Free Republic

President Obama is taking heat for calling for changes in "how the media reports," during an anti-poverty event where he also took a swipe at Fox News. At the Georgetown University discussion on Tuesday, Obama lamented how, sometimes, the poor are cast as "sponges" who don't want to work. "I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant menu -- they will find folks who make me mad," Obama said. "I don't know where they find them. They're like, I don't want to work, I just want a free Obama phone...

Free speech and artistic and intellectual expression have been controversial Western traditions since the rise of the classical-Greek city-state. When our Founding Fathers introduced guarantees of such freedoms to our new nation, they were never intended to protect thinkers whom we all admire or traditionalists who produce beloved movies like The Sound of Music. The First Amendment to the Constitution instead was designed to protect the obnoxious, the provocative, the uncouth, and the creepy — on the principle that if the foulmouths can say or express what they wish and the public can put up with it, then everyone else...

[Embedded Video Here] Speech is either free or it isn't! The attack in Texas wasn't against Conservatives--it was against every American. Check out this important Afterburner to find out why Bill says you're DEAD wrong if you think the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo or attendees at the free speech event in Texas had it coming to them for being too "provocative" by drawing Mohammed.

A bill working its way through the Alabama Legislature would allow probate judges and ministers to refuse to marry same-sex couples on religious grounds. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday heard passionate testimony about the bill that the sponsor says came about after a brief period of legalized gay marriage in Alabama. Proponents say the bill would protect religious beliefs, but opponents say it opens the door to broader discrimination of same-sex couples and other groups.

Fresh off the heels of CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s embrace a philosophy that would result in the elimination of federal protections on “hate speech” (he mistakenly believed that those protections had been eliminated over a half-century ago by the Supreme Court), Barack Obama’s likely successor as America’s leading Democrat has embraced the cause of restricting free speech. In her dogged quest to sate her restless left-flank, Hillary Clinton has endorsed the notion that the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC can only be reversed by passing an amendment to the Constitution. The Court determined in Citizens United...

It's quite astonishing to watch what is unfolding in America today as our media engages in self-censorship while acting as apologists for the actions of Islamic terrorism. By doing this, the media not only sacrifices the freedom of speech that is essential to our pluralistic society, but it also promotes the fear that jihadists seek to instill by dictating what is and isn't "off limits" to debate. This is already happening with news reporters such as Ayman Mohyeldin of NBC now calling for special speech protections for Islam in the wake of Sunday's terrorist attack in Garland, Texas. Pamela Geller...

This guy is a professional journalist. And a Yale grad. And a law-school grad.But let’s be fair. If you polled the media, how many of them would agree? Don’t stomp Cuomo just because he’s bold enough to say what the rest are thinking.For once I’m with Glenn Greenwald. The funniest part of this, at least for law nerds, is Cuomo suggesting that a “hate speech” exception might be found in the text of the First Amendment itself rather than a Supreme Court case somewhere. You remember how James Madison went on and on about hate speech in the Federalist...

Terrorists assaulted a “Mohammed cartoon” event in Texas sponsored by activist Pamela Geller, and the response has been, in part, soul-searching over what’s wrong with Pamela Geller. Geller is an attention-hungry provocateur who will never be mistaken for Bernard Lewis, the venerable scholar of Islam. Her Texas gathering to award a cash prize for the best cartoon of Mohammed — depictions of whom are considered offensive by many Muslims — was deliberately offensive, but so what? Two armed Muslim men showed up intending to kill the participants, and were only thwarted when they were shot dead by a police...

Americans will defend to the death — and literally had to — Pamela Geller’s right to disseminate images of the Prophet Muhammad. The First Amendment applies even to irresponsible provocateurs. A Geller-organized event in Texas over the weekend included inviting artists to draw images of Muhammad, an act that has provoked deadly attacks by some Islamists. In explaining her rationale, Geller pointed to an Iranian Holocaust cartoon contest that drew nearly 1,000 entries, saying “We need to make a similar show of strength of what is right.” Which extended to a drawing of Muhammad anally impaled on a pencil up...

The Council on American Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, has issued a statement about the terror attack last night in Texas during a Muhammed Cartoon Exhibit. They're also partially blaming the organizers of the event for the violence and are equating them with the terrorists who carried out the attack. (bolding is mine) "We condemn yesterday's attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, without reservation. "We also reiterate our view that violence in response to anti-Islam programs like the one in Garland is more insulting to our faith than any cartoon, however defamatory. Bigoted speech can never...

