Free Republic

No one’s freedom provides the right to endanger others. That is the point of the adage that my right to swing my fist ends at another person’s nose. The government always has the power to impose restrictions on behavior to protect other people from harm, including to stop the spread of a communicable disease. Yet these basic principles are forgotten by those who opposed a mask mandate and who now are trying to prohibit vaccine passports. Indeed, the government can and should require that everyone be vaccinated against COVID. There is no constitutional right to refuse to wear a mask...

RENO — Detectives say a Nevada woman accused of fatally stabbing her husband with a carving knife 12 years ago has said that she and another man tried to encase his body in concrete when they buried him in a shallow grave. Pam Erwin, 57, of Elko was arrested Jan. 5 on murder and conspiracy charges. She made an initial appearance in Humboldt County Justice Court in Winnemucca last week in the death of James Erwin. Her alleged accomplice, James Alan Melendez, 52, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona was arrested Jan. 11.

President Obama’s former chief of staff hasn’t even been sworn in as Chicago mayor and already his administration has been tainted by a major scandal involving the illegal use of public resources to conduct political business. The co-chair of mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel's campaign, also a top member of his transition team, quit abruptly after the local media revealed that she engaged in “prohibited political activity” as a high-level state employee to help none other than Obama get elected in 2008. As the director of Illinois’ Board of Higher Education, Judy Erwin used her state-issued cell phone, electronic mail account...

A veteran politician Rahm Emanuel named to his mayoral transition team resigned her high-level state job last summer and paid a fine for conducting political business on state time, according to a newly filed ethics report. Judy Erwin, a co-chair of Emanuel's mayoral campaign, said late Friday night that she would resign her new post on his transition team after the Tribune contacted her and the campaign. She said she hadn't informed Emanuel of the ethics violation.

Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Jim Hoft A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero. Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques. At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards...

Special to washingtonpost.com With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion. A federal statute, 42 United States Code section 1988, provides that attorneys are entitled to recover compensation for their fees...

As more comes to light about Diane Griego Erwin, the former Sacramento Bee columnist, the more revealing and instructive the story becomes. It is a story we mentioned in a recent Media Monitor, but much more has come to light. In one sense, it is another validation for the New Media, specifically the blogs; and for another, it shines a light on problems related to diversity in the newsrooms, when diversity strictly refers to skin color. It also spells potential big trouble for the Sacramento Bee editor, Rick Rodriguez, the new president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE)....

From Jan. 1, 2004, until her final column on April 26, Griego Erwin wrote 171 columns. The Bee's investigation found 30 names in 27 separate columns that could not be verified during that time period. The people could not be found in voter registration rolls, property records, telephone books, identity databases or through scores of phone calls. In light of those findings, the review expanded to include a sampling of columns spanning her 12-year tenure with the newspaper, and 13 additional cases in another 10 columns were found. Many of the columns in question fit a template: essays, often with...

Remember that much-publicized Jayson Blair case at the New York Times, in which a coddled reporter was found to have been making up facts for his newspaper stories? Jayson Blair's actions were greatly deplored and led to his firing and the resignation of his editor. Now, the Sacramento Bee in my hometown, finds that it has had on its staff a columnist whose journalistic inventions over her twelve years of employment may dwarf those of Jayson Blair. The liberal Sacramento Bee reported on Sunday, June 26, that its investigation of columnist Diana Griego Erwin's politically correct, three-times-a-week, human-interest columns reveal...

Today Hugh Hewitt had Erwin Chemerinsky on his fine radio talk show. The discussion centered around the shamful oped piece in today's LA Times where Erwin blasted the US for violating international law for G'itmo detainees, the war on Iraq, etc. I see this as more hate America talk and basically providing aid and comfort to an enemy who may very well use this article from a prominent US lawyer in it's propaganda war. I encourage everyone to voice their displeasure with Hugh in giving Mr. Chemerinsky a platform to voice his anti-American views. I for one have told Mr....