Free Republic

Ann Ravel--Her whining at taxpayer expense will soon end Federal Election Commission member Ann Ravel, a left-winger who proposed regulating political speech on the Internet, announced she is stepping down from the FEC on March 1. Ravel, appointed by President Obama, caused a firestorm in 2015 when she said

The more you see something shocking, the less shocking it appears, and the more something outrageous happens, the less outrageous it seems to be. That is how a culture becomes desensitized, and that is how the abnormal becomes normalized. But when it comes to the governmentÂ’s attack on our religious freedoms, it is our sacred duty to remain shocked and outraged. Such things cannot continue to happen in America if we are to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. According to the Washington Supreme Court, when Christian florist Barronelle Stutzman declined to do the...

From the Email: We have to act now! Liberals and homosexual activists are advancing their radical agenda by attempting to torpedo President Donald Trump's executive order on religious liberty that was recently leaked to the media. This is an excellent executive order that will protect your First Amendment rights. I urge you to sign the AFA petition NOW asking President Trump to protect religious freedom for all Americans. I plan to personally deliver this petition with signatures during a meeting with the Trump Administration. Help me take your voice to the White House! This is urgent! After the executive order...

The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a U.S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters.The program, "Countering Violent Extremism," or CVE, would be changed to "Countering Islamic Extremism" or "Countering Radical Islamic Extremism," the sources said, and would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out bombings and shootings in the United States.

President Trump will reportedly make good on one of his major critiques of the Obama administration by refocusing the program “Countering Violent Extremism” to concentrate on radical Islam. Citing “five people briefed on the matter,” Reuters news agency reported Wednesday that the “CVE” program would be changed to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism.” The program would no longer have as a priority target groups such as white supremacists, Reuters reported. Mr. Trump, and many other Republicans, frequently attacked the program as a politically-correct whitewash growing out of the Obama administration’s refusal to use any form of the...

President Donald Trump vowed Thursday morning at the National Prayer Breakfast to “totally destroy” a provision barring religious groups from participation in politics. “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution,” he said. “I will do that. Remember.”

Pasadena, CA. Today, three federal appellate judges in the Ninth Circuit issued a final ruling in favor of a Christian man, Mark Mackey, who was arrested for reading the Bible aloud in front of the California Department of Motor Vehicles in Hemet, CA in 2011. Read the ruling here. The CHP Officer, Darren Meyers, erroneously cited Mr. Mackey for violating a state law that forbids the interference with an open business through obstruction and intimidation. The Ninth Circuit rebuked the officer’s fabricated claims in his police report: Upon arrival, Meyer encountered Mackey reading his bible aloud in a dirt patch,...

University of Oregon law professor Nancy Shurtz committed an act of “discriminatory harassment” when she donned blackface as part of a Halloween costume at a party at her house, the UO announced Wednesday. Shurtz was placed on leave just after the Oct. 31 party, after the campus reacted in anger over the incident and 23 law colleagues called for her resignation. A report on the incident “finds that pursuant to applicable legal precedent, the violation and its resulting impact on students in the law school and university outweighed free speech protections provided under the Constitution and our school’s academic freedom...

The conservative legal group Liberty Counsel is claiming that the public school district violated the Constitution by censoring the anti-abortion student group’s poster. The poster, which took over 25 hours to make, included hand-painted hearts and the phrase “3,000 Lives Are Ended Each Day.” . . . Administrators also asked the students to refrain from using the word, “abortion,” in club material, in written or oral communications, or on social media. Administrators even went as far as asking students from the club to sign an agreement that would bar them from seeking legal assistance to protect their right to express...

Last week, Utah Senator Mike Lee announced that he would re-introduce the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) in 2017, and his office said it expects the bill to pass under a Trump presidency. Democrats and LGBT activists have attacked the bill as "anti-gay" and as a smokescreen for discrimination against LGBT people. Nothing could be further from the truth. "Nothing in this bill enables discrimination against LGBT people in any way," Lee spokesman Conn Carroll told PJ Media in an email statement. "This bill would simply preserve the status quo, ensuring that federal bureaucrats do not take discriminatory actions against...

A pair of Christian artists may face several months in prison for refusing to make wedding invitations for a same-sex ceremony due to an Arizona city ordinance. Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski of Brush & Nib Studio are appealing a court decision from a September ruling against their lawsuit, claiming that a Phoenix city ordinance violates their freedom of expression and freedom of religion. Duka and Koski are being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm that often tackles religious liberty cases. ADF attorney Kristen Waggoner, who is representing the two artists, said in an interview last...