Early in President Obama’s tenure in the White House, Catholic Online and other media outlets reported what appeared to be a deliberate attack on the Constitution’s “freedom of religion” protections. The report noted a crucial change in Obama’s language between his June 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt, where he spoke of a Muslim America and its “freedom of religion,” to the November 2009 memorial for the Fort Hood soldiers gunned down by a radical Muslim, where he termed it “freedom of worship.” From that point on, “freedom of worship” has become the term of choice, the report said. Now, the...

While conservatives in Indiana and Arkansas were explaining last month why their new religious objections laws weren’t invitations to discriminate against gays, the leaders of Wisconsin’s capital city were busy protecting the rights of another group: atheists. In what is believed to be the first statute of its kind in the United States, Madison banned discrimination against the non-religious on April 1, giving them the same protections afforded to people based on their race, sexual orientation and religion, among other reasons. It’s hardly surprising that such a statute would originate in Madison, an island of liberalism in a conservative-leaning state...

The admission was made by Barack Hussein Obama's lawyer, the sitting Solicitor General of the United States, Donald Verrilli, Jr., on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, during questioning by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Samuel Alito, Jr. Solicitor General Verrilli, using a public office to defend same-sex marriage on behalf of the United States, was asked by Justice Alito if religious institutions could be at risk of losing their tax-exempt status due to their beliefs about Biblical marriage. Verrilli's reply was, "It's certainly going to be an issue."

Arguments over same-sex marriage played out in the U.S. Supreme Courton Tuesday, but many religious groups opposed to gay marriage aren’t waiting for a ruling. A court ruling expected two months from now could sanction same-sex marriage nationwide. In anticipation, some congregations and religious advocacy groups are re-emphasizing their teachings on marriage, fine-tuning their approach to gays and lesbians and bracing for legal battles and public criticism. “The outcome of this decision will shape the landscape of the church’s ministry in the U.S. for generations to come,” wrote Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, December 15, 1791.Congress intended the First Amendment to permit a wide range of opinions and views and produce a free exchange of ideas even if they are at odds with tradition. According to political myth, Otto von Bismarck said, “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch...

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Are they clever ads with a play on words, or are they just outright sexually-explicit? A valley store's new billboards are at the center of controversy, and Valley Metro has already pulled them off their trains. The ads are nothing new; chances are you've seen them on trucks or billboards around Phoenix. The owner of My Sister's Closet said she entered into an advertising agreement, the ads were approved, so she was stunned when the ads were abruptly pulled. "Wanted: One Night Stand, Buy a Bigger Chest, Make a Booty Call," my sister's closet thought these ads...

Nationally syndicated radio host and columnist for the Washington Times, Steve Deace, explained that there are three specific issues animating the 2016 Republican presidential contest. “If you are weak on these, don’t even show up,” Deace cautioned conservative Republican presidential aspirants. “This is sort of the triumvirate of issues. That is amnesty, that is religious freedom, and the other is Common Core. If you are soft on these issues, or have been in the past, you’re done.” The author of Rules for Patriots: How Conservatives Can Win Again, told Breitbart senior writer and guest host of Breitbart News Sunday airing...

NEW YORK CITY, April 24, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Speaking to an influential gathering in New York City on Thursday, Hillary Clinton declared that “religious beliefs” that condemn "reproductive rights," “have to be changed.” “Yes, we've cut the maternal mortality rate in half, but far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive health,” Hillary told the Women in the World Summit yesterday. Liberal politicians use “reproductive health” as a blanket term that includes abortion. However, Hillary's reference echoes National Organization for Women (NOW) president Terry O’Neill's op-ed from last May that called abortion “an essential measure to prevent...

A generation of liberal indoctrination on campus has led to the widespread acceptance of thought-crime, a monster that says it’s okay to shun those with “unacceptable” views.  Liberals think they can control the monsters they release, but they can’t. Where does it lead?  Straight to the ovens, Rabbi Shmuley Bioteach warned Friday, Fortunately, we have not seen an outbreak of violence in the United States as we have in Europe. Nevertheless, the anti-Semitic acts on college campuses are alarming. No one should be surprised, however, given the nationwide campaign to delegitimize Israel by calling on universities to boycott and divest from the Jewish...

Dear Chancellor Sederburg (chancellor@uncw.edu): I am writing today to ask you to fire an emotionally volatile and ideologically bigoted administrator who is about to get you sued. Since you are only an interim chancellor and will soon be leaving you will not have to deal with the political fallout for firing this woman who happens to be a lesbian activist. But fire her you must. Please allow me to explain. Last week, Ratio Christi (RC) and the College Republicans (CRs) decided to host a controversial event on campus. The event, which was called the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), featured a...