Free Republic

Marijuana use could soon be seen in bars, restaurants, or any public place if a proposed ballot measure makes it on the ballot and is passed by voters. “It says any private business can decide if it wants to permit adults to use marijuana,” said marijuana proponent Mason Tvert. Tvert, well-known as the driving force behind Amendment 64 which legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado, is considering a new ballot measure that would vastly expand where people can use pot in Denver. “The community in Denver has been very clear that they don’t think adults should be treated like second-class citizens...

Jerry Seinfeld is on the micro aggressive trail lately. Like when he lashed out at liberal, PC culture, or when he may the ludicrous claim that your race or gender isn't as important in comedy as whether you're funny or not. But his comments here about gay French kings have really crossed the line. They deserved a voice too. Even better is his jab at Late Night host, Seth Meyers. VIDEO AT LINK Seinfeld even called out Seth Myers for saying he would never make fun of Caitlyn Jenner, which Meyers specified that he only meant on that day... "As...

A High Court judge yesterday said immigrant parents should be allowed to slap and hit their children when they are new arrivals in Britain. To the outrage of children’s campaigners, Mrs. Justice Pauffley suggested police and social services should make allowance for foreigners because of the “different cultural context”. Her remarks came in a legal challenge from an Indian accused of beating his wife and seven-year-old son. […] In her ruling, the judge concluded: “I do not believe there was punitively harsh treatment of [the boy] of the kind that would merit the term ‘physical abuse’. Proper allowance must be...

Khairullozhon Matanov is a 24-year-old former cab driver from Quincy, Massachusetts. The night of the Boston Marathon bombings, he ate dinner with Tamerlan and Dhzokhar Tsarnaev at a kebob restaurant in Somerville. Four days later Matanov saw photographs of his friends listed as suspects in the bombings on the CNN and FBI websites. Later that day he went to the local police. He told them that he knew the Tsarnaev brothers and that they’d had dinner together that week, but he lied about whose idea it was to have dinner, lied about when exactly he had looked at the Tsarnaevs’...

One of the most controversial art works of the 1990s is going up for auction, and it could be yours – elephant dung and all – for around $2.3 million. “The Holy Virgin Mary,” a 1996 painting by British artist Chris Ofili, created a firestorm of controversy when it was exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1999. The painting depicts a black Madonna figure baring one breast, which is made from lacquered elephant dung and surrounded by butterfly-like formations of female genitalia (a play on the term putti, a type of cherub depicted in religious art). Many Catholics...

Left-wing Marxist Sen. Bernie Sanders penned a disgusting anti-woman ‘rape’ screed in ’72, but he’ll probably get away with it because, after all, he’s not a conservative It will be interesting to see what the mainstream media will make of an essay written by avowed socialist (and Democratic presidential contender) Sen. Bernie Sanders in 1972, in which he claimed, among other things, that a woman “fantasizes being raped by three men simultaneously.” Here’s a forecast: Sanders, because he’s on the Left side of politics like the mainstream media, will get a pass. Still, his campaign has already begun trying...

A Syrian Christian fighter has beheaded an Islamic State group (IS) militant to avenge people "executed" by the jihadists in northeastern Syria, a monitor said on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the incident took place on Thursday in Hasakeh province, where IS holds large areas of the countryside. According to the monitor, the Christian fighter, a member of the minority Assyrian community, found the jihadist in the local village of Tal Shamiram. "He took him prisoner and when he found out he was a member of IS, the Assyrian fighter beheaded him in revenge for abuses committed...

...This month, painter and photographer Richard Prince reminded us that what you post is public, and given the flexibility of copyright laws, can be shared — and sold — for anyone to see. As a part of the Frieze Art Fair in New York, Prince displayed giant screenshots of other people’s Instagram photos without warning or permission. The collection, “New Portraits,” is primarily made up of pictures of women, many in sexually charged poses. They are not paintings, but screenshots that have been enlarged to 6-foot-tall inkjet prints. According to Vulture, nearly every piece sold for $90,000 each. How is...

Nothing causes the lunatic Left to froth and rave and lose its mind like Christianity in action. Whenever something awful happens and Christians do what Christians are commanded to do: forgive, the left simply draws a blank.  That’s just a place in their brains where the door is permanently locked (even those on the left who call themsevles Christian). As one example, back in 2007, Matthew Murray shot and killed two Youth With a Mission (YWAM) trainees in Arvada, Colorado, escaped and drove to New Life Church in Colorado Springs, killing one more and wounding three.  Murray was shot and killed...