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said Tuesday that the real threat to the First Amendment in the 2016 election had come from Democrats, not from Donald Trump — and that the media had largely missed the threat because of their own partisan bias. Speaking to the Business Insider IGNITION conference in New York City, Bewkes pointed out that the Democratic Party “had a campaign plank to change the First Amendment, and they were doing it in the guise of campaign finance reform.” Indeed, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton ran on an explicit pledge to change the First Amendment in order...

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told Business Insider's Henry Blodget on Tuesday that the "real threat" to the First Amendment did not come from President-elect Donald Trump during the campaign, but rather from the Democratic Party. Bewkes was speaking at Business Insider's annual IGNITION conference, during which he was asked about Trump's frequent campaign threats to open up libel laws. Trump has also set his sights on Bewkes' own media property, CNN, which he consistently ridiculed along the campaign trail and even after Election Day. "Do you worry about that at all?" Blodget asked. Bewkes said he didn't "think that's...

A pair of Arizona-based Christian artists is challenging the local law that threatens to fine and imprison them for refusing to make same-sex wedding invitations. Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio in Phoenix, lost a case at trial level which accused them of violating a local ordinance that protects homosexuals from discrimination, Fox News reported. The ordinance also prevents the business owners from publicly explaining their convictions or even defending their decision lest they face jail time for that as well. This apparent violation of the First Amendment protection of free speech is at the...

I'll be sure to let all the Christian bakeries know that the left once again gives a crap about the First Amendment. I'm sure they'll consider that to be very exciting news It’s a bad idea. It’s also an unconstitutional idea. Finally, it’s an impossible idea. Maybe that’s why Trump tweeted it. Given his cabinet choices and his early policy priorities, Trump is shaping up like a guy who governs as a fairly mainstream conservative but thunders rhetorically like the populist who proved everyone wrong and won the presidency. No, you can’t jail flag-burners. But if you’d like to tweet...

11/29/16   Trump's flag desecration Tweet reflects a Clinton proposal Trump tweeted a flag burning law that Hillary Clinton proposed in 2005 and the left savaged him, many who supported Hillary Clinton in the election Was Trump just making a point about leftist media and NeverTrumpers? The left went nuts about Trump's tweet, but never mentioned the fact that Hillary Clinton had proposed this very thing in 2005. All of the people below supported Hillary Clinton explicitly or at least would have preferred that Hillary be elected over Trump. David Frum, a NeverTrumper, seemed to support Hilary in the...

After Donald Trump's win, Yolanda Scott is upgrading the crowbar she keeps in her purse to a small-caliber pistol. Scott, an African-American, is one of many minorities who have been flocking to gun stores to protecqt themselves, afraid Trump's victory will incite more hate crimes. "You feel that racists now feel like they can attack us just because the president is doing it," one gun shop owner told NBC News. Gun store owners told NBC News that since November 8 they're seeing up to four times as many black and minority customers —and black gun groups are reporting double the...

<p>The fall out from media bigwigs on the receiving end of a smack down of epic proportions from President-elect Donald Trump continues, with several participants whining to The New Yorker about how mean Trump was.</p> <p>Four executives who attended the off-the-record meeting are quoted without being identified and if there’s a common theme in the remarks, it may be the liberal application of f-bombs.</p>

Politics Oregon Bully Who Took Down Christian Bakery Tossed Out in Election In 2013, Oregon Democrat Brad Avakian, as commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, put a Christian bakery out of business because its owners stood up for their religious convictions. Fast forward to 2016 and Avakian, not unlike many of his fellow Democrats, got served a big slice of sweet justice. Sweetcakes by Melissa, owned by Melissa and Aaron Klein, was forced out of business by Avakian and the BOLI in 2013. Klein told Independent Journal Review that they were fined $135,000 and the state garnished...

President-elect will have chance to fill Scalia’s vacancy; as nominee, he said Second Amendment was ‘under siege’ Mark H. Anderson Updated Nov. 9, 2016 WASHINGTON—Republicans took a big gamble on the Supreme Court earlier this year when they shut down President Barack Obama’s effort to fill a vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Now, it appears that extraordinary bet may pay off. President-elect Donald Trump will likely get the chance to fill the seat, putting up a nominee after he is inaugurated in January before a Senate that Republicans will control next year. One hurdle...