New York Post reported on Saturday that a nonprofit called the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation received subpoenas connected to a broader investigation of Meeks, who has steered millions in federal funds to the group. As he has done in the past, Meeks attributed his woes to the New York Post and NLPC. Of the most recent reports, he...

The House Ethics Committee has found Rep. Laura Richardson guilty of violating rules that prohibit pressuring her staff to perform campaign work and personal errands and is recommending that the House issue a reprimand and fine her $10,000. The panel also found that Ms. Richardson, a Democrat from California, obstructed the Ethics panel’s investigation by altering or destroying evidence and a deliberately failed to respond to a subpoena for documents. The committee also said she attempted to influence the testimony of witnesses. Ethics Committee Chairman Jo Bonner, a Republican from Alabama, and ranking member Linda Sanchez, a Democrat from California,...

On July 27, just before Friday prayers, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei summoned top Iranian military chiefs for what he called "their last war council." "We'll be at war within weeks," he told the gathering, DEBKAfile's exclusive Iranian and intelligence sources disclose. Present were Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi, Khamenei's military adviser General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, Armed Forces Chief Major General Seyed Hassan Firuzabadi, Revolutionary Guards Corps commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Al Qods Brigades chief General Qassem Soleimani. The commanders of the air force, the navy and ground forces were also there.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that President Obama will "evaluate" a new bill that would ban online ammunition sales in the wake of the shooting massacre in Aurora, Colo. That left 12 dead and dozens more injured. During the daily press briefing, Mr. Earnest was asked whether Mr. Obama supports the measure, which aims to end sales of unlimited amounts of ammunition on the Internet and other mail orders. The bill also would force ammunition dealers to report large sales of bullets and other munitions to law enforcement authorities

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn is renewing a push in Illinois to ban assault weapons in the wake of the killings at a Colorado theater that left 12 dead and dozens more wounded. The Democratic governor also revealed plans today to propose a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines in Illinois. He said in a letter to all state lawmakers that he supports the U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, but the "proliferation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines undermines public safety and the right of personal security of every citizen." The proposal comes in the form...

By Thomas Sowell, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Since so many in the media cannot resist turning every tragedy into a political talking point, it was perhaps inevitable that (1) someone would try to link the shooting rampage at the "Batman" movie in Colorado to the tea party, and that (2) some would try to make it a reason to impose more gun control laws. Too many people in the media cannot seem to tell the difference between reporting the news and creating propaganda. NBC News apparently could not resist doctoring the transcript of the conversation between George Zimmerman...

Republicans on Tuesday accused the White House of trying to “intimidate” defense companies into keeping silent about major job losses if automatic military spending cuts take effect early next year, after the administration said Monday that it would be “inappropriate” for employers to warn workers of layoffs. Defense industry officials were caught in the middle, trying to weigh the requirements of a federal law that says they must give employees 60 days’ notice before major layoffs versus the Labor Department, which said Monday that it doesn’t believe the law applies in this case. “The stakes are very high and there...

"...for the President to bow to the money, as Judas did with Jesus Christ, is a disgrace and we are ashamed. We will not take it back. We will not back down. We are going to take action across this country to change the course that this President has us in.”

The scene could hardly have been more bizarre: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade was pelted with rotten tomatoes and shoes as she was being driven to the opening of a U.S. Consulate General in the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria....Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's ostensible reason for being in Alexandria was to take part in the flag-raising ceremony for our Consulate General. This is a disgrace. Alexandria was once home to a flourishing Jewish community. Jews flourish there no more. Her symbolic presence there embodies everything wrong about this administration's foreign policy. Until recently, it was hard to...

A clothing store in a trendy Chicago neighborhood is one of the latest victims of a so-called flash mob robbery — when a large group storms into a shop to collectively rip off a retailer. About 20 people entered the Mildblend Supply Co. in Wicker Park on Saturday afternoon, together grabbing more than $3,000 worth of high-priced denim jeans, according to police. “I’ve gotten somewhat immune to the shoplifting here with young people, but this one was certainly different,” store owner Luke Cho told NBC 5 Chicago Sunday. Cho described the group as a teenage mob. Only four staff...