Not surprisingly, the GOP presidential debates announced last week will be open only to candidates who can legally serve as president. That will make Fox News and CNN the first arbiters of Canada-born Ted Cruz’s eligibility. By putting him on stage, they will implicitly be granting a seal of approval to the only contender born outside the U.S. The U.S. Constitution says a president has to be a natural-born citizen. Fox and CNN both listed Article II, Section 1 among the requirements for would-be debaters. It’s inconceivable that either network would invoke that requirement to shut out the Texas senator....

WASHINGTON — The stacks of Supreme Court briefs filed on both sides of the same-sex marriage cases to be heard this month are roughly the same height. But they are nonetheless lopsided: There are no major law firms urging the justices to rule against gay marriage. Leading law firms are willing to represent tobacco companies accused of lying about their deadly products, factories that spew pollution, and corporations said to be complicit in torture and murder abroad. But standing up for traditional marriage has turned out to be too much for the elite bar. The arguments have been left to...

Bill Jack wants to make one thing perfectly clear: Bakers should not be forced to make a cake that would violate their conscience or freedom of expression. Jack, of Castle Rock, Colo., is making national headlines over an experiment he conducted in the wake of attacks on Christian business owners who refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages. Last year, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled that the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood unlawfully discriminated against a gay couple who wanted a wedding cake. Jack Phillips, the owner of the cake shop, is a devout Christian, and his attorneys argued that...

WASHINGTON — A 17-year-old transgender youth, Leelah Alcorn, stunned her friends and a vast Internet audience in December when she threw herself in front of a tractor-trailer after writing in an online suicide note that religious therapists had tried to convert her back to being a boy. In response, President Obama this week will call for an end to such psychiatric therapies aimed at “repairing” gay, lesbian and transgender youth, White House officials said. His decision on the sensitive issue is the latest example of his continuing embrace of gay rights. In a statement to be posted on Wednesday evening...

Iran Holocaust cartoon contest receives hundreds of submissions • Over 300 artists from Iran and countries such as France, China sent in entries for controversial competition Hundreds of people from Iran and around the globe submitted entries for the Islamic Republic's Second International Holocaust Cartoon Contest, a competition official announced Monday. "839 artworks have also been sent to the secretariat, 686 of them have been sent to the cartoon section and 153 more are related to caricature section," Secretary Masud Shojaei-Tabatabaii told the semi-official Fars News Agency, marking the second time since 2006 that the country has held the controversial...

It turns out some Muslim-owned bakeries are no more willing to create wedding cakes for same-sex ceremonies than their Christian counterparts. Conservative podcast host Steven Crowder posted hidden-camera video Thursday showing employees at several Muslim-owned bakeries in Dearborn, Michigan, declining his business or referring him to other shops when he asked for a wedding cake with the message “Ben and Steven forever.” Which was fine with Mr. Crowder. “I’m not even saying these Muslim bakeries shouldn’t have a right to do whatever they did — they absolutely should — and many more of them would than Christian bakeries,” he said...

Gay wedding cakes! Yes folks, I did this. I went there. You have this now. Actually, I taped this video a long time ago but due to audio corruption issues, was never able to upload it. Now that my in-house whizz kid, Jared was able to salvage the footage, I am passing it onto you. What do you think happens when a gay, like SUPER gay Crowder tries to get a super gay wedding cake baked at a Muslim bakery? I’m pretty sure you can guess, but you might as well watch this week’s adventure to Dearborn, MI to find...

Yesterday, the Department of Justice offered a curious contrast in their fight against corruption, with actions in two cases sending competing messages. Apart, each case has its own highlights, and cover very different kinds of alleged corruption. Put together, though, it seems to tell an intriguing story about how this Department of Justice views its mission, and its targets, which is the subject of my column today at The Fiscal Times: Nearly eleven months later, the Department of Justice has decided to pass on enforcing the contempt charge. Even though Lerner offered testimony in her opening statement and her...

Yep. The power of Twitter has been shown time and time again. What sparked that comment this time? Well, this happened:

Here are 10 reactions to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's, R-Texas, Monday announcement at Liberty University that he is running for president. These comments are from journalists and pundits from across the partisan and ideological spectrum and are in no particular order. 1. Jerry Brown, governor of California Cruz's position on climate change make him unfit, not just to be president, but to run for office. "That man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of the existing scientific data. It's shocking and I think that man has rendered himself absolutely unfit to be running for office." 2....

The GOP frenzy over Benghazi is primarily a political attack (13 attacks similar to Benghazi took place against U.S. consulates during the Bush years), however it's fair to ask certain questions about anyone who uses personal emails as a public official. Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and everyone else in the GOP who've used private emails and servers should have their emails audited by a third-party. Furthermore, since Jeb Bush discussed security issues and troop deployments, he should have his email security analyzed by the Department of Defense. Anyone in government using a private email address should be subject to the...