Free Republic

Today, as most of you sit in your offices pretending to work while reading my column (thanks, by the way) I'll be taking the stand in federal court in a First Amendment lawsuit against my employer, UNC-Wilmington. The trial will be over in three days, thus ending a seven-year legal battle with important implications for academic freedom. Some have asked how the outcome of the trial will affect my work in the campus free speech movement. I'm writing this column in response to those inquiries. There are three possible outcomes to the trial this week in Greenville, NC. We could...

WASHINGTON – Errico Auricchio produced cheese with his family in Italy until he brought his trade to the United States more than 30 years ago. Now, the European Union is saying his cheese isn't authentic enough to carry a European name. As part of trade talks, the EU wants to ban the use of names like Parmesan, feta and Gorgonzola on cheese made in the United States. The argument is that the American-made cheeses are shadows of the original European varieties and cut into sales and identity of the European cheeses. Auricchio, president of Wisconsin-based BelGioioso Cheese Inc., says he...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An attempt to fight racism at a community college may have backfired. A group of employees at South Puget Sound Community College sent out an invitation to all 300 staffers. The "Staff, Faculty and Administrators of Color" encouraged employees to reply to the invitation to find out the confidential date and time of what was being called a "happy hour" to "build support and community" for people of color. The invite made it clear white people were not invited. The email read: "If you want to create space for white folks to meet and work on racism,...

This weekend I was listening to a talk radio show discussing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where the subject of “women’s rights” came up. Sirius XM radio host David Webb had a liberal and a conservative guest providing opposing perspectives on the purported pay disparity between men and women. While it has been conclusively discredited that, as of current, women are being paid less than men as a matter of systematic discrimination, what never ceases to amaze is how liberals continue to parrot the charge that this is indeed the case. It appears that no matter what evidence is...

As innocuous as they might seem, bakeries have been the center of controversy in America for some time. Oregon and Colorado bakers have been told recently that refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding is tantamount to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and therefore punishable by fines or other sanctions. These kinds of cases were the cause of the controversial changes to the Arizona Religious Freedom Restoration Act that Governor Jan Brewer vetoed in February. But there are some services a bakery is still free to deny, and no sane person would deny them the right...

Israelis Detained on Board Norwegian Jade as Cruise Ship Docked in Port of Tunis Israeli tourists were denied the right to disembark from the Norwegian Jade, a vessel operated by the Norwegian Cruise Line, when it stopped in the Port of Tunis, Tunisia recently, Jewish human rights organization B’nai Brith Canada said on Sunday. As passengers prepared to get off the ship to visit the North African republic, the Israelis were quietly told that they were not welcomed by the Tunisian Government, the group said in a statement. The cruise line did not advise the passengers in advance that Israeli...

The good news coming out of the just-concluded legislative battle in Arizona is that religious freedom remains what it has been there, undiminished by Governor Jan Brewer’s veto of a bill meant to protect it. The bad news is that the debate over religious freedom has taken an ominous turn. Here are six takeaways from the controversy. The media cannot be trusted to report accurately on social issues. I mention this first not because it is the most important part of the Arizona story — though it is very important — but because it has made understanding that story...

The rejection of Condoleezza Rice as a commencement speaker at Rutgers by its faculty council won’t surprise many Hot Air readers. It doesn’t surprise Fox News commentator and generally liberal Juan Williams, but he’s not shrugging it off, either. Williams, who has written about the shocking treatment of black conservatives by his supposedly enlightened liberal brethren, makes sure to note this episode as yet another marker in a long arc of hatred and bigotry against African-Americans who dare to challenge liberal orthodoxy — even Juan Williams himself: There is a disgraceful double standard amongst liberals, particularly those in academia, in the...

Oh, what a joy it is when a bad person makes a mistake that makes them into a hypocrite. Even better, it’s profoundly rewarding to see hypocrisy displayed on a national scale. And what’s even better that that? When it happens immediately following a triumph. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and nothing is bigger at this moment than the liberal hatred of Arizona for what many liberals labeled the “anti-gay” law. While I agree that the Arizona bill could have been written more precisely, and with a more adept legislative hand, the bill was clearly intended to...

President Obama announced last week a new race-based initiative, My Brother’s Keeper. According to the White House, the program will coordinate government agencies and private foundations to help young men and boys of color. “Of color” basically means blacks and Latinos. In fact, it’s pretty obvious the program is aimed at young black men. This fact has invited some conservative criticism. The Weekly Standard’s Terry Eastland notes that the program is likely unconstitutional. Doling out benefits explicitly based on race is generally a no-no, according to the Supreme Court. Even more frowned on: discrimination against women. The program will categorically...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a religious organisation registered as a private unlimited company in the UK, was told in 2005 that it was not exempt from paying business tax on its temple in Preston, Lancashire. Because the public were not allowed access to the temple, which was reserved for the most devout Mormons, the High Court dismissed their appeal in July 2008. However, the church refused to accept the decision, claiming that it amounted to discrimination on religious grounds and taking their battle all the way to Strasbourg. Now the European Court of Human Rights has...

By the time Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer announced that she was vetoing SB 1062, a bill that would have made it easier for business owners to turn away gay and lesbian customers, the religious right had already lost. ...................................................... There’s no chance that LGBT rights activists will give up that fight. While religious conservatives see the issue of allowing people to act according to their conscience, gay rights supporters see them as essentially demanding state sanction of gays and lesbians as a semi-pariah class against whom discrimination is less objectionable than it is against people on the basis of...

A quarter-century ago, I was a legislative reporter in Arkansas assigned to a ceremony honoring Daisy Bates, the civil rights giant who led the Little Rock school integration effort in 1957. As Gov. Bill Clinton spoke and Bates beamed, a hunched old man limped into the room and leaned against a back wall. "Gov. Faubus?" I asked. ....................................................... Safety was his straw man. Religious liberty, like public safety, is a just cause, except when it's used to justify intolerance.

Today the conservative talkers are jawing about the supposed "balance" between a person's right not to be discriminated against, and a business owner's rights of conscience. But the problem, you see, is that the first thing is not a right. I don't have a right to force people to like me. Or to hire me. Or to sell something to me. Someone will say that I do indeed have those rights, as created by the Courts or the Congress or Eric Holder (Fleas Be Upon Him). But the government cannot create rights. Only God can grant rights. And a government...

PHOENIX — The Arizona Legislature gave final approval Thursday to legislation that allows business owners asserting their religious beliefs to refuse service to gays and others, drawing backlash from Democrats who called the proposal "state-sanctioned discrimination" and an embarrassment.

Arizona has passed a bill that is aimed at expanding the rights of businesses to refuse service to homosexuals and others. The usual rhetoric applies. The liberals declare it will open the door to discrimination and the state's economy will be damaged. They have even went so far as to say it will allow people to get away with criminal activity by declaring it as an expression of faith. Like I said, the usual rhetoric applies. What can not be argued against is this. Homosexuals have declared a war on businesses that refuse them service. I'm not talking about refusing...

Author's note: This is a continuation of my previous column. The university responded three days after my call for an investigation into viewpoint discrimination in the student group recognition process at UNC-Wilmington. This is my first response to that investigation. What was intended to be a two-part series will now stretch into three parts. Enjoy part two below.Dear Chancellor Miller (chancellor@uncw.edu): I am in receipt of the results of your three day investigation into allegations of viewpoint discrimination by the student affairs division of the administration at UNC-Wilmington. The results of the investigation are unsatisfactory and now compel me to...

In his State-of-the-Union speech, President Obama denounced pay inequities between men and women. Critics expressing doubts about his sincerity cited the fact that on the President's own staff men are paid more than women. Among White House employees the 228 women pull down a median annual salary of $65,000 while 231 male staffers receive nearly $75,000. White House chief of staff Denis McDonough denied any hypocrisy on the part of the President. “Salaries at the White House are based on factors that consider skills, experience, level of education, and performance on the job,” McDonough said. “To use the raw data...

A former Canadian minister who visited the Temple Mount on Sunday was shocked to learn of the discrimination shown by Israeli police officers towards Jews. Stockwell Day, who served as Canada’s Minister of Public Safety between 2006 and 2008, visited the Temple Mount following a coincidental meeting with a resident of Jerusalem, Yosef Rabin, who regularly visits the Temple Mount compound. Rabin, who spoke to Arutz Sheva on Monday, said that his meeting with Day took place over Shabbat, when he visited friends for a Shabbat meal also attended by Day. During the meal, Rabin said, he told the former...